In the solid-hoofed animals the belly is rough and hard, while in some land animals it is provided with rough asperities like teeth,[293] and in others, again, it has a reticulated surface like that of a file. Those animals which have not the teeth on both sides, and do not ruminate, digest the food in the belly, from whence it descends to the lower intestines. There is an organ in all animals attached in the middle to the navel, and in man similar in its lower part to that of the swine, the name given thereto by the Greeks being “colon,” a part of the body which is subject to excruciating pains.[294] In dogs this gut is extremely contracted, for which reason it is that they are unable to ease it, except by great efforts, and not without considerable suffering. Those animals with which the food passes at once from the belly through the straight intestine, are of insatiate appetite, as, for instance, the hind-wolf,[295] and among birds the diver. The elephant has four[296] bellies; the rest of its intestines are similar to those of the swine, and the lungs are four times as large as those of the ox. The belly in birds is fleshy, and formed of a callous substance. In that of young swallows there are found little white or pink pebbles, known by the name of “chelidonii,” and said to be employed in magical incantations. In the second belly of the heifer there is a black tufa found, round like a ball,[297] and of no weight to speak of: this, it is generally thought, is singularly efficacious in laborious deliveries, if it happens not to have touched the ground.
CHAP. 80.—THE OMENTUM: THE SPLEEN; ANIMALS WHICH ARE WITHOUT IT.
The belly and the intestines are covered with a caul known as the “omentum,” consisting of a fatty, thin membrane; except in the case of those animals which are oviparous. To this membrane is attached the spleen, which lies on the left side, and opposite the liver: sometimes, indeed, it changes place with the liver, but such a case is looked upon as nothing less than a prodigy. Some persons imagine that a spleen of extremely diminutive size exists in the oviparous animals, as also in serpents; at all events, it is to be detected in the tortoise, the crocodile, the lizard, and the frog; though it is equally certain that it does not exist in the bird known as the “ægocephalos,”[298] nor yet in those animals which are destitute of blood. The spleen sometimes offers a peculiar impediment in running, for which reason the region of the spleen is cauterized[299] in runners who are troubled with pains there. It is said also, that if the spleen is removed[300] by an incision, animals may survive. There are some persons who think that with the spleen man loses the power of laughing, and that excessive laughter is caused by the overgrowth of it. There is a territory of Asia, known as Scepsis,[301] in which it is said that the spleen of the cattle is remarkably small, and that from thence it is that remedies for diseases of the spleen have been introduced.
CHAP. 81.—THE KIDNEYS: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE FOUR KIDNEYS. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NONE.
About Briletum and Tharne[302] the stags have four kidneys: while, on the other hand, those animals which have wings and scales have[303] none. The kidneys adhere to the upper part of the loins. Among all animals, the kidney on the right side is more elevated than the other, less fat, and drier. In both kidneys there is a certain streak of fat running from the middle, with the sole exception of those of the sea-calf. It is above the kidneys, also, that animals are fattest, and the accumulation of fat about them is often the cause of death in sheep. Small stones are sometimes found in the kidneys. All quadrupeds that are viviparous have kidneys, but of those which are oviparous the tortoise is the only one that has them; an animal which has all the other viscera, but, like man, has the kidneys composed, to all appearance, of several kidneys, similar to those of the ox.
CHAP. 82.—THE BREAST: THE RIBS.
Nature has placed the breast, or, in other words, certain bones, around the diaphragm and the organs of life, but not around the belly, for the expansion of which it was necessary that room should be left. Indeed, there is no animal that has any bones around the belly. Man is the only creature that has a broad breast; in all others it is of a carinated shape, in birds more particularly, and most of all, the aquatic birds. The ribs of man are only eight in number; swine have ten, the horned animals thirteen, and serpents thirty.
CHAP. 83.—THE BLADDER: ANIMALS WHICH HAVE NO BLADDER.
Below the paunch, on the anterior side, lies the bladder, which is never found in any oviparous animal, with the exception of the tortoise, nor yet in any animal that has not lungs with blood, or in any one that is destitute of feet. Between it and the paunch are certain arteries, which extend to the pubes, and are known as the “ilia.” In the bladder of the wolf there is found a small stone, which is called “syrites;” and in the bladders of some persons calculi are sometimes found, which produce most excruciating pains; small hairs, like bristles, are also occasionally found in the bladder. This organ consists of a membrane, which, when once wounded, does not[304] cicatrize, just like those in which the brain and the heart are enveloped: there are many kinds of membranes, in fact.