and its most striking characteristic[1] is the impossibility of 825aits existing in a temperate region. We do not, therefore, find plants growing in snow; yet we often find plants appearing in the snow, and animals of all kinds, especially worms (for they are bred in the snow), and mullein and all bitter herbs. But it is not the snow which causes[2] this to be so; but a certain characteristic of snow is active. The reason is that snow falls like smoke, and the wind congeals it and the air binds it together. There is therefore rarity amongst its parts, and air will be retained in it and will grow hot, and foul water flows from it, which had before enclosed the air; and when the air is present in considerable quantities and the sun shines upon it, the air which is enclosed in the snow will burst its way out, and a foul moisture will appear and will be solidified by the heat of the sun.[3] But if the place is covered up by snow, plants will grow in it, but without leaves, because it is cut off from the equable temperature of the earth which is congenial to it. This is the reason why there are numerous flowers and leaves on small plants in places where the air and water are temperate, and few flowers and leaves on a plant which occurs in the snow. So too in very salty and dry places plants do not usually appear, because these places are far from being temperate; and the ground is impoverished, because heat and moisture, which are the characteristics of fresh water, are absent.[4] So the soil that is fresh is the mountain soil, and there plants grow quickly.
But in warm places, because there the water is fresh and the heat plentiful, the process of concoction proceeds quickly, partly as a result of the position and the air which is found there, and partly because there is a concoction of the air owing to the heat of the sun there. On mountains,[5] because they attract moisture and the clearness of the air assists the process, concoction proceeds apace ; and therefore plants are generally found on mountains. In deserts
- ↑ Nec in superfluo est, i.e. 'nec abundat in ea' (Meyer).
- ↑ Reading exigit with the Basle MS.
- ↑ Reading solis for soli.
- ↑ Reading longe.
- ↑ Montes, a nominative absolute due to translation of the Arabic, in which such nominatives are common (cf. below 825b 19). 'Vertendum fuisset in montibus' (Meyer).
