ue from the lungs,
moistening the meat and making it ready for digestion.

Q. Why do the tongues of such as are sick of agues judge all things
bitter? A. Because the stomachs of such persons are filled with
choleric humours; and choler is very bitter, as appeareth by the gall;
therefore this bitter fume doth infect their tongues; and so the tongue,
being full of these tastes, doth judge everything bitter.

Q. Why doth the tongue water when we hear sour and sharp things spoken
of? A. Because the imaginative virtue or power is of greater force than
the power or faculty of tasting; and when we imagine a taste, we
conceive the power of tasting as a swan; there is nothing felt by the
taste, but by means of the spittle the tongue doth water.

Q. Why do some persons stammer and lisp? A. Sometimes through the
moistness of the tongue and brain, as in children, who cannot speak
plainly nor pronounce many letters. Sometimes it happeneth by reason of
the shrinking of certain sinews which go to the tongue, which are
corrupted with phlegm.

Q. Why are the tongues of serpents and mad dogs venomous? A. Because of
the malignity and tumosity of the venomous humour which predominates in
them.

Q. Why is a dog's tongue good for medicine, and a horse's tongue
pestiferous? A. By reason of some secret property, or that the tongue of
a dog is full of pores, and so doth draw and take away the viscosity of
the wound. It is observed that a dog hath some humour in his tongue,
with which, by licking he doth heal; but the contrary effect is the lick
of a horse's tongue.

Q. Why is spittle white? A. By reason of the continual moving of the
tongue, whereof heat is engendered, which doth make this superfluity
white; as seen in the froth of water.

Q. Why is spittle unsavoury and without taste? A. If it had a certain
determinate taste, then the tongue would not taste at all, but only have
the taste of spittle, and could not distinguish others.

Q. Why doth the spittle of one that is fasting heal an imposthume? A.
Because it is well digested and made subtle.

Q. Why do some abound in spittle more than others? A. This doth proceed
of a phlegmatic complexion, which doth predominate in them; and such are
liable to a quotidian ague, which ariseth from the predominance of
phlegm; the contrary in those that spit little, because heat abounds in
them, which consumes the humidity of the spittle; and so the defect of
spittle is a sign of fever.

Q. Wh