Page:Aristotelous peri psuxes.djvu/141

CH. I.] necessarily, be sensible of impressions through both media—as if the sentient organ should be of air, then, as air is the medium for sound and colour, the individual would be sensible of both impressions through the same organ. Should there, however, be more than one medium for the transmission of the same impression, as air as well as water (since both are diaphanous,) serves for the transmission of colour, then an individual, having an organ constituted of either of those elements, would perceive impressions transmitted through them both. The sentient organs, however, are constituted of those two simple bodies, air and water, exclusively—for the pupil is of water, the hearing of air, and the smell either of one or other; but fire forms no part of any organ, or rather it is an element common to all, as there is nothing sentient without heat; and earth either does not enter at all into any sentient part, or it has been in some especial and peculiar manner combined with the Touch. Thus, there can remain only this conclusion, that, were there no air or water, there could be no sentient organ; and organs so constituted are actually possessed by animals now living. All the senses, in fact, are possessed by animals which are neither imperfect nor mutilated; for the mole appears to have eyes beneath its skin. So that, unless there is some kind of body hitherto unknown and some kind of impression unsuited to bodies here on earth, it may be affirmed