Treatises by Aristotle, which were compiled in the Middle Ages into a collection titled Parva naturalia (Little Physics), focusing on phenomena and vital functions concerning both the body and the soul. Examined topics include: Sensation, memory and recollection, sleep and wakefulness, dreams, the relationship between dreams and divination, longevity and brevity of life, youth and old age, life and death, the function of breathing.

Aristotle, the son of the physician Nicomachus, was born in Stagira in 384 B.C. Information about the early years of his life is sparse. At the age of seventeen, he went to Athens to study at the Platonic Academy. He remained there for twenty years, from 367 to 348 B.C., until the death of Plato. Then Aristotle left for Assos in Troas and after a three-year stay there, he went to Lesbos and subsequently to Macedonia, where he took on the education of the royal offspring, Alexander.

When his student ascended to the throne, Aristotle settled in Athens and founded his own school, the Lyceum. After the death of Alexander (323 B.C.), the philosopher's stay in Athens became difficult. He was forced to seek refuge in Chalcis, his mother's homeland, where he died in 322.

A universal mind, Aristotle produced an extensive and valuable body of philosophical and scientific work. Epistemology, logic, theology, physics, biology, psychology, ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics are the main fields of knowledge he explored and studied. The Alexandrian Hermippus counted Aristotle's works at 400. Lists have survived that include 143 titles of his works. Diogenes Laertius estimated the number of lines in Aristotelian writings at 440,000. The influence of his work on the formation of global thought was strong for centuries, and remains so.

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