TIMAEU [37]
and to its kindred element; and as there
are two exits for the heat, the out through the body, and the other
through the mouth and nostrils, when it moves towards the one, it
drives round the air at the other, and that which is driven round
falls into the fire and becomes warm, and that which goes forth is
cooled. But when the heat changes its place, and the particles at
the other exit grow warmer, the hotter air inclining in that direction
and carried towards its native element, fire, pushes round the air
at the other; and this being affected in the same way and
communicating the same impulse, a circular motion swaying to and
from is produced by the double process, which we call inspiration
and expiration.
The phenomena of medical cupping-glasses and of the swallowing of
drink and of the projection of bodies, whether discharged in the air
or bowled along the ground, are to be investigated on a similar
principle; and swift and slow sounds, which appear to be high and low,
and are sometimes discordant on account of their inequality, and
then again harmonical on account of the equality of the motion which
they excite in us. For when the motions of the antecedent swifter
sounds begin to pause and the two are equalised, the slower sounds
overtake the swifter and then propel them. When they overtake them
they do not intrude a new and discordant motion, but introduce the
beginnings of a slower, which answers to the swifter as it dies
away, thus producing a single mixed expression out of high and low,
whence arises a pleasure which even the unwise feel, and which to
the wise becomes a higher sort of delight, being an imitation of
divine harmony in mortal motions. Moreover, as to the flowing of
water, the fall of the thunderbolt, and the marvels that are
observed about the attraction of amber and the Heraclean stones,-in
none of these cases is there any attraction; but he who investigates
rightly, will find that such wonderful phenomena are attributable to
the combination of certain conditions-the non-existence of a vacuum,
the fact that objects push one another round, and that they change
places, passing severally into their proper positions as they are
divided or combined
Such as we have seen, is the nature and such are the causes of
respiration-the subject in which this discussion originated. For the
fire cuts the food and following the breath surges up within, fire and
breath rising together and filling the veins by drawing up out of
the belly and pouring into them the cut portions of the food; and so
the streams of food are kept flowing through the whole body in all
animals. And fresh cuttings from kindred substances, whether the
fruits of the earth or herb of the field, which God planted to be
our daily food, acquire all sorts of colours by their inter-mixture;
but red is the most pervading of them, being created by the cutting
action of fire and by the impression which it makes on a moist
substance; and hence the liquid which circulates in the body has a
colour such as we have described. The liquid itself we call blood,
which nourishes the flesh and the whole body, whence all parts are
watered and empty places filled.
Now the process of repletion and evacuation is effected after the
manner of the universal motion by which all kindred substances are
drawn towards one another. For the external elements which surround us
are always causing us to consume away, and distributing and sending
off like to like; the particles of blood, too, which are divided and
contained within the frame of the animal as in a sort of heaven, are
compelled to imitate the motion of the universe. Each, therefore, of
the divided parts within us, being carried to its kindred nature,
replenishes the void. When more is taken away than flows in, then we
decay, and when less, we grow and increase.
The frame of the entire creature when young has the triangles of
each kind new, and may be compared to the keel of a vessel which is
are two exits for the heat, the out through the body, and the other
through the mouth and nostrils, when it moves towards the one, it
drives round the air at the other, and that which is driven round
falls into the fire and becomes warm, and that which goes forth is
cooled. But when the heat changes its place, and the particles at
the other exit grow warmer, the hotter air inclining in that direction
and carried towards its native element, fire, pushes round the air
at the other; and this being affected in the same way and
communicating the same impulse, a circular motion swaying to and
from is produced by the double process, which we call inspiration
and expiration.
The phenomena of medical cupping-glasses and of the swallowing of
drink and of the projection of bodies, whether discharged in the air
or bowled along the ground, are to be investigated on a similar
principle; and swift and slow sounds, which appear to be high and low,
and are sometimes discordant on account of their inequality, and
then again harmonical on account of the equality of the motion which
they excite in us. For when the motions of the antecedent swifter
sounds begin to pause and the two are equalised, the slower sounds
overtake the swifter and then propel them. When they overtake them
they do not intrude a new and discordant motion, but introduce the
beginnings of a slower, which answers to the swifter as it dies
away, thus producing a single mixed expression out of high and low,
whence arises a pleasure which even the unwise feel, and which to
the wise becomes a higher sort of delight, being an imitation of
divine harmony in mortal motions. Moreover, as to the flowing of
water, the fall of the thunderbolt, and the marvels that are
observed about the attraction of amber and the Heraclean stones,-in
none of these cases is there any attraction; but he who investigates
rightly, will find that such wonderful phenomena are attributable to
the combination of certain conditions-the non-existence of a vacuum,
the fact that objects push one another round, and that they change
places, passing severally into their proper positions as they are
divided or combined
Such as we have seen, is the nature and such are the causes of
respiration-the subject in which this discussion originated. For the
fire cuts the food and following the breath surges up within, fire and
breath rising together and filling the veins by drawing up out of
the belly and pouring into them the cut portions of the food; and so
the streams of food are kept flowing through the whole body in all
animals. And fresh cuttings from kindred substances, whether the
fruits of the earth or herb of the field, which God planted to be
our daily food, acquire all sorts of colours by their inter-mixture;
but red is the most pervading of them, being created by the cutting
action of fire and by the impression which it makes on a moist
substance; and hence the liquid which circulates in the body has a
colour such as we have described. The liquid itself we call blood,
which nourishes the flesh and the whole body, whence all parts are
watered and empty places filled.
Now the process of repletion and evacuation is effected after the
manner of the universal motion by which all kindred substances are
drawn towards one another. For the external elements which surround us
are always causing us to consume away, and distributing and sending
off like to like; the particles of blood, too, which are divided and
contained within the frame of the animal as in a sort of heaven, are
compelled to imitate the motion of the universe. Each, therefore, of
the divided parts within us, being carried to its kindred nature,
replenishes the void. When more is taken away than flows in, then we
decay, and when less, we grow and increase.
The frame of the entire creature when young has the triangles of
each kind new, and may be compared to the keel of a vessel which is