Claudii Alberii Triuncuriani De concordia medicorum disputatio exoterica

continues from previous page: ...and affections of every terrestrial animal, even the smallest, and to recall all observations to the anatomy of man as if to a norm, even beginning with reptiles, in which the distinction of parts is obscure. Nor indeed should we disdain these smallest things which appear.

Aristotle, book 1, On the Parts of Animals.

Therefore one ought not to be childishly disgusted by the examination of the more ignoble animals. For in all natural things there is something marvelous, and just as it is said that Heraclitus spoke to the strangers who wished to meet him, who, upon approaching, saw him warming himself by the stove and hesitated, he ordered them to enter with confidence, saying that even there were gods. So too, one ought to approach the investigation concerning each of the animals without being daunted, as if there were something natural and beautiful in all of them. For that which is not by chance, but for the sake of something, is in the works of nature and indeed most of all: and that for the sake of which it has been established or has come to be, has taken the place of the beautiful. And if someone thinks that the study of other animals is ignoble, he must think the same way about himself. For it is not possible without much difficulty to see from what things the human structure is composed.