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recover their sight again, for the birds are still developing, not yet developed,
when the injury is inflicted, so that the eyes grow and sprout afresh. And in
general the production of young before they are perfect is owing to inability
to continue nourishing them, and they are born imperfect because they are
born too soon. This is plain also with seven-months children, for since they
are not perfected it often happens that even the passages, e.g. of the ears and
nostrils, are not yet opened in some of them at birth, but only open later as
they are growing, and many such infants survive.
In man males are more often born defective than females, but in the other
animals this is not the case. The reason is that in man the male is much
superior to the female in natural heat, and so the male foetus moves about
more than the female, and on account of moving is more liable to injury, for
what is young is easily injured since it is weak. For this same reason also the
female foetus is not perfected equally with the male in man (but they are so in
the other animals, for in them the female is not later in developing than the
male). For while within the mother the female takes longer in developing, but
after birth everything is perfected more quickly in females than in males; I
mean, for instance, puberty, the prime of life, and old age. For females are
weaker and colder in nature, and we must look upon the female character as
being a sort of natural deficiency. Accordingly while it is within the mother it
develops slowly because of its coldness (for development is concoction, and it
is heat that concocts, and what is hotter is easily concocted); but after birth it
quickly arrives at maturity and old age on account of its weakness, for all
inferior things come sooner to their perfection or end, and as this is true of
works of art so it is of what is formed by Nature. For the reason just given
also twins are less likely to survive in man if one be male and one female, but
this is not at all so in the other animals; for in man it is contrary to Nature that
they should run an equal course, as their development does not take place in
equal periods, but the male must needs be too late or the female too early; in
the other animals, however, it is not contrary to Nature. A difference is also
found between man and the other animals in respect of gestation, for animals
are in better bodily condition most of the time, whereas in most women
gestation is attended with discomfort. Their way of life is partly responsible
for this, for being sedentary they are full of more residual matter; among
nations where the women live a laborious life gestation is not equally
conspicuous and those who are accustomed to work bear children easily both
there and elsewhere; for work consumes the residual matter, but those who
are sedentary have a great deal of it in them because not only is there no
monthly discharge during pregnancy but also they do no work; therefore their
travail is painful. But work exercises them so that they can hold their breath,
upon which depends the ease or difficulty of child-birth. These circumstances
1490
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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