ARISTOTLE AND THE EARLIER PERIPATETICS vol.I by Eduard Zeller, B.F.C.Costelloe 1897

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PHYSICS m 519
as it will be now necessary to pass at once, in the next
volume, to Aristotle's observations and conclusions as
to Organic Nature.
result of a motion which passes
from an object to the eye through
the transparent medium (De An.
ii. 7, 419, a, 9, 13, iii. 1, 424, b,
29, c. 12, 435, a, 5 ; De Sensv, 2,
438, b, 3).—That, he says, which
by its presence causes light, by
its absence darkness, is also that
which on the border of transparent
things produces Colour.
For colour resides only on the
surface of bodies, and belongs,
therefore, only to those which
have definite limits : as light is
said to be eV aopiffrcp rw Siatpavei
(De Sensu, o. 3, 439, a, 26), so
colour is defined (ibid. 439, b, 11)
as rb rov Suupaj/ovs ey ff6fJ.ci.Ti
&>piai>.iv!f Tipas: White and black
correspond on the surface of
bodies to light and darkness
(439, b, 16), and from these two
primary colours come all the
others, not merely by the mechanical
confusion of their atomic
elements, nor by the shining of
one through the other, but also
by a real process of mixture, such
as is described at p. 420. If they
are mixed in simple numerical
proportion, we have pure colours
if otherwise, impure. Inclusive of
black and white, Aristotle enumerates
in all seven primary
colours (ibid. 439, b, 18 to the end
of the chapter, and also c. 6, 445,
b, 20 sqq., and c. 4, 442, a, 19 sqq.
Cf . De An. ii. 7 vnit. \ ibid. 419, a,
1 sqq. ; Meteor, iii. 4, 373, b, 32
sqq., i. 5, 342, b, 4). The treatise
upon colour starts from somewhat
different premisses ; vide
Peantl, who treats Aristotle's
doctrine of colour from different
points of view in the most
exhaustive manner, pp. 86-159,
as also Baumkbe, Arist. Lehre
v. d. Sinnesvermogen (1877), p. 21
sqq.—Sound is said to be motion
caused by the concussion of hard
bodies and transmitting itself
through the medium of the air.
It was to describe this idea of
the sound-medium that Theophrastus
and other Peripatetics
invented the word Sti/xts, formed
upon the analogy of Suupai/^s, just
as in like manner they invented
Slofffios to describe the medium
by which smell is transmitted,
Phi lop. De An. L, 4 ; cf. ibid.
M, 8, u. 10, o. Those notes are
high which make a forcible impression
on the ear in a brief
time, i.e. quick notes ; those on
the other hand are deep which
take a longer time to produce a
weak impression, i.e. slow ones
(De An. ii. 8, 419, b, 4-420, b, 5).
Bodies which are fastened into
others and carried round by them
as the stars are, produce no sound
by their motion (De Casio, ii. 9,
291, a, 9 sqq.)—Smell is held to
be caused by dry materials which
are dissolved in moisture, i.e. in
water or air (eyxv/ios {tjp