Again, there is no such organ in the seal, nor, of purely sea-animals,
in the dolphin. Even within the limits of the same genus, some animals
appear to have and others to be without it. Such, for instance, is the
case with mice; such also with man. For in some individuals there is a
distinct gall-bladder attached to the liver, while in others there
is no gall-bladder at all. This explains how the existence of this
part in the whole genus has been a matter of dispute. For each
observer, according as he has found it present or absent in the
individual cases he has examined, has supposed it to be present or
absent in the whole genus. The same has occurred in the case of
sheep and of goats. For these animals usually have a gall-bladder;
but, while in some localities it is so enormously big as to appear a
monstrosity, as is the case in Naxos, in others it is altogether
wanting, as is the case in a certain district belonging to the
inhabitants of Chalcis in Euboea. Moreover, the gall-bladder in fishes
is separated, as already mentioned, by a considerable interval from
the liver. No less mistaken seems to be the opinion of Anaxagoras
and his followers, that the gall-bladder is the cause of acute
diseases, inasmuch as it becomes over-full, and spirts out its
excess on to the lung, the blood-vessels, and the ribs.
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