10 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



(23-79 A.D.), the Roman general and litterateur (Fig. 2). 

 His works on natural history, llUing thirty-seven volumes, 

 have been ])reserved witli greater completeness than those of 

 other ancient writers. Their overwhelming bulk seems to 

 have })roduced an impression upon those who, in the nine- 

 teenth century, heralded him as the greatest naturalist of 



Fig. 2. — Pliny, 23-79 a.d. 



antiquity. But an examination of his writings shows that 

 he did nothing to deepen or broaden the knowledge of nature, 

 and his Natural History marks a distinct retrograde movement. 

 He was, at best, merely a compiler — ''a collector of anec- 

 dotes " — who, forsaking observation, indiscriminately mixed 

 fable, fact, and fancy taken from the writings of others. 

 He emphasized the feature of classification which Aristotle 

 had held in proper subordination, and he replaced the clas- 



