Aristotle's History of Animals: In Ten BooksAristotle
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Aristotle's History of Animals: In Ten Books
Aristotle
Zoology -- Pre-Linnaean works
2. This is not alike in all animals, for the cranium of some consists
of a single bone, as in the dog; in others it is compound, as in the
human subject. The female has one suture, in a circle; the male has
three, meeting at the top of the head, like a triangle; and human
skulls have been seen without sutures. The head is not composed of four
bones, but of six; two of these are placed above the ears, and are
small compared with the rest.
3. From the head the jaw-bones descend. All other animals move the
lower jaw, the river-crocodile alone moves the upper jaw. In the jaws
are the order of the teeth, which are bony, in some parts they are
perforated, in others they are not. These are the only bones too hard
to be engraved.
4. From the spinal-column, which is the point of union, originate the
clavicles and ribs; the breast also is placed upon the ribs, and some
of these are united, others are not, for no animal has a bone round
the stomach. There are also the scapulæ upon the shoulders, and these
are continued upon the arms, and those again to the hands; and in all
animals with fore legs the nature of the bone is the same.
5. At the extremity of the lower part of the spinal column, and next
to the hip, is the socket, and the bones of the lower extremity,
with those of the thigh and leg, which are called the colenes. The
ancles form a portion of these, and the part called the spur in all
creatures with ancles. Continuous with these are the bones of the feet.
Viviparous animals with blood and feet do not differ much in their
bones, but rather by analogy, in hardness, softness, and size. Again,
some of the bones contain marrow, whilst others, in the same animal,
have none.
6. Some animals do not appear to have any marrow at all in their
bones, as the lion, whose bones are very small and slight: or there
may be marrow in a few of its bones, as in those of the thigh and fore
leg; otherwise, in the lion, the bones are particularly solid, for
they are sufficiently hard to emit fire like stones on concussion.
The dolphin also has bones, but it has no spine, like fish. Some
sanguineous animals differ partially from these, as the class of birds.
In others, as fish, the bones are only analogous, for viviparous fish
have a cartilaginous spine, like those which are called selachea; the
oviparous fish have a spine, which is like the backbone of quadrupeds.
7. It is a peculiarity in fish that some species have small spines in
the flesh separated from each other. Serpents are like fish, for their
back-bone is spinous; among oviparous quadrupeds the greater animals
have a bony vertebral column; the lesser have a spinous one.
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