ARISTOTLE. 



ABOUT the time that Hippocrates died, Aristotle, who 

 may be regarded as the founder of the science of 

 " Natural History," was born (B.C. 384) in Stagira, an 

 unimportant Hellenic colony in Thrace, near the Mace- 

 donian frontier. His father was a distinguished physician, 

 and, like Hippocrates, boasted descent from the Ascle- 

 piadae. The importance attached by the Asclepiads to 

 the habit of physical observation, which has been already 

 referred to in the life of Hippocrates, secured for Aristotle, 

 from his earliest years, that familiarity with biological 

 studies which is so clearly evident in many of his works. 

 Both parents of Aristotle died when their son was 

 still a youth, and in consequence of this he went to 

 reside with Proxenus, a native of Atarneus, who had 

 settled at Stagira. Subsequently he went to Athens and 

 joined the school of Plato. Here he remained for 

 about twenty years, and applied himself to study with 

 such energy that he became pre-eminent even in that 

 distinguished band of philosophers. He is said to have 



