1 6 INTRODUCTION 



Aristotle, Pliny (23-79 A.D.) wrote his " Natural His- 

 tory." He was a voluminous compiler, not an observer; 

 he added hardly one new fact. He states that his work 

 was extracted from over two thousand volumes, most of 

 which are now lost. 



During the Middle Ages, Natural History was studied 

 in the books of the ancients ; and at the close of the fif- 

 teenth century it was found where Pliny had left it, with 

 the addition of many vague hypotheses and silly fancies. 

 Albertus Magnus, of the thirteenth century, and Con- 

 rad Gesner and Aldrovandus, of the sixteenth, were 

 voluminous writers, not naturalists. In the latter half 

 of the sixteenth century men began to observe nature 

 for themselves. The earliest noteworthy researches 

 were made on Fishes, by Rondelet (1507-1556) and 

 Belon (1517-1564) of France, and Salviani (1514-1572) 

 of Italy. They were followed by valuable observations 

 upon Insects, by Redi (1626-1698) of Italy, and Swam- 

 merdam (1637-1680) of Holland; and toward the end 

 of the same century, the Dutch naturalist, Leeuwen- 

 hoeck (1632-1723), opened a new world of life by the 

 use of the microscope. 



But there was no real advance of Systematic Zoology 

 till the advent of the illustrious John Ray (1628-1705) 

 of England. His "Synopsis," published in 1693, con- 

 tained the first attempt to classify animals according to 

 structure. Ray was the forerunner of "the immortal 

 Swede," Linnaeus (1707-1778), "the great framer of 

 precise and definite ideas of natural objects, and terse 

 teacher of the briefest and clearest expressions of their 

 differences." His chief merit was in defining generic 

 groups, and inventing specific names. 2 Scarcely less 

 important, however, was the impulse which he gave to 

 the pursuit of Natural History. The spirit of inquiry, 

 which his genius infused among the great, led to voy- 



