Chap. 73.] iH£ LIVER. 67 



burnt ^ of those persons who die of the cardiac disease ; and the 

 same is paid of those who die by poison. At all events, there 

 is still in existence an oration pronounced by Vitellius, 76 in 

 which he accuses Piso of this crime, and employs this alleged 

 fact as one of his proofs, openly asserting that the heart of 

 Germanicus Caesar could not be burnt at the funeral pile, in 

 consequence of his having been poisoned. On the other hand, 

 the peculiar nature 77 of the disease under which Germanicus 

 was labouring, was alleged in Piso's defence. 



CHAP. 72. THE LUNGS ! IN WHAT ANIMALS THEY ARE THE LAR- 

 GEST, AND IN WHAT THE SMALLEST. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE 

 NOTHING BUT LUNGS IN THE INTERIOR OF THE BODY. CAUSES 

 WHICH PRODUCE EXTRAORDINARY SWIFTNESS IN ANIMALS. 



Beneath the heart are the lungs, the laboratory in which 

 the respiration is prepared. The use of these, is to draw in the 

 air and then expel it ; for which purpose their substance is of 

 a spongy nature, and filled with cavernous holes. Some few 

 among the aquatic animals have lungs, as we have already 

 stated ; 7S and among the rest of those which are oviparous, they 

 are small, of a fungous nature, and containing no blood ; hence 

 it is, that these animals do not experience thirst. It is for the 

 same reason also, that frogs and seals are able to remain so 

 long under water. The tortoise, too, although it has lungs of 

 remarkable size, and extending throughout the whole of the 

 shell, is also equally destitute of blood. The smaller the lungs 

 are m proportion to the body, the greater is the swiftness of 

 the animal. It is in the chameleon that the lungs are the 

 largest in proportion to the body; in which, in fact, it has no 

 other viscera at all. 79 



CHAP. 73. —THE LIVER : IN WHAT ANIMALS, AND IN WHAT PART 

 THERE ARE TWO LIVERS FOUND. 



The liver is on the right side : in this part is situate what 

 has been called the " head of the entrails," and it is subject 



76 This was P. Vitellius, who served under Germanicus in Germany 

 He was one of the accusers of Cn. Piso, who was charged with having 

 poisoned Germanicus. 



77 The cardiac disease, as alleged. 78 % [ x c 6 

 79 But see B. viii. c. 51, and B. xxviii. c. 29. 



F 2 



