Outlines of Pyrrhonism

...judgments of those things which fall under the eyes. It is therefore reasonable that whichever animals have an oblique and long pupil—such as goats, cats, and the like—conceive a different impression original: phantasiam; the mental image or "appearance" produced when the mind receives sensory input. of the objects before them, and not the same one as those that have a round pupil. Moreover, even a mirror, according to how it has been fashioned in one way or another, sometimes shows us things outside of it as smaller (as when it is concave), and sometimes long and narrow (as when it is curved). There are also mirrors which show the head of the person looking into them to be at the bottom, and the feet at the top.

Since, therefore, of the vessels surrounding the sense of sight, some are so spread out that they bulge outward, others are more hollow, and others lie on a flat plane, it is reasonable that, because of this, impressions also vary. Thus, dogs, fish, lions, humans, and locusts do not see the same things as equal in size or similar in form; rather, they see according to the specific impression produced as the sight receives what appears.

The same reasoning applies to the other senses as well. For how can it be said that they are affected similarly in touch—creatures with shells, those with soft flesh, those bristling with spines, those with feathers, and those with scales? Or how can they receive similar things through hearing—the animal that has a very narrow auditory passage, and that which has a very wide one? Or those whose ears are hairy, and those whose ears, by contrast, are smooth? We know this even from ourselves, for we are affected differently in our hearing when our ears are partially blocked, and differently when we use them as nature intended.

Furthermore, the sense of smell must be different according to the variety of animals. For if we are indeed moved one way when we are chilled and phlegm original: pituita; in ancient medicine, one of the four "humors" or bodily fluids believed to influence health and temperament. is abundant in us, and another way if the parts around our head have received an abundance of blood (to the point that we are repulsed by things that seem sweet-smelling to others, and feel as if we are being struck by them), the same must be true for all. Since some animals are by nature moist and full of phlegm, others have much blood, and others have a prevailing and abundant supply of yellow or black bile original: bilem; ancient physicians believed an imbalance of yellow or black bile caused various illnesses and distorted perceptions., it would certainly be a wonder if each of them...