Q. Why is it unwholesome to wait long for one dish after another, and to eat of divers kinds of meat? A. Because the first begins to digest when the last is eaten, and so digestion is not equally made. But yet this rule is to be noted, dishes light of digestion, as chickens, kids, veal, soft eggs, and such like, should be first eaten: because, if they should be first served and eaten, and were digested, they would hinder the digestion of the others; and the light meats not digested would be corrupted in the stomach, and kept in the stomach violently, whereof would follow belching, loathing, headache, bellyache, and great thirst. It is very hurtful too, at the same meal, to drink wine and milk because they are productive of leprosy.
Q. Whether is meat or drink best for the stomach? A. Drink is sooner digested than meat, because meat is of great substance, and more material than drink, and therefore meat is harder to digest.
Q. Why is it good to drink after dinner? A. Because the drink will make the meat readier to digest. The stomach is like unto a pot which doth boil meat, and therefore physicians do counsel to drink at meals.
Q. Why is it good to forbear a late supper? A. Because there is little moving or stirring after supper, and so the meat is not sent down to the bottom of the stomach, but remaineth undigested, and so breeds hurts; therefore a light supper is best.
Of the Blood.
Q. Why is it necessary that every living thing that hath blood have also a liver? A. Because the blood is first made in the liver, its seat, being drawn from the stomach by certain principal veins, and so engendered.
Q. Why is the blood red? A. 1. It is like the part in which it is made, viz. the liver, which is red. 2. It is likewise sweet, because it is well digested and concocted; but if it hath a little earthy matter mixed with it, that makes it somewhat salt.
Q. How is women’s blood thicker than men’s? A. Their coldness thickens, binds, congeals, and joins together.
Q. How comes the blood to all parts of the body through the liver, and by what means? A. Through the principal veins, as the veins of the head, liver, &c. to nourish all the body.