The former condition is of
service in copulation, while the other is required for the advantage
of the body at large. For, were the organ constantly in the former
condition, it would be an incumbrance. The organ therefore has been
formed of such constituents as will admit of either state. For it is
partly sinewy, partly cartilaginous, and thus is enabled either to
contract or to become extended, and is capable of admitting air.
All female quadrupeds void their urine backwards, because the
position of the parts which this implies is useful to them in the
act of copulation. This is the case with only some few males, such
as the lynx, the lion, the camel, and the hare. No quadruped with a
solid hoof is retromingent.
The posterior portion of the body and the parts about the legs are
peculiar in man as compared with quadrupeds. Nearly all these latter
have a tail, and this whether they are viviparous or oviparous. For,
even if the tail be of no great size, yet they have a kind of scut, as
at any rate a small representative of it. But man is tail-less. He
has, however, buttocks, which exist in none of the quadrupeds. His
legs also are fleshy (as too are his thighs and feet); while the
legs in all other animals that have any, whether viviparous or not,
are fleshless, being made of sinew and bone and spinous substance.
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