Q. Why are not old men subject to the plague like young men and children? A. They are cold, and their pores are not so open as in youth: and therefore the infecting air doth not penetrate so soon by reason of their coldness. Q. Why do we cast water in a man’s face when he swooneth? A. Because that through the coldness of water the heat may run to the heart, and so give strength. Q. Why are those waters best and most delicate which run towards the rising sun? A. Because they are the soonest stricken with the sun-beams, and made pure and subtle, the sun having them under it, and by that means taking off the coldness and gross vapours which they gather from the ground they run through. Q. Why have women such weak and small voices? A. Because their instruments and organs of speaking, by reason of their coldness, are small and narrow; and therefore, receiving but little air, causes the voice to be effeminate. Q. Wherefore doth it proceed that want of sleep doth weaken the brain and the body? A. Much watching doth engender choler, the which being hot doth dry up and lessen the humours which serve the brain, the head, and other parts of the body. Q. Wherefore doth vinegar so readily staunch the blood? A. From its cold virtue; for all cold is naturally binding, and vinegar being cold, hath the like property. Q. Why is sea-water saltier in summer than in winter? A. From the heat of the sun, seeing by experience that a salt thing being heated becometh more salt. Q. Why do men live longer in hot regions than in cold? A. Because they may be more dry, and by that means the natural heat is better preserved in them than in cold countries. Q. Why is well-water seldom or ever good? A. All water which standeth still in the spring, and is never heated by the sun-beams, is very heavy, and hath much earthy matter in it; and therefore, wanting the heat of the sun, is naught. Q, Why do men sleep better and more at ease on the right side than on the left? A. Because when they lie 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, these 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.