Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus: with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History — Aristotle — John Shaqi
Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus: with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History
Aristotle · en
In describing the brain, he states that all red-blooded animals have
that organ, as have also the mollusca, and that in man it is largest and
most humid. He had observed its two membranes, as well as the
hemispheres and cerebellum; but he asserts that it is bloodless, that no
veins exist in it, and that it is naturally cold to the touch. He was
ignorant of the distribution of the nerves, was not aware that the
arteries contain blood, imagined that the heart being connected with the
windpipe is inflated through it, and, in a word, manifests extreme
ignorance of every thing that relates to the internal organization.
Judging from this specimen, the reader may suspect that his time would
not be profitably employed in separating the few particles of wheat from
the great mass of chaff which the writings of Aristotle present to us.
Nor must it be concealed that the modern naturalist does not consult his
volumes for information, but merely to gratify curiosity. There is to be
found, indeed, in the most imperfect of our elementary works on anatomy,
whether human or comparative, more knowledge than was probably contained
in the Alexandrian library.
In his second book, he treats more particularly of animals. At its
commencement we unfortunately meet with a stumbling-block, in the shape
of an assertion, that the neck of the lion has no vertebrae, but consists
of a single bone. In speaking of limbs, he takes occasion to describe
the proboscis of the elephant, and to enter generally into the history
of that gigantic quadruped. He then speaks with reference to the
distribution of hair, remarking, that the hair of the human head is
longer than that of any other animal; that some are covered all over
with long hair, as the bear; others on the neck only, as the lion; and
others only along the back of the neck, as the horse and the bonasus. He
describes the buffalo and the camel; of the latter of which he mentions
the two species, the Arabian and the Bactrian. The subject of claws,
hoofs, and horns, is next discussed. He states that some quadrupeds have
many toes, as the lion; while others have the foot divided into two, as
the sheep; and others again have a single toe or hoof, as the horse. His
aphorisms on the subject of horns are in general correct. Thus, he
states that most creatures furnished with them have cloven hoofs, and
that no single-hoofed animal has two horns.