PARTS OF ANIMALS, IV. x. 



windpipe : it acts as a shield and keeps the windpipe 

 and the oesophagus safe by completely encircling 

 them. The neck is flexible and has a number of 

 Vertebrae in all animals except the wolf and the lion 

 whose neck consists of one bone only, for Nature's ob- 

 ject was to provide these with a neck that should be 

 useful for its strength rather than for other purposes. 



The anterior limbs and the trunk are continuous Limbs, and 

 with the head and neck. Man, instead of forelegs relative 

 and forefeet, has arms and hands. Man is the only ^^^^^• 

 animal that stands upright, and this is because his 

 nature and essence is divine. Now the business of 

 that which is most divine is to think and to be intelli- 

 gent ; and this would not be easy if there were a great 

 deal of the body at the top weighing it do^vn, for 

 weight hampers the motion of the intellect and of the 

 general sense." Thus, when the bodily part and the 

 weight of it become excessive, the body itself must 

 lurch forΛvard towards the ground ; and then, for 

 safety's sake, Nature provided forefeet instead of 

 arms and hands — as has happened in quadrupeds. 

 All animals which walk must have two hind feet, and 

 those I have just mentioned became quadrupeds be- 

 cause their soul could not sustain the weight bearing 

 it dowTi. Compared with man, all the other animals 

 are dAvarf-like. By " dwarf-like " I mean to denote 

 that which is big at the top (i.e. big in the " trunk," 

 or the portion from the head to the residual vent), 

 and small where the weight is supported and where 



them all ; thus Aristotle {De somno) argues that their simul- 

 taneous inactivity during sleep is not a mere coincidence but 

 is due to the inactivity of the central perceptive faculty of 

 which they are differentiations. Among the functions of the 

 " general " sense are : discrimination between the objects of 

 two senses, and the perceiving that we perceive. 



367 



