ARISTOTLE 



Two modes of difference ; Blood ; Classijicaiion 

 of Animals 



(1) "The (70) Differences " by the more and less," or " of excess and 

 more and deficiency " — differences of degree, as we should say, 



®*''- are minor differences such as are found as between 



different species of one and the same genus or of any 

 larger group. Thus {P. A. 644 a 19, 692 b 24) the parts 

 of birds differ in this way, some having long legs, or 

 feathers, others short ones ; some a broad tongue, others 

 a narrow one. Again, the male will have the same 

 defensive or offensive organ as the female, but " to a 

 greater degree," and this sometimes holds good of 

 organs essential for food and nutrition " (661 b 28 ff.). 

 Difference " by the more and less " can also be applied 

 to skin, blood-vessel, membrane, sinew : these are 

 substances which differ among themselves in this way 

 {G.A. 737 b 4 ; cf. 739 b 32). 

 (2) (71) Where the divergence is wider, as for instance between 

 'Counter- different groups of animals such as birds and fishes, 



par s. j.j^g difference is no longer ru) iiaXXov Koi ■^ttov, but to) 



avaXoyov (P. A. 644 a 21) : the corresponding parts, 

 e.g., the feathers of birds, the scales of fishes, and the 

 scales of reptiles, differ " by analogy," i.e., they are 

 merely the " counterparts," the " opposite numbers " 

 of each other, as indeed the large groups of animals 

 themselves may be (see G.A. 761 a 27 and context ; cf. 

 also 784 b 16 ff., and 737 b 4, n.). 

 (72) Many examples of this usage occur in G.A. ; we find 

 mention of to avaAoyov of the heart ; of the blood, and 

 of the menstrual fluid, in bloodless creatures ; of teeth ; 

 of flesh ; of fat ; of hair ; of sinew. Menstrual fluid 

 in females is dvdXoyov to semen in males (727 a 3) ; we 

 might have expected this difference to be only a differ- 

 ence " by the more and less," but no doubt the reason 

 why it is a wider divergence is that menstrual fluid lacks 

 sentient Soul (see § 68). The most frequent references 

 to TO dvdXoyov in G.A. are the counterparts of the heart 

 and of the blood. And the most important of all the 

 counterparts is of course " the substance in the pneuma,'' 



" Cf. the view that the female is a " deformity," § 13. 

 Ixviii 



