Q. Why doth the hair take deeper root in man’s skin than in that of any other living creatures? A. Because it has greater store of nourishment in man, and therefore grows more in the inward parts of man. And this is the reason why in other creatures the hair doth alter and change with the skin, and not in man, unless by a scar or wound. Q. Why have women longer hair than men? A. 1. Because women are moister and more phlegmatic than men; and therefore there is more matter for hair in them, and, by consequence, the length also of their hair. And, furthermore, this matter is more increased in women than men from their interior parts, and especially in the time of their monthly terms, because the matter doth then ascend, whereby the humour which breedeth the hair doth increase. 2. Because women want beards; so the matter of the beard doth go into that of the hair. Q. Why have some women soft hair and some hard? A. 1. The hair hath proportion with the skin; of which some is hard, some thick, some subtle and soft, and some gross; therefore the hair which grows out of a thick gross skin, is thick and gross; that which groweth out of a subtle and fine skin is fine and soft; when the pores are open, then cometh forth much humour, and therefore hard hair is engendered; and when the pores are strait, then there doth grow soft and fine hair. This doth evidently appear in men, because women have softer hair than they; for in women the pores are shut and strait, by reason of their coldness. 2. Because for the most part, choleric men have harder and thicker hair than others, by reason of their heat, and because their pores are always open, and therefore they have beards sooner than others. For this reason also, those beasts which have hard hair are the boldest, because such have proceeded from heat and choler, examples of which we have in the bear and boar; and contrariwise, those beasts that have soft hair are fearful, because they are cold, as the hare and the hart. 3. From the climate where a man is born; because in hot regions hard and gross hair is engendered, as appears in the Ethiopians, and the contrary is the case in cold countries towards the north. Q. Why have some men curled hair and some smooth? A. From the superior degree of heat in some men, which makes the hair curl and grow upward: this is proved by a man’s having smooth hair when he goes into a hot bath, and it afterwards becomes curled. Therefore, keepers of baths have often curled hair, as also Ethiopians and choleric men. But the cause of the smoothness is the abundance of moist humours. 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, and have complexions like women. Q. Why doth the hair grow on those who 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.