INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XXV 



although he perhaps had not the firmness of grasp or the fineness 

 of touch necessary for the successful handling of the more intricate 

 biological problems, especially those which centre around the factors 

 of evolution, he had unusual power as an observer of the habits of 

 animals. His contributions, which must be judged, of course, from 

 his great Tierleben,^ as well as from his popular lectures, were 

 rather to the old natural history than to biology in the stricter 

 sense. His works show that he was as much interested in men as 

 in beasts, that he was specially an ornithologist, that he was beneath 

 the naturalist a sportsman; but so scores of other travellers have 

 been. His particular excellence is his power of observing and 

 picturing animal life as it is lived in nature, without taking 

 account of which biology is a mockery and any theory of evolu- 

 tion a one-sided dogma. 



Let us now bring together briefly the outstanding facts of this 

 historical outline. 



In early days men followed their wandering herds or pursued 

 their prey from region to region, or were driven by force of com- 

 petition or of hunger to new lands. Many of the most eventful 

 journeys have been among those which had to be taken. 



I. Gradually, intellectual curiosity rather than practical need 

 became the prompter, and men travelled with all manner of mixed 

 aims seeking what was new. When they returned they told tra- 

 vellers' tales, mostly in as good faith as their hunting ancestors had 

 done in the caves of a winter night, or as the modem traveller does 

 after dinner still. We pass insensibly from Herodotus to Marco 

 Polo, from "Sir John Maundeville" to Mr. X. Y. Z., whose book was 

 published last spring. This is the type romantic. 



II. But when science shared in the renaissance there ensued the 

 extraordinary industry of the encyclopaedist school, with which 

 many naturalist-travellers were associated. Some of these were 

 great men — ^perhaps Gesner was greatest of all — ^but all had the 



^ This well-known treasure-house of Natural History appeared originally in 1863-69 in six 

 big Tolumes, which have since increased to ten. Even the first edition took a foremost place 

 among similar works on the Natural History of Animals. With a wealth of personal observa- 

 tion on the habits of animals in their native haunts, it combined the further charm of very 

 beautiful pictorial illustration. 



