Aristotle's biology 



So the embryo has not all the characters of the 

 species from the beginning, nor does it possess 

 its full endowment of soul or life, but develops 

 gradually. Its development continues after 

 birth, — the child exhibiting a larger propor- 

 tion of generic animal qualities, and a less 

 proportion of those distinctly human: 



" In the great majority of animals there are 

 traces of psychical qualities or attitudes, which 

 qualities are more markedly differentiated in 

 the case of human beings. For just as we 

 pointed out resemblances in physical organs, so 

 in a number of animals we observe gentleness 

 or fierceness, courage or timidity, fear or confi- 

 dence, high spirit or low cunning, and with 

 regard to intelligence, something equivalent to 

 sagacity. Some of these qualities in man, as 

 compared with the corresponding qualities in 

 animals, differ only quantitatively. , . , [This] 

 will be more clearly apprehended if we regard 

 the phenomena of childhood; for in children 

 may be observed the traces and seeds of what 

 will one day be settled psychological habits, 

 though psychologically a child hardly differs 

 for the time being from an animal; so that 

 one is quite justified in saying that, as regards 

 man and animals, certain psychical qualities 



[71] 



