118 ARISTOTLE'S ANHOMCEOMERIA 



CHAPTER X. 



AEISTOTLE'S ANHOMCEOMERIA AND THEIR 

 FUNCTIONS. 



It has been explained already, in Chapter vi., that 

 Aristotle's anhomoeomeria were, generally speaking, organs 

 or parts having definite forms or functions. His descrip- 

 tions of these anhomoeomeria are very incomplete, and vary 

 much in value, a few, e.g., the blood-vessels, being described 

 at great length, while others are described in very general 

 terms, and some important anhomoeomeria are merely men- 

 tioned, or not referred to at all. On the other hand, some 

 interesting details are given about structures, which are not 

 generally known, such as, for example, certain bones in the 

 hearts of horses and oxen. His anhomoeomeria are de- 

 scribed chiefly inH. A. i. cc. 7-14, ii. cc. 8-12, iii. cc. 1-11, 

 and P. A. ii.-iv., and these parts of his works contain most of 

 his extant writings on comparative anatomy. 



In the following descriptions, his most important state- 

 ments about the various anhomoeomeria, except the loco- 

 motory organs, which will be dealt with in Chapter xiii., will 

 be discussed, and, when discussing any particular set of 

 structures, those of Man will be taken first and then those 

 of other mammals, and of birds and other animals. 



A. — Skeletal and Epidermal Structures. 



a. Bones and Cartilages. — Aristotle describes the bones 

 of the human head rather fully, while he does little more 

 than mention and indicate the relative positions of other 

 parts of the human skeleton. For other animals, his 

 descriptions are limited to a few bones, e.g., the ribs, the 

 astragali, and the pelvis. He gives but little information 

 about the cartilages. 



He did not consider the fore part of the frontal bone to 

 be part of the human cranium, which he defined to be the 

 part of the skull covered by hair, the forehead being a part 



