THE FINAL SYSTEM: GALEN 



sense, since he does regard all the parts of the 

 body as having been well and truly placed and 

 shaped by Nature). 



" But let us suppose he remained true to his 

 own statement that Nature is ' artistic,' — this 

 Nature which, at the beginning, well and truly 

 shaped and disposed all the parts of the animal, 

 and, after carrying out this function (for she 

 left nothing undone), brought it forward to 

 the light of the day, endowed with certain 

 faculties necessary for its very existence, and, 

 thereafter, gradually increased it until it 

 reached its due size. If he argued consist- 

 ently on this principle, I fail to see how he can 

 continue to refer natural functions to the small- 

 ness or largeness of canals, or to any other 

 similarly absurd hypothesis. For this Nature 

 which shapes and gradually adds to the parts 

 is most certainly extended throughout their 

 whole substance. Yes, indeed, she shapes and 

 nourishes and increases them through and 

 through, not on the outside only. For Prax- 

 iteles and Phidias and all the other statuaries 

 used merely to decorate their material on the 

 outside, in so far as they were able to touch it; 

 but its inner parts they left unembellished, un- 

 wrought, unaffected by art or forethought, 



[ii7] 



