Of the Nose.
Q. Why doth the nose stand out farther than any other part of the body? A. 1. Because the nose is as it were, the sink of the brain, by which the phlegm of the brain is purged; and therefore it doth stand forth, lest the other parts should be defiled. 2. Because the nose is the beauty of the face, and doth smell.
Q. Why hath man the worst smell of all creatures? A. Because man hath most brains of all creatures; and, therefore, by exceeding coldness and moisture, the brain wanteth a good disposition, and by consequence, the smelling instrument is not good; yea, some men have no smell.
Q. Why have vultures and comorants a keen smell? A. Because they have a very dry brain; and therefore, the air carrying the smell is not hindered by the humidity of the brain, but doth presently touch its instrument; and, therefore, vultures, tigers, and other ravenous beasts, have been known to come five hundred miles after dead bodies.
Q. Why did nature make the nostrils? A. 1. Because, the mouth being shut, we draw breath in by the nostrils to refresh the heart. 2. Because the air which proceedeth from the mouth doth savour badly, because of the vapours which rise from the stomach, but that which we breathe from the nose is not noisome. 3. Because the phlegm which doth proceed from the brain is purged by them.
Q. Why do men sneeze? A. That the expulsive virtue and power of the sight should thereby be purged, and the brain also, from superfluities: because, as the lungs are purged by coughing, so is the sight and brain by sneezing; and therefore physicians give sneezing medicaments to purge the brain; and thus it is, such sick persons that cannot sneeze die quickly, because it is a sign their brain is wholly stuffed with evil humours, which cannot be purged.
Q. Why do not such as are apoplectic sneeze; that is, such as are subject easily to bleed? A. Because the passages or ventricles of the brain are stopped; and if they could sneeze, their apoplexy would be loosed.
Q. Why does the heat of the sun provoke sneezing, and not the heat of the fire? A. Because the heat of the sun doth dissolve, but not consume, and therefore the vapour dissolved is expelled by sneezing; but the heat of the fire doth dissolve and consume, and therefore doth rather hinder sneezing than provoke it.
Of the Ears
Q. Why do beasts move their ears, and not men? A. Because there is a certain muscle near the under-jaw which doth cause motion in the ear; and therefore that muscle being extended and stretched, men do not move their ears, as it hath been seen in divers men; but all beasts do use that muscle or fleshy sinew, and therefore do move their ears.