l6 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



(23-79 A.D.), the Roman general and litterateur (Fig. 2). 

 His works on natural history, filling thirty-seven volumes, 

 have been preserved with greater completeness than those of 

 other ancient writers. Their overwhelming bulk seems to 

 have produced an impression upon those who, in the nine- 

 teenth century, heralded him as the greatest naturalist of 



FIG. 2. PLINY, 23-79 A.D. 



antiquity. But an examination of his writings shows that 

 he did nothing to deepen or broaden the knowledge of nature, 

 and his Natural History marks a distinct retrograde movement. 

 He was, at best, merely a compiler- -" a collector of anec- 

 dotes ' -who, forsaking observation, indiscriminately mixed 

 fable, fact, and fancy taken from the writings of others. 

 He emphasized the feature of classification w r hich Aristotle 

 had held in proper subordination, and he replaced the clas- 



