GENERATION OF ANIMALS, II. v. 



to what cause this is due. Granted that the female 

 possesses the same Soul (as the male) and that the 

 residue pro\ided by the female is the material (for 

 the fetation), why has the female any need of the 

 male in addition ? ^^'hy does not the female accom- 

 pUsh generation all by itself and from itself ? The 

 reason is that there is a difference between animal 

 and plant : the animal possesses sense-perception." 

 It is impossible for any part of the body whatever 

 (face, hand, flesh, etc.) to exist unless sentient Soul 

 is present in it, whether in actuality or potentially, 

 whether in some quahfied sense or Avithout quahfica- 

 tion. Other^^-ise what we have wiW be on a par 

 with a dead body or a dead limb. Thus, if the 

 male is the factor which produces the sentient Soul 

 in cases where male and female are separate, it is 

 impossible for the female all by itself and from itself 

 to generate an animal ; because the faculty just 

 mentioned * is the essence of what is meant by 

 " male." Still, it is not at all unreasonable to raise 

 the puzzle we have stated, as is sho^^■Tl by the instance 

 of those birds which lay wind-eggs : this proves that 

 up to a point the female is able to generate. But 

 there is a puzzle here too : In what sense are we to 

 say that these eggs are ahve ? We cannot say that 

 they are ahve in the same sense as fertile eggs, for 

 in that case an actual living creature would hatch out 

 from them ; nor are they on a par with wood and 

 stone, because these eggs go bad just as fertile ones 

 do, and this seems to indicate that to start with they 

 were in some way ahve. Hence it is clear that 

 potentially they possess Soul of a sort. What sort, 

 then ? The lowest, it must be, ob\'iously ; and this 

 is nutritive Soul, because this it is which is present 



208 



