Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/27

 as it was evaporated by the sun. Man was like another animal, namely, a fish, in the beginning.

"The first animals were produced in the moisture, each enclosed in a prickly bark. As they advanced in age, they came out upon the drier part. When the bark broke off, they survived for a short time.

"Further, he says that originally man was born from animals of another species. His reason is that while other animals quickly find food by themselves, man alone requires a lengthy period of suckling. Hence, had he been originally as he is now, he would never have survived.

"He declares that at first human beings arose in the inside of fishes, and after having been reared like sharks, and become capable of protecting themselves, they were finally cast ashore and took to land." 1

We may puzzle ourselves and find much or little in these syncopated fragments. They do not disclose the manner of Anaximander's investigations, but represent his conclusions, which were drawn from his study of nature. They stand for his explanations of the visible facts, his accounting for phenomena. This