40 
MEMOIR OF 
discovery of others. “ It is, perhaps, impossible, a. 
the present day, when the investigation of nature 
is so much facilitated, by the accumulation of the 
knowledge of ages in every department of physical 
science — by the commercial relations existing in 
all parts of the globe — by a tried method of 
observation, experiment, and induction — and, 
finally, by the possession of the most ingenious 
instruments, — to form any adequate idea of the 
numerous difficulties under which this ancient 
naturalist laboured.”* It is remarkable, that as 
it is not known that Aristotle had any companion 
in the scientific pursuit of zoology, so there is 
no record of any follower, at however great a 
distance, till Plinj' the elder, born in the reign of 
Tiberius, in the twentieth year of the Christian 
era, that is, nearly three centuries and a half after 
the death of Aristotle. 
It appears that Pliny travelled into Germany, 
Spain, Africa, and perhaps Britain, Egypt, and 
India ; that he was engaged in political and 
military services, and yet, at the same time, that 
he devoted himself so sedulously to literature, as 
that scarcely any one before him had written so 
many books. 
He compiled thirty-six volumes of natural 
history, chiefly from the works of other writers, 
amounting, as he asserts, to 2000 volumes. The 
very names even of many of these authors would 
row be unknown but for Pliny’s own enumeration 
Macgillivray. 
