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BOOK THREE
PART 7
[p. 251]it. Thus it attracts all the most useful parts of the food in a vaporous
cf. Asclepiades's theory regarding the urine, p. 1.
and finely divided
condition, storing this up in its own coats, and applying
The process of application or prosthesis. cf. p. 223, note 3.
it to them. And when it is sufficiently full it puts away from it, as one might something troublesome, the rest of the food, this having itself meanwhile obtained some profit from its association with the stomach. For it is impossible for two bodies which are adapted for acting and being acted upon to come together without either both acting or being acted upon, or else one acting and the other being acted upon. For if their forces are equal they will act and be acted upon equally, and if the one be much superior in strength, it will exert its activity upon its passive neighbour; thus, while producing a great and appreciable effect, it will itself be acted upon either little or not at all. But it is herein also that the main difference lies between nourishing food and a deleterious drug; the latter masters the forces of the body, whereas the former is mastered by them.
Mutual influence of organism and environment.
There cannot, then, be food which is suited for the animal which is not also correspondingly subdued by the
qualities existing in the animal. And to be subdued means to undergo alteration.
Qualitative change. cf. Book I., chap. ii.
Now, some parts are stronger in power and others weaker; therefore, while all will subdue the nutriment which is proper to the animal, they will not all do so equally. Thus the stomach will subdue and alter its food, but not to the same extent as will the liver, veins, arteries, and heart.
We must therefore observe to what extent it does alter it. The alteration is more than that which
