CHAP. 72.—THE LUNGS: IN WHAT ANIMALS THEY ARE THE LAR-
GEST, AND IN WHAT THE SMALLEST. ANIMALS WHICH HAVE
NOTHING BUT LUNGS IN THE INTERIOR OF THE BODY. CAUSES
WHICH PRODUCE EXTRAORDINARY SWIFTNESS IN ANIMALS.
Beneath the heart are the lungs, the laboratory in which
the respiration is prepared. The use of these, is to draw in the
air and then expel it; for which purpose their substance is of
a spongy nature, and filled with cavernous holes. Some few
among the aquatic animals have lungs, as we have already
stated; [Note] and among the rest of those which are oviparous, they
are small, of a fungous nature, and containing no blood; hence
it is, that these animals do not experience thirst. It is for the
same reason also, that frogs and seals are able to remain so
long under water. The tortoise, too, although it has lungs of
remarkable size, and extending throughout the whole of the
shell, is also equally destitute of blood. The smaller the lungs
are in proportion to the body, the greater is the swiftness of
the animal. It is in the chameleon that the lungs are the
largest in proportion to the body; in which, in fact, it has no
other viscera at all. [Note]
