Note 37 — PERIOD IV

Harvey need not have gone outside the writings of Aristotle to get the substance of his generalisation. He would have found there that the chief task of both plants and animals is propagation, either by seeds, or eggs, which Aristotle believed to be equivalent to seeds (Hist. anim., VIII., i.; De anim. gen., I., iv.; I., xxiii.). Aristotle excepted the "imperfect animals," such as insects, and the seedless plants, concerning both of which his knowledge was misty and inaccurate; there is no indication that Harvey was better informed.