THE EARLY BIOLOGY 



very far beyond the Greeks. It has not, how- 

 ever, altogether improved upon their spirit, 

 although in practice it has brought the habit of 

 careful and toilsome verification which was not 

 theirs. Yet the methods of modern medicine 

 have ever and anon been fain to hark back to 

 the broad wisdom of Hippocrates; and as for 

 the genius and accomplishment of Aristotle in 

 biology, why, he will reappear as Harvey's god 

 and Darwin's admiration.^ 



After Anaximander, other natural philoso- 

 phers thought much upon the origin of plants 

 and animals. Biological considerations and 

 medical doctrines appear in the fragments of 

 the early philosophers and fill out the tradi- 

 tions of their lives, — with Anaxagoras, in his 

 recognition of the differences between living 

 organisms and inanimate objects, with Emped- 

 ocles, presumably an important figure in the 

 history of medicine, with Democritus, a dis- 

 sector and penetrating investigator, of whom 

 Aristotle said that no one had so profoundly 

 considered growth and change. 



Can we discover a general purpose in their 

 investigations and reflections? Possibly, — by 

 a moderate use of constructive interpretation. 

 They were searching for the source and cause 



[7] 



