GENERATION OF ANIMALS 



KVTjfjLa owiaraTai ; see § 54) to the time when the creature 

 is born or hatched. Hence we find Kvrjfia applied to the 

 embryo or fetus of Vivipara : to the " perfect " eggs of 

 birds and to the " imperfect " eggs " of Cephalopods, 

 etc. (733 a 24 : they are still so* called after deposition), 

 to the roe of fishes (741 a 37), and to larvae (758 a 12) ; 

 indeed, the larva is compared with the earliest stage of 

 the Kvrjfia in viviparous animals (758 a 33). 



(57) In all the foregoing cases, the " matter " for the Kvijua is (6) in spon- 

 suppiied by the female parent : but in the case of taneous 

 spontaneous generation there is of course no female generation ; 

 parent, and the Kvrifj.a is formed, e.g., out of the sea- 

 water by the pneuma acting upon it (762 b 17). 



(58) There are, however, some KVTjfxara which never reach the (c) infertile 

 point of hatching (e.g., " wind-eggs ") ; thus a KVTjfxa fetations; 

 is not necessarily fertilized. Such a Kiirqfia is, however, 



to some extent " informed " and can develop up to a 

 point because it possesses nutritive Soul potentially. 



(59) There is no English word which covers the wide range 

 of the term xvrj^a, and I have therefore introduced the 

 term " fetation," by which I invariably translate it. 



(60) Aristotle holds that the seeds of plants are " as it were a (rf) feta- 

 KvrjfjLa,'' because in them male and female are not separ- tions of 

 ated : hence the seed of a plant begins with the male P^^^^ts. 

 factor and the female factor already mixed in it : and 



that is why only one stalk or plant can be formed from 

 one seed : there is no such op}x>rtunity available, as 

 there is in the case of animals, for the male dynamis to 

 " set " numerous fetations out of the material supplied. 



Nourishment, Residues, etc. 



(61) Several important terms in Aristotle's technical voca- 

 bulary are connected with the processes through which 

 the food passes in the living body, and therefore an 

 account of these processes will most conveniently explain 

 the meaning of the terms. 



(62) After mastication, the food passes into the stomach. Concoction, 

 where it is " concocted " * by means of the " natural (or 



" See also § 77 below. 



* The Greek word for concoction is the same as that employed 

 to denote the proceas of ripening or maturing of fruit, com and 

 the like by means of heat — also that of baking and cooking (see 



Ixiii 



