1. Animals not only change their forms and dispositions at particular
ages and seasons, but also when castrated. All animals that have
testicles may be castrated. Birds and oviparous quadrupeds have
internal testicles near their loins. In viviparous animals with feet,
they are generally external, though sometimes internal; in all they are
situated at the extremity of the abdomen. Birds are castrated near the
rump, the part with which they touch the female in copulation, for if
they are burnt in that part two or three times with irons after they
are full grown, the comb turns yellow, and they cease to crow, and no
longer desire sexual intercourse. If they are not full grown, these
parts never reach perfection.
2. The same is the case with the human subject, for if a boy is
castrated, the hair that is produced after birth never appears, nor
does his voice change, but continues sharp; but if a full grown man is
castrated, all the hair produced after birth falls off except that on
the pubes, this becomes weaker, but still remains. The hair produced
at birth does not fall off, for the eunuch never becomes bald. The
voice also of castrated animals changes to that of the female. Other
animals, if not castrated when young, are destroyed by the operation;
with the boar it makes no difference. All animals, if castrated when
young, become larger and more graceful than those not castrated; but if
already grown, they never become any larger.
8. If stags are castrated before they are old enough to have horns,
these never appear; but if castrated after they have horns, their size
never varies, nor are they subject to their annual change. Calves are
castrated at a year old, if not they become bad and inferior. The steer
is castrated in this manner: they lay down the animal and cut the
scrotum, and press out the testicles; they next contract the root of
the testicle as much as possible, and fill up the wound with hair in
order that the discharge may escape, and if it inflames, they cauterize
and sprinkle the scrotum. If adult bulls are castrated, they are still
apparently capable of sexual intercourse.
4. The capria of the sow is also cut out, so that they should not
desire coition, but fatten rapidly. They are cut after fasting two
days. They hang them up by the hind legs and make an incision in the
lower part of the belly, where the testicles of the male are generally
found; the capria is there formed upon the matrix, from which they cut
off a portion, and sew up the wound again.
5. The female camels also are cut when they wish to take them to war,
that they may not become pregnant. Some of those in the upper parts of
Asia possess as many as three thousand. Such camels, when they run,
are far more swift than the Nisæan horses, from the length of their
stretch. And on the whole, castrated animals are longer-bodied than
those not castrated.
6. All animals that ruminate, derive as much use and pleasure from
rumination as from eating. Animals that have not cutting-teeth in both
jaws ruminate, as the ox, sheep, and goat. No observations have been
made on wild animals except those which occasionally associate with
men, as the stag, though this animal ruminates. They all lie down to
ruminate, and do so most in the winter; those which are brought up in
shelter ruminate for nearly seven months. Those that live in herds,
ruminate for a shorter period, for they live out of doors. Some animals
with cutting teeth in both jaws, ruminate, as the Pontic mice and the
fish, which, from this process, is called meryx. Animals with long legs
have loose bellies, and those with broad chests vomit more easily than
others, in quadrupeds, birds, and the generality of mankind.
BOOK THE TENTH.
(ERRONEOUSLY ASCRIBED TO ARISTOTLE.)
CHAPTER I.
If men and women, after they have reached a certain age, do not have
children after cohabitation, the fault sometimes rests with both, and
sometimes in only one of them. And first, it is requisite to examine
the uterus of the female, that if the fault lies there it may be
relieved by proper treatment. If the fault is not there, attention must
be paid to some other cause of sterility. We may conclude that this
organ is in a healthy state, when, like the other parts of the body,
it performs its functions without pain, and is free from fatigue after
the function is performed. Just as the eye is in a healthy state if it
suffers no pain in seeing, and is not disordered with the exercise of
its function, or unable to perform it again, so the uterus is healthy
which suffers no pain, and is well able to perform its functions,
whatever they may be, and after they are performed is not impotent, but
is free from fatigue.
2. The uterus is said to be disordered, when, even if it performs its
functions properly and without pain, it does not hinder its function
by any part of itself.[229] As there is nothing to prevent an eye
from seeing accurately, although all its parts are not perfect, or if
there happens to be a tumour in it; so the uterus may have received no
injury in this respect, if it is properly situated in the right place.
In the first place, then, the healthy uterus will not be situated in
this place or in that, but will always be in a similar position; but
it is not difficult to decide whether it is not placed at too great
a distance without suffering and pain, or whether it is devoid of
sensation when touched. That these parts ought to be properly placed
is evident from the following considerations, for if the uterus is
not near, it will not be able to imbibe the semen, for the place from
which it ought to receive it will be at too great a distance. If the
uterus is near, and not able to retire further, it will be useless, for
it will be always touched so as to refuse to open; but it ought to do
this, and to be obedient to its function. These things ought to be thus
ordered, and if they are not, the case requires attention.
[229] A corrupt passage.
3. The catamenia also should proceed correctly, that is, if the general
health is good, they should last for their proper time, and not
come irregularly, for when the catamenia are right, the uterus will
open properly, and receive the fluids of the body whenever they are
secreted; but when they make their appearance too often, or not often
enough, or irregularly, while the rest of the body does not sympathise
with them, and the general health is good, we must look to the uterus
for the cause of their irregularity. The dullness of the uterus
prevents its being opened at the proper time, so that it receives but
a small portion, or rather the uterus imbibes the fluid from some
inflammation of the parts. So that it shows that it requires attention,
like the eyes, the bladder, the stomach, and other parts. For all the
parts, when inflamed, imbibe the fluid which is secreted into each
place, but not such a fluid, or in so great quantities.
4. In like manner, if the uterus secretes more than it ought to do,
it exhibits an inflammatory tendency, if the secretion is regular
but too abundant; but if the secretion is irregular, or more putrid
than it should be in healthy subjects, the disease is then quite
manifest, for it is necessary that some pain should show that all is
not well. In a healthy subject, at the commencement, and the cessation
of menstruation, the secretion appears white and putrid. All those
subjects in whom the secretion is more putrid than in healthy persons,
or is irregular, or too abundant, or deficient, should receive
attention, for this it is that prevents child-bearing. But in those
subjects who are only irregular, and unequal in the periods of the
secretion, the disease is not the preventive of child-bearing, though
it shows that the habit of the uterus is changeable, and does not
always remain the same. And this affection is sufficient to prevent
those persons from conception who are otherwise well disposed towards
it. It is, however, hardly a disease, but an affection which may be
restored without medical treatment, unless it is affected by some
previous fault.
5. If the regularity and quantity of the discharge is subject to
alteration, without any corresponding change in the rest of the body,
which is sometimes in a more fluid, at other times in a more dry state,
the uterus is not in fault, though it ought to follow the habit of the
rest of the body, and receive and secrete in proportion. If the body
is in a good state of health, but undergoing a change, when this takes
place, and there is no need of medical treatment; but if the secretion
is too small from disease, and the secretion is taken through some
other source, the body suffers: and if the discharge is too great, from
all the secretions of the body being turned in one direction, this does
not point to disease of the uterus, but of the whole body. Whenever the
catamenia coincide with the general habit of the body, it is evident
that the fault does not lie with the uterus, which would perform its
functions properly if the general health were correct.
6. Sometimes the uterus is weak, and sometimes strong; sometimes too
fluid, and sometimes too dry; and the discharge coincides with the
state of the body, it is abundant when that is full, deficient when it
is less full. If the body is full of fluid, the discharge is watery; if
the body is dry, it is more sanguineous; it begins with being white,
like milk, and is without smell. Some are dark-coloured, and when about
to cease they become white, at the last secretion. The white discharge
has not the smell of putrid matter, but is more harsh and disagreeable,
nor has it the smell of pus; and when this is the condition of the
symptoms, there is no wearing away, but the body becomes heated. In
all that are in this state, the uterus is in a healthy condition for
child-bearing.
CHAPTER II.
We must, then, first of all inquire whether all these particulars are
well ordered; and, next, we must learn the position of the body of the
uterus; for it ought to be straight; and if it is not so, the seminal
fluid can never reach it. And it is evident that women project their
semen forwards, from what happens when they have lascivious dreams; for
this part of them then requires attention, being moistened as though
they had sexual intercourse, for they also project into the place
where the semen of the male is emitted, and not into the uterus; and
when projected to this place, the semen is drawn into the uterus by
inhalation, as the mucus is drawn into the nose. For this reason they
become pregnant in every position; for the seminal fluid both in men
and women is always projected forwards; but if it were projected into
the female she would not always conceive after copulation.
2. But if the uterus is not straight, but inclined to the hips, the
loins, or the hypogastric region, it is impossible to conceive, for the
before-mentioned reason, that the uterus cannot take up the seminal
fluid. If this deformity is great, either naturally or from disease,
the disorder is incurable. If there is a rupture, either by nature or
arising from the disease, which contracts the parts with inflammation,
the disorder will take a different turn from this. But in order that
women may become pregnant, it is necessary, as it was said, that the
mouth of the uterus should be straight and, moreover, should be well
opened. By this I mean that when the menstrual discharge commences,
the os uteri should, on contact, appear softer than before, though not
distinctly expanded. But if this is the case, let the first appearance
be white.
3. But when the appearances are more the colour of flesh, the uterus
will be evidently relaxed without pain when it is touched, and the os
uteri is neither dull nor different from itself; and when the discharge
ceases, let the aperture be very open and dry, but not hard, for a
day and a half or two days; for this shows that the uterus is in a
healthy state, and fit to perform its functions. If the os uteri is not
immediately relaxed, but appears soft, it shows that both the uterus
and the rest of the body are relaxed, and the uterus does not prevent,
but first discharges the secretion from the os uteri. And when the
rest of the body has discharged a great deal, and the os uteri becomes
relaxed, it is a sign of a healthy condition.
4. And when the appearances cease to take place directly, the uterus
shows that, if there is any difficulty, it will become empty and dry,
and wanting in moisture, and there will be no remains in the passage.
When the uterus, therefore, is capable of contraction, it shows that it
is in a proper state for receiving whatever is brought to it, when it
is in this state without pain, and indeed is insensate; and it is good
that the os uteri should not be in any other condition. This shows that
there is no reason why it should not close at the proper time. This
is the manner of considering the os uteri, whether it is in a healthy
condition or not.
CHAPTER III.
These ought to be the symptoms of the uterus itself after purification.
First of all, that the woman should dream of sexual intercourse, and
project her seminal fluid readily, as if a man were lying with her;
and if this symptom occur frequently, it is better. And when she has
arisen, sometimes she should require the same treatment as if she had
been with a man, sometimes she should be dry; but this dryness should
not be immediate; but after awaking she should be fluid, sooner or
later, about as much as half a short day. The humidity should be of
the same kind as if she had been with a man. For all this shows that
the uterus is in a fit state to receive what is given it, and that the
cotyledons are drawn up and will retain what they have received, and be
unwilling to part with it.
2. A flatulent state of the uterus is also a good sign, when it
enlarges and discharges the wind as the bowels do without pain, and
when it becomes larger and smaller without any symptom of disease; for
these symptoms show that the uterus is not in want of what is necessary
nor sluggish, either naturally or from disease, but that it will be
able to find room by growth for anything that it may receive, for it
has the power of dilation. When this is not the case, the uterus is too
thick, or some natural defect or disease has rendered it insensible.
For this cause it cannot nourish, but it will destroy the embryo,
if the symptoms are violent, while the embryo is small; if they are
less so, when it is larger; if the uterus is slightly affected, the
offspring will be inferior, as if it had been fed in an inferior vessel.
3. Upon contact, the right and left side will be found to be alike,
and all the other parts in the same way; and in the act of copulation
moisture will be produced, not frequently nor in great abundance. This
affection is, as it were, a perspiration of the place, like the saliva,
which is frequently produced both in the use of food and in speaking.
Tears also are shed from the eyes, when we look upon brilliant objects,
and under cold or greater heat, of which these parts also partake,
when they happen to be moist. So the uterus becomes moist when
employed, when it is of a more moist disposition. Those that are in the
best health suffer from this affection, for which reason women always
require more or less attention, as also the mouth requires saliva. In
some this moisture is so abundant that they cannot imbibe the seminal
fluid of the man in a state of purity, on account of its admixture with
this uterine moisture.
4. Besides these affections, the following also is to be considered,
whether, when they dream of sexual intercourse, their general health is
good or not, as whether they are weak, and whether they are so always,
or only sometimes, and whether they are not sometimes strong, and
whether they are dry at first and moist afterwards; for this ought to
be the condition of a woman capable of child-bearing; for relaxation
shows that the body has been profuse of the seminal fluid, and that it
can perform its functions; but when the uterus is hard, it is a sign of
debility. If a woman has this affection without any disease, it shows
that the emission takes place naturally and as it ought to do. For if
it were not so, there would be disease and prostration of strength.
Sometimes, when the uterus is dry and afterwards becomes moist, it is
a sign that the whole body receives and makes away with the seminal
fluid, and that both the uterus and the body are strong; for it has
been already observed that the uterus absorbs the semen which is placed
upon it by the process of inhalation, for it is not emitted into it but
upon the same place as that of the man. All that takes by inhalation
is accompanied with force, so that it is plain that the body of such a
person must have the power of retraction.
5. It sometimes happens that women who have lascivious dreams, or men
of strong passions, are robust not from strength but from health. This
takes place when a large quantity of seminal fluid has been collected
near the place from whence they emit it. If this makes its escape, they
are in no ways debilitated; for they are not relaxed by the loss of a
portion, if sufficient remains behind, or if that which was emitted
was useless, nor if it was emitted easily, as if they parted with
superfluous matter. For which reason such persons are not robust from
strength but from dullness. But when any part is emitted which is
necessary for the body, they become debilitated.
6. If a person is in good health, and of a proper age, the seminal
fluid is rapidly formed. This takes place in those that have not done
growing and in those that are grown. Women rarely know when they are
first pregnant; for they do not think that they have conceived unless
they perceive that the semen has been emitted, suspecting that it ought
to be emitted at the same time both by the female and the male; and it
escapes their notice, more especially when they think that they are
unable to conceive, unless they have become dry, and that which they
have received has disappeared entirely; but it sometimes happens that
both the male and the female emit more than could possibly disappear,
and more than enough for conception. When sufficient has been drawn in
and much left out, they become pregnant without knowing it.
7. That it is possible that this should take place, and that the
affection does not arise from the whole of the seminal fluid, we may
learn from those animals which produce many young ones from a single
act of intercourse, or from the case of twins produced by a single
act. It is evident that they are not produced from the whole semen,
but each place receives some portion of it, but the larger portion
is left behind; and if many young are produced from a single act of
intercourse, which appears to be the case with swine and with twins,
it is evident that the semen cannot come from every part of the body,
but it is divided out to each form. It is possible, therefore, that it
may be separated from every part of the body, and that the whole may
be divided among many, so that it is not possible that all should have
every part. The female also projects her semen into the os uteri, where
the man also emits his, when he approaches her. From thence she imbibes
with inhalation as if it were with the mouth or nostrils; for whatever
is not joined to the members is either hollow above and united by a
symphysis, or is sucked in from this place by the act of inhalation.
For which reason they take care that it should be dry, as if this had
happened before.
8. The path along which it passes is thus formed in women. There is a
tube enclosed in the body like the penis of the male. The inhalation
takes place through this by a small passage above the passage for the
urine. When, therefore, they desire sexual intercourse, this part is
not in the same condition as it was before. A falling down takes place
from this passage, and the fore part of the uterus becomes much larger
than the part where it falls into this passage. This resembles the
nostrils; for, as the nostrils have a passage into the pharynx and into
the external air, so this tube has a very small and narrow passage,
like a passage out for the wind. That to the fore part of the uterus
is wide and broad, as the nostrils are to the external air between the
mouth and the pharynx. So women have a larger passage to the fore part
of the uterus, and wider than the external passage.
9. Whatever conjecture is formed concerning these affections, it makes
to the same conclusion, that the woman also emits a seminal fluid.
The same things arise from the same cause, for to some it seems to be
the cause of disease or of death; and these consider the end at the
beginning as it ought to be considered; for to some women these are
important causes, to some of no importance; and of these causes some
are and some are not of consequence. They divide also in proportion the
consequences which may result from them. To some it happens to pass
through all these affections; to those who have many, through many of
them: others through few; and others, again, who have none, through
none of them.
10. There are some persons who suffer from the affection called
inflation. This ought not to be. The affection is of this kind. In
copulation they neither evidently emit semen, nor do they become
pregnant. Wherefore they are said to be inflated. The excessive dryness
of the uterus is the cause of this complaint; and when it has drawn
the fluid into itself, it ejects it again. This becomes dried up, and
having become small falls out, without any notice being taken of the
circumstance on account of its size. When the uterus is violently
affected in this way, and becomes very dry, and ejects it very soon,
it is plain that pregnancy cannot take place. If this does not take
place very soon, impregnation appears for a time to have taken place
until it is ejected. The same thing also takes place at times in those
who have conceived properly; if a long time has elapsed, the uterus
becomes elevated, so that it plainly appears as if impregnation had
taken place until it falls out. Then all becomes as it was at first.
They refer this affliction to a divine origin. It is curable, unless
it is natural, or the disease has gone a great way. It is a sign that
this disease is not present, when women appear neither to have emitted
semen, nor to have conceived after sexual intercourse.
CHAPTER IV.
1. Pregnancy is prevented also by spasm in the uterus. This complaint
attacks the uterus when it is either distended with inflammation,
or in the act of parturition. When any large quantity of matter
suddenly enters it, and the os uteri is not open, spasm then arises
from distension. It is a sign of the absence of spasm, if the uterus
does not appear to reach inflammation in its functions: whereas, if
spasm were present, there would be some signs of inflammation. Again,
a swelling at the mouth of the uterus, if it is much drawn out, will
prevent conception. It is a sign that this is not the case, when the
uterus appears to open and close properly after the discharge of the
catamenia, or the use of the male.
2. In some, also, the os uteri is closed, either from the period
of birth, or in consequence of disease. Sometimes this is curable,
and sometimes not so. It is not, however, difficult to ascertain
the state of the case, for it is not possible either to receive or
to emit anything in a proper manner. If it appears to have received
and rejected the seminal fluid of the male, it is an evidence of the
presence of the disease. But those who have no impediment in the way of
conception, but are, as it has been said, as they ought to be, unless
the man is impotent, or they are not able to have children together,
being unable to emit their semen at the same time, and differ very
much, such persons will have no children.
CHAPTER V.
In order to understand of sterility in the male, we must take other
symptoms. These will appear very easy, if he copulates with other
women, and impregnates them. When the sexes do not appear to concur
with each other, although all the before-mentioned circumstances are
present, they do not have children together. For it is evident that
this is the only reason of sterility: for if the woman contributes
to the semen and generation, it is evident that both the sexes should
be concurrent: for if the man is quick, and the woman slow, in the
emission of the semen (and many women are comparatively slow), this
will prevent conception; for which cause they do not produce children
by sexual union with each other. They do so, however, when they happen
to be concurrent with each other; for if the woman is desirous, and
prepared for the intercourse, and is inclined for it, but the man is
suffering previous pain, and of a cold disposition, it is then also
necessary that they should be concurrent.
CHAPTER VI.
It is quite plain when animals desire sexual intercourse; for the
female pursues the male, as hens pursue the cock and place themselves
beneath him, if the male is not desirous. Other animals also do the
same. But if all animals appear to have these affections with respect
to sexual intercourse, it is plain that the causes must be the same
throughout. This bird, however, has not only the desire of receiving,
but also of emitting semen. This is a proof of it. If the male is not
present, she will emit the semen into herself, and become pregnant, and
produce barren eggs, as if she desired both to emit semen, and when she
had done so, soon ceased, just as when the male was present. Others
also do the same, for a person has attempted to rear some singing
locusts, which he had taken in a young state. When grown, they became
pregnant spontaneously.
2. From these considerations it is plain that every female contributes
to the semen, if this appears to take place in any one class of
animals, for the barren animal differs in no respect from the other,
except that it does not produce an animal, and this because it was
formed by the union of both sexes. For this reason all the seminal
fluid of the male does not appear to be productive, but some parts are
barren, when not properly compounded from both sexes. And when women
have lascivious dreams, the same affections of weakness and debility
often occur, as if they had been lying with a male. It is plain,
therefore, that if they appear to have emitted a seminal fluid in
their dream, they will then conjecture that after their dream the same
place will become moist, and they will be obliged to bestow the same
attention upon themselves as if they had had sexual intercourse. So
that it is evident that there must be an emission of semen from both if
it is to be productive.
3. But the uterus does not emit its semen into itself, but on the
outside, into the place where that of the male also is received, and
then draws it into itself. For some females produce spontaneously, as
the bird produces barren eggs, and other females do not so, as the
horses and sheep; either because the bird projects her semen into the
uterus, and the place upon which that of the male is emitted is not
external; for which reason, if he does not copulate properly with the
female, it is poured out upon the ground. But in quadrupeds there is
another place for the reception of the semen, both of the male and
female, which in other animals it is combined with other fluids of the
body, and is not collected in the uterus, because it does not enter it.
But in birds, the uterus receives and matures the seminal fluid, and
forms a body similar in other respects though not a living creature.
It is necessary, therefore, the living creature should be derived from
both sexes.
CHAPTER VII.
We must enquire whether women speak the truth, when they say that
after a lascivious dream they find themselves dry; for it is plain
that the uterus draws upwards. And if so, why do not females become
pregnant spontaneously, since the male seminal fluid is drawn in, mixed
with their own? And why do not she goats draw that part of it which
extends outwards? for this affection takes place in some that have
been pregnant many years; for they produce what is called myle (an
amorphous mass of flesh), a circumstance which has also happened to a
certain woman; for having had sexual intercourse, and to all appearance
conceived, the size of the uterus increased, and everything at first
went on regularly: but when the time of parturition arrived, she
produced nothing, nor did the enlargement become any smaller: but after
three or four years, a dysentery occurred, which placed her life in
danger, when she produced a large mass of flesh, which they call myle.
The affection continues in some to old age, even to the day of their
death.
2. Does this affection arise from a warm habit of body, when the uterus
is warm and dry, and for this reason capable of drawing into itself in
such a manner that it is taken up and kept in it? For, in persons so
affected, if the seminal fluid of both sexes is not united, but, like
the barren egg, is taken up by one sex, then the myle is produced,
which is not living creature, for it does not originate in both sexes,
nor is it lifeless, for it is taken to have life like the barren egg.
It remains, however, a long while, on account of the disposition of the
uterus, and because the bird, which has produced many eggs in herself,
when the uterus is stimulated by these, goes and lays them: and when
the first is produced, the last will also come forth in proper time:
for there is nothing to prevent it, but the body being productive as
soon as it is full, causes the uterus to be no longer retentive. But
in viviparous animals, on account of the change of force, as the fœtus
increases, and the diversity of food is required, the uterus causes
parturition from a kind of inflammation.
3. But the flesh, because it is not alive, always requires the same
kind of food, for it does not cause any weight in the uterus, nor any
inflammation. So that the affection would continue, in some cases,
throughout life, unless some fortunate debility should take place, as
in the woman who was attacked with dysentery. But does this affection
arise from warmth, as it was said, or rather from a fluid state,
because there is a fulness as it closes, either because the uterus
is neither cold enough to reject it, nor warm enough to bring it to
maturity? Wherefore, the disease lasts a long while, like those things
which remain a long while before they are matured; but those that are
about to come to maturity have an end, and that quickly. Such uteri,
being very high up, cause a long delay. And, again, not being alive,
it does not cause any pain by its movements, for the movement of the
ligament which the living fœtus produces, causes pain. And the hardness
of the substance is the effect of imperfect production, for it is so
hard that it cannot be cut by the stroke of an axe. All ripe and mature
things become soft, but imperfectly digested things are immature and
hard.
4. Wherefore, many physicians, deceived by the resemblance, say that
women are suffering from myle, if they only see the abdomen elevated
without dropsy, and a cessation of the catamenia, when the disease has
lasted for a long while. But this is not the case, for the myle is a
rare disease. Sometimes there will be collections of cold and moist
excrements and fluids, and sometimes of thick ones in this part of the
abdomen, if either the nature or the habit is of this kind. For these
things afford neither pain nor heat, on account of their cold nature;
but if they increase, more or less, they bring no other disease after
them, but remain quiet, like some maimed thing.
5. The cessation of the catamenia takes place on account of the
excrementitious matter of the body being directed to this point, as
when women are nursing; for they occur either not at all, or only in
small quantities. A collection of matter from the flesh sometimes takes
place between the uterus and the stomach, which has the character
of the myle, but is not it. But it is not difficult to know the
difference, by touching the uterus; for if it is correctly placed, and
not enlarged, it is evident that the disease is not there; but if it
is the same as when with child, it will be warm, and cold, and dry,
because all the fluids are turned inwards; and the os uteri will be in
the same condition as when they are pregnant; but if the enlargement is
of any other kind, it will be cold, and not dry when touched, and the
os uteri will always be the same.
APPENDIX.
ESSAY ON THE LITERARY AND PECUNIARY RESOURCES WHICH ARISTOTLE
EITHER USED, OR IS SAID TO HAVE USED IN THE EXAMINATION AND
COMPOSITION OF HIS HISTORY OF ANIMALS.
_Translated from the Latin of Schneider._
Aristotle had very likely more authorities, whom he has followed, or
converted to his own purposes, than those whose names he has given.
These are, however, a few, whom he has named, as Alcmæon of Crotona;
Dionysius of Apollonia; Herodorus of Heracleum in Pontus, the father
of Bryson the sophist; Ctesias of Cnidos; Herodotus of Halicarnassus;
Syennesis of Cyprus; Polybus; Democritus of Abdera; Anaxagoras of
Clazomene; Empedocles of Sicily; and if there are any more which do
not just now occur to my memory, they are accurately enumerated in the
index, with the names of the places to which they belonged. I have said
that it is probable, that Aristotle has derived information from more
authorities than he has named; and a reason for this conjecture is
found in a passage which he extracts, almost verbatim, from Herodotus,
on the Nilotic crocodile (Euterpe, 68). This I have shewn in a note on
the passage, book v. ch. 27, 2. And there are many places, both in his
natural history and his other works on animals, where our philosopher
refers to the ancient fables of men who were transformed into the
nature and forms of various animals. The oldest author of such fables
is Boeus (or Boeo, in the feminine gender, as some have conjectured).
From this book Antoninus Literalis has extracted many chapters in
Greek. Nicander of Colophon, and others, followed the example of
Boeus. Among Latin writers, the Metamorphoses of Ovid have always
commanded attention. All who have read the work of Antoninus, and the
Metamorphoses of Ovid, will easily perceive how much information on the
nature and habits of animals our philosopher could have derived from
the very character of the books which had come down from the remotest
antiquity to the time of Aristotle (compare note 9, 17, 1), especially
if they bear in mind that the ancient teachers of physics always
compared the habits of animals with those of man, and conjectured the
causes and reasons of their actions, from similar impulses in man.
This may be seen in the fables of Æsop, for they contain the first
elements of the doctrines of the ancients on physics and morals. We
might also offer a surmise on Eudoxus, and Scylax, and others, who
wrote "Travels Round the Earth," in which they described the animals
of different countries; for our philosopher appeals to the testimony
of both these authors, in his work on Meteorics, and elsewhere. There
is more doubt whether Aristotle used, or could have used, the numerous
notices of animals, of the interior of Asia and India, which the
companions of Alexander, in his Asiatic and Indian expeditions, brought
back to Greece; which Theophrastus, the pupil of Aristotle, and his
successor in the schools, is found to have used so well in his History
of Plants. For this I consider to be proved, that the written notices
of the companions of Alexander were published after the death of the
king, though we have no proof of the exact year in which they were
made public. Indeed I have never found any evidence in the History of
Animals which could lead us to suppose that Aristotle was acquainted
with the animals of the interior of Asia and India, by information
derived from the companions of Alexander; nor have I been able to find
the slightest information from which I can form a conjecture as to
either the place or time when this history was written: but, in order
that others may institute a more rigorous inquiry into the date and
place of its authorship, if any such have escaped my notice, I will
place before my readers that portion of the Aristotelian chronology
which relates to this work, from the disputation of St. Croix, a
learned French author (Examen Critique des Historiens d'Alexander le
Grand, p. 603, second edition). Aristotle, therefore, at the invitation
of Philip, King of Macedon, undertook the education of his son,
Alexander, when he was thirteen years of age, in the second year of
the 109th Olympiad, when Phythodotus was Archon of Athens. Aristotle
returned to Athens in the second year of the 111th Olympiad, in the
Archonship of Evænetus. He taught at Athens for thirteen years, from
whence he fled to Chalcis, and there he died, in the third year of the
114th Olympiad, during the Archonship of Philocles.
There is, indeed, a passage in Pliny, (book x. ch. 64, sect. 84, on the
fecundity of mice,) where he says, that among other things Aristotle
has spoken in his History of Animals (vi. 29) of the gravid fœtus
of the Persian mice; but the Greek exemplar contains no authority
from which Pliny could have derived the words which he has added:
"More wonderful than all is the fœtus of the mice, which we cannot
unhesitatingly receive, though derived from the authority of Aristotle,
and the soldiers of Alexander the Great." In this and in two other
places he calls those _soldiers_ whom others are in the habit of
calling the _companions_ of Alexander the Great. But there is also
a passage in the Meteorics of Aristotle (iii. 1), where he mentions
as a recent event the destruction of the temple of Ephesus, by the
incendiary Herostratus, on the day of Alexander's birth, in these
words: "As it has just now happened in the burning of the temple of
Ephesus." This book, therefore, appears to have been written at the
commencement of the 106th Olympiad, and with it the History of Animals
is very closely connected, as I have shown in my treatise on the order
of the books of Physics; so that we may suppose that they were written
in nearly the same Olympiad, if we regard only the series of the works;
and no interruption occurred with which we are unacquainted. On the
other hand, in the Meteorics (iii. 5), he speaks of a lunar rainbow,
and says that it is rarely seen, and then adds, "that it has occurred
but twice in more than fifty years." If we reckon these fifty years
from the birth of Aristotle, in the first year of the 99th Olympiad,
that book will fall in the third or fourth year of the 111th Olympiad;
and from this calculation it would follow that this book was also
written in Athens, but that the first date is to be taken in a wider
sense.
From all this, we may easily perceive that at this day we are entirely
ignorant of the sources of information collected either from
ancient or contemporary writers, to which our philosopher had access
in composing and completing a work of such multiplied and varied
information. Even if we assume that they were as large as the mind
of Aristotle was great, acute, and transparent, still, for a work so
various and extensive, spread over seas, rivers, earth, and heaven,
even that mind would require some assistance from other sources to
which it might apply in constructing and building up a system of
general instruction from the materials collected in different places
about various animals, and from the observations used in describing and
arranging them together in orders, classes, genera, and species. The
following were the sources Aristotle used, according to the narrative
of an uncertain author quoted by Pliny (viii. 16, 17)--"King Alexander
the Great," he says, "was possessed with the desire of knowing the
natures of animals, and therefore delegated the work to Aristotle, a
man of very great learning. Some thousands of men in the whole region
of Asia and Greece obeyed his commands, all, namely, who obtained their
livelihood by hunting, hawking, or fishing, or who had in their care
menageries, herds, beehives, fishponds, or aviaries; so that nothing in
nature might be unknown to him; and from his examination of these, he
compiled those fifty celebrated volumes, which I have collected into
one, together with those animals with which he was unacquainted, and I
hope that they will be consulted by good scholars." In all this there
is nothing contradictory to the mind and liberality of Alexander, or
the confidence or strength of his empire. But some may prefer the story
published by Ælian, in his various history (iv. 19), who, I know not
on what authority, transfers the narrative to Philip, the father of
Alexander--"Having supplied abundance of riches to Aristotle, he was
the means of many other undertakings, and especially of his knowledge
of living creatures; and the son of Nichomachus completed his history
by the liberal assistance of Philip; who also honoured Plato and
Theophrastus." If this be true, it evidently refers to those seven or
eight years in which Aristotle was in Macedonia presiding over the
education of Alexander, the son of Philip.
These abundant supplies for the studies of Aristotle are not at all
inconsistent, either with the liberality of Philip, or his love for
his son and his son's tutor, nor do they surpass credibility. The gold
mines of Philippi supplied the munificence and liberality of Philip.
But there are difficulties in the narrative which make us question the
credibility of the author of this munificence. For instance, the names
of Plato and Theophrastus are mentioned; but the name of Theophrastus
could not be so great and illustrious, even if it were known to the
Greeks at all, as to have attracted the liberality of Philip, before
the death of his master Aristotle, whom also he succeeded in the School
at Athens. I should, therefore, rather imagine that Ælian, who was
more diligent in the accuracy of his Attic diction than his historical
fidelity, has committed some error in the name of Philip, or in those
of Plato and Theophrastus, whom he has appended to his narrative.
The narrative of Athenæus, (ix. 398,) derived from the report of an
unknown author, is very different; he calls the History of Animals a
very expensive work, and then adds--"There is a report that Aristotle
received 800 talents from Alexander, for writing the History of
Animals"--a sum of money which Perigonius, in his Notes on Ælian,
estimates at 1,440,000 caroli. To this narrative, or, as it may be
more justly termed, rumour, is opposed the opinion of Io. Henr.
Schulzius, in his History of Medicine (Leipsic, 1738, p. 358). "When
I consider this matter aright, it appears to me that the whole story
is very doubtful, and, for the most part, fabulous. And it can easily
be proved, that the whole revenue of Macedon, if Alexander had paid it
all to Aristotle for several years, would not have amounted to this
sum. It is impossible, therefore, that he could have paid so much
to Aristotle before the conquest of Asia; and after his expedition
had been successfully accomplished, his affection was alienated from
Aristotle, and, in order to annoy him, he liberally enriched other
philosophers, who had done nothing to deserve his patronage. Their
labours, therefore, are in vain, who demand justice of our excellent
Aristotle, even in his grave, because he did not use such an immense
sum of money in the composition of a more veracious history.
"I am certainly of opinion that a great deal has been made, as
usual, of a very little matter, namely, that if Aristotle derived
any assistance in that kingdom, all the materials were provided for
him while Philip was alive, and before Alexander's expedition was
undertaken, or in the first years of the expedition. But afterwards,
when Alexander had set out, Aristotle returned to Athens, and was
engaged in teaching: nor could he have derived any advantage from
the resources which Pliny mentions, and the multitude of persons who
were instructed to place themselves under his command, for he was not
only occupied with other pursuits, but would have been in danger of
being destroyed by the fury of the Athenians, on the plea that he was
attempting innovations, if he had even ventured to dissect animals, not
to say men."
In a note he adds these observations:--"Aristobulus, no unworthy
companion of Alexander in his expedition, bears testimony, according to
Plutarch, that the whole military chest did not contain seventy talents
of coin. For the preparation of so arduous an undertaking, however, the
same person says, that two hundred talents ought to have been taken
for mutual exchange. I remember also to have read in Eustathius's
commentary on Homer, a very learned disquisition on the scarcity of
money amongst the Macedonians, at the time of Alexander's expedition;
but I cannot lay my hands upon the passage."
I must confess that I am not influenced by this annotation, nor does
the whole of this controversy appear to me to have been properly
conducted. For the greatest doubt prevails as to the number of talents
which Alexander is said to have paid to Aristotle, to help him in his
task; and the report only rests on the authority of a writer who lived
centuries after the death of Alexander. To refute this is useless
labour, both because its origin is obscure, and also because a sum of
money set down in figures might be easily corrupted by transcribers.
But the testimony of Aristobulus will give little or no assistance to
the opinion of the learned, if we adopt that which is most probable,
namely, that Philip, or his son Alexander, gave large sums of money
to Aristotle, to enable him to pursue his studies in Natural History,
while he lived in Macedon, and was employed in the education of
Alexander. The question about the date when Aristotle arranged and
published the materials and notes he had collected is quite distinct,
and I do not think that it can be precisely ascertained at the present
time. The conjecture I have hazarded (light enough, I must confess)
does not say much in favour of the story of abundant treasures supplied
by Philip, or Alexander, to our philosopher, for the composition of his
Natural History. But these persons form a very poor estimate of the
study and labour bestowed by Aristotle upon the History of Animals,
who imagine that our philosopher had only access to such books as now
remain, forgetting those of which time has robbed us.
Most of all we must regret his Ζωϊκὰ, which appears to have given a
more accurate description of animals, and his ἀνατομικὰ, which further
contained notices of their internal structure, and was illustrated
by drawings to which he often refers in his Natural History, as well
as in his works on the parts and the generation of animals. It will
scarcely be possible to fix with any accuracy on the number of books
he employed, after the great carelessness of librarians, and the many
facilities for error in copyists, arising from the method of notation
by letters. Antigonus Carystius, in his sixty-sixth chapter, increases
the number of volumes given by Pliny, for he writes seventy; and if
the titles of the books, as they are given by Diogenes Laertius and
Athenæus, are compared with those published, the number of books
relating to Animal History to which he may have had access are readily
estimated, even should every book of every work be reckoned as a
separate book, and the list compared with the number given by Pliny.
In the memory of our fathers and grandfathers (for, alas! at the
present time few trouble themselves with the works of the ancients)
there were many who blamed Aristotle for these works, both for his
manner of treating the subjects and his narratives of the lives and
habits of animals, and vexed them with questions and disputations.
These objections will be better answered, when we come to those
passages of the History. It may, however, be of some general avail to
put a stop to these objections, which were urged against his manner of
teaching; and I hope to be able to point out some peculiar sources from
which Aristotle appears to have derived the more difficult parts of
his History, and those which were obnoxious to dispute.
Amongst other foolish and trifling questions with which some
Grammarian, in the Deipnosophistæ of Athenæus, (viii. p. 352,) has
endeavoured not only to impugn, but even destroy our philosopher's
credibility, is the following:--"I do not much admire the diligence of
Aristotle, though others praise him so highly. At what time, I should
like to know, or from what Proteus or Nereus ascending from the deep,
to give him information, did he learn what the fishes were doing there,
and in what manner they slept and took their food; for he writes things
of this kind, which are only 'the miracles of fools,' as the comic poet
says."
I will not follow the rest of his argument, which relates to
terrestrial and winged animals; for the aquatic, and especially
the marine creatures, seem to offer the greatest opportunity for
questioning the fidelity of his narrative. In the first place, then, we
may observe, that of all mankind the Greeks were amongst the greatest
eaters of fish, at least after the heroic and Homeric ages; for Homer
is never found to mention fish at the suppers and festivals of his
heroes. So that I should not wonder if the frequent and repeated
industry and observation of fishermen, following their labours both in
rivers and seas, to adorn the tables of their fellow citizens, supplied
ample and varied information to learned men who were engaged in the
investigation of natural objects. By the same means they might learn
from hunters the haunts and dispositions of wild beasts, and those of
domesticated animals from husbandmen. The whole life and labour of such
men was devoted to the uses, advantages, and food of man; and their
observations would be particularly directed to those animals which
could assist in sharing the labours of mankind, or whose flesh or other
parts were required for food or medicine. Their parturition and its
proper time, the number of their young, the manner of bringing them up,
their nutriment, the pastures and food of the parents, and the proper
time for hunting them, were observed with the greatest accuracy. And
if any diseases arising from the weather, their food, or their drink
impended over them, and threatened their production or the life of the
wild cattle, or if a peculiar or common enemy laid in wait for the
life of one or all, it could not easily escape their observation; and
from these circumstances we may manifestly derive the origin of those
fables and narratives in which the opinions of animals are compared
with the life and manner of human beings, such as the simple minds
of hunters, fishers, and rustics could comprehend. In these books of
natural history we find traces of many stories of this kind which it is
unnecessary here to point out.
In the aquatic and marine orders of animals there is, besides these
sources of information, the diligent investigation instituted by
certain writers throughout the seas and rivers of Greece, at a time
when every useful fish, and marine and river animals of this class,
mollusca, shell fish, and worms formed part of their food. The time and
manner of their coition, parturition, pregnancy, and life, the nature
of their food, places and manner of taking fish, the times in which
they were not accessible, the faults and diseases of aquatic animals,
were minutely described. The twentieth chapter of the eighth book of
our History is on this subject, where the food and diseases of aquatic
animals are described, and particular notice is taken of their use as
food, besides the observations on the manners of quadrupeds.
It is very evident that the life of one man would hardly suffice for
the observation of all these facts even in a single class of animals;
but, as I have said, there were writers before the time of Aristotle
who provided for the tastes and tables of these fish-eating Greeks a
most exquisite apparatus from the rivers and seas of Greece, especially
in Sicily, which has been remarkable for its wealth ever since the
reigns of Gelo and Hiero, and had surpassed the rest of Greece not only
in its knowledge of nature, but in the art of poetry.
There is a passage in Plato's "Gorgias," (sect. 156, p. 246, ed.
Heind.) where mention is made of "Mithæcus, the author of a work
on Sicilian cookery, and Sarambus, the publican. One furnished the
best of food, the other the best of wine." That the art of choosing
and preparing food for the table was treated of in this book we may
conclude from the use of the word ὁψοποιΐα, which the Greeks especially
used to signify the kinds of fish used for food. A passage from this
book on the manner of cooking the fish called tenia is quoted by
Athenæus, who makes the title of this book ὀψαρτυτικὸν, vii. p. 282,
and xii. p. 506.
We cannot accurately ascertain the age of Mithæcus. The most ancient
author of such a book that we can call to mind is Epicharmus, a
Sicilian poet and physician, from whose fragments, collected by
Athenæus, we may certainly conclude he was acquainted with the nature
of aquatic animals.
To this class we may, in the first place, refer those passages which
are extracted from the drama called the Marriage of Hebe, or the
Muses, and not only teach us the nature of fishes, but also the manner
of procuring and cooking them. A learned writer in the "Literary
Ephemeris" of Jena, 1810, (Nos. 156, 157,) attempted to collect all
these and reduce them to order. There remain, however, many more
passages which the conjectures of the most learned could hardly amend
or explain, from the corruption of the text by librarians and the
variety of Sicilian names. And before the time of Epicharmus, Ananius,
an Iambic poet, nearly contemporary with Hipponactus, an Ionian poet,
composed, among other poems, a similar work on cooking fish, as we
learn from a passage extracted by Athenæus, (vii. p. 282.) After
Epicharmus there was Terpsion, a Sicilian, who was the first to write
a gastrology, in which he taught his disciples from what kind of
food they ought to abstain. He is mentioned by Clearchus Solensis, a
disciple of Aristotle, in his work de Paræmiis, in "Athenæus," (viii.
p. 337.)
Clearchus also mentions Archestratus, the Sicilian, the pupil of
Terpsion, who, after having travelled through the whole of Greece,
wrote a work in heroic verse on the nature of fishes, those especially
which were fit for the table, and on the manner of cooking and
preparing them. We learn that his book was called Ἡδυπάθεια, not only
from the testimony of Athenæus, but from an imitation by Ennius. For
Ennius, who died A.U.C. 584, one hundred and fifty-two years after
the death of Aristotle, translated and in part imitated the poem of
Archestratus, and called his work "Carmina Hedypathetica," as Apulegius
tells us in his "Apologia." We have good reason for supposing that
Archestratus was either contemporary with Aristotle, or a little older.
For Archestratus mentions Diodorus Aspendius, the Pythagorean, as
his contemporary, to whom Timæus, the historian, tells us that the
Epistle of Stratonicus was written ("Athenæus," iv. p. 136). Therefore
Archestratus, Diodorus, Aspendius, and Stratonicus, an eminent harpist,
were contemporaries, and so they were with Aristotle and Demosthenes;
and this conjecture is confirmed by many passages in Athenæus, where
Stratonicus is reported to have been alive with those persons whom
Demosthenes mentions in his orations. Aristotle, therefore, may have
used this work of Archestratus in that part of his Natural History
which treats of the nature of fishes.[230]
[230] To the end of this Essay are appended fragments of Archestratus,
on the fishes of Sicily, amounting to 270 lines of heroic verse,
together with notes, by the author of the Essay.
The writings of physicians who prescribed the food, both of sick and
well, have handed down similar and much more extensive observations
on the animals and fishes which were brought to the tables of the
Greeks. Of this kind Athenæus has given many passages from Dorio, and
Diphilus of Siphnus. Oribasius has made a long extract from the work
of Xenocrates, on the aquatic animals used in food, which I purpose
some day to publish with Xenocrates, if my life should be spared long
enough.
INDEX.
Α.
Ἄγνος, Vitex agnus castus, a tree like a willow, the branches of which
the matrons strewed on their beds at the Thesmophoria, 266.
Ἀδριανικαὶ ἀλεκτορίδες, a small kind of domestic fowl, 138.
Ἀείσκωψ, a kind of owl. Stryx aluco, _Strack_, 249. Brown Owl. There
is also another migratory kind mentioned, 249, which does not hoot.
Ἀέροψ, the Bœotian name of the Merops, M. apiaster, 138.
Ἀετὸς, or αἰετὸς, Eagle, hence the Latin avis, 9, 61;
its eggs and young, 146;
two species, the Pygargus haliætus, and the black eagle, Aquila
anataria or Falco nævius, _ib._;
several species, 201, 250;
used in augury, 217;
eats serpents, 231;
food and manners, 251;
true eagles, Falco chrysaetos, _ib._;
the eagle kills the heron, 233;
it fights with the vulture and the swan, _ib._;
a kind of eagle in Scythia, 252.
Ἀηδῶν, nightingale, Sylvia luscinia, its song, 95, 96;
reproduction, 108;
its tongue, 246;
changes its song and colour, 276.
Ἀθερίνη, Atherina presbyter, _Spratt's Lycia_, or A. vera, in modern
Greek atherno, 159;
its reproduction, 160, 234.
Αἰγίθαλος, Parus, Tit or Titmouse, eats worms, 202;
three species, _ib._;
lays many eggs, 246;
an enemy to bees, 265;
σπιξίτης, parus major, _Strack_. ὀρεινὸς, Parus ater, _Strack_, or
P. caudatus. ἐλάχιστος, Parus cœruleus.
Αἴγιθος, Bunting, Emberiza, _Strack_, or hedge sparrow or Parus
cœruleus, dislikes the ass, builds in hedges, 232;
hostile to the anthus and acanthis, 233;
its food and young, 246.
Αἰγοθήλας, goat sucker, Caprimulgus Europæus, 250.
Αἰγοκέφαλος, Stryx otus, _Strack_, 39.
Αἰγυπιὸς, the Vulture, it is hostile to the Æsalon (small hawk), 9, 23;
and fights with the eagle, _ib._
Αἴγυπτος, Egypt, the Egyptians batch eggs in manure, 139;
two kinds of Egyptian mice, one with stiff hair (Hierax, or
Aulacodus Swinderianus), another with long hind legs (Jerboa, or
Cavia), 178;
the care of animals among the Egyptians, 231;
a large kind of oxen in Egypt, 226;
asp and ichneumon, 238;
white and black ibis, 242.
Αἰγώλιος, a night bird of prey, Stryx passerina, _Strack_, or S.
flammea. _Camus._ La chouette, little owl, 201;
kills the calaris, 232;
its habit and mode of life, 247;
in p. 139 this bird is called αἰτώλιος.
Αἰετὸς, a cartilaginous fish, one of the class selache, Raia
aquila, 104.
Αἰθιοπία, Æthiopia, winged serpents in Æthiopia, probably Draco
volans, 9;
Æthiopian sheep, 165.
Αἰθίοψ, Æthiopian, teeth, 60;
semen, 72, 188.
Αἴθυια, a large waterbird, Larus parasiticus, or L. Marinus, _Strack_,
or L. argentatus, 2;
its reproduction, 108;
food, 203.
Αἴλουρος, cat, Felis cattus, copulation, 103;
its young, food, and mode of life, 177;
kills birds, 239.
Αἱμοῤῥοΐς, or ἀποῤῥαΐς, a kind of shell fish, perhaps Murex, 85, 86.
Αἴξ, goat, male and female, Ibex or wild goat, _Spratt's Lycia_, Caper
hircus, _Strack_, 13, 27, 28, 31, 66;
the she goats of Œta, 70;
the he goat in Lemnos, _ib._;
it is mentioned with the chimæra or domestic goat in 71;
dreams, 97;
infested with ticks, 134;
discharges of the female, 163, 164;
gestation, 165;
food, drink, &c., 207;
the wild goat, 225;
Syrian Caper hircus Mambricus and Lycian goat, C. Angorensis, _ib._;
Egyptian, 226;
its mode of life, 235;
wild goats in Crete, 238;
rumination, 278.
Αἴξ, a water bird, probably Tantalus arquatus, _Strack_, Scolopax
Gallinago, 208.
Αἰσάλων, a small hawk, perhaps sparrow-hawk or merlin, Falco
Æsalon, 253.
Αἰτώλιος, see Αἰγώλιος.
Ἀκαλήφη, Medusa, and probably also some species of Actinia, 2, 3;
fixed and locomotive kinds, 87, 88;
small and edible species, others large and hard, 88;
a fleshy kind, 195;
a large kind, its food, mouth, and anus, 198.
Ἀκανθίας, a kind of shark, Squalus Acanthias, _Strack_, 256.
Ἀκανθὶς, thistle finch or gold finch, Fringilla carduelis, or
Fringilla cannabina, _Strack_, or F. spinus, brown linnet, 202;
hates the ass, lives on worms, 233;
a foe to the anthus and ægithus, 234;
its food, colour, song, 247.
Ἀκανθυλλὶς, Parus pendulinus, or caudatus, _Strack_, 202;
its nest, 245.
Ἄκαρι, mite, Dermestes fatidicus, or perhaps Bostrichus, _Strack_, 135.
Ἀκρὶς, locust, Tetigonia, _Strack_. Acridium, 89, 95;
its birth, 123;
reproduction, 132;
changes its skin, 216;
it is said to contend with serpents, 238;
the Spex lacerticida corresponds with this description, _Schneider_.
Ἀκύλος, the acorn of the evergreen oak, used for fattening pigs, 206.
Ἀλεκτορὶς, the domestic hen, Phasianus gallus, different
kinds, 111, 138;
sometimes produces soft eggs, 139;
chickens, 140, 141;
barren eggs, and times of laying, _ib._;
growth of the chick in the egg, 142;
twin eggs, 144;
the hen sometimes takes the form of the cock, 215;
rolls in the dust, 277.
Ἀλεκτρυὼν, domestic fowl, male, also used of the class, 5;
his comb, 36;
crop, 45;
appendages to intestines, _ib._;
crowing, 96;
manner of coition, 102;
appearances like ova when cut open, 139;
testicles, 148;
habits in temples, 241;
sometimes they assume the form and habits of hens, 275;
method of castration, 277.
Ἁλιαίετος, sea-eagle, different from the osprey, perhaps Aquila
albicilla or Falco haliœtus, 203, 251, 253.
Ἀλκυὼν, Alcedo, kingfisher, or perhaps Turdus arundinaceus,
reproduction, 107, 108;
two species described, 203;
materials and form of its nest, 246.
It is doubtful whether either of the species is our kingfisher.
_Schneider._
Ἁλοσάχη, probably a species of Zoophyte Alcyonia, 246.
Ἀλώπηξ, fox, Canis vulpes, 6, 29;
it breeds with the Laconian dogs, 227;
attacks the heron, 233;
is friendly with the crow, _ib._;
a troglodyte, _ib._
Ἀλώπηξ, Vampire, Vespertilio caninus, _Strack_, V. dinops or Sciurus
volans, 9;
reproduction, 177;
it hunts mice, 178.
Ἀλώπηξ, a cartilaginous fish, reproduction, 149;
represents a class, 151;
Egyptian species, 226;
stratagems, 255.
Ἀμία, a kind of tunny, mackerel, Scomber, _Strack_, 4, 40, 91;
its rapid growth, 160, 199, 200;
lives in bays, 211;
and enters rivers, 218;
its teeth and mode of defence, 255.
Ἀμυγδαλή, Amygdala communis, almond tree, 268;
almonds, 242.
Ἀνθίας, a migratory sea fish, also called αὐλωπίας, Scomber ala
longa, 159;
gregarious, 234;
also called sacred, 255.
Ἄνθος, yellow bunting, Emberiza citrinella, _Strack_, Motacilla
barula, 202;
feeds in meadows, imitates the neighing of the horse, 233;
hostile to the acanthis and ægithus, _ib._;
it lives by the side of rivers, 244.
Ἀνθρήνη, wild bee, Apis terrestris, or Vespa crabro, 88;
the larvæ, 124;
reproduction, 130;
a diligent insect, 258;
makes honey, 260;
its manners and habits, 270.
Ἄπιος, the pear tree, 126.
Ἀπλυσίας, a dark-coloured sponge, 119.
Ἀποῤῥαΐς, various reading for αἱμοῤῥοΐς, Murex, or Natica.
Ἄπους, swift, Hirundo apus, 4;
also called κύψελλος, 271.
Ἀράχνης, spider, 5, 85, 135;
its web, reproduction, 123, 131, 132;
is driven away by its young, 131;
it sucks its prey, 213;
is eaten by the lizard, 232;
four kinds, 258, 259.
Ψύλλα, Salticus scenicus--The smaller kind Dolomedes mirabilis--the
larger Lycosa ruricola, another Dolomedes fimbriatus.
Ἄρκτος, bear, Ursus Arctus, 25, 27, 29, 42;
coition, 102;
at this time it becomes fierce, 161;
period of gestation, imperfect young, 175;
mode of drinking, 205;
hybernation, 215;
eats the arum, _ib._;
the females courageous, 230;
its habits, 237.
Ἄρκτος, a crustacean, perhaps Cancer spinosissimus, _Strack_,
Scyllaris arctus, reproduction, 121;
its food and manner of seizing it, 205.
Ἅρπη, a bird of prey, falcon, lives near the sea, and attacks the gull
and brenthus, 232;
the piphinx and ictinus are friendly to it, 234;
its mode of life, attacks the eyes of its prey, 247.
Ἀρχάνος, a fish, see Ἀχάρνας.
Ἀσκαλαβώτης, lizard, Lacerta Gecko, Stellio veterum, 160;
it lives in holes, 213;
changes its skin, 216;
its bite poisonous in some parts of Italy, 227;
it eats spiders, 232;
it can walk in an inverted position, 242.
Ἀσκάλαφος, probably some kind of owl, Stryx ulula, 45.
Ἀσκαλώπας, Scolopax gallinago, snipe, _Strack_, (Schneider disapproves
of this identification), S. phæopus, 249.
See σκολόπαξ.
Ἀσκαρίδες, ascaris, intestinal worm, 124.
Ἀσκαρὶς, the larva of the empis (gnat), 125.
Ἀσπάλαξ, mole, Talpa vulgaris, lives in holes, 5;
its eyes, 13, 90;
there are many in Bœotia, none in Lebadia, 225.
Ἀσπὶς, Coluber aspis, asp, from which a poison is made in Lybia, 227;
in Egypt it is attacked by the ichneumon, 238.
Ἀστακὸς, lobster, Cancer Gammarus, and Astacus, 138;
compared with the spiny lobster, 77, 78, 79;
a small fresh-water species, Astacus fluviatilis, crayfish, 86;
its reproduction, 106, 121;
changes its shell, 217.
Ἀσταφὶς, a raisin used for feeding cattle, 206.
Ἀστερίας, a cartilaginous fish, 109, 151.
Squalus asterias.
Ἀστερίας, a hawk, 109, 151, 253.
Ἀστερίας, Ardea stellaris, bittern, 233.
Ἀστὴρ, star-fish, Uraster rubens, 118.
Ἀσφόδελος, a plant, asphodel, A. ramosus, 260.
Ἀτρακτυλλὶς, a plant of the thistle tribe, Carthamus creticus.
Ἀτταγὴν, grouse, Tetrao bonasia, or T. attagen, 249;
it lives on the ground, 276.
Ἀττέλαβος, a kind of locust, Gryllus, 123;
reproduction and death, 133.
Αὐλωπίας, the same as ἀνθίας, 159.
Αὐξὶς, the young tunny, 160.
Ἀφάκη, plant, a kind of vetch, 208.
Ἄφρος, fish spawn, 157.
Ἀφύη, anchovy or sardine, Melanurus juvenculus, 157,
its origin, _ib._;
other kinds, _ib._;
in modern Greek ἀφροψαρο.
Ἀχαΐνης ἔλαφος, a variety of large stag with a strong mane, _Strack_;
a brocket, or two-year old stag, from his single-pointed horns,
_Liddell and Scott_, 39, 237.
Ἀχάρνας, a sea fish, Anarrhicas rufus, 200;
does not bear heat, 218.
Ἀχέτας, the male grasshopper, Cicada Orni, 89.
Ἀχρὰς, a kind of wild pear, Pyrus communis, 206, 268.
Β
Βάλαγρος, a fresh-water fish, Cobitis barbus, 98.
Βάλανος, Balanus, Cirripede, acorn shell, 94, 117.
Βάλανος, acorn, 221.
Βάλλερος, a fresh-water fish, Cyprinus blicca, 156, 219;
βάλερος, βαλῖνος, βαρῖνος, are various readings.
Βασιλεὺς, also called trochilus, and presbys, lives in holes, 244;
has a bright crest, 202;
probably Regulus Cristatus, golden-crested wren, or Sylvia
troglodytes.
Βατὶς, a bird that frequents bushes, Sylvia rubicola, eats worms, 202;
mentioned with finch and sparrow.
Βατὶς, a fish, the prickly roach, _Liddell and Scott_, 149, 152.
Βάτος, ray, Raia batos, not the skate, which is perhaps
leiobatos, 8, 37;
its manner of coition, 104;
it does not receive its young into itself, 150, 151;
it lives in holes, 214;
its manner of taking its prey, 255.
Βάτραχος, frog, Rana esculenta and R. temporaria, 3, 39, 87;
croaks, 96;
the female larger than the male, 100;
coition, 103;
tadpole, 154;
its united spawn, 155;
spoken of as a class, 196;
no croaking frogs in Cyrene, 225;
marsh frogs are foes to bees, 261.
Βάτραχος, a cartilaginous fish, Lophius piscatorius and L.
barbatus, 8, 37, 38, 40;
among the selache, 104;
oviparous, 148, 150;
it produces many young, 159.
Βελόνη, fish, Syngnathus acus, 40;
its reproduction, 109, 154, 160;
gregarious, 234;
the Halcyon builds its nest with the bones of this fish.
Βολίταινα, cephalopod, Eledone moschites, _Leach_, 76;
also called ὄζολις; it does not exist in the Euripus, 256.
Βομβύκια, Apis cementaria, or also Megachile muraria, and Bombus
terrestris, forms an angular cell of mud, 131.
Βομβυλιὸς, larva of silk worm, 124;
the humble bee, 260, 271.
Βόμβυξ, silkworm.
Βόνασσος, Antelope bonassus, or Bos Urus, Bison, 26, 28;
its country, form, habits, hunting, 273.
Βοσκὰς, Anas boscas, or A. Crecca, 203.
Βόστρυχος, insect, Lampyris noctiluca, _Strack_, 125.
Βουβαλὶς, Antilope Gnou, 58.
Βοῦς, Bos taurus, Ox, 5, 27, 28, 29, 30, 41, 62;
milk, 69;
dreams, 97;
lowing of the bull, 100, 112;
coition, 103;
tormented with lice, 135;
sexual desires, 161, 162;
discharges and urine of the cow, 163;
reproductive powers of bull, 168;
the castrated animal is taught to lead the herd, _ib._;
teeth, milk, and habits, _ib._;
veins in the embryo, 190;
mode of drinking, 205;
care of the ox, 206;
red cattle of Epirus, 207;
diseases, 219, 222;
the ox drinks pure water, 224;
Egyptian oxen, 226;
habits, 236;
wild oxen, B. Bubalus, 26;
one species of ox has a bone in its heart, 39;
oxen in Phrygia which can move their horns, 61;
small oxen in Phasis, 71;
oxen in Epirus, _ib._;
in Tortona, 72;
the cow brings forth at a year old, 113;
Syrian oxen, 226;
castration of the young, 278;
rumination, _ib._
Βοῦς, a cartilaginous fish, Raia cornuta, 104, 152.
Βρένθος, a sea-bird, Anas tadorna, hostile to the larus and harpa, 232;
makes its nest in hills and woody places, 244.
Βρύας, a large owl, Stryx bubo, 201.
Βρύον, algæ, both fresh-water and marine, 155, 200, 220.
Βρύσσος, an echinite, Scutella, 102.
Βωμολόχος, Corvus monedula, 248
Βὼξ, a gregarious fish, Sparus boops, 234;
contracted from Βόαξ, from the sound it makes.
Γ
Γαλας, a kind of smooth shell-fish, mya pictorum, 82.
Γαλεὸς, a cartilaginous fish, Squalus galeus and charachias, _Strack_,
or Gadus lota, 8, 44, 49, 108, 149, 151;
uterus and ova, 150;
receives its young into itself, _ib._;
not found in the Pyrrhæan Euripus, 256.
Γαλεώδη, fish of the shark kind, 37, 40, 41;
placed under the selache, 104, 149;
the males have appendages, 104;
the uterus, 149;
galei and galeodes, 151.
Γαλῆ, weasel, martin, polecat, Mustela Faro, M. Erminea, M.
vulgaris, 20;
the wild kind hunts mice, 178;
hostile to the crow, 232;
it attacks serpents, 233;
in Poroselene, 225;
it fights with serpents, especially with those called myotheræ, 238;
its form compared with the ictis, 239;
eats birds' eggs, 232;
mode of attacking its prey, 238.
Γέρανος, crane, Ardea grus, 2, 4, 64;
coition, 102;
migrations of the male bird, 209;
they migrate after the quails, _ib._;
the fable of the stone they are said to carry, 210;
gregarious, _ib._;
migrations, leaders, prudence, 243;
they fight with each other, the number of their eggs, 245.
Γίννος, the offspring of a mule with a mare or she ass, 11;
see ἵννος.
Γλανὶς, a fresh-water fish, Silurus glanis, _Strack_, 9, 38, 40, 219;
conjoined spawn, 155:
two species, the greater and the smaller, the male watches the
spawn, _ib._;
size of the ova, 156;
diseases, 219;
unfit to eat when in spawn, the female better than the male, 229;
the male watches the young, breaks the hook with its teeth, 256.
Γλάνος, Hyæna striata, 204.
Γλαῦκος, a fish of a grey colour, Gobius Gozo, _Strack_, 44;
marine, 211;
it lives in holes during the summer, 214;
when good for food, 228.
Γλαυκώδεις, birds of the owl kind, 36.
Γλαῦξ, owl, 39, 45;
has crooked claws, 201;
how it may be taken, 210;
lives in holes, 215;
hostile to the crow and orchilus, 232;
is pecked by smaller birds, used in hawking, _ib._;
the time for taking the owl, 252.
Γλωττὶς, a bird, Rallus crex, _Strack_, Scolopax glottis, see κύγχραμος
and ὀρτυγόμητρα its tongue and migrations, 210.
Γνάφαλος, probably some Indian bird, its form and food, Ampelis
garrulus, 246.
Γνήσιοι ἀετοὶ, true eagles, Aquila Chrysaetos, 251.
Γόγγρος, conger, Muræna conger, 8, 37, 38, 40, 41, 61;
its ova and fat, 160;
it is destroyed by the spiny lobster, but destroys the polypus, 198;
its food, 199;
black and white kinds, 211;
lives in holes, 213;
it is attacked by the muræna, 235;
compared with the sea serpent, 255.
Γραῦς, a crustacean, Dromia lanosa, 217.
Γυπαίετος, or ὑπαίετος, Vultur barbatus, see ὀρειπέλαργος, 251.
Γυρῖνος, tadpole, 154.
Γύψ, vulture, Vultur cinereus, or V. fulvus, eggs and nest, 145, 243;
its food, two kinds of vulture, 201.
Δ
Δάσκιλλος, a fish, sciæna umbra, 199.
Δασύπους, hare, Lepus timidus, and L. cuniculus, 5, 29, 49, 58, 64, 71;
coition, 102;
superfetation, 108;
reproduction, 176, 186;
in Ithaca, 225;
smaller in Egypt, 226;
another species near Lake Bolba, 41.
Δελφὶς, dolphin, Delphinus delphis, 7, 13, 29, 37, 40, 46, 47, 59,
69, 91, 92, 93, 95;
its sleep, 98;
the fish called φθείρα follows the dolphin, 135;
reproduction, 104, 152;
it breathes air, 196;
food, 200;
throws itself on its back to take its prey, _ib._;
dolphin in the Pontus, 212;
gentle habits, 274;
its speed, it sometimes throws itself on the shore, 275.
Δίκταμνον, plant, dittany, 238;
origanum Dictammum, _Lin._
Δορκὰς, Antelope dorcas, 26.
Δράκων, a sea fish, Trachinus draco, lives near the shore, 211.
Δράκων, a species of serpent in fresh water, attacks the glanis, 219;
is hostile to the eagle, 231;
sucks the juice of the herb picris, 238.
Δρεπανὶς, perhaps the sand Martin, Hirundo riparia, 4.
Δρομάδες, migratory fish, perhaps some species of tunny, 4, 155.
Δρυοκολάπτης, woodpecker, 202;
three kinds, Picus varius, P. viridis, P. martius, 242;
habits, _ib._
Ε
Ἐγκρασίχολος, the parent of the Apua, Clupea encrasicolus,
_Strack_, 157.
Ἔγχελυς, eel, Muræna anguilla, 8, 37, 40, 41, 61, 66, 93;
is neither male nor female, 99;
the so-called male and female are different species, 97;
migrates to the sea to spawn, 156;
its origin, 158;
description and habits, 200, 201;
those called female are better for food, 229.
Ἐλαίας ἄνθος, the flower of the olive, 127, 133, 216, 242.
Ἔλαφος, stag, Cervus Elaphus, 5, 26, 27, 28;
those called Achaïnæ, 39, 237;
blood, 58, 67;
horns, 60, 236, 237;
the female, 100;
coition, 103, 174;
voice, 112;
habits, 236, 237;
the castrated animal, 278;
rumination, _ib._
Ἐλέα, Emberiza arundinacea, or Turdus arundinaceus, _Strack_, or E.
schœnilus, 246.
Ἐλεγῖνος, a migratory fish, 234.
Ἐλεδώνη, Eledone cirhosa, _Leach_, (Owen, in Cyclopædia of
Anatomy), 76.
Ἐλειὸς, dormouse, Myoxus Avellanarius; or perhaps squirrel, Sciurus
vulgaris, lives in holes in trees, 216.
Ἔλειοι, a kind of hawk, 253; probably an incorrect reading.
Ἐλεὸς, an owl, Stryx Aluco, _Strack_, see Ἀείσκοψ, 201.
Ἐλέφας, Elephas Indicus, 5, 13, 14, 24, 26, 28, 29, 40, 43, 46, 61, 72;
voice, 96;
reproduction, 103, 115, 161, 173;
food, 207;
life and diseases, 222, 224;
strength, 234;
capture, _ib._;
habits, docility, 274.
Ἔλλοψ, a fish with four simple branchia, sword fish or sturgeon,
_Liddell and Scott_, Centriscus scolopax, _Strack_, Accipenser
stellatus, 37;
ἔλοψ, 40.
Ἕλμινς, worms, especially intestinal worms, tænia and lumbricus, some
exist in sponges, 119;
origin, 123;
three kinds, flat worms, round worms, ascarides, 124;
worms in snow, Podura nivalis, 126;
some insect larvæ are described as worms, 135;
small worms in eels, 158;
worms in dogs, Tænia sevrata, 238.
Ἐμπὶς, gnat, larger than κώνωψ, Tabanus, or Phryganea,
_Strack_, 3, 9, 206.
Εμὺς, Testudo coriacea, fresh-water tortoise, Emys lutraria, 39;
reproduction, 136;
habits, 194, 216.
Ἔντελις or ἔτελις, probably sea bream, Sparus, _Strack_, Sparus
Rayi, 153.
Ἔντερα γῆς, the decomposing matter in which eels have their
origin, 158.
Ἔντομα, insects, as a class, 3, 10, 73, 123.
Ἐνυδρίς, otter, Lutra vulgaris, 2;
its food, 205.
Ἐπιλαΐς or ὑπολαΐς, Sylvia curruca, _Strack_, or perhaps hedge
sparrow, 202.
Ἔποψ, hoopoe, Upupa Epops, 1;
its nest, 138;
lives in woods and mountains, 244;
changes its colour, 246, 276.
Ἐρέβινθος, a plant, leguminous seeds, Ervum sativum, 221.
Ἐρίθακη, bee bread, 267.
Ἐρίθακος, Sylvia erithacus, or S. Phœnicurus, _Strack_,
Redstart, 202;
in its summer plumage called Phœnicurus, 276.
Ἐρινεὸς, wild fig tree, 136.
Ἕρπυλλος, Thymus serpyllum, wild thyme, 261.
Ἐρυθρῖνος, a red kind of mullet, Perea marina, Sparus Erythrymus,
_Strack_, Perea scriba, all have roes, there are no males, 99,
153, 211.
Ἐρωδιὸς, heron, Ardea major, 203;
a foe to the woodpecker, 212;
three kinds, ὁ πέλλος, the black, Ardea cinerea, ὁ λευκος, the
white, A. egretta, ὁ ἀστεριας, A. stellaris, 233, 247;
a friend of the crow, 323.
Εὐλαὶ, maggots in flesh.
Ἐφήμερον, ephemera, insect, 10, 126.
Ἐχενηΐς, probably Goby or Blenny, _Forbes in Spratt's Lycia_, not the
Remora, which was unknown to the ancients. Echeneis remora,
_Strack_, 38.
Ἔχιδνα, viper, Coluber vivipara, C. verus, 10;
hides under stones, 213.
Ἐχινομήτρα, Echinus Esculentus, _Forbes in Spratt's Lycia_, 86.
Ἐχῖνος, sea urchin, Echinus lividus; another species, with hard
spines, is Cidaris hystrix, also a long species, Amphidetus
Mediterraneus, _Forbes_, 10, 11;
eatable kinds, 86;
small species, E. saxatilis; white species at Torone, E.
decadactylus, _ib._, 87, 94;
at what season they are full of ova, 110.
Ἐχῖνος, hedgehog, Erinaceus Europæus, 10, 46, 61, 81;
coition, 102;
changes the entrance of its hole when the wind changes, 239.
Ἔχις, a serpent, Coluber vivipara, Vipera Reedii, viviparous, 49;
reproduction, 137;
how captured, 204;
changes its skin, 216;
becomes more poisonous by eating scorpions, 227.
Ἑψητὸς, a small fish, Atherina Hepsetus, _Strack_, 156.
Ζ
Ζύγαινα, a shark, Squalus Zygæna, _Strack_, 40.
Ζυγνὶς, a lizard, see χαλκὶς, 223.
Ζωδάρια, several small animals, 135.
1. Tinea pellionella.
2. T. sarcitella.
3. Psorus pulsatorius.
4. T. graminella.
Ζῶον, several unnamed animals.
1. A small crustacean in shell fish, perhaps Pinnotheres, 86.
2. marine creatures like small pieces of wood, Veretillum, 89.
3. marine creatures like shields, Alcyonium, 89.
4. marine creatures like αἰδοῖον ἀνδρὸς, Pennatula, 89.
5. winged creatures produced from maggots in pulse, Bruchus, 126.
Η
Ἡμίονος, mule, offspring of horse and wild ass, the female larger and
more long lived, 99, 170;
the so-called mules of Syria, Equus hemionus, 11, 172, 177.
Ἥπατος, a fish so called from its colour, Theutis hepatus, _Strack_,
Stromatos fiatola, 44.
Ἠπίολος, moth, Tinea mellonella, 225.
Ἡρακλεοτικὸς καρκίνος, Heracleotic crab, has a long tail, 77, 81.