348 Baron Cuvier's Lectures on the Natural Sciences. 



siod, in his book, names a certain number of plants, and points 

 out tiieir properties. 



Such, in the ninth century before our era, was the state of 

 knowledge in Greece. 



It was during the time which elapsed between the Trojan 

 war and the birth of Homer and Hesiod, that the colonies 

 which migrated to the coast of Asia Minor set out. Their 

 emigration was produced in consequence of the revolutions 

 which took place in Greece, when the Heraclidae made the 

 conquest of the Peloponnesus. lonians, Dorians, and Eohans, 

 left their country, and went to found, in Asia, a great number 

 of cities, some of which, such as Smyrna, Ephesus, and Miletum, 

 soon acquired a high importance. 



When there were Greek settlements on both sides of the 

 Egean Sea, the frequent communications which were established 

 between them, gave a new impulse to commerce, and presently 

 caused the riches of the east to flow in. The new cities were 

 soon in a state to send out colonies themselves, and several bands 

 from them went to settle on ihe shores of the Black Sea. 



A little more than two centuries after the conquest of the 

 Peloponnesus by the Heraclidae, Greece was agitated by fresh 

 troubles, the result of which was the almost universal abolition 

 of royalty. This revolution gave rise to a new emigration, 

 which, this lime, taking a direction opposite to the first, settled 

 upon the shores of Italy, in the country which afterwards bore 

 the name of Magna Grtecia. These Italian colonies, which 

 soon became extremely rich and polished, were an additional 

 means of civilization to central Greece. 



We now come to an epoch marked by two events which had 

 a great influence upon the progress of the sciences. The first 

 is the re-establishment of the communications with Egypt, which 

 took place when Psammeticus took Greeks from Asia Minor 

 into his armies, as auxiliaries : the other is the war of the Per- 

 sians against the Greeks, the conquest of the colonies of Asia 

 Minor, and the invasion of central Greece itself, an attempt 

 which fortunately was not crowned with success. 



About GOO years before Christ, Cyrus possessed himself of 

 Media. His son Cambyses carried his arms toward Egypt, 

 subjected the whole of that country, and reduced the priests to 



