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第37章

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y some critics that it was the adverse conviction of the Peripatetic philosopher which; more than any other single influence; tended to retard the progress of the true doctrine regarding the mechanism of the heavens。 Aristotle accepted the sphericity of the earth; and that doctrine became a commonplace of scientific knowledge; and so continued throughout classical antiquity。 But Aristotle rejected the doctrine of the earth's motion; and that doctrine; though promulgated actively by a few contemporaries and immediate successors of the Stagirite; was then doomed to sink out of view for more than a thousand years。 If it be a correct assumption that the influence of Aristotle was; in a large measure; responsible for this result; then we shall perhaps not be far astray in assuming that the great founder of the Peripatetic school was; on the whole; more instrumental in retarding the progress of astronomical science that any other one man that ever lived。 The field of science in which Aristotle was pre…eminently a pathfinder is zoology。 His writings on natural history have largely been preserved; and they constitute by far the most important contribution to the subject that has come down to us from antiquity。 They show us that Aristotle had gained possession of the widest range of facts regarding the animal kingdom; and; what is far more important; had attempted to classify these facts。 In so doing he became the founder of systematic zoology。 Aristotle's classification of the animal kingdom was known and studied throughout the Middle Ages; and; in fact; remained in vogue until superseded by that of Cuvier in the nineteenth century。 It is not to be supposed that all the terms of Aristotle's classification originated with him。 Some of the divisions are too patent to have escaped the observation of his predecessors。 Thus; for example; the distinction between birds and fishes as separate classes of animals is so obvious that it must appeal to a child or to a savage。 But the efforts of Aristotle extended; as we shall see; to less patent generalizations。 At the very outset; his grand division of the animal kingdom into blood…bearing and bloodless animals implies a very broad and philosophical conception of the entire animal kingdom。 The modern physiologist does not accept the classification; inasmuch as it is now known that colorless fluids perform the functions of blood for all the lower organisms。 But the fact remains that Aristotle's grand divisions correspond to the grand divisions of the Lamarckian systemvertebrates and invertebrates which every one now accepts。 Aristotle; as we have said; based his classification upon observation of the blood; Lamarck was guided by a study of the skeleton。 The fact that such diverse points of view could direct the observer towards the same result gives; inferentially; a suggestive lesson in what the modern physiologist calls the homologies of parts of the organism。 Aristotle divides his so…called blood…bearing animals into five classes: (1) Four…footed animals that bring forth their young alive; (2) birds; (3) egg…laying four… footed animals (including what modern naturalists call reptiles and amphibians); (4) whales and their allies; (5) fishes。 This classification; as will be observed; is not so very far afield from the modern divisions into mammals; birds; reptiles; amphibians; and fishes。 That Aristotle should have recognized the fundamental distinction between fishes and the fish… like whales; dolphins; and porpoises proves the far from superficial character of his studies。 Aristotle knew that these animals breathe by means of lungs and that they produce living young。 He recognized; therefore; their affinity with his first class of animals; even if he did not; like the modern naturalist; consider these affinities close enough to justify bringing the two types together into a single class。 The bloodless animals were also divided by Aristotle into five classesnamely: (1) Cephalopoda (the octopus; cuttle…fish; etc。); (2) weak…shelled animals (crabs; etc。); (3) insects and their allies (including various forms; such as spiders and centipedes; which the modern classifier prefers to place by themselves); (4) hard…shelled animals (clams; oysters; snails; etc。); (5) a conglomerate group of marine forms; including star…fish; sea…urchins; and various anomalous forms that were regarded as linking the animal to the vegetable worlds。 This classification of the lower forms of animal life continued in vogue until Cuvier substituted for it his famous grouping into articulates; mollusks; and radiates; which grouping in turn was in part superseded later in the nineteenth century。 What Aristotle did for the animal kingdom his pupil; Theophrastus; did in some measure for the vegetable kingdom。 Theophrastus; however; was much less a classifier than his master; and his work on botany; called The Natural History of Development; pays comparatively slight attention to theoretical questions。 It deals largely with such practicalities as the making of charcoal; of pitch; and of resin; and the effects of various plants on the animal organism when taken as foods or as medicines。 In this regard the work of Theophrastus; is more nearly akin to the natural history of the famous Roman compiler; Pliny。 It remained; however; throughout antiquity as the most important work on its subject; and it entitles Theophrastus to be called the 〃father of botany。〃 Theophrastus deals also with the mineral kingdom after much the same fashion; and here again his work is the most notable that was produced in antiquity。

IX。 GREEK SCIENCE OF THE ALEXANDRIAN OR HELLENISTIC PERIOD We are entering now upon the most important scientific epoch of antiquity。 When Aristotle and Theophrastus passed from the scene; Athens ceased to be in any sense the scientific centre of the world。 That city still retained its reminiscent glory; and cannot be ignored in the history of culture; but no great scientific leader was ever again to be born or to take up his permanent abode within the confines of Greece proper。 With almost cataclysmic suddenness; a new intellectual centre appeared on the south shore of the Mediterranean。 This was the city of Alexandria; a city which Alexander the Great had founded during his brief visit to Egypt; and which became the capital of Ptolemy Soter when he chose Egypt as his portion of the dismembered empire of the great Macedonian。 Ptolemy had been with his master in the East; and was with him in Babylonia when he died。 He had therefore come personally in contact with Babylonian civilization; and we cannot doubt that this had a most important influence upon his life; and through him upon the new civilization of the West。 In point of culture; Alexandria must be regarded as the successor of Babylon; scarcely less directly than of Greece。 Following the Babylonian model; Ptolemy erected a great museum and began collecting a library。 Before his death it was said that he had collected no fewer than two hundred thousand manuscripts。 He had gathered also a company of great teachers and founded a school of science which; as has just been said; made Alexandria the culture…centre of the world。 Athens in the day of her prime had known nothing quite like this。 Such private citizens as Aristotle are known to have had libraries; but there were no great public collections of books in Athens; or in any other part of the Greek domain; until Ptolemy founded his famous library。 As is well known; such libraries had existed in Babylonia for thousands of years。 The character which the Ptolemaic epoch took on was no doubt due to Babylonian influence; but quite as much to the personal experience of Ptolemy himself as an explorer in the Far East。 The marvellous conquering journey of Alexander had enormously widened the horizon of the Greek geographer; and stimulated the imagination of all ranks of the people; It was but natural; then; that geography and its parent science astronomy should occupy the attention of the best minds in this succeeding epoch。 In point of fact; such a company of star…gazers and earth…measurers came upon the scene in this third century B。C。 as had never before existed anywhere in the world。 The whole trend of the time was towards mechanics。 I

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