THE LAGOON BY THE SAME AUTHOR Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body THE LAGOON How Aristotle Invented Science Armand Marie Leroi with translations from the Greek by Simon MacPherson and original illustrations by David Koutsogiannopoulos VIKING Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) LLC 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China penguin.com A Penguin Random House Company Published by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 2014 Copyright © 2014 by Armand Marie Leroi Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader. First published in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Illustration credits appearhere. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Leroi, Armand Marie. The lagoon : how Aristotle invented science / Armand Marie Leroi ; with translations from the Greek by Simon MacPherson and original illustrations by David Koutsogiannopoulos. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 978-0-698-17039-1 1. Biology—History. 2. Biology—Philosophy—History. 3. Aristotle. I. Title. II. Title: How Aristotle invented science. QH331.L5285 2014 570.1—dc23 2014021366 Version_1 To my parents Antoine Marie Leroi (1925–2013) & Johanna Christina Joubert-Leroi LESBOS (MYTILENE) Among the isles of Greece there is a certain island, insula nobilis et amoena, which Aristotle knew well. It lies on the Asian side, between the Troad and the Mysian coast, and far into its bosom, by the little town of Pyrrha, runs a broad and sheltered lagoon. D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, On Aristotle as a biologist (1913) CONTENTS Title Page Copyright Dedication At Erato The Island The Known World The Anatomies Natures The Dolphin’s Snore The Instruments The Bird Winds The Soul of the Cuttlefish Foam The Valley of Sheep Recipe for an Oyster Figs, Honey, Fish The Stone Forest Kosmos The Strait of Pyrrha Glossaries Appendices Notes Bibliography Illustrating Aristotle Acknowledgements Index