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CH. VII.] which have been alluded to, and which, in that age, could not but have been topics of wonder and speculation ; they were irreconcilable besides, with the prevailing notions of colour and light.

Note 7, p. 96. The air is the medium for sounds, &c.] The air was by Aristotle held to be essential to sound; but it is not apparent why odour was supposed to be transmitted by some modified condition of air or water, unless, indeed, it was required in order to account for the perception of odours by fishes and aquatic animals. There was a difficulty, in fact, in accounting for the transmission of odour through air and water, because odour was held to be a vaporous exhalation eliminated by fire; and the "special organ of smell was said to be located about the brain ," the coldest of all parts of the body, in order that the exhalation might there be and made productive of smell. Thus, it might seem to be irreconcilable with odour, that it should be transmissible in air or water, and this may have led to the hypothesis of a modified condition of the elements for smell.

Note 8, p. 97. But neither man nor animals which  breathe, &c.] The term in the text (ἀνάπνει), like our own term breathing, is expressive both of inspiration and expiration, whereas it is evident that the sense of the passage requires the former process only. And yet