describe my method of remaining under water
and of living long without food; and I do not publish nor divulge these
things by reason of the evil nature of man, who would use them for
assassinations at the bottom of the sea and to destroy and sink ships,
together with the men on board of them; and notwithstanding I will
teach other things which are not dangerous....

[Sidenote: Of Physiognomy]

81.

I will not dwell on false physiognomy and chiromancy {33} because there
is no truth in them, and this is manifest because chimeras of this kind
have no scientific foundation. It is true that the lineaments of the
face partly reveal the character of men, their vices and temperaments;
but in the face: (a) the features which separate the cheeks from the
lips, and the nostrils and cavities of the eyes, are strongly marked if
they belong to cheerful and good-humoured men, and if they are slightly
marked it denotes that the men to whom they belong are given to
meditation, (b) Those whose features stand out in great relief and
depth are brutal and bad-tempered, and reason little, (c) Those who
have strongly marked lines between the eyebrows are bad-tempered, (d)
Those who have strongly marked lines on the forehead are men full of
concealed or unconcealed bewailing.

And we can reason thus about many features. But the hand? You will
find that whole armies perished in the same hour by the sword in which
no two men had similar marks in their hands, and the same argument
applies to a shipwreck.

[Sidenote: Of Pain]

82.

Nature has placed in the front part of man, as he moves, all those
parts which when struck cause him to feel pain; and this is felt in the
joints of the legs, the forehead and the nose, and has been so devised
for the preservation of man, because {34} if such pain were not felt in
these limbs they would be destroyed by the many blows they receive.

[Sidenote: Why Plants do not feel Pain]

83.

While nature has ordained that animals should feel pain in order that
the instruments which might be liable to be maimed or marred by motion
may be preserved, plants do not come into collision with the objects
which are before them; whence pain is not a necessity for them, and
therefore when they are broken they do not feel pain, as animals do.

84.

Lust is the cause of generation.

Appetite is the support of life.

Fear or timidity is the prolongation of life.

Pain is the preserver of the instrum