Kitap 1
2
The discussion which follows we shall devote entirely, as we originally proposed, to an enquiry into the number and character of the faculties of Nature, and what is the effect which each naturally produces. Now, of course, I mean by an effectWork or product. Lat. opus. cf. p. 3, note 2. that which has already come into existence and has been completed by the activity Operation, activiation, or functioning. Lat. actio. cf. loc cit. of these faculties — for example, blood, flesh, or nerve. And activity is the name I give to the active change or motion, and the cause of this I call a faculty. Thus, when food turns into blood, the motion of the food is passive, and that of the vein active. Similarly, when the limbs have their position altered, it is the muscle which produces, and the bones which undergo the motion. In these cases I call the motion of the vein and of the muscle an activity, and that of the food and the bones a symptom or affection i.e.. a concomitant (secondary) or passive affection. Galen is contrasting active and passive motion. cf. p. 6, note 1., since the first group undergoes alteration and the second group is merely transported. One might, therefore, also speak of the activity as an effect of NatureAs already indicated, there is no exact English equivalent for the Greek term physis, which is a principle immanent in the animal itself, whereas our term Nature suggests someting more transcendent; we are forced often, however, to employ it in default of a better word. cf. p. 2, note 1. — for example, digestion, absorption,In Greek anadosis. This process includes two stages: (1) transmission of food from alimentary canal to liver (rather more than our absorption); (2) further transmission from liver to tissues. Anadosis is lit. a yielding-up, a delivery; it may sometimes be rendered dispersal. Distribution (diadosis) is a further stage; cf. p. 163, note 4. blood-production; one could not, however, in every case call the effect an activity; thus flesh is an effect of Nature, but it is, of course, not an activity. It is, therefore, clear that one of these terms is used in two senses, but not the other.
