# Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning/Chapter 22

CHAP. XXII.
Of Ancient and Modern Histories of Animals.
INsects seem to be the lowest and simplest Order of Animals; for which Reason I shall begin with them. That some are very beneficial to Man, affording him Food and Rayment; as, the Bee, and the Silk-Worm: And others, again, ​very troublesome; as, Wasps, Hornets, Gnats, Moths, and abundance more; was formerly as well known as now. In their Observations about Bees, the Ancients were very curious. Pliny (p)(p) N. H. l.II. c.9. mentions one Aristomachus, who spent Fifty Eight Years in observing them: And it is very evident from him, Aristotle, and Ælian, that, as far as they could make their Observations, the Ancients did not neglect to digest necessary Materials for the Natural History of this wonderful and useful Insect. They were so particularly careful to collect what they could gather concerning it, that it is to be feared a very great Part of what they say is fabulous.
But if they were curious to collect Materials for the History of this single Insect, they were, in the main, as negligent about the rest. They had, indeed, Names for general Sorts of most of them; and they took notice of some, though but few, remarkable Sub-divisions. The Extent of their Knowledge in this Particular has been nicely shewn by Aldrovandus and Moufet. In their Writings one may see, that the Ancients knew nothing of many Sorts; and of those which they mention, they give very indifferent Descriptions; contenting themselves with ​such Accounts as might, perhaps, refresh the Memories of those who knew them before, but which could signifie very little to those who had never seen them. But of their Generation or Anatomy they could know nothing considerable, since those Things are, in a great Measure, owing to Observations made by Microscopes; and having observed few Sub-divisions, they could say little to the Ranging of those Insects which they knew already by distinct Characteristicks, under several Heads. For want of observing the several Steps of Nature in all their Mutations, and taking notice of the Sagacity of many sorts of Insects, in providing convenient Lodgings for themselves, and fit Harbours for their young ones, both for Shelter and Food, they often took those to be different, which were only the same Species at different Seasons; and those to be near of Kin, which only Chance, not an Identity of Nature, brought together.
The Clearing of all these Things is owing to Modern Industry, since the Time that Sir William Temple has set as a Period of the Advancement of Modern Knowledge; even within these last Forty Years. It lies, for the most part, in a very few Hands; and so is the more ea​sily traced. In Italy, Malpighius and Rhedi took several Parts. Rhedi (q)(q) Experimenta circa Generationem Insectorum examined very many general Sorts, those Insects especially which are believed to be produced from the Putrefaction of Flesh: Those he found to grow from Eggs laid by other grown Insects of the same Kinds. But he could not trace the Origination of those which are found upon Leaves, Branches, Flowers, and Roots of Trees. The Generation of those was nicely examined by Malpighius, in his curious Discourse of Galls, which is in the 2d. Part of his Anatomy of Plants; wherein he has sufficiently shewn, that those Excrescencies and Swellings which appear in Summer upon the Leaves, tender Twigs, Fruits and Roots of many Trees, Shrubs and Herbs, from whence several sorts of Insects spring, are all caused by Eggs laid there by full grown Insects of their own Kinds; for which Nature has kindly provided that secure Harbour, till they are able to come forth, and take Care of themselves. But Rhedi has gone further yet, and has made many Observations upon Insects that live, and are carried about on the Bodies of other Insects. His Observations have not been weakned by Monsieur Leeuwenhoek, whose Glasses, which are said to excel any ever yet used ​by other People, shewed him the same Animals that Monsieur Rhedi had discovered already; and innumerable sorts of others, never yet thought of.
Besides Monsieur Leeuwenhoek, there have been two very eminent Men in Holland for this Business; Goedartius and Swammerdam. Goedartius, who was no Philosopher, but one who, for his Diversion, took great Delight in painting all sorts of Insects, has given very exact Histories of the several Changes of Caterpillars into Butter-Flies, and Worms or Maggots into Flies; which had never before been taken notice of, as specifically different. These Changes had long before been observed in Caterpillars and Maggots by Aristotle, Theophrastus and Pliny: But they, who did, in a manner, all that has been done in this Matter by the Ancients, content themselves with general Things. They enter not into Minute Enquiries about the several Species of these Animals, which are very numerous: They do not state the Times of their several Changes. So that these Matters being left untouched, we have an admirable Specimen of the Modern Advancement of Knowledge, in Goedartius's Papers (r).(r) De Insectis, Edit. Lister.
​Still an Anatomical Solution of these Appearances was wholly unknown. What (s)(s) Metam. l. 15. Ovid says of the Metamorphoses of Insects, is suitable enough to the Design of his Poem: And there we may well allow such a Natural Change of Caterpillars into Butter-Flies, as is not to be accounted for by the Regular Laws of Growth and Augmentation of Natural Bodies. But a Natural Historian has no need of the Fictions of a Poet. These Difficulties therefore were cleared by Swammerdam (t)(t) Hist. General. Insect., who, in his General History of Insects, proves, that all the Parts of the full-grown Insect, which first appears in a different Form from what it assumes afterwards, were actually existent in the Fœtus, which creeps about as a Caterpillar, or a Maggot, till the Wings, Horns and Feet, which are inclosed in fine Membranes, come to their full Growth; at which Time that Membrane, which at first was only visible, dries up, and breaks; out of which comes forth the Insect proper to that Kind; which then gendring with its like, lays such Eggs as in a seasonable Time are hatched; that so the Species, which is not generated by Chance, may always be preserved.
​In England, Dr. Lister has done the most to compleat this Part of Natural History. His Book of Spiders gives an Account of very many Species of those Animals, formerly unobserved. His Latin and English Editions of Goedartius, have not only made that Author more intelligible, by ranging his confused Observations under certain Heads conformable to Nature, which may serve also as Foundations to enlarge upon, as more Species shall hereafter be discovered; but also have given him an Opportunity of saying many new Things, pertinent to that Subject, all tending to increase our Knowledge of those small Productions of the Divine Mechanicks. And his Discourse of Snails, lately printed, has shewn several very curious Things in that wonderful Tribe of Animals; which, though observed above Thirty Years ago, by Mr. Ray, yet had not been much believed, because not sufficiently illustrated by some able Anatomist.
This is what our Age has seen; and it is not the less admirable, because it cannot be made immediately useful to humane Life: It is an excellent Argument to prove, That it is not Gain alone which biasses the Pursuits of the Men of this Age after Knowledge; for here are ​numerous Instances of Learned Men, who finding other Parts of Natural Learning taken up by Men, who in all Probability would leave little for After-comers, have, rather than not contribute their Proportion towards the Advancement of Knowledge, spent a World of Time, Pains and Cost, in examining the Excrescencies of all the Parts of Trees, Shrubs, and Herbs, in observing the critical Times of the Changes of all sorts of Caterpillars and Maggots, in finding out by the Knife and Microscopes the minutest parts of the smallest Animals, in examining every Crevice, and poring in every Ditch, in tracing every Insect up to its Original Egg, and all this with as great Diligence, as if they had had an Alexander to have given them as many Talents, as he is said to have given to his Master Aristotle.
I shall put Fishes, Fowls and Quadrupeds together, because the Question as it relates to the Natural History of these Animals, may be brought into a small Compass. For as to the Anatomical part it is certain, That every Instance of the Defect of Ancient Anatomy already mentioned, is a Proof how little the Texture of the inward Parts of all these Creatures could possibly be known, and consequent​ly that no Old Descriptions of these Animals which should go beyond the parts immediately visible could have been considerable. There is hardly one eminent Modern Discovery in Anatomy, which was not first found in Brutes, and afterwards adjusted to humane Bodies. Many of them could never have been known without the Help of Live-dissections; and the rest required Abundance of Trials upon great Numbers of different sorts of Beasts, some appearing plainer in one sort of Animals, and some in another, before the Discoverers themselves could frame such a clear Idea of the things which they were then in Pursuit of, as that they could readily look for them in Humane Bodies; which could not be procured in so great Plenty, and of which they had not always the Convenience. All which things extremely tended to the perfecting of the Anatomy of all sorts of Brutes. About the other Part, which may comprehend an Account of their Way of Living, their Uses to humane Life, their Sagacity, and the like; the Ancients took much Pains, and went very far: And there are a great many admirable things in Aristotle's History of Animals concerning all these Matters. What Helps he had from Writers that lived before him ​we know not; if he had but little, it must be owned that his Book is one of the greatest Instances of Industry and Sagacity that perhaps has ever been given. But since, the Question is not so much, whether that is an excellent Book, as whether it is perfect, it ought to be compared with Mr. Willoughby's Histories of Fishes and Birds, and Mr. Ray's Synopsis of Quadrupeds, as the perfectest Modern Books upon these Matters; and then it will be easie to make a Judgment. I shall not make it my self, because no Man can mistake, that compares them, though never so negligently, together. I name only Aristotle, because he is, to us at least, an original Author: He had examined very many things himself, and though he took a great deal upon trust, yet that could not be avoided, since he had so little, that we know of, from more remote Antiquity, and it was too vast a Work for any one single Man to go through with by himself. Ælian and Pliny seem only to have copied, and, with Submission be it spoken, their Writings are Rhapsodies of Stories and Relations partly true, and partly fabulous, which themselves had not Skill enough to separate one from the other, rather than Natural Histories; from which Accusation, even Aristotle ​himself cannot wholly be excused. To make this Comparison the easier, one may consult Gesner and Aldrovandus; or, if they are too voluminous, Wotton De Differentiis Animalium, who has put under one View, in several Heads, almost every thing that is to be found in any ancient Authors concerning these things. What he has collected of the Elephant, may be compared with Dr. Moulin's Anatomy of the same Creature: The Ancients Observation concerning Vipers may be read along with Rhedi's and Charas's. Their Anatomical Descriptions of many other Animals may be examined with those published by the Members of the French Academy and Mr. Ray in his Synopsis: And then the Imperfections of the one, and the Excellencies of the other will be clearly seen, and the Distance between each exactly stated; though perhaps this may seem too far about, since it is manifest at first Sight, That no ancient Descriptions of any Creatures could be at present valuable, when their whole Anatomy was so imperfect. Some mistakes however might, methinks, have been prevented; the Egyptian Sages could sure have taught them that a Crocodile moves his under-Jaw and not his upper; they might soon have found that a Lion has ​Vertebres in his Neck, and with them by Consequence can move it upon Occasion; and has as large a Heart as other Creatures of his Size; that a(u) Borellus de Motu Animalium Part. II. Prop. 219. Fabulosa narratio passim circumfertur de Histrice, quæ cutum tendendo, spinas illas prælongas quibus dorsum ejus tegitur, longiùs ejaculatur. De hoc Animali ennarabo ea, quæ propriis oculis vidi. Hystrix non ejaculatur spinas suas prælongas, sed tantummodo eas arrectas retinendo tremulâ concussione agitat & vibrat. Hoc quidem effictur à pelle musculosâ, & à musculis semilunaribus, quibus interna cutis stipata est, qui radices spinarum erigunt & concutiunt. Vide quoque Raii Synopsin Animal. Quadruped. Pag. 209. (u) Porcupine shoots out none of his Quills upon those that set upon him; and several other things, which would have prevented several Over-sights that are not much for the Honour of Ancient Diligence. This would have saved Abundance of fabulous Relations that may be found in ancient Naturalists. Their heaping up monstrous Stories without giving distinguishing Marks many times to testifie which they believed, and which not, is an evident Sign, that they were not enough acquainted with these Creatures to make a thorough Judgment what might be relied upon, and what ought to be rejected. For accurate Skill in these things helps a Man to judge as certainly of those Relations which himself never saw, as Political Skill does to judge of Accounts of Matters that belong to civil Life, and a great deal better, by how much Nature goes in an evener Course than ​the Wills and Fancies of Men, which are the Foundations of most of the Things that are transacted in the World.
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