1919 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 71 



and include much fable and fancy joined with fact. Pliny's system of classifi- 

 cation of animals is inferior to that of Aristotle's, although he adopts the latter's 

 in the case of insects. 



After Pliny the study of natural history declined rapidly and no attention 

 was given it for about 1,500 years. Not only during the Dark Ages following 

 the fall of the Roman Empire, but during the Middle Ages the study of nature 

 was thoroughly discouraged as " proceeding from a prying and impious curiosity.'* 



Observation and reason were overthrown by biblical and classical authority 

 and mental activity assumed the form of metaphysical speculation.* 



Happily, however, much information was handed down regarding Natural 

 History during these dark centuries in the form of practical lore of the farmer and 

 gardener to which I have already referred, so that when science again showed signs 

 of revival the naturalists had a basis on which to work. 



The Revival of Science. 



For several centuries bold minds had revolted against the traditional ad- 

 herence to authority, and in the 15th and 16th centuries, Galileo, Descartes, and 

 Vesalius (1514-1564) working along different branches overthrew the old tra- 

 ditions, and the new movement for the revival of science was fairly launched. 



Mention should here be made of some of the investigators of the new era 

 on account of their influence on the pioneer entomologists. Vesalius, a Belgian, 

 studied medicine in Paris and gave much attention to anatomy. His great work 

 " De Humani Corporis Fabrica " is a classic and " created an epoch," as it " over- 

 threw dependence on authority (Galen) and re-established the scientific method 

 of ascertaining truth." 



Harvey (1578-1667) was the pioneer physiologist, and his splendid researches 

 on the Circulation of the Blood have earned him a place among the great pioneers 

 of science who questioned and experimented with nature to find out her secrets. 

 Like Aristotle, he considered the larva a prematurely hatched embryo, and the 

 pupa a second egg (De Generatione Animalium). 



The Geeat Insect Anatomists. 



The impetus given to the study of anatomy by Vesalius produced in the 16th 

 century a large number of workers like Wotton, Gesner, Aldrovandi, and Jonston, 

 who have been called the " encyclopedists " on account of their voluminous writings 

 on many topics. f 



*This attitude was expressed by Redi about 1668, thus; "Because he's Aristotle, it 

 implies that he must be believed, e'en though he lies." 



A curious collection of manuscripts called the " Physiologus " or the " Bestiarius", 

 and produced under theological guidance, formed the main source of information on 

 natural history during these times. The accounts deal with biblical as well as mythical 

 animals, such aa the unicorn, dragon, basilisk, and phoenix. Many are represented as 

 symbolical of religious beliefs, and moral reflections are interjected at frequent inter- 

 vals. Locy says: "The Zoology of the Physiologus was of a much lower grade than any 

 we know about among the ancients." 



tConrad Gesner (1516-1558), a Swiss, was an indefatigable collector, observer and 

 writer. His papers on insects were published after his death by Thomas Moafet, about 

 1634. Gesner is justly considered as the restorer of natural history. Dong lost treasures 

 were again made known and a stimulus was given for further research. 



Aldrovandi (1552-1605) described the natural history of insects at great length in 

 seven books. He divided insects into land and water dwellers, and these were subdivided 

 according to the structure of their wings and legs. 



The writings of Gesner and Aldrovandi contain many ridiculously improbable state- 

 ments gathered from ill-attested sources and repeated from the writings of Aristotle and 

 Pliny. 



