80 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOET. [Book XI. 



heart. A marvellous dispensation of Nature ! and very similar 

 to that witnessed in man, where the blood is sensible of various 

 modifications from the slightest causes ; for not only, similarly 

 to the bile, does it rush upwards to the face, but it serves also 

 to indicate the various tendencies of the mind, by depicting 

 shame, anger, and fear, in many ways, either by the paleness 

 of the features or their unusual redness ; as, in fact, the red- 

 ness of anger and the blush of modesty are quite different 

 things. It is a well-known fact, that when a man is in fear, 

 the blood takes to flight and disappears, and that many per- 

 sons have been pierced through the body without losing one 

 drop of blood ; a thing, however, which is only the case with 

 man. But as to those animals which we have already men- 

 tioned as changing 14 colour, they derive that colour from the 

 reflection 15 of other objects ; while, on the other hand, man is 

 the only one that has the elements which cause these changes 

 centred in himself. All diseases, as well as death, tend to 

 absorb the blood. 



OHAP. 92. (39.) WHETHER THE BLOOD IS THE PRINCIPLE OP 



LIFE. 



There are some persons who are of opinion that the fineness 

 of the wit does not depend upon the thinness of the blood, but 

 that animals are more or less stupid in proportion to the skin 

 or other coverings of the body, as the oyster and the tortoise, 

 for instance : that the hide of the ox and the bristles of the hog, 

 in fact, offer a resistance to the fine and penetrating powers of 

 the air, and leave no passage for its transmission in a pure 

 and liquid state. The same, they say, is the case, too, with 

 men, when the skin is very thick or callous, and so excludes 

 the air. Just as if, indeed, the crocodile was not equally re- 

 markable for the hardness of its skin and its extreme cunning. 



CHAP. 93. THE HIDE OF ANIMALS. 



The hide, too, of the hippopotamus is so thick, that lances, 16 

 even, are turned from it, and yet this animal has the intelligence 

 to administer certain medicaments to itself. The hide, too, of 



14 The polypus and the chameleon. 



15 See B. viii. cc. 51, 52. 



16 Walking-sticks are still made of it. 



