15^ Notes, ii. i — 2. 



thus appear that A. entirely overlooked the coronary vessels, and so imagined, as stated ' 

 here, that the nutrition of the heart was effected directly by the blood in its-cavities. 



(Ch. 2.) 1. That fat is fluid, while in the living body, is often stated even in modem 

 books. But the statement would seem to be inaccurate, except in the case of fishes and 

 amphibia {Todd's Cycl. i. 58 ; ii. 232). The heat of the body in man, and in mammalia 

 generally, only suffices to keep the fat in a softish condition. 



Why does A. call flesh a fluid? Probably because he thought flesh was a form of 

 blood (iii. 5, Note 7), and so attributed to it the fluidity and coagulability of the latter ; 

 wiiich view would have derived support from what he cannot but have noticed, namely 

 the rigidity of the muscles after death. As to the bile, see ii. 3, Note 2 ; as to serum, 

 ii. '4, Note 6. 



2. Cf. ii. 6, Note 6 ; and, as to sinew, iii. 4, Note 20. 



3. The distinction is the same as in last chapter (Note 16), viz. into parts purely 

 homogeneous, i.e. tissues, and parts homogeneous in substance but possessed of definite 

 shape. Of the former a piece is synonymous with the whole ; for a bit of horny tissue 

 is still horny tissue, a bit of cartilage is still cartilage. Of the latter a bit is not 

 synonymous with the whole ; a bit of a heart is not called a heart ; because it has not 

 got the size or shape which enters into the conception of a heart. In this respect, then, 

 the latter resembles the compound organs, such as the face, hand, etc. 



So far A.'s meaning is clear. But he has chosen so bad an example, in blood-vessel, 

 as to disguise his meaning. For he has carelessly made blood-vessel an instance of the 

 first class of parts, the tissues ; whereas it should have been classed by him with simple 

 organs {l<rxi]i^o.riayi.(:va. not d(rx'?M«^Tto-To), for the tubular shape is essential to its con- 

 ception ; and it is quite possible to cut a vessel into bits which will no longer be called 

 vessels, if only the bits be such as are no longer tubular. 



4. "The food of all animals Is mainly fluid ; and, even when it is not so originally, it 

 becomes fluid by the excretion of the solid portion" (Z>. G. i. 18, 62). 



5. "Bees have a divine element in them, which wasps have not" {D. G. iii. 10, 27) ; 

 that is they have an intelligent soul, incorporate in pure aether. It is to this that Virgil's 

 lines refer : 



" His quidem signis, atque hsec exempla secuti, 

 Esse apibus partem divinse mentis et haustus 

 ^therios dixere." — Georg, iv. 219. 



Elsewhere A. gives a less flattering account of their intellect, in a passage which may 

 be thus paraphrased : " All animals have sensations ; but only some have memory of 

 these. Such are Bees. These therefore have images of the past to guide their life. But, 

 as they cannot hear, their experience is but personal and scanty, for they can neither 

 learn nor teach others ; whereas in man the faculty of speech aggregates the memories 

 of many into one common experience, which is the foundation of his art and science. 

 Intermediate to man and bees are those animals that can hear, and that, though 

 speechless, can in some measure communicate with each other by sounds " {Meiap/i. i. i ). 



6. A. held, as also did Plato {jfowett's Trans7. ii. 538), that the right was in nature 

 superior to the left, the upper to the lower, the front to the back. He also held that 

 " Nature, when no more important purpose stands in the way, places the more honourable 

 part in the more honourable position " (iii. 4, 6). This dogma he uses as an axiom 

 beyond dispute, and has recourse to . it on numerous occasions in explanation of the 

 relative positions of organs and other phenomena. • The stomach, for instance, is placed 

 where it is and not nearer the mouth because otherwise it would be above the heart, 

 a nobler organ than itself (iv. 10, Note 5). Man's nobility is shown by his upper part 



