Note 822 — Chapter VI

The ancients, as is well known, rarely took this trouble. Mure's Hist. of Greek Literature, vol. iv. pp. 197, 306, 307. But what is much more curious is, that, even in scientific works, there was an equal looseness; and Cuvier says, that, in the sixteenth century, ‘on se bornait à dire, d'une manière générale, Aristote a dit telle chose, sans indiquer ni le passage ni le livre dans lequel la citation se trouvait.’ Cuvier, Hist. des Sciences, part ii. p. 63; and at p. 88, ‘suivant l'usage de son temps, Gessner n'indique pas avec précision les endroits d'où il a tiré ses citations:’ see also p. 214.