vii Aristotle on Birds 171 



ability, to put together, consists of nine books. The 

 first is about animals in general, their habits of life, 

 food, and so on ; and here man is treated of just like 

 the rest of the animals. The second is about the 

 outward structure of animals containing blood. The 

 third deals with their minuter parts, the tendons, 

 fibres, hair, veins, etc. The fourth treats of the 

 organs of Crustacea, echini, etc., about which the 

 author is extraordinarily well informed, and also 

 about insects. The three next books work out more 

 fully the same subject the organs of various kinds 

 of animals and it is only when we come to the last 

 two (the eighth and ninth) that we begin to find 

 what we in these days call natural history proper, 

 i.e. some account of the ways of life, the different 

 kinds, the various affections, the instincts and 

 reasoning powers, of bird, beast, and fish. These 

 two books are, therefore, those from which I shall 

 chiefly draw what I have to tell you to-night. 



It would, indeed, have been almost impossible for 

 any one at that time to have written a real natural 

 history of any class of animals, for at least one 

 very good reason : classification, scientific names and 

 terminology were unknown. And here we have an 

 excellent opportunity of learning a lesson about the 

 necessity of scientific names, and of realising the 

 advantage we enjoy in having this already accom- 

 plished for us. Try to put yourselves in the position 



