No More Learning

Such, then, are the different senses in which the term 'prior' is
used.

Yet it would seem that besides those mentioned there is yet another.
For in those things, the being of each of which implies that of the
other, that which is in any way the cause may reasonably be said to be
by nature 'prior' to the effect. It is plain that there are
instances of this. The fact of the being of a man carries with it
the truth of the proposition that he is, and the implication is
reciprocal: for if a man is, the proposition wherein we allege that he
is true, and conversely, if the proposition wherein we allege that
he is true, then he is. The true proposition, however, is in no way
the cause of the being of the man, but the fact of the man's being
does seem somehow to be the cause of the truth of the proposition, for
the truth or falsity of the proposition depends on the fact of the
man's being or not being.

Thus the word 'prior' may be used in five senses.

13

The term 'simultaneous' is primarily and most appropriately
applied to those things the genesis of the one of which is
simultaneous with that of the other; for in such cases neither is
prior or posterior to the other. Such things are said to be
simultaneous in point of time. Those things, again, are 'simultaneous'
in point of nature, the being of each of which involves that of the
other, while at the same time neither is the cause of the other's
being. This is the case with regard to the double and the half, for
these are reciprocally dependent, since, if there is a double, there
is also a half, and if there is a half, there is also a double,
while at the same time neither is the cause of the being of the other.

Again, those species which are distinguished one from another and
opposed one to another within the same genus are said to be
'simultaneous' in nature. I mean those species which are
distinguished each from each by one and the same method of division.
Thus the 'winged' species is simultaneous with the 'terrestrial' and
the 'water' species. These are distinguished within the same genus,
and are opposed each to each, for the genus 'animal' has the 'winged',
the 'terrestrial', and the 'water' species, and no one of these is
prior or posterior to another; on the contrary, all such things appear
to be 'simultaneous' in nature. Each of these also, the terrestrial,
the winged, and the water species, can be divided again into
subspecies. Those species, then, also will be 'simultaneous' point
of nature, which, belonging to the same genus, are distinguished
each from each by one and the same method of differentiation.

But genera are prior to species, for the sequence of their being
cannot be reversed. If there is the species 'water-animal', there will
be the genus 'animal', but granted the being of the genus 'animal', it
does not follow necessarily that there will be the species
'water-animal'.

Those things, therefore, are said to be 'simultaneous' in nature,
the being of each of which involves that of the other, while at the
same time neither is in any way the cause of the other's being;
those species, also, which are distinguished each from each and
opposed within the same genus. Those things, moreover, are
'simultaneous' in the unqualified sense of the word which come into
being at the same time.

14

There are six sorts of movement: generation, destruction,
increase, diminution, alteration, and change of place.

It is evident in all but one case that all these sorts of movement
are distinct each from each. Generation is distinct from
destruction, increase and change of place from diminution, and so
on. But in the case of alteration it may be argued that the process
necessarily implies one or other of the other five sorts of motion.
This is not true, for we may say that all affections, or nearly all,
produce in us an alteration which is distinct from all other sorts
of motion, for that which is affected need not suffer either
increase or diminution or any of the other sorts of motion. Thus
alteration is a distinct sort of motion; for, if it were not, the
thing altered would not only be altered, but would forthwith
necessarily suffer increase or diminution or some one of the other
sorts of motion in addition; which as a matter of fact is not the
case. Similarly that which was undergoing the process of increase or
was subject to some other sort of motion would, if alteration were not
a distinct form of motion, necessarily be subject to alteration
also. But there are some things which undergo increase but yet not
alteration. The square, for instance, if a gnomon is applied to it,
undergoes increase but not alteration, and so it is with all other
figures of this sort. Alteration and increase, therefore, are
distinct.

Speaking generally, rest is the contrary of motion. But the
different forms of motion have their own contraries in other forms;
thus destruction is the contrary of generation, diminution of
increase, rest in a place, of change of place. As for this last,
change in the reverse direction would seem to be most truly its
contrary; thus motion upwards is the contrary of motion downwards
and vice versa.

In the case of that sort of motion which yet remains, of those
that have been enumerated, it is not easy to state what is its
contrary. It appears to have no contrary, unless one should define the
contrary here also either as 'rest in its quality' or as 'change in
the direction of the contrary quality', just as we defined the
contrary of change of place either as rest in a place or as change
in the reverse direction. For a thing is altered when change of
quality takes place; therefore either rest in its quality or change in
the direction of the contrary may be called the contrary of this
qualitative form of motion. In this way becoming white is the contrary
of becoming black; there is alteration in the contrary direction,
since a change of a qualitative nature takes place.

15

The term 'to have' is used in various senses. In the first place
it is used with reference to habit or disposition or any other
quality, for we are said to 'have' a piece of knowledge or a virtue.
Then, again, it has reference to quantity, as, for instance, in the
case of a man's height; for he is said to 'have' a height of three
or four cubits. It is used, moreover, with regard to apparel, a man
being said to 'have' a coat or tunic; or in respect of something which
we have on a part of ourselves, as a ring on the hand: or in respect
of something which is a part of us, as hand or foot. The term refers
also to content, as in the case of a vessel and wheat, or of a jar and
wine; a jar is said to 'have' wine, and a corn-measure wheat. The
expression in such cases has reference to content. Or it refers to
that which has been acquired; we are said to 'have' a house or a
field. A man is also said to 'have' a wife, and a wife a husband,
and this appears to be the most remote meaning of the term, for by the
use of it we mean simply that the husband lives with the wife.

Other senses of the word might perhaps be found, but the most
ordinary ones have all been enumerated.

-THE END-


350 BC

HISTORY OF ANIMALS

by Aristotle

translated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson

Book I

1

OF the parts of animals some are simple: to wit, all such as
divide into parts uniform with themselves, as flesh into flesh; others
are composite, such as divide into parts not uniform with
themselves, as, for instance, the hand does not divide into hands
nor the face into faces.

And of such as these, some are called not parts merely, but limbs
or members. Such are those parts that, while entire in themselves,
have within themselves other diverse parts: as for instance, the head,
foot, hand, the arm as a whole, the chest; for these are all in
themselves entire parts, and there are other diverse parts belonging
to them.

All those parts that do not subdivide into parts uniform with
themselves are composed of parts that do so subdivide, for instance,
hand is composed of flesh, sinews, and bones. Of animals, some
resemble one another in all their parts, while others have parts
wherein they differ. Sometimes the parts are identical in form or
species, as, for instance, one man's nose or eye resembles another
man's nose or eye, flesh flesh, and bone bone; and in like manner with
a horse, and with all other animals which we reckon to be of one and
the same species: for as the whole is to the whole, so each to each
are the parts severally. In other cases the parts are identical,
save only for a difference in the way of excess or defect, as is the
case in such animals as are of one and the same genus. By 'genus' I
mean, for instance, Bird or Fish, for each of these is subject to
difference in respect of its genus, and there are many species of
fishes and of birds.

Within the limits of genera, most of the parts as a rule
exhibit differences through contrast of the property or accident, such
as colour and shape, to which they are subject: in that some are
more and some in a less degree the subject of the same property or
accident; and also in the way of multitude or fewness, magnitude or
parvitude, in short in the way of excess or defect. Thus in some the
texture of the flesh is soft, in others firm; some have a long bill,
others a short one; some have abundance of feathers, others have
only a small quantity. It happens further that some have parts that
others have not: for instance, some have spurs and others not, some
have crests and others not; but as a general rule, most parts and
those that go to make up the bulk of the body are either identical
with one another, or differ from one another in the way of contrast
and of excess and defect. For 'the more' and 'the less' may be
represented as 'excess' or 'defect'.

Once again, we may have to do with animals whose parts are
neither identical in form nor yet identical save for differences in
the way of excess or defect: but they are the same only in the way
of analogy, as, for instance, bone is only analogous to fish-bone,
nail to hoof, hand to claw, and scale to feather; for what the feather
is in a bird, the scale is in a fish.

The parts, then, which animals severally possess are diverse
from, or identical with, one another in the fashion above described.
And they are so furthermore in the way of local disposition: for
many animals have identical organs that differ in position; for
instance, some have teats in the breast, others close to the thighs.

Of the substances that are composed of parts uniform (or
homogeneous) with themselves, some are soft and moist, others are
dry and solid. The soft and moist are such either absolutely or so
long as they are in their natural conditions, as, for instance, blood,
serum, lard, suet, marrow, sperm, gall, milk in such as have it
flesh and the like; and also, in a different way, the superfluities,
as phlegm and the excretions of the belly and the bladder. The dry and
solid are such as sinew, skin, vein, hair, bone, gristle, nail, horn
(a term which as applied to the part involves an ambiguity, since
the whole also by virtue of its form is designated horn), and such
parts as present an analogy to these.

Animals differ from one another in their modes of subsistence,
in their actions, in their habits, and in their parts. Concerning
these differences we shall first speak in broad and general terms, and
subsequently we shall treat of the same with close reference to each
particular genus.

Differences are manifested in modes of subsistence, in habits, in
actions performed. For instance, some animals live in water and others
on land. And of those that live in water some do so in one way, and
some in another: that is to say, some live and feed in the water, take
in and emit water, and cannot live if deprived of water, as is the
case with the great majority of fishes; others get their food and
spend their days in the water, but do not take in water but air, nor
do they bring forth in the water. Many of these creatures are
furnished with feet, as the otter, the beaver, and the crocodile; some
are furnished with wings, as the diver and the grebe; some are
destitute of feet, as the water-snake. Some creatures get their living
in the water and cannot exist outside it: but for all that do not take
in either air or water, as, for instance, the sea-nettle and the
oyster. And of creatures that live in the water some live in the
sea, some in rivers, some in lakes, and some in marshes, as the frog
and the newt.

Of animals that live on dry land some take in air and emit it,
which phenomena are termed 'inhalation' and 'exhalation'; as, for
instance, man and all such land animals as are furnished with lungs.
Others, again, do not inhale air, yet live and find their sustenance
on dry land; as, for instance, the wasp, the bee, and all other
insects. And by 'insects' I mean such creatures as have nicks or
notches on their bodies, either on their bellies or on both backs
and bellies.

And of land animals many, as has been said, derive their
subsistence from the water; but of creatures that live in and inhale
water not a single one derives its subsistence from dry land.

Some animals at first live in water, and by and by change their
shape and live out of water, as is the case with river worms, for
out of these the gadfly develops.

Furthermore, some animals are stationary, and some are erratic.
Stationary animals are found in water, but no such creature is found
on dry land. In the water are many creatures that live in close
adhesion to an external object, as is the case with several kinds of
oyster. And, by the way, the sponge appears to be endowed with a
certain sensibility: as a proof of which it is alleged that the
difficulty in detaching it from its moorings is increased if the
movement to detach it be not covertly applied.

Other creatures adhere at one time to an object and detach
themselves from it at other times, as is the case with a species of
the so-called sea-nettle; for some of these creatures seek their
food in the night-time loose and unattached.

Many creatures are unattached but motionless, as is the case with
oysters and the so-called holothuria. Some can swim, as, for instance,
fishes, molluscs, and crustaceans, such as the crawfish. But some of
these last move by walking, as the crab, for it is the nature of the
creature, though it lives in water, to move by walking.

Of land animals some are furnished with wings, such as birds
and bees, and these are so furnished in different ways one from
another; others are furnished with feet. Of the animals that are
furnished with feet some walk, some creep, and some wriggle. But no
creature is able only to move by flying, as the fish is able only to
swim, for the animals with leathern wings can walk; the bat has feet
and the seal has imperfect feet.

Some birds have feet of little power, and are therefore called
Apodes. This little bird is powerful on the wing; and, as a rule,
birds that resemble it are weak-footed and strong winged, such as
the swallow and the drepanis or (? ) Alpine swift; for all these
birds resemble one another in their habits and in their plumage, and
may easily be mistaken one for another. (The apus is to be seen at all
seasons, but the drepanis only after rainy weather in summer; for this
is the time when it is seen and captured, though, as a general rule,
it is a rare bird. )

Again, some animals move by walking on the ground as well as by
swimming in water.

Furthermore, the following differences are manifest in their
modes of living and in their actions. Some are gregarious, some are
solitary, whether they be furnished with feet or wings or be fitted
for a life in the water; and some partake of both characters, the
solitary and the gregarious. And of the gregarious, some are
disposed to combine for social purposes, others to live each for its
own self.

Gregarious creatures are, among birds, such as the pigeon, the
crane, and the swan; and, by the way, no bird furnished with crooked
talons is gregarious. Of creatures that live in water many kinds of
fishes are gregarious, such as the so-called migrants, the tunny,
the pelamys, and the bonito.

Man, by the way, presents a mixture of the two characters, the
gregarious and the solitary.

Social creatures are such as have some one common object in view;
and this property is not common to all creatures that are
gregarious. Such social creatures are man, the bee, the wasp, the ant,
and the crane.

Again, of these social creatures some submit to a ruler, others
are subject to no governance: as, for instance, the crane and the
several sorts of bee submit to a ruler, whereas ants and numerous
other creatures are every one his own master.

And again, both of gregarious and of solitary animals, some are
attached to a fixed home and others are erratic or nomad.

Also, some are carnivorous, some graminivorous, some omnivorous:
whilst some feed on a peculiar diet, as for instance the bees and
the spiders, for the bee lives on honey and certain other sweets,
and the spider lives by catching flies; and some creatures live on
fish. Again, some creatures catch their food, others treasure it up;
whereas others do not so.

Some creatures provide themselves with a dwelling, others go
without one: of the former kind are the mole, the mouse, the ant,
the bee; of the latter kind are many insects and quadrupeds.
Further, in respect to locality of dwelling place, some creatures
dwell under ground, as the lizard and the snake; others live on the
surface of the ground, as the horse and the dog. make to themselves
holes, others do not

Some are nocturnal, as the owl and the bat; others live in the
daylight.

Moreover, some creatures are tame and some are wild: some are
at all times tame, as man and the mule; others are at all times
savage, as the leopard and the wolf; and some creatures can be rapidly
tamed, as the elephant.

Again, we may regard animals in another light. For, whenever a
race of animals is found domesticated, the same is always to be
found in a wild condition; as we find to be the case with horses,
kine, swine, (men), sheep, goats, and dogs.

Further, some animals emit sound while others are mute, and
some are endowed with voice: of these latter some have articulate
speech, while others are inarticulate; some are given to continual
chirping and twittering some are prone to silence; some are musical,
and some unmusical; but all animals without exception exercise their
power of singing or chattering chiefly in connexion with the
intercourse of the sexes.

Again, some creatures live in the fields, as the cushat; some
on the mountains, as the hoopoe; some frequent the abodes of men, as
the pigeon.

Some, again, are peculiarly salacious, as the partridge, the
barn-door cock and their congeners; others are inclined to chastity,
as the whole tribe of crows, for birds of this kind indulge but rarely
in sexual intercourse.

Of marine animals, again, some live in the open seas, some near
the shore, some on rocks.

Furthermore, some are combative under offence; others are
provident for defence. Of the former kind are such as act as
aggressors upon others or retaliate when subjected to ill usage, and
of the latter kind are such as merely have some means of guarding
themselves against attack.

Animals also differ from one another in regard to character in
the following respects. Some are good-tempered, sluggish, and little
prone to ferocity, as the ox; others are quick tempered, ferocious and
unteachable, as the wild boar; some are intelligent and timid, as
the stag and the hare; others are mean and treacherous, as the
snake; others are noble and courageous and high-bred, as the lion;
others are thorough-bred and wild and treacherous, as the wolf: for,
by the way, an animal is highbred if it come from a noble stock, and
an animal is thorough-bred if it does not deflect from its racial
characteristics.

Further, some are crafty and mischievous, as the fox; some are
spirited and affectionate and fawning, as the dog; others are
easy-tempered and easily domesticated, as the elephant; others are
cautious and watchful, as the goose; others are jealous and
self-conceited, as the peacock. But of all animals man alone is
capable of deliberation.

Many animals have memory, and are capable of instruction; but no
other creature except man can recall the past at will.

With regard to the several genera of animals, particulars as to
their habits of life and modes of existence will be discussed more
fully by and by.

2

Common to all animals are the organs whereby they take food and
the organs where into they take it; and these are either identical
with one another, or are diverse in the ways above specified: to
wit, either identical in form, or varying in respect of excess or
defect, or resembling one another analogically, or differing in
position.

Furthermore, the great majority of animals have other organs
besides these in common, whereby they discharge the residuum of
their food: I say, the great majority, for this statement does not
apply to all. And, by the way, the organ whereby food is taken in is
called the mouth, and the organ whereinto it is taken, the belly;
the remainder of the alimentary system has a great variety of names.

Now the residuum of food is twofold in kind, wet and dry, and
such creatures as have organs receptive of wet residuum are invariably
found with organs receptive of dry residuum; but such as have organs
receptive of dry residuum need not possess organs receptive of wet
residuum. In other words, an animal has a bowel or intestine if it
have a bladder; but an animal may have a bowel and be without a
bladder. And, by the way, I may here remark that the organ receptive
of wet residuum is termed 'bladder', and the organ receptive of dry
residuum 'intestine or 'bowel'.

3

Of animals otherwise, a great many have, besides the organs
above-mentioned, an organ for excretion of the sperm: and of animals
capable of generation one secretes into another, and the other into
itself. The latter is termed 'female', and the former 'male'; but some
animals have neither male nor female. Consequently, the organs
connected with this function differ in form, for some animals have a
womb and others an organ analogous thereto.

The above-mentioned organs, then, are the most indispensable parts
of animals; and with some of them all animals without exception, and
with others animals for the most part, must needs be provided.

One sense, and one alone, is common to all animals-the sense of
touch. Consequently, there is no special name for the organ in which
it has its seat; for in some groups of animals the organ is identical,
in others it is only analogous.

4

Every animal is supplied with moisture, and, if the animal be
deprived of the same by natural causes or artificial means, death
ensues: further, every animal has another part in which the moisture
is contained. These parts are blood and vein, and in other animals
there is something to correspond; but in these latter the parts are
imperfect, being merely fibre and serum or lymph.

Touch has its seat in a part uniform and homogeneous, as in the
flesh or something of the kind, and generally, with animals supplied
with blood, in the parts charged with blood. In other animals it has
its seat in parts analogous to the parts charged with blood; but in
all cases it is seated in parts that in their texture are homogeneous.

The active faculties, on the contrary, are seated in the parts
that are heterogeneous: as, for instance, the business of preparing
the food is seated in the mouth, and the office of locomotion in the
feet, the wings, or in organs to correspond.

Again, some animals are supplied with blood, as man, the horse,
and all such animals as are, when full-grown, either destitute of
feet, or two-footed, or four-footed; other animals are bloodless, such
as the bee and the wasp, and, of marine animals, the cuttle-fish,
the crawfish, and all such animals as have more than four feet.

5

Again, some animals are viviparous, others oviparous, others
vermiparous or 'grub-bearing'. Some are viviparous, such as man, the
horse, the seal, and all other animals that are hair-coated, and, of
marine animals, the cetaceans, as the dolphin, and the so-called
Selachia. (Of these latter animals, some have a tubular air-passage
and no gills, as the dolphin and the whale: the dolphin with the
air-passage going through its back, the whale with the air-passage
in its forehead; others have uncovered gills, as the Selachia, the
sharks and rays. )

What we term an egg is a certain completed result of conception
out of which the animal that is to be develops, and in such a way that
in respect to its primitive germ it comes from part only of the egg,
while the rest serves for food as the germ develops. A 'grub' on the
other hand is a thing out of which in its entirety the animal in its
entirety develops, by differentiation and growth of the embryo.

Of viviparous animals, some hatch eggs in their own interior,
as creatures of the shark kind; others engender in their interior a
live foetus, as man and the horse. When the result of conception is
perfected, with some animals a living creature is brought forth,
with others an egg is brought to light, with others a grub. Of the
eggs, some have egg-shells and are of two different colours within,
such as birds' eggs; others are soft-skinned and of uniform colour, as
the eggs of animals of the shark kind. Of the grubs, some are from the
first capable of movement, others are motionless. However, with regard
to these phenomena we shall speak precisely hereafter when we come
to treat of Generation.

Furthermore, some animals have feet and some are destitute
thereof. Of such as have feet some animals have two, as is the case
with men and birds, and with men and birds only; some have four, as
the lizard and the dog; some have more, as the centipede and the
bee; but allsoever that have feet have an even number of them.

Of swimming creatures that are destitute of feet, some have
winglets or fins, as fishes: and of these some have four fins, two
above on the back, two below on the belly, as the gilthead and the
basse; some have two only,-to wit, such as are exceedingly long and
smooth, as the eel and the conger; some have none at all, as the
muraena, but use the sea just as snakes use dry ground-and by the way,
snakes swim in water in just the same way. Of the shark-kind some have
no fins, such as those that are flat and long-tailed, as the ray and
the sting-ray, but these fishes swim actually by the undulatory motion
of their flat bodies; the fishing frog, however, has fins, and so
likewise have all such fishes as have not their flat surfaces
thinned off to a sharp edge.

Of those swimming creatures that appear to have feet, as is the
case with the molluscs, these creatures swim by the aid of their
feet and their fins as well, and they swim most rapidly backwards in
the direction of the trunk, as is the case with the cuttle-fish or
sepia and the calamary; and, by the way, neither of these latter can
walk as the poulpe or octopus can.

The hard-skinned or crustaceous animals, like the crawfish,
swim by the instrumentality of their tail-parts; and they swim most
rapidly tail foremost, by the aid of the fins developed upon that
member. The newt swims by means of its feet and tail; and its tail
resembles that of the sheatfish, to compare little with great.

Of animals that can fly some are furnished with feathered wings,
as the eagle and the hawk; some are furnished with membranous wings,
as the bee and the cockchafer; others are furnished with leathern
wings, as the flying fox and the bat. All flying creatures possessed
of blood have feathered wings or leathern wings; the bloodless
creatures have membranous wings, as insects. The creatures that have
feathered wings or leathern wings have either two feet or no feet at
all: for there are said to be certain flying serpents in Ethiopia that
are destitute of feet.

Creatures that have feathered wings are classed as a genus
under the name of 'bird'; the other two genera, the leathern-winged
and membrane-winged, are as yet without a generic title.

Of creatures that can fly and are bloodless some are coleopterous
or sheath-winged, for they have their wings in a sheath or shard, like
the cockchafer and the dung-beetle; others are sheathless, and of
these latter some are dipterous and some tetrapterous: tetrapterous,
such as are comparatively large or have their stings in the tail,
dipterous, such as are comparatively small or have their stings in
front. The coleoptera are, without exception, devoid of stings; the
diptera have the sting in front, as the fly, the horsefly, the gadfly,
and the gnat.

Bloodless animals as a general rule are inferior in point of size
to blooded animals; though, by the way, there are found in the sea
some few bloodless creatures of abnormal size, as in the case of
certain molluscs. And of these bloodless genera, those are the largest
that dwell in milder climates, and those that inhabit the sea are
larger than those living on dry land or in fresh water.

All creatures that are capable of motion move with four or more
points of motion; the blooded animals with four only: as, for
instance, man with two hands and two feet, birds with two wings and
two feet, quadrupeds and fishes severally with four feet and four
fins. Creatures that have two winglets or fins, or that have none at
all like serpents, move all the same with not less than four points of
motion; for there are four bends in their bodies as they move, or
two bends together with their fins. Bloodless and many footed animals,
whether furnished with wings or feet, move with more than four
points of motion; as, for instance, the dayfly moves with four feet
and four wings: and, I may observe in passing, this creature is
exceptional not only in regard to the duration of its existence,
whence it receives its name, but also because though a quadruped it
has wings also.

All animals move alike, four-footed and many-footed; in other
words, they all move cross-corner-wise. And animals in general have
two feet in advance; the crab alone has four.

6

Very extensive genera of animals, into which other subdivisions
fall, are the following: one, of birds; one, of fishes; and another,
of cetaceans. Now all these creatures are blooded.

There is another genus of the hard-shell kind, which is called
oyster; another of the soft-shell kind, not as yet designated by a
single term, such as the spiny crawfish and the various kinds of crabs
and lobsters; and another of molluscs, as the two kinds of calamary
and the cuttle-fish; that of insects is different. All these latter
creatures are bloodless, and such of them as have feet have a goodly
number of them; and of the insects some have wings as well as feet.

Of the other animals the genera are not extensive. For in them
one species does not comprehend many species; but in one case, as man,
the species is simple, admitting of no differentiation, while other
cases admit of differentiation, but the forms lack particular
designations.

So, for instance, creatures that are qudapedal and unprovided
with wings are blooded without exception, but some of them are
viviparous, and some oviparous. Such as are viviparous are
hair-coated, and such as are oviparous are covered with a kind of
tessellated hard substance; and the tessellated bits of this substance
are, as it were, similar in regard to position to a scale.

An animal that is blooded and capable of movement on dry land,
but is naturally unprovided with feet, belongs to the serpent genus;
and animals of this genus are coated with the tessellated horny
substance. Serpents in general are oviparous; the adder, an
exceptional case, is viviparous: for not all viviparous animals are
hair-coated, and some fishes also are viviparous.

All animals, however, that are hair-coated are viviparous. For,
by the way, one must regard as a kind of hair such prickly hairs as
hedgehogs and porcupines carry; for these spines perform the office of
hair, and not of feet as is the case with similar parts of
sea-urchins.

In the genus that combines all viviparous quadrupeds are many
species, but under no common appellation. They are only named as it
were one by one, as we say man, lion, stag, horse, dog, and so on;
though, by the way, there is a sort of genus that embraces all
creatures that have bushy manes and bushy tails, such as the horse,
the ass, the mule, the jennet, and the animals that are called Hemioni
in Syria,-from their externally resembling mules, though they are
not strictly of the same species. And that they are not so is proved
by the fact that they mate with and breed from one another. For all
these reasons, we must take animals species by species, and discuss
their peculiarities severally'

These preceding statements, then, have been put forward thus in a
general way, as a kind of foretaste of the number of subjects and of
the properties that we have to consider in order that we may first get
a clear notion of distinctive character and common properties. By
and by we shall discuss these matters with greater minuteness.

After this we shall pass on to the discussion of causes. For to do
this when the investigation of the details is complete is the proper
and natural method, and that whereby the subjects and the premisses of
our argument will afterwards be rendered plain.

In the first place we must look to the constituent parts of
animals. For it is in a way relative to these parts, first and
foremost, that animals in their entirety differ from one another:
either in the fact that some have this or that, while they have not
that or this; or by peculiarities of position or of arrangement; or by
the differences that have been previously mentioned, depending upon
diversity of form, or excess or defect in this or that particular,
on analogy, or on contrasts of the accidental qualities.

To begin with, we must take into consideration the parts of
Man. For, just as each nation is wont to reckon by that monetary
standard with which it is most familiar, so must we do in other
matters. And, of course, man is the animal with which we are all of us
the most familiar.

Now the parts are obvious enough to physical perception. However,
with the view of observing due order and sequence and of combining
rational notions with physical perception, we shall proceed to
enumerate the parts: firstly, the organic, and afterwards the simple
or non-composite.

7

The chief parts into which the body as a whole is subdivided,
are the head, the neck, the trunk (extending from the neck to the
privy parts), which is called the thorax, two arms and two legs.

Of the parts of which the head is composed the hair-covered
portion is called the 'skull'.
The front portion of it is termed
'bregma' or 'sinciput', developed after birth-for it is the last of
all the bones in the body to acquire solidity,-the hinder part is
termed the 'occiput', and the part intervening between the sinciput
and the occiput is the 'crown'. The brain lies underneath the
sinciput; the occiput is hollow. The skull consists entirely of thin
bone, rounded in shape, and contained within a wrapper of fleshless
skin.

The skull has sutures: one, of circular form, in the case of
women; in the case of men, as a general rule, three meeting at a
point. Instances have been known of a man's skull devoid of suture
altogether. In the skull the middle line, where the hair parts, is
called the crown or vertex. In some cases the parting is double;
that is to say, some men are double crowned, not in regard to the bony
skull, but in consequence of the double fall or set of the hair.

8

The part that lies under the skull is called the 'face': but in
the case of man only, for the term is not applied to a fish or to an
ox. In the face the part below the sinciput and between the eyes is
termed the forehead. When men have large foreheads, they are slow to
move; when they have small ones, they are fickle; when they have broad
ones, they are apt to be distraught; when they have foreheads
rounded or bulging out, they are quick-tempered.

9

Underneath the forehead are two eyebrows. Straight eyebrows are
a sign of softness of disposition; such as curve in towards the
nose, of harshness; such as curve out towards the temples, of humour
and dissimulation; such as are drawn in towards one another, of
jealousy.

Under the eyebrows come the eyes. These are naturally two in
number. Each of them has an upper and a lower eyelid, and the hairs on
the edges of these are termed 'eyelashes'. The central part of the eye
includes the moist part whereby vision is effected, termed the
'pupil', and the part surrounding it called the 'black'; the part
outside this is the 'white'. A part common to the upper and lower
eyelid is a pair of nicks or corners, one in the direction of the
nose, and the other in the direction of the temples. When these are
long they are a sign of bad disposition; if the side toward the
nostril be fleshy and comb-like, they are a sign of dishonesty.

All animals, as a general rule, are provided with eyes, excepting
the ostracoderms and other imperfect creatures; at all events, all
viviparous animals have eyes, with the exception of the mole. And
yet one might assert that, though the mole has not eyes in the full
sense, yet it has eyes in a kind of a way. For in point of absolute
fact it cannot see, and has no eyes visible externally; but when the
outer skin is removed, it is found to have the place where eyes are
usually situated, and the black parts of the eyes rightly situated,
and all the place that is usually devoted on the outside to eyes:
showing that the parts are stunted in development, and the skin
allowed to grow over.

10

Of the eye the white is pretty much the same in all creatures; but
what is called the black differs in various animals. Some have the rim
black, some distinctly blue, some greyish-blue, some greenish; and
this last colour is the sign of an excellent disposition, and is
particularly well adapted for sharpness of vision. Man is the only, or
nearly the only, creature, that has eyes of diverse colours.
Animals, as a rule, have eyes of one colour only. Some horses have
blue eyes.

Of eyes, some are large, some small, some medium-sized; of these,
the medium-sized are the best. Moreover, eyes sometimes protrude,
sometimes recede, sometimes are neither protruding nor receding. Of
these, the receding eye is in all animals the most acute; but the last
kind are the sign of the best disposition. Again, eyes are sometimes
inclined to wink under observation, sometimes to remain open and
staring, and sometimes are disposed neither to wink nor stare. The
last kind are the sign of the best nature, and of the others, the
latter kind indicates impudence, and the former indecision.

11

Furthermore, there is a portion of the head, whereby an animal
hears, a part incapable of breathing, the 'ear'. I say 'incapable of
breathing', for Alcmaeon is mistaken when he says that goats inspire
through their ears. Of the ear one part is unnamed, the other part
is called the 'lobe'; and it is entirely composed of gristle and
flesh. The ear is constructed internally like the trumpet-shell, and
the innermost bone is like the ear itself, and into it at the end
the sound makes its way, as into the bottom of a jar. This
receptacle does not communicate by any passage with the brain, but
does so with the palate, and a vein extends from the brain towards it.
The eyes also are connected with the brain, and each of them lies at
the end of a little vein. Of animals possessed of ears man is the only
one that cannot move this organ. Of creatures possessed of hearing,
some have ears, whilst others have none, but merely have the
passages for ears visible, as, for example, feathered animals or
animals coated with horny tessellates.

Viviparous animals, with the exception of the seal, the dolphin,
and those others which after a similar fashion to these are cetaceans,
are all provided with ears; for, by the way, the shark-kind are also
viviparous. Now, the seal has the passages visible whereby it hears;
but the dolphin can hear, but has no ears, nor yet any passages
visible. But man alone is unable to move his ears, and all other
animals can move them. And the ears lie, with man, in the same
horizontal plane with the eyes, and not in a plane above them as is
the case with some quadrupeds. Of ears, some are fine, some are
coarse, and some are of medium texture; the last kind are best for
hearing, but they serve in no way to indicate character. Some ears are
large, some small, some medium-sized; again, some stand out far,
some lie in close and tight, and some take up a medium position; of
these such as are of medium size and of medium position are
indications of the best disposition, while the large and outstanding
ones indicate a tendency to irrelevant talk or chattering. The part
intercepted between the eye, the ear, and the crown is termed the
'temple'. Again, there is a part of the countenance that serves as a
passage for the breath, the 'nose'. For a man inhales and exhales by
this organ, and sneezing is effected by its means: which last is an
outward rush of collected breath, and is the only mode of breath
used as an omen and regarded as supernatural. Both inhalation and
exhalation go right on from the nose towards the chest; and with the
nostrils alone and separately it is impossible to inhale or exhale,
owing to the fact that the inspiration and respiration take place from
the chest along the windpipe, and not by any portion connected with
the head; and indeed it is possible for a creature to live without
using this process of nasal respiration.

Again, smelling takes place by means of the nose,-smelling, or the
sensible discrimination of odour. And the nostril admits of easy
motion, and is not, like the ear, intrinsically immovable. A part of
it, composed of gristle, constitutes, a septum or partition, and
part is an open passage; for the nostril consists of two separate
channels. The nostril (or nose) of the elephant is long and strong,
and the animal uses it like a hand; for by means of this organ it
draws objects towards it, and takes hold of them, and introduces its
food into its mouth, whether liquid or dry food, and it is the only
living creature that does so.

Furthermore, there are two jaws; the front part of them
constitutes the chin, and the hinder part the cheek. All animals
move the lower jaw, with the exception of the river crocodile; this
creature moves the upper jaw only.

Next after the nose come two lips, composed of flesh, and
facile of motion. The mouth lies inside the jaws and lips. Parts of
the mouth are the roof or palate and the pharynx.

The part that is sensible of taste is the tongue. The sensation
has its seat at the tip of the tongue; if the object to be tasted be
placed on the flat surface of the organ, the taste is less sensibly
experienced. The tongue is sensitive in all other ways wherein flesh
in general is so: that is, it can appreciate hardness, or warmth and
cold, in any part of it, just as it can appreciate taste. The tongue
is sometimes broad, sometimes narrow, and sometimes of medium width;
the last kind is the best and the clearest in its discrimination of
taste. Moreover, the tongue is sometimes loosely hung, and sometimes
fastened: as in the case of those who mumble and who lisp.

The tongue consists of flesh, soft and spongy, and the so-called
'epiglottis' is a part of this organ.

That part of the mouth that splits into two bits is called the
'tonsils'; that part that splits into many bits, the 'gums'. Both
the tonsils and the gums are composed of flesh. In the gums are teeth,
composed of bone.

Inside the mouth is another part, shaped like a bunch of
grapes, a pillar streaked with veins. If this pillar gets relaxed
and inflamed it is called 'uvula' or 'bunch of grapes', and it then
has a tendency to bring about suffocation.

12

The neck is the part between the face and the trunk. Of this the
front part is the larynx land the back part the ur The front part,
composed of gristle, through which respiration and speech is effected,
is termed the 'windpipe'; the part that is fleshy is the oesophagus,
inside just in front of the chine. The part to the back of the neck is
the epomis, or 'shoulder-point'.

These then are the parts to be met with before you come to the
thorax.

To the trunk there is a front part and a back part. Next after
the neck in the front part is the chest, with a pair of breasts. To
each of the breasts is attached a teat or nipple, through which in the
case of females the milk percolates; and the breast is of a spongy
texture. Milk, by the way, is found at times in the male; but with the
male the flesh of the breast is tough, with the female it is soft
and porous.

13

Next after the thorax and in front comes the 'belly', and its root
the 'navel'. Underneath this root the bilateral part is the 'flank':
the undivided part below the navel, the 'abdomen', the extremity of
which is the region of the 'pubes'; above the navel the
'hypochondrium'; the cavity common to the hypochondrium and the
flank is the gut-cavity.

Serving as a brace girdle to the hinder parts is the pelvis,
and hence it gets its name (osphus), for it is symmetrical
(isophues) in appearance; of the fundament the part for resting on
is termed the 'rump', and the part whereon the thigh pivots is
termed the 'socket' (or acetabulum).

The 'womb' is a part peculiar to the female; and the 'penis' is
peculiar to the male. This latter organ is external and situated at
the extremity of the trunk; it is composed of two separate parts: of
which the extreme part is fleshy, does not alter in size, and is
called the glans; and round about it is a skin devoid of any
specific title, which integument if it be cut asunder never grows
together again, any more than does the jaw or the eyelid. And the
connexion between the latter and the glans is called the frenum. The
remaining part of the penis is composed of gristle; it is easily
susceptible of enlargement; and it protrudes and recedes in the
reverse directions to what is observable in the identical organ in
cats. Underneath the penis are two 'testicles', and the integument
of these is a skin that is termed the 'scrotum'.

Testicles are not identical with flesh, and are not altogether
diverse from it. But by and by we shall treat in an exhaustive way
regarding all such parts.

14

The privy part of the female is in character opposite to that of
the male. In other words, the part under the pubes is hollow or
receding, and not, like the male organ, protruding. Further, there
is an 'urethra' outside the womb; which organ serves as a passage
for the sperm of the male, and as an outlet for liquid excretion to
both sexes).

The part common to the neck and chest is the 'throat'; the
'armpit' is common to side, arm, and shoulder; and the 'groin' is
common to thigh and abdomen. The part inside the thigh and buttocks is
the 'perineum', and the part outside the thigh and buttocks is the
'hypoglutis'.

The front parts of the trunk have now been enumerated.

The part behind the chest is termed the 'back'.

15

Parts of the back are a pair of 'shoulderblades', the
'back-bone', and, underneath on a level with the belly in the trunk,
the 'loins'. Common to the upper and lower part of the trunk are the
'ribs', eight on either side, for as to the so-called seven-ribbed
Ligyans we have not received any trustworthy evidence.

Man, then, has an upper and a lower part, a front and a back
part, a right and a left side. Now the right and the left side are
pretty well alike in their parts and identical throughout, except that
the left side is the weaker of the two; but the back parts do not
resemble the front ones, neither do the lower ones the upper: only
that these upper and lower parts may be said to resemble one another
thus far, that, if the face be plump or meagre, the abdomen is plump
or meagre to correspond; and that the legs correspond to the arms, and
where the upper arm is short the thigh is usually short also, and
where the feet are small the hands are small correspondingly.

Of the limbs, one set, forming a pair, is 'arms'. To the arm
belong the 'shoulder', 'upper-arm', 'elbow', 'fore-arm', and 'hand'.
To the hand belong the 'palm', and the five 'fingers'. The part of the
finger that bends is termed 'knuckle', the part that is inflexible
is termed the 'phalanx'. The big finger or thumb is single-jointed,
the other fingers are double jointed. The bending both of the arm
and of the finger takes place from without inwards in all cases; and
the arm bends at the elbow. The inner part of the hand is termed the
palm', and is fleshy and divided by joints or lines: in the case of
long-lived people by one or two extending right across, in the case of
the short-lived by two, not so extending. The joint between hand and
arm is termed the 'wrist'. The outside or back of the hand is
sinewy, and has no specific designation.

There is another duplicate limb, the 'leg'. Of this limb the
double-knobbed part is termed the 'thigh-bone', the sliding part of
the 'kneecap', the double-boned part the 'leg'; the front part of this
latter is termed the 'shin', and the part behind it the 'calf',
wherein the flesh is sinewy and venous, in some cases drawn upwards
towards the hollow behind the knee, as in the case of people with
large hips, and in other cases drawn downwards. The lower extremity of
the shin is the 'ankle', duplicate in either leg. The part of the limb
that contains a multiplicity of bones is the 'foot'. The hinder part
of the foot is the 'heel'; at the front of it the divided part
consists of 'toes', five in number; the fleshy part underneath is
the 'ball'; the upper part or back of the foot is sinewy and has no
particular appellation; of the toe, one portion is the 'nail' and
another the 'joint', and the nail is in all cases at the extremity;
and toes are without exception single jointed. Men that have the
inside or sole of the foot clumsy and not arched, that is, that walk
resting on the entire under-surface of their feet, are prone to
roguery. The joint common to thigh and shin is the 'knee'.

These, then, are the parts common to the male and the female sex.
The relative position of the parts as to up and down, or to front
and back, or to right and left, all this as regards externals might
safely be left to mere ordinary perception. But for all that, we
must treat of them for the same reason as the one previously brought
forward; that is to say, we must refer to them in order that a due and
regular sequence may be observed in our exposition, and in order
that by the enumeration of these obvious facts due attention may be
subsequently given to those parts in men and other animals that are
diverse in any way from one another.

In man, above all other animals, the terms 'upper' and 'lower'
are used in harmony with their natural positions; for in him, upper
and lower have the same meaning as when they are applied to the
universe as a whole. In like manner the terms, 'in front', 'behind',
'right' and 'left', are used in accordance with their natural sense.
But in regard to other animals, in some cases these distinctions do
not exist, and in others they do so, but in a vague way. For instance,
the head with all animals is up and above in respect to their
bodies; but man alone, as has been said, has, in maturity, this part
uppermost in respect to the material universe.

Next after the head comes the neck, and then the chest and the
back: the one in front and the other behind. Next after these come the
belly, the loins, the sexual parts, and the haunches; then the thigh
and shin; and, lastly, the feet.

The legs bend frontwards, in the direction of actual progression,
and frontwards also lies that part of the foot which is the most
effective of motion, and the flexure of that part; but the heel lies
at the back, and the anklebones lie laterally, earwise. The arms are
situated to right and left, and bend inwards: so that the
convexities formed by bent arms and legs are practically face to
face with one another in the case of man.

As for the senses and for the organs of sensation, the eyes,
the nostrils, and the tongue, all alike are situated frontwards; the
sense of hearing, and the organ of hearing, the ear, is situated
sideways, on the same horizontal plane with the eyes. The eyes in
man are, in proportion to his size, nearer to one another than in
any other animal.

Of the senses man has the sense of touch more refined than any
animal, and so also, but in less degree, the sense of taste; in the
development of the other senses he is surpassed by a great number of
animals.

16

The parts, then, that are externally visible are arranged in the
way above stated, and as a rule have their special designations, and
from use and wont are known familiarly to all; but this is not the
case with the inner parts. For the fact is that the inner parts of man
are to a very great extent unknown, and the consequence is that we
must have recourse to an examination of the inner parts of other
animals whose nature in any way resembles that of man.

In the first place then, the brain lies in the front part of the
head. And this holds alike with all animals possessed of a brain;
and all blooded animals are possessed thereof, and, by the way,
molluscs as well. But, taking size for size of animal, the largest
brain, and the moistest, is that of man. Two membranes enclose it: the
stronger one near the bone of the skull; the inner one, round the
brain itself, is finer. The brain in all cases is bilateral. Behind
this, right at the back, comes what is termed the 'cerebellum',
differing in form from the brain as we may both feel and see.

The back of the head is with all animals empty and hollow,
whatever be its size in the different animals. For some creatures have
big heads while the face below is small in proportion, as is the
case with round-faced animals; some have little heads and long jaws,
as is the case, without exception, among animals of the
mane-and-tail species.

The brain in all animals is bloodless, devoid of veins, and
naturally cold to the touch; in the great majority of animals it has a
small hollow in its centre. The brain-caul around it is reticulated
with veins; and this brain-caul is that skin-like membrane which
closely surrounds the brain. Above the brain is the thinnest and
weakest bone of the head, which is termed or 'sinciput'.

From the eye there go three ducts to the brain: the largest and
the medium-sized to the cerebellum, the least to the brain itself; and
the least is the one situated nearest to the nostril. The two
largest ones, then, run side by side and do not meet; the medium-sized
ones meet-and this is particularly visible in fishes,-for they lie
nearer than the large ones to the brain; the smallest pair are the
most widely separate from one another, and do not meet.

Inside the neck is what is termed the oesophagus (whose other
name is derived oesophagus from its length and narrowness), and the
windpipe. The windpipe is situated in front of the oesophagus in all
animals that have a windpipe, and all animals have one that are
furnished with lungs. The windpipe is made up of gristle, is sparingly
supplied with blood, and is streaked all round with numerous minute
veins; it is situated, in its upper part, near the mouth, below the
aperture formed by the nostrils into the mouth-an aperture through
which, when men, in drinking, inhale any of the liquid, this liquid
finds its way out through the nostrils. In betwixt the two openings
comes the so-called epiglottis, an organ capable of being drawn over
and covering the orifice of the windpipe communicating with the mouth;
the end of the tongue is attached to the epiglottis. In the other
direction the windpipe extends to the interval between the lungs,
and hereupon bifurcates into each of the two divisions of the lung;
for the lung in all animals possessed of the organ has a tendency to
be double. In viviparous animals, however, the duplication is not so
plainly discernible as in other species, and the duplication is
least discernible in man. And in man the organ is not split into
many parts, as is the case with some vivipara, neither is it smooth,
but its surface is uneven.

In the case of the ovipara, such as birds and oviparous
quadrupeds, the two parts of the organ are separated to a distance
from one another, so that the creatures appear to be furnished with
a pair of lungs; and from the windpipe, itself single, there branch
off two separate parts extending to each of the two divisions of the
lung. It is attached also to the great vein and to what is
designated the 'aorta'. When the windpipe is charged with air, the air
passes on to the hollow parts of the lung. These parts have divisions,
composed of gristle, which meet at an acute angle; from the
divisions run passages through the entire lung, giving off smaller and
smaller ramifications. The heart also is attached to the windpipe,
by connexions of fat, gristle, and sinew; and at the point of juncture
there is a hollow. When the windpipe is charged with air, the entrance
of the air into the heart, though imperceptible in some animals, is
perceptible enough in the larger ones. Such are the properties of
the windpipe, and it takes in and throws out air only, and takes in
nothing else either dry or liquid, or else it causes you pain until
you shall have coughed up whatever may have gone down.

The oesophagus communicates at the top with the mouth, close to
the windpipe, and is attached to the backbone and the windpipe by
membranous ligaments, and at last finds its way through the midriff
into the belly. It is composed of flesh-like substance, and is elastic
both lengthways and breadthways.

The stomach of man resembles that of a dog; for it is not much
bigger than the bowel, but is somewhat like a bowel of more than usual
width; then comes the bowel, single, convoluted, moderately wide.
The lower part of the gut is like that of a pig; for it is broad,
and the part from it to the buttocks is thick and short. The caul,
or great omentum, is attached to the middle of the stomach, and
consists of a fatty membrane, as is the case with all other animals
whose stomachs are single and which have teeth in both jaws.

The mesentery is over the bowels; this also is membranous and
broad, and turns to fat. It is attached to the great vein and the
aorta, and there run through it a number of veins closely packed
together, extending towards the region of the bowels, beginning
above and ending below.

So much for the properties of the oesophagus, the windpipe, and
the stomach.

17

The heart has three cavities, and is situated above the lung at
the division of the windpipe, and is provided with a fatty and thick
membrane where it fastens on to the great vein and the aorta. It
lies with its tapering portion upon the aorta, and this portion is
similarly situated in relation to the chest in all animals that have a
chest. In all animals alike, in those that have a chest and in those
that have none, the apex of the heart points forwards, although this
fact might possibly escape notice by a change of position under
dissection. The rounded end of the heart is at the top. The apex is to
a great extent fleshy and close in texture, and in the cavities of the
heart are sinews. As a rule the heart is situated in the middle of the
chest in animals that have a chest, and in man it is situated a little
to the left-hand side, leaning a little way from the division of the
breasts towards the left breast in the upper part of the chest.

The heart is not large, and in its general shape it is not
elongated; in fact, it is somewhat round in form: only, be it
remembered, it is sharp-pointed at the bottom. It has three
cavities, as has been said: the right-hand one the largest of the
three, the left-hand one the least, and the middle one intermediate in
size. All these cavities, even the two small ones, are connected by
passages with the lung, and this fact is rendered quite plain in one
of the cavities. And below, at the point of attachment, in the largest
cavity there is a connexion with the great vein (near which the
mesentery lies); and in the middle one there is a connexion with the
aorta.

Canals lead from the heart into the lung, and branch off just
as the windpipe does, running all over the lung parallel with the
passages from the windpipe. The canals from the heart are uppermost;
and there is no common passage, but the passages through their
having a common wall receive the breath and pass it on to the heart;
and one of the passages conveys it to the right cavity, and the
other to the left.

With regard to the great vein and the aorta we shall, by and
by, treat of them together in a discussion devoted to them and to them
alone. In all animals that are furnished with a lung, and that are
both internally and externally viviparous, the lung is of all organs
the most richly supplied with blood; for the lung is throughout spongy
in texture, and along by every single pore in it go branches from
the great vein. Those who imagine it to be empty are altogether
mistaken; and they are led into their error by their observation of
lungs removed from animals under dissection, out of which organs the
blood had all escaped immediately after death.

Of the other internal organs the heart alone contains blood.
And the lung has blood not in itself but in its veins, but the heart
has blood in itself; for in each of its three cavities it has blood,
but the thinnest blood is what it has in its central cavity.

Under the lung comes the thoracic diaphragm or midriff,
attached to the ribs, the hypochondria and the backbone, with a thin
membrane in the middle of it. It has veins running through it; and the
diaphragm in the case of man is thicker in proportion to the size of
his frame than in other animals.

Under the diaphragm on the right-hand side lies the 'liver',
and on the left-hand side the 'spleen', alike in all animals that
are provided with these organs in an ordinary and not preternatural
way; for, be it observed, in some quadrupeds these organs have been
found in a transposed position. These organs are connected with the
stomach by the caul.

To outward view the spleen of man is narrow and long,
resembling the self-same organ in the pig. The liver in the great
majority of animals is not provided with a 'gall-bladder'; but the
latter is present in some. The liver of a man is round-shaped, and
resembles the same organ in the ox. And, by the way, the absence above
referred to of a gall-bladder is at times met with in the practice
of augury. For instance, in a certain district of the Chalcidic
settlement in Euboea the sheep are devoid of gall-bladders; and in
Naxos nearly all the quadrupeds have one so large that foreigners when
they offer sacrifice with such victims are bewildered with fright,
under the impression that the phenomenon is not due to natural causes,
but bodes some mischief to the individual offerers of the sacrifice.

Again, the liver is attached to the great vein, but it has no
communication with the aorta; for the vein that goes off from the
great vein goes right through the liver, at a point where are the
so-called 'portals' of the liver. The spleen also is connected only
with the great vein, for a vein extends to the spleen off from it.

After these organs come the 'kidneys', and these are placed close
to the backbone, and resemble in character the same organ in kine.
In all animals that are provided with this organ, the right kidney
is situated higher up than the other. It has also less fatty substance
than the left-hand one and is less moist. And this phenomenon also
is observable in all the other animals alike.

Furthermore, passages or ducts lead into the kidneys both from
the great vein and from the aorta, only not into the cavity. For, by
the way, there is a cavity in the middle of the kidney, bigger in some
creatures and less in others; but there is none in the case of the
seal. This latter animal has kidneys resembling in shape the identical
organ in kine, but in its case the organs are more solid than in any
other known creature. The ducts that lead into the kidneys lose
themselves in the substance of the kidneys themselves; and the proof
that they extend no farther rests on the fact that they contain no
blood, nor is any clot found therein.