196 ERRORS ATTRIBUTED TO ARISTOTLE. [LECT. 



In the face of the description of the heart and 

 lungs, just quoted, I think we may venture to say 

 that no one who has acquired even an elementary 

 practical acquaintance with anatomy, and knows of 

 his own knowledge that which Aristotle describes, 

 will agree with the opinion expressed by Mr. Lewes ; 

 and those who turn to the accounts of the structure 

 of the rock lobster and the common lobster, or to that 

 of the Cephalopods and other Mollusks, in the fourth 

 book of the " Historia Animalium " will probably feel 

 inclined to object to it still more strongly. 



On the other hand, Cuvier's exaggerated panegyric 

 will as little bear the test of cool discussion. In 

 Greece, the century before Aristotle's birth was a 

 period of great intellectual activity, in the field of 

 physical science no less than elsewhere. The method 

 of induction has never been used to better effect than 

 by Hippocrates ; and the labours of such men as 

 Alkmeon, Demokritus, and Polybus, among Aristotle's 

 predecessors ; Diokles, and Praxagoras, among his con- 

 temporaries, laid a solid foundation for the scientific 

 study of anatomy and development, independently 

 of his labours. Aristotle himself informs us that the 

 dissection of animals was commonly practised ; that 

 the aorta had been distinguished from the great vein ; 

 and that the connection of both with the heart had 

 been observed by his predecessors. What they thought 

 about the structure of the heart itself or that of the 

 lungs, he does not tell us, and we have no means of 

 knowing. So far from arrogantly suggesting that he 

 owed nothing to his predecessors, Aristotle is carefu] 



