184 ERRORS ATTRIBUTED TO ARISTOTLE. [LECT. 



of appendage. This column is, as Aristotle says, 

 vein above (a) and vein below (6), the upper and 

 the lower divisions being connected Sto- TOV KoEKov TOV 

 fjuea-ov or by means of the intervening cavity or 

 chamber (R.a.) which is that which we call the 

 right auricle. 



But when, from the four cavities of the heart 

 recognised by us moderns, one is excluded, there 

 remain three which is just what Aristotle says. 

 The solution of the difficulty is, in fact, as absurdly 

 simple as that presented by the egg of Columbus ; 

 and any error there may be, is not to be put down to 

 Aristotle, but to that inability to comprehend that the 

 same fact may be accurately described in different 

 ways, which is the special characteristic of the com- 

 mentatorial mind. That the three cavities mentioned 

 by Aristotle are just those which remain if the right 

 auricle is omitted, is plain enough from what is said 

 in (B), (<7), (E), (/), and (L). For, in a suffocated 

 animal, the " right cavity " which is directly con- 

 nected with the great vein, and is obviously the right 

 ventricle, being distended with blood, will look much 

 larger than the middle cavity, which, since it gives 

 rise to the aorta, can only be the left ventricle. And 

 this, again, will appear larger than the thin and 

 collapsed left auricle, which must be Aristotle's left 

 cavity, inasmuch as this cavity is said to be con- 

 nected by TTopoi with the lung. The reason why 

 Aristotle considered the left auricle to be a part of 

 the heart, while he merged the right auricle in the 

 great vein, is, obviously, the small relative size of the 



