GENERATION OF ANIMALS 



the body and its parts, both " residues " axe potentially 

 the body of a H\infir creature of the same kind as that 

 which produced them. Indeed, the only important 

 difference between them is one of the degree of 

 " concoction " which they have undergone, for the 

 female, whose \ital heat is weaker, cannot carry the 

 " concoction " of blood as far as the male can. But 

 the female's " residue " (viz., the menstrual fluid) is, 

 potentially, all the parts of the body ; and hence, too, 

 it is, or contains. Soul potentially (this is merely 

 another way of saying the same thing, because just 

 as any actual h\'ing body must possess Soul, which is 

 its Form, actually, so a potential U\-ing body must 

 possess Soul potentially). That the female's " re- 

 sidue " does in fact possess Soul potentially is shown, 

 says Aristotle, by the occurrence of wind-eggs in 

 birds : these possess nutritive Soul, and up to a point 

 they grow and " are fertile." The Matter, therefore, 

 is " informed " to a high degree : and the only part 

 of the Form which it lacks is sentient Soul. Hence, 

 the meaning of the statement that " the male sup- 

 plies the Form " can only be that the male suppUes 

 that part of the Form known as sentient Soul : every- 

 thing else, including nutritive Soul, can be, and is, 

 suppUed by the female. 



We may now go on to consider the " residue " 

 contributed by^he male. Aristotle, as we saw, held 

 that Form is not normally found apart from Matter 

 (i.e., body) of some sort,** and besides that, according 



° See Introd. § 42. An exception is rational Soul, which 

 is not the Form of any body (§ 44), but this is a separate 

 question, and in any case affects man only. We must also 

 except the 55 immaterial unmoved movers, which Aristotle 

 posits in the Metaphysics (1074 a) to account for the move- 

 ments of the planets. 



