登陆注册
5260800000012

第12章 1(2)

Animals, then, are composed of homogeneous parts, and are also composed of heterogeneous parts. The former, however, exist for the sake of the latter. For the active functions and operations of the body are carried on by these; that is, by the heterogeneous parts, such as the eye, the nostril, the whole face, the fingers, the hand, and the whole arm. But inasmuch as there is a great variety in the functions and motions not only of aggregate animals but also of the individual organs, it is necessary that the substances out of which these are composed shall present a diversity of properties. For some purposes softness is advantageous, for others hardness; some parts must be capable of extension, others of flexion. Such properties, then, are distributed separately to the different homogeneous parts, one being soft another hard, one fluid another solid, one viscous another brittle; whereas each of the heterogeneous parts presents a combination of multifarious properties. For the hand, to take an example, requires one property to enable it to effect pressure, and another and different property for simple prehension. For this reason the active or executive parts of the body are compounded out of bones, sinews, flesh, and the like, but not these latter out of the former.

So far, then, as has yet been stated, the relations between these two orders of parts are determined by a final cause. We have, however, to inquire whether necessity may not also have a share in the matter; and it must be admitted that these mutual relations could not from the very beginning have possibly been other than they are.

For heterogeneous parts can be made up out of homogeneous parts, either from a plurality of them, or from a single one, as is the case with some of the viscera which, varying in configuration, are yet, to speak broadly, formed from a single homogeneous substance; but that homogeneous substances should be formed out of a combination of heterogeneous parts is clearly an impossibility. For these causes, then, some parts of animals are simple and homogeneous, while others are composite and heterogeneous; and dividing the parts into the active or executive and the sensitive, each one of the former is, as before said, heterogeneous, and each one of the latter homogeneous.

For it is in homogeneous parts alone that sensation can occur, as the following considerations show.

Each sense is confined to a single order of sensibles, and its organ must be such as to admit the action of that kind or order. But it is only that which is endowed with a property in posse that is acted on by that which has the like property in esse, so that the two are the same in kind, and if the latter is single so also is the former.

Thus it is that while no physiologists ever dream of saying of the hand or face or other such part that one is earth, another water, another fire, they couple each separate sense-organ with a separate element, asserting this one to be air and that other to be fire.

Sensation, then, is confined to the simple or homogeneous parts.

But, as might reasonably be expected, the organ of touch, though still homogeneous, is yet the least simple of all the sense-organs. For touch more than any other sense appears to be correlated to several distinct kinds of objects, and to recognize more than one category of contrasts, heat and cold, for instance, solidity and fluidity, and other similar oppositions. Accordingly, the organ which deals with these varied objects is of all the sense-organs the most corporeal, being either the flesh, or the substance which in some animals takes the place of flesh.

Now as there cannot possibly be an animal without sensation, it follows as a necessary consequence that every animal must have some homogeneous parts; for these alone are capable of sensation, the heterogeneous parts serving for the active functions. Again, as the sensory faculty, the motor faculty, and the nutritive faculty are all lodged in one and the same part of the body, as was stated in a former treatise, it is necessary that the part which is the primary seat of these principles shall on the one hand, in its character of general sensory recipient, be one of the simple parts; and on the other hand shall, in its motor and active character, be one of the heterogeneous parts. For this reason it is the heart which in sanguineous animals constitutes this central part, and in bloodless animals it is that which takes the place of a heart. For the heart, like the other viscera, is one of the homogeneous parts; for, if cut up, its pieces are homogeneous in substance with each other. But it is at the same time heterogeneous in virtue of its definite configuration. And the same is true of the other so-called viscera, which are indeed formed from the same material as the heart. For all these viscera have a sanguineous character owing to their being situated upon vascular ducts and branches. For just as a stream of water deposits mud, so the various viscera, the heart excepted, are, as it were, deposits from the stream of blood in the vessels. And as to the heart, the very starting-point of the vessels, and the actual seat of the force by which the blood is first fabricated, it is but what one would naturally expect, that out of the selfsame nutriment of which it is the recipient its own proper substance shall be formed.

Such, then, are the reasons why the viscera are of sanguineous aspect; and why in one point of view they are homogeneous, in another heterogeneous.

同类推荐
  • 慧命经

    慧命经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 鬻子古文龙虎经

    鬻子古文龙虎经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 金刚映

    金刚映

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 隋唐嘉话

    隋唐嘉话

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Twenty Years at Hull House

    Twenty Years at Hull House

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 王者荣耀的穿越之旅

    王者荣耀的穿越之旅

    【2018王者荣耀文学大赛·征文参赛作品】洪淇终于挤过高考独木桥,步入了人生最快乐的大学时光,怎么少掉游戏,可,可,这是怎么回事.....他不过是想找个安静的地方好好打个游戏.....怎么进去了??书友群:746395277
  • 侠气逼人

    侠气逼人

    异世界如果发生了灵气复苏会怎么样?这里有江湖儿女,这里有妖魔作祟。这里还有武当、少林等千古大派。这里也有恐惧,黑暗,无数灵异。幸运的是,张元随身携带了一个功德面板,里面有一本秘籍,名为九阳神功!只要不断地积累功德,他就可以不断变强,与妖魔战斗。于是乎```张元开始了异世界的好人好事之行。~~~建了群,欢迎各位:912136027
  • 末世OZ

    末世OZ

    公元2120年,一场红雨拉开了末世的帷幕。丧尸围城,一片死气沉沉。夏寒,前世被渣男贱女所迷惑和诱导,失去了弟弟,并且连命都没了。这世,她携空间归来,手刃仇人,保护弟弟,登上末世之颠。可……这个前世和自己有着完全不同人生的男人突然闯入她的世界是怎么回事?“你需要温暖,我可以给你。”……也许,这一世,她不再孤单。
  • 重生之文学女神

    重生之文学女神

    一只神笔,让我回到了初中时代,让当初错过了作家梦而成为编辑的我重新拾起了自己的大神梦。但是,重生了,为什么我还要穿越到各个时代寻找晶片!神笔有任务布置,完成任务文笔+1,灵感+1,运气+1,人缘+1,技巧+1,…什么!还有神秘奖励!好吧,面对各种早期的新人,后世的大神们,任务也层出不穷,且看我如何奋斗,成长为一代大神吧。
  • 田园小当家

    田园小当家

    重生农家小萝莉,人多事多极品多; 爹娘是个受气包,姐弟几人挨欺负。 日子可咋过呢? 不怕不怕,有极品灵泉和异能; 带着家人奔小康,做个威风八面的地主婆! -----------*******---------- 感谢《妇贵荣华》作者未眠君制作的精美封面,十分喜欢,么么哒!! 新人新文粉嫩嫩,子画拜求收藏、推荐票、留言、点击等一切包养支持,群么么!!
  • 包法利夫人

    包法利夫人

    《包法利夫人》于1856—1857年间在《巴黎杂志》上连载,轰动文坛,在社会上引起轩然大波。司法当局对作者提起公诉,指控小说“伤风败俗、亵渎宗教”,并传唤作者到庭受审,最终以“宣判无罪”收场,而隐居乡野、籍籍无名的作者从此奠定了自己的文学声誉和在文学史上的地位。曾有人问福楼拜,谁是包法利夫人的原型,他答道:“包法利夫人就是我自己。”
  • 风火天下

    风火天下

    【逍遥诛仙阁出品】你穿他穿大家都穿,我为什么不穿?你行他行大家都行,我为什么不行?同样的穿越不一样的内容,且看猪脚是怎样风火天下…喜欢的收起来!爱看的藏起来!推荐点击动起来!每天的更新会爆起来!群号13783103有兴趣的朋友可以加加,一起讨论!
  • 人物不打折扣

    人物不打折扣

    《人物不打折扣》收录了老舍先生描写人物的多篇经典散文和长篇小说《骆驼祥子》。这些作品用有声有色、生动活泼的语言,刻画了当时一些人物的形象,在他所描绘的范围之内,将一年四季的自然景色、不同时代的社会气氛、风俗习惯,及各种人物的喜怒哀乐、微妙心态都结合在一起。让人在历史和现实之中品味生活人生百态。
  • 现代医学(世界科技百科)

    现代医学(世界科技百科)

    本套青少年科普知识读物综合了中外最新科技的研究成果,具有很强的科学性、知识性、前沿性、可读性和系统性,是青少年了解科技、增长知识、开阔视野、提高素质、激发探索和启迪智慧的良好科谱读物,也是各级图书馆珍藏的最佳版本。
  • 决世屠尊

    决世屠尊

    乱世红尘,卷一地风风雨雨,天马行空,挥世事豪情。爱字不放手,战字不低头!萧萧乾坤,谁为红颜……