192 ERRORS ATTRIBUTED TO ARISTOTLE. 



nected Sia TOV KoTKov TOV fjxcrov or by means of the 

 intervening cavity or chamber (7?.<z.) which is that 

 which we call the right auricle. 



But when, from the four cavities of the heart rec- 

 ognised by us moderns, one is excluded, there remain 

 three which is just what Aristotle says. The solu- 

 tion of the difficulty is, in fact, as absurdly simple as 

 that presented by the egg of Columbus ; and any error 

 there may be, is not to be put down to Aristotle, but 

 to that inability to comprehend that the same fact may 

 be accurately described in different ways, which is the 

 special characteristic of the commentatorial mind. That 

 the three cavities mentioned by Aristotle are just those 

 which remain if the right auricle is omitted, is plain 

 enough from what is said in (B), (C\ (E), (/), and (Z). 

 For, in a suffocated animal, the "right cavity" which is 

 directly connected with the great vein, and is obviously 

 the right ventricle, being distended with blood, will 

 look much larger than the middle cavity, which, since 

 it gives rise to the aorta, can only be the left ventri- 

 cle. And this, again, will appear larger than the 

 thin and collapsed left auricle, which must be Aris- 

 totle's left cavity, inasmuch as this cavity is said to 

 be connected by Tropoi with the lung. The reason why 

 Aristotle considered the left auricle to be a part of 

 the heart, while he merged the right auricle in the 

 great vein, is, obviously, the small relative size of the 

 venous trunks and their sharper demarcation from the 

 auricle. Galen, however, perhaps more consistently, re- 



