ABSTRACT
If, then, the ancient conception of nature failed to advance beyond the point to which Aristotle brought it, nevertheless there developed after his time and on the foundations laid by him a specialized form of biological research which during the following centuries produced rare and abundant harvests. The centre of natural research during this period, not only in the biological, but in other branches, was Alexandria, the purely Greek capital of Egypt. Under the patronage of the refined and generous kings of the Ptolemaic dynasty there was here established an institute of scientific research the like of which the ancient world never saw before or afterwards. Even the founder of the dynasty, Ptolemy I (died in 183 b.c.), was a highly cultured man who collected books and was himself an author. His son Ptolemy II founded the Museum of Alexandria (mouseion — a temple of the goddesses of song and wisdom, the Muses), an institution where scholars from every country received lodging and maintenance and substantial assistance for the furthering of their research work. It was conducted on the lines of an academy with the chief librarian as chairman; the highest authority was exercised by the high-priest of the Muses, who was religious head of the college. All the branches of science known to classical antiquity were studied here; the science of biology was chiefly pursued in connexion with medicine, like anatomy and physiology.
