Science Lit

Aristotle and Mollusk Sex

Aristotle usually figures in cultural history and in the history of science as a rationalist philosophizer, one of the men who put The West on the non-empirical, non-experimental, unscientific track of logical abstraction and argument -- someone whose influence had to be thrown off before science would be possible.

This picture is really quite misleading. Aristotle was criticized in his own time for undignified activities such as the dissection of hermit crabs, and his biological writings show us that as an  experimentalist he wasn't as far removed from Darwin as people think.

To make my point, I've excerpted Aristotle's writings on the sex lives of the mollusks -- since you can hardly imagine a less-dignified area of empirical study.

Bird Milk, Reptile Milk, Fish Milk

The most interesting thing that came out of my quest for exotic milk is that the hormone prolactin seems to be associated with parenting activities by either sex, not only in mammals and birds, but even in fish (and by conjecture and extrapolation, even in therapsids). I'm less narrow-minded than most, and I don't have any difficulty with the idea that human, mammalian, and avian parents all feel similiar emotions. Proto-mammals, maybe. But fish? Cold-blooded things? The mind boggles.

Killer Snails

These quiet-looking tropical snails with their beautifully-patterned shells are actually predatory killers whose extraordinarily-toxic venom is under study for use in medical or even military applications

Loons

The four loon species have no close relatives and are reputed, with some justice, to be among the most ancient of birds. The pejorative word "loon" is etymologically distinct from the bird's name, which derives from Norse words meaning "lame".  Their appearance is striking and their eerie song even more so. (Links to the loon call are included, along with the howls of the hyena and the Tasmanian devile for comparison.)

The sex life of the squid

Greenpeace is certainly no friend of the squid, and one of these days we can expect to hear that a few of the Rainbow Warrior mercenaries have finally bought the farm, trapped by the hooked tentacles of a colossal squid  and torn to pieces by its dual beaks.....

The Waters Above the Firmament

"And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so.

Hemoglobin and its substitutes

The color symbolism of red and green derives from the closely-related molecules hemoglobin and chlorophyll, the first representing animal life and the second, vegetable life. On the other hand, if we were priapalids or "penis worms" whose blood relies on hemerythrin instead of hemoglobin, purple or violet would have the place in our color symbolism that red does now.

I am emersonj at gmail dot com.

Original materials copyright John J Emerson

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