ARISTOTLE 



of </>UCTi?, e.g., Tj Tcor oarpaKobepficDV <f>VGis ((r.A. 761 b 24), 

 ri Tov alboiov (t>vais (717 b 18 ; cf. also 755 a 20), 17 twv 

 TTTfpcbv <j)vais (749 b 7, a striking instance, because 

 <l>vais is used in an entirely different sense, " Nature," 

 in the very next line) ; and even avaraais is sometimes 

 used in a similarly weakened sense, e.g., 1; tcov opxecov 

 avaraais {G.A. 717 a 15), ij tmv Karafn/jviajv avaraais 

 {G.A. 727 b 33) : and avoTaais appears in two manu- 

 scripts as a variant for <f)vais at G.A. 717 b 20. 

 Dunamis in (29) (D) In the passages dealing with the role of the male 

 generation. parent in generation we find phrases such as " the 



%vva^i,i,s in the semen," " the Swa^iis in the male " {e.g., 

 726 b 19," 727 b 14, 729 b 27, 730 a 3, a 14, 736 a 27, 

 etc.). The meaning of 8wa/xiy here would appear to be 

 fundamentallj' the same as that dealt with in § 26 above, 

 i.e., bvvafxis here is the physical substance by means of 

 which impregnation is effected ; and the distinctive 

 physical characteristic with which we find this SvvaftLs 

 closely associated by Aristotle is " vital heat " or " Soul- 

 heat." * The most distinctive characteristic, however, 

 of this substance is that it is charged with a specific 

 AsBociated " movement," capable of constituting and developing 



,, with an embryo out of the matter supplied by the female ; 



j^°^^n and hence we also find a close association of Bwa/iis 



with Kivrjais." This is the most important extension of 

 bvvaptis in its ancient sense made by Aristotle, for it links 

 up the old sense of the term with the typically and 

 peculiarly Aristotelian sense of Swa/xts=" potentiality " 

 (see §§ 34 ff. below). 

 (30) (E) Under the same category comes the use of Sura/nis 

 and dSwafua as applied to male and female respectively 

 {G.A. 765 b 9 ff., 766 a 32 ff.), for these are explained 

 by Aristotle as the ability and inability respectively to 

 effect " concoction " of the ultimate nourishment (blood) 

 into semen, and this is directly dependent upon the pos- 

 session of sufficient " natural heat." 



" An interesting example, because dvvaixei. ( = potetUially) occiu« in the 

 previous line. 



* Not to be confused with the ordinary ivvatm " etptLov " ; see App. B 

 §§ 13, 18. 



<^ References for Svva^jLK; associated with "vital heat" and kiitjo-cs, 

 e.g., 726 b 19 ff., 729 b 6 ff., 738 b 12, 739 b 24, 740 b 30 ff., 767 b 17 ff. 

 (cf. 755 a 20 " the </)uo-is of the Soul-heat "). See also xiVijcris, § 50. 



lii 



