PLINY THE ELDER. 101 



possess at the present day not regularly methodized, 

 it would be utterly impossible for an individual 

 to distinguish half the number of mammalia and 

 birds, which are among the least extensive classes. 

 The first inventor of a system, however imperfect, 

 has therefore the strongest claims upon our grati- 

 tude. Aristotle may be said to have laid the founda- 

 tion for one, or at least to have made an attempt ; 

 Ray was the first who sketched a rude classification, 

 in which he partly adopted that of the Stagirite : 

 it is to Linnaeus, however, that we owe a system, 

 which is at least methodical and perspicuous ; and 

 if succeeding zoologists have produced more perfect 

 arrangements, they can only be said to have im- 

 proved upon his. 



