RISE AND PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. XXV 



work, and that of fishes decidedly the worst. 

 He does not even very clearly define what he 

 means by the term fish, and the whole book is 

 full of error and confusion. 



iElian is a writer whom it would be diffi- 

 cult to notice, except in terms of censure. 

 He far surpassed Pliny in credulity, or, per- 

 haps, it was his intention to impose upon 

 his readers. He was a Greek sophist, one 

 of a class of men whose profession it was 

 to defend absurdity and falsehood. He has 

 been erroneously confounded with two iElians, 

 one, who lived under the Emperor Adrian, 

 author of a Treatise on Military Tactics ; 

 and another who was born at Preneste, and 

 flourished in the reigns of Heliogabalus and 

 Alexander Severus. It appears pretty cer- 

 tain, that the naturalist, concerning whose his- 

 tory we know but little, was a third person of 

 that name. He may justly be considered as 

 the father of all the falsehood and error which 

 disgraced for so long a period the natural his- 

 tory of animals in general, and more particu- 

 larly that of fishes. His book, like that of 

 Pliny, is a compilation ; but utterly unre- 

 deemed by any elegance of style or brilliancy 

 of thought. The accounts, taken from various 

 sources, are put together without the least 



