CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY
OF SCIENCE

General Editor CHARLES SINGER

I
GREEK BIOLOGY
&
GREEK MEDICINE

BY
CHARLES SINGER

OXFORD
At the CLARENDON PRESS

1922

Oxford University Press

Humphrey Milford Publisher to the University
2540.1
PRINTED IN ENGLAND.

PREFACE

This little book is an attempt to compress into a few pages an accountof the general evolution of Greek biological and medical knowledge. Thesection on Aristotle appears here for the first time. The remainingsections are reprinted from articles contributed to a volume TheLegacy of Greece edited by Mr. R. W. Livingstone, the only changesbeing the correction of a few errors and the addition of some furtherreferences to the literature.

In quoting from the great Aristotelian biological treatises, theHistory of Animals, the Parts of Animals, and the Generation ofAnimals, I have usually availed myself of the text of the Oxfordtranslation edited by Mr. W. D. Ross. For the De anima I have usedthe version of Mr. R. D. Hicks.

I have to thank my friends Mr. R. W. Livingstone, Dr. E. T. Withington,and Mr. J. D. Beazley for a number of suggestions. To my colleagueProfessor Arthur Platt I have to record my gratitude not only formuch help in the writing of these chapters but also for his kindnessand patience in reading and rereading the work both in manuscript andproof. I am specially indebted, moreover, to the notes appended to histranslation of the Generation of Animals.

C. S.  

University College, London.
  March 1922.