GENERATION OF ANIMALS 



than the former; indeed, with such residue in mind, 

 Aristotle can say (745 b 19) that " residue is unconcocted 

 substance, and the most unconcocted substance in the 

 body is earthy substance " ; see also § 66 below. 



(65) Generally, then, more blood Is produced than is required Residues : 

 for the purposes mentioned at the end of § 63, and the 

 surplus may then undergo a further stage of concoction, 



and Nature is often able to turn it to some useful purpose 



(cf. § 8 above). These are the useful " residues," and (a) useful; 



Nature has provided each with its proper place (G.A. 



125 b 1) ; indeed, it is only in its proper place that each 



" residue " is formed (739 a 2). Examples of useful 



residues are semen, menstrual fluid, milk. Marrow, 



which gives the backbone coherence and elasticity, is 



produced when " the surplus of bloodlike nourishment 



is shut up in the bones " and concocted bj- their heat 



(P. A . 652 a 5, a 20). Sometimes, when the nourishment 



is particularly abimdant, the surplus blood is concocted 



into fat, such as lard and suet (651 a 20). Also, some 



of the blood, reaching the extremities of the vessels in 



which it is carried, makes its way out in the form of 



nails, claws or hair." 



(66) Residues may appear at various stages (725 a 13) ; they (b) ambigu- 

 may appear before, as well as after, the nourishment ous ; 



has been turned into blood ; and then they are residues 

 of " nourishment at its first stage " ; thus (653 a 2, cf. 

 458 a 1 If.), after a meal, the nourishment rises as vapour 

 through the vessels to the brain, where it is cooled, and 

 then condenses into phlegma and iclior (serum). But 

 both of these, it seems, may also be useless residues, for 

 at 677 b 8 phlegma is mentioned in company with " the 

 sediment- from the stomach," though perhaps it is most 

 often a residue of the useful nourishment (725 a 14). 

 Ichor, too, the " watery part of the blood," is sometimes 

 unconcocted blood, sometimes corrupted blood (653 a 2 ; 

 cf. 458 a 1 if., 651 a 15 ; no doubt et n oAAo roiovrov at 

 O.A. 725 a 15 refers to ichor). 



(67) Residues, then, are " the surplus of the nourishment " (c) useless ; 



" The Aristotelian doctrine of " residues " came down to Shakespeare, 

 as is shown by the passage in Hamlet (III. rv), where the Queen saya 

 to Hamlet : 



" Your bedded haire, like life in excrements, 

 Start up, and stand an end." 



Ixv 



