Book 1
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What, then, are they? someone asks — as though every part must necessarily be either an artery, a vein, a nerve, or a complex of these,As, for example, Aristotle had held; cf. p. 23, note 3. Galen added many new tissues to those described by Aristotle. and as though the truth were not what I am now stating, namely, that every one of the various organs has its own particular substance. For in fact the two bladders — that which receives the urine, and that which receives the yellow bile — not only differ from all other organs, but also from one another. Further, the ducts which spring out like kinds of conduits from the gall-bladder and which pass into the liver have no resemblance either to arteries, veins or nerves. But these parts have been treated at a greater length in my work On the Anatomy of Hippocrates, as well as elsewhere.
6
As for the actual substance of the coats of the stomach, intestine, and uterus, each of these has been rendered what it is by a special alterative faculty of Nature; while the bringing of these together,Lit. snythesis. the therewith of the structures which are inserted into them, the outgrowth into the intestine,By this is meant the duodenum, considered as an outgrowth or prolongation of the stomach towards the intestines. the shape of the inner cavities, and the like, have all been determined by a faculty which we call the shaping or formative facultycf. p. 19, note 2.; this faculty we also state to be artistic — nay, the best and highest art — doing everything for some purpose, so that there is nothing ineffective or superfluous, or capable of being better disposed. This, however, I shall demonstrate in my work On the Use of Parts.
PART 7
