is less full. If the body is full of fluid, the discharge is watery; if the body is dry, it is more sanguineous; it begins with being white, like milk, and is without smell. Some are dark-coloured, and when about to cease they become white, at the last secretion. The white discharge has not the smell of putrid matter, but is more harsh and disagreeable, nor has it the smell of pus; and when this is the condition of the symptoms, there is no wearing away, but the body becomes heated. In all that are in this state, the uterus is in a healthy condition for child-bearing.
CHAPTER II.
We must, then, first of all inquire whether all these particulars are well ordered; and, next, we must learn the position of the body of the uterus; for it ought to be straight; and if it is not so, the seminal fluid can never reach it. And it is evident that women project their semen forwards, from what happens when they have lascivious dreams; for this part of them then requires attention, being moistened as though they had sexual intercourse, for they also project into the place where the semen of the male is emitted, and not into the uterus; and when projected to this place, the semen is drawn into the uterus by inhalation, as the mucus is drawn into the nose. For this reason they become pregnant in every position; for the seminal fluid both in men and women is always projected forwards; but if it were projected into the female she would not always conceive after copulation.
2. But if the uterus is not straight, but inclined to the hips, the loins, or the hypogastric region, it is impossible to conceive, for the before-mentioned reason, that the uterus cannot take up the seminal fluid. If this deformity is great, either naturally or from disease, the disorder is incurable. If there is a rupture, either by nature or arising from the disease, which contracts the parts with inflammation, the disorder will take a different turn from this. But in order that women may become pregnant, it is necessary, as it was said, that the mouth of the uterus should be straight and, moreover, should be well opened. By this I mean that when the menstrual discharge commences, the os uteri should, on contact, appear softer than before, though not distinctly expanded. But if this is the case, let the first appearance be white.
3. But when the appearances are more the colour of flesh, the uterus will be evidently relaxed without pain when it is touched, and the os uteri is neither dull nor different from itself; and when the discharge ceases, let the aperture be very open and dry, but not hard, for a day and a half or two days; for this shows that the uterus is in a healthy state, and fit to perform its functions. If the os uteri is not immediately relaxed, but appears soft, it shows that both the uterus and the rest of the body are relaxed, and the uterus does not prevent, but first discharges the secretion from the os uteri. And when the rest of the body has discharged a great deal, and the os uteri becomes relaxed, it is a sign of a healthy condition.
4. And when the appearances cease to take place directly, the uterus shows that, if there is any difficulty, it will become empty and dry, and wanting in moisture, and there will be no remains in the passage.
When the uterus, therefore, is capable of contraction, it shows that it is in a proper state for receiving whatever is brought to it, when it is in this state without pain, and indeed is insensate; and it is good that the os uteri should not be in any other condition. This shows that there is no reason why it should not close at the proper time. This is the manner of considering the os uteri, whether it is in a healthy condition or not.
CHAPTER III.
These ought to be the symptoms of the uterus itself after purification.
First of all, that the woman should dream of sexual intercourse, and project her seminal fluid readily, as if a man were lying with her; and if this symptom occur frequently, it is better. And when she has arisen, sometimes she should require the same treatment as if she had been with a man, sometimes she should be dry; but this dryness should not be immediate; but after awaking she should be fluid, sooner or later, about as much as half a short day. The humidity should be of the same kind as if she had been with a man. For all this shows that the uterus is in a fit state to receive what is given it, and that the cotyledons are drawn up and will retain what they have received, and be unwilling to part with it.
2. A flatulent state of the uterus is also a good sign, when it enlarges and discharges the wind as the bowels do without pain, and when it becomes larger and smaller without any symptom of disease; for these symptoms show that the uterus is not in want of what is necessary nor sluggish, either naturally or from disease, but that it will be able to find room by growth for anything that it may receive, for it has the power of dilation. When this is not the case, the uterus is too thick, or some natural defect or disease has rendered it insensible.
For this cause it cannot nourish, but it will destroy the embryo, if the symptoms are violent, while the embryo is small; if they are less so, when it is larger; if the uterus is slightly affected, the offspring will be inferior, as if it had been fed in an inferior vessel.
3. Upon contact, the right and left side will be found to be alike, and all the other parts in the same way; and in the act of copulation moisture will be produced, not frequently nor in great abundance. This affection is, as it were, a perspiration of the place, like the saliva, which is frequently produced both in the use of food and in speaking.
Tears also are shed from the eyes, when we look upon brilliant objects, and under cold or greater heat, of which these parts also partake, when they happen to be moist. So the uterus becomes moist when employed, when it is of a more moist disposition. Those that are in the best health suffer from this affection, for which reason women always require more or less attention, as also the mouth requires saliva. In some this moisture is so abundant that they cannot imbibe the seminal fluid of the man in a state of purity, on account of its admixture with this uterine moisture.
4. Besides these affections, the following also is to be considered, whether, when they dream of sexual intercourse, their general health is good or not, as whether they are weak, and whether they are so always, or only sometimes, and whether they are not sometimes strong, and whether they are dry at first and moist afterwards; for this ought to be the condition of a woman capable of child-bearing; for relaxation shows that the body has been profuse of the seminal fluid, and that it can perform its functions; but when the uterus is hard, it is a sign of debility. If a woman has this affection without any disease, it shows that the emission takes place naturally and as it ought to do. For if it were not so, there would be disease and prostration of strength.
Sometimes, when the uterus is dry and afterwards becomes moist, it is a sign that the whole body receives and makes away with the seminal fluid, and that both the uterus and the body are strong; for it has been already observed that the uterus absorbs the semen which is placed upon it by the process of inhalation, for it is not emitted into it but upon the same place as that of the man. All that takes by inhalation is accompanied with force, so that it is plain that the body of such a person must have the power of retraction.
5. It sometimes happens that women who have lascivious dreams, or men of strong passions, are robust not from strength but from health. This takes place when a large quantity of seminal fluid has been collected near the place from whence they emit it. If this makes its escape, they are in no ways debilitated; for they are not relaxed by the loss of a portion, if sufficient remains behind, or if that which was emitted was useless, nor if it was emitted easily, as if they parted with superfluous matter. For which reason such persons are not robust from strength but from dullness. But when any part is emitted which is necessary for the body, they become debilitated.
6. If a person is in good health, and of a proper age, the seminal fluid is rapidly formed. This takes place in those that have not done growing and in those that are grown. Women rarely know when they are first pregnant; for they do not think that they have conceived unless they perceive that the semen has been emitted, suspecting that it ought to be emitted at the same time both by the female and the male; and it escapes their notice, more especially when they think that they are unable to conceive, unless they have become dry, and that which they have received has disappeared entirely; but it sometimes happens that both the male and the female emit more than could possibly disappear, and more than enough for conception. When sufficient has been drawn in and much left out, they become pregnant without knowing it.
7. That it is possible that this should take place, and that the affection does not arise from the whole of the seminal fluid, we may learn from those animals which produce many young ones from a single act of intercourse, or from the case of twins produced by a single act. It is evident that they are not produced from the whole semen, but each place receives some portion of it, but the larger portion is left behind; and if many young are produced from a single act of intercourse, which appears to be the case with swine and with twins, it is evident that the semen cannot come from every part of the body, but it is divided out to each form. It is possible, therefore, that it may be separated from every part of the body, and that the whole may be divided among many, so that it is not possible that all should have every part. The female also projects her semen into the os uteri, where the man also emits his, when he approaches her. From thence she imbibes with inhalation as if it were with the mouth or nostrils; for whatever is not joined to the members is either hollow above and united by a symphysis, or is sucked in from this place by the act of inhalation.
For which reason they take care that it should be dry, as if this had happened before.
8. The path along which it passes is thus formed in women. There is a tube enclosed in the body like the penis of the male. The inhalation takes place through this by a small passage above the passage for the urine. When, therefore, they desire sexual intercourse, this part is not in the same condition as it was before. A falling down takes place from this passage, and the fore part of the uterus becomes much larger than the part where it falls into this passage. This resembles the nostrils; for, as the nostrils have a passage into the pharynx and into the external air, so this tube has a very small and narrow passage, like a passage out for the wind. That to the fore part of the uterus is wide and broad, as the nostrils are to the external air between the mouth and the pharynx. So women have a larger passage to the fore part of the uterus, and wider than the external passage.
9. Whatever conjecture is formed concerning these affections, it makes to the same conclusion, that the woman also emits a seminal fluid.
The same things arise from the same cause, for to some it seems to be the cause of disease or of death; and these consider the end at the beginning as it ought to be considered; for to some women these are important causes, to some of no importance; and of these causes some are and some are not of consequence. They divide also in proportion the consequences which may result from them. To some it happens to pass through all these affections; to those who have many, through many of them: others through few; and others, again, who have none, through none of them.
10. There are some persons who suffer from the affection called inflation. This ought not to be. The affection is of this kind. In copulation they neither evidently emit semen, nor do they become pregnant. Wherefore they are said to be inflated. The excessive dryness of the uterus is the cause of this complaint; and when it has drawn the fluid into itself, it ejects it again. This becomes dried up, and having become small falls out, without any notice being taken of the circumstance on account of its size. When the uterus is violently affected in this way, and becomes very dry, and ejects it very soon, it is plain that pregnancy cannot take place. If this does not take place very soon, impregnation appears for a time to have taken place until it is ejected. The same thing also takes place at times in those who have conceived properly; if a long time has elapsed, the uterus becomes elevated, so that it plainly appears as if impregnation had taken place until it falls out. Then all becomes as it was at first.
They refer this affliction to a divine origin. It is curable, unless it is natural, or the disease has gone a great way. It is a sign that this disease is not present, when women appear neither to have emitted semen, nor to have conceived after sexual intercourse.
CHAPTER IV.
1. Pregnancy is prevented also by spasm in the uterus. This complaint attacks the uterus when it is either distended with inflammation, or in the act of parturition. When any large quantity of matter suddenly enters it, and the os uteri is not open, spasm then arises from distension. It is a sign of the absence of spasm, if the uterus does not appear to reach inflammation in its functions: whereas, if spasm were present, there would be some signs of inflammation. Again, a swelling at the mouth of the uterus, if it is much drawn out, will prevent conception. It is a sign that this is not the case, when the uterus appears to open and close properly after the discharge of the catamenia, or the use of the male.
2. In some, also, the os uteri is closed, either from the period of birth, or in consequence of disease. Sometimes this is curable, and sometimes not so. It is not, however, difficult to ascertain the state of the case, for it is not possible either to receive or to emit anything in a proper manner. If it appears to have received and rejected the seminal fluid of the male, it is an evidence of the presence of the disease. But those who have no impediment in the way of conception, but are, as it has been said, as they ought to be, unless the man is impotent, or they are not able to have children together, being unable to emit their semen at the same time, and differ very much, such persons will have no children.
CHAPTER V.
In order to understand of sterility in the male, we must take other symptoms. These will appear very easy, if he copulates with other women, and impregnates them. When the sexes do not appear to concur with each other, although all the before-mentioned circumstances are present, they do not have children together. For it is evident that this is the only reason of sterility: for if the woman contributes to the semen and generation, it is evident that both the sexes should be concurrent: for if the man is quick, and the woman slow, in the emission of the semen (and many women are comparatively slow), this will prevent conception; for which cause they do not produce children by sexual union with each other. They do so, however, when they happen to be concurrent with each other; for if the woman is desirous, and prepared for the intercourse, and is inclined for it, but the man is suffering previous pain, and of a cold disposition, it is then also necessary that they should be concurrent.
CHAPTER VI.
It is quite plain when animals desire sexual intercourse; for the female pursues the male, as hens pursue the cock and place themselves beneath him, if the male is not desirous. Other animals also do the same. But if all animals appear to have these affections with respect to sexual intercourse, it is plain that the causes must be the same throughout. This bird, however, has not only the desire of receiving, but also of emitting semen. This is a proof of it. If the male is not present, she will emit the semen into herself, and become pregnant, and produce barren eggs, as if she desired both to emit semen, and when she had done so, soon ceased, just as when the male was present. Others also do the same, for a person has attempted to rear some singing locusts, which he had taken in a young state. When grown, they became pregnant spontaneously.
2. From these considerations it is plain that every female contributes to the semen, if this appears to take place in any one class of animals, for the barren animal differs in no respect from the other, except that it does not produce an animal, and this because it was formed by the union of both sexes. For this reason all the seminal fluid of the male does not appear to be productive, but some parts are barren, when not properly compounded from both sexes. And when women have lascivious dreams, the same affections of weakness and debility often occur, as if they had been lying with a male. It is plain, therefore, that if they appear to have emitted a seminal fluid in their dream, they will then conjecture that after their dream the same place will become moist, and they will be obliged to bestow the same attention upon themselves as if they had had sexual intercourse. So that it is evident that there must be an emission of semen from both if it is to be productive.
3. But the uterus does not emit its semen into itself, but on the outside, into the place where that of the male also is received, and then draws it into itself. For some females produce spontaneously, as the bird produces barren eggs, and other females do not so, as the horses and sheep; either because the bird projects her semen into the uterus, and the place upon which that of the male is emitted is not external; for which reason, if he does not copulate properly with the female, it is poured out upon the ground. But in quadrupeds there is another place for the reception of the semen, both of the male and female, which in other animals it is combined with other fluids of the body, and is not collected in the uterus, because it does not enter it.
But in birds, the uterus receives and matures the seminal fluid, and forms a body similar in other respects though not a living creature.
It is necessary, therefore, the living creature should be derived from both sexes.
CHAPTER VII.
We must enquire whether women speak the truth, when they say that after a lascivious dream they find themselves dry; for it is plain that the uterus draws upwards. And if so, why do not females become pregnant spontaneously, since the male seminal fluid is drawn in, mixed with their own? And why do not she goats draw that part of it which extends outwards? for this affection takes place in some that have been pregnant many years; for they produce what is called myle (an amorphous mass of flesh), a circumstance which has also happened to a certain woman; for having had sexual intercourse, and to all appearance conceived, the size of the uterus increased, and everything at first went on regularly: but when the time of parturition arrived, she produced nothing, nor did the enlargement become any smaller: but after three or four years, a dysentery occurred, which placed her life in danger, when she produced a large mass of flesh, which they call myle.
The affection continues in some to old age, even to the day of their death.
2. Does this affection arise from a warm habit of body, when the uterus is warm and dry, and for this reason capable of drawing into itself in such a manner that it is taken up and kept in it? For, in persons so affected, if the seminal fluid of both sexes is not united, but, like the barren egg, is taken up by one sex, then the myle is produced, which is not living creature, for it does not originate in both sexes, nor is it lifeless, for it is taken to have life like the barren egg.
It remains, however, a long while, on account of the disposition of the uterus, and because the bird, which has produced many eggs in herself, when the uterus is stimulated by these, goes and lays them: and when the first is produced, the last will also come forth in proper time: for there is nothing to prevent it, but the body being productive as soon as it is full, causes the uterus to be no longer retentive. But in viviparous animals, on account of the change of force, as the fœtus increases, and the diversity of food is required, the uterus causes parturition from a kind of inflammation.
3. But the flesh, because it is not alive, always requires the same kind of food, for it does not cause any weight in the uterus, nor any inflammation. So that the affection would continue, in some cases, throughout life, unless some fortunate debility should take place, as in the woman who was attacked with dysentery. But does this affection arise from warmth, as it was said, or rather from a fluid state, because there is a fulness as it closes, either because the uterus is neither cold enough to reject it, nor warm enough to bring it to maturity? Wherefore, the disease lasts a long while, like those things which remain a long while before they are matured; but those that are about to come to maturity have an end, and that quickly. Such uteri, being very high up, cause a long delay. And, again, not being alive, it does not cause any pain by its movements, for the movement of the ligament which the living fœtus produces, causes pain. And the hardness of the substance is the effect of imperfect production, for it is so hard that it cannot be cut by the stroke of an axe. All ripe and mature things become soft, but imperfectly digested things are immature and hard.
4. Wherefore, many physicians, deceived by the resemblance, say that women are suffering from myle, if they only see the abdomen elevated without dropsy, and a cessation of the catamenia, when the disease has lasted for a long while. But this is not the case, for the myle is a rare disease. Sometimes there will be collections of cold and moist excrements and fluids, and sometimes of thick ones in this part of the abdomen, if either the nature or the habit is of this kind. For these things afford neither pain nor heat, on account of their cold nature; but if they increase, more or less, they bring no other disease after them, but remain quiet, like some maimed thing.
5. The cessation of the catamenia takes place on account of the excrementitious matter of the body being directed to this point, as when women are nursing; for they occur either not at all, or only in small quantities. A collection of matter from the flesh sometimes takes place between the uterus and the stomach, which has the character of the myle, but is not it. But it is not difficult to know the difference, by touching the uterus; for if it is correctly placed, and not enlarged, it is evident that the disease is not there; but if it is the same as when with child, it will be warm, and cold, and dry, because all the fluids are turned inwards; and the os uteri will be in the same condition as when they are pregnant; but if the enlargement is of any other kind, it will be cold, and not dry when touched, and the os uteri will always be the same.
APPENDIX.
ESSAY ON THE LITERARY AND PECUNIARY RESOURCES WHICH ARISTOTLE EITHER USED, OR IS SAID TO HAVE USED IN THE EXAMINATION AND COMPOSITION OF HIS HISTORY OF ANIMALS.
_Translated from the Latin of Schneider._ Aristotle had very likely more authorities, whom he has followed, or converted to his own purposes, than those whose names he has given.
These are, however, a few, whom he has named, as Alcmæon of Crotona; Dionysius of Apollonia; Herodorus of Heracleum in Pontus, the father of Bryson the sophist; Ctesias of Cnidos; Herodotus of Halicarnassus; Syennesis of Cyprus; Polybus; Democritus of Abdera; Anaxagoras of Clazomene; Empedocles of Sicily; and if there are any more which do not just now occur to my memory, they are accurately enumerated in the index, with the names of the places to which they belonged. I have said that it is probable, that Aristotle has derived information from more authorities than he has named; and a reason for this conjecture is found in a passage which he extracts, almost verbatim, from Herodotus, on the Nilotic crocodile (Euterpe, 68). This I have shewn in a note on the passage, book v. ch. 27, 2. And there are many places, both in his natural history and his other works on animals, where our philosopher refers to the ancient fables of men who were transformed into the nature and forms of various animals. The oldest author of such fables is Boeus (or Boeo, in the feminine gender, as some have conjectured).
From this book Antoninus Literalis has extracted many chapters in Greek. Nicander of Colophon, and others, followed the example of Boeus. Among Latin writers, the Metamorphoses of Ovid have always commanded attention. All who have read the work of Antoninus, and the Metamorphoses of Ovid, will easily perceive how much information on the nature and habits of animals our philosopher could have derived from the very character of the books which had come down from the remotest antiquity to the time of Aristotle (compare note 9, 17, 1), especially if they bear in mind that the ancient teachers of physics always compared the habits of animals with those of man, and conjectured the causes and reasons of their actions, from similar impulses in man.
This may be seen in the fables of Æsop, for they contain the first elements of the doctrines of the ancients on physics and morals. We might also offer a surmise on Eudoxus, and Scylax, and others, who wrote "Travels Round the Earth," in which they described the animals of different countries; for our philosopher appeals to the testimony of both these authors, in his work on Meteorics, and elsewhere. There is more doubt whether Aristotle used, or could have used, the numerous notices of animals, of the interior of Asia and India, which the companions of Alexander, in his Asiatic and Indian expeditions, brought back to Greece; which Theophrastus, the pupil of Aristotle, and his successor in the schools, is found to have used so well in his History of Plants. For this I consider to be proved, that the written notices of the companions of Alexander were published after the death of the king, though we have no proof of the exact year in which they were made public. Indeed I have never found any evidence in the History of Animals which could lead us to suppose that Aristotle was acquainted with the animals of the interior of Asia and India, by information derived from the companions of Alexander; nor have I been able to find the slightest information from which I can form a conjecture as to either the place or time when this history was written: but, in order that others may institute a more rigorous inquiry into the date and place of its authorship, if any such have escaped my notice, I will place before my readers that portion of the Aristotelian chronology which relates to this work, from the disputation of St. Croix, a learned French author (Examen Critique des Historiens d'Alexander le Grand, p. 603, second edition). Aristotle, therefore, at the invitation of Philip, King of Macedon, undertook the education of his son, Alexander, when he was thirteen years of age, in the second year of the 109th Olympiad, when Phythodotus was Archon of Athens. Aristotle returned to Athens in the second year of the 111th Olympiad, in the Archonship of Evænetus. He taught at Athens for thirteen years, from whence he fled to Chalcis, and there he died, in the third year of the 114th Olympiad, during the Archonship of Philocles.
There is, indeed, a passage in Pliny, (book x. ch. 64, sect. 84, on the fecundity of mice,) where he says, that among other things Aristotle has spoken in his History of Animals (vi. 29) of the gravid fœtus of the Persian mice; but the Greek exemplar contains no authority from which Pliny could have derived the words which he has added: "More wonderful than all is the fœtus of the mice, which we cannot unhesitatingly receive, though derived from the authority of Aristotle, and the soldiers of Alexander the Great." In this and in two other places he calls those _soldiers_ whom others are in the habit of calling the _companions_ of Alexander the Great. But there is also a passage in the Meteorics of Aristotle (iii. 1), where he mentions as a recent event the destruction of the temple of Ephesus, by the incendiary Herostratus, on the day of Alexander's birth, in these words: "As it has just now happened in the burning of the temple of Ephesus." This book, therefore, appears to have been written at the commencement of the 106th Olympiad, and with it the History of Animals is very closely connected, as I have shown in my treatise on the order of the books of Physics; so that we may suppose that they were written in nearly the same Olympiad, if we regard only the series of the works; and no interruption occurred with which we are unacquainted. On the other hand, in the Meteorics (iii. 5), he speaks of a lunar rainbow, and says that it is rarely seen, and then adds, "that it has occurred but twice in more than fifty years." If we reckon these fifty years from the birth of Aristotle, in the first year of the 99th Olympiad, that book will fall in the third or fourth year of the 111th Olympiad; and from this calculation it would follow that this book was also written in Athens, but that the first date is to be taken in a wider sense.
From all this, we may easily perceive that at this day we are entirely ignorant of the sources of information collected either from ancient or contemporary writers, to which our philosopher had access in composing and completing a work of such multiplied and varied information. Even if we assume that they were as large as the mind of Aristotle was great, acute, and transparent, still, for a work so various and extensive, spread over seas, rivers, earth, and heaven, even that mind would require some assistance from other sources to which it might apply in constructing and building up a system of general instruction from the materials collected in different places about various animals, and from the observations used in describing and arranging them together in orders, classes, genera, and species. The following were the sources Aristotle used, according to the narrative of an uncertain author quoted by Pliny (viii. 16, 17)--"King Alexander the Great," he says, "was possessed with the desire of knowing the natures of animals, and therefore delegated the work to Aristotle, a man of very great learning. Some thousands of men in the whole region of Asia and Greece obeyed his commands, all, namely, who obtained their livelihood by hunting, hawking, or fishing, or who had in their care menageries, herds, beehives, fishponds, or aviaries; so that nothing in nature might be unknown to him; and from his examination of these, he compiled those fifty celebrated volumes, which I have collected into one, together with those animals with which he was unacquainted, and I hope that they will be consulted by good scholars." In all this there is nothing contradictory to the mind and liberality of Alexander, or the confidence or strength of his empire. But some may prefer the story published by Ælian, in his various history (iv. 19), who, I know not on what authority, transfers the narrative to Philip, the father of Alexander--"Having supplied abundance of riches to Aristotle, he was the means of many other undertakings, and especially of his knowledge of living creatures; and the son of Nichomachus completed his history by the liberal assistance of Philip; who also honoured Plato and Theophrastus." If this be true, it evidently refers to those seven or eight years in which Aristotle was in Macedonia presiding over the education of Alexander, the son of Philip.
These abundant supplies for the studies of Aristotle are not at all inconsistent, either with the liberality of Philip, or his love for his son and his son's tutor, nor do they surpass credibility. The gold mines of Philippi supplied the munificence and liberality of Philip.
But there are difficulties in the narrative which make us question the credibility of the author of this munificence. For instance, the names of Plato and Theophrastus are mentioned; but the name of Theophrastus could not be so great and illustrious, even if it were known to the Greeks at all, as to have attracted the liberality of Philip, before the death of his master Aristotle, whom also he succeeded in the School at Athens. I should, therefore, rather imagine that Ælian, who was more diligent in the accuracy of his Attic diction than his historical fidelity, has committed some error in the name of Philip, or in those of Plato and Theophrastus, whom he has appended to his narrative.
The narrative of Athenæus, (ix. 398,) derived from the report of an unknown author, is very different; he calls the History of Animals a very expensive work, and then adds--"There is a report that Aristotle received 800 talents from Alexander, for writing the History of Animals"--a sum of money which Perigonius, in his Notes on Ælian, estimates at 1,440,000 caroli. To this narrative, or, as it may be more justly termed, rumour, is opposed the opinion of Io. Henr.
Schulzius, in his History of Medicine (Leipsic, 1738, p. 358). "When I consider this matter aright, it appears to me that the whole story is very doubtful, and, for the most part, fabulous. And it can easily be proved, that the whole revenue of Macedon, if Alexander had paid it all to Aristotle for several years, would not have amounted to this sum. It is impossible, therefore, that he could have paid so much to Aristotle before the conquest of Asia; and after his expedition had been successfully accomplished, his affection was alienated from Aristotle, and, in order to annoy him, he liberally enriched other philosophers, who had done nothing to deserve his patronage. Their labours, therefore, are in vain, who demand justice of our excellent Aristotle, even in his grave, because he did not use such an immense sum of money in the composition of a more veracious history.
"I am certainly of opinion that a great deal has been made, as usual, of a very little matter, namely, that if Aristotle derived any assistance in that kingdom, all the materials were provided for him while Philip was alive, and before Alexander's expedition was undertaken, or in the first years of the expedition. But afterwards, when Alexander had set out, Aristotle returned to Athens, and was engaged in teaching: nor could he have derived any advantage from the resources which Pliny mentions, and the multitude of persons who were instructed to place themselves under his command, for he was not only occupied with other pursuits, but would have been in danger of being destroyed by the fury of the Athenians, on the plea that he was attempting innovations, if he had even ventured to dissect animals, not to say men."