194: ERRORS ATTRIBUTED TO ARISTOTLE. 



tricle, was also counted as one of the two iropoi by which, 

 the " heart " (that is to say the right ventricle, the left 

 ventricle, and the left auricle of our nomenclature) com- 

 municates with the lung. 



The only other difficulty that I observe is connected 

 with (1C). If Aristotle intended by this to affirm that 

 the middle cavity (the left ventricle), like the other two, 

 is directly connected with the lung by a TTO/JO?, he would 

 be in error. But he has excluded this interpretation of 

 his words by (^), in which the number and relations of 

 the canals, the existence of which he admits, are distinct- 

 ly defined. I can only imagine then, that, so far as this 

 passage applies to the left ventricle, it merely refers to 

 the indirect communication of that cavity with the ves- 

 sels of the lungs, through the left auricle. 



On this evidence I submit that there is no escape 

 from the conclusion that, instead of having committed a 

 gross blunder, Aristotle has given a description of the 

 heart which, so far as it goes, is remarkably accurate. 

 He is in error only in regard to the differences which 

 he imagines to exist between large and small hearts 

 (H). 



Cuvier (who has been followed by other commenta- 

 tors) ascribes another error to Aristotle : 



"Aristote suppose quo la trachde-artere se prolonge jusqu'au 

 cceur, et semble croire, en consequence, que Tair y pe"n6tre (L c. 

 p. 152)." 



Upon what foundation Cuvier rested the first of these 

 two assertions, I am at a loss to divine. As a matter of 



