CAP. X. ON EXTERNAL MEMBERS AND THEIR USE.

[The eyelids,] fringed with lashes, provide a most fitting barrier for the eyes. Their constant motion, meeting with incomprehensible speed, neither hinders the act of seeing nor tires the gaze. For the pupil—that is, the transparent membrane which must not be allowed to dry out and harden—becomes dull unless it is kept polished and bright by constant moisture. What of the summits of the eyebrows, adorned with short hairs? Do they not, like ramparts, provide both a defense for the eyes against anything falling from above and, at the same time, a pleasing appearance? From their junction, the nose rises and, stretched out like a level ridge, simultaneously separates and guards both eyes. Below, the not-unseemly swell of the cheeks, rising gently like hills, makes the eyes safer on all sides. It has been provided by the supreme Architect that if by chance a violent blow should occur, it is repelled by these projections. The upper part of the nose is fashioned to be solid up to the middle, but the lower part is softened by adhering cartilage so that it may be flexible for the use of the fingers. In this single member, three duties are established: one, the drawing in of breath; the second, the catching of scent; the third, the drainage of waste from the brain through its cavities. How wondrously, how divinely, God has fashioned these, yet in such a way that the opening of the nose itself would not deform the appearance of the mouth—which would clearly have been the case if one simple hole were open. Instead, He intersected and divided it as if by a wall led through the middle, and made it most beautiful through this very duplication. From this, we understand how much the dual number, solidified in one simple structure, contributes to the perfection of things.

For although the body is one, it could not consist entirely of simple members unless there were parts both to the right and to the left. And so, just as two feet and likewise two hands are valuable not only for some utility and use—whether for walking or for working—but also confer bearing and admirable beauty, so in the head, which is as the pinnacle of the entire divine work, both the sense of hearing is divided into two ears, the sight into two eyes, and the sense of smell into two nostrils by the supreme Architect. This is because the brain, in which the faculty of sensation resides, although it is one, is nevertheless separated into two parts by an intervening membrane. But even the heart, which seems to be the dwelling place of wisdom, although it is one, has two internal chambers containing fountains of living blood, divided by a septum a partition wall. Thus, just as in the world itself, the totality

But the Bov. manuscript reads in order.

Vallatæ Fenced/walled. Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, Book II: The eyelids are fortified as if by a rampart of hairs, by which, even with eyes open, if anything should fall [into them], it would be repelled, and when they are closed in sleep, when we have no need of eyes for seeing, they may rest as if shrouded. This passage is falsely cited in Nonius Marcellus from Book II of On the Orator. These things are taken from Plato, and Galen speaks similarly.

Et obarescere And to become hardened/dull. Cellarius, from the Goth. and Lips. editions, had published et arescere and to dry up; and I found this in the Reimm. manuscripts. Parrh., Paris., Junt., Ald., Crat., Erasm., Gymn., Fasit., Gryph., Torn., Bet., Thomas Isæus, Gall., and Spark prefer et obarescere. I have thought this compound word to be genuine, and I have not dared to prefer the less ancient manuscripts to so many editions which are almost equally old and taken from the most ancient manuscripts.

Superciliorum fastigia..... ne quid..... incidat The summits of the eyebrows... lest anything... fall [in]. Apuleius, Book I, Habits of Platonic Doctrine, p. 16: The peaks of the eyebrows protect the eyes, lest anything fall from above that might disturb the tender and soft visions.

Leniter exurgens Rising gently. So the manuscripts of the 3 Kings, 2 Bonon., 1 Colbert, and others, with almost all the common editions. In the Regio-Put. manuscripts, 5 other Royal, 4 Colbert, 5 others, and the Rom. 1470 and Gymnic. editions, it is read as leviter lightly; in 1 Colbert lenis gentle; Marm. levis smooth/light. I prefer to read leniter with Cellarius and other learned men, and this according to the character of the Latin language, as in Pliny, Book V, Epist. 6: The villa sits at the base of the hill, rising so gently and subtly with the slope failing, that when you do not think you are ascending, you feel that you have ascended. And Calpurnius, Eclogues 7, v. 25:

Eminentibus Projecting things. Heumann thinks it should be read as eminentia a projection.

Usque Until/as far as. Lacking in the Bov. manuscript.

Inferior autem cartilagine adhærente mollita, ut, etc. But the lower part [is] softened by adhering cartilage, so that, etc. Thus I have emended from the Regio-Put. manuscripts, 2 other Royal, 2 Colbert, Marm.?, Clarom., and Sangerm. And this seems to me the best reading of all. See the preceding. Others follow: 4 Royal, 4 Colbert, Goth., Em., Cant., Lips., Marm., Brun., and the Rom. 1470 edition, in which it is cartilagine adhæret mollita, erroneously. Almost all common editions divide it as molli ita, also erroneously; Spark reads cartilagini adhæret molli, ita ut.

Ut per ejus cavernas. From the manuscripts and many printed editions, ejus its is added.

Quas ipsas Deus. Thus I have corrected from the 7 Royal, Ultr., Baluz., Brun., Rom. 1470, Graph., Cellar., and Walch editions, very well. Thus the same below, hiatus, ipse nasi, et ..... ipsa duplicitate. In recent manuscripts (1 Colbert, Clarom, Marm) and 12 editions, quas ipse Deus.

Quam mirabili. Thus I have restored from the 7 Royal, 5 Colbert, Ultr., Baluz., Brun., Rom. 1470, Graph., Cellar., and Walch editions. And rightly so, as our Author says below: how useful, how decent. In recent scripts (1 Colbert, Clarom, Marm) and 11 common editions, tam mirabili.

Si unum ac simplex foramen. Thus the oldest manuscripts prefer: Regio-Put., 2 Bonon. and Tax., and the Thomas, Is., Thys., and Gall editions; and Lactantius uses the same expression shortly after when he says: una et simplici compage. Unum ac is missing in 24 recent manuscripts and 13 common editions.

Ex quo intelligimus. Thus I have restored from the older editions and from all manuscripts except one Royal, in which, as in eight printed ones, it is ex quo intelligitur.

Itaque. Missing in Bov., against the testimony of other manuscripts.

In duas partes. Galen named these κοιλίας ventricles. The brain has two ventricles. He admits there are two according to some, where the seat of the mind resides. Vesalius certainly adds a third ventricle in figures 5 and 6 of Book VII. Aristotle, in I History of Animals, chap. 16.

Duos tamen intrinsecus sinus. Pliny, Book XI, chap. 37. It provides primary dwellings within itself for the mind and blood in a sinuous cave, and in large animals [it is] triple; in none is it not double: there the mind dwells, etc. Hippocrates, in the book On the Heart, calls these sinuses γαστέρας stomachs/bellies; Julius Pollux calls them κόλπους bays/sinuses. BETUL.

Quibus fontes vivi. From this fountain two great veins run to the front and back, and scattered through a series of branches through other smaller ones, they irrigate all members with vital blood. Pliny. These branches are described by Vesalius in the first and second figures of the head, Book III. BETULEIUS.