GENERATION OF ANIMALS 



while each of the non-uniform parts has its own definite 

 character as a conformation or organ. The heart is the 

 only " part " which belongs to both classes {P. A. 

 647 a 25 ff.) : it is made out of one uniform part only, 

 but at the same time it has essentially a definite con- 

 figuration or shape, and thus it is a non-uniform part. 

 (■??) The four stages or " degrees of composition," so far as The stages 

 biology is concerned, are thus enumerated by Aristotle o^ com- 

 {G.A. 715 a 10 ff. ; <■/. P.A. 646 a 13 ff.) : ' position. 



(1) The four " Elements," Fire, Air, Water, Earth " ; 

 (-2) the uniform parts ; 



(3) the non-uniform parts ; 



(4) the animal organism as a whole. 



W'g thus begin from the simplest sorts of matter (Aris- 

 totle calls the four Elements " simple bodies ") and 

 proceed upwards by stages until the most organized or 

 most " informed " sort of matter is reached : each stage 

 is the " material " for the stage next above it {G.A. 

 715 a 9 ff.). 



Ai'i'ay^iS 



(23) This term has a number of different, though related, 

 meanings, and it is not always easy to determine pre- 

 cisely which one Aristotle has uppermost in mind. 

 Unlike some other terms, therefore, this one cannot 

 always be represented hx the same term in English, and 

 sometimes it is best left untranslated. 



(24) (A) To begin with, we will examine the pre- Aristotelian Dynameis 

 meaning of bwafus, as found for instance in the Hippo- ^^ element- 

 cratic corpus and in Plato's Thnaeus. Awa^s was the oPniaUer 

 old technical term for the simplest sorts of matter, i.e., 



for what came later to be called cnoixela (" elements "). 

 Auva/us was however applied exclusively to substances 

 of a particular class, viz., to vypov, to ^pov, to QepfjAv, to 



ijtVXpOV, TO TTlKpOV, TO yXvKV, TO SpifJiV, etC, CtC. lu thC 



Hippocratic treatise irepl dpxcurjs IrjTpiicqs (The Ancient 

 and Genuine Art of Medicine) these substances are 

 regarded as being the constituents both of the body and 



" In the P.A. passage Aristotle says it might be better to substitute 

 for these " the iuvo/icij," or rather four of them ; see below, § 24. Fire, 

 Air, Water, Earth are of course the constituents of non-li^ing things as 

 well ; see App. A § 2. 



xlix 



