But of women in general, it is said, that the humidity of the
bladder of the matrix, or womb, is joined and meeteth in that lower
secret place, and therefore is dissolved and separated in that place
into vapours and fumes, which are the cause of hair. And the like doth
happen in other places, as in the hair under the arms.
Q. Why have not women beards? A. Because they want heat; which is the
case with some effeminate men, who are beardless from the same cause, to
have complexions like women.
Q. Why doth the hair grow on those that are hanged? A. Because their
bodies are exposed to the sun, which, by its heat doth dissolve all
moisture into the fume or vapour of which the hair doth grow.
Q. Why is the hair of the beard thicker and grosser than elsewhere; and
the more men are shaven, the harder and thicker it groweth? A. Because
by so much as the humours or vapours of a liquid are dissolved and taken
away, so much the more doth the humour remaining draw to the same; and
therefore the more the hair is shaven, the thicker the humours gather
which engender the hair, and cause it to wax hard.
Q. Why are women smooth and fairer than men? A. Because in women much of
the humidity and superfluity, which are the matter and cause of the hair
of the body, is expelled with their monthly terms; which superfluity,
remaining in men, through vapours passes into hair.
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