22 THE HISTORY OF ANIMALS. [B. I. 



other parts ; for the whole lung is spongy, and through each 

 perforation branches of the great vein proceed. Those per- 

 sons 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 con- 

 tains 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 hypo- 

 chondriac 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 fur- 

 nished 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 ani- 

 mals, 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 sacri- 

 fice, as in the district of Chalcis, in Euboea, where the sheep 

 have no gall, and in Naxos it is so large in nearly all the ani- 

 mals, 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, ha\9 



