Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/19

 PREFACE

THE OBJECT of this little monograph is to indicate the debt of the modern world to the ancient biology and medicine. One might as well say simply Greek biology and medicine, since whether pursued or practiced in Ionia, in Attica, or in Rome, the biology and medicine worthy of our attention were Greek in their origin and progress, and owed little to the Romans. The scientific spirit was an endowment of Hellas, and alien from the genius of Rome; nor did the Romans capture much of it from the gifted race whom they subdued politically, and by whose art and literature they were captivated in turn.

The task before us might make the labor of a lifetime for any writer, and the resulting volume would inevitably lead the reader into long winding avenues. I offer but a sketch, a slight sketch as it were, of Greek biology and medicine. I have endeavored to draw it in such a way as to make clear the nature of their influence upon our intellectual life today. So