foale by admitting severall coverings whereby the Cotyledons of the Matrix are violently broken And sometimes Women great being cupidineous by the same way many times miscarry Other Animals if after conception they should be so libidinous and admit their Male would also most times be subject to abortion Qu. VVherefore is it that a Horse by swimming is soone drowned although he receive little or no water in at the mouth An. Because the water in their swimming entereth into their bodies by the fundament which in them is large and so by degrees ponderously depresseth them Of Birds Qu. WHerefore is it that the Swallow flyeth swiftest of all Birds An. Because their wings are longer in respect of the quantity of their bodies than those of other birds and that is usefull for the catching of Flies which are their food and for the escaping from Birds of rapine and prey Q. Wherefore is it that they appeare not any where in Winter or whither doe they betake themselves during the time of winter An. Because they are no mans meate neither can they then get food all manner of Flies being dead so that then they betake themselves to Rocks by the Sea-side lying in holes by heapes nourishing one another with mutuall heate which the Corall-fishers in the Balticke Sea have confirmed to bee so who have found great heapes of them in that manner together Q. Wherefore is it that the Sparrow is most libidinous of all other birds A. All Birds are so but they are not so much as the Cocke and the Pigeon which have young eleven Moneths of the yeere Q. Wherefore is it that Birds continue their warbles and chants without stoppe or taking breath A. Because they sing as well breathing inwardly as outwardly as it appeares in the Larke which mounting upwards continues her chants without interruption even till she rise to the very clouds Q. Wherefore is it that Birds when they betake themselves to sleepe doe usually put their heads under the right wing An. Either for defending the head from cold or that they affect the posture which they had in the shell Qu. Wherefore is it that the fiercest beasts have the smallest hearts and those of a dull spirit and courage as the Oxe and the like have a greater and larger heart An. Because a great spirit confined to a streight breakes out with a greater violence and in a larger it is dispersed and dilated Qu. Wherefore is it that in Birds and other animals the multitude of either Sexe is indifferently equall in Man not for sometimes one begetteth most sonnes another most daughters An. Because of the stronger and abler bodies Males are generated and Females of a colder and weaker temperament so that in the Southerne parts Women exceed Men in number in the Northerne men them Therefore the strong Hercules by the multiplicity of Wives had Seventy two Sonnes and one onely Daughter Acab the King of Samaria had also Seventy Sonnes Qu. Wherefore is it that Animals have a kind of certainty and season for generation man not An. Because the pleasures of the other Animals are congruent to nature but the extravagant and unbridled lust of man is the cause that the mother so often bringeth children resembling neither parent Q. Wherefore is it that nature hath given Man a more copious abundance of braines than women seeing that prudence judgement and memory theron depend An. Because subtilty is more naturall to Women than prudence for this cannot bee but vertuous and that an enemy to vertue Neither doth craft proceed from plenty of braine but from a delinquent nature for a Fox of all Animals irrationall the most subtile and crafty hath but a small quantity of braines but a greater of sly nature Q. Wherefore is it that foure footed beasts have their legges before shorter than those behind A. For the aptnesse and swiftnesse of motion And Art imitating nature doth also make the fore-wheeles of a Coach and Wagon of a lesse proportion than those behinde that by the motion of the hinder the former may be enforced Q. Wherefore is it that a bone being broken and well set and conglutinated againe becomes stronger than any other part of the same bone A. By the reason of a knot contracted by the marrow which nature immediately sends unto it as it appeares also in a Tree as I said heretofore Qu. Wherefore is it that nature placed the principall parts of man so inward as the braine the heart c. An. That they might bee as safely protected as might bee for the conservation of the perfectest Animall man as the Braine with the Meninges dura Mater Skull skinne and haire the Heart with ribbs flesh and skin and so the rest Qu. Wherefore did Nature make a partition by the Diaphragma betweene the heart and the stomacke liver milt reines guts and intestines genitals and the rest of the bowells A. That the purer member as the Fort of life might be free from the annoyances of inferiour and noysome inconveniences as from excrements and ordure Furthermore it was necessary that the libidinous power should be inferiourly ranked to the irascible and life maintainer Qu. Wherefore is it that the essentiall part of the braine is by temperature cold and spungy and more plentifully given to Man than to any other Animall whatsoever An. That it might contayne the chiefe force or spirit a thing most necessary to the wisest of inferiour Creatures and might temper the heate of the heart with a coldnesse nature giving to other Animals a proportion and quantity sufficient for sense and motion Qu. Wherefore is it that the prime vigour of generation in a man is chiefly in the reines and that of the woman in the navell A. Because the internall parts which in a woman are fastened to the navell are larger and more capacious than those of men and so the force of desire greater but the muscles of the reines in a man are sinewous and his whole body more nervous and the braine the roote of nerves in man is of a larger size than a womans Qu. Wherefore is it that the blade of the tougue of all animalls is not fat An. That fatnesse by its concretion might not obstruct the passages of the spungy substance of the tougue whereby it might be deprived of the benefit of tast of severall Viands and fatnesse in the member in man would greatly have hindered speech Qu. Wherefore is it that the Eyes of Animals are first framed and perfected last An. Because no one member consisteth of many parts as that doth neither hath Nature fabricated any one thing in them of more exquisite feature than the eye which hath no lesse enemies peculiar diseases I meane than 120. Qu. Wherefore is it that Nurses which hourely give sucke have plenty of milke and those which are not drawne grow dry An. The same reason is in Wells and Fountaines for Nature strives to make that good againe which is violently taken from
begotten which we commonly terme Monsters but this is not ordinary but rather extraordinary for Nature doth never produce any of these Monsters but by some extraordinary and lascivious thoughts in the very act or else after the act which bringeth sleepe there to continue in the body of the Female which I thinke and some other learned are of my opinion is a maine cause of these Monsters called Hermophrodites and sometimes Nature hath given them that are thus luxurious no comfort of their issue for if not Hermophrodites then they proove fooles and ideots Qu. Why doe some children resemble sometime their Father more than the Mother which breeds them in their body and sometime like the Grandsir or some other of their kinred Ans It is according to their youth whether it bee father or mother which hath more seed in their vessels than the other which overflowes the lesser and being more desirous of lust which causeth the same likenesse And againe it is when in the very act the man remembers the visage of the Woman which is a great matter having it in his thought at that time sometimes it is like the Grand-father when hee is thought upon or remembred in the like action Qu. Why doe those infants which come out of the wombe at the eight Moneths end most commonly become weake and sometimes in danger of death A. Because nature is weak in those women and not able in regard of their burden to hold out any longer by reason of the watery and cold Planet the Moone which hath rule in every body whatsoever and by reason the Moon is retrograde ill desposed at that time is the cause of its death Q. Why doth the infant open the wombe at forty weekes end A. The reason is as wee may see in divers fruites when they be ripe they easily fal and so likewise when the childe is at full growth then the vessell doth breake or open and the tendons or ligaments easily broken and therefore those women which hold out their full time without their terms falling down in that time haue strong and lusty children and live long Q. Why doth either excessive ioy or griefe cause a woman to miscarry A. Sometime extraordinary joy doth take away the naturall heat which causeth and giveth life to the seede in the wombe and so causeth miscarrying and the very same reason is given for griefe conceived which taketh away the natural heat from the wombe to comfort the heart Q. Why doth the tongue sometimes lose the use of speaking A. The learned Physitian Hypocrates saith sometime it doth happen through a Palsie or Apoplexy which is by a violent effusion of blood and of other thicke humours and againe it is the infection spiritus animalis in the Median part of the braine which is an hinderāce that the vigor or spirit is not carryed unto the tongue which is the maine cause why the tongue sometimes is not able to expresse those actions which its office ought to make manifest Q. Why did nature make rather the braine cold than hot A. For this maine reason onely to temper and moderate the heate of the heart to the end it might serve in stead of a Fan or cooler Q. Wherefore made Nature Man naked and without weapons onely his armes to defend him A. Nature having bestowed wisedome upon man hath given him meanes enough to arme himselfe at his owne pleasure as well against the cold and heate of the aire as against the blowes of his enemies Q. What is the cause that children who are moyst by nature are not bald notwithstanding A. Because their humidity is intermingled with a temperate heate Q. Why doth Rue being planted under a fig-tree grow the better and receiveth more nourishment A. Because it drawes unto it selfe the sweetnesse of the Fig-tree or else the Fig-tree suckes away from the Rue a part of his bitternesse and so being somewat sweetned it groweth the better Q. Why doe old men dye almost without paine A. By reason that all their sences are debilitated and their rudicall moysture and naturall heate consumed Q. Why doth sorrow and care make some men to look old and gray before their time Answ Because they dry up the moysture of their bodie by their Cholericke humour which is too predominant in them and indeede Age is no thing but a kind of drynesse Q. Wherefore are womens counsailes which they give upon the suddaine commonly esteeemed happy and prosperous in effect and those which they give upon long deliberation unlucky and disastrous A. Erasmus is of opinion that their mindes are for the most part employed with what they most affect and upon a pinch if they bee put to it they shew much and a quicke wittinesse for Women are naturally farre more witty than men but more prone to affect and sometimes make use of it to extreame wickednesse Q. VVherefore is it said what 's a VVoman but her tongue A. Because antienly they had no other defence nor weapon but that but now they have better fortified themselves with tongue tooth and nayles Q. VVhat kinde of people are those that doe not sleepe in their owne faces A. Women that paint which put on other faces than nature gave them under which fained fairenesse there is a foule pretence of concealing age and wrinkles but not their desire of youthfull actions Justice Sph. Ph. pa. 683. Dialogismus What Goddesse Justice Why thy lookes so sterne Not to be wonne from what I once discerne VVhence born From heaven Thē say who was thy father Measure he 's cald and true-faith is my mother Why one eare open and the other shut To th' good thats ope to th'bad that 's closed up Why sword i' th right hand in the left a scales These weigh each act ' gainst th' guilty that prevailes Why art alone Good company is rare These times conduct mee not where good men are Why poorely clad Cause hee that will be iust Refraine to purchase wealth and treasure must Q. What doe you iudge to be most fit for the tranquility of of a marryed life A. No married life can be peaceable and quiet except the man be deafe and the woman blind for either of them must conceale somethings that she being blind may not be peeping prying into every action of her husband he deafe that he may not heare his wife brawling continually at home Altera luminihus quando caret auribus alter Improba coniugium tale querela fugit In English thus Where Wives want eyes and Husbands want good eares That Wedlocke seldome causeth jarres and teares Of a widow Q. Wherefore is it that no Spaniard of what meane quality soever will marry a widdow bee shee very young and wealthy A. It hath beene a resolution of theirs from Antiquity and continueth to this day and to this effect one of them made this answer I will no Widow wed my reason's sound I 'le drinke no water wherein one was
instant But I rather suppose that this happeneth not but to faint-hearted and weake cowards which are stricken into a maze and astonishment which is a cause that the naturall heate retires inward neare about the heart so that the outward parts being destitute of heate become as it were benumb'd and shake as those doe through extreame cold in the winter Q. Whence comes it to passe that the flesh of a sheepe bitten by a wolfe eates farre tenderer than others the wool is more apt to breed lice vermin A. It is because the breath of the wolfe is very hot and attenuating the flesh by his heate makes it more tender and by the same cause the wool participates the alteration of the flesh and is more subject and apt to putrefaction and to breed vermin This is the solution of Plutarch Q. Whence is it that the wolfe is sayd never to see his syre nor whelpe A. Because the Wolfe after his coupling with the female smells very ranke and strong farre more than before the smell being augmented by the motions of the humors which are in the coupling wherefore the other wolves in a rage fall upon him and worry him to death and teare him peece-meale and by that meanes he shal never see his whelps nor they him nor their owne which they shall beget The generall opinion of Hunters is that the Bitch-wolfe never couples with the Male but once in her life which is the cause that many Malewolves follow her when she is proud and fight and while they are all fighting if any one of them couple with her all the rest fall upon him and kill him Of Mules Male and Female Qu. VVHy is it that the Mulets beget not nor the Mules can conceive A. Some are of opinion that this proceedeth from their being ingendred of two divers and very different species or kinds of animals for the Horse is of a very hot and the Asse of a very cold temperament by nature they have not a disposition requisite for generation and conception Or rather because Nature doth abhorre the generation and propagation of monsters and Animals being engendered of two different creatures as these are being monsters Nature will not permit that their generation shall extend or enlarge it selfe any farther This reason is generall and the precedent is particular but both probable neverthelesse it is observed that Mules have sometimes conceived brought forth Quest Wherefore is it that Mulets are stronger sounder and longer-liv'd than Horses or asses being they participate of both natures A. Because by the providence of nature the defect of generation which is in them is recompensed by their other qualities or rather because of the great heate of the horse and the coldnesse of the Asse being mixed together doe make a good temperameÌ„t by the strength healthinesse livelinesse and long continuance of the Mulet which partakes of both Species Q. Wherefore is it that the Mulets participate more of the nature of the Asse than of the Horse being that the Horse is greater both in courage and fiercenesse and more generous than the Asse A. Because the Asse is of a melancholicke constitution and by consequence more desirous of copulation lust and venery by the reason whereof her feede is predominant in the generation of the Mulet or rather it is because the seede of the Asse being of a colder temper than that of the Horse is more tenacious or retayning Of Drunkards Q. WHerefore is it that great drinkers are said to gather death whence others gather life A. By the reason of excesse for Plures enecat inteÌ„perantia quaÌ„ gladius Excesse killeth more than the sword and by this meanes their foreheads oreshew to the world their more than brutish affection by the variety of pimples the rubies on their noses the rednesse of their eyes the trembling of their hands their stinking breath and as their bodies batten so their soules wither and themselves accelerate their deaths as immature by their intemperance As Saint Austine noteth Multi manducant bibunt in hac vita quod postea in inferno digerant Many eate and drinke that in this life which they must afterwards digest in Hell And Diogenes called these men the Charyhdes of life For the Charybdis swallows what the sea brings to it and casts it up againe but these swallow up rivers and lands but never cast them up againe Q. VVherefore is it that teares are frequent and usefull to your Maudlin drunkards A. The reason is that the shedding of teares is a great ease to them by the effusion of the superabundant humours in the head for the braine is filled with vapours which is much eased by such teares and by consequence they as Tibullus acknowledgeth thus Sape ego tentavi curas depellere vino At dolor in lachrymas verterat omne merum In English thus By wine I oft have try'd t' expell my cares But they converted all my wine to teares Qu. Wherefore is it that to a drunken man every thing seemes two A. These questions are not for a triviall understanding to resolve but I will doe my endeavour to enucleate what you propose The reason then is that by the abundance of humectation or moistning the tender muscles of the eyes more than ordinary affected and contracted they divert and distract the eyes the one being forced upwards and the other downewards Therefore both the eyes doe not direct themselves to one marke or object which causeth the sight to be double each eye directing it selfe differently Qu. How doe these pot-companions excuse themselves An. Certainly I thinke out of Anacreon thus Faecunda terra potat Hanc arboresque potant Et potat aequor auras Ipsumque Luna Phaebum Quid ergo vos sodales Pâ—â—â—â—â—… me vetatis In English thus The fruitfull Earth doth drinke The Trees drink earth I thinke The Sea drinkes Ayre I weene The Moone drinks Sol agen Then Blades why should wee fall From drinking Knock and call Qu. What kind of life is most fit for these kinde of Animals An. In my conceite the life of Frogs for they having liquor enough yet croake for more that is for fresh raine Quest How is it that Wine workes contrary and different effects in the drinkers An. The Sunne melts the Ice and hardens 〈◊〉 by the diversity of the subject whereon it operateth So Wine not of its owne Nature but by the nature of the bodies into which it is powred they being not all of one temper workes divers and different effects The melancholy man becomes fearefull without any manifest cause and steales away and starts as fearefull at every noise hee talkes of nothing but Ghosts and dead men or on the Scripture and is never more religious than when hee hath got a cup or two The phlegmaticke becomes heavy dull and stupid The sanguine hee laughes sings dances and spends himselfe in mirth The Cholericke hee puts all the rest in a confusion and quarrels
choler gnawes and corrupts the Liver the Liver the Blood and the Blood the whole Body Sometimes by the meanes of this Dew the Liver is oppilated obstructed or stopped which is the cause of a generall disease and death in the flock Albertus Magnus testifieth himselfe to have seene these experiences Of Frost Q. WHence proceedes the Frost A. Almost in the same manner it is generated as the Dew I say almost because a greater and more intense cold is required for the production of the frost than of the Dew that it may not onely dissolve the hot vapour into water but also congeale it when it is dissolved Of Springs and Fountaines Qu. WHence have Fountains and Springs their beginnings A. The earth in its womb hath many concavityes and hollow veines and passages in which because nothing can be empty certaine vapours being raised from the earth are dissolved into water and sticking to the sides of those veines destill into drops cause little streams which meeting together from all those parts in a lower place make a current and breaking forth make a spring Qu. Wherefore is it that some springs are constant and some increase in the Winter and decay in Summer An. By the reason of the disposition of the place of their beginning and mutation of the qualities For the more solid Hills whose secret passages the exteriour ayre cannot easily penetrate doe utter more constantly their waters for the former vapours being dissolved into a fluent liquor and that there may not bee a vacuum or emptinesse other vapours succeed and are likewise dissolved But the Hills that are porous that have open orifices or passages for the exterior ayre to penetrate especially in Summer doe not containe the vapors for they are dryed up by the exsiccating quality of the Ayre Q. Wherefore is it that the springs are warme in winter and cooler in summer A. The cause is from the fortification of the coldnesse of the cavernes and holes within the earth For in winter when the pores of the earth are stopped up by the exterior cold and the hot exhalations not finding a way out are there detained and warme the vapours the vapours consequently the waters in so much that they are usually seene reake smoake but in Summer the pores being open the exhalations easily passe and are drawne out And the coldnes of the cavernes kept in by Antiperistasis by the exteriour heate cooleth the vapours and waters Q. Wherefore is it that the Bath is so warme and coole and so different in qualities A. The reason and resolution of this question Philosophy gives affirming in generall that those Baths which are warme receive their heate by passing through the veines of sulphury and burning Mineralls But the diversity of the Springs proceeds from the various and divers permixtion of the first qualities by the concurse of the influences also by reason of the diversity of the Minerals and earths by which they passe But to give a reason for the strange effects and qualities of some waters it is very difficult referring that to the hand Omnipotent Qu. Which kind of waters are thought to bee purest and best An. Those that are lighter in weight purer in substance not standing but continually running over a pure earth towards the East and therefore these kind of waters are more usefull in medicine than any other by reason of their purity and vertue Q. Whence then are the Rivers caused An. The causes of Rivers in respect of their beginnings are the same with the springs A River is made by the concourse of divers waters as from the spring Ior and Dan which issue out at the foote of Libanus the river Iordan is produced so likewise many famous rivers have their like beginnings and denominations and all these run into the vast body of the devouring sea Of the Sea Qu. WHerefore is it that the water of the sea is so salt A. It is a generall opinion that the saltnesse of the sea proceedeth from the mixture of the adust terrene drynesse elevated by the power of the Sunne and mingled with the moyst vapours that fall into the Sea and by the same reason the water that is streined dreaned through ashes becomes bitter moreover the heate of the Sunne continually raiseth the sweeter and lighter Waters leaving the terrestriall earthinesse But the Rivers that runne out of the Sea and as it were are streyned through sands and earth flow not to us salt or bitter but become sweet leaving their salt qualitie in the earth and sand behinde them and returning againe into the sea do much temper and abate the saltnes thereof but many are of opinion that it was salt in its first creation Q. Wherefore is it that the sea ebs and flowes A. The cause hereof is attributed to the Mistresse of moysture the Moone for at her increase or decrease it is certaine that the humours almost of all things doe change and alter Wherupon the Moon running under the Sun which happeneth in her change the light of both being hindred cannot subtiliate the ayre which being grossened is turned to water and the encrease of the Sea is augmented in substance a flowing must necessarily follow but the Moone being in opposition of the Sunne which happeneth in her ful disperseth her light all over the inferiour bodies neither is she a hindrance to the Sun for the imparting his light and power to the Sea and hereupon the water of the Sea which by the reason of its grossenesse contayneth vapours becomes thinne ascends and flowes like the droppes of warme Milke and this encrease is not in substance but by accident by the rarefaction But in the interposed quartiles of the Moone the Sea encreaseth and decreaseth by the like causes In the first quartile the Sea decreaseth in the second it increaseth accidentally by the way of rarefaction In the third it decreaseth by the rarefaction by the decreasing of the light In the fourth the Moone comming nearer the Sunne the substance of the Sea againe increaseth by the thickenning of the ayre As for the foure quarters of the day naturall the Sea imitates the motion of the Moone For while the Moone upon the Horizon ascends towards the middle of the Heaven the Sea increaseth and floweth But the Moone declining from the middle of the Heaven towards the West the Sea decreaseth and ebbes Againe the Moone going forward to the West-ward towards the corner of the night the Sea increaseth and flowes but the Moone ascending from the corner of the night towards the East it decreaseth and ebbes Which when the Grand Syre of Philosophy Aristotle could not comprehend and conceive cast himselfe into the Sea saying If Aristotle cannot comprehend Euripe Euripe shall comprehend Aristotle Of the Earthquake Qu. VVHerefore is it that the Earth many times trembles which we cōmonly call Earthquakes An. When in the bowels and entrailes of the Earth a great abundance of vapours being included cannot finde