188 ERRORS ATTRIBUTED TO ARISTOTLE. [LECT. 



these two assertions, I am at a loss to divine. As a 

 matter of fact, it will appear from the following 

 excerpts that Aristotle gives an account of the 

 structure of the lungs which is almost as good as that 

 of the heart, and that it contains nothing about any 

 prolongation of the windpipe to the heart. 



"Within the neck lie what is called the oesophagus (so 

 named on account of its length and its narrowness) and the 

 windpipe (aprrjpia). The position of the windpipe in all animals 

 that have one, is in front of the oesophagus. All animals which 

 possess a lung have a windpipe. The windpipe is of a cartila- 

 ginous nature and is exsanguine, but is surrounded by many 

 little veins. . . . 



" It goes downwards towards the middle of the lung, and 

 then divides for each of the halves of the lung. In all animals 

 that possess one, the lung is divided into two parts; but, in 

 those which bring forth their young alive, the separation is not 

 equally well marked, least of all in man. 



" In oviparous animals, such as birds, and in quadrupeds 

 which are oviparous, the one half of the lung is widely separated 

 from the other ; so that it appears as if they had two lungs. 

 And from being single, the windpipe becomes (divided into) 

 two, which extend to each half of the lung. It is fastened to 

 the great vein, and to what is called the aorta. When the 

 windpipe is blown up, the air passes into the hollow parts of the 

 lung. In these, are cartilaginous tubes (Sta</>ixrts) which unite 

 at an angle ; from the tubes passages (r/wj/zaTa) traverse the 

 whole of the lung ; they are continually given off, the smaller 

 from the larger." (Book i. 16.) 



That Aristotle should speak of the lung as a single 

 organ divided into two halves, and should say that 

 the division is least marked in man, is puzzling at 

 first; but the statement becomes intelligible, if we 

 reflect upon the close union of the bronchi, the 

 pulmonary vessels and the mediastinal walls of the 



