Aristotle's biology 



Greek biology presents penetrating descrip- 

 tions which often are close and correct. The 

 descriptions were such as yielded explanations. 

 The why was always lurking, or pressing un- 

 concealed behind the how, and even instigating 

 it. The wish for explanation is the antecedent 

 in all science ; — in Greek biology it might 

 color the description. So the description, like 

 the wished-for explanation, was a little over- 

 likely to accord with the insistencies of the 

 Greek mind. But so penetrating was the in- 

 sight of that mind, and so mighty its impulse 

 toward an explanatory ordering of things, that 

 the lesson and example of its accomplishment 

 have not ceased to be the inspiration of the 

 intellectual world. This is as true of Greek 

 science as of Greek philosophy with which 

 it was so closely related. 



The beginnings of Greek biology were 

 noticed before, in speaking of the Hippocratic 

 school of medicine. Its matured character can 

 best be illustrated from the works of its 

 mightiest exponent, Aristotle. His three great 

 biological treatises, or compendia, or perhaps 

 note-books, may be drawn on — the Historia 

 Animalium, the De Partibus Animalium, and 



[43] 



