INTRODUCTION. 15 
Alexander, it is said, gave him nine hundred talents to collect 
materials, and put at his disposal several thousand men, for 
hunting specimens and procuring information. 
The Romans accomplished little in natural science, though 
their military expeditions furnished unrivaled opportunities. 
Nearly three centuries and a half after Aristotle, Pliny (a.p. 
23-79) wrote his “ Natural History.” He was a voluminous 
compiler, not an observer: he added hardly one new fact. He 
states that his work was extracted from over two thousand 
volumes, most of which are now lost. 
During the Middle Ages, Natural History was studied in 
the books: of the ancients; and at the close of the fifteenth 
century it was found where Pliny had left it, with the addi- 
tion of many vague hypotheses and silly fancies. Albertus 
Magnus, of the thirteenth century, and Conrad Gesner and 
Aldrovandus, of the sixteenth, were voluminous writers, not 
naturalists. In the latter half of the sixteenth century, men 
began to observe nature for themselves. The earliest note- 
worthy researches were made on Fishes, by Rondelet (1507- 
1566) and Belon (1517-1564), of France, and Salviani (1514— 
1572), of Italy. They were followed by valuable observations 
upon Insects, by Redi (1626-1698), of Italy, and Swammer- 
dam (1637-—1%80), of Holland; and toward the end of the 
same century, the Dutch naturalist, Leeuwenhoeck (1632— 
1723), opened a new world of life by the use of the micro- 
scope. 
But there was no real advance of Systematic Zoology till 
the advent of the illustrious John Ray (1628-1705), of En- 
gland. His “Synopsis,” published in 1693, contained the first 
attempt to classify animals according to structure. Ray was 
the forerunner of “the immortal Swede,” Linneus (1707- 
1778), “the great framer of precise and definite ideas of nat- 
ural objects, and terse teacher of the briefest and clearest ex- 
pressions of their differences.” His chief merit was in defin- 
ing generic groups, and inventing specific names.” Scarcely 
less important, however, was the impulse which he gave to 
the pursuit of Natural History. The spirit of inquiry, which 
his genius infused among the great, produced voyages of re- 
search, which led to the formation of national museums. The 
first: expedition was sent forth by George III. of England, in 
