One instance of Aristotle's combining philosophical speculation with acute observation of natural phenomena is afforded by his work on generation and development. He knew that the transmission of life deserves special study as the predominant function of the various species of plants and animals. Deformed parents may have well-formed offspring. Children may resemble grandparents rather than parents. It is only toward the close of its development that the embryo exhibits the characteristics of its parent species. Aristotle traced with some care the embryological development of the chick from the fourth day of incubation. His knowledge of the propagation of animals was, however, not sufficient to make him reject the belief in spontaneous generation from mud, sand, foam, and dew. His errors are readily comprehensible, as, for example, in attributing spontaneous generation to eels, the habits and mode of reproduction of which only recent studies have made fully known. In regard to generation, as in other scientific fields, the philosophic mind of Aristotle anticipated modern theories, and also raised general questions only to be solved by later investigation of the facts.
Only one indication need be given of the practical results that flowed from Aristotle's scientific work. In one of his writings he has stated that the sphericity of the earth can be observed from the fact that its shadow on the moon at the time of eclipse is an arc. That it is both spherical and small in comparison with the heavenly bodies appears, moreover, from this, that stars visible in Egypt are invisible in countries farther north; while stars always above the horizon in northern countries are seen to set from countries to the south. Consequently the earth is not only spherical but also not large; otherwise this phenomenon would not present itself on so limited a change of position on the part of the observer. "It seems, therefore, not incredible that the region about the Pillars of Hercules [Gibraltar] is connected with that of India, and that there is thus only one ocean." It is known that this passage from _The Philosopher_ influenced Columbus in his undertaking to reach the Orient by sailing west from the coast of Spain.