BOOK XI. L. 137-U1. 140 



method of hearing is a riddle. They also have no 

 indications of smell," although they possess a very 

 keen scent. Of feathered creatures only the eagle- 

 owl and eared owl have feathers that serve as ears, 

 the rest have apertures for hearing ; and similarly 

 with the scaly creatures and with snakes. In 

 horses and every kind of cattle the ears display signs 

 of their feehngs, drooping when they are tired, 

 twitching when they are frightened, pricked up when 

 they are angry and relaxed when they are sick. 



LI. Only man has a face, all other animals have a Thefaceand 

 muzzle or beak. Others also have a brow, but only 

 with man is it an indication of sorrow and gaiety, 

 mercy and severity. The eyebrows in man can be 

 moved in agreement with it, either both together or 

 alternately, and in them a portion of the mind is 

 situated : with them we indicate assent and dissent, 

 they are our chief means of displaying contempt; 

 pride has its place of generation elsewhere, but here 

 is its abode : it is born in the heart, but it rises to 

 the eyebrows and hangs suspended there — having 

 found no position in the body at once loftier and 

 steeper where it could be sole occupant. 



LII. Beneath the brows he the eyes, the most Theeye. 

 precious partof the body and the one that distinguishes 

 life from death by the use it makes of dayhght. 

 Not all animals have these organs : oysters have no 

 eyes, and some of the shellfish doubtful ones, as 

 scallops, if somebody moves his fingers towards thera 

 when they are open, shut up as though seeing them, 

 and razor-shells hurry away from iron hooks brought 

 near theni. Of fourfooted creatures moles have no 

 sight, although they possess the semblance of eyes 

 if one draws off the covering membrane. And 



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