350 BC
HISTORY OF ANIMALS
by Aristotle
translated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
Book I
1
OF the parts of animals some are simple: to wit, all such as
divide into parts uniform with themselves, as flesh into flesh; others
are composite, such as divide into parts not uniform with
themselves, as, for instance, the hand does not divide into hands
nor the face into faces.
And of such as these, some are called not parts merely, but limbs
or members. Such are those parts that, while entire in themselves,
have within themselves other diverse parts: as for instance, the head,
foot, hand, the arm as a whole, the chest; for these are all in
themselves entire parts, and there are other diverse parts belonging
to them.
All those parts that do not subdivide into parts uniform with
themselves are composed of parts that do so subdivide, for instance,
hand is composed of flesh, sinews, and bones. Of animals, some
resemble one another in all their parts, while others have parts
wherein they differ. Sometimes the parts are identical in form or
species, as, for instance, one man's nose or eye resembles another
man's nose or eye, flesh flesh, and bone bone; and in like manner with
a horse, and with all other animals which we reckon to be of one and
the same species: for as the whole is to the whole, so each to each
are the parts severally. In other cases the parts are identical,
save only for a difference in the way of excess or defect, as is the
case in such animals as are of one and the same genus. By 'genus' I
mean, for instance, Bird or Fish, for each of these is subject to
difference in respect of its genus, and there are many species of
fishes and of birds.
Within the limits of genera, most of the parts as a rule
exhibit differences through contrast of the property or accident, such
as colour and shape, to which they are subject: in that some are
more and some in a less degree the subject of the same property or
accident; and also in the way of multitude or fewness, magnitude or
parvitude, in short in the way of excess or defect. Thus in some the
texture of the flesh is soft, in others firm; some have a long bill,
others a short one; some have abundance of feathers, others have
only a small quantity. It happens further that some have parts that
others have not: for instance, some have spurs and others not, some
have crests and others not; but as a general rule, most parts and
those that go to make up the bulk of the body are either identical
with one another, or differ from one another in the way of contrast
and of excess and defect. For 'the more' and 'the less' may be
represented as 'excess' or 'defect'.
Once again, we may have to do with animals whose parts are
neither identical in form nor yet identical save for differences in
the way of excess or defect: but they are the same only in the way
of analogy, as, for instance, bone is only analogous to fish-bone,
nail to hoof, hand to claw, and scale to feather; for what the feather
is in a bird, the scale is in a fish.
The parts, then, which animals severally possess are diverse
from, or identical with, one another in the fashion above described.
And they are so furthermore in the way of local disposition: for
many animals have identical organs that differ in position; for
instance, some have teats in the breast, others close to the thighs.
Of the substances that are composed of parts uniform (or
homogeneous) with themselves, some are soft and moist, others are
dry and solid. The soft and moist are such either absolutely or so
long as they are in their natural conditions, as, for instance, blood,
serum, lard, suet, marrow, sperm, gall, milk in such as have it
flesh and the like; and also, in a different way, the superfluities,
as phlegm and the excretions of the belly and the bladder. The dry and
solid are such as sinew, skin, vein, hair, bone, gristle, nail, horn
(a term which as applied to the part involves an ambiguity, since
the whole also by virtue of its form is designated horn), and such
parts as present an analogy to these.
Animals differ from one another in their modes of subsistence,
in their actions, in their habits, and in their parts. Concerning
these differences we shall first speak in broad and general terms, and
subsequently we shall treat of the same with close reference to each
particular genus.
Differences are manifested in modes of subsistence, in habits, in
actions performed. For instance, some animals live in water and others
on land. And of those that live in water some do so in one way, and
some in another: that is to say, some live and feed in the water, take
in and emit water, and cannot live if deprived of water, as is the
case with the great majority of fishes; others get their food and
spend their days in the water, but do not take in water but air, nor
do they bring forth in the water. Many of these creatures are
furnished with feet, as the otter, the beaver, and the crocodile; some
are furnished with wings, as the diver and the grebe; some are
destitute of feet, as the water-snake. Some creatures get their living
in the water and cannot exist outside it: but for all that do not take
in either air or water, as, for instance, the sea-nettle and the
oyster. And of creatures that live in the water some live in the
sea, some in rivers, some in lakes, and some in marshes, as the frog
and the newt.
Of animals that live on dry land some take in air and emit it,
which phenomena are termed 'inhalation' and 'exhalation'; as, for
instance, man and all such land animals as are furnished with lungs.
Others, again, do not inhale air, yet live and find their sustenance
on dry land; as, for instance, the wasp, the bee, and all other
insects. And by 'insects' I mean such creatures as have nicks or
notches on their bodies, either on their bellies or on both backs
and bellies.
And of land animals many, as has been said, derive their
subsistence from the water; but of creatures that live in and inhale
water not a single one derives its subsistence from dry land.
Some animals at first live in water, and by and by change their
shape and live out of water, as is the case with river worms, for
out of these the gadfly develops.
Furthermore, some animals are stationary, and some are erratic.
Stationary animals are found in water, but no such creature is found
on dry land. In the water are many creatures that live in close
adhesion to an external object, as is the case with several kinds of
oyster. And, by the way, the sponge appears to be endowed with a
certain sensibility: as a proof of which it is alleged that the
difficulty in detaching it from its moorings is increased if the
movement to detach it be not covertly applied.
Other creatures adhere at one time to an object and detach
themselves from it at other times, as is the case with a species of
the so-called sea-nettle; for some of these creatures seek their
food in the night-time loose and unattached.
Many creatures are unattached but motionless, as is the case with
oysters and the so-called holothuria. Some can swim, as, for instance,
fishes, molluscs, and crustaceans, such as the crawfish. But some of
these last move by walking, as the crab, for it is the nature of the
creature, though it lives in water, to move by walking.
Of land animals some are furnished with wings, such as birds
and bees, and these are so furnished in different ways one from
another; others are furnished with feet. Of the animals that are
furnished with feet some walk, some creep, and some wriggle. But no
creature is able only to move by flying, as the fish is able only to
swim, for the animals with leathern wings can walk; the bat has feet
and the seal has imperfect feet.
Some birds have feet of little power, and are therefore called
Apodes. This little bird is powerful on the wing; and, as a rule,
birds that resemble it are weak-footed and strong winged, such as
the swallow and the drepanis or (?) Alpine swift; for all these
birds resemble one another in their habits and in their plumage, and
may easily be mistaken one for another. (The apus is to be seen at all
seasons, but the drepanis only after rainy weather in summer; for this
is the time when it is seen and captured, though, as a general rule,
it is a rare bird.)
Again, some animals move by walking on the ground as well as by
swimming in water.
Furthermore, the following differences are manifest in their
modes of living and in their actions. Some are gregarious, some are
solitary, whether they be furnished with feet or wings or be fitted
for a life in the water; and some partake of both characters, the
solitary and the gregarious. And of the gregarious, some are
disposed to combine for social purposes, others to live each for its
own self.
Gregarious creatures are, among birds, such as the pigeon, the
crane, and the swan; and, by the way, no bird furnished with crooked
talons is gregarious. Of creatures that live in water many kinds of
fishes are gregarious, such as the so-called migrants, the tunny,
the pelamys, and the bonito.
Man, by the way, presents a mixture of the two characters, the
gregarious and the solitary.
Social creatures are such as have some one common object in view;
and this property is not common to all creatures that are
gregarious. Such social creatures are man, the bee, the wasp, the ant,
and the crane.
Again, of these social creatures some submit to a ruler, others
are subject to no governance: as, for instance, the crane and the
several sorts of bee submit to a ruler, whereas ants and numerous
other creatures are every one his own master.
And again, both of gregarious and of solitary animals, some are
attached to a fixed home and others are erratic or nomad.
Also, some are carnivorous, some graminivorous, some omnivorous:
whilst some feed on a peculiar diet, as for instance the bees and
the spiders, for the bee lives on honey and certain other sweets,
and the spider lives by catching flies; and some creatures live on
fish. Again, some creatures catch their food, others treasure it up;
whereas others do not so.
Some creatures provide themselves with a dwelling, others go
without one: of the former kind are the mole, the mouse, the ant,
the bee; of the latter kind are many insects and quadrupeds.
Further, in respect to locality of dwelling place, some creatures
dwell under ground, as the lizard and the snake; others live on the
surface of the ground, as the horse and the dog. make to themselves
holes, others do not
Some are nocturnal, as the owl and the bat; others live in the
daylight.
Moreover, some creatures are tame and some are wild: some are
at all times tame, as man and the mule; others are at all times
savage, as the leopard and the wolf; and some creatures can be rapidly
tamed, as the elephant.
Again, we may regard animals in another light. For, whenever a
race of animals is found domesticated, the same is always to be
found in a wild condition; as we find to be the case with horses,
kine, swine, (men), sheep, goats, and dogs.
Further, some animals emit sound while others are mute, and
some are endowed with voice: of these latter some have articulate
speech, while others are inarticulate; some are given to continual
chirping and twittering some are prone to silence; some are musical,
and some unmusical; but all animals without exception exercise their
power of singing or chattering chiefly in connexion with the
intercourse of the sexes.
Again, some creatures live in the fields, as the cushat; some
on the mountains, as the hoopoe; some frequent the abodes of men, as
the pigeon.
Some, again, are peculiarly salacious, as the partridge, the
barn-door cock and their congeners; others are inclined to chastity,
as the whole tribe of crows, for birds of this kind indulge but rarely
in sexual intercourse.
Of marine animals, again, some live in the open seas, some near
the shore, some on rocks.
Furthermore, some are combative under offence; others are
provident for defence. Of the former kind are such as act as
aggressors upon others or retaliate when subjected to ill usage, and
of the latter kind are such as merely have some means of guarding
themselves against attack.
Animals also differ from one another in regard to character in
the following respects. Some are good-tempered, sluggish, and little
prone to ferocity, as the ox; others are quick tempered, ferocious and
unteachable, as the wild boar; some are intelligent and timid, as
the stag and the hare; others are mean and treacherous, as the
snake; others are noble and courageous and high-bred, as the lion;
others are thorough-bred and wild and treacherous, as the wolf: for,
by the way, an animal is highbred if it come from a noble stock, and
an animal is thorough-bred if it does not deflect from its racial
characteristics.
Further, some are crafty and mischievous, as the fox; some are
spirited and affectionate and fawning, as the dog; others are
easy-tempered and easily domesticated, as the elephant; others are
cautious and watchful, as the goose; others are jealous and
self-conceited, as the peacock. But of all animals man alone is
capable of deliberation.
Many animals have memory, and are capable of instruction; but no
other creature except man can recall the past at will.
With regard to the several genera of animals, particulars as to
their habits of life and modes of existence will be discussed more
fully by and by.
2
Common to all animals are the organs whereby they take food and
the organs where into they take it; and these are either identical
with one another, or are diverse in the ways above specified: to
wit, either identical in form, or varying in respect of excess or
defect, or resembling one another analogically, or differing in
position.
Furthermore, the great majority of animals have other organs
besides these in common, whereby they discharge the residuum of
their food: I say, the great majority, for this statement does not
apply to all. And, by the way, the organ whereby food is taken in is
called the mouth, and the organ whereinto it is taken, the belly;
the remainder of the alimentary system has a great variety of names.
Now the residuum of food is twofold in kind, wet and dry, and
such creatures as have organs receptive of wet residuum are invariably
found with organs receptive of dry residuum; but such as have organs
receptive of dry residuum need not possess organs receptive of wet
residuum. In other words, an animal has a bowel or intestine if it
have a bladder; but an animal may have a bowel and be without a
bladder. And, by the way, I may here remark that the organ receptive
of wet residuum is termed 'bladder', and the organ receptive of dry
residuum 'intestine or 'bowel'.
3
Of animals otherwise, a great many have, besides the organs
above-mentioned, an organ for excretion of the sperm: and of animals
capable of generation one secretes into another, and the other into
itself. The latter is termed 'female', and the former 'male'; but some
animals have neither male nor female. Consequently, the organs
connected with this function differ in form, for some animals have a
womb and others an organ analogous thereto.
The above-mentioned organs, then, are the most indispensable parts
of animals; and with some of them all animals without exception, and
with others animals for the most part, must needs be provided.
One sense, and one alone, is common to all animals-the sense of
touch. Consequently, there is no special name for the organ in which
it has its seat; for in some groups of animals the organ is identical,
in others it is only analogous.
4
Every animal is supplied with moisture, and, if the animal be
deprived of the same by natural causes or artificial means, death
ensues: further, every animal has another part in which the moisture
is contained. These parts are blood and vein, and in other animals
there is something to correspond; but in these latter the parts are
imperfect, being merely fibre and serum or lymph.
Touch has its seat in a part uniform and homogeneous, as in the
flesh or something of the kind, and generally, with animals supplied
with blood, in the parts charged with blood. In other animals it has
its seat in parts analogous to the parts charged with blood; but in
all cases it is seated in parts that in their texture are homogeneous.
The active faculties, on the contrary, are seated in the parts
that are heterogeneous: as, for instance, the business of preparing
the food is seated in the mouth, and the office of locomotion in the
feet, the wings, or in organs to correspond.
Again, some animals are supplied with blood, as man, the horse,
and all such animals as are, when full-grown, either destitute of
feet, or two-footed, or four-footed; other animals are bloodless, such
as the bee and the wasp, and, of marine animals, the cuttle-fish,
the crawfish, and all such animals as have more than four feet.
5
Again, some animals are viviparous, others oviparous, others
vermiparous or 'grub-bearing'. Some are viviparous, such as man, the
horse, the seal, and all other animals that are hair-coated, and, of
marine animals, the cetaceans, as the dolphin, and the so-called
Selachia. (Of these latter animals, some have a tubular air-passage
and no gills, as the dolphin and the whale: the dolphin with the
air-passage going through its back, the whale with the air-passage
in its forehead; others have uncovered gills, as the Selachia, the
sharks and rays.)
What we term an egg is a certain completed result of conception
out of which the animal that is to be develops, and in such a way that
in respect to its primitive germ it comes from part only of the egg,
while the rest serves for food as the germ develops. A 'grub' on the
other hand is a thing out of which in its entirety the animal in its
entirety develops, by differentiation and growth of the embryo.
Of viviparous animals, some hatch eggs in their own interior,
as creatures of the shark kind; others engender in their interior a
live foetus, as man and the horse. When the result of conception is
perfected, with some animals a living creature is brought forth,
with others an egg is brought to light, with others a grub. Of the
eggs, some have egg-shells and are of two different colours within,
such as birds' eggs; others are soft-skinned and of uniform colour, as
the eggs of animals of the shark kind. Of the grubs, some are from the
first capable of movement, others are motionless. However, with regard
to these phenomena we shall speak precisely hereafter when we come
to treat of Generation.
Furthermore, some animals have feet and some are destitute
thereof. Of such as have feet some animals have two, as is the case
with men and birds, and with men and birds only; some have four, as
the lizard and the dog; some have more, as the centipede and the
bee; but allsoever that have feet have an even number of them.
Of swimming creatures that are destitute of feet, some have
winglets or fins, as fishes: and of these some have four fins, two
above on the back, two below on the belly, as the gilthead and the
basse; some have two only,-to wit, such as are exceedingly long and
smooth, as the eel and the conger; some have none at all, as the
muraena, but use the sea just as snakes use dry ground-and by the way,
snakes swim in water in just the same way. Of the shark-kind some have
no fins, such as those that are flat and long-tailed, as the ray and
the sting-ray, but these fishes swim actually by the undulatory motion
of their flat bodies; the fishing frog, however, has fins, and so
likewise have all such fishes as have not their flat surfaces
thinned off to a sharp edge.
Of those swimming creatures that appear to have feet, as is the
case with the molluscs, these creatures swim by the aid of their
feet and their fins as well, and they swim most rapidly backwards in
the direction of the trunk, as is the case with the cuttle-fish or
sepia and the calamary; and, by the way, neither of these latter can
walk as the poulpe or octopus can.
The hard-skinned or crustaceous animals, like the crawfish,
swim by the instrumentality of their tail-parts; and they swim most
rapidly tail foremost, by the aid of the fins developed upon that
member. The newt swims by means of its feet and tail; and its tail
resembles that of the sheatfish, to compare little with great.
Of animals that can fly some are furnished with feathered wings,
as the eagle and the hawk; some are furnished with membranous wings,
as the bee and the cockchafer; others are furnished with leathern
wings, as the flying fox and the bat. All flying creatures possessed
of blood have feathered wings or leathern wings; the bloodless
creatures have membranous wings, as insects. The creatures that have
feathered wings or leathern wings have either two feet or no feet at
all: for there are said to be certain flying serpents in Ethiopia that
are destitute of feet.
Creatures that have feathered wings are classed as a genus
under the name of 'bird'; the other two genera, the leathern-winged
and membrane-winged, are as yet without a generic title.
Of creatures that can fly and are bloodless some are coleopterous
or sheath-winged, for they have their wings in a sheath or shard, like
the cockchafer and the dung-beetle; others are sheathless, and of
these latter some are dipterous and some tetrapterous: tetrapterous,
such as are comparatively large or have their stings in the tail,
dipterous, such as are comparatively small or have their stings in
front. The coleoptera are, without exception, devoid of stings; the
diptera have the sting in front, as the fly, the horsefly, the gadfly,
and the gnat.
Bloodless animals as a general rule are inferior in point of size
to blooded animals; though, by the way, there are found in the sea
some few bloodless creatures of abnormal size, as in the case of
certain molluscs. And of these bloodless genera, those are the largest
that dwell in milder climates, and those that inhabit the sea are
larger than those living on dry land or in fresh water.
All creatures that are capable of motion move with four or more
points of motion; the blooded animals with four only: as, for
instance, man with two hands and two feet, birds with two wings and
two feet, quadrupeds and fishes severally with four feet and four
fins. Creatures that have two winglets or fins, or that have none at
all like serpents, move all the same with not less than four points of
motion; for there are four bends in their bodies as they move, or
two bends together with their fins. Bloodless and many footed animals,
whether furnished with wings or feet, move with more than four
points of motion; as, for instance, the dayfly moves with four feet
and four wings: and, I may observe in passing, this creature is
exceptional not only in regard to the duration of its existence,
whence it receives its name, but also because though a quadruped it
has wings also.
All animals move alike, four-footed and many-footed; in other
words, they all move cross-corner-wise. And animals in general have
two feet in advance; the crab alone has four.
6
Very extensive genera of animals, into which other subdivisions
fall, are the following: one, of birds; one, of fishes; and another,
of cetaceans. Now all these creatures are blooded.
There is another genus of the hard-shell kind, which is called
oyster; another of the soft-shell kind, not as yet designated by a
single term, such as the spiny crawfish and the various kinds of crabs
and lobsters; and another of molluscs, as the two kinds of calamary
and the cuttle-fish; that of insects is different. All these latter
creatures are bloodless, and such of them as have feet have a goodly
number of them; and of the insects some have wings as well as feet.
Of the other animals the genera are not extensive. For in them
one species does not comprehend many species; but in one case, as man,
the species is simple, admitting of no differentiation, while other
cases admit of differentiation, but the forms lack particular
designations.
So, for instance, creatures that are qudapedal and unprovided
with wings are blooded without exception, but some of them are
viviparous, and some oviparous. Such as are viviparous are
hair-coated, and such as are oviparous are covered with a kind of
tessellated hard substance; and the tessellated bits of this substance
are, as it were, similar in regard to position to a scale.
An animal that is blooded and capable of movement on dry land,
but is naturally unprovided with feet, belongs to the serpent genus;
and animals of this genus are coated with the tessellated horny
substance. Serpents in general are oviparous; the adder, an
exceptional case, is viviparous: for not all viviparous animals are
hair-coated, and some fishes also are viviparous.
All animals, however, that are hair-coated are viviparous. For,
by the way, one must regard as a kind of hair such prickly hairs as
hedgehogs and porcupines carry; for these spines perform the office of
hair, and not of feet as is the case with similar parts of
sea-urchins.
In the genus that combines all viviparous quadrupeds are many
species, but under no common appellation. They are only named as it
were one by one, as we say man, lion, stag, horse, dog, and so on;
though, by the way, there is a sort of genus that embraces all
creatures that have bushy manes and bushy tails, such as the horse,
the ass, the mule, the jennet, and the animals that are called Hemioni
in Syria,-from their externally resembling mules, though they are
not strictly of the same species. And that they are not so is proved
by the fact that they mate with and breed from one another. For all
these reasons, we must take animals species by species, and discuss
their peculiarities severally'
These preceding statements, then, have been put forward thus in a
general way, as a kind of foretaste of the number of subjects and of
the properties that we have to consider in order that we may first get
a clear notion of distinctive character and common properties. By
and by we shall discuss these matters with greater minuteness.
After this we shall pass on to the discussion of causes. For to do
this when the investigation of the details is complete is the proper
and natural method, and that whereby the subjects and the premisses of
our argument will afterwards be rendered plain.
In the first place we must look to the constituent parts of
animals. For it is in a way relative to these parts, first and
foremost, that animals in their entirety differ from one another:
either in the fact that some have this or that, while they have not
that or this; or by peculiarities of position or of arrangement; or by
the differences that have been previously mentioned, depending upon
diversity of form, or excess or defect in this or that particular,
on analogy, or on contrasts of the accidental qualities.
To begin with, we must take into consideration the parts of
Man. For, just as each nation is wont to reckon by that monetary
standard with which it is most familiar, so must we do in other
matters. And, of course, man is the animal with which we are all of us
the most familiar.
Now the parts are obvious enough to physical perception. However,
with the view of observing due order and sequence and of combining
rational notions with physical perception, we shall proceed to
enumerate the parts: firstly, the organic, and afterwards the simple
or non-composite.
7
The chief parts into which the body as a whole is subdivided,
are the head, the neck, the trunk (extending from the neck to the
privy parts), which is called the thorax, two arms and two legs.
Of the parts of which the head is composed the hair-covered
portion is called the 'skull'. The front portion of it is termed
'bregma' or 'sinciput', developed after birth-for it is the last of
all the bones in the body to acquire solidity,-the hinder part is
termed the 'occiput', and the part intervening between the sinciput
and the occiput is the 'crown'. The brain lies underneath the
sinciput; the occiput is hollow. The skull consists entirely of thin
bone, rounded in shape, and contained within a wrapper of fleshless
skin.
The skull has sutures: one, of circular form, in the case of
women; in the case of men, as a general rule, three meeting at a
point. Instances have been known of a man's skull devoid of suture
altogether. In the skull the middle line, where the hair parts, is
called the crown or vertex. In some cases the parting is double;
that is to say, some men are double crowned, not in regard to the bony
skull, but in consequence of the double fall or set of the hair.
8
The part that lies under the skull is called the 'face': but in
the case of man only, for the term is not applied to a fish or to an
ox. In the face the part below the sinciput and between the eyes is
termed the forehead. When men have large foreheads, they are slow to
move; when they have small ones, they are fickle; when they have broad
ones, they are apt to be distraught; when they have foreheads
rounded or bulging out, they are quick-tempered.
9
Underneath the forehead are two eyebrows. Straight eyebrows are
a sign of softness of disposition; such as curve in towards the
nose, of harshness; such as curve out towards the temples, of humour
and dissimulation; such as are drawn in towards one another, of
jealousy.
Under the eyebrows come the eyes. These are naturally two in
number. Each of them has an upper and a lower eyelid, and the hairs on
the edges of these are termed 'eyelashes'. The central part of the eye
includes the moist part whereby vision is effected, termed the
'pupil', and the part surrounding it called the 'black'; the part
outside this is the 'white'. A part common to the upper and lower
eyelid is a pair of nicks or corners, one in the direction of the
nose, and the other in the direction of the temples. When these are
long they are a sign of bad disposition; if the side toward the
nostril be fleshy and comb-like, they are a sign of dishonesty.
All animals, as a general rule, are provided with eyes, excepting
the ostracoderms and other imperfect creatures; at all events, all
viviparous animals have eyes, with the exception of the mole. And
yet one might assert that, though the mole has not eyes in the full
sense, yet it has eyes in a kind of a way. For in point of absolute
fact it cannot see, and has no eyes visible externally; but when the
outer skin is removed, it is found to have the place where eyes are
usually situated, and the black parts of the eyes rightly situated,
and all the place that is usually devoted on the outside to eyes:
showing that the parts are stunted in development, and the skin
allowed to grow over.
10
Of the eye the white is pretty much the same in all creatures; but
what is called the black differs in various animals. Some have the rim
black, some distinctly blue, some greyish-blue, some greenish; and
this last colour is the sign of an excellent disposition, and is
particularly well adapted for sharpness of vision. Man is the only, or
nearly the only, creature, that has eyes of diverse colours.
Animals, as a rule, have eyes of one colour only. Some horses have
blue eyes.
Of eyes, some are large, some small, some medium-sized; of these,
the medium-sized are the best. Moreover, eyes sometimes protrude,
sometimes recede, sometimes are neither protruding nor receding. Of
these, the receding eye is in all animals the most acute; but the last
kind are the sign of the best disposition. Again, eyes are sometimes
inclined to wink under observation, sometimes to remain open and
staring, and sometimes are disposed neither to wink nor stare. The
last kind are the sign of the best nature, and of the others, the
latter kind indicates impudence, and the former indecision.