THE HELLENIC PERIOD 63 



a biologist. It may even be maintained that his 

 system of logic, in so far as it deals with the classifica- 

 tion of the real, is fundamentally biological. 1 It is 

 especially in the natural sciences that Aristotle displays 

 his predominant qualities, creative genius, power of 

 observation, faculty of discovering and comprehending 

 analogies, finalistic interpretation of phenomena. Not 

 content with co-ordinating and explaining the work of 

 his predecessors, Aristotle was the creator of scientific 

 zoology and comparative anatomy. He classified 

 animals with remarkable accuracy, placing, for example, 

 the whale amongst mammals, contrary to the current 

 opinion of his time. His two works entitled De 

 partibus animalium and De generatione animalium 

 abound in observations and analogical reasonings of 

 great exactitude. This is all the more surprising in 

 view of the fact that Aristotle had none of the modern 

 scientific apparatus, the microscope in particular. 

 Such results are only obtained by dint of patience and 

 ingenuity. Aristotle drew his information from fisher- 

 men, hunters, shepherds, etc., but he checked it care- 

 fully. He observed, analysed, and verified. By a 

 method fundamentally inductive and empirical, he 

 purposely, in this branch of science, puts aside philoso- 

 phical speculation. Doubtless, he sometimes drew too 

 hasty conclusions, and misunderstood the discoveries 

 of his predecessors, especially in medical science ; but 

 in general he has the great merit of taking into con- 

 sideration the opinions of all those who preceded him, 

 and thus became the creator of the historical method. 

 His work was carried on by his disciples. Theo- 

 phrastus, whose characters were imitated by La 

 Bruyere, has left us a very valuable book containing 

 the opinions of the ancient natural philosophers. 

 Menon wrote the history of medicine ; Eudemus, 

 that of astronomy and mathematics ; Aristoxenus, 

 1 7 L. Brunschvicg, Les E tapes, p. 72. 



