“Viginti milia rerum dignarum cura ... ex lectione voluminum circiter duum milium, quorum pauca admodum studiosi attingunt propter secretum materiæ, ex exquisitis auctoribus centum inclusimus xxxvi voluminibus, adiectis rebus plurimis quas aut ignoraverant priores aut postea invenerat vita.” Also from the dedication. Pliny uses more than one hundred writers, however. Footnote 55: “Homines enim sumus et occupati officiis, subcisivisque temporibus ista curamus, id est nocturnis, ne quis vestris putet cessatum horis.” From the dedication. Footnote 56: Pliny the Younger to Macer in his _Letters_, bk. iii, ep. 5, ed. Keil, Leipzig, 1896. Footnote 57: Geo. H. Lewes, _Aristotle; a Chapter from the History of Science_, London, 1864. Lewes also holds that while Aristotle often dwelt upon the value of experiment and the necessity of having a mass of facts before making general assertions, he in practice frequently jumped at conclusions. Footnote 58: _Nat. Hist._, bk. xxvi, ch. 9. “Mirum esset profecto hucusque profectam credulitatem antiquorum saluberrimis ortam initiis, si in ulla re modum humana ingenia novissent atque non hanc ipsam medicinam ab Asclepiade repertam probaturi suo loco assemus evectam ultra Magos etiam. Haec est omni in re animorum condicio, ut a necessariis orsa primo cuncta pervenerint ad nimium.” _Cf._ also bk. xxviii, ch. 1. “Quamquam et ipsi consensu prope iudicata eligere laboravimus potiusque curae rerum quam copiae institimus.” In Pliny’s dedication, however, occurs a sentence which gives one the impression that he felt rather in duty bound to accept tradition. “Res ardua, vetustis novitatem dare, novis auctoritatem, obseletis nitorem, obscuris lucem, fastiditis gratiam, _dubiis fidem_, omnibus vero naturam et naturae suae omnia.” Footnote 59: Quoted without reference by E. Eggleston, “_The Transit of Civilization from England to America in the Seventeenth Century_” (N. Y., 1901), p. 16. This interesting and valuable book contains much material illustrative of the science and superstitions of the times. Footnote 60: _Etymologies_, bk. xvi, Migne, vol. lxxxii. Footnote 61: _Alcuini Epistolae_, 103, vol. vi, pp. 431–432, of _Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum_, ed. Philip Jaffé, Berlin, 1873. “Vel quid acutius quam quod naturalium rerum divitissimus [or devotissimus] inventor, Plinius Secundus, de caelestium siderum ratione exposuit, investigari valet?” In Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, vol. c, col. 278, the letter is given as number 85. For other references to Pliny by earlier writers, see _Bibliothèque Latine-Française_, C. L. F. Panckoucke, vol. cvi which forms the opening volume of Pliny’s work in that set. Footnote 62: _Nat. Hist._, bk. xxx, ch. 1. “Auctoritatem ei maxumam fuisse nemo miretur, quandoquidem sola artium tris alias imperiosissimas humanae mentis conplexa in unam se redigit.” Footnote 63: