remains to the present day
as a monument of industrious compilation. But, as a biologist properly
so called, Pliny is absolutely without rank, for he lacked that
practical acquaintance with the subject which alone could enable him to
speak with authority. Of information he had an almost inexhaustible
store; of actual knowledge, the result of observation and experience, so
far as biological studies were concerned, he had but little. This was
largely due to the encyclopaedic character of the work he undertook; his
mental powers were weighed down by an enormous mass of unarranged and
ill-digested materials. But it was due also to the peculiar bent of
Pliny's mind. He was not, like Aristotle, an original thinker; he was
essentially a student of books, an immensely industrious but not always
judicious compiler. Often his selections from other works prove that he
failed to appreciate the relative importance of the different subjects
to which he made reference. His knowledge of the Greek language appears,
too, to have been defective, for he gives at times the wrong Latin names
to objects described by his Greek authorities. To these defects must be
added his marvellous readiness to believe any statement, provided only
that it was uncommon; while, on the other hand, he showed an
indefensible scepticism in regard to what was really deserving of
attention. The chief value of his work consists in the historical and
chronological notes of the progress of some of the subjects of which he
treats--fragments of writings which would otherwise be lost to us. Pliny
was killed in the destruction of Pompeii, A.D. 79.

Claudius Galenus was born at Pergamus, in Asia Minor, in the hundred and
thirty-first year of the Christian era. Few writers ever exercised for
so long a time such an undisputed sway over the opinions of mankind as
did this wonderful man. His authority was estimated at a much higher
rate than that of all the biological writers combined who flourished
during a period of more than twelve centuries, and it was often
considered a sufficient argument against a hypothesis, or even an
alleged matter of fact, that it was contrary to Galen.

Endowed by nature with a penetrating genius and a mind of restless
energy, he was eminently qualified to profit by a comprehensive and
liberal education. And such he received. His father, Nicon, an
architect, was a man of learning and ability--a distinguished
mathematician and an astronomer--and se