64 SCIENCE IN GRECO-ROMAN ANTIQUITY 



that of music. The work of Theophrastus is of special 

 importance, not only for the information it contains, 

 but also for its criticisms. Besides natural philosophy, 

 it comprises a treatise on the sensations, and another 

 on botany, both full of accurate and extensive observa- 

 tions. According to Heiberg, the most praiseworthy 

 result of the knowledge and methods of the Aristotelian 

 school in zoology and botany, was the description and 

 classification of the hitherto unknown specimens of 

 fauna and flora brought back from the expedition of 

 Alexander the Great to India. 1 



In another realm of science, the ethnographical 

 descriptions of Aristobulus, the geographical descrip- 

 tion of the southern coast by Nearchus, the systematic 

 treatise on geography by Dicearchus, a disciple of 

 Theophrastus and an author much esteemed by 

 Cicero, are all worthy of mention. The two short 

 writings of Autolycus (spherical geometry applied to 

 astronomy) are noteworthy as being the most ancient 

 works on exact sciences which have come down to us. 

 Heraclides of Pontus, the friend and contemporary 

 of Aristotle, also studied Astronomy ; he invented an 

 ingenious heliocentric system, and contrary to the 

 opinion of Aristotle, maintained the infinity of the 

 universe. 2 Strato of Lampsacus is renowned for his 

 works on physics ; he opposed Democritus' theory of 

 empty continuous space, although he admits, on the 

 ground of experience, the existence of small empty 

 spaces distributed discontinuously in the interior of 

 bodies. 3 



1 15 Heiberg, Naturwiss., p. 38. 



2 The ideas of Heraclides of Pontus have been preserved 

 by the Jew Chalcidius, who in the fourth century of our era 

 wrote a commentary on the " Timaeus " of Plato. Doublet, 

 Histoire de I'astronomie, p. 126. 



3 G. Rodier, La Physique de Straton de Lampsaque, Alcan, 

 1890. 



