nd in the original distribution gave to the marrow as many
and various forms as the different kinds of souls were hereafter to
receive. That which, like a field, was to receive the divine seed, he
made round every way, and called that portion of the marrow, brain,
intending that, when an animal was perfected, the vessel containing this
substance should be the head; but that which was intended to contain
the remaining and mortal part of the soul he distributed into figures at
once round and elongated, and he called them all by the name 'marrow';
and to these, as to anchors, fastening the bonds of the whole soul,
he proceeded to fashion around them the entire framework of our body,
constructing for the marrow, first of all a complete covering of bone.

Bone was composed by him in the following manner. Having sifted pure and
smooth earth he kneaded it and wetted it with marrow, and after that he
put it into fire and then into water, and once more into fire and again
into water--in this way by frequent transfers from one to the other he
made it insoluble by either. Out of this he fashioned, as in a lathe,
a globe made of bone, which he placed around the brain, and in this he
left a narrow opening; and around the marrow of the neck and back
he formed vertebrae which he placed under one another like pivots,
beginning at the head and extending through the whole of the trunk.
Thus wishing to preserve the entire seed, he enclosed it in a stone-like
casing, inserting joints, and using in the formation of them the power
of the other or diverse as an intermediate nature, that they might have
motion and flexure. Then again, considering that the bone would be too
brittle and inflexible, and when heated and again cooled would soon
mortify and destroy the seed within--having this in view, he contrived
the sinews and the flesh, that so binding all the members together by
the sinews, which admitted of being stretched and relaxed about the
vertebrae, he might thus make the body capable of flexion and extension,
while the flesh would serve as a protection against the summer heat
and against the winter cold, and also against falls, softly and easily
yielding to external bodies, like articles made of felt; and containing
in itself a warm moisture which in summer exudes and makes the surface
damp, would impart a natural coolness to the whole body; and again in
winter by the help of this internal warmth would form a very tolerable
defence again