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CHAPTER 11 442B27–443B16 442b27 Odors must be understood in the same way. For what dryness causes in moistness, enchymous moistness causes in another genus, namely air, and water as well. 442b29 We now call what is common in these the transparent. But this is an object of smell not according as it is transparent, but according as it is capable of being soaked or cleansed by enchymous dryness. 443a2 The odorous is not only in air, but also in water. This is clear in the case of fish and testacea, for they seem to smell. And air does not exist in water, for it floats to the top when it is in water. And these animals do not breathe. 443a6 Accordingly, if one holds that water and air are both moist, odor will be the nature of enchymous dryness in moisture, and the odorous is what is such. 443a8 That this affection is caused by the enchymous is clear both from what has and from what does not have odor. For the elements, namely fire, air, earth, water, are odorless, because both the dry and the moist ones are achymous unless a mixture is made. This is why the sea has odor, for it has moisture and dryness. And salt is more odorous than niter (the fact that oil flows out of these is revealing ), but niter has more earth. Moreover, a stone is odorless, for it is achymous. But woods are odorous, for they are enchymous, and those that are watery are less odorous. Moreover, among metals, gold is odorless, for it is achymous. Brass and iron are odorous, but when the moisture is burned out of them, their slag is made odorless. Silver and tin are more odorous than some, but less than others, for they are watery. 443a21 Now it seems to some that odor is a smoky evaporation, and that this is common to earth and air. They all speak of odor on this basis. Thus Heraclitus says that if all beings became smoke, the nostrils would discern them. They all introduce some such cause of odor, some presenting it as an “exhalation,” some as an “evaporation,” and some as both of these. Vapor is a kind of moisture, but smoky exhalation, as was said, is something common to air and earth. Water is produced from the former, but a kind of earth from the latter. 95 443a29 But odor seems to be neither of these, for vapor belongs to water, but smoky evaporation cannot occur in water. For animals in water also smell, as was said above. 443b1 Moreover, they use the term “evaporation” as they do the term “emanations .” Therefore, if the latter is not correct, neither is the former. 443b3 Therefore it is not hard to see that moisture—both that in wind and that in water—can receive and be affected in some way by enchymous dryness. For air too is by nature moist. 443b6 Moreover, if this produces in what is moist and in air something like dryness that has been soaked, it is clear that odors must be analogous to moistures . 443b8 And in some cases they are so, for odors are also “sour” and “sweet” and “harsh” and “pungent” and “rich.” And one might say that what is putrid is analogous to what is bitter: as the latter is difficult to drink, what is putrid is dysanapneustic. It is clear, then, that what flavor is in water, odor is in air and water. 443b14 For this reason cold and cohesion make flavors dull and drive out odors: for cold and cohesion remove the heat that moves and generates them. Commentary 442b27 After the Philosopher has made a determination about flavors , here he begins to make a determination about odors. This is divided into two parts. In the first he makes the determination about odors. In the second he compares the sense of smell to the other senses, where he says The senses exist in an odd number (Chapter 13, 445a4). On the first point he does two things. First he determines the generation and the nature of odor. Second he determines the species of odor, where he says There are two species of the odorous (Chapter 12, 443b17). On the first point he does two things. First he shows what is passive in the generation of odors. Second he shows what is active in it, where he says That this affection is caused by the enchymous (443a8). On...

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