III. ARISTOTLE'S BIOLOGY 



OUR DEBT to Greek biology is not 

 to be appraised through any attempt 

 to trace a causal continuity between 

 Greece and the modern world in the develop- 

 ment of this science^ or group of sciences. The 

 continuity is problematical and lacking in 

 causality. Modern biological science sprang 

 from the direct investigation of the natural 

 objects forming its provinces. Modern an- 

 atomy for instance, arose with Leonardo and 

 Vesalius from dissections of human bodies and 

 not from study of books. It is not to be re- 

 garded as a graft upon the ancient stock. 



The fundamental aim of biology, with the 

 Greeks and with ourselves, has been to learn 

 about living organisms. Nevertheless, Greek 

 biology differed from the modern biological 

 sciences in origins and associations, in method 

 and in temperament. Our present debt to the 

 ancient time is owing not a little to these dif- 

 ferences. Let us see. 



In origins; — Greek science began in the 

 large unity of the grand desire to know the 



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