XO42 Photograph of members of the Aristotle Society

Photograph of Members of the Aristotle Society, facsimile Philadelphia, ca. 1900

Courtesy of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Library & Archives, Coll 466

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), a celebrated philosopher and mathematician, had once claimed that had Aristotle been his contemporary, he would have worked in a Biology department. The Aristotle Society echoed that belief. Originally organized in October 1899 as the Association for the Advancement of Natural History and dedicated to the study of flora and fauna, the Association became the Aristotle Society on May 12, 1900. As the photograph clearly shows, the Society, founded by the entomologists Henry L. Viereck, James A.G. Rehn, W.S. Huntington, and George M. Greene, was comprised primarily of young men. They collected specimens, presented their research, and read papers at their meetings. Meetings were held at the homes of members. The last minutes for the Society are dated September 11, 1908.

Top: James Rehn, George Greene, Nelson Poole, Henry Viereck, Erick Daeche

Bottom: Carl Fenninger, W.S. Huntington, Dr. William Beatty, Harry Wenzel