Chapter XII 

 THE SCIENCE OF BIOLOGY 



Origins. The origins of the science of Biology, like the origins 

 of all the sciences, extend far back into the dimness of the periods 

 preceding the rise of Greek civilization. We now refer to Aristotle 

 (384-322 B.C.) as one of the ancients who is the founder of systematic 

 Zoology and of Natural History, but Aristotle himself referred to 

 the ancients who preceded him by many centuries. Certainly the 

 concept of evolution was expressed in the writings of Aristotle; his 

 wide interests in classification of plants and animals, his extensive 

 knowledge of animals and their life histories, his observations and 

 conclusions concerning developmental processes, represent a height 

 of development of interest in Biology that was not again attained 

 for hundreds of years. Aristotle and the Greeks were then the source 

 of biological knowledge throughout the Middle Ages, when the 

 whole stream of human intellectual development diminished to a 

 trickle. The stream was not entirely obliterated, however, for here 

 and there appeared indications of a continuing current. Notable in 

 preserving the continuity was Galen, who lived five hundred years 

 after Aristotle. Galen was an anatomist and observer of some 

 originality and his writings continued to be the authority in that 

 field for twelve hundred years, a degree of permanence that no 

 modern writer could conceivably attain. In the sciences, as in all 

 fields of knowledge, progress was during this time almost arrested 

 by the importance that was attached to the authority of the ancients. 

 Galen's anatomical descriptions were expounded to students for 



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