The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher Part 26

Q. Why doth a sharp taste, as that of vinegar, provoke appet.i.te rather than any other? A. Because it is cold, and doth cool. For it is the nature of cold to desire to draw, and therefore it is the cause of appet.i.te.

Q. Why do we draw in more air than we breathe out? A. Because much air is drawn in that is converted into nutriment, and with the vital spirits is contained in the lungs. Therefore a beast is not suffocated as long as it receives air with its lungs, in which some part of the air remaineth also.

Q. Why doth the air seem to be expelled and put forth, seeing the air is invisible, by reason of its variety and thinness? A. Because the air which is received in us, is mingled with vapours and fumes from the heart, by reason whereof it is made thick, and so is seen. And this is proved by experience, because that in winter, we see our breath, for the coldness of the air doth bind the air mixed with fume, and so it is thickened and made gross, and by consequence is seen.

Q. Why have some persons stinking breath? A. Because of the evil fumes that arise from the stomach. And sometimes it doth proceed from the corruption of the airy parts of the body, as the lungs. The breath of lepers is so infected that it would poison birds if near them, because the inward parts are very corrupt.

Q. Why are lepers hoa.r.s.e? A. Because the vocal instruments are corrupted, that is, the lights.

Q. Why do persons become hoa.r.s.e? A. Because of the rheum descending from the brain, filling the conduit of the lights; and sometimes through imposthumes of the throat, or rheum gathering in the neck.

Q. Why have the females of all living creatures the shrillest voices, the crow only excepted, and a woman a shriller and smaller voice than a man? A. By reason of the composition of the veins and vocal arteries the voice is formed, as appears by this similitude, that a small pipe sounds shriller than a great. Also in women, because the pa.s.sage where the voice is formed is made narrow and strait, by reason of cold, it being the nature of cold to bind; but in men, the pa.s.sage is open and wider through heat, because it is the property of heat to open and dissolve. It proceedeth in women through the moistness of the lungs, and weakness of the heat. Young and diseased men have sharp and shrill voices from the same cause.

Q. Why doth the voice change in men at fourteen, and in women at twelve; in men they begin to yield seed, in women when their b.r.e.a.s.t.s begin to grow? A. Because then the beginning of the voice is slackened and loosened; and this is proved by the similitude of the string of an instrument let down or loosened, which gives a great sound, and also because creatures that are gelded, as eunuchs, capons., etc., have softer and slenderer voices than others, by the want of their stones.

Q. Why do small birds sing more and louder than great ones, as appears in the lark and nightingale? A. Because the spirits of small birds are subtle and soft, and the organ conduit strait, as appeareth in a pipe; therefore their notes following easily at desire, they sing very soft.

Q. Why do bees, wasps, locusts and many other such like insects, make a noise, seeing they have no lungs, nor instruments of music? A. Because in them there is a certain small skin, which, when struck by the air, causeth a sound.

Q. Why do not fish make a sound? A. Because they have no lungs, but only gills, nor yet a heart, and therefore they need not the drawing in of the air, and by consequence they make no noise, because a voice is a percussion of the air which is drawing.

_Of the Neck._

Q. Why hath a living creature a neck? A. Because the neck is the supporter of the head, and therefore the neck is in the middle between the head and the body, to the intent that by it, and by its sinews, motion and sense of the body might be conveyed through all the body; and that by means of the neck, the heart, which is very hot, might be separated from the brain.

Q. Why do some creatures want necks, as serpents and fishes? A. Because they want hearts, and therefore want that a.s.sistance which we have spoken of; or else they have a neck in some inward part of them, which is not distinguished outwardly.

Q. Why is the neck full of bones and joints? A. That it may bear and sustain the head the better. Also, because the back bone is joined to the brain in the neck, and from thence it receives marrow, which is of the substance of the brain.

Q. Why have some creatures long necks, as cranes, storks and such like?

A. Because such birds seek their food at the bottom of waters. And some creatures have short necks, as sparrows, hawks, etc., because such are ravenous, and therefore for strength have short necks, as appeareth in the ox, who has a short neck and strong.

Q. Why is the neck hollow, and especially before, about the tongue? A.

Because there are two pa.s.sages, whereof the one doth carry the meat to the nutritive instrument, or stomach and liver, which is called by the Greeks _Aesophagus_; and the other is the windpipe.

Q. Why is the artery made with rings and circle? A. The better to bow and give a good sounding.

_Of the Shoulders and Arms._

Q. Why hath a man shoulders and arms? A. To lift and carry burdens.

Q. Why are the arms round? A. For the swifter and speedier work.

Q. Why are the arms thick? A. That they may be strong to lift and bear burdens, and thrust and give a strong blow; so their bones are thick, because they contain much marrow, or they would be easily corrupted and injured.

Q. Why do the arms become small and slender in some diseases, as in mad men, and such as are sick of the dropsy? A. Because all the parts of the body do suffer the one with the other; and therefore one member being in grief, all the humours do concur and run thicker to give succour and help to the aforesaid grief.

Q. Why have brute beasts no arms? A. Their fore feet are instead of arms, and in their place.

_Of the Hands._

Q. For what use hath a man hands, and an ape also, like unto a man? A.

The hand is an instrument a man doth especially make use of, because many things are done by the hands, and not by any other part.

Q. Why are some men ambo-dexter, that is, they use the left hand as the right? A. By reason of the great heat of the heart, and for the hot bowing of the same, for it is that which makes a man as nimble of the left hand as of the right.

Q. Why are the fingers full of joints? A. To be more fit and apt to receive and keep what is put in them.

Q. Why hath every finger three joints, and the thumb but two? A. The thumb hath three, but the third is joined to the arm, therefore is stronger than the other fingers; and is called pollex or polico, that is, to excel in strength.

Q. Why are the fingers of the right hand nimbler than the fingers of the left? A. It proceedeth from the heat that predominates in those parts, and causeth great agility.

_Of the Nails._

Q. From whence do nails proceed? A. Of the tumosity and humours, which are resolved and go into the extremities of the fingers; and they are dried through the power of the external air, and brought to the hardness of horn.

Q. Why do the nails of old men grow black and pale? A. Because the heat of the heart decaying causeth their beauty to decay also.

Q. Why are men judged to be good or evil complexioned by the colour of the nails? A. Because they give witness of the goodness or badness of their heart, and therefore of the complexion, for if they be somewhat red, they betoken choler well tempered; but if they be yellowish or black, they signify melancholy.

Q. Why do white spots appear in the nails? A. Through mixture of phlegm with nutriment.

_Of the Paps and Dugs._

Q. Why are the paps placed upon the b.r.e.a.s.t.s? A. Because the breast is the seat of the heart, which is most hot; and therefore the paps grow there, to the end that the menses being conveyed thither as being near the heat of the heart, should the sooner be digested, perfected and converted with the matter and substance of the milk.

Q. Why are the paps below the b.r.e.a.s.t.s in beasts, and above the breast in women? A. Because woman goes upright, and has two legs only; and therefore if her paps were below her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, they would hinder her going; but beasts having four feet prevents that inconveniency.

Q. Whether are great, small or middle-sized paps best for children to suck? A. In great ones the heat is dispersed, there is no good digestion of the milk; but in small ones the power and force is strong, because a virtue united is strongest; and by consequence there is a good digestion for the milk.

Q. Why have not men as great paps and b.r.e.a.s.t.s as women? A. Because men have not monthly terms, and therefore have no vessel deputed for them.

Q. Why do the paps of young women begin to grow about thirteen or fifteen years of age? A. Because then the flowers have no course to the teats, by which the young one is nourished, but follow their ordinary course and therefore wax soft.

Q. Why hath a woman who is with child of a boy, the right pap harder than the left? A. Because the male child is conceived in the right side of the mother; and therefore the flowers do run to the right pap, and make it hard.

Q. Why doth it show weakness of the child, when the milk doth drop out of the paps before the woman is delivered? A. Because the milk is the proper nutriment of the child in the womb of its mother, therefore if the milk run out, it is a token that the child is not nourished, and consequently is weak.