Harvey's Views on the Use of the Circulation of the BloodCurtis, John Green
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Harvey's Views on the Use of the Circulation of the Blood
Curtis, John Green
Blood -- Circulation; Harvey, William, 1578-1657
[316] The Latin translation of this passage which is quoted by
Harvey reads: "_Omnis animae sive potentia_, etc." The Greek text of
Aristotle reads: "πάσης μὲν ὀῦν ψυχῆς δὺναμις," κ.τ.λ.,
meaning "the faculty of every soul." In the part of the chapter
which just precedes this passage Aristotle discourses of "the
nutritive soul," "the sensory soul," and "the intellectual soul";
and the context makes it clear that the words of the passage quoted
by Harvey refer to the faculty of every kind of soul, and not simply
to the faculty of the soul of every living being.
[317] ἑτέρου σώματος ἔοικε κεκοινωνηκέναι, κ.τ.λ. The
Latin translation of these words, which is quoted by Harvey, reads:
"_corpus aliud participare videtur_." Regarding the significance
of κεκοινωνηκέναι in this passage compare Aristotle:
Economics, 1343a, 10-12; although this treatise is now believed to
be not by Aristotle himself, but by a later member of his school.
[318] Aristotle: On the Generation of Animals, 736_b_, 33 to 737_a_,
1.
[319] πνεῦμα (_Pneuma_).
[320] The following are the words of Aristotle which Harvey omits
from his quotation:--
"and, moreover, as the souls differ one from another in nobility
and ignobleness, so too does the nature aforesaid differ."
(Aristotle: On the Generation of Animals, 736_b_, 31-33.)
If these words be read in their proper connection, it becomes clear
that "the nature which is analogous to the element of the stars"
is the same as "the nature aforesaid" (ἡ τοιαύτη φύσις),
which is the "body other than the so-called elements and more
divine." Fire is repeatedly styled a "body" by Aristotle, it being
one of the four "simple bodies" (ἁπλᾶ σώματα) or elements.
Compare Aristotle: On Generation and Corruption, 330_b_, 1-3. We
shall find that Harvey in his turn styles fire a "body" (_corpus_).
See Harvey: On Generation, LXXI, Syd. 506, l. 26-31; Op. Omn. 527,
l. 28 to 528, l. 1.
The Latin translation of Aristotle which Harvey quotes reads, in
dealing with the "spirits": "_spiritus qui in semine spumosoque
corpore continetur, et natura quae in eo spiritu est proportione
respondens elemento stellarum_." (Aristotle: On the Generation of
Animals, Vol. III, 360_b_, 4-5.) The Greek text reads: τὸ
ἐμπεριλαμβανόμενον ἐν τῷ σπέρματι καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀφρώδει πνεῦμα καὶ ἐν τῷ πνεύματι φύσις,
ἀνάλογον ὀῦσα τῷ τῶν ἄστρων στοιχείῳ (736_b_, 35 to 737_a_, 1). Two
manuscripts omit "ἐν" before "τῷ πνεύματι."
In the chapter immediately preceding Aristotle says:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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