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are completed: the leafing, blooming, and the fruition, to begin, thereafter, in a new cycle.
The animals take their food when needed and at will. They have a
digestive system among the developed types of their species. And regarding the movement, unlike plant kingdom, they have a great measure of freedom. They receive their foods easily and at will by mouth. Taking in food, they are assisted by the teeth: cuspids, canines, and the molars in aiding digestion, and in gnawing, grinding and other helping processes, they are more developed than the plants. After the references made both to plant life and animal kingdoms,
the author considers the importance of the part played by the five senses in the human body's construction. Here he points to special centres that he adequately defines. He almost established their proper locations and functions in the brain and elsewhere (ft amakin lata'duha), a timely topic in this field in the present century. Beruni further adds that, through these senses, one distinguishes easily between what is good and what is harmful, or what may be beneficial and the undesirable according to the following pertinent applications and interpretations: 1. By vision, one differentiates between what is pleasing in order to
want or to have, and what is ugly to avoid and get away from. This stereopsis is sensed in the air by the light, and is distinguished by certain colours and shapes. 2. By hearing, one recognizes the melodious harmony, in order to
avoid the noisy and harsh reverberation. It is sensed by sounds in the air. 3. By smell, one distinguishes the sweet-smelling and the fragrant, and
avoids what is obnoxious and repugnant. It is sensed by odours in the air. 4. By taste, one checks the suitable and the tasty, and gets away from
the insipid, disagreeable and poisonous. It is transmitted by the palate, moistened for savouriness and taste with the help of the tongue and the
uvula. 5. By touch, one feels things whether cold, hot, dry or moist, as well
as the hard or the soft, then chooses what is the most enjoyable, satisfactory, or fitting. This sense of touch is spread throughout all parts of the body, but foremost in the skin. Touch decreases towards the interior in sensitivity, so that finally the bones become the least apperceptive and feeling, having the end of the minute blood vessels and the nerves. Teeth, therefore, the author definitely considers to have no sense of touch whatsoever. |
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