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body, but the ribs stretch downwards and meet together under the belly as is
the case with fishes, and the spine sticks up as with the fish. Its face resembles
that of the baboon. Its tail is exceedingly long, terminates in a sharp point, and
is for the most part coiled up, like a strap of leather. It stands higher off the
ground than the lizard, but the flexure of the legs is the same in both
creatures. Each of its feet is divided into two parts, which bear the same
relation to one another that the thumb and the rest of the hand bear to one
another in man. Each of these parts is for a short distance divided after a
fashion into toes; on the front feet the inside part is divided into three and the
outside into two, on the hind feet the inside part into two and the outside into
three; it has claws also on these parts resembling those of birds of prey. Its
body is rough all over, like that of the crocodile. Its eyes are situated in a
hollow recess, and are very large and round, and are enveloped in a skin
resembling that which covers the entire body; and in the middle a slight
aperture is left for vision, through which the animal sees, for it never covers
up this aperture with the cutaneous envelope. It keeps twisting its eyes round
and shifting its line of vision in every direction, and thus contrives to get a
sight of any object that it wants to see. The change in its colour takes place
when it is inflated with air; it is then black, not unlike the crocodile, or green
like the lizard but black-spotted like the pard. This change of colour takes
place over the whole body alike, for the eyes and the tail come alike under its
influence. In its movements it is very sluggish, like the tortoise. It assumes a
greenish hue in dying, and retains this hue after death. It resembles the lizard
in the position of the oesophagus and the windpipe. It has no flesh anywhere
except a few scraps of flesh on the head and on the jaws and near to the root
of the tail. It has blood only round about the heart, the eyes, the region above
the heart, and in all the veins extending from these parts; and in all these there
is but little blood after all. The brain is situated a little above the eyes, but
connected with them. When the outer skin is drawn aside from off the eye, a
something is found surrounding the eye, that gleams through like a thin ring
of copper. Membranes extend well nigh over its entire frame, numerous and
strong, and surpassing in respect of number and relative strength those found
in any other animal. After being cut open along its entire length it continues to
breathe for a considerable time; a very slight motion goes on in the region of
the heart, and, while contraction is especially manifested in the
neighbourhood of the ribs, a similar motion is more or less discernible over
the whole body. It has no spleen visible. It hibernates, like the lizard.
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book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- 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