When the stomach hath nothing else to consume, it consumeth the
phlegm and humours which it findeth most ready and most at hand; and
therefore we suffer hunger better than thirst, because the heat hath
nothing to refresh itself with.
Q. Why doth the hair fall after a great sickness? A. Where the sickness
is long, as in the ague, the humours of the head are dried up through
overmuch heat, and, therefore, wanting nourishment, the hair falls.
Q. Why doth the hair of the eyebrows grow long in old men? A. Because
through their age the bones are thin through want of heat, and therefore
the hair doth grow there, by reason of the rheum of the eye.
Q. Whereof proceedeth gaping? A. Of gross vapours, which occupy the
vital spirits of the head, and of the coldness of the senses causing
sleepiness.
Q. What is the reason that some flowers do open with the sun rising, and
shut with the sun setting? A. Cold doth close and shut, as hath been
said, but the heat of the sun doth open and enlarge. Some compare the
sun to the soul of the body; for as the soul giveth life, so the sun
doth give life, and vivificate all things; but cold bringeth death,
withering and decaying all things.
Q. Why doth grief cause men to grow old and grey? A. Age is nothing else
but dryness and want of humours in the body; grief then causeth
alteration, and heat dryness; age and greyness follow immediately.
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