PARTS OF ANIMALS, II. ix. 



is also a thing of many parts because of its division 

 into vertebrae, since the body must be able to bend 

 while the animal is in motion. And the bones of the 

 various limbs (in those animals which have them) 

 are connected with this backbone, from which they 

 originate. Some of them have extremities which fit 

 on to each other : either (a) one is hollow and the 

 other rounded, or (h) both are hollow and hold a 

 huckle-bone between them (as it might be a bolt), 

 to admit of bending and extension, since these 

 movements would be quite impossible or at any rate 

 unsatisfactory ^^'ithout such an arrangement, (c) 

 There are some joints in which the adjacent ends of 

 the two bones are similar in shape ; [these are bound 

 together by sinews,] and there are pieces of cartilage 

 inserted in between them, like a pad, to prevent 

 them from rubbing against each other," 



Now the w^hole system of the bones exists to sub- 

 serve the fleshy parts of the body, which have their 

 place around the bones and are attached to them by 

 thin fibrous threads. Modellers who set out to mould 

 an animal out of clay or some other plastic substance 

 begin first of all with a hard and solid core and mould 

 their figure round it. Nature's method has been the 

 same in fashioning animals out of flesh. With one 

 exception, all the fleshy parts have a core of bone : 

 for the parts that move and bend, this is present as 

 a means for enabling the limb to bend ; for those 

 that do not move, it serves as a protection : an 

 example of this are the ribs, enclosing the chest, 

 which are a means of protection for the viscera in 



" The text of this paragraph has been confused by a 

 number of interpolations, most of which I have omitted in 

 translating. 



165 



