ARISTOTLE 



BK. CH. 



I. 22 (b) The female cannot generate alone because it cannot 



provide the form (viz., sentient Soul). Semen is the 

 " instrument " used by Nature, charged with the 

 " movement " wliich conveys the form. 

 23 (c) Comparison and contrast of animals and plants. 

 Sexes arc not separate in plants because reproduction 

 is almost their only function. 



II. 1 (D) The Final Cause of the existence of the Sexes. They sub- 



serve generation, the perpetuation of the species, and this 

 is the way by which " perishable " things are able to 

 partake in eternal " being." 



Classification of the various methods of Generation 



Note on the difference between an egg and a larva. 



The classes (Vivipara, Ovovivipara, Ovipara laying perfect 

 egg, Ovipara laying imperfect egg, Larvipara) do not 

 correspond to differences in the organs of locomotion, but 

 to the degrees of " perfection " of the animals concerned, 

 the most perfect being those which are hot, as is shown by 

 the fact that they breathe. 



(1) Animals that are hot and fluid. Viviparous. Man, 



(2) Animals that are cold and fluid. Ovoviviparous. 

 Selachia and vipers. 



(3) Animals that are hot and solid. Oviparous (perfect 

 egg). Birds and scaly animals. 



(4) Animals that are cold and solid. Oviparous (im- 

 perfect egg). Fishes, Crustacea, Cephalopoda. 



(5) Animals that are coldest of all. Larviparous." 

 Insects. 



3 {resumed) — Theory of Sexual Generation 



(a) What is the agent that fashions the embryo ? Preforma- 

 tion versus epigenesis. It is the male parent, or rather 

 the semen in which the parent's " movement " is trans- 

 mitted, which fashions the embryo. Thus the material 

 (provided by the female), which is potentially a living body 

 of a particular kind, is gradually actualized. The parts 

 of the body — and of the Soul — are actualized successively : 

 first the heart and nutritive Soul. 



2 (b) The physical character of semen. It is a foam, a com- 



pound of Water and pneutna. 



3 (c) Does semen contain Soul ? Yes — potentially ; all the 



sorts of Soul which act through a body must be present 

 first of all potentially. The problem of the entry of 

 rational Soul. 



(d) The physical substance in which Soul is carried is pneuma, 

 a " divine " substance analogous to aither, the fifth 

 element. 



(e) Jlenstrual fluid contains all the parts of the body poten- 

 tially, but it lacks sentient Soul. 



a The larva represents a stage previous to that of the egg, for, according to Aristotle, 

 the larva develops into an egg-like object. 



Ixxii 



