Chapter 10

Democritus, however, does teach that in the breathing animals there is a certain result produced by respiration¹; he asserts that it prevents the soul from being extruded² from the body. Nevertheless, he by no means asserts that it is for this purpose that Nature so contrives³ it, for he, like the other physical philosophers, altogether fails to attain⁴ to any such explanation. His statement is that the soul and the hot element are identical, being the primary forms among the spherical⁵ particles. Hence, when these are being crushed together by the surrounding atmosphere thrusting them out, respiration, according to his account, comes in to succour them. For in the air there are many of those particles which he calls mind and soul. Hence, when we breathe and the air enters, these enter along with it, and by their action cancel the pressure, thus preventing the expulsion of the soul which resides in the animal.

This explains why life and death are bound up with the taking in and letting out of the breath; for death occurs when the compression by the surrounding air gains the upper hand, and, the animal being unable to respire, the air from outside can no longer enter and counteract⁶ the compression. Death is the departure of those forms owing to the expulsive pressure exerted by the surrounding air. Death, however, occurs not by haphazard⁷ but, when natural, owing to old age, and, when unnatural⁸, to violence.

But the reason for this and why all must die Democritus has by no means made clear. And yet, since evidently death occurs at one time of life and not at another, he should have said whether the cause is external or internal. Neither does he assign the cause of the beginning of respiration, nor say whether it is internal or external. Indeed, it is not the case that the external mind superintends the reinforcement; rather the origin of breathing and of the respiratory motion must be within: it is not due to pressure from around. It is absurd also that what surrounds should compress and at the same time by entering dilate⁹. This then is practically his theory, and how he puts it.

But if we must consider that our previous account is true, and that respiration does not occur in every animal, we must deem that this explains death not universally, but only in respiring animals. Yet neither is it a good account of these even, as may clearly be seen from the facts and phenomena¹⁰ of which we all have experience. For in hot weather we grow warmer, and, having more need of respiration, we always breathe faster. But, when the air around is cold and contracts and solidifies¹¹ the body, retardation¹² of the breathing results. Yet this was just the time when the external air should enter and annul¹³ the expulsive movement, whereas it is the opposite that occurs. For when the breath is not let out and the heat accumulates too much then we need to respire, and to respire we must draw in the breath. When hot, people breathe rapidly, because they must do so in order to cool themselves, just when the theory of Democritus would make them add fire to fire.

1 respiration   

n.呼吸作用；一次呼吸；植物光合作用

参考例句：

• They tried artificial respiration but it was of no avail.他们试做人工呼吸，可是无效。
• They made frequent checks on his respiration,pulse and blood.他们经常检查他的呼吸、脉搏和血液。

2 extruded   

v.挤压出( extrude的过去式和过去分词 )；挤压成；突出；伸出

参考例句：

• Lava is extruded from the volcano. 熔岩从火山中喷出。
• Plastic material is extruded through very small holes to form fibres. 塑料从细孔中挤压出来形成纤维。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 contrives   

（不顾困难地）促成某事( contrive的第三人称单数 )； 巧妙地策划，精巧地制造（如机器）； 设法做到

参考例句：

• The striver contrives to derive that privacy can't be deprived. 奋斗者想方设法推导得出隐私（权）不可剥夺。
• Chance contrives better than we ourselves. 机遇往往出人意料；人算不如天算。

4 attain   

vt.达到，获得，完成

参考例句：

• I used the scientific method to attain this end. 我用科学的方法来达到这一目的。
• His painstaking to attain his goal in life is praiseworthy. 他为实现人生目标所下的苦功是值得称赞的。

5 spherical   

adj.球形的；球面的

参考例句：

• The Earth is a nearly spherical planet.地球是一个近似球体的行星。
• Many engineers shy away from spherical projection methods.许多工程师对球面投影法有畏难情绪。

6 counteract   

vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some medicine to counteract the effect of the poison.医生给他些药解毒。
• Our work calls for mutual support.We shouldn't counteract each other's efforts.工作要互相支持，不要互相拆台。

7 haphazard   

adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的

参考例句：

• The town grew in a haphazard way.这城镇无计划地随意发展。
• He regrerted his haphazard remarks.他悔不该随口说出那些评论话。

8 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

9 dilate   

vt.使膨胀，使扩大

参考例句：

• At night,the pupils dilate to allow in more light.到了晚上，瞳孔就会扩大以接收更多光线。
• Exercise dilates blood vessels on the surface of the brain.运动会使大脑表层的血管扩张。

10 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

11 solidifies   

（使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的第三人称单数 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化

参考例句：

• Jelly solidifies as it gets cold. 肉冻冷却就凝固。
• It is stirred with 10%sodium carbonate solution(50ml)and then with water (50ml), after which It'solidifies. 与10％碳酸钠溶液（50毫升）混合搅拌，然后再用50毫升水混合搅拌，从而析出固体。

12 retardation   

n.智力迟钝，精神发育迟缓

参考例句：

• Asbestos reinforcement confers excellent flame retardation properties on a composite. 石棉增强材料使复合材料具有优异的防火性能。
• The theory confirms the increase in the retardation effect with decrease in particle size. 理论证实，随着颗粒尺寸的减小，这一减速效应将增大。

13 annul   

v.宣告…无效，取消，废止

参考例句：

• They have the power to alter or annul inappropriate decisions of their own standing committees.他们有权改变或者撤销本级人民代表大会常务委员会不适当的决定。
• The courts later found grounds to annul the results,after the king urged them to sort out the "mess".在国王敦促法庭收拾烂摊子后，法庭随后宣布废除选举结果。