UTAH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 49 
tion, the collection of trophies, the accumulation of spoils 
of war. The knowledge of Greek language and liter- 
ature developed naturally. Among other things were 
found and eagerly read the voluminous works of Aris- 
totle. The cause of such wide interest in natural history 
which we see exhibited at this time probably had its 
origin in several activities among which should be men- 
tioned the truer estimation of the position, size, and 
movements of the earth in our solar system, the inven- 
tion of the printing press, and the marvelous tales of a 
new world and its fauna, following the voyages of 
Columbus. A rapidly increasing population supported a 
leisure class who encouraged the capture abroad and 
exhibition at home of all sorts of strange animals. A 
literature was imperative in the face of these new ideas, 
facts, and specimens. What was more natural than to 
turn to the writings of the ancients? On the zoological 
side Aristotle was the authority, and his pupil, Theophras- 
tus, had almost as much weight in botany. 
For some time it was supposed that the works of 
Aristotle covered all nature; and as there was nothing 
to add men busied themselves translating and attempting 
to reconcile new discoveries with the old text; or some- 
how they entirely overlooked the new fact if it contra- 
dicted their written records. 
Among the first of the writers of the Middle Ages 
we find very little or no originality of thought, their work 
consisting largely of selections from the Peripatetic 
School. Aldrovandus, however, ignored the classifica- 
tion of the anima] kingdom by Aristotle and erected one 
of his own. Although it was in several respects very infer- 
ior to that of the Greek, we should observe him as the first 
independent thinker to publish his ideas. Ags was the uni- 
versal custom until very recent times, entomology shared 
the leisure moments of the naturalist. With so wide a 
field for investigation why, they thought, should any one 
part of the living world receive isolated, concentrated 
study at the expense of all? To this idea, Aldrovandus 
and those succeeding him firmly adhered; hence, we 
sometimes find their names more closely united to botany 
or to other branches of zoology, and the entomologist 
