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thorough elaboration which their food undergoes. The gut, except in those
animals where it is straight, invariably widens out as we get farther from the
stomach and come to what is called the colon, and to a kind of caecal
dilatation. After this it again becomes narrower and convoluted. Then
succeeds a straight portion which runs right on to the vent. This vent is known
as the anus, and is in some animals surrounded by fat, in others not so. All
these parts have been so contrived by nature as to harmonize with the various
operations that relate to the food and its residue. For, as the residual food gets
farther on and lower down, the space to contain it enlarges, allowing it to
remain stationary and undergo conversion. Thus is it in those animals which,
owing either to their large size, or to the heat of the parts concerned, require
more nutriment, and consume more fodder than the rest.
Neither is it without a purpose, that, just as a narrower gut succeeds to the
upper stomach, so also does the residual food, when its goodness is
thoroughly exhausted, pass from the colon and the ample space of the lower
stomach into a narrower channel and into the spiral coil. For so nature can
regulate her expenditure and prevent the excremental residue from being
discharged all at once.
In all such animals, however, as have to be comparatively moderate in their
alimentation, the lower stomach presents no wide and roomy spaces, though
their gut is not straight, but has a number of convolutions. For amplitude of
space causes desire for ample food, and straightness of the intestine causes
quick return of appetite. And thus it is that all animals whose food receptacles
are either simple or spacious are of gluttonous habits, the latter eating
enormously at a meal, the former making meals at short intervals.
Again, since the food in the upper stomach, having just been swallowed,
must of necessity be quite fresh, while that which has reached the lower
stomach must have had its juices exhausted and resemble dung, it follows of
necessity that there must also be some intermediate part, in which the change
may be effected, and where the food will be neither perfectly fresh nor yet
dung. And thus it is that, in all such animals as we are now considering, there
is found what is called the jejunum; which is a part of the small gut, of the
gut, that is, which comes next to the stomach. For this jejunum lies between
the upper cavity which contains the yet unconcocted food and the lower
cavity which holds the residual matter, which by the time it has got here has
become worthless. There is a jejunum in all these animals, but it is only
plainly discernible in those of large size, and this only when they have
abstained from food for a certain time. For then alone can one hit on the exact
period when the food lies half-way between the upper and lower cavities; a
period which is very short, for the time occupied in the transition of food is
1309
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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