sence and feeling which the others have not and that is called Vegetable which is capable of growth a terme common with man living Animals as Fowles Fishes Beasts and the like and with Hearbs and Trees which have a life proper to their kind Qu. Wherefore is it that earth being finely serced and sifted into a fine powder yet of its owne accord will bring forth grasse and weeds A. Because the celestiall power and influence ponetrating the surface or superficies of the earth resolveth the more subtile parts in which the seminall force lyeth hidden into a fume and condenseth or thickeneth them againe and transfigureth them into the species or shape of a root which being infixed in the earth as within a mother by the power of a connaturall and celestiall heate altereth and changeth the humour of the earth about it and attracteth what is convenient to its nature and converteth it into the substance of Hearbs or Plants c. Qu. Wherein doth their life appeare Answer In this that the Roote to them is as a mouth whereby it receiveth food and nutriment and the pith as a stomack heart and liver in which the nutriment is digested and disperseth or scattereth what is digested into every part through subtile veines and conduits the stalke or stocke contayning the pith being the body and the barke being a skinne to protect the body Qu. Wherefore then are the leaves usefull to them An. Both for beauty and for defence and shelter of their fruite and the knots are as joynts for dangerous flexibility by windes and the better strengthening of them Qu. Wherefore is it that Plants Trees and Hearbs being all of an earthly substance are neverthelesse some of them hot and moyst which qualities are contrary to those of the earth which are cold and dry An. Because that if you consider the integral parts of them you shall finde them terrene in substance But if you consider the virtuall parts and the degrees of their qualities you shall finde some hot and dry some hot and moist some cold and moyst some cold and dry and that in the first second third and fourth degrees according to the intensnesse or remisnesse of their qualities Q. Wherefore is it that the Philosophers hold that in them there is a distinction of sexe An. Because as Aristotle affirmeth in one plant both sexes cannot be So that if a Bird should eate a Cherry swallowing the stone also and should by chance light upon the arme or bough of an Oake and voyd that stone whole and intire into some chinke or cleft of the barke it may happen as it hath beene knowne that that Cherry-stone may shoote out and as it were engraft it selfe and beare Cherryes and not Acorns Of the Sperme or Seede Q. WHerefore is it that the Seede of those creatures which have attained their naturall perfection is more proper and apt for generation A. Because the younger have not yet done growing by which reason one part of the best nutriment which is converted in those that are full growne into seed in the younger turnes to growth And this also is a cause that the seede of the younger is more watry and cleare and that of the perfect more solide and therefore more apt for generation so that the Female doe rightly conceive and retaine it Q. Wherefore is it that amongst Plants the seede of one yeare is better than that of two and that of two better than that of three and so consequently An. Because the seed of Plants having attained their perfect maturity afterwards become dry more and more and by that meanes in the end lose their productive quality and vertue excepting that of Coriander which of two yeeres is better than that of one Qu. Wherefore is it that onely the Coriander is excepted An. Because it is covered with many pellicles or thin skinnes which preserve it a longer time in its perfection reteining the moysture from evaporating which cannot safely be used unlesse it be first prepared and this of two yeeres is easier and sooner prepared and by consequence is the better Qu. Wherefore is it that those Plants that beare a small seed are ordinarily more fruitfull An. By the reason that the productive force or generative vertue being enclosed and as it were crammed or erouded into a small volume as I may say is so much the more vigorous and forcible as generally is observed in little persons who are great in a little volume but for the most part full of spirit and vigour as one generally sayes of them Rarò vidi procerum sapiextem parvum humilem I have seldome seene a tall man wise and a little man humble Qu. Wherefore is it that the weightier seeds are the better An. Because that their weight shews that they are full of good substance according to their nature and the lighter defective Qu. Wherefore is it that Trees produced or sprung up from their owne seed are wilder and bring not forth fruite so faire or tastfull as those which are grafted An. Because the seed is farther from the perfection of the Tree than the graft For it is a lesser change to make the branch or graft a Tree than the seed Of Fowles and Birds Qu. VVHerefore is it that Birds and Fowles bring forth Egges and not their young in shape as some other animals doe An. By the reason that in their generative coupling of the Male with the Female that matter being given them by the Creator of all the seed of the Hen whose part being more moyst dilateth it selfe to the exteriour or outward parts of the shell and becomes white and that which is more terrene contracts it selfe to its centre and becomes yellow which wee call the yelke and these two are divided by thinne skins for the diversity of their nature Although in some through the weaknesse of heate there is little or no difference in colour especially in those of Fishes which have resemblance of Egges Qu. Wherefore is it that egges are covered with shells An. In the wombe of the Hen they have no shells because an Egge conceived by the heate of the wombe is nourished and vegetated till it come to bee compleate then breaking the knot by which it is tyed to the Matrix it comes forth in that order that the sharpest end which was fastened to the knot comes last to facilitate the bringing forth and that matter which was formed for the shell is soft in the wombe but afterwards by cold after the laying is condensed and becomes hard Qu. Wherefore is the coupling of the Cocke necessary when hens lay without a cocke An. Because without the Cocke who injecteth the generative spirit and fruitfulnesse by which the Egge is cherished for fructifying nothing cold bee generated although Hennes many times lay without a Cocke sometimes by the treading of another Henne and especially an Easterne winde blowing which egges have only a similitude and are called winde-egges but those never productive
liver and afterwards the appurtenances as the Navell Stomacke and Testicles afterwards the limbes neare them lastly the hands feet and the rest for mans body consisteth of many and divers limbes and members viz. veines nerves muscles bones cartilages fat flesh skin and the 4 humours viz. Blood Phlegme Choler and Melancholy Q. VVherefore is it that some are born in the 10 month when the ninth is the legitime A. Because the motion of organization and also the time of the birth doe vary especially if heate bee the stronger and the complexion better whence it is that the body of the male is sooner formed than the body of the female And againe there is a diversity in either of both Marg. Phil. Q. Wherein consisteth that diversity A. In this that the body of a Male-childe in formed in thirty dayes at least and 〈◊〉 him the vitall motion beginneth the 70 day and is totally finished and borne in the seventh moneth But if the body be formed the fortieth day it is quickned the eightieth and born the 8 month but they live not But if the body be compleat the forty fifth day it quickneth the ninetieth and is borne the ninth moneth after the conception Q. Wherefore is it that the Female is not so soone formed as the Male A. By the reason of the frigidity which is alwaies slower in motion than heat for the body of the Female is not formed before the fortieth day but is compleate ordinarily in the forty fifth and that quickneth the ninetieth day and is borne the ninth moneth which is the usuall and more convenience moneth for the birth But if the body bee not compleatly formed before the fiftieth day it quickneth in the one hundreth and is borne in the tenth moneth But all creatures have a certainety of bringing forth but onely man Q. Whence doth the Infant receive its nutriment in the wombe A. Immediately after conception the wonted monethly sicknesse of the mother is stayed and is divided into three parts the one wherof passeth into the Pappes in which it is decocted into a substance of milke the second is perfectly digested in the liver of the Mother the third which remaineth superfluous remains about the wombe untill the time of birth comes when it is evacuated From the first the infant borne is nourished from the second from the time of quickning it begins to be fed and nutrified but not by the mouth but by the passages of the Navel by which it is knit to the mother it receives its nutriment Q. Wherefore is it that some have red blemishes in their faces or other parts of their bodie which no Art can take away A. Because in the birth of the infant if any quantity of that which I said before was retayned untill the birth chanceth to touch or fall upon any part of the body of the infant wheresoever it leaveth such a stayne and blemish which cannot be taken away even by the excoriation or flaying the place Q. Wherefore have not men that kinde of Purgation A. By the reason they are of a greater heate that digesteth more easily superfluities and that which remaineth indigested turnes to haire Qu. Whence is it that in generation there is a diversity of sexe An. The reason of that is that the wombe having two Receptacles right and left the right parts are naturally hotter than the left Likewise the sperme of the right testicle is hotter than that of the left if then the seed of the right testicle happen into the right receptacle of the Matrix a Male is conceived if in the left a Female And if the sperme of the right testicle happen into the left receptacle a Virago or manly Female is generated and if that of the left testicle happens into the right of the wombe an effeminate Male towards But if the seed be promiscuously scattered and dispersed into both receptacles an Hermaphrodite is produced Qu. Whence is it then that twinnes are generated An. If the seed bee copious and abundant and separated into both receptacles twinnes are generated Although some are of opinion that they are conceived by a second conflict which very seldome happeneth Mar. Phil. Qu. Wherefore or whence is it that sometimes humane monsters are generated An. That happeneth when the seed aboundeth or is defective more than ordinary or is conceived by a disordinate way of conjunction or also if the copulation be too frequent with a fruitfull subject Qu. Wherefore is it that Mothers being pregnant and having conceived many times miscarry An. This happeneth many wayes sometimes in those that are single and unmarryed by suppression which is execrable as streight lacing and other detestable and unspeakeable wayes but in legitimate Mothers it may unadvisedly happen as by over-reaching running dancing by surfeiting with meate or drinke by frights and many other causes either before or after the membring limbing or organization of the fruite which being rejected and cast out of the wombe is lost and that is an abortion or miscarrying Qu. Wherefore is it that some are borne Leprous and some infected with the grand P. An. The first happeneth when the conjunction is the Mother having her monethly sicknesse as St. Hierome saith upon Ezekiel not excluding other causes the second may happen when either Parent or both being able and capable for generation conception yet one of them being contagiously toucht with the notorious and too frequent disease brings forth a blemished fruite rotten before it was ripe Qu. Wherefore is it that the infant resembleth sometimes one of the Parents sometimes the other and sometimes neither A. Touching this question all are not of one opinion but if we truely consider the matter we shall finde that the cause of likenesse proceeds from the vigour heat ablenesse and imagination of the generatour or conceiver the last of which the Patriarch Iacob made use of by colouring his rods in severall colours So likewise there have beene Parents in complexion faire which neverthelesse have conceived and brought forth Black-moores which were conceived by having sundry pictures of Aethiopians in their Chambers which may give a fancie or impression to the conceit of the conceiver or generator in the time of that act And Aristotle affirmeth Lib. de Animalib that heate and ayrinesse are contayned in the seed of the Man and cold and earthinesse in that of the Woman and that of the Man is congruent to the quality and that of the Mother to the quantity of the fruite Qu. Whether doth the fruite now ripe force the Mother to the Birth or the Mother it A. The fruite no question for beeing by nature perfected and mature forceth it selfe into this miserable World through the same passage wherein it was conceived with the head forward the Male with the face upwards the Female downewards the hands stretched forth to the thighes But many times it happeneth that it is turned on one side or the feeth forwards not without danger of both Mother
inward parts there to helpe nature to digest that meate we have formerly received And from digestion fumes doe arise from the heart to the braine the which vapours doe stop the pores of the body by which the naturall heate should be dispersed to the outward parts and then the said outward parts being cold and humid by reason of the coldnesse of the braine sleep is procured and that sleepe prooves sweet which is got by labour Qu. Wherefore is it that a man may sleepe more soundly in some one house than in another An. Because the situation of the one may be more proper to that effect than that of the other and according to the nature of the clymate as by being elongated and remote from any obstreperous noises and the like Also in cold humid and moist places the inhabitant is more apt to sleepe than hee in the hot and dry for as I sayd cold and moysture doe enduce sleepe Qu. Wherefore is it that the disposition or indisposition to sleepe is more or lesse at some times of the yeere An. By reason of the different vicissitudes of times As in rainy weather generally men incline to be sleepy by the reason of the moysture of the Ayre which the braine participates of In hot and faire weather not so But generally all covet it more in the Winter than in Summer by the reason aforesaid Qu. Why are most creatures sad after the act of generation An. Galen saith speaking in a divine way because the act in it selfe is uncleane and by that reason when the spirit is spent or when it is thought upon by man hee is ashamed and at that time heavy and sad and withall it causeth sleepe the better to hearten and cherish man againe when he awakens Qu. Why doth it appeare unto some in their sleepe that they eate and drinke sweete things and also smell flowers and heare Musicke An. Because the rhume exhaled from the stomacke doth ascend to the braine which causeth pleasant fancies to be thought upon and more especially we dreame of such thing that we least thought of when sleepe doth seaze us and againe when the rhume doth distill down againe it doth to our imagination taste sweet Qu. How many severall waies is the braine purged of their humours An. Many wayes the watry humours are evacuated by the eyes which if too violent causeth blindnesse melancholy by the eares if too violent causeth ill swets choler by the nose which if it be much causeth vexation and phlegme that is by the haire whichif too violēt causeth the haire to shed and baldnesseth then ensues Qu. Whereupon doth it proceed that men become pale when they are seased with feare A. Because the blood retires to the vitall parts of the body on a suddaine Qu. Why hath a Serpent his poyson in the tayle An. Because the poyson is in his excrement and the malignity of the venemous humor doth still abide there Qu. Why did the learned Hypocrates permit those to drinke wine that had a burning Ague An. It was sayd hee to helpe digestion and to strengthen the vitall parts Qu. Why are the feet hands face and other parts of the body more cold than any other parts of the body An. Because they are not so solid or so well knit together and are farther removed from the heart and liver Qu. Why doe sharpe things provoke appetite An. Because they dry up the crude humours and so consequently close up the mouth of the stomacke faster which doth cause appetite Qu. Why doe Lettuce and Poppy provoke sleepe An. Because they engender and breed grosse and thicke humours Qu. Why is Ivy alwayes greene An. Because the heate of it is tempered and mixt with humidity and viscosity Q. Why doe men neese sooner being in the Sunne than being neare the fire An. Because the heate of the Sun doth onely dissolve the humour and not consume it but the Fire doth both dissolve and consume it therefore observe it well that the wisest Physitians though it be very cold will not come very neare the fire for this reason Qu. Why doe the eyes of a Cat or of a Wolfe shine in the night and not in the day An. Because the greater light which is the Sunne doth darken the lesser as it may appeare by a Torch held in the day which giveth no light to that of the Sunne Qu. Why is the white of an Egge of so hard a digestion if it be sod or rosted too much seeing that it is the body of the Chicken if it came to perfection and the yelke onely the intrailes An. Because of the great coldnesse of it being taken before it came to perfection Qu. Why doth Burrage layd in wine and Marygold drunk in wine rejoyce those that drinke it An. Because Burrage doth increase blood and the Marygolds comfort and strengthen the heart Qu. Why doe those that oftentimes weepe pisse seldome An. Because the humidity taking his passage or current by the eyes doth ease so much the more the other parts and members of the body but it is very hurtfull to the sight for the rhume being salt issuing out by the eyes causeth the eyes in time to want their cleare sight and grow dimme Qu. Why doe some Men drinke water which notwithstanding doth not nourish A. Water doth run through quickly and doth spend the digestion of the meate through al parts of the body Qu. Why are those that are drunke cold An. By reason of the wine taken immoderately which quencheth and qualifieth the naturall heate of the body Qu. Why doe Physitians not minister Physicke when the sicknesse or disease is at the chiefest but onely cordials An. Because they should not oppresse or hinder Nature but rather comfort and helpe it Qu. Why are fat things not subject so soone to corruption as leane An. Because they participate so much of the ayre and of the fire being hot and dry Qu. What is the reason that some men are more able to endure longer travaile than other An. Because some men are more cholericke and some more phlegmaticke and choler doth sooner destroy nature than phlegme Qu. What is the reason that when we are an hungry our spettle is more salter than at other times An. Because hunger increaseth choler which easily becometh bitter by reason of his sharpnesse which gnaweth upon the mouth of the stomacke Qu. Why are Women commonly fatter than men An. Because they are colder of complexion and doe lesse exercise Qu. VVhat is the cause that the milke of a white haired woman is not held so wholesome as that of them that are browne An. Because blacke and browne women are hotter of constitution and nature and therefore by consequence their milk is better digested Qu. VVherefore are those that have great heads more given to sleepe than those that have little Heads An. The greater the thing is the more vapours it doth containe and humidity and moystnesse doth cause sleep Q. Why are leekes and
Q. Wherefore is it that one Cocko is sufficient for many Hens A. Because the Hens naturally covet not coupling so greatly as the Cocke as it may appear by her shunning him shee being of a colder and he of a hotter temperament Q. Wherefore is it that in some one egge there are two yelks A. Because it may happen that two Cocks may tread one and the selfe same Hen one immediately after the other and by the aggregation of two severall spermes two yelkes are conceived and if there by a partition between the yelkes it is likely there will be at winne-chicke if not a defective or a something monstrous bird Q. Wherefore is it that foule and brids make no water or excretion by Vrine A. Because they drinke little and what is superfluous is converted to the nutriment of Plumage of feathers and moreover what Animal soever that never sucketh maketh no excretion by urine Of Aquaticks of watry Animals Qu. WHat doth Philosophy hold concerning the generation of Fishes A. This that those which are of the same kinde couple not in the way of generation with any other of another different kinde as the Perch not with the Roath nor the Roach with the Perch c. But when they engender it is by glyding their bellies one against the other with such a celerity that humane eye cannot perceive it yet they all abserve the sex and kinde excepting the Lamprey which at the hissing of the Viper comes of shore and engenders with it As Saint Ambrose saith Lib. 5 in Hexam cap. 7. Q. Wherefore is it that the Female fish devoureth a great part of her spawne A. Because Nature wisely so decreed it least the the waters should bee overcharged and pestered with the infinite swarmes of increase and it is also observed that fishes of great bodies bring forth but a few young Q. Wherefore is it that some doe increase that have no distinction of Sex A. It is true that the Eele hath no distinction of sexe yet multiplyeth exceedingly not by coupling but out of a matter terrene very grosse and fat and lye as it were in beddes in which such a matter aboundeth prepared and aptned for their generation but the Sea-Eele or Conger is said to breede of some small strings growing at the feet of Rockes which by often and frequent attrition against the Rocks caused by the motion of the water at length conceiveth life some shel fish like wise as Oysters Mustles Cockles and the like are conceived out of mud and putrefaction and quickned by the Moone whom they follow in increase decrease Mar. Phil. Q. Wherefore is it commonly held that fishes doe breath seeing there is no Aire in the Waters A. That opinion may bee common but very erroneous for although by opening and shutting their Gills they seeme so to doe yet they onely receive in the water at the mouth and put it out againe at their Gills as we draw the aire in at the mouth and breath it up againe for the water to them is as aire to us and it appeares that if they breathed they would live longer out of the water than they doe Neither have they any lungs Q. Wherefore is it that they have blood A. They seeme to have blood which indeed is but a humour proportionated to blood which by its being cold affirmes it to be no blood for all blood is warm which concludeth them to bee no wayes participant of the highest element Q. Wherfore is it that seeing the water is their chiefe and principall food they have teeth A. Because there is a difference as there are in birds and heasts some of prey and some not and those that have no teeth are fed most by water but such as partake of grossenesse such as passe by houses of Office and the like also worms and grasse Those that have teeth are of prey as the Pike Perch Eele c. and alwaies the lesser fish is food for the greater so that in spawning time the Eele followeth them and devoures what he can Q. Wherefore is it that they live so confusedly and hant altogether A. That is not so for as St. Ambrose Vbi supra one kinde of fish breedeth in one part which is not found in another and what kinde is found in one place is wanting in another but for the nourishing and breeding up of their young they choose the convenient'st hants and places Of creeping animals or Reptibles Qu. WHerefore is it that some creepers doe breed without conjunction An. Those which doe so are generally bred at first out of corruption but afterwards multiply by generation excepting the Salamander which hath no distinction of sexe likewise the Lizard Crocodile Tortuce or Turtle and the Cameleon doe lay Egges without any conjunction although they are foure-footed as the Inquisitors of nature doe affirme Of the procreation of Man Qu. VVHerefore is it that Celestiall influences are necessarily concurring to the generation of Man An. Because as the Philosopher saith Home Sol generat hominem Man and the Sunne beget man who if he in a time manner place and naturall order doth couple with his mate and the Celestiall influences aptening and disposing them to that purpose begetteth his like because if the seed of either be not by the supernal influences prepared to that effect for Astra regunt homines sed regit astra Deus the conjunction is void as to sow Corne in a season improper and in a land already imprepared or by nature inept the hope of fruite can be none Qu. Wherefore is it that the seed of the male is onely necessary An. Not so for that of the Female must also concurre and by the mixture of both in the Matrix conception ensueth For the seed is a prime part of the last and purest aliment or nourishing separated after the third digestion and preserved in the seminary vessells which are the testicles for the preservation of the species or kind Qu. Wherefore is it that those that embrace Venus inordinately are abbreviated of life An. Because Nullum violentum perpetuum Nothing violent is of long continuance And because the seed is derived from the principall parts as the brayne chiefly the heart the liver and generally from all the parts of the body it must needs being forcibly and frequently provoked leave those parts destitute and in the end debilitate the whole body and deprive that of life which by temperance the Moderatrix of humane actions might have longer subsisted which too many in these dayes into more then a temporall ruine doe fall As it is likewise observed in those Animals as Sparrowes and the like that are eager in that kinde are not long-lived Q. What are after conception which is by union of seedes first formed A. The first that nature undertaketh in the shaping or forming of the fruit in the wombe of the mother are three of the principall members as first the brain second the heart third the