tro ARISTOTLE THE FIRST SCALE-READER 
of “ The Philosopher of the many Rings”’ better earned than 
by his foppish affection for jewellery. 
In general opinion, the person most closely approaching 
the required Proteus or Nereus was his pupil and sometime 
friend, Alexander the Great. By placing at his disposal 
several thousand men to collect all kinds of animals and fishes 
from all parts of the then known world, he enabled him with 
the aid of the materials thus provided to produce his famous 
Natural History. 
For this identification we have not a scrap of internal 
evidence, but merely the assertions of much later writers, 
such as Pliny, Athenzus (who adds that Philip gave him 800 
talents to finish the History), and Aélian.! 
Apart from want of intrinsic evidence, the fact that the 
geographical references and the fish mentioned in his Natural 
History nearly all cluster round Lesbos effectually precludes the 
idea of Alexander ‘‘ Hagenbecking ”’ for Aristotle.? 
Internal evidence and reasons advanced by Professor 
D’Arcy Thompson 3 indicate that nearly. all the animals and 
fishes with which Aristotle was practically acquainted belonged 
to Greece, Western Asia, and Sappho’s Lesbos (especially of 
the lagoon of Pyrrha), where he lived some four years just 
previous to his Macedonian trip, 343 B.C. 
The fishes in his Natural History, mostly given without any 
attempt at classification or really adequate description, number 
at least one hundred and ten. He discusses in some instances 
the anatomical characteristics, food, breeding habits, migrations, 
1 Plin., Nat. Hist., VIII.17; Athen., Detpn., 1X. 58; ALl., Var. Hist., 1V. 19. 
2 On the other hand, Abu-Shaker, an Arab writer of the thirteeth century, 
makes Aristotle the materia] benefactor of Alexander by his present of a box 
in which a number of wax figures were nailed down. These were intended to 
represent the various kinds of armed forces that Alexander was likely to 
encounter. Some held leaden swords curved backwards, some spears pointed 
head downwards, and some bows with cut strings. All the figures were laid 
face downwards in the box. Aristotle bade his pupil never to let the key out 
of his possession, and taught him to recite certain formule whenever he opened 
the box. This is only another use of magic, for the wax, the words of power, 
and the position of the figures all indicate that his foes would become pros- 
trate and unable to withstand Alexander. See Budge, Life of Alexander the 
Great (one vol. ed.), p. Xvi. ; 
3 See D’Arcy Thompson, Aristotle as a Biologist, Herbert Spencer Lecture, 
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1913, p. 13. , 
