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INTRODUCTION
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liny, in his Natural History, mentions about twenty Greek writers as authorities for his chapters on precious stones and other mineral substances, but, of the works of these authors, only the brief, or fragmentary, treatise On Stones by Theophrastus has survived to inform us in a direct way of the extent of Greek learning in this field. As the earliest known scientific work dealing expressly with minerals and artificial products derived from them, it is of unique importance in the history of mineralogy and of chemical technology.
Theophrastus, the famous pupil of Aristotle, was born about 372 b.c. at Eresos on the island of Lesbos. He studied at Athens and became an adherent of the school of Plato, and later a friend and pupil of his master Aristotle; when Aristotle withdrew from Athens (before his death in 322), he succeeded him as leader of the Peripatetic school of philosophy. He remained its spokesman and outstanding figure until his death, about 287; for according to Diogenes Laertius,1 he died at the age of eighty-five.2
Though Theophrastus is best known in literature for his Characters, a work which has had considerable influence on the drama and on other branches of literature, his writings on natural science are at least of equal importance. His two great works on plants, for example, have led posterity to consider him one of the greatest botanists of all time, the founder of botanical science. Following the practice of the philosophers of his day, he was, however, a voluminous writer on a great variety of subjects. Primary Propositions, Problems in Natural Philosophy, History of Astronomy, Love, Meteorology, Epilepsy, Animals, Motion, Laws, Odors, Wine and Oil, Proverbs, Water, Fire, History of Geometry, Sleep and Dreams, Virtue, Inventions, Music, Poetry, History of
1 Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book V, chap, ii, sec. 40. At the beginning of chap, ii Diogenes Laertius says that he obtained information about Theophrastus from Apollodorus.
2 The dates 372-287 are accepted by W. von Christ-W. Schmid-O. Stählin, Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur in Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, 6th ed., Vol. VII, 2, 1 (1920), p. 60. However, the exact dates are not certain. K.O. Brink, Oxford Classical Dictionary (1949), p. 896, suggests 372/369-288/285; and O. Regenbogen in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie, Supplemental Vol. VII (1940), p.1357, puts his birth in 372/371 or 371/370 and his death in 288/287 or 287/286.
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