the eye is always different from the white which surrounds it. In
all animals there is no part in the whole body that is a stronger
exponent of the feelings, and in man more especially, for it is
from the expression of the eye that we detect clemency, moderation,
compassion, hatred, love, sadness, and joy. From the eyes, too, the
various characters of persons are judged of, according as they are
ferocious, menacing, sparkling, sedate, leering, askance, downcast,
or languishing. Beyond a doubt it is in the eyes that the mind has its
abode: sometimes the look is ardent, sometimes fixed and steady, at
other times the eyes are humid, and at others, again, half closed. From
these it is that the tears of pity flow, and when we kiss them we seem
to be touching the very soul. It is the eyes that weep, and from them
proceed those streams that moisten our cheeks as they trickle down.
And what is this liquid that is always so ready and in such abundance
in our moments of grief, and where is it kept in reserve at other
times? It is by the aid of the mind that we see, by the aid of the
mind that we enjoy perception; while the eyes, like so many vessels,
as it were, receive its visual faculties and transmit them. Hence it
is that profound thought renders a man blind for the time, the powers
of sight being withdrawn from external objects and thrown inward: so,
too, in epilepsy, the mind is covered with darkness, while the eyes,
though open, are able to see nothing. In addition to this, it is the
fact that hares, as well as many human beings, can sleep with the eyes
open, a thing which the Greeks express by the term κορυβαντιᾷν. Nature
has composed the eye of numerous membranes of remarkable thinness,
covering them with a thick coat to ensure their protection against heat
and cold. This coat she purifies from time to time by the lachrymal
humours, and she has made the surface lubricous and slippery, to
protect the eye against the effects of a sudden shock.
CHAP. 55.—THE NATURE OF THE PUPIL—EYES WHICH DO NOT SHUT.
In the midst of the cornea of the eye Nature has formed a window in the
pupil, the small dimensions of which do not permit the sight to wander
at hazard and with uncertainty, but direct it as straight as though it
were through a tube, and at the same time ensure its avoidance of all
shocks communicated by foreign bodies. The pupils are surrounded by
a black circle in some persons, while it is of a yellowish cast with
others, and azure again with others. By this happy combination the
light is received by the eye upon the white that lies around the pupil,
and its reflection being thus tempered, it fails to impede or confuse
the sight by its harshness. So complete a mirror, too, does the eye
form, that the pupil, small as it is, is able to reflect the entire
image of a man. This[200] is the reason why most birds, when held in
the hand of a person, will more particularly peck at his eyes; for
seeing their own likeness reflected in the pupils, they are attracted
to it by what seem to be the objects of their natural affection.
It is only some few beasts of burden that are subject to maladies of
the eyes towards the increase of the moon: but it is man alone that is
rescued from blindness by the discharge of the humours[201] that have
caused it. Many persons have had their sight restored after being blind
for twenty years; while others, again, have been denied this blessing
from their very birth, without there being any blemish in the eyes.
Many persons, again, have suddenly lost their sight from no apparent
cause, and without any preceding injury. The most learned authors say
that there are veins which communicate from the eye to the brain, but
I am inclined to think that the communication is with the stomach; for
it is quite certain that a person never loses the eye without feeling
sickness at the stomach. It is an important and sacred duty, of high
sanction among the Romans, to close[202] the eyes of the dead, and then
again to open them when the body is laid on the funeral pile, the usage
having taken its rise in the notion of its being improper that the
eyes of the dead should be beheld by man, while it is an equally great
offence to hide them from the view of heaven. Man is the only living
creature the eyes of which are subject to deformities, from which, in
fact, arose the family names of “Strabo”[203] and “Pætus.”[204] The
ancients used to call a man who was born with only one eye, “cocles,”
and “ocella,” a person whose eyes were remarkably small. “Luscinus”
was the surname given to one who happened to have lost one eye by an
accident.
The eyes of animals that see at night in the dark, cats, for instance,
are shining and radiant, so much so, that it is impossible to look upon
them; those of the she-goat, too, and the wolf are resplendent, and
emit a light like fire. The eyes of the sea-calf and the hyæna change
successively to a thousand colours; and the eyes, when dried, of most
of the fishes will give out light in the dark, just in the same way as
the trunk of the oak when it has become rotten with extreme old age.
We have already mentioned[205] the fact, that animals which turn, not
the eyes but the head, for the purpose of looking round, are never
known to wink. It is said,[206] too, that the chameleon is able to
roll the eye-balls completely round. Crabs look sideways, and have the
eyes enclosed beneath a thin crust. Those of craw-fish and shrimps are
very hard and prominent, and lie in a great measure beneath a defence
of a similar nature. Those animals, however, the eyes of which are
hard, have worse sight than those of which the eyes are formed of a
humid substance. It is said that if the eyes are taken away from the
young of serpents and of the swallow,[207] they will grow again. In
all insects and in animals covered with a shell, the eyes move just
in the same way as the ears of quadrupeds do; those among them which
have a brittle[208] covering have the eyes hard. All animals of this
nature, as well as fishes and insects, are destitute of eye-lids, and
their eyes have no covering; but in all there is a membrane that is
transparent like glass, spread over them.
CHAP. 56.—THE HAIR OF THE EYE-LIDS; WHAT ANIMALS ARE WITHOUT THEM.
ANIMALS WHICH CAN SEE ON ONE SIDE ONLY.
Man has lashes on the eye-lids on either side; and women even make
it their daily care to stain them;[209] so ardent are they in the
pursuit of beauty, that they must even colour their very eyes. It was
with another view, however, that Nature had provided the hair of the
eyelids—they were to have acted, so to say, as a kind of rampart for
the protection of the sight, and as an advanced bulwark against the
approach of insects or other objects which might accidentally come
in their way. It is not without some reason that it is said that the
eyelashes[210] fall off with those persons who are too much given to
venereal pleasures. Of the other animals, the only ones that have
eyelashes are those that have hair on the rest of the body as well;
but the quadrupeds have them on the upper eyelid only, and the birds
on the lower one: the same is the case also with those which have a
soft skin, such as the serpent, and those among the quadrupeds that are
oviparous, the lizard, for instance. The ostrich is the only one among
the birds that, like man, has eyelashes on either side.
CHAP. 57.—ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO EYELIDS.
All birds, however, have not eyelids: hence it is, that those which are
viviparous have no nictation of the eye. The heavier kinds of birds
shut the eye by means of the lower eyelid, and they wink by drawing
forward a membrane which lies in the corner of the eye. Pigeons,
and other birds of a similar nature, shut the two eyelids; but the
quadrupeds which are oviparous, such, for instance, as the tortoise
and the crocodile, have only the lower eyelid moveable, and never
wink, in consequence of the hardness of the eye. The edge of the upper
eyelid was by the ancients called “cilium,” from which comes our word
“supercilia.[211]” If the eyelid happens to be severed by a wound it
will not reunite,[212] which is the case also with some few other parts
of the human body.
CHAP. 58.—THE CHEEKS.
Below the eyes are the cheeks, a feature which is found in man only.
From the ancients they received the name of “genæ,” and by the laws of
the Twelve Tables, women were forbidden to tear them.[213] The cheeks
are the seat of bashfulness; it is on them more particularly that
blushes are to be seen.
CHAP. 59.—THE NOSTRILS.
Within the cheeks is the mouth, which gives such strong indications
of the feelings of joyousness and laughter; and above it, but in man
only, is the nose, which modern notions have stamped as the exponent
of sarcasm and ridicule.[214] In no other animal but man, is the nose
thus prominent; birds, serpents, and fishes, have no nostrils, but
apertures only for the purpose of smell. It is from the peculiarity of
the nose that are derived the surnames of “Simus”[215] and “Silo.”
Children born in the seventh month often have the ears and the nostrils
imperforate.
CHAP. 60.—THE MOUTH; THE LIPS; THE CHIN; AND THE JAW-BONE.
It is from the “labia,” or lips, that the Brocchi[216] have received
the surname of Labeo. All animals that are viviparous have a mouth that
is either well-formed, or harshly defined, as the case may be. Instead
of lips and mouth, the birds have a beak that is horny and sharp at the
end. With birds that live by rapine, the beak is hooked inwards, but
with those which gather and peck only, it is straight: those animals,
again, which root up grass or puddle in the mud, have the muzzle broad,
like swine. The beasts of burden employ the mouth in place of hands in
gathering their food, while those which live by rapine and slaughter
have it wider than the rest. No animal, with the exception of man, has
either chin or cheek-bones. The crocodile is the only animal that has
the upper jaw-bone[217] moveable; among the land quadrupeds it is the
same as with other animals, except that they can move it obliquely.
CHAP. 61.—THE TEETH; THE VARIOUS KINDS OF TEETH; IN WHAT ANIMALS THEY
ARE NOT ON BOTH SIDES OF THE MOUTH: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE HOLLOW TEETH.
Teeth are arranged in three different ways, serrated, in one continuous
row, or else protruding from the mouth. When serrated they unite
together, just like those of a comb, in order that they may not be worn
by rubbing against one another, as in serpents, fishes, and dogs,[218]
for instance. In some creatures they are set in one continuous row,
man and the horse, for instance; while in the wild boar, the elephant,
and the hippopotamus, they protrude from the mouth.[219] Among those
set in one continuous row, the teeth which divide the food are broad
and sharp, while those which grind it are double; the teeth which lie
between the incisive and the molar teeth, are those known as the canine
or dog-teeth; these are by far the largest in those animals which have
serrated teeth. Those animals which have continuous rows of teeth,
have them either situate on both sides of the mouth, as in the horse,
or else have no fore-teeth in the upper part of the mouth, as is the
case with oxen, sheep, and all the animals that ruminate. The she-goat
has no upper teeth, except the two front ones. No animals which have
serrated teeth, have them protruding[220] from the mouth; among these,
too, the females rarely have them; and to those that do have them, they
are of no[221] use: hence it is, that while the boar strikes, the sow
bites. No animal with horns has projecting teeth; and all such teeth
are hollow, while in other animals the teeth are solid. All[222] fish
have the teeth serrated, with the exception of the scarus,[223] this
being the only one among the aquatic animals that has them level[224]
at the edges. In addition to this, there are many fishes that have
teeth upon the tongue and over the whole of the mouth, in order that,
by the multitude of the bites which they inflict, they may soften those
articles of food which they could not possibly manage by tearing. Many
animals, also, have teeth in the palate, and even in the tail;[225]
in addition to which, some have them inclining to the interior of the
mouth, that the food may not fall out, the animal itself having no
other means of retaining it there.
CHAP. 62.—THE TEETH OF SERPENTS; THEIR POISON. A BIRD WHICH HAS TEETH.
The asp also, and other serpents, have similar teeth; but in the
upper jaw, on the right and left, they have two of extreme length,
which are perforated with a small tube in the interior, just like
the sting of the scorpion, and it is through these that they eject
their venom. The writers who have made the most diligent enquiries
on the subject, inform us that this venom is nothing but the gall of
the serpent, and that it is conveyed to the mouth by certain veins
which run beneath the spine; indeed, there are some who state that
there is only one poison-fang, and that being barbed at the end, it is
bent backwards when the animal has inflicted a bite. Other writers,
however, affirm that on such an occasion the fang falls out, as it is
very easily displaced, but that it soon grows[226] again; this tooth,
they say, is thus wanting in the serpents which we see handled about by
persons.[227] It is also stated that this fang exists in the tail of
the scorpion, and that most of these animals have no less than three.
The teeth of the viper are concealed in the gums: the animal, being
provided with a similar venom, exercises the pressure of its fangs for
the purpose of instilling the poison in its bite.
No winged creatures have teeth, with the sole exception of the bat.
The camel is the only one among the animals without horns, that has
no fore-teeth[228] in the upper jaw. None of the horned animals have
serrated[229] teeth. Snails, too, have teeth; a proof of which are
the vetches which we find gnawed away by snails of the very smallest
size. To assert that among marine animals, those that have shells, and
those that are cartilaginous have fore-teeth, and that the sea-urchin
has five teeth, I am very much surprised how such a notion could have
possibly[230] arisen. With insects the sting supplies the place of
teeth; the ape has teeth just like those in man.[231] The elephant
has in the interior of the mouth fourteen teeth, adapted for chewing,
in addition to those which protrude; in the male these are curved
inwards, but in the female they are straight, and project outwards.
The sea-mouse,[232] a fish which goes before the balæna, has no teeth
at all, but in place of them, the interior of the mouth is lined with
bristles, as well as the tongue and palate. Among the smaller land
quadrupeds, the two fore-teeth in each jaw are the longest.
CHAP. 63.—WONDERFUL CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE TEETH.
The other animals are born with[233] teeth, whereas man has them only
at the seventh[234] month after his birth. While other[235] animals
keep their teeth to the time of their death, man, the lion, the beasts
of burden, the dog, and the ruminating animals, all change them; the
lion and the dog, however, change none[236] but the canine teeth. The
canine tooth of the wolf, on the right side, is held in high esteem
as an amulet.[237] There is no animal that changes the maxillary
teeth, which stand beyond the canine teeth. With man, the last teeth,
which are known as the “genuini,” or cheek teeth,[238] come about the
twentieth year, and with many men, and females as well, so late even as
the eightieth; but this only in the case of those who have not had them
in their youth. It is a well-known fact, that the teeth are sometimes
shed in old age, and replaced by others. Mucianus has stated that he,
himself, saw one Zocles, a native of Samothrace, who had a new set of
teeth when he was past his one hundred and fourth year. In addition
to these facts, in man males have more teeth than females,[239] which
is the case also in sheep, goats, and swine. Timarchus, the son of
Nicocles the Paphian, had a double[240] row of teeth in his jaws: the
same person had a brother also who never changed his front teeth, and,
consequently, wore them to the very stumps. There is an instance,
also, of a man having a tooth growing in the palate.[241] The canine
teeth,[242] when lost by any accident, are never known to come again.
While in all other animals the teeth grow of a tawny colour with old
age, with the horse, and him only, they become whiter the older he
grows.
CHAP. 64.—HOW AN ESTIMATE IS FORMED OF THE AGE OF ANIMALS FROM THEIR
TEETH.
The age, in beasts of burden,[243] is indicated by the teeth. In
the horse they are forty in number. At thirty months it loses the
two fore-teeth in either jaw, and in the following year the same
number next to them, at the time that the eye-teeth[244] come. At
the beginning of the fifth year the animal loses two teeth, which
grow again in the sixth, and in the seventh it has all its teeth,
those which have replaced the others, and those which have never been
changed. If a horse is gelded[245] before it changes its teeth, it
never sheds them. In a similar manner, also, the ass loses four of
its teeth in the thirtieth month, and the others from six months to
six months. If a she-ass happens not to have foaled before the last
of these teeth are shed, it is sure to be barren.[246] Oxen change
their teeth at two years old: with swine they are never changed.[247]
When these several indications of age have been lost in horses and
other beasts of burden, the age is ascertained by the projecting of
the teeth, the greyness of the hair in the eyebrows, and the hollow
pits that form around them; at this period the animal is supposed
to be about sixteen[248] years old. In the human teeth there is a
certain venom; for if they are placed uncovered before a mirror, they
will tarnish its brightness, and they will kill young pigeons while
yet unfledged. The other particulars relative to the teeth have been
already[249] mentioned under the head of the generation of man. When
teething first commences, the bodies of infants are subject to certain
maladies. Those animals which have serrated teeth inflict the most
dangerous bites.[250]
CHAP. 65.—THE TONGUE; ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO TONGUE. THE NOISE MADE BY
FROGS. THE PALATE.
The tongue is not similarly formed in all animals. Serpents have a
very thin tongue, and three-forked,[251] which they vibrate to and
fro: it is of a black colour, and when drawn from out of the mouth,
of extraordinary length. The tongue of the lizard is two-forked, and
covered with hair.[252] That of the sea-calf also is twofold,[253] but
with the serpents it is of the thinness of a hair; the other animals
employ it to lick the parts around the mouth. Fishes have nearly the
whole of the tongue adhering to the palate, while in the crocodile
the whole of it does adhere thereto: but in the aquatic animals the
palate, which is fleshy, performs the duty of the tongue as the organ
of taste. In lions, pards, and all the animals of that class, and in
cats as well, the tongue is covered with asperities,[254] which overlap
each other, and bear a strong resemblance to a rasp. Such being its
formation, if the animal licks a man’s skin, it will wear it away by
making it thinner and thinner; for which reason it is that the saliva
of even a perfectly tame animal, being thus introduced to the close
vicinity of the blood, is apt to bring on madness. Of the tongue of the
purple we have made mention[255] already. With the frog the end of the
tongue adheres to the mouth, while the inner part is disjoined from
the sides of the gullet; and it is by this means that the males give
utterance to their croaking, at the season at which they are known as
ololygones.[256] This happens at stated periods of the year, at which
the males invite the females for the purposes of propagation: letting
down the lower lip to the surface of the water, they receive a small
portion of it in the mouth, and then, by quavering with the tongue,
make a gurgling noise, from which the croaking is produced which we
hear. In making this noise, the folds of the mouth, becoming distended,
are quite transparent, and the eyes start from the head and burn again
with the effort. Those insects which have a sting in the lower part
of the body, have teeth, and a tongue as well; with bees it is of
considerable length, and in the grasshopper it is very prominent. Those
insects which have a fistulous sting in the mouth, have neither tongue
nor teeth; while others, again, have a tongue in the interior of the
mouth, the ant, for instance. In the elephant the tongue is remarkably
broad; and while with all other animals, each according to its kind, it
is always perfectly at liberty, with man, and him alone, it is often
found so strongly tied down by certain veins, that it becomes necessary
to cut them. We find it stated that the pontiff Metellus had a tongue
so ill adapted for articulation, that he is generally supposed to have
voluntarily submitted to torture for many months, while preparing to
pronounce the speech which he was about to make on the dedication
of the temple of Opifera.[257] In most persons the tongue is able
to articulate with distinctness at about the seventh year; and many
know how to employ it with such remarkable skill, as to be able to
imitate the voices of various birds and other animals with the greatest
exactness. The other animals have the sense of taste centred in the
fore-part of the tongue; but in man it is situate in the palate as well.
CHAP. 66.—THE TONSILS; THE UVA; THE EPIGLOSSIS; THE ARTERY; THE GULLET.
In man there are tonsils at the root of the tongue; these in swine are
called the glandules. The uvula,[258] which is suspended between them
at the extremity of the palate, is found only in man. Beneath this
lies a smaller tongue, known by the name of “epiglossis,”[259] but it
is wanting in animals that are oviparous. Placed as it is between two
passages, the functions of the epiglottis are of a twofold nature. The
one of these passages that lies more inward is called the [tracheal]
artery, and leads to the lungs and the heart: the epiglottis covers
it during the action of eating, that the drink or food may not go the
wrong way, and so be productive of suffering, as it is by this passage
that the breath and the voice are conveyed. The other or exterior
passage is called the “gula,”[260] and it is by this passage that the
victuals and drink pass: this leads to the belly, while the former one
communicates with the chest.[261] The epiglottis covers the pharynx, in
its turn, when only the breath or the voice is passing, in order that
the victuals may not inopportunely pass upwards, and so disturb the
breathing or articulation. The tracheal artery is composed of cartilage
and flesh, while the gullet is formed of a sinewy substance united with
flesh.
CHAP. 67.—THE NECK; THE THROAT; THE DORSAL SPINE.
The neck is found to exist in no animal but those which have both these
passages. All the others which have the gullet only, have nothing but
a gorge or throat. In those which have a neck, it is formed of several
rounded vertebræ, and is flexible, and joined together by distinct
articulations, to allow of the animal turning round the head to look.
The lion, the wolf, and the hyæna are the only animals in which it
is formed of a single[262] rigid bone. The neck is annexed to the
spine, and the spine to the loins. The vertebral column is of a bony
substance, but rounded, and pierced within, to afford a passage for
the marrow to descend from the brain. It is generally concluded that
the marrow is of the same nature as the brain, from the fact that if
the membrane of exceeding thinness which covers it is pierced, death
immediately ensues.[263] Those animals which have long legs have a long
throat as well, which is the case also with aquatic birds, although
they have short legs, as well as with those which have hooked talons.
CHAP. 68.—THE THROAT; THE GULLET; THE STOMACH.
Man only, and the swine, are subject to swellings in the throat, which
are mostly caused by the noxious quality of the water[264] which they
drink. The upper part of the gullet is called the fauces, the lower
the stomach.[265] By this name is understood a fleshy concavity,
situate behind the tracheal artery, and joining the vertebral column;
it extends in length and breadth like a sort of chasm.[266] Those
animals which have no gullet have no stomach either, nor yet any neck
or throat, fishes, for example; and in all these the mouth communicates
immediately with the belly. The sea-tortoise[267] has neither tongue
nor teeth; it can break anything, however, with the sharp edge of
its muzzle. After the tracheal artery there is the œsophagus, which
is indented with hard asperities resembling bramble-thorns, for the
purpose of levigating the food, the incisions[268] gradually becoming
smaller as they approach the belly. The roughness at the very extremity
of this organ strongly resembles that of a blacksmith’s file.
CHAP. 69.—THE HEART; THE BLOOD; THE VITAL SPIRIT.
In all other animals but man the heart is situate in the middle of the
breast; in man alone it is placed just below the pap on the left-hand
side, the smaller end terminating in a point, and bearing outward. It
is among the fish only that this point is turned towards the mouth.
It is asserted that the heart is the first among the viscera that is
formed in the fœtus, then the brain, and last of all, the eyes: it is
said, too, that the eyes are the first organs that die, and the heart
the very last of all. The heart also is the principal seat of the heat
of the body; it is constantly palpitating, and moves as though it were
one animal enclosed within another. It is also enveloped in a membrane
equally supple and strong, and is protected by the bulwarks formed by
the ribs and the bone of the breast, as being the primary source and
origin of life. It contains within itself the primary receptacles for
the spirit and the blood, in its sinuous cavity, which in the larger
animals is threefold,[269] and in all twofold at least: here it is that
the mind[270] has its abode. From this source proceed two large veins,
which branch into the fore-part and the back of the body, and which,
spreading out in a series of branches, convey the vital blood by other
smaller veins over all parts of the body. This is the only one[271]
among the viscera that is not affected by maladies, nor is it subject
to the ordinary penalties of human life; but when injured, it produces
instant death. While all the other viscera are injured, vitality may
still remain in the heart.
CHAP. 70.—THOSE ANIMALS WHICH HAVE THE LARGEST HEART, AND THOSE WHICH
HAVE THE SMALLEST. WHAT ANIMALS HAVE TWO HEARTS.
Those animals are looked upon as stupid and lumpish which have a hard,
rigid heart, while those in which it is small are courageous, and
those are timid which have it very large. The heart is the largest, in
proportion to the body, in the mouse, the hare, the ass, the stag, the
panther, the weasel, the hyæna, and all the animals, in fact, which
are timid, or dangerous only from the effects of fear. In Paphlagonia
the partridge has a double heart. In the heart of the horse and the ox
there are bones sometimes found. It is said that the heart increases
every year in man, and that two drachmæ in weight are added[272] yearly
up to the fiftieth year, after which period it decreases yearly in a
similar ratio; and that it is for this reason that men do not live
beyond their hundredth year, the heart then failing them: this is the
notion entertained by the Egyptians, whose custom it is to embalm the
bodies of the dead, and so preserve them. It is said that men have
been born with the heart covered with hair, and that such persons
are excelled by none in valour and energy; such, for instance, as
Aristomenes,[273] the Messenian, who slew three hundred Lacedæmonians.
Being covered with wounds, and taken prisoner, he, on one occasion,
made his escape by a narrow hole which he discovered[274] in the stone
quarry where he was imprisoned, while in pursuit of a fox which had
found that mode of exit. Being again taken prisoner, while his guards
were fast asleep he rolled himself towards a fire close by, and, at
the expense of his body, burnt off the cords by which he was bound. On
being taken a third time, the Lacedæmonians opened his breast while he
was still alive, and his heart was found covered with hair.
CHAP. 71.—WHEN THE CUSTOM WAS FIRST ADOPTED OF EXAMINING THE HEART IN
THE INSPECTION OF THE ENTRAILS.
On an examination of the entrails, to find a certain fatty part on
the top of the heart, is looked upon as a fortunate presage. Still,
however the heart has not always been considered as forming a part of
the entrails for this purpose. It was under Lucius Postumius Albinus,
the King of the Sacrifices,[275] and after the 126th Olympiad, when
King Pyrrhus had quitted Italy, that the aruspices began to examine
the heart, as part of the consecrated entrails. The first day that
the Dictator Cæsar appeared in public, clothed in purple, and sitting
on a seat of gold, the heart was twice found wanting[276] when he
sacrificed. From this circumstance has risen a great question among
those who discuss matters connected with divination—whether it was
possible for the victim to have lived without that organ, or whether
it had lost it at the very moment[277] of its death. It is asserted
that the heart cannot be burnt of those persons who die of the
cardiac disease; and the same is said of those who die by poison.
At all events, there is still in existence an oration pronounced by
Vitellius,[278] in which he accuses Piso of this crime, and employs
this alleged fact as one of his proofs, openly asserting that the
heart of Germanicus Cæsar could not be burnt at the funeral pile,
in consequence of his having been poisoned. On the other hand, the
peculiar nature[279] of the disease under which Germanicus was
labouring, was alleged in Piso’s defence.
CHAP. 72.—THE LUNGS: IN WHAT ANIMALS THEY ARE THE LARGEST, AND IN WHAT
THE SMALLEST. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NOTHING BUT LUNGS IN THE INTERIOR OF
THE BODY. CAUSES WHICH PRODUCE EXTRAORDINARY SWIFTNESS IN ANIMALS.
Beneath the heart are the lungs, the laboratory in which the
respiration is prepared. The use of these, is to draw in the air and
then expel it; for which purpose their substance is of a spongy nature,
and filled with cavernous holes. Some few among the aquatic animals
have lungs, as we have already stated;[280] and among the rest of
those which are oviparous, they are small, of a fungous nature, and
containing no blood; hence it is, that these animals do not experience
thirst. It is for the same reason also, that frogs and seals are able
to remain so long under water. The tortoise, too, although it has
lungs of remarkable size, and extending throughout the whole of the
shell, is also equally destitute of blood. The smaller the lungs are in
proportion to the body, the greater is the swiftness of the animal. It
is in the chameleon that the lungs are the largest in proportion to the
body; in which, in fact, it has no other viscera at all.[281]
CHAP. 73.—THE LIVER: IN WHAT ANIMALS, AND IN WHAT PART THERE ARE TWO
LIVERS FOUND.
The liver is on the right side: in this part is situate what has been
called the “head of the entrails,” and it is subject to considerable
variations. No liver[282] at all was found in a victim which was
sacrificed by M. Marcellus, about the period when he was killed in
battle against Hannibal; while in a victim which was slain on the
following day, a double liver was found. It was wanting, also, in a
victim sacrificed by C. Marius, at Utica, and in one which was offered
by the Emperor Caius[283] upon the calends of January,[284] on the
occasion of his entering the year of the consulship in which he was
slain: the same thing happened, also, to his successor, Claudius,
in the month in which he was cut off[285] by poison. When the late
Emperor Augustus was sacrificing at Spoletum, upon the first day of his
entering on the imperial dignity, in six different victims the liver
was found rolled over within itself, from the very lowest lobe; and the
answer that was given by the diviners was to the effect that, in the
course of the year, he would gain a twofold sway. It is of evil omen to
find an incision in the head of the entrails, except on occasions of
disquietude and alarm; for then it is significant of cutting all cares,
and so putting an end to them. The hares that are found in the vicinity
of Briletum[286] and Tharne, and in the Chersonnesus on the Propontis,
have a double liver; but, what is very singular, if they are removed to
another place, they will lose one of them.
CHAP. 74.—THE GALL; WHERE SITUATE, AND IN WHAT ANIMALS IT IS DOUBLE.
ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO GALL, AND OTHERS IN WHICH IT IS NOT SITUATE IN
THE LIVER.
In the liver is the gall, which, however, does not exist in every
animal. At Chalcis, in Eubœa, none of the cattle have it, while in the
cattle of the Isle of Naxos, it is of extraordinary size, and double,
so that to a stranger either of these facts would appear as good as a
prodigy. The horse, the mule, the ass, the stag, the roe-buck, the wild
boar, the camel, and the dolphin have no gall, but some kinds of rats
and mice have it. Some few men are without it, and such persons enjoy
robust health and a long life. There are some authors who say that the
gall exists in the horse, not in the liver, but in the paunch, and that
in the stag it is situate either in the tail or the intestines; and
that hence it is, that those parts are so bitter that dogs will not
touch them. The gall, in fact, is nothing else but the worst parts of
the blood purged off, and for this reason it is that it is so bitter:
at all events, it is a well-known fact, that no animal has a liver
unless it has blood as well. The liver receives the blood from the
heart, to which it is united, and then disperses it in the veins.
CHAP. 75.—THE PROPERTIES OF THE GALL.
When the gall is black, it is productive of madness in man, and if it
is wholly expelled death will ensue. Hence it is, too, that the word
“bile” has been employed by us to characterize a harsh, embittered
disposition; so powerful are the effects of this secretion, when it
extends its influence to the mind. In addition to this, when it is
dispersed over the whole of the body, it deprives the eyes, even, of
their natural colour; and when ejected, will tarnish copper vessels
even, rendering everything black with which it comes in contact;
so that no one ought to be surprised that it is the gall which
constitutes the venom of serpents. Those animals of Pontus which feed
on wormwood have no gall: in the raven, the quail, and the pheasant,
the gall-bladder is united to the renal parts, and, on one side only,
to the intestines. In many animals, again, it is united only to the
intestines, the pigeon, the hawk, and the murena, for example. In some
few birds it is situate in the liver; but it is in serpents and fishes
that it is the largest in proportion. With the greater part of birds,
it extends all along throughout the intestines, as in the hawk and the
kite. In some other birds, also, it is situate in the breast as well:
the gall, too, of the sea-calf is celebrated for its application to
many purposes. From the gall of the bull a colour is extracted like
that of gold. The aruspices have consecrated the gall to Neptune and
the influence of water. The Emperor Augustus found a double gall in a
victim which he was sacrificing on the day of his victory at Actium.
CHAP. 76.—IN WHAT ANIMALS THE LIVER INCREASES AND DECREASES WITH THE
MOON. OBSERVATIONS OF THE ARUSPICES RELATIVE THERETO, AND REMARKABLE
PRODIGIES.
It is said, that in the small liver of the mouse the number of lobes
corresponds to the day of the moon, and that they are found to be just
as many in number as she is days old; in addition to which, it is said
that it increases at the winter solstice. In the rabbits of Bætica, the
liver is always found to have a double lobe. Ants will not touch one
lobe of the liver of the bramble-frog, in consequence of its poisonous
nature, it is generally thought. The liver is remarkable for its powers
of preservation, and sieges have afforded us remarkable instances of
its being kept so long as a hundred years.[287]
CHAP. 77.—THE DIAPHRAGM. THE NATURE OF LAUGHTER.
The entrails of serpents and lizards are of remarkable length. It is
related that—a most fortunate omen—Cæcina of Volaterræ beheld two
dragons arising from the entrails of the victim; and this will not be
at all incredible, if we are ready to believe that while King Pyrrhus
was sacrificing, the day upon which he died, the heads of the victims,
on being cut off, crawled along the ground and licked up their own
blood. In man, the entrails are separated from the lower part of the
viscera by a certain membrane, which is called the “præcordia,”[288]
because it is extended in front of the heart; the Greeks have given it
the name of “phrenes.” All the principal viscera have been enclosed by
Nature, in her prudent foresight, in their own peculiar membranes, just
like so many sheaths, in fact. With reference to the diaphragm, there
was a peculiar reason for this wise provision of Nature, its proximity
to the guts, and the chances that the food might possibly intercept the
respiration. It is to this organ that is attributed quick and ready
wit, and hence it is that it has no fleshy parts, but is composed of
fine sinews and membranes. This part is also the chief seat of gaiety
of mind, a fact which is more particularly proved by the titillation
of the arm-holes, to which the midriff extends; indeed, in no part
of the body is the skin more fine; for this reason it is, also, that
we experience such peculiar pleasure in scratching the parts in its
vicinity. Hence it is, that in battles and gladiatorial combats, many
persons have been known to be pierced through the midriff, and to die
in the act of laughing.[289]
CHAP. 78.—THE BELLY: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO BELLY. WHICH ARE THE ONLY
ANIMALS THAT VOMIT.
In those animals which have a stomach, below the diaphragm the belly
is situate. In other animals it is single, but in those which ruminate
it is double; in those, again, which are destitute of blood, there is
no belly, for the intestinal canal commences in some of them at the
mouth, and returns to that part, as is the case with the sæpia and the
polypus. In man it is connected with the extremity of the stomach, and
the same with the dog. These are the only creatures that have the belly
more narrow at the lower part; hence it is, too, that they are the only
ones that vomit, for on the belly being filled, the narrowness at its
extremity precludes the food from passing; a thing that cannot possibly
be the case with the animals in which the belly is more capacious at
the extremity, and so leaves a free passage for the food to the lower
parts of the body.
CHAP. 79.—THE SMALL GUTS, THE FRONT INTESTINES, THE ANUS, THE COLON.
THE CAUSES OF THE INSATIATE VORACITY OF CERTAIN ANIMALS.
After the belly we find in man and the sheep the “lactes,”[290] the
place of which in other animals is occupied by the “hillæ:”[291] it
is through these organs that the food passes. We then find the larger
intestines, which communicate with the anus, and which in man consist
of extremely sinuous folds. Those animals which have the longest
intestinal canal, are the most voracious; and those which have the
belly the most loaded with fat, are the least intelligent. There are
some birds, also, which have two receptacles; the one of which is the
crop, in which they stow away the food which they have just swallowed,
while the other is the belly, into which they discharge the food when
it is duly prepared and digested; this is the case with the domestic
fowl, the ring-dove, the pigeon, and the partridge. The other birds
are in general destitute of crop, but then they have a more capacious
gorge, the jackdaw, the raven, and the crow, for instance: some, again,
are constituted in neither manner, but have the belly close to the
gorge, those, for instance, which have the neck very long and narrow,
such as the porphyrio.[292]
In the solid-hoofed animals the belly is rough and hard, while in some
land animals it is provided with rough asperities like teeth,[293]
and in others, again, it has a reticulated surface like that of a
file. Those animals which have not the teeth on both sides, and do
not ruminate, digest the food in the belly, from whence it descends
to the lower intestines. There is an organ in all animals attached
in the middle to the navel, and in man similar in its lower part to
that of the swine, the name given thereto by the Greeks being “colon,”
a part of the body which is subject to excruciating pains.[294] In
dogs this gut is extremely contracted, for which reason it is that
they are unable to ease it, except by great efforts, and not without
considerable suffering. Those animals with which the food passes at
once from the belly through the straight intestine, are of insatiate
appetite, as, for instance, the hind-wolf,[295] and among birds the
diver. The elephant has four[296] bellies; the rest of its intestines
are similar to those of the swine, and the lungs are four times as
large as those of the ox. The belly in birds is fleshy, and formed of
a callous substance. In that of young swallows there are found little
white or pink pebbles, known by the name of “chelidonii,” and said to
be employed in magical incantations. In the second belly of the heifer
there is a black tufa found, round like a ball,[297] and of no weight
to speak of: this, it is generally thought, is singularly efficacious
in laborious deliveries, if it happens not to have touched the ground.
CHAP. 80.—THE OMENTUM: THE SPLEEN; ANIMALS WHICH ARE WITHOUT IT.
The belly and the intestines are covered with a caul known as the
“omentum,” consisting of a fatty, thin membrane; except in the case of
those animals which are oviparous. To this membrane is attached the
spleen, which lies on the left side, and opposite the liver: sometimes,
indeed, it changes place with the liver, but such a case is looked upon
as nothing less than a prodigy. Some persons imagine that a spleen of
extremely diminutive size exists in the oviparous animals, as also in
serpents; at all events, it is to be detected in the tortoise, the
crocodile, the lizard, and the frog; though it is equally certain that
it does not exist in the bird known as the “ægocephalos,”[298] nor yet
in those animals which are destitute of blood. The spleen sometimes
offers a peculiar impediment in running, for which reason the region
of the spleen is cauterized[299] in runners who are troubled with
pains there. It is said also, that if the spleen is removed[300] by an
incision, animals may survive. There are some persons who think that
with the spleen man loses the power of laughing, and that excessive
laughter is caused by the overgrowth of it. There is a territory of
Asia, known as Scepsis,[301] in which it is said that the spleen of the
cattle is remarkably small, and that from thence it is that remedies
for diseases of the spleen have been introduced.
CHAP. 81.—THE KIDNEYS: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE FOUR KIDNEYS. ANIMALS WHICH
HAVE NONE.
About Briletum and Tharne[302] the stags have four kidneys: while, on
the other hand, those animals which have wings and scales have[303]
none. The kidneys adhere to the upper part of the loins. Among all
animals, the kidney on the right side is more elevated than the other,
less fat, and drier. In both kidneys there is a certain streak of
fat running from the middle, with the sole exception of those of the
sea-calf. It is above the kidneys, also, that animals are fattest,
and the accumulation of fat about them is often the cause of death in
sheep. Small stones are sometimes found in the kidneys. All quadrupeds
that are viviparous have kidneys, but of those which are oviparous
the tortoise is the only one that has them; an animal which has all
the other viscera, but, like man, has the kidneys composed, to all
appearance, of several kidneys, similar to those of the ox.
CHAP. 82.—THE BREAST: THE RIBS.
Nature has placed the breast, or, in other words, certain bones, around
the diaphragm and the organs of life, but not around the belly, for the
expansion of which it was necessary that room should be left. Indeed,
there is no animal that has any bones around the belly. Man is the only
creature that has a broad breast; in all others it is of a carinated
shape, in birds more particularly, and most of all, the aquatic birds.
The ribs of man are only eight in number; swine have ten, the horned
animals thirteen, and serpents thirty.
CHAP. 83.—THE BLADDER: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO BLADDER.
Below the paunch, on the anterior side, lies the bladder, which
is never found in any oviparous animal, with the exception of the
tortoise, nor yet in any animal that has not lungs with blood, or
in any one that is destitute of feet. Between it and the paunch are
certain arteries, which extend to the pubes, and are known as the
“ilia.” In the bladder of the wolf there is found a small stone, which
is called “syrites;” and in the bladders of some persons calculi are
sometimes found, which produce most excruciating pains; small hairs,
like bristles, are also occasionally found in the bladder. This organ
consists of a membrane, which, when once wounded, does not[304]
cicatrize, just like those in which the brain and the heart are
enveloped: there are many kinds of membranes, in fact.
CHAP. 84.—THE WOMB: THE WOMB OF THE SOW: THE TEATS.
Women have all the same organs, except that adjoining to the bladder
there is one like a small sac,[305] from which circumstance it is
called the “uterus.” Another name for this part is “loci;”[306] but in
other animals it is known by the name of “vulva.” With the viper and
other animals which generate their young within themselves, the womb
is double; while with those which are oviparous, it is attached to the
diaphragm. In woman it has two concavities, one on either side: when
the matrix becomes displaced, it is productive of fatal effects, by
causing suffocation.[307] It is asserted that the cow, when pregnant,
carries her young only in the right concavity of the womb, and that
this is the case even when she produces twins. The womb of the sow is
considered better eating if she has slipped her young, than if she
has duly brought forth: in the former case it is known by the name
of “ejectitia,” in the latter it is called “porcaria.” The womb of
a sow that has farrowed only once is the most esteemed, and that of
those which have ceased farrowing, the least. After farrowing, unless
the animal is killed the same day, the womb is of a livid colour, and
lean. This part, however, is not esteemed in a young sow, except just
after the first farrowing: indeed, it is much more highly valued in
an animal of a more mature age, so long as it is not past breeding,
or has been killed two days before farrowing, or two days after, or
upon the day on which it has miscarried. The next best after that of a
sow that has miscarried, is that of one that has been killed the day
after farrowing: indeed, the paps of this last, if the young have not
begun to suck, are excellent eating, while those of an animal that has
miscarried are very inferior. The ancients called this part by the name
of “abdomen,” before it grew hard, and were not in the habit of killing
swine while in a state of pregnancy.
CHAP. 85.—ANIMALS WHICH HAVE SUET: ANIMALS WHICH DO NOT GROW FAT.
Those among the horned animals which have teeth in one jaw only, and
pastern bones on the feet, produce tallow or suet. Those, on the other
hand, which are cloven-footed, or have the feet divided into toes, and
are without horns, have simple fat only. This fat becomes hard, and
when quite cold turns brittle, and is always found at the extremity of
the flesh; while, on the other hand, the fat which lies between the
skin and the flesh forms a kind of liquid juice. Some animals naturally
do not become fat, such as the hare and the partridge, for instance.
All fat animals, male as well as female, are mostly barren; and those
which are remarkably fat become old the soonest. All animals have a
certain degree of fatness in the eyes. The fat in all animals is devoid
of sensation, having neither arteries nor veins. With the greater part
of animals, fatness is productive of insensibility; so much so, indeed,
that it has been said, that living swine have been gnawed even by
mice.[308] It has been even asserted that the fat was drawn off from
the body of a son of L. Apronius, a man of consular rank, and that he
was thus relieved of a burden which precluded him from moving.
CHAP. 86.—THE MARROW: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO MARROW.
The marrow seems also to be formed of a similar material; in the young
it is of a reddish colour, but it is white in the aged. It is only
found in those bones which are hollow, and not in the tibiæ of horses
or dogs; for which reason it is, that when the tibia is broken, the
bone will not reunite, a process which is effected[309] by the flow of
the marrow. The marrow is of a greasy nature in those animals which
have fat, and suetty in those with horns. It is full of nerves, and is
found only in the vertebral column[310] in those animals which have no
bones, fishes, for instance. The bear has no marrow; and the lion has a
little only in some few bones of the thighs and the brachia, which are
of such extraordinary hardness that sparks may be emitted therefrom, as
though from a flint-stone.
CHAP. 87.—BONES AND FISH-BONES: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NEITHER. CARTILAGES.
The bones are hard, also, in those animals[311] which do not grow fat;
those of the ass are used by musicians for making flutes. Dolphins have
bones, and not ordinary fish-bones; for they are viviparous. Serpents,
on the other hand, have bones like those of fish. Among aquatic
animals, the mollusks have no bones, but the body is surrounded with
circles of flesh, as in the sæpia and the cuttle-fish, for instance;
insects, also, are said to be equally destitute of bones. Among aquatic
animals, those which are cartilaginous have marrow in the vertebral
column; the sea-calf has cartilages, and no bones. The ears also,
and the nostrils in all animals, when remarkably prominent, are made
flexible by a remarkable provision of Nature, in order that they may
not be broken. When cartilage is once broken, it will not unite; nor
will bone, when cut, grow again, except in beasts of burden, between
the hoof and the pastern.
Man increases in height till his twenty-first year, after which he
fills out; but it is more particularly when he first arrives at the
age of puberty that he seems to have untied a sort of knot in his
existence, and this especially when he has been overtaken by illness.
CHAP. 88.—THE NERVE: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NONE.
The nerves[312] take their rise at the heart, and even surround it
in the ox; they have the same nature and principle as the marrow. In
all animals they are fastened to the lubricous surface of the bones,
and so serve to fasten those knots in the body which are known as
articulations or joints, sometimes lying between them, sometimes
surrounding them, and sometimes running from one to another; in
one place they are long and round, and in another broad, according
as the necessity of each case may demand. When cut, they will not
reunite, and if wounded, it is wonderful what excruciating pain they
cause; though, if completely cut asunder, they are productive of none
whatever. Some animals are destitute of nerves, fish, for instance, the
bodies of which are united by arteries, though even these are not to be
found in the mollusks. Wherever there are nerves found, it is the inner
ones that contract the limb, and the outer ones that extend it.
Among the nerves lie concealed the arteries, which are so many passages
for the spirit; and upon these float the veins, as conduits for the
blood. The pulsation of the arteries is more especially perceptible
on the surface of the limbs, and afford indications of nearly every
disease, being either stationary, quickened, or retarded, conformably
to certain measures and metrical laws, which depend on the age of
the patient, and which have been described with remarkable skill by
Herophilus, who has been looked upon as a prophet in the wondrous art
of medicine. These indications, however, have been hitherto neglected,
in consequence of their remarkable subtilty and minuteness, though, at
the same time, it is by the observation of the pulse, as being fast or
slow, that the health of the body, as regulating life, is ascertained.
CHAP. 89.—THE ARTERIES; THE VEINS: ANIMALS WITHOUT ARTERIES OR VEINS.
THE BLOOD AND THE SWEAT.
The arteries are destitute of sensation, for they are devoid of blood.
They do not, all of them, however, contain the vital spirit, and when
one of them has been cut, it is only that part of the body that is
reduced to a torpid state. Birds have neither veins nor arteries, which
is the case also with serpents, tortoises, and lizards; and they have
but a very small proportion of blood. The veins, which are dispersed
beneath the whole skin in filaments of extreme thinness, terminate
with such remarkable fineness, that the blood is able to penetrate no
further, or, indeed, anything else, except an extremely subtle humour
which oozes forth from the skin in innumerable small drops, and is
known to us as “sweat.” The knot, and place of union of the veins, is
the navel.
CHAP. 90. (38.)—ANIMALS, THE BLOOD OF WHICH COAGULATES WITH THE
GREATEST RAPIDITY: OTHER ANIMALS, THE BLOOD OF WHICH DOES NOT
COAGULATE. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE THE THICKEST BLOOD: THOSE THE BLOOD OF
WHICH IS THE THINNEST: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO BLOOD.
Those animals in which the blood is more abundant and of an unctuous
nature, are irascible; it is darker in males than in females, and in
the young than in the aged: the blood of the lower extremities is the
thickest. There is great vitality, too, in the blood, and when it
is discharged from the body, it carries the life with it: it is not
sensible, however, of touch. Those animals in which the blood is the
thickest are the most courageous, and those in which it is the thinnest
the most intelligent; while those, again, which have little or no
blood are the most timorous of all. The blood of the bull coagulates
and hardens the most speedily of all, and hence it is so particularly
deadly[313] when drunk. On the other hand, the blood of the wild boar,
the stag, the roe-buck, and oxen of all kinds, does not coagulate.
Blood is of the richest quality in the ass, and the poorest in man.
Those animals which have more than four feet have no blood. In animals
which are very fat, the blood is less abundant than in others, being
soaked up by the fat. Man is the only creature from which the blood
flows at the nostrils; some persons bleed at one nostril only, some
at both, while others again void blood by the lower[314] parts. Many
persons discharge blood from the mouth at stated periods, such, for
instance, as Macrinus Viscus, lately, a man of prætorian dignity, and
Volusius Saturninus,[315] the Prefect of the City, who every year
did the same, and yet lived to beyond ninety. The blood is the only
substance in the body that is sensible of any temporary increase, for a
larger quantity will come from the victims if they happen to have drunk
just before they are sacrificed.
CHAP. 91.—ANIMALS WHICH ARE WITHOUT BLOOD AT CERTAIN PERIODS OF THE
YEAR.
Those animals which conceal themselves[316] at certain periods of
the year, as already mentioned, have no blood at those times, with
the exception, indeed, of some very small drops about the heart. A
marvellous dispensation of Nature! and very similar to that witnessed
in man, where the blood is sensible of various modifications from
the slightest causes; for not only, similarly to the bile, does it
rush upwards to the face, but it serves also to indicate the various
tendencies of the mind, by depicting shame, anger, and fear, in many
ways, either by the paleness of the features or their unusual redness;
as, in fact, the redness of anger and the blush of modesty are quite
different things. It is a well-known fact, that when a man is in
fear, the blood takes to flight and disappears, and that many persons
have been pierced through the body without losing one drop of blood;
a thing, however, which is only the case with man. But as to those
animals which we have already mentioned as changing[317] colour, they
derive that colour from the reflection[318] of other objects; while, on
the other hand, man is the only one that has the elements which cause
these changes centred in himself. All diseases, as well as death, tend
to absorb the blood.
CHAP. 92. (39.)—WHETHER THE BLOOD IS THE PRINCIPLE OF LIFE.
There are some persons who are of opinion that the fineness of the wit
does not depend upon the thinness of the blood, but that animals are
more or less stupid in proportion to the skin or other coverings of
the body, as the oyster and the tortoise, for instance: that the hide
of the ox and the bristles of the hog, in fact, offer a resistance to
the fine and penetrating powers of the air, and leave no passage for
its transmission in a pure and liquid state. The same, they say, is
the case, too, with men, when the skin is very thick or callous, and
so excludes the air. Just as if, indeed, the crocodile was not equally
remarkable for the hardness of its skin and its extreme cunning.
CHAP. 93.—THE HIDE OF ANIMALS.
The hide, too, of the hippopotamus is so thick, that lances,[319]
even, are turned from it, and yet this animal has the intelligence
to administer certain medicaments to itself. The hide, too, of the
elephant makes bucklers that are quite impenetrable, and yet to it is
ascribed a degree of intelligence superior to that of any quadruped.
The skin itself is entirely devoid of sensation, and more particularly
that of the head; wherever it is found alone, and unaccompanied with
flesh, if wounded, it will not unite, as in the cheek and on the
eyelid,[320] for instance.
CHAP. 94.—THE HAIR AND THE COVERING OF THE SKIN.
Those animals which are viviparous, have hair; those which are
oviparous, have feathers, scales, or a shell, like the tortoise; or
else a purple skin, like the serpent. The lower part of all feathers is
hollow; if cut, they will not grow again, but if pulled out, they will
shoot afresh. Insects fly by the aid of a frail membrane; the wings
of the fish[321] called the “swallow” are moistened in the sea, while
those of the bat which frequents our houses are dry; the wings of this
last animal have certain articulations as well. The hairs that issue
from a thick skin are rough, while those on females are of a finer
quality. Those found on the horse’s mane are more abundant, which is
the case also with the shoulders of the lion. The dasypus has hair in
the inside of the mouth even and under the feet, two features which
Trogus has also attributed to the hare; from which the same author
concludes that hairy men are the most prone to lust. The most hairy
of all animals is the hare. Man is the only creature that has hair as
the mark of puberty; and a person who is devoid of this, whether male
or female, is sure to be sterile. The hair of man is partly born with
him, and in part produced after his birth. The last kind of hair will
not grow upon eunuchs, though that which has been born with them does
not fall off; which is the case also with women, in a great degree.
Still however, there have been women known to be afflicted with falling
off of the hair, just as some are to be seen with a fine down on the
face, after the cessation of the menstrual discharge. In some men the
hair that mostly shoots forth after birth will not grow spontaneously.
The hair of quadrupeds comes off every year, and grows again. That
of the head in man grows the fastest, and next to it the hair of the
beard. When cut, the hairs shoot, not from the place where they have
been cut, as is the case with grass, but at the root. The hair grows
quickly in certain diseases, phthisis more particularly; it grows also
with rapidity in old age, and on the body after death. In persons of
a libidinous tendency the hair that is produced at birth falls off
more speedily, while that which is afterwards produced grows with the
greatest rapidity. In quadrupeds, the hair grows thicker in old age;
but on those with wool, it becomes thinner. Those quadrupeds which have
thick hair on the back, have the belly quite smooth. From the hides
of oxen, and that of the bull more especially, glue is extracted by
boiling.
CHAP. 95.—THE PAPS: BIRDS THAT HAVE PAPS. REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED
WITH THE DUGS OF ANIMALS.
Man is the only male among animals that has nipples, all the rest
having mere marks only in place of them. Among female animals even,
the only ones that have mammæ on the breast are those which can
nurture their young. No oviparous animal has mammæ, and those only
have milk that are viviparous; the bat being the only winged animal
that has it. As for the stories that they tell, about the screech-owl
ejecting milk from its teats upon the lips of infants, I look upon it
as utterly fabulous: from ancient times the name “strix,”[322] I am
aware, has been employed in maledictions, but I do not think it is well
ascertained what bird is really meant by that name.
(40.) The female ass is troubled with pains in the teats after it has
foaled, and it is for that reason that at the end of six months it
weans its young; while the mare suckles its young for nearly the whole
year. The solid-hoofed animals do not bear more than two young ones
at a time: they all of them have two paps, and nowhere but between
the hind legs. Animals with cloven feet and with horns, such as the
cow, for instance, have four paps, similarly situate, sheep and goats
two. Those which produce a more numerous progeny, and those which
have toes on the feet, have a greater number of paps distributed in
a double row all along the belly, such as the sow, for instance; the
better sorts have twelve, the more common ones two less: the same is
the case also with the female of the dog. Other animals, again, have
four paps situate in the middle of the belly, as the female panther;
others, again, two only, as the lioness. The female elephant has two
only, situate between the shoulders, and those not in the breast, but
without it, and hidden in the arm-pits: none of the animals which
have toes have the paps between the hind legs. The sow presents the
first teat to the first-born in each farrow, the first teat being the
one that is situate nearest to the throat. Each pig, too, knows its
own teat, according to the order in which it was born, and draws its
nourishment from that and no other: if its own suckling, too, should
happen to be withdrawn from any one of them, the pap will immediately
dry up, and shrink back within the belly: if there should be only one
pig left of all the farrow, that pap alone which has been assigned for
its nutriment when born, will continue to hang down for the purpose of
giving suck. The she-bear has four mammæ, the dolphin only two, at the
bottom of the belly; they are not easily visible, and have a somewhat
oblique direction: this is the only animal which gives suck while in
motion. The balæna and sea-calf also suckle their young by teats.
CHAP. 96. (41.)—THE MILK: THE BIESTINGS. CHEESE; OF WHAT MILK CHEESE
CANNOT BE MADE. RENNET; THE VARIOUS KINDS OF ALIMENT IN MILK.
The milk that is secreted in a woman before her seventh month is
useless; but after that month, so long as the fœtus is healthy, the
milk is wholesome: many women, indeed, are so full of milk, that
it will flow not only from the mammæ, but exudes at the arm-pits
even.[323] Camels continue in milk until they are pregnant again.
Their milk, mixed in the proportion of one part to three of water,
is considered a very pleasant beverage. The cow has no milk before
it has calved, and that which immediately follows upon its bringing
forth is known as the “colostra:”[324] if water is not mixed with it,
it will coagulate, and assume the hardness of pumice. She-asses,
as soon as they are pregnant, have milk in their udders; when the
pasturage is rich, it is fatal to their young to taste the mother’s
milk the first two days after birth; the kind of malady by which they
are attacked is known by the name of “colostration.” Cheese cannot be
made from the milk of animals which have teeth on either jaw, from the
circumstance that their milk does not coagulate. The thinnest milk
of all is that of the camel, and next to it that of the mare. The
milk of the she-ass is the richest of all, so much so, indeed, that
it is often used instead of rennet. Asses’ milk is also thought to
be very efficacious in whitening the skin of females: at all events,
Poppæa,[325] the wife of Domitius Nero, used always to have with her
five hundred asses with foal, and used to bathe the whole of her body
in their milk, thinking that it also conferred additional suppleness on
the skin. All milk thickens by the action of fire, and becomes serous
when exposed to cold. The milk of the cow produces more cheese than
that of the goat: when equal in quantity, it will produce nearly twice
the weight. The milk of animals which have more than four mammæ does
not produce cheese; and that is the best which is made of the milk of
those that have but two. The rennet of the fawn, the hare, and the kid
is the most esteemed, but the best of all is that of the dasypus: this
last acts as a specific for diarrhœa, that animal being the only one
with teeth in both jaws, the rennet of which has that property. It is
a remarkable circumstance, that the barbarous nations which subsist
on milk have been for so many ages either ignorant of the merits of
cheese, or else have totally disregarded it; and yet they understand
how to thicken milk and form therefrom an acrid kind of liquid with a
pleasant flavour, as well as a rich butter: this last is the foam[326]
of milk, and is of a thicker consistency than the part which is known
as the “serum.”[327] We ought not to omit that butter has certain of
the properties of oil, and that it is used for an ointment among all
barbarous nations, and among ourselves as well, for infants.
CHAP. 97. (42.)—VARIOUS KINDS OF CHEESE.
The kinds of cheese that are most esteemed at Rome, where the various
good things of all nations are to be judged of by comparison, are those
which come from the provinces of Nemausus,[328] and more especially the
villages there of Lesura and Gabalis;[329] but its excellence is only
very short-lived, and it must be eaten while it is fresh. The pastures
of the Alps recommend themselves by two sorts of cheese; the Dalmatic
Alps send us the Docleatian[330] cheese, and the Centronian[331] Alps
the Vatusican. The kinds produced in the Apennines are more numerous;
from Liguria we have the cheese of Ceba,[332] which is mostly made
from the milk of sheep; from Umbria we have that of Æsina, and from
the frontiers of Etruria and Liguria those of Luna, remarkable for
their vast size, a single cheese weighing as much as a thousand pounds.
Nearer the City, again, we have the cheese of Vestinum, the best of
this kind being that which comes from the territory of Ceditium.[333]
Goats also produce a cheese which has been of late held in the highest
esteem, its flavour being heightened by smoking it. The cheese of this
kind which is made at Rome is considered preferable to any other; for
that which is made in Gaul has a strong taste, like that of medicine.
Of the cheeses that are made beyond sea, that of Bithynia[334] is
usually considered the first in quality. That salt exists in pasture
lands is pretty evident, from the fact that all cheese as it grows
old contracts a saltish flavour, even where it does not appear to any
great extent;[335] while at the same time it is equally well known
that cheese soaked in a mixture of thyme and vinegar will regain its
original fresh flavour. It is said that Zoroaster lived thirty years in
the wilderness upon cheese, prepared in such a peculiar manner, that he
was insensible to the advances of old age.
CHAP. 98. (43.)—DIFFERENCES OF THE MEMBERS OF MAN FROM THOSE OF OTHER
ANIMALS.
Of all the terrestrial animals, man is the only biped: he is also the
only one that has a throat, and shoulders, or “humeri,” parts in other
animals known by the name of “armi.” Man, too, is the only animal that
has the “ulna,” or elbow. Those animals which are provided with hands,
have flesh only on the interior of them, the outer part consisting of
sinews and skin.
CHAP. 99.—THE FINGERS, THE ARMS.
Some persons have six fingers on the hands. We read that C. Horatius,
a man of patrician rank, had two daughters, who for this reason
had the name of “Sedigitæ;” and we find mention made of Volcatius
Sedigitus,[336] as a famous poet. The fingers of man have three
joints, the thumb only two, it bending in an opposite direction to
all the other fingers. Viewed by itself, the movement of the thumb
has a sidelong direction, and it is much thicker than the rest of the
fingers. The little finger is equal in length to the thumb, and two
others are also equal in length, the middle finger being the longest of
all. Those quadrupeds which live by rapine have five toes on the fore
feet, and four on the hinder ones. The lion, the wolf, and the dog,
with some few others, have five claws on the hind feet, one of which
hangs down near the joint of the leg. The other animals, also, which
are of smaller size, have five toes. The two arms are not always equal
in length: it is a well-known fact, that, in the school of gladiators
belonging to Caius Cæsar,[337] the Thracian Studiosus had the right arm
longer than the left. Some animals also use their fore-paws to perform
the duties of hands, and employ them in conveying food to the mouth as
they sit, the squirrel, for instance.
CHAP. 100. (44.)—RESEMBLANCE OF THE APE TO MAN.
As to the various kinds of apes, they offer a perfect resemblance to
man in the face, the nostrils, the ears, and the eyelids; being the
only quadrupeds, in fact, that have eyelashes on the lower eyelid. They
have mammæ also on the breast, arms and legs, which bend in opposite
directions, and nails upon the hands and fingers, the middle finger
being the longest. They differ somewhat from man in the feet; which,
like the hands, are of remarkable length, and have a print similar to
that of the palm of our hand. They have a thumb also, and articulations
similar to those in man. The males differ from man in the sexual parts
only, while all the internal viscera exactly resemble those of man.
CHAP. 101. (45.)—THE NAILS.
It is generally supposed that the nails are the terminations of the
sinews. All animals which have fingers have nails as well. In the ape
they are long and overlapping,[338] like a tile, while in man they are
broad: they will grow even after death. In the beasts of prey they
are hooked, while in others, such as the dog, for instance, they are
straight, with the exception, indeed, of the one which is attached
to the leg in most of them. All the animals which have feet [and not
hoofs], have toes as well, except the elephant; he, also, would appear
to have toes, five in number, but rudely developed, undivided, and
hardly distinct from one another, bearing a nearer resemblance, in
fact, to hoofs than to claws. In the elephant the fore-feet are the
largest, and in the hind-feet there are short joints. This animal is
able, also, to bend the hams inward like a man, while in all the others
the joints of the hinder legs bend in a contrary direction to those of
the fore ones. Those animals which are viviparous bend the fore-leg
forward, while the joint of the hind-leg is directed backward.
CHAP. 102.—THE KNEES AND THE HAMS.
In man the knee and the elbow bend contrary ways; the same is the case,
too, with the bear and the ape, and it is for this reason that they
are not so swift of foot as other animals. Those quadrupeds which are
oviparous, such as the crocodile and the lizard, bend the knee of the
fore-leg backwards, and that of the hind-leg forwards; their thighs
are placed on them obliquely, in a similar manner to a man’s thumb;
which is the case also with the multipede insects, the hind-legs only
excepted of such as leap. Birds, like quadrupeds, have the joints of
the wings bending forwards, but those of the legs backwards.
CHAP. 103.—PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY TO WHICH CERTAIN RELIGIOUS IDEAS ARE
ATTACHED.
In accordance with the usages of various nations, certain religious
ideas have been attached to the knees. It is the knees that suppliants
clasp, and it is to these that they extend their hands; it is the knees
that they worship like so many altars, as it were; perhaps, because in
them is centred the vital strength. For in the joint of either knee,
the right as well as the left, there is on the fore-side of each a
certain empty space, which bears a strong resemblance to a mouth, and
through which, like the throat, if it is once pierced, the vital powers
escape.[339] There are also certain religious ideas attached to other
parts of the body, as is testified in raising the back of the right
hand to the lips, and extending it as a token of good faith. It was
the custom of the ancient Greeks, when in the act of supplication, to
touch the chin. The seat of the memory lies in the lower part of the
ear, which we touch when we summon a witness to depose upon memory to
an arrest.[340] The seat, too, of Nemesis[341] lies behind the right
ear, a goddess which has never yet found a Latin name, no, not in the
Capitol even. It is to this part that we apply the finger next the
little finger, after touching the mouth with it, when we silently ask
pardon of the gods for having let slip an indiscreet word.
CHAP. 104.—VARICOSE VEINS.
Men only, in general, have varicose veins in the legs, women but very
rarely. We are informed by Oppius, that C. Marius, who was seven times
consul, was the only man ever known to be able to have them extracted
in a standing position.
CHAP. 105.—THE GAIT, THE FEET, THE LEGS.
All animals take a right-hand direction when they first begin to walk,
and lie down on the left side. While the other animals walk just as it
may happen, the lion only and the camel walk foot by foot, or in such a
way that the left foot never passes the right, but always comes behind
it. Men have the largest feet; in every kind of animal the female has
the smallest. Man only[342] has calves, and flesh upon the legs: we
find it stated by authors, however, that there was once an Egyptian who
had no calves on his legs. All men, too, with some few exceptions, have
a sole to the foot. It is from these exceptional cases that persons
have obtained the names of Plancus,[343] Plautus, Pansa, and Scaurus;
just as, from the malformation of the legs, we find persons called
Varus,[344] Vacia, and Vatinius, all which blemishes are to be seen
in quadrupeds also. Animals which have no horns have a solid hoof,
from which circumstance it is used by them as a weapon of offence, in
place of horns; such animals as these are also destitute of pastern
bones, but those which have cloven hoofs have them; while those, again,
which have toes have none, nor are they ever found in the fore-feet of
animals. The camel has pastern bones like those of the ox, but somewhat
smaller, the feet being cloven, with a slight line of division, and
having a fleshy sole, like that of the bear: hence it is, that in a
long journey, the animal becomes fatigued, and the foot cracks, if it
is not shod.
CHAP. 106. (46.)—HOOFS.
The horn of the hoof grows again in no animals except beasts of burden.
The swine in some places in Illyricum have solid hoofs. Nearly all
the horned animals are cloven-footed, no animal having solid hoofs
and two horns. The Indian ass is only a one-horned animal, and the
oryx is both one-horned and cloven-footed. The Indian ass[345] is the
only solid-hoofed animal that has pastern-bones. As to swine, they are
looked upon as a sort of mongrel race, with a mixture of both kinds,
and hence it is that their ankle-bones are so misshapen. Those authors
who have imagined that man has similar pastern-bones, are easily to
be confuted. The lynx is the only one among the animals that have the
feet divided into toes, that has anything bearing a resemblance to a
pastern-bone; while with the lion it is more crooked still. The great
pastern-bone is straight, and situate in the joints of the foot; it
projects outwards in a convex protuberance, and is held fast in its
vertebration by certain ligaments.
CHAP. 107. (47.)—THE FEET OF BIRDS.
Among birds, some have the feet divided into toes, while others, again,
are broad and flatfooted—in others, which partake of the intermediate
nature of both, the toes are divided, with a wide space between them.
All birds, however, have four toes—three in front, and one on the
heel; this last, however, is wanting in some that have long legs. The
iynx[346] is the only bird that has two toes on each side of the leg.
This bird also protrudes a long tongue similar to that of the serpent,
and it can turn the neck quite round and look backwards; it has great
talons, too, like those of the jackdaw. Some of the heavier birds
have spurs also upon the legs; but none of those have them which have
crooked talons as well. The long-footed birds, as they fly, extend
the legs towards the tail, while those that have short legs hold them
contracted close to the middle of the body. Those authors who deny
that there is any bird without feet, assert that those even which are
called apodes,[347] are not without them, as also the oce, and the
drepanis,[348] which last is a bird but very rarely seen. Serpents,
too, have been seen with feet like those of the goose.
CHAP. 108. (48.)—THE FEET OF ANIMALS, FROM THOSE HAVING TWO FEET TO
THOSE WITH A HUNDRED.—DWARFS.
Among insects, those which have hard eyes have the fore-feet long, in
order that from time to time they may rub the eyes with their feet, as
we frequently see done by flies. The insects which have long hind-feet
are able to leap, the locust, for instance. All these insects have six
feet: and some of the spiders have two very long feet in addition.
They have, all of them, three joints. We have already[349] stated that
marine insects have eight feet, such as the polypus, the sæpia, the
cuttle-fish, and the crab, animals which move their arms in a contrary
direction to their feet, which last they move around as well as
obliquely: they are the only animals the feet of which have a rounded
form. Other insects have two feet to regulate their movements; in the
crab, and in that only, these duties are performed by four. The land
animals which exceed this number of feet, as most of the worms,[350]
never have fewer than twelve feet, and some, indeed, as many as a
hundred. The number of feet is never uneven in any animal. Among the
solid-hoofed animals, the legs are of their proper length from the
moment of their birth, after which they may with more propriety be said
to extend themselves than to increase in growth: hence it is, that in
infancy they are able to scratch their ears with the hind feet, a thing
which, when they grow older, they are not able to do, because their
increase of growth affects only the superficies of the body. It is for
the same reason also, that they are only able to graze at first by
bending the knees, until such time as the neck has attained its proper
length.
(49.) There are dwarfs to be found among all animals, and among birds
even.
CHAP. 109.—THE SEXUAL PARTS.—HERMAPHRODITES.
We have already spoken sufficiently[351] at length of those animals,
the males of which have the sexual parts behind. In the wolf, the
fox, the weasel, and the ferret, these parts are bony; and it is the
genitals of the last-mentioned animal that supply the principal
remedies for calculus in the human bladder. It is said also that the
genitals of the bear are turned into a horny substance the moment it
dies. Among the peoples of the East the very best bow-strings are those
which are made of the member of the camel. These parts also, among
different nations, are made the object of certain usages[352] and
religious observances; and the Galli,[353] the priests of the Mother
of the gods, are in the habit of castrating themselves, without any
dangerous results. On the other hand, there is in some few women a
monstrous resemblance to the male conformation, while hermaphrodites
appear to partake of the nature of both. Instances of this last
conformation were seen in quadrupeds in Nero’s reign, and for the first
time, I imagine; for he ostentatiously paraded hermaphrodite horses
yoked to his car, which had been found in the territory of the Treviri,
in Gaul; as if, indeed, it was so remarkably fine a sight to behold the
ruler of the earth seated in a chariot drawn by monstrosities!
CHAP. 110.—THE TESTES—THE THREE CLASSES OF EUNUCHS.
In sheep and cattle the testes hang down to the legs, while in the
boar they are knit up close to the body. In the dolphin they are
very long, and are concealed in the lower part of the belly. In the
elephant, also, they are quite concealed. In oviparous animals they
adhere to the interior of the loins: these animals are the most speedy
in the venereal congress. Fishes and serpents have no testes, but in
place of them they have two veins, which run from the renal region to
the genitals. The bird known as the “buteo,”[354] has three testes.
Man is the only creature in which the testes are ever broken, either
accidentally or by some natural malady; those who are thus afflicted
form a third class of half men, in addition to hermaphrodites and
eunuchs. In all species of animals the male is more courageous than the
female, with the exception of the panther and the bear.
CHAP. 111. (50.)—THE TAILS OF ANIMALS.
Nearly all the animals, both viviparous as well as oviparous, with
the exception of man and the ape, have tails in proportion to the
necessities of the body. In animals with bristles the tail is bare, as
in the boar, for instance. In those that are shaggy, it is small, such
as the bear; while in those animals that have long hair, the tail is
long also, the horse, for instance. The tail of a lizard or serpent, if
cut off, will grow again. The tail governs the movements of the fish
like a rudder, and turning from side to side, to the right or to the
left, impels it onwards, acting in some degree like an oar. A double
tail is sometimes found in lizards. In oxen, the stalk of the tail is
of remarkable length, and is covered with rough hair at the extremity.
In the ass, too, it is longer than in the horse, but in beasts of
burden it is covered with bristly hairs. The tail of the lion, at the
extremity, is like that of the ox and the field-mouse; but this is not
the case with the panther. In the fox and the wolf it is covered with
long hair, as in sheep, in which it is longer also. In swine, the tail
is curled; among dogs, those that are mongrels carry it close beneath
the belly.
CHAP. 112. (51.)—THE DIFFERENT VOICES OF ANIMALS.
Aristotle[355] is of opinion that no animal has a voice which does
not respire, and that hence it is that there is no voice in insects,
but only a noise, through the circulation of the air in the interior,
and its resounding, by reason of its compression. Some insects,
again, he says, emit a sort of humming noise, such as the bee, for
instance; others a shrill, long-drawn note, like the grasshopper, the
two cavities beneath the thorax receiving the air, which, meeting a
moveable membrane within, emits a sound by the attrition.—Also that
flies, bees, and other insects of that nature, are only heard while
they are flying, and cease to be heard the moment they settle, and
that the sound which they emit proceeds from the friction and the air
within them, and not from any act of respiration. At all events, it is
generally believed that the locust emits a sound by rubbing together
the wings and thighs, and that among the aquatic animals the scallop
makes a certain noise as it flies.[356] Mollusks, however, and the
testaceous animals have no voice and emit no sounds. As for the other
fishes, although they are destitute of lungs and the tracheal artery,
they are not entirely without the power of emitting certain sounds: it
is only a mere joke to say that the noise which they make is produced
by grating their teeth together. The fish, too, that is found in the
river Acheloüs, and is known as the boar-fish,[357] makes a grunting
noise, as do some others which we have previously[358] mentioned. The
oviparous animals hiss: in the serpent this hissing is prolonged, in
the tortoise it is short and abrupt. Frogs make a peculiar noise of
their own, as already stated;[359] unless, indeed, this, too, is to
be looked upon as a matter of doubt; but their noise originates in
the mouth, and not in the thorax. Still, however, in reference to
this subject, the nature of the various localities exercises a very
considerable influence, for in Macedonia, it is said, the frogs are
dumb, and the same in reference to the wild boars there. Among birds,
the smaller ones chirp and twitter the most, and more especially
about the time of pairing. Others, again, exercise their voice while
fighting, the quail, for instance; others before they begin to fight,
such as the partridge; and others when they have gained the victory,
the dunghill cock, for instance. The males in these species have a
peculiar note of their own, while in others, the nightingale for
example, the male has the same note as the female.
Some birds sing all the year round, others only at certain times of the
year, as we have already mentioned when speaking of them individually.
The elephant produces a noise similar to that of sneezing, by the aid
of the mouth, and independently of the nostrils; but by means of the
nostrils it emits a sound similar to the hoarse braying of a trumpet.
It is only in the bovine race that the voice of the female is the
deepest, it being in all other kinds of animals more shrill than that
of the male; it is the same also with the male of the human race when
castrated. The infant at its birth is never heard to utter a cry before
it has entirely left the uterus: it begins to speak at the end of the
first year. A son of Crœsus,[360] however, spoke when only six months
old, and, while yet wielding the child’s rattle, afforded portentous
omens, for it was at the same period that his father’s empire fell.
Those children which begin to speak the soonest, begin to walk the
latest. The human voice acquires additional strength at the fourteenth
year; but in old age it becomes more shrill again, and there is no
living creature in which it is subject to more frequent changes.
In addition to the preceding, there are still some singular
circumstances that deserve to be mentioned with reference to the voice.
If saw-dust or sand is thrown down in the orchestra of a theatre, or if
the walls around are left in a rough state, or empty casks are placed
there, the voice is absorbed; while, on the other hand, if the wall
is quite straight, or if built in a concave form, the voice will move
along it, and will convey words spoken in the slightest whisper from
one end[361] to the other, if there is no inequality in the surface to
impede its progress. The voice, in man, contributes in a great degree
to form his physiognomy, for we form a knowledge of a man before we
see him by hearing his voice, just as well[362] as if we had seen him
with our eyes. There are as many kinds of voices, too, as there are
individuals in existence, and each man has his own peculiar voice, just
as much as his own peculiar physiognomy. Hence it is, that arises that
vast diversity of nations and languages throughout the whole earth:
in this, too, originate the many tunes, measures, and inflexions that
exist. But, before all other things, it is the voice that serves to
express our sentiments,[363] a power that distinguishes us from the
beasts; just as, in the same way, the various shades and differences in
language that exist among men have created an equally marked difference
between us and the brutes.
CHAP. 113. (52.)—SUPERFLUOUS LIMBS.
Supernumerary limbs, when they grow on animals, are of no use, which
is the case also with the sixth finger, when it grows on man. It
was thought proper in Egypt to rear a human monster, that had two
additional eyes in the back part of the head; it could not see with
them, however.
CHAP. 114.—SIGNS OF VITALITY AND OF THE MORAL DISPOSITION OF MAN, FROM
THE LIMBS.
I am greatly surprised that Aristotle has not only believed, but has
even committed it to writing, that there are in the human body certain
prognostics of the duration of life. Although I am quite convinced of
the utter futility of these remarks, and am of opinion that they ought
not to be published without hesitation, for fear lest each person might
be anxiously looking out for these prognostics in his own person, I
shall still make some slight mention of the subject, seeing that so
learned a man as Aristotle did not treat it with contempt. He has set
down the following as indications of a short life—few teeth, very long
fingers, a leaden colour, and numerous broken lines in the palm of the
hand. On the other hand, he looks upon the following as prognostics of
a long life—stooping in the shoulders, one or two long unbroken lines
in the hand, a greater number than two-and-thirty teeth, and large
ears. He does not, I imagine, require that all these symptoms should
unite in one person, but looks upon them as individually significant:
in my opinion, however, they are utterly frivolous, all of them,
although they obtain currency among the vulgar. Our own writer, Trogus,
has in a similar manner set down the physiognomy as indicative of the
moral disposition; one of the very gravest of the Roman authors, whose
own[364] words I will here subjoin:—
“Where the forehead is broad, it is significant of a dull and sluggish
understanding beneath; and where it is small, it indicates an unsteady
disposition. A rounded forehead denotes an irascible temper, it seeming
as though the swelling anger had left its traces there. Where the
eye-brows are extended in one straight line, they denote effeminacy
in the owner, and when they are bent downwards towards the nose, an
austere disposition. On the other hand, when the eye-brows are bent
towards the temples, they are indicative of a sarcastic disposition;
but when they lie very low, they denote malice and envy. Long eyes
are significant of a spiteful, malicious nature; and where the
corners of the eyes next the nose are fleshy, it is a sign also of a
wicked disposition. If the white of the eye is large, it bears tokens
of impudence, while those who are incessantly closing the eyelids
are inconstant. Largeness of the ears is a sign of loquacity and
foolishness.” Thus much of what Trogus says.
CHAP. 115. (53.)—RESPIRATION AND NUTRIMENT.
The breath of the lion is fetid, and that of the bear quite
pestilential; indeed, no beast will touch anything with which its
breath has come in contact, and substances which it has breathed upon
will become putrid sooner than others. It is in man only that Nature
has willed that the breath should become tainted in several ways,
either through faultiness in the victuals or the teeth, or else, as is
more generally the case, through extreme old age. Our breath in itself
was insensible to all pain, utterly devoid as it was of all powers
of touch and feeling, without which there can be no sensation; ever
renewed, it was always forthcoming, destined to be the last adjunct
that shall leave the body, and the only one to remain when all is
gone beside; it drew, in fine, its origin from heaven. In spite of
all this, however, certain penalties were discovered to be indicted
upon it, so that the very substance by the aid of which we live might
become a torment to us in life. This inconvenience is more particularly
experienced among the Parthians, from their youth upwards, on account
of the indiscriminate use of food among them; and, indeed, their very
excess in wine causes their breath to be fetid. The grandees, however,
of that nation have a remedy for bad breath in the pips of the Assyrian
citron,[365] which they mix with their food, and the aroma of which
is particularly agreeable. The breath of the elephant will attract
serpents from their holes, while that of the stag scorches them. We
have already made mention[366] of certain races of men who could by
suction extract from the body the venom of serpents; and swine will
even eat serpents,[367] which to other animals are poisonous. All those
creatures which we have spoken of as insects, can be killed by merely
sprinkling them with oil.[368] Vultures, which are put to flight by
unguents, are attracted by other odours: the beetle, too, is attracted
by the rose. The scorpion puts to death certain serpents. The Scythians
dip their arrows in the poison of serpents and human blood: against
this frightful composition there is no remedy, for with the slightest
touch it is productive of instant death.
CHAP. 116.—ANIMALS WHICH WHEN FED UPON POISON DO NOT DIE, AND THE FLESH
OF WHICH IS POISONOUS.
The animals which feed upon poison have been already[369] mentioned.
Some of them, which are harmless of themselves, become noxious if
fed upon venomous substances. The wild boar of Pamphylia and the
mountainous parts of Cilicia, after having devoured a salamander,
will become poisonous to those who eat its flesh; and yet the danger
is quite imperceptible by reason of any peculiarity in the smell and
taste. The salamander, too, will poison either water or wine, in which
it happens to be drowned; and what is more, if it has only drunk
thereof, the liquid becomes poisonous. The same is the case, too, with
the frog known to us as the bramble-frog. So numerous are the snares
that are laid in wait for life! Wasps greedily devour the flesh of the
serpent, a nutriment which renders their stings fatal; so vast is the
difference to be found between one kind of food and another. In the
country, too, of the Ichthyophagi,[370] as we learn from Theophrastus,
the oxen are fed upon fish, but only when alive.
CHAP. 117.—REASONS FOR INDIGESTION. REMEDIES FOR CRUDITY.
The most wholesome nutriment for man is plain food. An accumulation of
flavours is injurious, and still more so, if heightened by sauces. All
acrid elements are difficult of digestion, and the same is the case if
food is devoured greedily, or in too large quantities. Food is also
less easily digested in summer than in winter, and in old age than in
youth. The vomits which man has invented, by way of remedy for this
evil, render the body more cold, and are more particularly injurious to
the eyes and teeth.
CHAP. 118.—FROM WHAT CAUSES CORPULENCE ARISES; HOW IT MAY BE REDUCED.
Digestion during sleep is more productive of corpulence than strength.
Hence it is, that it is preferable for athletes to quicken digestion
by walking. Watching, at night more especially, promotes digestion of
the food.
(54.) The size of the body is increased by eating sweet and fatty
substances, as well as by drinking, while, on the other hand, it is
diminished by eating dry, acrid, or cold substances, and by abstaining
from drink. Some animals of Africa, as well as sheep, drink but once
every four days. Abstinence from food for seven days, even, is not of
necessity fatal to man; and it is a well-known fact, that many persons
have not died till after an abstinence of eleven days. Man is the only
animal that is ever attacked with an insatiate[371] craving for food.
CHAP. 119.—WHAT THINGS, BY MERELY TASTING OF THEM, ALLAY HUNGER AND
THIRST.
On the other hand, there are some substances which, tasted in small
quantities only, appease hunger and thirst, and keep up the strength,
such as butter, for instance, cheese made of mares’ milk, and
liquorice. But the most pernicious thing of all, and in every station
of life, is excess, and more especially excess in food; in fact, it
is the most prudent plan to retrench everything that may be possibly
productive of injury. Let us, however, now pass on to the other
branches of Nature.
SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, two
thousand, two hundred, and seventy.
ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—M. Varro,[372] Hyginus,[373] Scrofa,[374]
Saserna,[375] Celsus Cornelius,[376] Æmilius Macer,[377] Virgil,[378]
Columella,[379] Julius Aquila[380] who wrote on the Tuscan art of
Divination, Tarquitius[381] who wrote on the same subject, Umbricius
Melior[382] who wrote on the same subject, Cato the Censor,[383]
Domitius Calvinus,[384] Trogus,[385] Melissus,[386] Fabianus,[387]
Mucianus,[388] Nigidius,[389] Manilius,[390] Oppius.[391]
FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Aristotle,[392] Democritus,[393]
Neoptolemus[394] who wrote the Meliturgica, Aristomachus[395] who wrote
on the same subject, Philistus[396] who wrote on the same subject,
Nicander,[397] Menecrates,[398] Dionysius[399] who translated Mago,
Empedocles,[400] Callimachus,[401] King Attalus,[402] Apollodorus[403]
who wrote on venomous animals, Hippocrates,[404] Herophilus,[405]
Erasistratus,[406] Asclepiades,[407] Themison,[408] Posidonius[409]
the Stoic, Menander[410] of Priene and Menander[411] of Heraclea,
Euphronius[412] of
Athens, Theophrastus,[413] Hesiod,[414] King
Philometor.[415]