ARISTOTLE. 27 



there the manuscripts remained for nearly a century and 

 a half, exposed to injury from damp and worms. At 

 length they were sold to Apellicon, a resident at Athens, 

 who was attached to the Peripatetic sect. Many of the 

 manuscripts were imperfect, having become worm-eaten 

 or illegible. These defects Apellicon attempted to 

 remedy ; but, being a lover of books rather than a philo- 

 sopher, he performed the work somewhat unskilfully. 

 When Athens was taken by Sylla, 86 B.C., the library of 

 Apellicon was transported to Rome. There various 

 literary Greeks obtained access to it; and, among others, 

 Tyrannion, a grammarian and friend of Cicero, did good 

 service in the work of correction. Andronicus of Rhodes 

 afterwards arranged the whole into sections, and pub- 

 lished the manuscripts with a tabulated list. 



The three principal works on biology which are 

 extant are : " The History of Animals ; " " On the Parts 

 of Animals ; " " On the Generation of Animals." The 

 other biological works are : " On the Motion of Ani- 

 mals ; " " On Respiration ; " " Parva Naturalia ; " a 

 series of essays which are planned to form an entire 

 work on sense and the sensible. 



" The History of Animals " is the largest and most 

 important of Aristotle's works on biology. It contains 

 a vast amount of information, not very methodically 

 arranged, and spoiled by the occurrence here and there 

 of very gross errors. It consists of nine books. 



