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[1] was held to be a vaporous exhalation eliminated
by fire; and the "special organ of smell was said to be
located about the brain[2]," the coldest of all parts of the
body, in order that the exhalation might there be con-
densed 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
