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they are present in some animals, absent from others.
Let us now consider the character of the material nature whose necessary
results have been made available by rational nature for a final cause.
In the first place, then, the larger the bulk of animals, the greater is the
proportion of corporeal and earthy matter which they contain. Thus no very
small animal is known to have horns, the smallest horned animal that we are
acquainted with being the gazelle. But in all our speculations concerning
nature, what we have to consider is the general rule; for that is natural which
applies either universally or generally. And thus when we say that the largest
animals have most earthy matter, we say so because such is the general rule.
Now this earthy matter is used in the animal body to form bone. But in the
larger animals there is an excess of it, and this excess is turned by nature to
useful account, being converted into weapons of defence. Part of it
necessarily flows to the upper portion of the body, and this is allotted by her
in some cases to the formation of tusks and teeth, in others to the formation of
horns. Thus it is that no animal that has horns has also front teeth in both
jaws, those in the upper jaw being deficient. For nature by subtracting from
the teeth adds to the horns; the nutriment which in most animals goes to the
former being here spent on the augmentation of the latter. Does, it is true,
have no horns and yet are equally deficient with the males as regards the
teeth. The reason, however, for this is that they, as much as the males, are
naturally horn-bearing animals; but they have been stripped of their horns,
because these would not only be useless to them but actually baneful; whereas
the greater strength of the males causes these organs, though equally useless,
to be less of an impediment. In other animals, where this material is not
secreted from the body in the shape of horns, it is used to increase the size of
the teeth; in some cases of all the teeth, in others merely of the tusks, which
thus become so long as to resemble horns projecting from the jaws.
So much, then, of the parts which appertain to the head.
3
Below the head lies the neck, in such animals as have one. This is the case
with those only that have the parts to which a neck is subservient. These parts
are the larynx and what is called the oesophagus. Of these the former, or
larynx, exists for the sake of respiration, being the instrument by which such
animals as breathe inhale and discharge the air. Therefore it is that, when
there is no lung, there is also no neck. Of this condition the Fishes are an
example. The other part, or oesophagus, is the channel through which food is
conveyed to the stomach; so that all animals that are without a neck are also
1286
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Buch The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Titel
- The Complete Aristotle
- Autor
- Aristotle
- Datum
- ~322 B.C.
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 2328
- Schlagwörter
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Kategorien
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156