On Longevity And Shortness Of Life   

off is part of the plant. Thus in taking slips this perpetuation of

life occurs though their connexion with the plant is severed, but in

the former case it is the continuity that is operative. The reason

is that the life principle potentially belonging to them is present in

every part.

Identical phenomena are found both in plants and in animals. For

in animals the males are, in general, the longer-lived. They have

their upper parts larger than the lower (the male is more of the dwarf

type of build than the female), and it is in the upper part that

warmth resides, in the lower cold. In plants also those with great

heads are longer-lived, and such are those that are not annual but

of the tree-type, for the roots are the head and upper part of a

plant, and among the annuals growth occurs in the direction of their

lower parts and the fruit.

These matters however will be specially investigated in the work

On Plants. But this is our account of the reasons for the duration

of life and for short life in animals. It remains for us to discuss

youth and age, and life and death. To come to a definite understanding

about these matters would complete our course of study on animals.



-THE END-