380 FOUNDATIONS OF BIOLOGY 



contributions to biology are manifold, perhaps of most 

 significance is the fact that he took a broad survey of the 

 existing data and welded them into a science. He did this 

 by relying, to a considerable extent, on the direct study of 

 organisms and by insisting that the only true path of advance 

 lies in accurate observation and description. The observa- 



FIG. 195. Aristotle. 



tional method and its very modern development, the labora- 

 tory method of biological study, find their first great exponent 

 in Aristotle. But mere observation without interpretation 

 is not science. Aristotle's generalizations based on the facts 

 accumulated and his elaboration of broad philosophical 

 conceptions of organisms give to his biological works their 

 perennial significance. 



While Aristotle's biological investigations were devoted 



