Chap. 73.] 
IHE LIVEE. 
67 
burnt of those persons who die of the cardiac disease ; and the 
same is said of those who die by poison. At all events, there 
is still in existence an oration pronounced by Vitellius,'^ in 
which he accuses Piso of this crime, and employs this alleged 
fact as one of his proofs, openly asserting that the heart of 
Germanicus Caesar could not be burnt at the funeral pile, in 
consequence of his having been poisoned. On the other hand, 
the peculiar nature ^"^ of the disease under which Germanicus 
was labouring, was alleged in Piso's defence. 
CHAP. 72. THE LTOGS : IN WHAT ANIMALS THEY AEE THE LAR- 
GEST, AND IN WHAT THE SMALLEST. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE 
NOTHING BUT LUNGS IN THE INTERIOR OF THE BODY. CAUSES 
WHICH PRODUCE EXTRAORDINARY SWIFTNESS IN ANIMALS. 
Beneath the heart are the lungs, the laboratory in which 
the respiration is prepared. The use of these, is to draw in the 
air and then expel it ; for which purpose their substance is of 
a spongy nature, and filled with cavernous holes. Some few 
among the aquatic animals have lungs, as we have already 
stated ; and among the rest of those which are oviparous, they 
are small, of a fungous nature, and containing no blood ; hence 
it is, that these animals do not experience thirst. It is for the 
same reason also, that frogs and seals are able to remain so 
long under water. The tortoise, too, although it has lungs of 
remarkable size, and extending throughout the whole of the 
shell, is also equally destitute of blood. The smaller the lungs 
are in proportion to the body, the greater is the swiftness of 
the animal. It is in the chameleon that the lungs are the 
largest in proportion to the body ; in which, in fact, it has no 
other viscera at all."^^ 
CHAP. 73. — THE LIVER : IN WHAT ANIMALS, AND IN WHAT PART 
THERE ARE TWO LIVERS FOUND. 
• The liver is on the right side : in this part is situate what 
has been called the head of the entrails,'' and it is subject 
This was P. Vitellius, who served under Germanicus in Germany. 
He was one of the accusers of Cn, Piso, who was charged with having 
poisoned Germanicus. 
'^J Tlie cardiac disease, as alleged. '8 jx. c. 6. 
But see B. yiii. c. 51, and B. xxviii. c. 29. 
F 2 
