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. This divides off
the heart and lung, and, as already said, is called Phrenes in
sanguineous animals, all of which have a midriff, just as they all
have a heart and a liver. For they require a midriff to divide the
region of the heart from the region of the stomach, so that the centre
wherein abides the sensory soul may be undisturbed, and not be
overwhelmed, directly food is taken, by its up-steaming vapour and
by the abundance of heat then superinduced. For it was to guard
against this that nature made a division, constructing the midriff
as a kind of partition-wall and fence, and so separated the nobler
from the less noble parts, in all cases where a separation of upper
from lower is possible. For the upper part is the more honourable, and
is that for the sake of which the rest exists; while the lower part
exists for the sake of the upper and constitutes the necessary element
in the body, inasmuch as it is the recipient of the food.
That portion of the midriff which is near the ribs is fleshier and
stronger than the rest, but the central part has more of a
membranous character; for this structure conduces best to its strength
and its extensibility. Now that the midriff, which is a kind of
outgrowth from the sides of the thorax, acts as a screen to prevent
heat mounting up from below, is shown by what happens, should it,
owing to its proximity to the stomach, attract thence the hot and
residual fluid
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