The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher: Containing his Complete Masterpiece and Family Physician; his Experienced Midwife, his Book of Problems and his Remarks on Physiognomy
Philosophy
The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher: Containing his Complete Masterpiece and Family Physician; his Experienced Midwife, his Book of Problems and his Remarks on Physiognomy
Human beings; Mind and body; Reproduction
Q. Why do men sleep better and more at ease on the right side than on
the left? A. Because when they be on the left side, the lungs do lie
upon and cover the heart, which is on that side under the pap; now the
heart, the fountain of life, being thus occupied and hindered with the
lungs, cannot exercise its own proper operation, as being overmuch
heated with the lungs lying upon it, and therefore wanting the
refreshment of the air which the lungs do give it, like the blowing of a
pair of bellows, is choked and suffocated, but by lying on the right
side, those inconveniences are avoided.
Q. What is the reason that old men sneeze with great difficulty? A.
Because that through their coldness their arteries are very narrow and
close, and therefore the heat is not of force to expel the cold.
Q. Why doth a drunken man think that all things about him do turn round?
A. Because the spirits which serve the sight are mingled with vapours
and fumes, arising from the liquors he has drunk; the overmuch heat
causeth the eye to be in continual motion, and the eye being round,
causeth all things about it to seem to go round.
Q. Wherefore doth it proceed, that bread which is made with salt is
lighter than that which is made without it, considering that salt is
very heavy of itself? A. Although bread is very heavy of itself, yet the
salt dries it and makes it light, by reason of the heat which it hath;
and the more heat there is in it, the better the bread is, and the
lighter and more wholesome for the body.
Q. Why is not new bread good for the stomach? A. Because it is full of
moistness, and thick, hot vapours, which do corrupt the blood, and hot
bread is blacker than cold, because heat is the mother of blackness, and
because the vapours are not gone out of it.
Q. Why do lettuces make a man sleep? A. Because they engender gross
vapours.
Q. Why do the dregs of wine and oil go to the bottom, and those of honey
swim uppermost? A. Because the dregs of wine and oil are earthly, and
therefore go to the bottom; but honey is a liquid that cometh from the
stomach and belly of the bee; and is there in some sort putrefied and
made subtle; on which account the dregs are most light and hot, and
therefore go uppermost.
Q. Why do cats' and wolves' eyes shine in the night, and not in the day?
A. The eyes of these beasts are by nature more crystalline than the eyes
of other beasts, and therefore do so shine in darkness; but the
brightness of the sun doth hinder them from being seen in the day-time.
Q. What is the reason that some men, if they see others dance, do the
like with their hands and feet, or by other gestures of the body? A.
Because the sight having carried and represented unto the mind that
action, and judging the same to be pleasant and delightful, and
therefore the imagination draweth the like of it in conceit and stirs up
the body by the gestures.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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