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.
Q. Why is the hair of the beard thicker and grosser than elsewhere; and the more men are shaven, the harder and thicker it groweth? A. Because by so much as the humours or vapours of any liquid are dissolved and taken away, so much the more doth the humour remaining draw to the same; and therefore, the more the hair is shaven, the thicker the humours gather which engenders the hair, and cause it to wax hard.
Q. Why are women smoother and fairer than men? A. Because in women much of the humidity and superfluity, which are the matter and cause of the hair of the body, is expelled with their monthly terms; which superfluity, remaining in men, through vapours passes into hair.
Q. Why doth man, above all other creatures, wax hoary and gray? A. Because man hath the hottest heart of all living creatures; and, therefore, nature being most wise, lest a man should be suffocated through the heat of his heart, hath placed the heart which is most hot, under the brain, which is most cold; to the end that the heat of the heart may be tempered by the coldness of the brain; and contrariwise, that the coldness of the brain may be qualified by the heat of the heart; and thereby there might be a temperature in both. A proof of this is, that of all living creatures man hath the worst breath when he comes to full age. Furthermore, man doth consume nearly half his time in sleep, which doth proceed from the great excess of coldness and moisture in the brain, and from his wanting natural heat to digest and consume that moisture, which heat he hath in his youth, and therefore in that age it is not gray, but in old age when heat faileth; because then the vapours ascending from the stomach remain undigested and unconsumed for want of natural heat, and thus putrefy, of which putrefaction of humours the whiteness doth follow which is called grayness or hoariness. Whereby it doth appear, that hoariness is nothing else but a whiteness of hair, caused by a putrefaction of the humours about the roots of the hair, through the want of natural heat in old age. Sometimes all grayness is caused by the naughtiness of the complexion, which may happen in youth; sometimes through over great fear and care, as appeareth in merchants, sailors, and thieves.
Q. Why doth red hair grow white sooner than hair of any other colour? A. Because redness is an infirmity of the hair; for it is engendered of a weak and infirm matter, that is of matter corrupted with the flowers of the woman; and therefore it waxes white sooner than any other.
Q. Why do wolves grow grisly? A. To understand this question, note the difference between grayness and grisliness: grayness is caused through defect of natural heat, but grisliness through devouring and heat. The wolf being a devouring animal beast, he eateth gluttonously without chewing, and enough at once for three days; in consequence of which, gross vapours are engendered in the wolfs body, which cause grisliness. Grayness and grisliness have this difference; grayness is only in the head, but grisliness all over the body.
Q. Why do horses grow grisly and gray? A. Because they are for the most part in the sun, and heat naturally causes putrefaction; therefore the matter of air doth putrefy, and in consequence they are quickly peeled.
Q. Why are not women bald? A. Because they are cold and moist, which are the causes that the hair remaineth; for moistness doth give nutriment to the hair, and coldness doth bind the pores.
Q. Why are not blind men naturally bald? A. Because the eye hath moisture in it, and that moisture which should pass through by the substance of the eyes doth become a sufficient nutriment for the hair, and therefore they are seldom bald.