Whatever parts men have in front, these parts quadrupeds have
below, in or on the belly; and whatever parts men have behind, these
parts quadrupeds have above on their backs. Most quadrupeds have a
tail; for even the seal has a tiny one resembling that of the stag.
Regarding the tails of the pithecoids we must give their distinctive
properties by and by animal

The movements

of animals, quadruped and multiped, are crosswise,
or in diagonals, and their equilibrium in standing posture is
maintained crosswise; and it is always the limb on the right-hand side
that is the first to move. The lion, however, and the two species of
camels, both the Bactrian and the Arabian, progress by an amble; and
the action so called is when the animal never overpasses the right
with the left, but always follows close upon it.

The seal is a kind of imperfect or crippled quadruped; for just
behind the shoulder-blade its front feet are placed, resembling hands,
like the front paws of the bear; for they are furnished with five
toes, and each of the toes has three flexions and a nail of
inconsiderable size. The hind feet are also furnished with five
toes; in their flexions and nails they resemble the front feet, and in
shape they resemble a fish's tail.

is in the opposite direction

to that of the elbows or the joints of
the forelegs, and the flexure in the hips to that of the knees of
the hind-legs: so that since man differs from other animals in
flexion, those animals that possess such parts as these move them
contrariwise to man.

Birds have the flexions of their limbs like those of the
quadrupeds; for, although bipeds, they bend their legs backwards,
and instead of arms or front legs have wings which bend frontwards.

The elephant does not sleep standing, as some were wont to
assert, but it bends its legs and settles down; only that in
consequence of its weight it cannot bend its leg on both sides
simultaneously, but falls into a recumbent position on one side or the
other, and in this position it goes to sleep. And it bends its hind
legs just as a man bends his legs.

In the case of the ovipara, as the crocodile and the lizard and
the like, both pairs of legs, fore and hind, bend forwards, with a
slight swerve on one side. The flexion is similar in the case of the
multipeds; only that the legs in between the extreme ends always
move in a manner intermediate between that of those in front and those
behind, and accordingly bend sideways rather than backwards or
forwards. But man bends his arms and his legs towards the same
point, and therefore in opposite ways: that is to say, he bends his
arms backwards, with just a slight inclination inwards, and his legs
frontwards. No animal bends both its fore-limbs and hind-limbs
backwards; but in the case of all animals the flexion of the shoulders

Of all animals

man alone can learn to make equal use of both
hands.

All animals have a part analogous to the chest in man, but not
similar to his; for the chest in man is broad, but that of all other
animals is narrow. Moreover, no other animal but man has breasts in
front; the elephant, certainly, has two breasts, not however in the
chest, but near it.

Moreover, also, animals have the flexions of their fore and
hind limbs in directions opposite to one another, and in directions
the reverse of those observed in the arms and legs of man; with the
exception of the elephant. In other words, with the viviparous
quadrupeds the front legs bend forwards and the hind ones backwards,
and the concavities of the two pairs of limbs thus face one another.

The fore-limbs

then serve more or less the purpose of hands in
quadrupeds, with the exception of the elephant. This latter animal has
its toes somewhat indistinctly defined, and its front legs are much
bigger than its hinder ones; it is five-toed, and has short ankles
to its hind feet. But it has a nose such in properties and such in
size as to allow of its using the same for a hand. For it eats and
drinks by lifting up its food with the aid of this organ into its
mouth, and with the same organ it lifts up articles to the driver on
its back; with this organ it can pluck up trees by the roots, and when
walking through water it spouts the water up by means of it; and
this organ is capable of being crooked or coiled at the tip, but not
of flexing like a joint, for it is composed of gristle.

For instance,

viviparous quadrupeds have all a head and a neck,
and all the parts or organs of the head, but they differ each from
other in the shapes of the parts. The lion has its neck composed of
one single bone instead of vertebrae; but, when dissected, the
animal is found in all internal characters to resemble the dog.

The quadrupedal vivipara instead of arms have forelegs. This is
true of all quadrupeds, but such of them as have toes have,
practically speaking, organs analogous to hands; at all events, they
use these fore-limbs for many purposes as hands. And they have the
limbs on the left-hand side less distinct from those on the right than
man.

With regard

to animals in general, some parts or organs are
common to all, as has been said, and some are common only to
particular genera; the parts, moreover, are identical with or
different from one another on the lines already repeatedly laid
down. For as a general rule all animals that are generically
distinct have the majority of their parts or organs different in
form or species; and some of them they have only analogically
similar and diverse in kind or genus, while they have others that
are alike in kind but specifically diverse; and many parts or organs
exist in some animals, but not in others.

But we

must treat by and by in our pages of the womb of all female animals
viewed generally. For the wombs of all female animals are not
identical, neither do their local dispositions coincide.

These are the organs, internal and external, of man, and such
is their nature and such their local disposition.

To the stalk

of the bladder the private part is attached, the
external orifices coalescing; but a little lower down, one of the
openings communicates with the testicles and the other with the
bladder. The penis is gristly and sinewy in its texture. With it are
connected the testicles in male animals, and the properties of these
organs we shall discuss in our general account of the said organ.

All these organs are similar in the female; for there is no
difference in regard to the internal organs, except in respect to
the womb, and with reference to the appearance of this organ I must
refer the reader to diagrams in my 'Anatomy'. The womb, however, is
situated over the bowel, and the bladder lies over the womb.

The kidneys

however, have, as
has been said, a small cavity. From this cavity in the kidney there
lead two considerable ducts or ureters into the bladder; and others
spring from the aorta, strong and continuous. And to the middle of
each of the two kidneys is attached a hollow sinewy vein, stretching
right along the spine through the narrows; by and by these veins are
lost in either loin, and again become visible extending to the
flank. And these off-branchings of the veins terminate in the bladder.
For the bladder lies at the extremity, and is held in position by
the ducts stretching from the kidneys, along the stalk that extends to
the urethra; and pretty well all round it is fastened by fine sinewy
membranes, that resemble to some extent the thoracic diaphragm. The
bladder in man is, proportionately to his size, tolerably large.

than the left-hand

one and is less moist. And this phenomenon also
is observable in all the other animals alike.

Furthermore, passages or ducts lead into the kidneys both from
the great vein and from the aorta, only not into the cavity. For, by
the way, there is a cavity in the middle of the kidney, bigger in some
creatures and less in others; but there is none in the case of the
seal. This latter animal has kidneys resembling in shape the identical
organ in kine, but in its case the organs are more solid than in any
other known creature. The ducts that lead into the kidneys lose
themselves in the substance of the kidneys themselves; and the proof
that they extend no farther rests on the fact that they contain no
blood, nor is any clot found therein.

Again,

the liver is attached to the great vein, but it has no
communication with the aorta; for the vein that goes off from the
great vein goes right through the liver, at a point where are the
so-called 'portals' of the liver. The spleen also is connected only
with the great vein, for a vein extends to the spleen off from it.

After these organs come the 'kidneys', and these are placed close
to the backbone, and resemble in character the same organ in kine.
In all animals that are provided with this organ, the right kidney
is situated higher up than the other. It has also less fatty substance