GENERATION OF ANIMALS, I. x\iii. 



intercourse. The cause of this however is not that 

 the semen is drawn from the whole body, but that 

 there is violent stimulation ; and that of course is 

 why those who indulge often in such intercourse de- 

 rive less pleasure from it. Moreover, the pleasure in 

 fact comes at the end, but according to the theory it 

 should occur (a) in every one of the parts, and (6) not 

 simultaneously, but earher in some and later in 

 others. 



As for mutilated offspring being produced by 

 mutilated parents, the cause is the same as that which 

 makes offspring resemble their parents. And any- 

 way, not all offspring of mutilated parents are muti- 

 lated, any more than all offspring resemble their 

 parents. The cause of these things we must consider 

 later * ; the problem in both cases is the same. 



Moreover, if the female does not discharge any 

 semen, then it is consistent to say that the semen is 

 not drawn from the whole body either ; or again, if 

 it is not drawn from the whole body, there is nothing 

 inconsistent in saying that it is not drawn from the 

 female either,* but that the female is responsible for 

 generation in some other way than this. This, in 

 fact, vriW be the next subject for us to investigate, 

 now that it is clear that the semen is not secreted 

 from all the parts of the body. 



We must begin this investigation and those which Definition 

 are to follow by discovering first of all what semen is ; 

 this will enable us to consider more easily its func- 

 tions and ever}'thing connected ^^•ith it. Now the 

 aim of semen is to be, in its nature, the sort of stuff 

 from which the things that take their rise in the realm 



» Bk. IV, chh. 3 f. 

 * Cf. 721 b 10. 



71 



