OUTLINE OF BIOLOGICAL PROGRESS 15 
He was early left an orphan with a considerable fortune; 
and there are stories of early excesses after coming into his 
property. These charges, however, lack trustworthy support, 
and are usually regarded as due mainly to that under- 
mining gossip which follows one holding prominent place 
and enviable recognition. His habits seem to have been 
those of a diligent student with a zest in his work; he was an 
omnivorous reader, and Plato called him the mind of his 
school. His large private library and his manner of liv- 
ing bespeak the conserving of his property, rather than its 
waste in selfish indulgences. 
His Influence.—The influence of Aristotle was in the 
right direction. He made a direct appeal to nature for his 
facts, and founded his Natural History only on observation 
of the structure, physiology, and development of animals. 
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of his successors. 
Galen, who is mentioned above in connection with Aris- 
totle, was a medical writer and the greatest anatomist of 
antiquity. On account of the relation of his work to the 
growth of anatomy, however, the consideration of it is re- 
served for the chapter on Vesalius. 
Soon after the period of Aristotle the center of scientific 
investigation was transferred to Alexandria, where Ptolemy 
had erected a great museum and founded a large public 
library. Here mathematics and geography flourished, but 
natural history was little cultivated. 
In order to find the next famous naturalist of antiquity, 
it is necessary to look to Rome. Rome, although great in 
political power, never became a true culture center, char- 
acterized by originality. All that remains of their thought 
shows us that the Roman people were not creative. In the 
capital of the empire, the center of its life, there arose no 
great scientific investigator. 
Pliny.—The situation is represented by Pliny the Elder 
