Aristotle's Problems

THE PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS OF ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS CONCERNING QUADRUPEDS, THIRD SECTION, TRANSLATED INTO LATIN BY GIORGIO VALLA.

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Why are those things that are to be fattened most quickly fattened by the habit of mixed climates? Is it because the mixture possesses some rationale? For when it is mixed to the highest degree, it kills; or is it because heavy food rises and produces a heaviness of the head, and thus by drowsiness and heaviness it entices a perpetual sleep, just as mandrake does? Or is it because sleep fattens bodies to a great extent, as you will understand.

Why among quadrupeds and bipedal animals does the dung of oxen smell the least offensive? Is it because it is excellently concocted? For this may be observed from the fact that it is smooth and the food is simple, namely chaff. Yet complex food smells heavily, which is why that of humans is the most foul. Or we may conjecture that it is because the ox ruminates the most; and to ruminate is when food is changed from the first chewing into the second. Therefore, the superfluity is also made smooth, and it remains in the belly for a very long time, whence it smells the least; but that which is very fresh smells much more and more heavily.

Why do Libyan wild beasts not drink in summer, when thirst is especially produced, but drink in winter, when they ought to thirst less? Truly, it is because there is no water in Libya during the summer, and accordingly it is their custom not to drink; but in winter, because water abounds, they drink. Therefore, because it is customary for them there, when they are transferred to other places, they observe this out of habit.

Why are wild beasts of a single color? Truly, because their food is simple; for indifferent and varied dispositions color bodies more. This may be conjectured from the fact that domestic cocks are multicolored, being the most voracious of all birds among the others.

Why is wheat more difficult for quadrupeds to separate than barley? Truly, on account of the awns. For when the chaff is quickly stripped away, the finest part of it is held in the glumes because of the roughness of the awns; whereas barley is concocted because of the long time given to its concoction.

Why do those things which do not have a cloven hoof, such as horses and birds, remain as they were when born, and nothing increases from the hoof upward to the knee, in both the hind and forelegs? Men, however, are the opposite, for the lower parts grow far more. Truly, it is because men must walk upright; hence it was necessary for the lower parts to grow so they might more easily bear the weight of the body placed above. On the contrary, it is established that quadrupeds act differently, wherefore it was necessary for them to grow above, but for the lower parts to remain fixed. Thus, because of their posture, these things had to happen; and accordingly many young animals can easily scratch themselves with a hind foot, but when older they cannot at all. But it is the reverse for men, for boys cannot touch the lobe of their ear until a certain age.

Why do those not having a cloven hoof drink from flowing water, but those with cloven hooves, like oxen, drink rather from collected outflow? Truly, because oxen delight more in brackish waters; therefore they are also given salt with their food, or such a flavor is mixed in. Standing pools, therefore, have this quality; for that which is salty settles because of its weight. But animals having a cloven hoof drink sweet water more willingly and otherwise delight in those things offered to them.

Why do fattened sows grow more stiff from the cold? Truly, just as with fat men: for the fatter they become, the further they are from their own heat; and since they are more liable to this, their extremities must necessarily grow numb with stiffness. It is established that those things liable to stiffness easily feel the cold.

Why does man not suffer from "grandinatio," nor indeed any other animal besides pigs? This disease, "grandinatio"—that is, chalazesis—must be examined. As pustules are to men, so is "grandinatio" to pigs, and vice versa. Pustules are small tubercles; when they are many and overturned, they present a great and most troublesome matter of greater flux. Therefore, before the other is thus dissected, a listlessness is stirred up. Pustules do not arise like health, nor as something by nature, but in the full and the fat from an excess of bad nourishment. Wherefore they do not occur in every age, for pustules do not arise in children or the elderly, nor in the lean. In men, therefore, as was said, pustules are produced entirely because of the thinness of the skin; in pigs, however, because of fullness and obesity, and that kind of matter is quickly turned within the skin. If it is because of obesity, it will be an excess of superfluity; and just as they are produced in the natural ages, so in such animals "grandinatio" arises internally. When the year is favorable to that thing, then the pig cannot concoct its food; but at another time it concocts it very easily. Wherefore also the fattest...