4 PREFACE. 



previously acquainted with the subject to compre- 

 hend many circumstances which might otherwise 

 appear unintelligible. 



Few, even of those who have made considerable 

 progress in the study of nature, are aware of the 

 difficulties with which the ancient philosophers had 

 to contend. For this reason we have begun with 

 Aristotle, the founder of Natural History among the 

 Greeks. A biography of the elder Pliny, the great- 

 est of Roman writers in this department, comes next 

 in order. The lives of the more remarkable zoo- 

 logists who flourished after the revival of learning 

 in Europe are briefly sketched ; while some degree 

 of connexion has been given to the series by remarks 

 on the progress of knowledge at that period, on the 

 labours of their contemporaries, and on the princi- 

 pal works which occasionally issued from colleges and 

 museums. Although it is unnecessary here to enu- 

 merate all the names that enter into the catalogue 

 of zoological writers of the sixteenth and seven- 

 teenth centuries, Swammerdam, Ray, and Reau- 

 mur, may be particularly mentioned. The great 

 Linnaeus witnessed the termination of those dark 

 ages, during which his favourite pursuits were treat- 

 ed with comparative neglect, and the commencement 

 of a happier era, in which they were to assume the 

 dignity of a science. His life is given with more 

 detail than those of his predecessors, both because 

 the facts relating to him are more abundant, and 

 because he exercised a more decided influence upon 

 the opinions of Europe. The volume concludes with 

 a notice respecting his son, which forms an appro- 

 priate appendix to that of his more distinguished 

 parent. 



