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than the uniformly coloured, both into the simple colour of another individual
of the same kind (as dark changing into white and vice versa) and into both
colours mingled. This is because it is a natural characteristic of the kind as a
whole not to have one colour only, the kind being easily moved in both
directions so that the colours both change more into one another and are more
varied. The opposite holds with the uniformly coloured; they do not change
except by an affection of the colour, and that rarely; but still they do so
change, for before now white individuals have been observed among
partridges, ravens, sparrows, and bears. This happens when the course of
development is perverted, for what is small is easily spoilt and easily moved,
and what is developing is small, the beginning of all such things being on a
small scale.
Change is especially found in those animals of which by nature the
individual is whole-coloured but the kind many-coloured. This is owing to the
water which they drink, for hot waters make the hair white, cold makes it
dark, an effect found also in plants. The reason is that the hot have more air
than water in them, and the air shining through causes whiteness, as also in
froth. As, then, skins which are white by reason of some affection differ from
those white by nature, so also in the hair the whiteness due to disease or age
differs from that due to nature in that the cause is different; the latter are
whitened by the natural heat, the former by the external heat. Whiteness is
caused in all things by the vaporous air imprisoned in them. Hence also in all
animals not uniformly coloured all the part under the belly is whiter. For
practically all white animals are both hotter and better flavoured for the same
reason; the concoction of their nutriment makes them well-flavoured, and heat
causes the concoction. The same cause holds for those animals which are
uniformly-coloured, but either dark or white; heat and cold are the causes of
the nature of the skin and hair, each of the parts having its own special heat.
The tongue also varies in colour in the simply coloured as compared with
the vari-coloured animals, and again in the simply coloured which differ from
one another, as white and dark. The reason is that assigned before, that the
skins of the vari-coloured are vari-coloured, and the skins of the white-haired
and dark-haired are white and dark in each case. Now we must conceive of
the tongue as one of the external parts, not taking into account the fact that it
is covered by the mouth but looking on it as we do on the hand or foot; thus
since the skin of the vari-coloured animals is not uniformly coloured, this is
the cause of the skin on the tongue being also vari-coloured.
Some birds and some wild quadrupeds change their colour according to the
seasons of the year. The reason is that, as men change according to their age,
so the same thing happens to them according to the season; for this makes a
1509
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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