INTRODUCTION. XV 



to the opinions which he found prevalent, 

 and added to them others of his own. But 

 Pliny, though a laborious compiler, occupied 

 himself with too great a variety of pursuits 

 to attain excellence in any. As a naturalist, 

 however, he is happy in some of his descrip- 

 tions. To him we are indebted for the trans- 

 mission to us of all that was actually known, 

 or supposed to be known, of natural history 

 in his day. I say supposed to be known, for 

 many of the opinions and conjectures which 

 he has put forth, have been shown by modern 

 investigators to be ill-founded. 



The notions of the ancients respecting 

 natural philosophy rested on no rational 

 foundation ; ideas of charms and of planetary 

 influence directed their most important pur- 

 suits, and led to the formation of very absurd 

 theories. When the writer last named re- 

 commends that the dust in which a mule has 

 rolled should be sprinkled on persons who 

 are violently in love, as a sovereign remedy 

 for amatory ardour, and gravely tells us that 

 snakes are sometimes produced from the 

 human medulla, with much nonsensical stuff 

 of the like kind ; we may safely pronounce 



