Kitap 2
3
Thus, every hypothesis of channels Or ducts, canals, conduits, i.e. morphological factors. as an explanation of natural functioning is perfect nonsense. For, if there were not an inborn faculty given by Nature to each one of the organs at the very beginning, then animals could not continue to live even for a few days, far less for the number of years which they actually do. For let us suppose they were under no guardianship, lacking in creative ingenuityOr artistic skill, artistry. cf. Book I., chap. xii. and forethought; let us suppose they were steered only by material forces, Only; cf. Introd., p. xxviii. and not by any special faculties (the one attracting what is proper to it, another rejecting what is foreign, and yet another causing alteration and adhesion of the matter destined to nourish it); if we suppose this, I am sure it would be ridiculous for us to discuss natural, or, still more, psychical, activities — or, in fact, life as a whole.Note how Galen, although he has not yet clearly differentiated physiological from physical processes (both are natural) yet separates them definitely from the psychical. cf. p. 2, footnote. A psychical function or activity is, in Latin, actio animalis (from anima =psyche ).
