TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Inconsistencies in hyphenation and punctuation have not been corrected. Punctuation and Greek text in the index has been silently corrected. A list of other corrections can be found at the [end of the document].
ARISTOTLE'S
HISTORY OF ANIMALS.
IN TEN BOOKS.
TRANSLATED BY
RICHARD CRESSWELL, M.A.,
ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.
LONDON: GEORGE BELL & SONS, YORK STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.
1887.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
PREFACE.
The following Translation of Aristotle's History of Animals has been made from the text of Schneider. In a work of considerable difficulty it is hardly possible entirely to avoid errors; but it is hoped that those which have escaped are neither numerous nor important. The notes of Schneider have been consulted throughout; and in places of difficulty the English translation by Taylor, the French of Camus, and the German of Strack, have been severally referred to.
The work itself is the most ancient and celebrated contribution to science which has come down to us; and it is hardly possible, when we consider the means of observation which were accessible at the time, to imagine a work of more accurate observation. From the numerous quotations in which our author avails himself of the experience of his predecessors in the same field, as well as corrects their errors, there can be no doubt that Aristotle had the advantage of many works which have perished in the lapse of ages. In the Appendix to the present Translation will be found the Essay of Schneider on the sources whence Aristotle derived his knowledge of the animals he describes; and these sources, together with his own accurate observations, are probably sufficient to account for the correct knowledge of the history of animals displayed throughout the work.
It is right, perhaps, to observe in this place, that Dr. Smith, in his Dictionary of Biography, speaks of the 'History of Animals' as partly the result of the royal liberality of Alexander; and doubtless Aristotle would gladly have introduced into his work any fresh materials which might have been made available to him either during his residence at the Macedonian court, or by the subsequent victories of Alexander in the East, if the information so obtained had reached Athens in sufficient time to be incorporated. But in the first instance he would naturally use the materials ready to his hand in the works of his predecessors, and these were not few. The animals also which he describes are principally those of Greece and of the countries with which the enterprising Greeks had frequent and commercial intercourse. He says little of the animals of the interior of Asia and of India, and speaks very cautiously of such as he does mention; and one who quotes his authorities so freely would hardly have failed to notice the sources of his information.
The study, or at least the knowledge of the classification of animals appears to have been carefully pursued in the earliest period of man's history. The oldest records that we possess contain abundant notices of the peculiarities of animals. The Mosaic law abounds in them, in its distinctions between the clean and the unclean, a distinction not then first established, but of the most remote antiquity. Indeed it could hardly be otherwise than that men engaged in the pursuits of agriculture and the chase should study the habits of the animals that were valuable to them, as well as those which were injurious. A study thus commenced by necessity, would eventually be pursued for its own sake; and not a few would be found who would investigate, and, as far as they could, record the various phenomena they observed. The paintings of Egypt and the sculptures of Assyria are our witnesses of the skill with which animals and plants were drawn, and of the minute perception of their external forms; and the knowledge thus gained in the ancient centres of civilization would be sure to circulate and increase when the intercourse with foreign nations spread the knowledge and philosophy so acquired.
In the writings of Homer we find that the knowledge of the anatomy of the human body had already made considerable progress; and the inspection of the animals offered in sacrifice cannot fail to have added much to the general knowledge of their history. A century later, we have the poems of Hesiod, devoted to the encouragement of agriculture and rural pursuits. Pythagoras, in the seventh century B.C., may perhaps have left no writings, but we know that he was an eminent student and exponent of natural phenomena. His contemporary, Alcmæon of Crotona, is especially mentioned by Aristotle; and he is eminent among natural philosophers as the first who is said to have recommended to his followers the practice of dissection. Empedocles of Agrigentum left a work on the phenomena of nature, of which a few fragments still remain, and there were also others who, if they did not enter into the details of what we now call natural history, treated generally of the nature of things, and opened the field to those who would study the subject in its particular parts. The empire of Persia was still the dominant power, and was carrying the civilization of the East to every part of the known world when Ctesias wrote his great works, of which, unhappily, only a few fragments remain. He described not only the history of his own time, but also the natural history of Persia and of India, and that probably with more accuracy than has been usually attributed to him. India he had not visited personally, so that he could only describe it from the information of others; but this implies that he was not alone in the studies which he devoted to natural objects. With such predecessors and aided by his own acute observations, we need not wonder that Aristotle produced a work which has ever been admired by naturalists, and must continue to rise in their estimation the longer it is in their hands.
The Index to the present volume has been formed on the basis of that of Schneider, and considerable pains have been taken to add as many names as possible from other sources, especially the Index of Strack, and Külb's recent translation of the History of Animals, both of which contain identifications of a great many animals. A few identifications have also been added from Liddell and Scott's Lexicon, as well as from Professor Bell's Catalogue of Animals in Captain Spratt's work on Lycia; and the cephalopods are named from Professor Owen's article on that class, in the Cyclopædia of Anatomy. It is hoped, therefore, that the Index will be found to contain a greater number of suggestions for the identification of the animals mentioned by Aristotle than have been hitherto published collectively. It is also right to add, that it has been compiled after the translation was completed; and, therefore, in any differences which may be found between the identifications at the foot of the page and those given in the Index, the reader will rather prefer the latter, as the result of later research in works which were not accessible when the translation was made.
April 30, 1862.
R. C.
Analytical Table of Contents.
[Book I.]—The work commences with a general review of the animal kingdom, and several suggestions for a natural arrangement of animals in groups, according to their external form or their mode of life, a comparison of animals among themselves, and a description of some of their habits. Aristotle then introduces the human form, the best known to man, as the standard of comparison to which he refers the rest of the animal kingdom. The concluding chapters of this book are occupied with a description of the several parts of the human body, both internal and external.
[Book II.]—In the second book the different parts of animals are described. The animals are arranged in various groups, viviparous and oviparous quadrupeds, fish, serpents, birds. The only animals described are those with red blood: the description of the rest being reserved for the fourth book. Their internal organs are also described; and in the course of the book a few animals, as the ape, elephant, and chameleon, are especially noticed.
[Book III.]—The third book commences with a description of the internal organs, beginning with the generative system. A considerable portion of the book is devoted to the course of the veins; and Aristotle quotes from other writers, as well as states the result of his own observations. He then describes the nature of other constituent parts of the body, sinews, fibres, bone, marrow, cartilage, nails, hoofs, claws, horns, and beaks of birds, hair, scales, membranes, flesh, fat, blood, marrow, milk, and the spermatic fluid.
[Book IV.]—Animals without blood, and first, the cephalopods, are described; then the crustaceans, testacea, echinidæ, ascidians, actiniæ, hermit crabs, insects. In the eighth chapter the organs of sense are considered, and afterwards, the voice, sleep, age, and differences of the sexes in animals are described.
[Book V.]—In the former books animals are for the most part described with reference to their several parts. In the fifth book they are treated as entire, and especially with regard to their mode of reproduction. First of all, our author treats of spontaneous reproduction, and then of those animals which spring from a union of the sexes; and from this he proceeds to some detail with respect to different groups of animals, testacea, crustacea, insects. The book concludes with a long description of bees and their habits.
[Book VI.]—In this book the same subject is continued through the several classes of birds, fish, and quadrupeds. This account of the reproduction of animals includes also the consideration of the seasons, climates, and ages of animals, and how far these influence their reproduction.
[Book VII.]—The seventh book is almost entirely devoted to the consideration of the reproduction of man, and an account of man from his birth to his death. This book ends abruptly, and is probably imperfect.
[Book VIII.]—In the eighth book Aristotle passes on to the most interesting part of his work, the character and habits of the whole animal world, as it was known to him. The amount of detail which he has collected and arranged on this subject is most interesting. He treats, first of all, of the food of animals, of their migrations, their health and diseases, and the influence of climate upon them.
[Book IX.]—The subject of the eighth book is continued, with an account of the relations in which animals stand to each other, and especially the friendship and hostility of different species; and these are for the most part referred to the nature of their food, and their mode of procuring it. The notices of fish are not so numerous as those of other groups: this would necessarily arise from the difficulty of observation. At the conclusion of the book, an essay on bees and their congeners is given at considerable length.
[Book X.]—This book, in all probability erroneously ascribed to Aristotle, is occupied with a treatise on the causes of barrenness in the human species. It appears to be rather a continuation of the seventh book, which ends abruptly; but it is well placed at the end, as no genuine work of our author.
THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS.
BOOK THE FIRST.
Chapter I.
1. Some parts of animals are simple, and these can be divided into like parts, as flesh into pieces of flesh; others are compound, and cannot be divided into like parts, as the hand cannot be divided into hands, nor the face into faces. Of these some are not only called parts, but members, such as those which, though entire in themselves, are made up of other parts, as the head and the leg, the hand and the entire arm, or the trunk; for these parts are both entire in themselves, and made up of other parts.
2. All the compound parts also are made up of simple parts, the hand, for example, of flesh, and sinew, and bone. Some animals have all these parts the same, in others they are different from each other. Some of the parts are the same in form, as the nose and eye of one man is the same as the nose and eye of another man, and flesh is the same with flesh, and bone with bone. In like manner we may compare the parts of the horse, and of other animals, those parts, that is, which are the same in species, for the whole bears the same relation to the whole as the parts do to each other. And in animals belonging to the same class, the parts are the same, only they differ in excess or defect. By class, I mean such as bird or fish, for all these differ if either compared with their own class or with another, and there are many forms of birds and fishes.
3. Nearly all their parts differ in them according to the opposition of their external qualities, such as colour or shape, in that some are more, others are less affected, or sometimes in number more or less, or in size greater and smaller, or in any quality which can be included in excess or defect. For some animals have a soft skin, in others the skin is shelly; some have a long bill, as cranes, others a short one; some have many feathers, others very few; some also have parts which are wanting in others, for some species have spurs, others have none; some have a crest, others have not. But, so to say, their principal parts and those which form the bulk of their body, are either the same, or vary only in their opposites, and in excess and defect.
4. By excess and defect I mean the greater and the less. But some animals agree with each other in their parts neither in form, nor in excess and defect, but have only an analogous likeness, such as a bone bears to a spine, a nail to a hoof, a hand to a crab's claw, the scale of a fish to the feather of a bird, for that which is a feather in the birds is a scale in the fish. With regard then to the parts which each class of animal possesses, they agree and differ in this manner, and also in the position of the parts. For many animals have the same parts, but not in the same position, as the mammæ which are either pectoral or abdominal. But of the simple parts some are soft and moist, others hard and dry.
5. The soft parts are either entirely so, or so long as they are in a natural condition, as blood, serum, fat, tallow, marrow, semen, gall, milk (in those animals which give milk), flesh, and other analogous parts of the body. In another manner also the excretions of the body belong to this class, as phlegm, and the excrements of the abdomen and bladder; the hard and dry parts are sinew, skin, vein, hair, bone, cartilage, nail, horn, for that part bears the same name, and on the whole is called horn, and the other parts of the body which are analogous to these.
6. Animals also differ in their manner of life, in their actions and dispositions, and in their parts. We will first of all speak generally of these differences, and afterwards consider each species separately. The following are the points in which they vary in manner of life, in their actions and dispositions. Some animals are aquatic, others live on the land; and the aquatic may again be divided into two classes, for some entirely exist and procure their food in the water, and take in and give out water, and cannot live without it; this is the nature of most fishes. But there are others which, though they live and feed in the water, do not take in water but air, and produce their young out of the water. Many of these animals are furnished with feet, as the otter and the latax[1] and the crocodile, or with wings, as the seagull and diver, and others are without feet, as the water-serpent. Some procure their food from the water, and cannot live out of the water, but neither inhale air nor water, as the acalephe[2] and the oyster.
7. Different aquatic animals are found in the sea, in rivers, in lakes, and in marshes, as the frog and newt, and of marine animals some are pelagic, some littoral, and some saxatile. Some land animals take in and give out air, and this is called inhaling and exhaling; such are man, and all other land animals which are furnished with lungs; some, however, which procure their food from the earth, do not inhale air, as the wasp, the bee, and all other insects.[3] By insects I mean those animals which have divisions in their bodies, whether in the lower part only, or both in the upper and lower. Many land animals, as I have already observed, procure their food from the water, but there are no aquatic or marine animals which find their food on land. There are some animals which at first inhabit the water, but afterwards change into a different form, and live out of the water; this happens to the gnat in the rivers, and ...[4] which afterwards becomes an œstrum.[5]
8. Again, there are some creatures which are stationary, while others are locomotive; the fixed animals are aquatic, but this is not the case with any of the inhabitants of the land. Many aquatic animals also grow upon each other; this is the case with several genera of shell-fish: the sponge also exhibits some signs of sensation, for they say that it is drawn up with some difficulty, unless the attempt to remove it is made stealthily. Other animals also there are which are alternately fixed together or free, this is the case with a certain kind of acalephe; some of these become separated during the night, and emigrate. Many animals are separate from each other, but incapable of voluntary movement, as oysters, and the animal called holothuria.[6] Some aquatic animals are swimmers, as fish, and the mollusca,[7] and the malacostraca, as the crabs. Others creep on the bottom, as the crab, for this, though an aquatic animal, naturally creeps.
9. Of land animals some are furnished with wings, as birds and bees, and these differ in other respects from each other; others have feet, and of this class some species walk, others crawl, and others creep in the mud. There is no animal which has only wings as fish have only fins, for those animals whose wings are formed by an expansion of the skin can walk, and the bat has feet, the seal has imperfect feet. Among birds there are some with very imperfect feet, which are therefore called apodes; they are, however, provided with very strong wings, and almost all birds that are similar to this one have strong wings and imperfect feet, as the swallow and drepanis;[8] for all this class of birds is alike both in habits and in the structure of their wings, and their whole appearance is very similar. The apos[9] is seen at all times of the year, but the drepanis can only be taken in rainy weather during the summer, and on the whole is a rare bird.
10. Many animals, however, can both walk and swim. The following are the differences exhibited by animals in their habits and their actions. Some of them are gregarious, and others solitary, both in the classes which are furnished with feet, and those which have wings, or fins. Some partake of both characters, and of those that are gregarious, as well as those that are solitary, some unite in societies and some are scattered. Gregarious birds are such as the pigeon, stork, swan, but no bird with hooked claws is gregarious. Among swimming animals some fish are gregarious, as the dromas,[10] tunny, pelamis,[11] amia.[12]
11. But man partakes of both qualities. Those which have a common employment are called social, but that is not the case with all gregarious animals. Man, and the bee, the wasp, and the ant, and the stork belong to this class. Some of these obey a leader, others are anarchical; the stork and the bee are of the former class, the ant and many others belong to the latter. Some animals, both in the gregarious and solitary class, are limited to one locality, others are migratory. There are also carnivorous animals, herbivorous, omnivorous, and others which eat peculiar food, as the bee and the spider; the former eats only honey and a few other sweet things, while spiders prey upon flies and there are other animals which feed entirely on fish. Some animals hunt for their food, and some make a store, which others do not. There are also animals which make habitations for themselves, and others which do not. The mole, the mouse, the ant, and the bee, make habitations, but many kinds both of insects and quadrupeds make no dwelling.
12. With regard to situation, some are troglodite, as lizards and serpents, others, as the horse and dog, live upon the surface of the earth. Some kinds of animals burrow in the ground, others do not; some animals are nocturnal, as the owl and the bat, others use the hours of daylight. There are tame animals and wild animals. Man and the mule are always tame, the leopard and the wolf are invariably wild, and others, as the elephant, are easily tamed. We may, however, view them in another way, for all the genera that have been tamed are found wild also, as horses, oxen, swine, sheep, goats, and dogs.
13. Some animals utter a loud cry, some are silent, and others have a voice, which in some cases may be expressed by a word, in others it cannot. There are also noisy animals and silent animals, musical and unmusical kinds, but they are mostly noisy about the breeding season. Some, as the dove, frequent fields, others, as the hoopoe, live on the mountains; some attach themselves to man, as the pigeon. Some are lascivious, as the partridge and domestic fowl, and others are chaste, as the raven, which rarely cohabits.
14. Again, there are classes of animals furnished with weapons of offence, others with weapons of defence; in the former I include those which are capable of inflicting an injury, or of defending themselves when they are attacked; in the latter those which are provided with some natural protection against injury.
15. Animals also exhibit many differences of disposition. Some are gentle, peaceful, and not violent, as the ox. Some are violent, passionate, and intractable, as the wild boar. Some are prudent and fearful, as the stag and the hare. Serpents are illiberal and crafty. Others, as the lion, are liberal, noble, and generous. Others are brave, wild, and crafty, like the wolf. For there is this difference between the generous and the brave—the former means that which comes of a noble race, the latter that which does not easily depart from its own nature.
16. Some animals are cunning and evil-disposed, as the fox; others, as the dog, are fierce, friendly, and fawning. Some are gentle and easily tamed, as the elephant; some are susceptible of shame, and watchful, as the goose. Some are jealous, and fond of ornament, as the peacock. But man is the only animal capable of reasoning, though many others possess the faculty of memory and instruction in common with him. No other animal but man has the power of recollection. In another place we will treat more accurately of the disposition and manner of life in each class.
Chapter II.
1. All animals possess in common those parts by which they take in food, and into which they receive it. But these parts agree or differ in the same way as all the other parts of bodies, that is, either in shape or size, or proportion or position; and besides these, almost all animals possess many other parts in common, such as those by which they reject their excrements, (and the part by which they take their food,)[13] though this does not exist in all. The part by which the food is taken in is called the mouth, that which receives the food from the mouth is called the stomach. The part by which they reject the excrement has many names.
2. The excrement being of two kinds, the animals which possess receptacles for the fluid excrement have also receptacles for the dry; but those which have the latter are not always furnished with the former. Wherefore all animals which have a bladder have a belly also, but not all that have a belly have a bladder; for the part appropriated to the reception of the liquid excrement is called the bladder, and that for the reception of the dry is called the belly.
3. Many animals possess both these parts, and that also by which the semen is emitted. Among animals that have the power of generation, some emit the semen into themselves, and some inject it into others. The former are called female, the latter male. In some animals there is neither male nor female, and there is a diversity in the form of the parts appropriated to this office. For some animals have a uterus, others have only something analogous to the uterus. These are the most essential organs; some of which exist in all animals, others in the majority only.
Chapter III.
1. There is only one sense, that of touch, which is common to all animals; so that no exact name can be given to the part in which this sense resides, for in some animals it is the same, in others only analogous.
2. Every living creature is furnished with moisture, and must die, if deprived of this moisture either in the course of nature or by force. But in what part of the body this moisture resides is another question. In some animals it is found in the blood and veins, in others the situation is only analogous, but these are imperfect, as fibres and serum.[14] The sense of touch resides in the simple parts, as in the flesh and in similar places, and generally in those parts which contain blood, at least in those animals which have blood; in others it resides in the analogous parts, but in all animals in the simple parts.
3. The capacity of action resides in the compound parts, as the preparation of food in the mouth, and the power of locomotion in the feet or wings, or the analogous parts. Again, some animals are sanguineous, as man, the horse, and all perfect animals, whether apodous, bipeds, or quadrupeds; and some animals are without blood, as the bee and the wasp, and such marine animals as the sepia and the carabus,[15] and all animals with more than four legs.
Chapter IV.
1. There are also viviparous, oviparous, and vermiparous animals. The viviparous, are such as man, and the horse, the seal, and others which have hair, and among marine animals the cetacea, as the dolphin and those which are called selache.[16] Some of these are furnished with a blow-hole, but have no gills, as the dolphin and the whale. The dolphin has its blow-hole on the back, the whale in its forehead; others have open gills, as the selache, the galeus,[17] and the batus.[18] That is called the egg of the perfect fœtus, from which the future animal is produced, from a part at first, while the remainder serves for its food. The worm is that from the whole of which the future animal is produced, and the fœtus afterwards acquires parts and increases in size.
2. Some viviparous animals are internally oviparous, as the selache; others are internally viviparous, as mankind and the horse. In different animals the fœtus assumes a different form, when first brought into the world, and is either a living creature, an egg, or a worm. The eggs of some animals, as birds, are hard-shelled, and are of two colours. Those of the selache and some other animals are soft-skinned, and have only one colour. Some species of the vermiform fœtus are capable of motion, others are not. But in another place, when we treat of generation, we will dwell more accurately on these subjects.
Chapter V.
1. Some animals have feet, others have none; of the former some have two feet, as mankind and birds only; others have four, as the lizard and the dog; others, as the scolopendra and bee, have many feet; but all have their feet in pairs.
2. And among apodous swimming animals some have fins, as fish; and of these some have two fins in the upper and two in the lower part of their bodies, as the chrysophys[19] and labrax;[20] others, which are very long and smooth, have only two fins, as the eel and conger; others have none at all, as the lamprey and others, which live in the sea as serpents do on land, and in like manner swim in moist places; and some of the genus selache, as those which are flat and have tails, as the batos and trygon, have no fins; these fish swim by means of their flat surfaces; but the batrachus[21] has fins, and so have all those fish which are not very thin in proportion to their width.
3. But the animals which have apparent feet, as the cephalopods, swim both with their feet and fins, and move quickly upon the hollow parts of their bodies, as the sepia, teuthis, and polypus: but none of them can walk except the polypus. Those animals which have hard skins, as the carabus, swim with their hinder parts, and move very quickly upon their tail, with the fins which are upon it, and the newt both with its feet and tail, and (to compare small things with great) it has a tail like the glanis.[22]
4. Some winged animals, as the eagle and the hawk, are feathered; others, as the cockchafer and the bee, membranaceous wings; and others, as the alopex[23] and the bat, have wings formed of skin. Both the feathered and leather-winged tribes have blood; but the insects, which have naked wings, have no blood. Again, the feathered and leather-winged animals are all either bipeds or apodous, for they say that there are winged serpents in Ethiopia.[24]
5. The feathered tribe of animals is called birds; the other two tribes have no exact names. Among winged creatures without blood some are coleopterous, for they have elytra over their wings, as the cockchafer and the beetles, and others are without elytra. The animals of this class have either two or four wings. Those with four wings are distinguished by their greater size or a caudal sting. The diptera are either such as are small, or have a sting in their head. The coleoptera have no sting at all; the diptera have a sting in their head, as the fly, horse-fly, gad-fly, and gnat.
6. All bloodless animals, except a few marine species of the cephalopoda, are smaller than those which have blood. These animals are the largest in warm waters, and more so in the sea than on the land, and in fresh water. All creatures that are capable of motion are moved by four or more limbs. Those with blood have four limbs only, as man has two hands and two feet. Birds have two wings and two feet; quadrupeds and fishes have four feet or four fins. But those animals which have two wings or none at all, as the serpent, are nevertheless moved by four limbs; for the bendings of their body are four in number, or two when they have two wings.
7. Those bloodless animals which have more than four feet, whether furnished with feet or wings, always have more than four organs of locomotion, as the ephemera, which has four feet and four wings; and in this it not only agrees with its peculiar manner of life, from which also it derives its name, but also that it is winged and four-footed; and all creatures, whether they have four feet or many feet, move in the same direction, for they all move in the long way of their bodies. All other animals have two leading feet, the crab alone has four.
Chapter VI.
1. The following are the principal classes which include other animals—birds, fishes, cetacea. All these have red blood. There is another class of animals covered with a shell, and called shell fish, and an anonymous class of soft-shelled animals (malacostraca), which includes carabi, carcini, and astaci; and another of mollusca, such as teuthis, teuthos, and sepia; and another class of annulose animals. All these are without blood, and the species with feet have many feet. There are no large classes of other animals; for there are many forms which are not included under a single form, but either stand alone, having no specific difference, as man, or have specific differences, but the classes are anonymous.
2. All animals with four feet and no wings have blood. Some of these are viviparous, others oviparous. The viviparous are not all covered with hair, but the oviparous have scales. The scale of a reptile is similar in situation to the scale of a fish. The class of serpents, sanguineous land animals, is naturally without feet. Though some have feet, this class is also covered with scales. All serpents, except the viper, are oviparous. The viper alone is viviparous, so that not all viviparous animals have hair; for some fishes also are viviparous. All animals, however, that have hair are viviparous; for we may consider the prickles of the hedgehog and porcupine as analogous to the hair of animals; for they answer the purpose of hair, and not, as in marine animals that are so covered, of feet.[25]
3. There are also many classes of viviparous quadrupeds, but they have never received names. Each kind must, therefore, be taken separately, as man, as we speak of lion, stag, horse, dog, and of others in like manner. There is, however, one class of those that have a mane called lophuri,[26] as the horse, ass, mule, ginnus,[27] hinnus, and those which in Syria are called mules,[28] from their resemblance, though not quite of the same form. They copulate and produce young from each other, so that it is necessary to consider well the nature of each of them separately.
4. We have now treated of these things in an outline, for the sake of giving a taste of what we are afterwards to consider, and of how many. Hereafter we will speak of them more accurately, in order that we may first of all examine into their points of difference and agreement; and afterwards we will endeavour to inquire into the causes of these things, but it will be a more natural arrangement to do so when we treat of the history of each. For it is evident from these things what they are, and what we have to demonstrate.
5. Our first subject of consideration must be the parts of which animals are made up, for these constitute the chief and the whole difference among them; either because they have them or are without them, or these parts vary in position or arrangement, or in any of the differences mentioned before, in form, size, proportion, and difference of accidents. First of all, then, we will consider the parts of the human body; for, as every one can best understand the standard of money with which he is most familiar, so it is in other things. And of necessity, man must be the best known to us of all animals. The parts of the body are, indeed, plain enough to every one's common sense; but, that we may not forsake our arrangement, and may have reason as well as perception, we will speak, first of all, of the organic, and afterwards of the simple, parts.
Chapter VII.
1. These are the principal parts into which the whole body is divided. The head, neck, trunk, two arms, and two legs. The whole cavity, from the neck to the pudenda, is called the trunk. That part of the head which is covered with hair is called the cranium, the fore part of this is called the sinciput. This is the last formed, being the last bone in the body which becomes hard; the hinder part is the occiput, and between the occiput and sinciput is the crown of the head. The brain is placed beneath the sinciput, and the occiput is empty;[29] the cranium is a thin spherical bone covered with a skin without flesh. The skull has sutures: in women there is but one placed in a circle; men have generally three joined in one, and a man's skull has been seen without any sutures at all. The middle and smooth part of the hair is called the crown of the head; in some persons this is double, for there are some people double-crowned, not from any formation of the bone, but only from the division of the hair.
Chapter VIII.
1. The part immediately beneath the cranium is called the face in mankind alone, for we do not speak of the face of a fish or of an ox; the part immediately beneath the sinciput and between the eyes is called the forehead. Those in whom this feature is large are tardy; those who have a small forehead are easily excited; a broad forehead belongs to those who are liable to be carried away by their feelings; a round forehead is a sign of a passionate disposition.
2. Under the forehead are two eyebrows; if they are straight, it is a mark of a gentle disposition; the eyebrows bent down to the nose are an evidence of an austere temper; if they incline towards the temples, of a mocker and scoffer; if they are drawn down, it is a sign of an envious person. Beneath these are the eyes, which by nature are two in number: the parts of each eye are, first, the upper and under eyelid, the edges of which are furnished with hair. Within the eye, the moist part with which we see is called the pupil; round this is the iris, and this is surrounded by the white. Two corners of the eye are formed at the junction of the eyelids, one in the direction of the nose, the other towards the temple. If these corners are large, they are a sign of an evil disposition; if those near the nose are fleshy, and have a swollen appearance, they are an evidence of wickedness.
3. All other classes of animals have eyes, except shell-fish, and some other imperfect creatures, and all viviparous animals except moles have eyes. A person might, however, conclude from the following observation, that it has eyes, though it is quite without them, for it certainly does not see at all, nor has it any external eyes; but, when the skin is taken off, there is a place for the eyes, and the iris of the eye is in the place which it would naturally occupy on the outside, as if they had been wounded in their birth, and the skin had grown over the place.
4. The white of the eye is generally the same in all animals, but the iris is very different. In some it is black, in others decidedly grey, in others dark grey, and in some it is the colour of the goat's eye, and this is a sign of the best disposition, and is most to be prized for acuteness of vision. Man is almost the only animal which exhibits a variety of colouring in the eye; there are, however, some horses with grey eyes.
5. The eyes of some persons are large, others small, and others of a moderate size—the last-mentioned are the best. And some eyes are projecting, some deep-set, and some moderate, and those which are deep-set have the most acute vision in all animals; the middle position is a sign of the best disposition. Some people have an eye which is perpetually opening and closing, others have an eye always intent, and others a moderately-intent eye: this last is the best disposed; of the others, the one is impudent, and the other a sign of infirmity.
Chapter IX.
1. The part of the head by which we hear, but do not breathe, is the ear; for Alcmæon is mistaken when he says that goats breathe through their ears. One part of the ear has not received any name, the other part is called the lobe. The whole ear is made up of cartilage and flesh. Internally, the ear has the nature of a shell, and the last bone is similar to the ear itself. The sound reaches this part last, as it were in a chamber. There is no passage from the ear into the brain, but there is to the roof of the mouth; and a vein extends from the brain to each ear.[30] The eyes also are connected with the brain, and each eye is placed upon a vein.
2. Man is the only animal with ears that cannot move them. Among animals which have the faculty of hearing; some have ears, and others, as winged and scaly creatures, have no ear, but an open orifice in the head; all viviparous animals, except the seal, and the dolphin, and other cetacea, have ears; the selache also are viviparous. The seal has open orifices by which it hears; the dolphin can hear, though it has no ears; all other animals can move their ears, but man alone does not move them.
3. The ears (of man) lie in the same circle with his eyes, and not above them, as in some quadrupeds. The ears are either smooth, hairy, or moderate. These last are the best for hearing, but they do not in any way indicate the disposition. They are large, or small or middling, or they are erect, or not at all, or only moderately erect. The moderately erect are a sign of the best disposition; large and erect ears are an evidence of foolish talking and loquacity. The part of the head between the eye and the ear is called the temple.
4. In the middle of the face is the nose, the passage for the breath, for through this animals inhale and exhale, and through it also they sneeze; this is the expulsion of a concentrated breath, and is the only kind of breathing which is esteemed ominous or sacred: moreover, inhaling and exhaling is into the chest, and without the nostrils it is impossible to inhale or exhale, for inhaling and exhaling is from the breast by the windpipe, and not from any part of the head. But it is possible to live without this respiration through the nostrils. The smell also resides in this part; this is the sense of odour. The nostril is very moveable, and not naturally immoveable like the ear.
5. One part of the nose, namely, the division between the nostrils, is cartilaginous, but the passage is empty, for the nose is formed of two divisions. In the elephant, the nostril is very large and strong, and it answers to the purpose of a hand, for the animal can extend it, and with it take its food, and convey it to its mouth, whether the food is moist or dry. This is the only animal that can do so.
6. There are also two jaws, the upper and the under. All animals move the lower jaw, except the river-crocodile, and this moves the upper jaw only. Below the nose are two lips, the flesh of which is very moveable. The mouth is the centre of the jaws and the lips. The upper part is called the roof of the mouth, the lower, the pharynx. The tongue is the organ of taste. This sense resides in the tip, and, if food is placed on the broad part of the tongue, the taste is less acute. The tongue partakes of all the other sensations, as harshness, heat, and cold, as well as that of taste, in common with the rest of the flesh.
7. The flat part of the tongue is either narrow or moderate in size, the moderate is the best, and most apt for clear elocution. The tongue may be either too loose, or tied down, as in stammerers and inarticulate speakers. The flesh of the tongue is porous and spongy. The epiglottis is a portion of the tongue, the double part of the mouth is the tonsils; that in many divisions the gums, they are fleshy, and in them are fixed the bony teeth. Within the mouth there is another part, the uvula, a pillar filled with blood. If this part is swelled with relaxation, it is called a grape, and chokes.
Chapter X.
1. The neck is the part between the head and the trunk; the front part is called the larynx, behind this is the œsophagus. The voice and the breath pass through the front part, the trachea, which is cartilaginous, but the œsophagus is fleshy, and placed farther in, near the vertebra of the neck. The back of the neck is called the epomis. These are the parts as far as the thorax. The parts of the thorax are some before and some behind. First of all, below the neck is the breast with two mammæ; on these are two nipples, through which the milk of the female passes. The mamma is porous. There is also milk in the breasts of men. The flesh of the mamma in men is thick, in women it is spongy and full of pores.
2. The part below the thorax, in front, is the belly, and of this the navel is the centre. Beneath this centre, the part on each side is called the iliac region; the part in the centre, beneath the navel, is called the hypogastric region; the lowest part of this is called pubes; above the navel is the epigastric region; the lumbar region is situated between the epigastric and iliac regions.
3. Of the hinder parts the loin forms the division of the body, whence also its name is derived (ὀσφύς quasi ἰσοφύς). The part of the central region which is like a seat is the buttock; that on which the thigh turns, the cotyledon. The peculiar part of women is the uterus; of men the penis, it is external, at the extremity of the trunk in two parts; the upper part is fleshy and smooth, and is called glans; this is covered with an anonymous skin, which, if it is cut asunder, does not unite again, neither does the cheek nor the eyelid.
4. Common to this and the glans is the prepuce, the remaining part is cartilaginous, readily increases in size, and it is drawn in and out, contrary to that of the class of animals called lophuri. Beneath the penis are two testicles, surrounded by a skin called the scrotum; the testicles are not of the same nature as flesh, nor are they made of flesh. In another place we shall treat of the nature of all these parts more accurately.
5. The pudendum muliebre is contrary to that of the male, for it is hollow under the pubes, not projecting like that of the male, and the urethra is outside the womb, for the passage of the semen of the male, and for the fluid excrement of both. The part of the body which joins the neck and the breast is called the jugulum; that which unites the side, the arm, and the shoulder is the arm-pit. The region between the thigh and the hypogastric region is called the groin; the part common to the thigh and the buttock on the inside is the perineum, that of the thigh and buttock on the outside is called hypoglutis.
6. We have previously treated of the trunk. The hinder part of the breast is called the back: the parts of the back are two shoulder blades and the back-bone; below the thorax, and opposite the stomach, are the loins; the ribs belong both to the back and the front of the trunk, and are eight on each side, for we have never heard anything worthy of credit concerning the Ligyes, who are said to have seven ribs.
Chapter XI.
1. Man has upper and lower side, the front and the back, and right and left side. The right and the left are nearly alike in their parts and in every particular, except that the left side is the weaker; but the back parts are not like the front; nor the lower parts to the upper, except in this particular, that the parts below the hypogastric region are full-fleshed or lean in proportion to the face, and the arms also answer to the proportion of the legs. Those persons who have a short humerus have also generally a short thigh: those who have small feet have also small hands.
2. One of the double parts of the body is the arm. The parts of the arm are the shoulder, humerus, elbow, cubitus, and the hand; the parts of the hand are the palm and five fingers; the jointed part of the finger is the condyle, the unjointed part the phalanx. The thumb has but one joint, all the rest have two. The bending of the arm and finger is always inwards. The arm is also bent at the elbow: the inner part of the hand is called the palm; it is fleshy, and divided by strong lines. Long-lived persons have one or two lines which extend through the whole hand; short-lived persons have two lines not extending through the whole hand. The joint of the hand and arm is the wrist. The outside of the hand is sinewy, and has not received any name.
3. The other double part of the body is the leg. The double-headed part of the leg is called the thigh, the moveable part is called the patella, that which has two bones the tibia; the front of this part is the shin, the hind part the calf of the leg. The flesh is full of sinews and veins; in those persons who have large hips, the flesh is drawn upwards towards the hollow part under the knee, in those who have not it is drawn down. The lowest part of the shin is the ankle, and this is double in each leg. The part of the leg with many bones is called the foot, the hind part of which is the heel. The front part is divided into five toes; the under part, which is fleshy, is called the sole of the foot; the upper part, (the instep,) is sinewy, and has not received any name. One part of the toe is the nail, the other is the joint; the nail is on the extremity of the toe, and the toes are bent inwards. Those who have the sole of the foot thick, and not hollow, but walk upon the whole of the foot, are knavish. The common joint of the thigh and the leg is the knee.
Chapter XII.
1. These parts are possessed in common by the male and female; the position of the external parts, whether above or below, before or behind, on the right side or the left, will appear on mere inspection. It is necessary, however, to enumerate them, for the reasons which I have mentioned before, that its proper place being assigned to each part, any difference in their arrangement in man and other animals may be less likely to escape our notice.
2. In man, the parts of the body are more naturally divided into upper and lower than in any other animal, for all the upper and lower parts of his body are arranged according to the order of nature above and below; in the same way, also, the fore and hind parts, and those on the right and left, are placed naturally. But in other animals some of these parts are either not at all so placed, or they are much more confused than in man. The head is placed above the body in all animals, but in man alone, as we have said, is this part corresponding to the order of all things.
3. Next to the head is the neck, then the breast and the back, the one before and the other behind; and each of them in the following order:—the stomach, loins, pudenda, haunch, then the thigh and leg, and, last of all, the foot. The legs have the joint bent forwards, in which direction also is their manner of walking, and the more moveable part of the legs as well as the joint is bent forward: the heel is behind. Each of the ankles is like an ear. From the right and left side come arms, having the joint bent inwards, so that the flexures both of the legs and arms are towards each other, especially in man.
4. The senses and the organs of sense, the eyes, nostril, and tongue are in the same position, and in the anterior part of the body; but the hearing, and its organ, and the ears are at the side, and upon the same circumference as the eyes. Man has the eyes closer together, in proportion to his size, than other animals. The sense of touch is the most accurate of the human senses, and next to this the taste. In the rest of his senses he is far surpassed by other animals.
Chapter XIII.
1. The external parts of the body are arranged in this manner; and, as I have said, are for the most part named and known from habit. But the internal parts are not so well known, and those of the human body are the least known. So that in order to explain them we must compare them with the same parts of those animals which are most nearly allied.
2. First of all, the brain is placed in the fore-part of the head, and it occupies the same position in all animals that have this part, which belongs to all sanguineous and cephalopodous animals. In proportion to his size, man has the largest brain of all animals, and the moistest. Two membranes enclose the brain: that outside the skull is the strongest; the inner membrane is slighter than the outer one. In all animals the brain is in two portions. The cerebellum is placed upon the brain at its lowest extremity. It is different from the brain both to the touch and in appearance.
3. The back of the head is empty and hollow in all animals in proportion to their size, for some have a large head, but the part lying under the face is less in those animals which have round faces; others have a small head and large jaws, as the whole tribe of Lophuri. In all animals the brain is without blood, nor does it contain any veins, and it is naturally cold to the touch. The greater number of animals have a small cavity in the centre of the brain. And round this a membrane filled with veins: this membrane is like skin, and encloses the brain. Above the brain is the smoothest and weakest bone in the head—it is called sinciput.
4. Three passages lead from the eye to the brain; the largest and the middle-sized to the cerebellum, the least to the brain itself. The least is that which is nearest the nostril; the greater are parallel, and do not meet; but the middle-sized passages meet: this is most evident in fishes, and these passages are nearer to the brain than the larger, but the least separate from each other, and do not meet.
5. Within the neck is the œsophagus, which also derives its additional name, the isthmus, from its length and narrowness, and the trachea. The trachea lies in front of the œsophagus in all animals which possess this part, that is, all animals which breathe from the lungs. The trachea is cartilaginous in its nature, and contains but little blood: it is surrounded with many smooth rings of cartilage, and it lies upon the upper part towards the mouth, opposite the passage from the nostril to the mouth, wherefore, also, if any liquid is drawn into it in drinking, it passes out of the mouth through the nostrils.
6. Between the passages is the epiglottis, which can be folded over the passage which extends from the trachea to the mouth; by the epiglottis the passage of the tongue is closed, at the other extremity the trachea reaches to the middle of the lungs, and afterwards divides to each side of the lungs. For the lung is double in all animals which possess this part, though the division is not so marked in viviparous animals, and least of all in man. The human lungs are anomalous, neither being divided into many lobes, as in other animals, nor being smooth.
7. In oviparous animals, such as birds and the oviparous quadrupeds, the parts are very widely separated, so that they appear to have two lungs; they are, however, only two divisions of the trachea extending to each side of the lungs; the trachea is also united with the great vein and with the part called the aorta. When the trachea is filled with air, it distributes the breath into the cavities of the lungs, which have cartilaginous interstices ending in a point; the passages of these interstices go through the whole lungs, always dividing from greater into less.
8. The heart is connected with the trachea by fatty and cartilaginous muscular bands. There is a cavity near the junction, and in some animals, when the trachea is filled with breath, this cavity is not always distinguishable, but in larger animals it is evident that the breath enters it. This then is the form of the trachea, which only inhales and exhales breath, and nothing else either dry or moist, or it suffers pain till that which has passed down is coughed up.
9. The œsophagus is joined to the mouth from above, near the trachea, being united both to the spine and the trachea by membranaceous ligaments. It passes through the diaphragm into the cavity of the stomach, is fleshy in its nature, and is extensible both in length and breadth. The human stomach is like that of a dog, not a great deal larger than the entrail, but like a wide bowel; after this there is an entrail simply rolled together, then an entrail of moderate width. The lower part of the abdomen is like that of a hog, for it is wide, and from this to the seat it is short and thick.
10. The omentum is united to the abdomen in the middle, and is in its nature a fatty membrane, as in other animals with a single stomach and teeth in both jaws. The mesenterium is over the bowels; it is membranaceous, broad, and fat; it is united to the great vein and the aorta: through it extend many numerous veins at its junction with the intestines, reaching from above downwards. This is the nature of the œsophagus, trachea, and the parts of the abdominal cavity.
Chapter XIV.
1. The heart has three cavities: it lies above the lungs, near the division of the trachea. It has a fat and thick membrane, by which it is united to the great vein and the aorta, and it lies upon the aorta near the apex; and the apex is placed in the same situation in all animals which have a chest; and in all animals, whether they have or have not a chest, the apex of the heart is forwards, though it often escapes notice by the change of position in the parts when dissected. The gibbous portion of the heart is upwards; its apex is generally fleshy and thick, and there is a sinew in the cavities.
2. In all other animals which have a chest the heart is placed in the centre; in man it is rather on the left side, inclining a little from the division of the mammæ towards the left breast in the upper part of the chest; it is not large; its whole form is not long, but rather round, except that the extremity ends in a point. It has three cavities, as I have said. The greatest is that on the right, the least on the left, the middle one is of intermediate size. They are all perforated towards the lungs. It has both the two smaller, and all of them perforated towards the lungs, and this is evident in one of the cavities downwards from its point of attachment.
3. Near the principal cavity it is attached to the great vein to which also the mesenterium is united, and in the middle it is attached to the aorta. Passages lead from the lungs to the heart, and they are divided in the same way as the trachea, following the passages from the trachea throughout the whole lungs, and the passages leading from the heart are on the upper part. There is no passage which is common to them both, but by their union they receive the breath and transmit it through the heart; for one of the passages leads to the right cavity, and the other to the left. We will hereafter speak of the great vein and the aorta in the portion of our work which treats of these parts.
4. In all animals which have lungs and are viviparous, either internally or externally, the lung has more blood than all the other parts; for the whole lung is spongy, and through each perforation branches of the great vein proceed. Those persons are deceived who say that the lungs are empty, drawing their conclusion from dissected animals, from which all the blood has escaped. Of all the viscera the heart alone contains blood, and in the lungs the blood is not in the lungs themselves, but in the veins by which they are perforated. But in the heart itself the blood is in each of the cavities, but the thinnest blood is in the middle cavity.
5. Beneath the lungs is that division of the trunk which is called the diaphragm. It is united to the ribs, the hypochondriac region, and the spine. In the centre is a smooth membranous part, and there are veins extending through it. The human veins are thick in proportion to the size of the body. Under the diaphragm, on the right side is the liver, on the left the spleen, alike in all animals which are furnished with these parts in their natural form and without monstrosity, for already there has been observed an altered order in some quadrupeds. They are joined to the abdomen near the omentum.
6. The appearance of the human spleen is narrow and long, like that of the hog. Generally speaking, and in most animals, the liver is not furnished with a gall, though this is found in some animals. The human liver is round, like that of the ox. This is the case also in animals offered for sacrifice, as in the district of Chalcis, in Eubœa, where the sheep have no gall, and in Naxos it is so large in nearly all the animals, that strangers who come to sacrifice are surprised, and think that it is ominous, and not at all natural. The liver is united with the great vein, but has no part in common with the aorta. For a vein branches off from the great vein through the liver, at the place where the gates of the liver, as they are called, are situated. The spleen also is only connected with the great vein, for a vein extends from this to the spleen.
7. Next to these are the kidneys, which lie close to the spine. In their nature they are like the kidneys of oxen. In all animals that have kidneys the right kidney lies higher than the left, and is covered with less fat, and is more dry than the left. This is the same in all animals. Passages lead from them to the great vein and to the aorta, but not to the cavity; for all animals, except the seal, have a cavity in their kidneys, though it is greater in some than in others. The human kidneys; though similar to those of oxen, are more solid than in other animals, and the passages that lead to them end in the body of the kidney; and this is a proof that they do not pass through them, that they contain no blood in the living animal, nor is it coagulated in them when dead; but they have a small cavity, as I said before. From the cavity of the kidneys two strong passages lead to the bladder, and two others, strong and continuous, lead to the aorta.
8. A hollow, sinewy vein is attached to the middle of each kidney, which extends from the spine through small branches, and disappears towards the hip, though it afterwards appears again upon the hip. The branches of these veins reach to the bladder; for the bladder is placed lowest of all, being united to the passages which proceed from the kidneys by the neck which reaches to the urethra; and nearly all round its circumference it is united by smooth and muscular membranes, very similar in form to those upon the diaphragm of the chest.
9. The human bladder is moderately large in size, and the pudendum is united to the neck of the bladder, having a strong passage above and a small one below. One of these passages leads to the testicles; the other, which is sinewy and cartilaginous, to the bladder. From this are appended the testicles of the male, concerning which we will treat in the part devoted to their consideration. These parts are the same in the female, who differs in none of the internal parts except the womb, the appearance of which may be learned from the drawings in the books on anatomy. Its position is upon the entrails. The bladder is above the uterus. In a future book we will speak of the nature of the uterus generally; for it is not alike, nor has it the same nature in them all.
These are the internal and external parts of the human body, and this is their nature and their manner.
BOOK THE SECOND.
Chapter I.
1. Of the parts of other animals some are common to them all, as I have said before, and some belong to particular classes, and they agree and differ in the manner often before mentioned. For almost all animals which differ in kind, have also their parts different in form, and there are some which have only a proportionate resemblance, but differ in kind, and others agree in kind, but not in form, and many parts belong to some which others have not. Viviparous quadrupeds have a head and neck, and all the parts of the head, but they differ from each other in their forms. The lion has one bone in the neck, but has no vertebræ, and when laid open its internal parts are like those of a dog.
2. Viviparous quadrupeds have fore-legs instead of arms, and in all quadrupeds, especially those which have the fore-feet much divided, they are analogous to hands, for they use them as hands, and the left legs are less at liberty than in men, except in the elephant, and this animal has the toes less perfectly jointed, and its fore-legs much larger than the hind ones; it has five toes, and short ankles to its hind legs. It has a trunk of such a nature and length as to be able to use it for a hand, and it drinks and eats by stretching this into its mouth; this also it lifts up to its driver, and pulls up trees with it; with this organ it breathes as it walks through the water. The extremity of the proboscis is curved, but without joints, for it is cartilaginous.
3. Man is the only ambidextrous animal. All animals have their chest analogous to man, but not similar to his, for he has a wide chest, and theirs is narrow: no animal but man has pectoral mammæ; the elephant has two mammæ, but not on the breast, though they are in that direction.
4. All animals, excepting the elephant, bend both their fore and hind legs in contrary directions, and also contrary to the way in which a man's limbs are bent. For in viviparous quadrupeds, except the elephant, the joints of the fore-legs are bent forwards, and those of the hind-legs backwards, and they have the hollow part of their circumference opposite to each other: the elephant is not constructed as some have said, but is able to sit down, and bend his legs, but, from his great weight, is unable to bend them on both sides at once, but leans either to the right side or the left, and sleeps in this position, but its hind legs are bent like a man's.
5. In oviparous quadrupeds, as the crocodile, lizard, and such like, both the fore and hind legs are bent forwards, inclining a little to the side, and likewise also in other animals with more than four feet, except that the middle joint of their last pair of legs is always doubtful, and is rather bent towards the side. And man also has both the flexures of his limbs in the same direction, and those of his arms and legs contrary to each other, for he bends the arm backwards, except that the external part of the arm is a little inclined inwards, towards the side; the legs bend forwards.
6. No animal bends the joints both of its fore and hind legs backwards. The flexure of the cubitus and fore-leg is in a contrary direction to the flexure of the shoulder in all animals, and the flexure of the knee is contrary to that of the hip; so that since man bends his joints in the contrary direction to many animals, those which have such joints as man's also bend them in a contrary direction to many animals. Birds bend their limbs in a direction similar to that of quadrupeds, for being bipeds, they bend their legs backwards, and have wings instead of arms, or fore-legs, and these bend forwards.
7. The seal is like a maimed quadruped, for immediately beneath the scapula it has feet like hands, as are also those of the bear, for they are five-fingered, and each of the fingers has three joints, and a small claw: the hind feet are five-fingered, and each of the fingers has joints and claws like those upon the fore-feet; in shape they are very like the tail of a fish.
8. The movements of animals, whether they have four feet or more, are in the direction of the longer diameter of their bodies, and thus also they stand, the commencement of motion is always on the right side of their bodies. The lion and the camel, both the Arabian and Bactrian, walk with the hind-foot following the fore-foot on the same side, and this means that the right foot is not put before the left, but follows it.
Chapter II.
1. Whatever parts a man has before, a quadruped has beneath: those that are behind in man, form the quadruped's back; most animals have a tail, the seal has a small one, like that of a stag; hereafter we shall speak of apelike animals. All viviparous quadrupeds are, so to say, rough, with hair, and not like man, who, except on his head, has not much hair on his body, and what there is, is very fine; but his head is more massy than that of other animals.
2. And all creatures that have their upper part rough with hair, are quite smooth, or only slightly rough beneath; but man is contrary to this: and again, each eyelid in man is furnished, with lashes, and he has hair on the cheek, and pubes; other animals are not so furnished, having no hair on the lower eyelid, or only a few hairs under the eyelid.
3. But some hairy quadrupeds are rough all over, as the hog, the bear, and the dog; the neck of others is the roughest part, as in those which have a mane, like the lion; in others which have a mane, the back of the neck from the head to the point of the shoulder is hairy, as the horse and the mule, and among wild animals with horns, the bonassus. The hipellaphus,[31] as it is called, has a mane upon the point of its shoulder, and so has the pardium,[32] though both these have a thin mane from the head to the shoulder, and the hipellaphus has a beard upon its larynx.
4. Both of these are horned, and have a cloven hoof: the female hipellaphus has no horns, it is about the size of a stag; there are hipellaphi in the country of the Arachotæ, where also are buffaloes. The wild differ as much from domesticated oxen, as wild hogs from tame ones; for they are black, and of great strength; their nose is curved like an eagle's beak, and their horns lie backwards; the horns of the hipellaphus are very like those of the dorcas:[33] the elephant is the least hairy of all quadrupeds. The tails of animals are like their bodies in roughness, and smoothness, in as many as have tails in proportion to their size, for some have very small tails.
5. Camels have a part peculiar to themselves, called the hump upon the back; the Bactrian camel differs from the Arabian; the one has two humps, the other but one; and they have another hump below, like the one on their back, upon which the rest of their body is supported, when they go down upon their knees. The camel has four mammæ, like the cow, and a tail like an ass, and the pudendum is behind; it has but one knee in each leg, and not many joints, as some persons say; this appearance arises from the position of the abdomen. It has a talus like that of an ox, misshapen, and small in proportion to its size.
6. The hoof is cloven; it has not teeth in both jaws. The cloven hoof is formed in this manner; the lower part is somewhat cloven, as far as the second joint of the toes, but the upper part is four-cleft as far as the first joint of the toes; there is a membrane uniting the cloven parts as in geese, the foot is fleshy underneath like that of a bear, wherefore, when camels are used in war, and become footsore, their drivers put them on leather shoes. All quadrupeds have their legs bony and sinewy and without flesh, that is all animals with feet are so formed, excepting man, and they are without hips; this is particularly the case with birds. But on the contrary, the hips, thighs, and legs of man are more fleshy than almost any other part of his body, for even the calf of his leg is fleshy.
7. Some sanguineous and viviparous quadrupeds have many divisions in the foot, like the hands and feet of man; for some, as the lion, the dog, and the panther, have many divisions of the foot; others are cloven-footed, and instead of nails have hoofs, as the sheep, the goat, the stag, and the river-horse. Some are without divisions in the foot, as the solidunguli, the horse, and the mule. The genus of swine belongs to both classes; for in Illyria, Pæonia, and other places, there are swine with a solid hoof. Those with a two-cleft hoof have two divisions, before and behind; in those with a solid hoof this is continuous.
8. Some animals have horns, others have none; most of those with horns have also cloven feet, as the ox, the stag, and the goat. We have never seen an animal with a solid hoof with two horns, and there are only a few that have a solid hoof and one horn, as the Indian ass, and the oryx.[34] Of all animals with a solid hoof, the Indian ass alone has a talus. Swine, as I said before, belong to both classes, so that they have not a well-formed astragulus.
9. Many animals with cloven hoofs have a talus; no animals with their feet in many divisions have a talus, nor has man. The lynx has as it were half a talus, and so has the lion, but it is more intricate, as some pretend. The talus is always in the hind leg, and it is placed upright upon the gamb, with the lower part outwards, and the upper part inwards; the parts called Coa[35] turned inwards towards each other, and the Chia turned outwards, and the projecting portions upwards. This is the position of the talus, in all animals which are furnished with this part. Some animals have a cloven hoof, and a mane, and two horns turned towards each other, as the bonassus, an animal which inhabits the country between Pæonia and Media.
10. All animals with horns are four-footed, unless there is any animal which metaphorically, and for the sake of a word, is said to have horns, as they say that the serpents in the neighbourhood of Thebes in Egypt have, though it is nothing more than an appendage, that is called a horn. The stag is the only animal that has solid horns, the horns of all other animals are hollow for a part of their length, and solid at the extremity; the hollow part is principally formed of skin, and round this is arranged the solid part, as in the horns of oxen. The stag is the only animal which casts its horns; they are reproduced; this takes place every year after the animal has attained the age of two years; other animals never lose their horns unless destroyed by violence.
Chapter III.
1. The parts of the mammæ also, and the organs of generation, are different in man and in other animals. For some have the mammæ forward on or near the breast, and two mammæ with two nipples, as man and the elephant, as I said before, for the elephant has two mammæ near the arm-pits; in the female they are small, and do not bear any proportion to the size of the animal, so that they are scarcely visible in a side view; the males also have mammæ as well as the females, but they are exceedingly small.
2. The bear has four, other animals have two mammæ upon the thighs, and two nipples like sheep; others have four nipples, as the cow; some animals have not their nipples on the breast and thighs, but on the abdomen, as the dog and the hog, they have many nipples, but not all of the same size; other animals also have more than two, as the panther, which has four on the abdomen; the lioness has two on the abdomen, the camel has two mammæ and four nipples, like the cow.
3. Among animals with a solid hoof the males have no mammæ, except some horses which bear a resemblance to their dams. Some males have the penis external, as man, and the horse, and many others; some internal, as the dolphin. Of those animals in which it is external, some have it in front, as those which I have named; and some of these have both the penis and testicles loose, as in man; others have them close to the abdomen; some have them more, others less loose, for this part is not equally free in the boar and the horse.
4. The elephant has a penis like a horse, but small and less in proportion to the size of its body; its testicles are not external but internal, and near the kidneys, wherefore also the work of copulation is quickly performed. The female has the pudendum in the same position as the udder of the sheep, and when excited with desire, it is lifted up outwards, so as to be ready for copulation with the male; and the orifice of the pudendum is very wide. Most animals have the penis in the same direction, but some are retromingent, as the lynx, lion, camel, and hare. In some males, as I have said, the direction of the penis is different, but all females are retromingent, for even in the female elephant the pudendum is placed under the thighs, as in other animals.
5. The penis is very different in different animals, for in some it is cartilaginous and fleshy, as in man; the fleshy part does not swell, but the cartilaginous portion is erected; in others it is sinewy, as the camel and the stag; in others it is bony, as the fox and the wolf, the weasel and the martin, for the martin also has a bony penis.
6. Again, man being a perfect animal, has the upper part of his body less than the lower part; the contrary is the case with other sanguineous animals: by the upper portion of his body we mean the portion of his body from the head to the anus, and by the lower, the parts from hence downwards. In those animals which have feet the hind leg is the lower part of the body in point of size; and in those without legs, the same relation is observed in their various kinds of tails. Such is the nature of perfected animals, but they differ in the development of their parts. Man in the young state has the upper part of his body greater than the lower; but as he grows the proportion of his parts changes, wherefore also he is the only animal which does not move in the same way when young and when grown up, for at first a child crawls like a four-footed animal.
7. Some animals grow in the same proportion throughout, as the dog—others when they are first born have their upper part proportionally less than the lower, but as they approach maturity, the upper parts increase in size, as in the lophuri, for in these animals the part from the hoof to the haunch never grows after their birth.
8. There is a great difference in the teeth of animals, both among themselves and from the human type; all viviparous and sanguineous quadrupeds have teeth; some have teeth in both jaws, which others have not; this is the first distinction. Those which have horns do not possess teeth in both jaws, for they have no front teeth in the upper jaw. There are others, as the camel, which, though it has no horns, has not teeth in the upper jaw.
9. Some animals have tusks like the boar, others have not; some have pointed teeth, as the lion, panther, and dog; the teeth of others have an even surface, as the ox and the horse. Animals with pointed teeth have their teeth fitting into each other; no animal has both tusks and horns, neither those with pointed teeth nor any others. Most animals have their front teeth sharp, and their hind teeth flat; all the teeth of the seal are sharp pointed, showing an approximation to the race of fishes, for all fishes have pointed teeth.
10. None of these genera have a double row of teeth. But, if we may believe Ctesias, there are some which have this peculiarity, for he mentions an Indian animal called martichora, which had three rows of teeth in each jaw; it is as large and as rough as a lion, and has similar feet, but its ears and face are like those of a man; its eye is grey, and its body red; it has a tail like a land scorpion, in which there is a sting; it darts forth the spines with which it is covered instead of hair, and it utters a noise resembling the united sound of a pipe and a trumpet; it is not less swift of foot than a stag, and is wild, and devours men.
11. Man sheds his teeth, and so do other animals, as the horse, the mule, and the ass; man sheds his front teeth, but no animal sheds the molar teeth; swine do not shed any of their teeth. About dogs, there is some doubt; some persons think they do not shed their teeth at all, others that they shed only the canine teeth; but it has been observed that they do shed their teeth like men: perhaps it has escaped notice, because they do not shed them before the inner ones, which are similar, are grown up.
12. And it is probable that the same takes place in other wild animals, since they are said only to shed their canine teeth. Young dogs are known from old ones by their teeth, for young dogs have sharp white teeth, old dogs have them black and blunted. The horse is in this respect different from all other animals; for while the teeth in other animals become darker as they grow older, in the horse they become more white.
13. Those which are called canine teeth are placed between the cutting and the molar teeth, and partake of the nature of both, for they are wide below, but sharp at the top. The male has more teeth than the female in mankind, and sheep, and goats, and swine. This has not been observed in other animals. Those persons which have the greatest number of teeth are the longest lived; those which have them widely separated, smaller, and more scattered, are generally more short lived.
14. The last molar teeth, which are called wisdom teeth, appear, both in the male and female about the age of twenty, and some women cut the molar teeth at eighty years of age, causing great pain in the extremity of the jaw, and some men also: this happens with persons who do not cut their wise teeth at the proper age.
15. The elephant has four teeth on each side, with which he grinds his food, for he reduces his food very small, like meal. Besides these, he has two tusks: in the male these are large, and turned upwards; in the female they are small, and bent in the contrary direction. The elephant has teeth as soon as it is born; but the tusks are small, and therefore inconspicuous at first. It has so small a tongue within its mouth, that it is difficult to see it.
Chapter IV.
1. Animals have very differently-sized mouths, for some have wide, open mouths, as the dog, the lion, and all animals with pointed teeth; other animals have a small mouth, as man, or a moderately-sized one, as the swine. The Egyptian river-horse has a mane like a horse, and a cloven hoof like the ox; it has a flat face; the talus is like that of other animals with cloven hoofs, and it has large projecting teeth; it has a tail like a hog, and utters a sound like the neighing of a horse; it is about the size of an ass, and its skin is so thick that shields are made of it; its intestines are like those of a horse or ass.
Chapter V.
1. Some animals unite in their nature the characteristics of man and quadrupeds, as apes, monkeys, and cynocephali. The monkey is an ape with a tail; cynocephali have the same form as apes, but are larger and stronger, and their faces are more like dogs' faces; they are naturally fierce, and their teeth are more like dogs' teeth, and stronger than in other genera.
2. The apes are hairy in their upper parts, so as to bear some resemblance to quadrupeds, and also in the lower, because they are like men, for in this particular, as I said before, there is a difference in men and brutes; their hair is coarse, and apes are rough both above and below. They bear a strong likeness to men in their face, for their nostrils, ears, and teeth, both the fore and back teeth, are like his; and as for eye-lashes, though other animals are entirely without them, the ape has them on the lower eye-lid; they are, however, very thin, and altogether small.
3. Upon the breast are two small mammæ, with two nipples; the arms are like those of man, but hairy; both the arms and legs are bent like those of man, the curves of the limbs being turned towards each other. Besides these, it has hands, fingers, and nails like those of man, but all indicating an approximation to the brute; their feet are peculiar, for they are like great hands. The fingers upon them are like those on the hands, and the middle one is the longest; the sole of the foot is like a hand, except that it extends the whole length of the hand like a palm, and is hard at the extremity, and is a bad and obscure representation of a heel.
4. The feet are used for both the purposes of hands and feet, and are bent like hands. The humerus and the femur are short compared with the cubitus and the leg. The navel is not prominent, and there is a hard place about the region of the navel. Like quadrupeds, the upper part of the body is much larger than the lower, almost in the proportion of five to three, and the feet are like hands, and as it were made up of hands and feet, a foot as far as the extremity of the heel, and the remainder like a hand, for the fingers are furnished with something like a palm.
5. The ape passes more of its time as a quadruped than a biped, and like a quadruped, it has no nates, nor has it a tail like a biped, but only something in representation of a tail. The pudendum of the female resembles that of a woman; that of the male is more like a dog's. The monkey, as I said before, has a tail, and all the internal parts of the body are like those of man. The external parts of viviparous quadrupeds are of this nature.
Chapter VI.
1. Oviparous and sanguineous quadrupeds (for no sanguineous land animal that is not either a quadruped or apodal is oviparous) have a head, neck, back, upper and lower parts of the body, and fore and hind legs, and something resembling a breast, like oviparous quadrupeds: most of them also have a large tail, some a small one; all of them have many toes and divided feet, and all the organs of sense, and a tongue, except the Egyptian crocodile. And in this respect it resembles some fishes, for the tongue of fishes is thorny, and not free, and in some the place for the tongue is altogether smooth, and without division (so that nothing is visible), unless the lips are drawn aside.
2. They have no ears, only a passage for hearing; neither have they any mammæ, and the penis and testicles are internal, and not external. They have no hair, but are covered with scales, and all are furnished with sharp teeth. The river-crocodiles have eyes like hogs, and great sharp teeth, strong claws, and an unbroken scaly skin. In the water their sight is imperfect, but very good on land. They pass the greatest part of the day on land, and of the night in the water, for they cannot bear the cold air.
Chapter VII.
1. The chameleon has the whole of its body like that of a lizard, and the ribs, descending downwards, are joined together on the hypogastric region, like those of fish, and the back-bone stands up, like that of a fish; its face is like that of the chœropithecus.[36] It has a very long tail; the extremity is very smooth, and rolled together like a thong. It is raised, upon longer legs than a lizard; the joints of the legs are bent in the same direction as the lizard's.
2. Each of its feet is divided into two parts, having the same relation to each other as our thumbs have to the rest of the hand: and, for a short distance, each of these is divided into toes; in the fore-feet the internal part has three, the external two toes; in the hind feet the internal part has two, and the external three toes; there is a claw upon each of its toes like that of birds of prey; its whole body is rough, like the crocodile.
3. Its eyes are placed in a hollow, and are very large and round; surrounded with skin like the rest of its body, and in the middle is left a small aperture through which it sees; this is never covered with skin. The eye is turned round in a circle, and it can direct its vision to any side, so that it can see where it will. The change in the colour of its skin takes place when it is filled with air. It can acquire either a black colour, like that of the crocodile, or ochreous, like that of the lizard, or spotted with black, like the panther; and this change takes place over the whole body, for the eyes also change like the rest of the body, and so does the tail.
4. Its movements are slow, like those of the tortoise; when dying, it becomes ochreous, and retains this colour after death. The œsophagus and trachea of the chameleon are similar to the same parts in lizards; it has no flesh, except a little on the head and cheeks, and upon the appendage at the end of its tail. It has no blood, except about the heart, and eyes, and the parts above the heart, and the veins that extend from these: and even in these there is very little blood.
5. The brain lies a little above the eyes, and is continuous with them; and when the outside skin of the eye is taken away, a bright object shines through it, like a bright ring of brass. Through the whole of its body many strong membranes are extended, which are much stronger than in other animals. It breathes strongly for some time after it has been dissected, and there are some slight movements of the heart; it also continues to contract its sides, but not the other parts of the body. It has no distinct spleen; and it hides itself in rocks like the lizard.
Chapter VIII.
1. Birds also have many parts like the animals described above. For all these have a head, neck, back, and under parts of the body, and something resembling a breast. They have two legs, and thus resemble men more than other animals, except that the joints bend backwards like those of quadrupeds, as I said before. They have neither hands, nor fore-feet, but wings; herein they differ from all other animals. Again, the hip is like a thigh, large and united as far as the middle of the abdomen, so as to look like a thigh, when it is separated from the rest of the body; and the thigh where it is joined to the leg is another part. The class of birds with crooked claws have the largest thigh, and stronger breasts than others.
2. All birds have claws and many divisions of the foot; in most of them the toes are quite separate; but the swimmers have their feet covered with a web, but even these have distinct and jointed toes. All birds that fly high in the air have four toes; and, generally, these are placed three forwards, and one backward, like a heel; a few birds have two toes turned forwards and two backwards, as the bird called jynx.[37] This bird is somewhat larger than the spize,[38] and is variegated in appearance. The formation of its toes is peculiar, and so is that of its tongue, which is like a serpent's. This it can project from its mouth, as much as the width of four fingers, and draw it in again. Like a snake it can turn its neck quite round, whilst the rest of its body is perfectly still. It has large claws, like those of the colius,[39] and it hisses with its voice.
3. Birds have a mouth, but its construction is peculiar, for they have neither lips nor teeth, but a beak, and neither ears nor nostrils, but only passages for these organs, for the nostrils in the beak, and for the ears in the head. They have two eyes like other animals, without eyelashes; when heavy with sleep, they close their eyes with the lower eyelid; and all possess a nictitating membrane, which closes the eye. The owl-like birds also use the upper eyelid. The same is the nature of the scaly animals, as the saurians, and others of this class; all of them close their eyes with the lower eyelid, but they do not all wink like birds. Again, birds have neither scales nor hair, but feathers; all the feathers have a stem.
4. Birds have no tail, but a rump; in birds with long legs, or palmated feet, this is short, in others it is large. These last, when they fly, keep their legs close to the body, but the others stretch them out behind them. All birds have a tongue, but this differs in various kinds: some have it large, others small. Next after man, some birds articulate words better than any other animals; this is particularly the case with those with broad tongues. No oviparous animal has an epiglottis on its trachea: but it can close and open the passage, so as to prevent any heavy thing finding its way into the lungs.
5. Some tribes of birds have spurs; this is never the case with those which have crooked claws. Those with crooked claws are more active in flight; those which have spurs, are heavier in their make.
6. Some birds have a crest, mostly formed of erect feathers; the domestic fowl, alone, is peculiar, for its crest is neither flesh, nor very unlike flesh.
Chapter IX.
1. Among aquatic animals, there is one class of fish, which embraces many forms, and is separated from other animals, for it has a head, and upper and lower parts, in which last are the stomach and bowels, and a continuous and undivided tail. This is not alike in all. They have neither neck nor limb, nor internal and external testicles, nor mammæ, nor has any other animal mammæ that is not viviparous, nor indeed all viviparous animals, but those only that are internally viviparous, and not first of all oviparous. For the dolphin is a viviparous animal, wherefore it has two mammæ, not indeed above, but near the organs of reproduction. It has not evident nipples, but, as it were, a stream flowing from each side. From these the milk exudes, and the young ones suck as they follow the mother. This has been distinctly observed by some persons.
2. But fish, as we have observed, have neither mammæ nor any external passage for the genital organs. In the branchia they have a distinctive organ, through which they eject the water they have received into their mouths; and they have fins, most fishes have four, but the long fishes, as the eel, have only two placed near the branchia, and in this respect the cestreus,[40] a fish in the lake of Siphæ, is similar to the eel,[41] and so is the fish called tænia.[42] Some of these long fish have no fins, as the muræna, nor have they divided branchia like other fish.
3. Some fish with branchia have coverings over their branchi; in all the cartilaginous fishes they are uncovered. All fishes that have coverings have the branchia placed on their sides; among the cartilaginous fishes some are broad in the lowest part, as the narce[43] and the batos;[44] some very long in the sides, as all the galeodea.[45] In the batracus,[46] although the branchia are on the sides, they are covered with a coriaceous, not a prickly membrane, like those of fishes which are not cartilaginous.
4. In some fishes with branchia they are single, in others double, but the last towards the body is always single. Some have but few branchia, others have many; but their number is always equal on both sides, and those with the smallest number have always one on each side; this is double in the capros;[47] others have two on each side, sometimes these are single, sometimes double, as in the conger[48] and the scarus;[49] others have four simple branchia on each side, as the ellops,[50] synagris, muræna, and eel; others have four, all divided except the last, as the cichle,[51] perca,[52] glanis,[53] and cyprinus;[54] all the galeodea have five double branchia on each side, the xiphias[55] has eight, which are double. This is the manner and number of the branchia of fishes.
5. And fish differ in other respects besides their gills, for they have no hair like viviparous quadrupeds, nor scaly plates like oviparous quadrupeds, nor feathers like birds, but the greater number of them are covered with scales; some of them are rough, and a very few are smooth. Some cartilaginous fishes are rough, others smooth. Congers, eels, and tunnies are smooth. All fish except the scarus have pointed teeth, and all have sharp teeth, some several rows of them, and teeth on the tongue; they have also a hard prickly tongue, so united to the mouth as sometimes to appear without a tongue.
6. The mouth of some fishes is wide, like viviparous quadrupeds. They have no external organs of sense, nor even passages for smelling or hearing; but all have eyes without eyelids, though their eyes are not hard. All fishes are sanguineous; some are oviparous, others viviparous; all those that are covered with scales are oviparous. The cartilaginous fishes are all viviparous, except the batrachus.
Chapter X.
1. The remaining class of sanguineous animals is that of serpents; these partake of both characters. The greater portion of them inhabit the land, a few inhabiting water are found in rivers. There are also serpents in the sea very like those on land, except in their head, which is more like that of the conger. There are many genera of sea-serpents, and they are of all kinds of colours; they do not exist in the deepest part of the ocean. Serpents are apodal, like fishes.
2. There are also marine scolopendræ,[56] very like those on land, but rather less; they live in rocky places; in colour they are redder, and they have more feet, and slighter legs than in the terrestrial species. These also, like the serpents, are not found in deep places.
3. And there is a small fish which lives among the rocks, which some call echineis;[57] some people use it for trials and philtres; it is not fit for food. Some people say it has feet, but it has none; the fins, however, are like feet, which gives it this appearance. I have now described the external parts of sanguineous animals, their nature, and their number, and the differences which occur amongst them.
Chapter XI.
1. First of all we will speak of the internal parts of sanguineous animals, for the greatest number of genera differ from other animals, some being sanguineous, others ex-sanguineous. The sanguineous genera are man, viviparous and oviparous quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and whales, and perhaps others that are anonymous, because they do not form a genus, but simply species amongst each other, as the serpent and the crocodile.
2. All viviparous quadrupeds have an œsophagus and trachea, situated as in man, and so have oviparous quadrupeds and birds, though there is some difference in the formation of these parts; all that breathe by inhaling and exhaling air have lungs, trachea, and œsophagus. The position of the œsophagus and trachea, though similar, is not the same, nor are the lungs alike in all, nor similar in position.
3. All sanguineous animals have a heart, and a division in the middle of the body, called a diaphragm. In small animals its smallness and thinness render it less apparent. The heart of the ox is peculiar; for there is a kind of ox, though not the whole genus, which has a bone in its heart, and there is also a bone in the heart of the horse.
4. Not all animals have lungs, fish and those with gills have no lungs. All sanguineous animals have a liver, generally a spleen also; but in oviparous animals that are not viviparous, the spleen is so small as nearly to escape notice, as in most birds, the pigeon, kite,[58] hawk,[59] and owl. The ægocephalus[60] has none at all. Oviparous quadrupeds are of the same nature, for they have a very small spleen, as the tortoise, emys,[61] phryne, lizard, crocodile, and frog.
5. Some animals have a gall upon the liver, others none. Among viviparous quadrupeds the stag[62] has none, nor the deer,[63] horse, mule, ass, seal, and some swine. The Achaïnian stag appears to have the gall in the tail; that which they call gall in these animals resembles it in colour, but it is not liquid like gall, but more like the spleen in its internal structure.
6. All, while they are alive, have worms[64] in the head; they are produced in the hollow part under the hypoglottis, and near the vertebræ, where the head is joined on. In size they resemble very large maggots; they are numerous, and continuous, in number not generally more than twenty. Stags, as I have observed, have no gall, but their intestines are so bitter that dogs will not eat them if the deer are fat.
7. The elephant also has a liver without a gall, but when the part where the gall is attached in other animals, is cut open, a quantity of fluid like bile, more or less abundant, runs out. Among those animals which inhale sea-water, and have lungs, the dolphin has no gall. All birds and fishes have galls, and all oviparous quadrupeds, to speak of them at once, have a gall, greater or less; but in some fishes it is placed upon the liver, as the galeodea, glanis, rine,[65] leiobatus,[66] narce, and in some long fish, as the eel, belone,[67] and zygæna;[68] and the callionymus[69] has a gall upon the liver, larger in proportion to its size than any other fish. Others have a gall upon the intestines, extending from the liver by several thin passages; the amia[70] has it stretched out upon the intestines, and equal to them in length, and many times folded upon it. Other fish have the gall upon the intestines, some at a greater, others at a less distance, as the batrachus, elops, synagris, muræna, xiphias.
8. And the same genus often appears to have the gall extended in both directions, as the conger, in some individuals it is turned towards the liver, in others suspended before the liver. The same structure is observed in birds, for some have the gall turned towards the stomach, and others towards the entrails, as the pigeon, crow, quail, swallow, sparrow; in others it is directed both towards the liver and the stomach, as the ægocephalus; in others, as the hawk and kite, it is directed towards the liver and the intestines.
Chapter XII.
1. All viviparous quadrupeds have kidneys and a bladder, but some oviparous animals have neither, as birds and fishes, and among oviparous quadrupeds the marine turtle is the only one that has them at all proportionate to its size. The marine turtle has the kidneys like those of oxen, and that of the ox is like a great many kidneys joined together. In all its internal parts, the bonassus[71] is like the ox.
2. The position which these parts occupy is the same in all animals, and the heart is in the middle of the body of all creatures, except man. In him it is inclined towards the left side; and, as it was before observed, the apex of the heart is directed forward in all, but in fishes it does not appear to be so, for the apex of the heart is not directed towards the chest, but towards the mouth and head, and the top of the heart is suspended from the place where the right and left branchia are joined to each other, and there are also other passages which extend from the heart to each of the branchia, greater towards the larger branchia, and less towards the smaller; but that to the top of the heart in great fishes is a thick white tube.
3. A few fishes, as the conger and the eel, have an œsophagus, but even in these it is very small; in some of the fish that have a liver, it is placed on the right side, and has no lobes; in others, it is divided from the commencement; and the greater part is on the right side. For in some fish each part of the liver hangs down, and the divisions are not united at their origin, as in the tribe of fish called galeodea, and in a species of hare which is found near the lake of Bolba, in the place called Sycine, and in other places, so that one might suppose that they had two livers, on account of the distances at which the passages unite, as in the lungs of birds.
4. In all animals the spleen is naturally situated on the left side. The case has occurred that an animal having been opened, has been observed to have the spleen on the right side and the liver on the left, but such appearances are considered ominous. In all animals the trachea reaches to the lungs (its nature will be described in another place); and the œsophagus, in all that have this part, reaches to the stomach through the diaphragm. For most fishes (as I observed before) have no œsophagus, but the stomach is united directly with the mouth. So that it often happens that, when great fishes are pursuing small ones, the stomach falls forward into the mouth.
5. All the animals that have been mentioned have a stomach, and in the same situation, for it is universally placed under the diaphragm, and an intestine follows it, and ends in the exit for the food which is called the anus. But the stomach of different animals is variously formed, for in the first place viviparous horned quadrupeds, which have not teeth in both jaws, have four such passages, and those animals are said to ruminate. For the œsophagus, commencing in the mouth, extends to the parts just below the lungs, and passes through the diaphragm to the great stomach.
6. The internal part of this is rough, and folded together; and it is united, near the junction of the stomach, to the part which, from its appearance, is called the net, for the exterior is like a stomach, but the inside resembles the meshes of a net; in point of size, the net is much less than the stomach. Next to this is the part called echinus, because internally it is rough and channelled; it is nearly the same size as the net. Next to the echinus is the enystrum, which is both larger and longer than the echinus, and internally covered with many large and smooth folds; after this are the entrails.
7. This is the nature of the stomach of animals with horns, and no teeth in the upper jaw. But they differ from each other in the form and size of these parts; and because the œsophagus is sometimes united to the middle, and sometimes to the side of the stomach. Most animals which have teeth in both jaws have but one stomach, as the man, dog, bear, lion, and the wolf. The thos[72] has all its intestines like a wolf. All these have but one stomach, to which the bowel is united. But in some of these the stomach is larger, as the hog and the bear; that of the hog is marked with a few smooth lines. In other animals the stomach is less, not indeed much larger than the intestine, as the dog, lion, and man. In the forms of their bowels other animals are divided into two classes, resembling these types; for in some the stomach resembles a dog's, in others a hog's, both the greater and lesser animals in the same way; and the stomachs of various animals differ in size, form, thickness, thinness, and the position of the junction of the œsophagus.
8. And the nature of the bowels differs in the before-named animals, those, namely, which have not, and those which have teeth in both jaws, in size, thickness, and folding. The intestines of the ruminants are all large, and so are the animals themselves; there are a few small animals of this class, and there is no horned animal which is very small. And some have appendages to the intestines, for none of the animals with teeth in both jaws have straight intestines. There are enlargements in the bowels of the elephant, which give it the appearance of having four stomachs; in these the food is detained, and apart from these there is no receptacle for the food. Its intestines are very like those of the hog, except that the liver is four times greater than that of the ox, and other parts also; the spleen is small in proportion to its size.
9. The stomach and intestines of oviparous quadrupeds bear a similar proportion to each other, as in the land and marine tortoise, the lizard, and both kinds of crocodiles,[73] and similar quadrupeds; for they have one simple stomach, in some it is like that of the hog, in others like that of the dog.
10. The class of serpents in almost every part of their body resemble the saurians, which have feet, and are oviparous, if we add to their length, and take away the feet; for snakes are covered with scales, and have their upper and lower parts like saurians, except that they have no testicles, but, like fish, two passages united in one, and a large and cloven uterus, but in other respects their intestines are so like those of saurians, except that from their elongated figure their intestines are long and narrow, that they might be mistaken for them, from their similarity.
11. For the trachea is very long, and the œsophagus still longer, and the commencement of the trachea is close to the mouth, so that the tongue appears to lie beneath it. The trachea appears to be above the tongue because this last can be retracted, and is not always in one position, as in other animals. Their tongue is long, thin, and black, and can be put forth for some distance. The tongue of serpents and saurians is distinct from that of all other animals, for the extremity of the tongue is cloven; this is most remarkable in serpents, for the extremities of their tongues are like hairs. The seal also has a forked tongue. The serpent has a stomach like a very wide entrail, like that of the dog, afterwards a very long and thin intestine, which is alike to its extremity.
12. Behind the pharynx is a small kidney-shaped heart, so that at times the apex does not appear to be directed towards the chest, next to this is a single lung, divided by a muscular passage, very long, and descending a long distance from the breast. The liver is long and simple, the spleen small and round, like that of the saurians. The gall resembles that of fish, in water serpents it is situated on the liver, in others generally upon the intestines. They all have pointed teeth, and as many ribs as there are days in the month, for they have thirty. Some persons say that in one respect serpents resemble the young of the swallow, for if their eyes are pierced with a pointed instrument, they will grow again, and if the tails of serpents or lizards be cut off, they will be reproduced.
13. The same remarks will apply to the intestines and stomachs of fishes, for they have one simple stomach, but it differs in form, for in some fishes it is like a bowel, as in the one called scarus, and this is the only fish that appears to ruminate, and the size of the intestines is simple and folded together, for it can be resolved into one, by unfolding it. The appendages of the stomach appear to be peculiar to fishes and birds, for birds have them above the stomach, and few in number, but in fish they are above, and around the stomach. Some have many appendages, as the gobius,[74] galeus,[75] perca, scorpios,[76] citharus,[77] trigla,[78] and sparus.[79] But the cestreus has many on one side of the stomach, and only one on the other. Some have only a few, as the hepatus[80] and the glaucus,[81] and the chrysophrys[82] also has only a few, but some individuals differ from others, for one chrysophrys has many, another has only a few. There are some fish which have none of them, as most of the cartilaginous genera; others have a few, and some a great many, and all fish have these appendages very near the stomach itself.
14. Birds have their internal parts different from each other and from other animals; for some have before the stomach a crop, as the domestic fowl, pigeon, dove, and partridge. The crop is a large and hollow skin, into which the food is received before it is digested. Hence from the œsophagus it is narrower, then wider, and where it descends into the stomach it is smaller.
15. In most birds the stomach is fleshy and thick, and on the outside there is a strong skin, which is separated from the fleshy part. Some birds have no crop, but instead of it a wide œsophagus, either wholly so, or in the part extending to the stomach, as in the colœus,[83] raven, and crow. The quail has the lower part of the œsophagus broad, the ægocephalus has it small but wider, and so has the owl. But the duck, goose, gull, diver, and bustard, have a wide and broad œsophagus, and so have many other birds.
16. And some have a part of the stomach itself like a crop, as the cenchreis;[84] and there are some which have neither œsophagus nor a wide crop, but a large stomach; these are small birds like the swallow, and the sparrow. A few have neither a crop, nor a wide œsophagus, but a very long one; these are birds with a long neck, as the porphyrion.[85] Almost all these emit a moister excrement than other birds.
17. The quail has these peculiarities, for it has a crop, and before the stomach a wide and broad œsophagus. And the crop is at a great distance from the part of the œsophagus before the belly, considering the size of the bird. Birds have generally a small intestine, which is single when unfolded, and birds have appendages, a few, as I have said, and not placed above, as in fish, but below, near the end of the intestine. Some birds have not these appendages, though they generally have them, as the domestic fowl, partridge, duck, night-raven,[86] localus,[87] ascalaphus,[88] goose, bustard, owl. Some of the small birds have them, but they are very minute, as the sparrow.
BOOK THE THIRD.
Chapter I.
1. We have treated of the other internal parts of animals, their number, their nature and varieties. It now remains for us to speak of the organs of generation. In females these are always internal; but there is much difference in males, for some sanguineous animals have no testicles at all, in others they are internal; and in some animals with internal testicles, they are placed near the kidneys, in others near the abdomen; in other animals they are external. The penis of these last is sometimes united to the abdomen, in others it is loose as well as the testicles; but in promingent and retromingent animals it is suspended from the abdomen in a different manner. Neither fish nor any other animal with gills, nor the whole class of serpents, have testicles; neither has any apodal animal which is not internally viviparous.
2. Birds have testicles, but they are internal and near the loins, and so have oviparous quadrupeds, as the lizard, tortoise, and crocodile, and among viviparous animals, the hedgehog. In some viviparous animals they are situated internally upon the abdomen, as the dolphin among apodal creatures, and the elephant among quadrupeds. In other animals the testicles are external. It has been previously observed, that the manner and position of their junction with the abdomen is various, for in some they are joined on and do not hang down, as in swine, in others they hang down as in man.
3. It has also been observed that neither fishes nor serpents have testicles, but they have two passages hanging down on each side of the spine from the diaphragm, and these unite in one passage above the anus, by above, we mean nearer the spinal column. At the season of coition these passages are full of semen, which exudes on pressure; the differences among these may be seen by dissection, and in another place they will each be considered more particularly.
4. All oviparous animals, whether bipeds or quadrupeds, have their testicles placed in the loins below the diaphragm, some of a white colour, others ochreous, but in all surrounded with small veins; from each of these a passage is produced, which afterwards become united in one, and, as in fish, open near the anus. This is the penis, which is inconspicuous in small animals; but in the larger, as the goose and such like, it becomes more conspicuous immediately after coition.
5. And these passages, both in fish and other animals, are joined to the loins below the stomach and between the entrails and the great vein, from which passages proceed to each of the kidneys; and, as in fish, the semen may be seen entering them at the period of coition, when these passages become very conspicuous, but when this season is passed the passages again become invisible. So also the testicles of birds are either small or entirely invisible when not excited, but when urged by desire they become very large; this is so remarkable in pigeons and partridges, that some persons have supposed that they had no testicles during winter.
6. In some of those animals in which the testicles are placed forwards, they are internal and upon the abdomen, as in the dolphin; in others they are externally conspicuous upon the extremity of the abdomen. These animals are similar in other respects, but differ in this, for in some the testicles are uncovered, and others that have external testes they are placed in a scrotum.
7. This is the nature of the testicles of all viviparous animals with feet: from the aorta, passages like veins proceed to the head of each testicle, and two others from the kidneys, these last are full of blood, but those from the aorta contain no blood. From the head of each testicle to the testicle itself, there proceeds a thicker and more muscular passage, which is in each testicle reflected back to the head of the testicle, and from this point they again unite upon the penis towards the fore-part of it.
8. And both these passages which are reflected back upon themselves, and those which are seated upon the testicles, are covered with the same membrane as the testes themselves, so that unless this membrane is taken away, they all appear to be one passage. These last passages, which are seated upon the testicle, contain sanguineous fluid, but less than those above from the aorta; but in the reflected passages of the duct which is upon the penis, the fluid is white. A passage also leads from the bladder, and is united to the upper part of this duct, which is enclosed in the part called the penis as in a husk. The accompanying diagram will illustrate the position of these parts.
9. The origin of the passage from the trachea, a; the head of the testes and the descending passages, b b; the passages which proceed from these, and are seated upon the testicle, c c; the reflexed passages which contain the white fluid, d d; the penis, e; the bladder f; the testicles, g g. But when the testicles are cut out or otherwise destroyed, the upper passages are retracted; in young animals castration is performed by bruising the testicles, in older animals by excision. And it has happened that a bull has begotten young if admitted to the female immediately after castration. This is the nature of the testicles of animals.
10. The uterus of the females that possess this organ is not of the same nature, nor alike in all, but they differ from each other both in viviparous and oviparous animals. The uterus is double in all those animals in which it is situated near the external organ of generation, one part lying on the right side, the other on the left, but the origin is one, and there is but one os uteri, which is like a very fleshy tube, and in most animals, especially those of a large size, it is cartilaginous. One part of this organ is called the uterus and delphys (whence the word adelphi, brothers), and the vagina and os uteri are called metra.
11. In all viviparous animals, whether bipeds or quadrupeds, the uterus is placed below the diaphragm, as in the human female, the bitch, sow, mare, and cow, and it is the same in all horned animals. At the extremity of the uterus most animals have a convoluted part called the horns; these are not distinct in all oviparous animals; but in some birds they are placed near the diaphragm, and in some fishes below, as in the viviparous bipeds and quadrupeds. But they are thin, membranaceous, and long, so that in very small fish each part of the roe appears as one ovum, as if the fish which are said to have a crumbling roe had but two ova, for it is not one ovum but many, and therefore it may be resolved into many.
12. In the uterus of birds the vagina is below, fleshy and tough, but the part near the diaphragm membranaceous and very thin, so that the eggs appear to be outside the uterus. In large birds the membrane is more conspicuous, and if inflated through the vagina, it swells and enlarges at places; in small birds these parts are not conspicuous. The uterus of oviparous quadrupeds, as the tortoise, lizard, frog, and such like, is of the same nature, for the vagina below is one and fleshy, but the division and the ova are higher up and near the diaphragm.
13. In those apodal creatures which are outwardly viviparous and inwardly oviparous, as the sharks and selachea—[The selachea are apodal, furnished with gills, and viviparous]—the uterus is divided, and as in birds, it commences below and extends towards the diaphragm. The ova are situated between the division, and above near the diaphragm; and the animal is produced from the ovum after this has descended into the open space.
14. The difference between the uteri of these fish and others may be studied more accurately in drawings of dissections. Serpents also differ much both among themselves and from other animals, for all serpents except the viper are oviparous; this one is viviparous, though at first internally oviparous, wherefore, in many respects, its uterus resembles that of the cartilaginous fishes. The uterus of the serpent is long, like the body, and descends downwards, beginning from one duct and continuing on either side of the spine as far as the diaphragm, as if each were a passage, in which the ova are placed in order; these ova are not extruded singly, but connected together like a chain.
15. In all animals that are either internally or externally viviparous, the uterus is situated above the abdomen; in all oviparous creatures it is placed below, near the loins. Those that are externally viviparous, but internally oviparous, partake of both characters, for the lower part in which the ova are situated is near the loins, the other part whence the ova are extruded above the intestines. And there is also this difference in the uteri of animals: those which have horns and not teeth in both jaws have cotyledons in the pregnant uterus, and some of those also with teeth in both jaws, as the hare, the mouse, and the bat. But other viviparous animals with teeth in both jaws, and with feet, have a smooth uterus. The embryo is not united to the cotyledon, but to the womb. This is the manner of the internal and external heterogeneous parts of animals.
Chapter II.
1. Of the homogeneous parts of animals, the blood is common to sanguineous animals; and so is the part in which it is contained, which is called a vein; analogous to these, in exsanguineous animals are the serum and the fibre. That which especially constitutes the body is flesh or its analogue: the bone and its analogue; the spine and the cartilage. Next to this we place the skin, membranes, sinews, hair, nails, and their analogue; after these, adeps, fat, and excrementitious matters; then are fæces, phlegm, and bile, both the yellow and the black.
2. But inasmuch as the blood and the veins seem to occupy the chief place, we will first of all speak of these, both for other reasons, and because former writers do not appear to have described them rightly. The difficulty of understanding them is the reason of their errors, for in dead animals, the nature of the principal veins is obscure, for they collapse as soon as the blood has escaped, and it pours out of them as from a vessel. No part of the body, except the veins, contains any blood, except the heart, which has a little; but it is all in the veins. In living creatures their nature cannot be distinguished, for they are internal, and out of sight; so that those who consider them only in dead and dissected animals, cannot see their principal origins. But some, by the examination of emaciated persons, have distinguished the origin of the veins, from the appearance of those which are external.
3. For Syennesis,[89] a Cyprian physician, speaks thus: "The larger veins are thus constituted. From the navel around the loins, through the back to the lungs, under the breasts; that from the right to the left, and that from the left to the right. That from the left, through the liver to the kidney and the testicle; that from the right to the spleen, the kidney, and the testicle, and from thence to the penis."
4. Diogenes[90] of Apollonia writes thus: "The veins are thus placed in man. There are two very large ones, which extend through the stomach by the spine of the back, one to the right and the other to the left, each to the leg nearest itself, and upwards to the head by the collar-bone, and through the neck. From these great veins others extend through the whole of the body, from the right to the right side, and from the left to the left side. The largest are two from the heart, surrounding the spine of the back; and others, a little higher up, through the breasts under the arm-pits, each to the hand nearest itself; and the one is called the splenetic, the other the hepatic vein.
5. "The extremity of these veins is divided, one branch goes to the thumb, and another to the wrist, and from these many small branches are extended upon each hand, and the fingers; and others, smaller still, branch off from these first veins, from the right side to the liver, from the left to the spleen and kidneys. The veins, which go to the legs, are divided near the junction, and extend through the whole thigh; but the largest of these extends to the back of the thigh, and appears thick; another, less thick, passes through the inside of the thigh, and afterwards veins extend by the knee to the leg and foot. As on the hands, they are distributed upon the tarsus of the foot, and from thence to the toes.
6. "A number of small veins are distributed on the stomach and the lungs. Those that extend to the head, through the jugular region, appear large in the neck. From the extremity of each of these many veins are distributed upon the head, some on the right side to the left, others on the left side to the right, they all end near the ear. And there is a second vein upon the neck on each side, somewhat less than the other, to which the principal veins of the neck are united. These pass inwards, through the neck, and from each of them veins pass beneath the shoulder-blade and to the hands; and near the splenetic and hepatic veins there appear others a little less, which they divide when any disease attacks the skin; but the hepatic and splenetic veins are divided for any disease in the neighbourhood of the stomach.
7. "Other veins pass from these, beneath the breasts; and there are other small ones, which proceed from each of these through the spinal marrow to the testicles, and others beneath the skin, through the flesh, reach the kidneys; in men they terminate upon the testicles, in women on the uterus. The first veins from the stomach are wider, and afterwards become smaller, until they pass over from the right to the left, and from the left to the right; these are called the spermatic veins. The thickest blood is beneath the flesh, but that which is in excess in these places becomes thin, and warm, and frothy." These are the opinions of Syennesis and Diogenes.
8. Polybus[91] writes thus: "There are four pair of veins, one from the back of the head through the neck, on the outside, near the spine on either side, as far as the thighs and the legs, afterwards through the legs to the ancles, on the outside, and to the feet. Wherefore, in complaints of the back and thigh, they divide the veins upon the poplitic region, or ancles, on the outside. Another pair of veins pass from the head, by the ears, through the neck, these are called the jugular veins; and others within, near the spine, lead by the loins to the testicles and the thighs, and through the poplitic region on the inside, and through the leg to the inner part of the ancle, and the feet; wherefore, in complaints of the loins and testicles, they bleed in the poplitic region and ancles.
9. "The third pair of veins, from the temple through the neck, and beneath the scapula, reach the lungs; those from the right to the left, under the breast, to the spleen and kidneys; and those from the left to the right side, from the lungs, under the breast, and liver, and kidney; and both end beneath the testicles. The fourth pair from the forepart of the head and the eyes, under the neck and collar-bones; from thence they extend through the humerus to the elbow, and through the cubitus to the wrist and the fingers, and through the lower part of the arm to the arm-pits, and the upper part of the lungs. The one reaches as far as the spleen, the other to the liver; afterwards they both pass over the abdomen to the pudendum."
Chapter III.
1. The opinions of other persons are nearly these; and there are other physiologists, but they have not treated so accurately of the veins. But all agree in placing their origin in the head and brain, in which they are incorrect. But, as I have remarked before, it is difficult to discern the course of the veins; indeed, it is impossible to understand them unless a person will examine animals which, after emaciation, have been killed by strangulation. The following is the nature of the veins: There are two veins in the interior of the chest, near the spine; the larger of these is placed forward, the smaller is behind; the larger is inclined to the right side, the smaller to the left; and this by some persons is called the aorta, from the sinewy portion which is seen in dead animals.
2. These veins have their origin in the heart, for they pass completely through the other intestines, and always preserve the character of veins. The heart is, as it were, a part of them, and especially of the more forward and larger one, for these veins are above and below, and the heart is in the middle of them. The heart of all animals contains cavities, but in the heart of very small animals the largest cavity is scarcely perceptible, in moderately sized animals the second cavity is scarcely visible, but in large animals they are all three distinct enough. And when the apex of the heart is turned forwards, as I have observed, the principal cavity is on the right side, and above it the least is on the left side, and the middle-sized one is between them; the two smaller are far less than the greater.
3. All these are perforated towards the lungs, but imperceptibly so from the minuteness of the passage, except in one place. The great vein is suspended from the upper portion of the principal cavity, and on the right side; afterwards through the cavity a vein extends again, as if the vein were a part of the cavity in which the blood stagnates. The aorta has its origin from the middle cavity, but in a different manner from the vein, for it communicates with the heart by a much narrower passage, and the vein is continued through the heart. But the aorta passes from the heart, and the great vein is membranous and like skin, but the aorta is narrow and very sinewy, and as it is continued towards the head and the lower parts of the body, it becomes narrow and quite sinewy.
4. A portion of the great vein is first of all extended upwards from the heart to the lung, and to the junction of the aorta, this vein being undivided and large; from this place it divides into two branches, the one towards the lung, and the other to the spine and the lowest vertebra of the neck. The branch which goes to the lungs is first divided into two branches, and afterwards it is continued upon every tube and passage of the lungs, greater to the greater, and less to the less, so as to leave no part in which there is not a passage and a small vein. These last are invisible from their minute size, so that the whole lung seems to be full of blood.
5. And the passages from the vein are above the tubes which extend from the trachea. And the vein which is continued upon the vertebra of the neck, and upon the spinal column, returns again to the spine, as Homer writes in his poems: "He cut off the whole vein which passes up the back and returns again to the neck;"[92] and from this vein branches extend to each rib and to each vertebra; but that which is upon the vertebra near the kidneys branches in two directions. These branches, then, of the great vein are subdivided in this manner.
6. And above these, from that part which is continued from the heart, the whole is again divided into two directions, for some reach to the sides and the clavicles, and afterwards through the armpits to the arms, in the human subject, but in quadrupeds to the fore-legs, to the wings in birds, and to the pectoral fins in fishes. The commencements of these veins, when they are first of all divided, are called jugular veins; and having branched off in the neck from the great vein, they are continued to the trachea of the lungs. And if these veins are held on the outside, men fall down dead with insensibility, with closed eyes, but without choking.
7. Extending in this manner, and receiving the trachea between them, they reach the place where the jaws unite with the head; and again from this point they are divided into four veins, one of which bends backwards and descends through the neck and shoulder, and meets the first division of the vein by the joint of the arm; the other portion terminates in the hand and fingers; and another branch extends from each part near the ear to the brain, where it is divided into many small branches upon the membrane which surrounds the brain.
8. The brain never contains blood in any animal, nor does any vein, small or great, terminate upon it; but some of the other branches that extend from this vein surround the brain in a circle, and others, end upon the organs of sense and the teeth in very small veins. In the same manner, also, the branches of the smaller vein, which is called the aorta, are divided: they are continued beside those of the great vein, but the tubes are smaller and the branches less than those of the great vein.
Chapter IV.
1. The veins, then, are thus distributed in the parts above the heart, but the part of the great vein which is below the heart passes through the middle of the diaphragm, and is united to the aorta and spinal column by membranous flaccid passages. From this a short and wide vein passes through the liver, from which many similar branches extend to the liver, and disappear upon it. There are two branches of the vein, one of which terminates upon the diaphragm, and what is called the præcordia, the other returns through the arm-pit to the right arm, and unites with the other veins near the interior part of the elbow. For this reason physicians treat certain diseases of the liver by venesection in this vein.
2. From the left of this there is a short and wide vein, which reaches to the spleen, and the branches of this vein are lost upon this organ, and another portion branching off in the same way from the left the great vein passes up to the left arm, except that the last-mentioned pass through the liver, but this one through the spleen. Other branches also separate from the great vein, the one to the omentum, the other to the pancreas; and from this many veins extend through the mesenterium, and all end there in one great vein, which passes through the whole intestine and the stomach, as far as the œsophagus; and many veins branch off from them around these parts.
3. Both the aorta and the great vein continue as far as the kidney each as a single duct; from this point they are more closely united to the spinal column, and are each divided into two parts, like the letter lambda (Λ), and the great vein is placed farther back than the aorta. The aorta is more closely united to the spinal column, near the heart, and the junction is formed by small sinewy veins.
4. The aorta leaves the heart as a large hollow passage, but as it advances it becomes narrower and more sinewy. From the aorta, veins extend also to the mesenterium, like those from the great vein, but far inferior in size, for they are narrow and muscular. They terminate in small hollow muscular veins. No branch of the aorta extends to the liver and the spleen, but the branches of either vein extend to each hip, and both touch upon the bone. Branches reach the kidney both from the great vein and the aorta; they do not, however, enter the cavity, but are taken up in the substance of the kidney.
5. Two other strong and continuous passages reach from the aorta to the bladder, and others from the cavity of the kidney; but these do not communicate with the great vein. From the centre of each kidney a hollow sinewy vein passes through the other veins to the spinal column; first of all they disappear upon each hip, and then appear again in branches towards the hip; their extremities are distributed upon the bladder and penis in the male, and upon the uterus in the female; no branch of the great vein passes to the uterus, but many and thick ones reach it from the aorta.
6. From the aorta and great vein branches are distributed to the nates; at first they are large and hollow, afterwards they pass through the legs, ending upon the feet and toes; and others again pass through the nates and thighs, alternately from right to left, and they join with other veins below the knees.
7. The nature and origin of the veins are evident from this description. In all sanguineous animals, the nature and origin of the principal veins are the same, but the multitude of smaller veins is not alike in all, for neither are the parts of the same nature, nor do all possess the same parts. Nor are the veins equally apparent in all animals; but they are more manifest in those which have most blood, and in the largest creatures; but in those animals which are small, and have not much blood, either by nature or from excess in fat, they are not so easily investigated, for some of the passages are confused, like rivulets that are lost in beds of mud; and there are some animals which have but few, and these fibres instead of veins. The great vein is very conspicuous in all, even the smallest animals.
Chapter V.
1. The following is the nature of the sinews of animals. The origin of these, also, is in the breast, for there is a sinew in the principal cavity of the heart itself; and that which is called the aorta is a sinewy vein, for its terminations are always sinewy, for they are not hollow, and are extensible, like the sinews which end upon the bending of the bones: for it is not the nature of sinews to be continuous from one origin, like the veins, for the veins have the whole form of the body as in outline sketches, so that in emaciated subjects the whole mass appears full of veins, for the same place is occupied by veins in lean persons that in fat ones is flesh.
2. The sinews are drawn round the joints and flexures of the bones; but, if their nature were continuous, the continuation would be evident in emaciated persons. The principal parts of the sinews are around the part of the body appropriated to leaping, and this is called the poples. Another double sinew is the tendon of the neck, and the epitonus and the sinew of the shoulder, which aid in the support of the body. The sinews around the joints have not received any name, for all the bones where they are contiguous are bound together by the sinews.
3. And there are many sinews round all the bones; there are none in the head; but the sutures of the skull are adapted to each other. It is the nature of sinew to tear readily lengthwise, but across the fibre it is indivisible, and it is very extensible. The sinews are surrounded by a mucous, white, and gelatinous fluid, by which they are nourished, and from which they seem to derive their origin. The vein does not alter its form by combustion, but the sinew is entirely destroyed. Neither does it unite after division.
4. Numbness does not take place in those parts of the body which contain no sinews. The sinews are most abundant on the hands and feet, and on the ribs and shoulder-blades, and round the neck and arms. All sanguineous animals have sinews; but in those which have not jointed limbs, and are without feet and hands, the sinews are small and inconspicuous, so that in fishes they are most distinct near the fins.
Chapter VI.
1. The fibres are between the sinews and the veins; but some of them are moistened with serum, and they extend from the sinews to the veins, and from the veins to the sinews. There is also another kind of fibre, which is produced in the blood of most, but not of all animals. When this is extracted from the blood, it does not coagulate, but if it is not taken out of the blood it coagulates. These fibres are present in the blood of most animals, but not in that of the stag, prox,[93] and bubalis,[94] and some others; so that their blood does not coagulate like that of other animals: the blood of stags is very like that of hares; for in both of these coagulation takes place; not firm, as in other animals, but trembling, like that of milk, if no coagulating substance is put into it. The blood of the bubalis coagulates more thickly, only a little less so than that of sheep. This is the nature of veins, sinews, and fibres.
Chapter VII.
1. The bones of animals depend upon one bone, and are connected with each other, like the veins; and there is no such thing as a separate bone. In all animals with bones the spinal column is their origin. The spinal column is made up of vertebræ, and extends from the head to the hips. All the vertebræ are perforated; the upper part of the head is a bone joined to the last vertebra, and is called the skull, the saw-like part is the suture.
2. This is not alike in all animals, for the cranium of some consists of a single bone, as in the dog; in others it is compound, as in the human subject. The female has one suture, in a circle; the male has three, meeting at the top of the head, like a triangle; and human skulls have been seen without sutures. The head is not composed of four bones, but of six; two of these are placed above the ears, and are small compared with the rest.
3. From the head the jaw-bones descend. All other animals move the lower jaw, the river-crocodile alone moves the upper jaw. In the jaws are the order of the teeth, which are bony, in some parts they are perforated, in others they are not. These are the only bones too hard to be engraved.
4. From the spinal-column, which is the point of union, originate the clavicles and ribs; the breast also is placed upon the ribs, and some of these are united, others are not, for no animal has a bone round the stomach. There are also the scapulæ upon the shoulders, and these are continued upon the arms, and those again to the hands; and in all animals with fore legs the nature of the bone is the same.
5. At the extremity of the lower part of the spinal column, and next to the hip, is the socket, and the bones of the lower extremity, with those of the thigh and leg, which are called the colenes. The ancles form a portion of these, and the part called the spur in all creatures with ancles. Continuous with these are the bones of the feet. Viviparous animals with blood and feet do not differ much in their bones, but rather by analogy, in hardness, softness, and size. Again, some of the bones contain marrow, whilst others, in the same animal, have none.
6. Some animals do not appear to have any marrow at all in their bones, as the lion, whose bones are very small and slight: or there may be marrow in a few of its bones, as in those of the thigh and fore leg; otherwise, in the lion, the bones are particularly solid, for they are sufficiently hard to emit fire like stones on concussion. The dolphin also has bones, but it has no spine, like fish. Some sanguineous animals differ partially from these, as the class of birds. In others, as fish, the bones are only analogous, for viviparous fish have a cartilaginous spine, like those which are called selachea; the oviparous fish have a spine, which is like the backbone of quadrupeds.
7. It is a peculiarity in fish that some species have small spines in the flesh separated from each other. Serpents are like fish, for their back-bone is spinous; among oviparous quadrupeds the greater animals have a bony vertebral column; the lesser have a spinous one.
8. For all sanguineous animals have either a bony, or a spinous column. The remainder of the bones exist in some animals, but not in others, for if they have the limbs, they have the bones belonging to them; for those that have not hind and fore legs have not hams, nor are they present in those animals which possess limbs unlike those of quadrupeds, for in these they vary in size and proportion. This is the nature of the bones of animals.
Chapter VIII.
1. Cartilage is of the same nature as bone, but it differs in the greater and less, and neither bone nor cartilage are reproduced if they are cut off. In sanguineous and viviparous animals living on the land the cartilage is imperforate, and does not contain marrow, like the bones; but the flat selachea, which have a cartilaginous spine, have a cartilage analogous to bone containing a liquid marrow. Viviparous animals, with feet, have cartilage about their ears, nostrils, and extremities of their bones.
Chapter IX.
1. There is another class of parts, which, though not the same as these, are not very different, as nails, hoofs, claws, and horns, and besides these, the beak of birds which alone possess this part. For these are both flexible and fissile. But bone is neither flexible nor fissile, but brittle; and the colour of horns, nails, claws, and hoofs follow the colour of the skin and the hair: for in black animals the horns are black, and so are the claws and hoofs in those with claws; in white animals they are white. There are also intermediate colours, the nails also are of the same nature.
2. But the teeth are like bones; wherefore, in black men, Ethiopians, and such like, the teeth and the bones are white, but the nails are black, like the rest of the skin. The horns of most animals are hollow at their base, and surround a bony process on their heads; but at the extremity the horn is solid and single. The stag's horns are solid throughout, and divided; and these animals alone cast their horns; this is done annually, if they are not cut off. Concerning those that are cut off, we shall speak hereafter.
3. The horns are more nearly allied to skin than to bone, so that in Phrygia and elsewhere there are oxen which have the power of moving their horns, as they do their ears; and of those which have nails (and all that have toes have nails, and those that have feet have toes, except the elephant, which has its toes undivided, and scarcely distinguished, and no nails at all)—and of those with nails, some have straight nails, like men, others crooked, as the lion among beasts, and the eagle amongst birds.
Chapter X.
1. This is the nature of hair and its analogues and skin. All viviparous animals, with feet, have hair; oviparous animals, with feet, have scaly plates; and those fish alone which produce friable ova are covered with scales; for the conger and muræna among long fish have not such ova, and the eel produces no ova. The hair differs in thickness, thinness, and size, according to its situation, both in the parts of the body which it occupies, and the nature of the skin, for upon thick skins the hair is generally harsh and thick, the hair is both thicker and longer in the hollow and moist parts of the body, if they are such as to be covered with hair.
2. And the case is similar in those animals which are covered with plates or scales. If animals covered with soft hair are placed in good pastures their hair will become coarser; and, on the contrary, it becomes finer and less in those that have coarse hair. Warm and cold situations also make a difference, for the hair of natives of warm climates is harsh, but it is soft in those of colder climates. Straight hair is soft, crisped hair is harsh.