ZOOLOGY EMERGES 45 



his effort to organize the subject is the first attempt 

 and in that regard he had no forerunners. 



The designation "the greatest investigator of 

 antiquity' : is significant since it implies that the 

 notable development of science among the Greeks was 

 owing chiefly to their method of inquiry the direct 

 observation of nature and the application of reason to 

 the data thus gathered. Had investigation remained 

 the method of ascertaining truth, the history of in- 

 tellectual development would have been far different. 



The Arrest of Inquiry. With the overthrow of 

 ancient civilization the conditions of mental life were 

 so altered that there came about an arrest of inquiry 

 that bred ignorance and led to the decline of science. 

 All independent observation ceased. Men no longer 

 interrogated nature by the method that had proved 

 so fruitful. This condition of human development 

 supplies an answer to the question continually 

 raised "Why was there no direct development of 

 learning on the splendid Greek foundation? ' 



With the sweep of the barbarian hordes from the 

 north over the civilized people of the south, monu- 

 ments of civilization were destroyed, libraries were 

 pillaged and burned, books became scarce and, subse- 

 quently, were housed chiefly in the monasteries. 



