GENERATION OF ANIMALS, IV. iii. 



blend together a large number of juices into one fluid, 

 and then take off some of this mixture ; in doing so 

 he could take off not always an equal amount of each • 

 juice, but sometimes more of this one, sometinaes 

 more of that, and sometimes he might take some of 

 one and nothing at all of another : So, they say, it is 

 with the semen, which is a mixture of a large number 

 of ingredients ; and in appearance the offspring takes 

 after that parent from whom the largest amount is 

 derived. This theory is obscure, and at many points 

 a sheer fabrication. At the same time, it aims at a 

 more satisfactory " statement, viz., that this " seed- 

 aggregate " is something that exists not in actuality. 

 but only potentially, since it cannot exist in actuality, 

 whereas it can exist potentially. 



Still it is not easy, by stating a single mode of cause, 

 to explain the causes of everything, — (1) why male 

 and female are formed, (2) why female offspring often 

 resembles the father and male offspring the mother, 

 and again (3) the resemblance borne to ancestors, and 

 further (4) what is the cause why sometimes the off- 

 spring is a human being yet bears no resemblance to 

 any ancestor, sometimes it has reached such a point 

 that in the end it no longer has the appearance of a 

 human being at all, but that of an animal only — it 

 belongs to the class of monstrosities, as they are 

 called. 



And indeed this is what comes next to be treated Monstrosi. 

 after what we have already dealt with — the causes of '''^^' 

 monstrosities, for in the end, when the movements 

 (that came from the male) relapse and the material 

 (that came from the female) does not get mastered, 

 what remains is that which is most " general," and 

 this is the (merely) " animal." People say that the 



P 417 



