BOOK XI. Lxix. 181-LXX. 185 



of the ribs and chest, so that it may give birth to 

 the principle cause and origin of life. It provides 

 the vital principle and the blood with their primary 

 abodes inside it, in a winding recess which in large 

 animals is three-fold" and in all others without 

 exception double ; this is the dwelHng-place of 

 the mind. From this source two large veins run 

 apart to the front and the back of the body, and 

 diffuse the blood of hfe through other smaller veins 

 with a spreading system of branches to all the hmbs. 

 The heart alone is not tortured by the defects of the 

 inner organs ; and it does not prolong the torments 

 of Ufe, and when wounded at once bi-ings death. 

 When the rest of the parts have been injured vitaUty 

 continues in the heart. 



LXX. The view is held that duU creatures are P^y'iologi 

 those whose heart is stifF and hard, bold ones those heart. 

 whose heart is smaU, and cowardly ones those in 

 which it is speciaUy large ; but it is largest in 

 proportion to their size in mice, the hare, the ass, 

 the stag, the leopard, weasels, hyenas, and all the 

 species that are either timid or rendered dangerous 

 by fear. Partridges in Paphlagonia have two 

 hearts. Bones are occasionaUy found in the heart 

 of horses and oxen. The people of Egypt, who 

 practise the custom of mummification, have a beUef 

 that the human heart grows larger every year and 

 at the age of fifty reaches a weight of a quarter of an 

 ounce, and from that point loses weight at the 

 same rate ; and that consequently a man does not 

 Uve beyond a hundred, owing to heart failure. It 

 is stated that some people are born with a hairy 

 heart, and that they are exceptionaUy brave and 

 resolute — an example being a Messenian named 



547 



