History and Progress of Comparative Anatomy. 149 



the natural sciences in general, and zoology and zootomy in 

 particular, quite in their infancy, collected by personal observa- 

 tion a great number of facts, classified them in systematic order, 

 and derived from them useful general conclusions ; and while to 

 these efforts comparative anatomy may be said to have owed its 

 existence entirely, he further rendered the substantial service of 

 being the first to apply its facts to the elucidation and distinc- 

 tions of zoology. Generalization, indeed, distinction and classi- 

 fication, were the predominant features of the mind of the Sta- 

 girite ; and while to these objects all his individual observations 

 were directed, they appear to have afforded the principal incen- 

 tive to diligence in observing and collecting. The works of this 

 ardent naturalist shew that his zootomical knowledge was ex- 

 tensive and often accurate ; and from several of his descriptions, 

 it is impossible to doubt that his information was derived from 

 personal dissection. 



Aristotle, who was born at Stagira, in the first year of the 

 99th Olympiad, or 884 years before the Christian era, was, at 

 the age of 39, requested by Philip of Macedon to undertake 

 the education of his son Alexander ; and during this period he 

 is believed to have composed several works on anatomy which 

 are now lost. The miUtary expedition of his royal pupil into 

 Asia, by laying open the forests and wilds of that vast and little 

 known continent, furnished Aristotle with the means of extend- 

 ing his knowledge of the history and structure of the animal 

 tribes, and of communicating to the world more accurate and 

 distinct notions than were yet accessible. A sum of 800 talents, 

 and the concurrent aid of numerous intelligent assistants in 

 Greece and Asia, were intended to facilitate his researches in 

 composing a system of zoological knowledge ; but it has been 

 observed, that the number of instances in which he was thus 

 compelled to trust to the testimony of others, led him to commit 

 errors in description, which pei'sonal observation might have 

 enabled him to avoid. 



The three first books of the History of Animals (n«^< z»tttf 

 *irr6^ieti)^ a treatise consisting of ten books, and the four books 

 on the Parts of Animals (n«g< Zam Mo^iw), constitute the prin- 

 cipal memorials of the Aristotelian Anatomy. From these we 

 find, that Aristotle had already recognised the distinctions of 

 animals into viviparous (?4»»t«*«), oviparous (••t«>6«), and ver- 



