DiotimosReading Desk

Breathing and bodily processes

Breathing and smell

τῆι ἀναπνοῆι (tēi anapnoēi); τοῦ ἄσθματος (tou asthmatos); ταῖς ἀναπνοαῖς (tais anapnoais)

Anapnoē is breathing; asthma in this sentence is breath or breathing, not necessarily the modern disease called asthma.

From the book

Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II

Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordAnapnoē is breathing; asthma in this sentence is breath or breathing, not necessarily the modern disease called asthma.
  • In this workTheophrastus's exposition makes smell depend on breathing and correlates its sharpness with vigorous respiratory movement.
  • In this editionThe quoted ending “thus … of odours” at §22 is abbreviated in the printed text.
  • A place to readConnects olfactory acuity to the movement of breath.

Meaning

Anapnoē is breathing; asthma in this sentence is breath or breathing, not necessarily the modern disease called asthma. The relevant words describe air movement as the proposed route or cause of olfactory sensation.

Use in the book

Theophrastus's exposition makes smell depend on breathing and correlates its sharpness with vigorous respiratory movement. Aëtius more concretely says odour enters together with breaths from the lung. His catarrh example indicates that altered or heavy breathing may impede rather than improve the sense.

Theophrastus's objections separate necessary conditions from causes. If some animals smell without breathing, respiration cannot be a universal explanation; if a damaged or closed sense does not perceive, more inhaled air is not sufficient. Sleep, exertion, and difficult breathing further challenge a simple proportionality between air drawn and acuity. At §22 he consequently allows that breathing is involved incidentally while denying, tentatively, that it is the intrinsic cause. The argument does not deny every association between nasal airflow and smell; it tests a stronger claim about what makes smelling occur.

Places to read

  1. A 86 § 9 (testimony)Theophrastus, On the Senses 9. Connects olfactory acuity to the movement of breath.
  2. A 86 §§ 20–21 (polemical)2Theophrastus, On the Senses 21. Tests the proposed correlation using animals and bodily conditions.
  3. A 86 §§ 22–23 (polemical)Theophrastus, On the Senses 22. Distinguishes incidental association from intrinsic cause.
  4. A 94 (testimony)Aëtius. Reports smell entering with lung-breaths.

Translation in this edition

The quoted ending “thus … of odours” at §22 is abbreviated in the printed text. Do not reconstruct the missing verse from the paraphrase or treat the modern word “asthma” as the required translation.