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In Greece and Italy: Greeks

We recall also the simile of the bees killed by smoke in Lycophron's "Cassandra." 1 The ancient Greeks knew all that could be known concerning the management of bees so far as this can be carried on without the revelations of modern science. They observed carefully and carefully recorded the results of their observations, and the amount of information they acquired is remarkable considering the crude methods of scientific study then followed.

Many mistakes of course crept into these observations, and many absurdities were gravely recorded and handed on by Aristotle, who wrote, however, with a sincerity and straightforwardness as well as with a guarded manner of expression that resembles the style of modern scientists. His followers were often prone to embellish the facts, but this Aristotle never does.