30 ii. 3— ii. 4. 



vessels.^5 The manner in which the parts grow at the expense 

 of the blood, and indeed the whole question of nutrition, will find 

 a more suitable place for exposition in the treatise on generation 

 and development, and in other writings.'^ For our present purpose 

 all that need be said is that the blood exists for the sake of nutri- 

 tion, that is the nutrition of the parts ; and with this much let us 

 therefore content ourselves. 



(Ch. 4.) What are called fibres^ are found in the blood of some 

 animals but not of all. There are none for instance in the blood 

 of deer and of roes ; and for this reason the blood of such animals 

 as these never coagulates.^ For that portion of the blood which 

 consists mainly of water is not liable to coagulation, this process 

 occurring only in the earthy part, that is in the fibres, during 

 the evaporation of the moisture. 



Some' at any rate of the animals with watery blood have a 

 keener intellect than those whose blood is of an earthier nature. 

 This is due not so much to the coldness of their blood as to 

 its thinness and purity ; neither of which qualities belongs to 

 the earthy matter. For the thinner and purer its fluid is, the 

 more active is an animal's sensibility. Thus it is that some ex- 

 sanguineous animals, notwithstanding their want of blood, are 

 yet more intelligent than some among the sanguineous kinds. 

 Such for instance, as already said, is the case with bees ^ and 

 ants, and whatever other animals there may be of a like nature. 

 At the same time too great an excess of water makes animals 

 timorous.* For fear chills the body; so that in animals whose 

 heart contains so watery a mixture the way is, as it were, 

 prepared for the operation of this emotion. For water is con- 

 gealed by cold. This also explains why bloodless animals are, 

 as a general rule, more timorous than such as have blood, so 

 that they remain motionless, when frightened, and discharge their 

 excretions, and in some instances change colour.^ Such animals 

 on the other hand as have thick and abundant fibres in their 

 blood are of a more earthy nature, and of a choleric temperament, 

 and liable to bursts of passion. For anger is productive of heat ; 

 and solids when they have been made hot give off more heat 

 than fluids. The fibres therefore, being earthy and solid,^ are 

 turned into so many hot embers in the blood, like the embers 

 in a vapor-bath, and cause ebullition in the fits of passion.''' 



This explains why bulls and boars are so choleric and so 

 651a. 



