History of Serpents and Dragons

History of Serpents and Dragons, Book I.

In the Book of Anatomies.

A They communicate [venom] by biting through the cavity of the tooth. The heart is small and long, representing the shape of kidneys; it is attached to the rear artery and is by nature very hot. For this reason, Galen A famous Greek physician in the Roman Empire used to teach that Serpents, among other living creatures, are filled with the greatest courage. The artery Here referring to the trachea or windpipe is very long and takes its origin near the mouth, so that it seems to be under the tongue; indeed, it seems in a way to stand before the tongue, because it contracts and does not remain in the same place as in other animals. This later ends in the lung, which snakes use, unlike fish. Wherefore Pliny Pliny the Elder, author of Natural History noted that all things in Serpents and fish are similar, except for the lung, which nature granted to Serpents and not to fish, since fish use gills in place of a lung.
What the Serpent's lung is like.

This lung is simple, fibrous, divided by tubes, very long, spongy, and not very close to the heart. Moreover, snakes do not have the "little tongue" which the Greeks call the epiglottida original: "ἐπιγλωττίδα"; the epiglottis, the flap that prevents food from entering the windpipe placed over the artery, but they contract or relax the passage itself at will, and they do this so that nothing slips down into the lung.
What the stomach is like.

Serpents have a stomach like a wide intestine, similar to a dog's—namely, narrow and of a long shape. The intestine,
Liver.

B lacking spines likely referring to small boney structures found in fish intestines, is thin and long, and is extended all the way to the passage for excrement. For the innards of Serpents are similar to the internal parts of lizards, but because of the length and narrowness of the body, the viscera are so long and cramped that they can hardly be distinguished from one another.
Spleen.

The liver, therefore, is long and simple; the spleen is small and round, just as we have observed these organs in lizards.
Placement of the bile

Bile Referring to the gallbladder or its contents, except in the water-snake original: "natricem", adheres to the intestines in all Serpents, and is filled with a certain black, liquid excrement, just as we recently saw in a female viper. This excrement is very abundant in comparison to the body size of the animal; wherefore Pliny rightly taught that Serpents, as well as fish, overflow with an abundance of bile. Aristotle notes that Serpents lack a bladder and kidneys, as do other animals covered with feathers, scales, or shells—except for the tortoise.
Book 20, ch. 3.

According to Vincent in his Natural Mirror Vincent of Beauvais, a 13th-century encyclopedist, this arises because the moisture of their blood is scant, just as in birds; and therefore, in Serpents, it turns into scales, and in birds, into feathers. Furthermore, nature has granted the power of making offspring to these animals just as to fish, even though they lack a penis and testicles.

Book 1 on the Generation of Animals, chapter 5.
Genital parts

C They lack these because they do not have legs, for the penis is said to have its origin from the legs. They were not allotted testicles because of the length of the body, but instead obtained a duct in the manner of fish; for if they had to travel a long way, the seed would easily be cooled and would become infertile. This often happens to those who are gifted by nature with a long penis, which makes them infertile, since the seed becomes chilled due to the length of the member and causes infertility. But in place of the aforementioned genital parts, nature has provided these creatures with two ducts which, starting from the diaphragm, creep along the side of the spine on both sides, and both are joined at the top near the spine, ending at the passage for excrement.
What the semen of Serpents is like.

At the time of mating, these ducts are seen to be full of the fluid for making offspring, and by mutual action a white seed flows out, just as was mentioned in the histories of fish. Breasts are not observed in snakes because they do not have milk, since that milky food is naturally contained within the egg. The womb or uterus, in Aristotle’s opinion, appears bifid split into two parts in all Serpents, extended longer from one lower passage and led down to each side of the spine; in this, the eggs are generated, and from there they

Book 1 on the Parts of Animals, ch. 9.

D usually emerge in a continuous series. Regarding the bones of snakes, Aristotle teaches that these are of the nature of spines; therefore, they possess a dorsal spine in the manner of fish. The vertebrae are cartilaginous and flexible, just as the nature of these animals required, so that they might more easily perform any movements and flexions of the body. There are as many ribs in snakes as there are days that complete a month; hence Pliny counted thirty ribs in individual snakes.

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Anatomical inspection of a Serpent.

Furthermore, in confirmation of those things which we have explained so far regarding the anatomy of Serpents, we shall add those things observed during the anatomical inspection of this animal by Johann Gregor Macer A 16th-century naturalist. Writing to Gessner Conrad Gessner, a famous Swiss naturalist, he reported that in a dissected Serpent, he first found a certain thin and somewhat fatty membrane between the skin and the flesh, which nonetheless came off with the skin itself. Secondly, while cutting the animal, when he reached the passage for excrement, he unwillingly encountered feces with a very heavy odor, surpassing that of human excrement. With the skin removed, he saw that the internal organs were common partly to birds and partly to fish. For the trachea descended as far as the lung, marked with small and slender rings for the length of four fingers; the heart and the gallbladder were attached to this lung.