112 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 





translation and recopying of the writers of classical antiquity 

 was, therefore, an important step in the revival of learning. 

 These writings were so much above the thought of the time 

 that the belief was naturally created that the ancients had 

 digested all learning, and they were pointed to as unfailing 

 authorities in matters of science. 



The Return to the Science of the Ancients. — The return to 

 Aristotle was wholesome, and under its influence men turned 

 their attention once more to real animals. Comments upon 

 Aristotle began to be made, and in course of time independent 

 treatises upon animals began to appear. One of the first to 

 modify Aristotle to any purpose was Edward Wotton, the 

 English physician, who published in 1552 a book on the dis- 

 tinguishing characteristics of animals (De Difjerentiis Ani- 

 malium). This was a complete treatise on the zoology of 

 the period, including an account of the different races of 

 mankind. It was beautifully printed in Paris, and was 

 dedicated to Edward VI. Although embracing ten books, 

 it was by no means so ponderous as were some of the treatises 

 that followed it. The work was based upon Aristotle, but 

 the author introduced new matter, and also added the grouj 

 of zoophytes, or plant-like animals of the sea. 



Gesner. — The next to reach a distinctly higher plane was 

 Conrad Gesner (1 516-1565), the Swiss, who was a contem- 

 porary of Vesalius. He was a practising physician who, in 

 1553, was made professor of natural history in Zurich. A 

 man of extraordinary talent and learning, he turned out an 

 astonishing quantity of work. Besides accomplishing much 

 in scientific lines, he translated from Greek, Arabic, and 

 Hebrew, and published in twenty volumes a universal cat- 

 alogue of all works known in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, 

 either printed or in manuscript form. In the domain of 

 natural history he began to look critically at animals with a 

 view to describing them, and to collect with zealous care new 



