[Aristotle's works.].

  • Aristotle, pseud.
Date:
[1890?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Aristotle's works.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    387/446 (page 411)
    and dirt white, wax soft, and dirt hard? A. By reason of the disposition of the sub- stance 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. Q. Why are round ulcers hard to be cured T A. Because they are bred of a sharp choler, which eats and gnaws; and because it doth run, dropping and gnawing, it makes a round ulcer; for which reason it requires dry medi- cines, as physicians assert. Q. Why is honey sweet to all men, but to such as have jaundice? A. Because they have much bitter choler all over their bodies, which abounds in the tongue; whence it happens, when they eat honey the humours are stirred, and the taste itself, by the bitter- ness of choler, causes an imagination that the honey is bitter. Q. Why doth water, cast on serpents, cause them to fly? A. Because they are dry and cold by nature, having but little blood, and therefore fly from excessive coldness. Q. Why doth an egg break if roasted, and not if boiled ? A. When moisture comes near the fire, it is heated very much, and so breeds wind, which, being put up in little room,