Page - 1405 - in The Complete Aristotle
Image of the Page - 1405 -
Text of the Page - 1405 -
that this is in the substance of the catamenia, and that they are a secretion.
<
div id=“section20” class=“section” title=“20”>
20
Some think that the female contributes semen in coition because the
pleasure she experiences is sometimes similar to that of the male, and also is
attended by a liquid discharge. But this discharge is not seminal; it is merely
proper to the part concerned in each case, for there is a discharge from the
uterus which occurs in some women but not in others. It is found in those who
are fair-skinned and of a feminine type generally, but not in those who are
dark and of a masculine appearance. The amount of this discharge, when it
occurs, is sometimes on a different scale from the emission of semen and far
exceeds it. Moreover, different kinds of food cause a great difference in the
quantity of such discharges; for instance some pungently-flavoured foods
cause them to be conspicuously increased. And as to the pleasure which
accompanies coition it is due to emission not only of semen, but also of a
spiritus, the coming together of which precedes the emission. This is plain in
the case of boys who are not yet able to emit semen, but are near the proper
age, and of men who are impotent, for all these are capable of pleasure by
attrition. And those who have been injured in the generative organs
sometimes suffer from diarrhoea because the secretion, which they are not
able to concoct and turn into semen, is diverted into the intestine. Now a boy
is like a woman in form, and the woman is as it were an impotent male, for it
is through a certain incapacity that the female is female, being incapable of
concocting the nutriment in its last stage into semen (and this is either blood
or that which is analogous to it in animals which are bloodless owing to the
coldness of their nature). As then diarrhoea is caused in the bowels by the
insufficient concoction of the blood, so are caused in the blood-vessels all
discharges of blood, including that of the catamenia, for this also is such a
discharge, only it is natural whereas the others are morbid.
Thus it is clear that it is reasonable to suppose that generation comes from
this. For the catamenia are semen not in a pure state but in need of working
up, as in the formation of fruits the nutriment is present, when it is not yet
sifted thoroughly, but needs working up to purify it. Thus the catamenia cause
generation mixture with the semen, as this impure nutriment in plants is
nutritious when mixed with pure nutriment.
And a sign that the female does not emit semen is the fact that the pleasure
of intercourse is caused by touch in the same region of the female as of the
1405
back to the
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