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.
Q. Why doth a drunken man think that all things about him do turn round? A. Because the spirits which serve the sight are mingled with vapours and fumes, arising from the liquors he has drunk: the overmuch heat causeth the eye to be in continual motion; and the eye being round causeth all things about it to seem to go round.
Q. Wherefore doth it proceed, that bread which is made with salt, is lighter than that which is made without it, considering salt is very heavy of itself? A. Although bread is heavy of itself, yet the salt dries it, and makes it light, by reason of the heat which it hath; and the more heat there is in it, the better the bread is, and the lighter and more wholesome for the body.
Q. Why is not new bread good for the stomach? A. Because it is full of moistness, and thick hot vapours, which do corrupt the blood; and hot bread is blacker than cold, because heat is the mother of blackness, and because the vapours are not gone out of it.
Q. Why do lettuces make a man sleep? A. Because they engender gross vapours.
Q. Why do the dregs of wine and oil go to the bottom, and those of honey swim uppermost? A. Because the dregs of wine and oil are earthly, and therefore go to the bottom; but honey is a liquid that cometh from the stomach and belly of the bee, and is there in some sort purified and made subtle; on which account the dregs are most light and hot, and therefore go uppermost.
Q. Why do cats’ and wolves’ eyes shine in the night, and not in the day? A. The eyes of these beasts are by nature more crystalline than the eyes of other beasts, and therefore do shine in darkness; but the brightness of the sun doth hinder them from being seen in the day-time.