Q. Why are the thighs and calves of the legs of men flesh, seeing the
legs of beasts are not so? A. Because men only go upright; and therefore
nature hath given the lower parts corpulency, and taken it away from the
upper; and thus she hath made the buttocks, the thighs, and calves of
the legs fleshy.
Q. Why are the sensible powers in the heart; yet if the hinder part of
the brain be hurt, the memory suffereth by it; if the forepart, the
imagination; if the middle, the cogitative part? A. It is because the
brain is appointed by nature to cool the blood of the heart; whereof it
is, that in divers of its parts it serveth the powers and instruments
with their heart, for every action of the soul doth not proceed from one
measure of heat.
* * * * *
THE PROBLEMS OF
ALEXANDER APHRODISEUS
Q. Why doth the sun make a man black and dirt white, wax soft and dirt
hard? A. By reason of the disposition of the substance that doth suffer.
All humours, phlegm excepted, when heated above measure, do seem black
about the skin; and dirt, being full either of saltpetre, or salt
liquor, when the sun hath consumed its dregs and filth, doth become
white again. When the sun hath stirred up and drawn the humidity of the
wax, it is softened; but in the dirt, the sun doth consume the humidity,
which is very much and makes it hard.
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