Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/29

Rh very far beyond the Greeks. It has not, however, altogether improved upon their spirit, although in practice it has brought the habit of careful and toilsome verification which was not theirs. Yet the methods of modern medicine have ever and anon been fain to hark back to the broad wisdom of Hippocrates; and as for the genius and accomplishment of Aristotle in biology, why, he will reappear as Harvey's god and Darwin's admiration.2

After Anaximander, other natural philosophers thought much upon the origin of plants and animals. Biological considerations and medical doctrines appear in the fragments of the early philosophers and fill out the traditions of their lives, — with Anaxagoras, in his recognition of the differences between living organisms and inanimate objects, with Empedocles, presumably an important figure in the history of medicine, with Democritus, a dissector and penetrating investigator, of whom Aristotle said that no one had so profoundly considered growth and change.

Can we discover a general purpose in their investigations and reflections? Possibly, — by a moderate use of constructive interpretation. They were searching for the source and cause