Q. What properties do follow those of a phlegmatic complexion? A. They are dull of wit, their hair never curls, they are seldom very thirsty, much given to sleep, dream of things belonging to water, are fearful, covetous, and given to heap up riches. Q. What are the properties of a choleric man? A. He is soon angry, furious, and quarrelsome, given to war, pale coloured, and unquiet, drinks much, sleeps little, and desires women’s company much. Q. What are the properties of a melancholy man? A. He is brown in complexion, unquiet, his veins hidden, eateth little, and digesteth less, dreameth of dark and confused things, is sad, fearful, exceeding covetous, and incontinent. Q. What dreams do follow these complexions? A. Pleasant merry dreams do follow the sanguine; fearful dreams the melancholic; the choleric dream of children, fighting, and fire; the phlegmatic dream of water. This is the reason why a man’s complexion is said to be known by his dreams. Q. What is the reason that if you cover an egg over with salt, and let it lie in it a few days, all the meat within is consumed? A. The great dryness of the salt consumes the substance of the egg. Q. Why is the melancholic complexion the worst? A. Because it proceeds from the dregs of blood, is an enemy to mirth, and bringeth on an aged appearance and death, being cold and dry. Q. What is the cause that some men die joyful, and some in extreme grief? A. Over great joy doth overmuch heat the internal parts of the body; and overmuch grief doth drown and suffocate the heart, which failing, a man dieth. Q. Why hath a man so much hair on his head? A. The hair of the head proceeds from the vapours which arise from the stomach, and ascend to the head, and also from the superfluities which are in the brain; and those two passing through the pores of the head are converted into hair, by reason of the heat and dryness of the head. And because man’s body is full of humours, and he hath more brains that any other creature, and also more superfluities in the brains, which the heat expelleth: hence it followeth that he hath more hair than any other living creature. Q. How many ways is the brain purged, and other hidden places of the body? A. Four; the watery and gross humours are purged by the eyes, melancholy by the ears, choler by the nose, and phlegm by the hair. Q. What is the reason that such as are very fat in their youth are in danger of dying on a sudden? A. Such have very small and close veins, by reason of their fatness, so that the air and the breath can hardly have free course in them; and thereupon the natural heat, wanting the refreshment of air, is put out, and as it were, quenched. Q. Why do garlic and onions grow after they are gathered? A. It proceedeth from the humidity that is in them. Q. Why do men feel cool sooner than women? A. Because men, being more hot than women, have their pores more open, and therefore it doth sooner enter into them than women.