Page:Aristotelous peri psuxes.djvu/331

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CH. XII.]
NOTES.
321

CHAPTER XII.

Note 1, p. 186. Simple or homogeneous bodies, &c.] There is no clue in Aristotle's writings to the meaning of "simple (or homogeneous) bodies" (τὸ σῶμα ἁπλοῦν), unless it be the Acalepha[1], "the body of which, like that of the oyster, is said to be altogether fleshy, but, unlike the oyster, to be without a shell; and it is further said to belong rather to plants than animals." But as in the following chapter it is shewn that an animal body, if homogeneous, cannot exist, so the tenor of the whole argument may be, to shew that no animal body can be homogeneous.

Note 2, p. 187. As to creatures which are fixed, &c.] These include such species of the Testacea as are fixed to one habitat, and derive nutriment from the water with which they are surrounded; but it is not easy to determine what is meant by the term ἀγεννήτον, (spontaneously generated,) as this mode of reproduction was attributed, by Aristotle, to some fishes and eels, which are certainly neither homogeneous nor insentient.

Note 3, p. 188. The other senses, being for, &c.] It may be questioned whether this description is absolutely true,

  1. Hist. Animalm, IV 6, 6. VIII. 1. 7.