XXX. THE HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE OF 

 ZOOLOGY 



The stu(l_y of animal life began long before the Christian 

 Era. The Greeks, especially Aristotle, acquired a wide 

 range of knowledge concerning a great variety of animals; 

 but this knowledge consisted of a mass of i.solated and un- 

 connected facts that led to no systematic outline of the 

 animal kingdom. As a well-grounded science, zoology has 

 not existed much over two hundred years, although the in- 

 formation concerning animals and animal life gained prior 

 to that time included valuable and reUable facts concerning 

 a wide range of forms. 



Aristotle. — Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), the eminent Greek 

 philosophei', l)v his o«n researches and observations, 

 gathered together an immense array of facts regarding 

 animals, some i)f which were remarkably accurate and some 

 of which weie curiously incorrect. Pie wrote several 

 treatises on zoTilogical subjects among which are The His- 

 torii i)f Ariimdh, The (Jeneralion of Animals, and The 

 Parts aj Animals. He divided the animal kingdom into 

 two great groups; nainely, one containing those forms that 

 possessed blood and another including the forms '\"\ithout 

 blood. 



Pliny. — Aflei- Ai'istotlc came Pliny, the elder, who lived 

 in the fii'st century and wrole a natui-al liistory which dealt 

 willi the whok^ realm of natui-e — plants, animals, minerals, 

 stars, etc. He cannot be regarded as an original worker 



374 



