§3#2καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ τῷ αἰσθητηρίῳ τιθέμενον ἀναίσθητον εἶναι κοινὸν πάντων, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἄνευ τοῦ ἀναπνεῖν μὴ αἰσθάνεσθαι ἴδιον ἐπί τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν· τοῦτο δὲ πειρωμένῳ δῆλον.
And that what is placed upon the sensory organ itself is unperceived is common to all, but not perceiving without breathing is peculiar to humans; and this is clear to anyone who tries it.
εἰ οὖν τὰ. ἄναιμα μὴ ἀναπνεῖ, ἑτέραν ἅν τινα ἔχοι αἴσθησιν παρὰ τὰς λεγομένας.
If, therefore, bloodless creatures do not breathe, they would have some other sense besides those mentioned.
ἀλλʼ εἴπερ τῆς ὀσμῆς αἰσθάνεται, ἀδύνατον· ἡ γὰρ τοῦ ὀσφραντοῦ καὶ εὐώδους καὶ δυσώδους αἴσθησις ὄσφρησίς ἐστιν.
But if they indeed perceive smell, that is impossible; for the perception of the smellable and of what is pleasant-smelling and foul-smelling is smell.
φαίνεται δὲ καὶ φθειρόμενα ὑπὸ τῶν ἰσχυρῶν ὀσμῶν ὑφʼ ὧνπερ καὶ ἄνθρωπος, οἷον ἀσφάλτου καὶ θείου καὶ τῶν τοιούτων.
And they also appear to be destroyed by strong smells by which man also is, such as asphalt and sulfur and such things.
ὀσφραίνεσθαι μέντοι νῦν ἀναγκαῖον, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἀναπνεῖν.
Indeed, it is necessary now to conclude that they smell, but do not breathe.
ἀλλʼ ἔοικε διαφέρειν τὸ αἰσθητήριον τοῦτο τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πρὸς τὸ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ ὄμματα πρὸς τὰ τῶν σκληροφθάλμων (τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἔχει πῶμα καὶ ὥσπερ ἔλυτρον τὰς βλεφαρίδας, ἃς ἂν μὴ ἀνασπάσῃ καὶ κινήσῃ, οὐχ ὁρᾷ· τὰ δὲ σκληρόφθαλμα οὐκ ἔχει, ἀλλʼ εὐθὺς ὁρᾷ ὅ τι ἂν τεθῇ ἐν τῷ διαφανεῖ), οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἀσφραντικὸν αἰσθητήριον τοῖς μὲν ἀκάλυφον εἶναι, ὥσπερ τὸ ὄμμα, τοῖς δὲ δεχομένοις τὸν ἀέρα ἔχειν ἐπικάλυμμα, ὃ ἀαπνεόντων ἀποκαλύπτεται, διευρυνομένων τῶν φλεβῶν καὶ τῶν πόρων.
But this sensory organ in humans seems to differ from that of the other animals, just as eyes also differ from those of hard-eyed creatures (for the former have a lid and as it were a sheath, the eyelids, which unless they draw up and move, they do not see; while the hard-eyed do not have them, but immediately see whatever is placed in the transparent medium), so too the olfactory organ is uncovered in some creatures, just as the eye, but in those which admit air it has a covering, which is uncovered when they breathe, as the veins and pores are widened.
καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὰ ἀναπνέοντα ἐν τῷ ὑγρῷ οὐκ ὀσμᾶται, ὅτι ἀνάγκη ἀναπνεύσαντα ὀσφρανθῆναι, ἐν δὲ τῷ ὑγρῷ ἀδύνατον τοῦτο ποιεῖν.
And for this reason, those that breathe do not smell in water, because it is necessary to breathe in order to smell, but in water it is impossible to do this.
ἔστι δʼ ἡ ὀσμὴ τοῦ ξηροῦ ὥσπερ ὁ χυμὸς τοῦ ὑγροῦ· τὸ δʼ ὀσφραντικὸν αἰσθητήριον τὸ δονάμει τοιοῦτον.
And smell is of the dry, just as flavor is of the wet; and the olfactory organ is potentially such.
Τὸ δὲ γευστόν ἐστιν ἁπιόν τι, καὶ τοῦτο αἴτιον τοῦ μὴ εἶναι αἰσθητὸν διὰ τοῦ μεταξὺ ἀλλοτρίου ὄντος σώματος· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἡ ἀρή.
But the tasteable is a kind of tangible, and this is the cause of its not being perceptible through a medium which is an alien body; for neither is touch.
καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἐν ᾧ ὁ χυμός, τὸ γευστόν, ἐν ὑγρῷ ὡς ὕλῃ· τοῦτο δʼ ἁπτόν τι.
And the body in which is the flavor, the tasteable, is in wetness as its matter; and this is a kind of tangible.
διὸ κἂν εἰ ἐν ὕδατι εἴημεν, αἰσθανοίμεθʼ ἂν ἐμβληθέντος γλυκέος, οὐ διὰ τοῦ μεταξὺ δὲ ἡμῖν ἡ αἴσθησις, ἀλλὰ τῷ μιχθῆναι τῷ ὑγρῷ, ὥσπερ ποτῷ·
Therefore, even if we were in water, we would perceive if something sweet were thrown in, but our perception would not be through the medium, but by its being mixed with the wet, just as in a drink.
τὸ δὲ χρῶμα οὐχ οὕτως ὁρᾶται τῷ μίγνυσθαι, οὐδὲ ταῖς ἀπορροίαις.
But color is not seen in this way by being mixed, nor by effluences.
ὡς μὲν οὖν τὸ μεταξὺ οὐθὲν ἔστιν· ὡς δὲ χρῶμα τό ὁρατόν, οὕτω τὸ γευστὸν χυμός.
So, on the one hand, as a medium, there is nothing; but on the other hand, as color is the visible, so the tasteable is flavor.
οὐθὲν δὲ ποιεῖ αἴσθησιν χυμοῦ ἄνευ ὑγρότητος, ἀλλʼ ἔχει ἐνεργείᾳ ἢ δυνάμει ὑγρότητα, οἱον τὸ ἁλμυρόν· τηκτόν τε γὰρ αὐτὸ καὶ συντηκτικὸν τῆς γλώττης.
And nothing produces a sensation of flavor without wetness, but it has wetness either in actuality or in potentiality, as for example the salty; for it is both itself dissolvable and dissolvent of the tongue.
ὥσπερ δὲ καὶ ἡ ὄψις ἐστὶ τοῦ τε ὁρατοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἀοράτου (ὁ γὰρ σκότος ἀόρατος, κρίνει δὲ καὶ τοῦτον ἡ ὄψις), ἔτι δὲ τοῦ λίαν λαμπροῦ (καὶ γὰρ τοῦτό πως ἀόρατον, ἄλλον τρόπον καὶ ὁ σκότος)—ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀκοὴ ψόφου τε καὶ σιγῆς, ὧν τὸ
And just as sight is of both the visible and the invisible (for darkness is invisible, and sight judges this too), and moreover of the exceedingly bright (for this too is somehow invisible, though in another way than darkness)—and similarly hearing is of both sound and silence, of which on the one hand...