e, by reason of its variety and thinness? A. Because the air
which is received in us, is mingled with vapours and fumes from the
heart, by reason whereof it is made thick, and so is seen. And this is
proved by experience, because that in winter, we see our breath, for the
coldness of the air doth bind the air mixed with fume, and so it is
thickened and made gross, and by consequence is seen.

Q. Why have some persons stinking breath? A. Because of the evil fumes
that arise from the stomach. And sometimes it doth proceed from the
corruption of the airy parts of the body, as the lungs. The breath of
lepers is so infected that it would poison birds if near them, because
the inward parts are very corrupt.

Q. Why are lepers hoarse? A. Because the vocal instruments are
corrupted, that is, the lights.

Q. Why do persons become hoarse? A. Because of the rheum descending from
the brain, filling the conduit of the lights; and sometimes through
imposthumes of the throat, or rheum gathering in the neck.

Q. Why have the females of all living creatures the shrillest voices,
the crow only excepted, and a woman a shriller and smaller voice than a
man? A. By reason of the composition of the veins and vocal arteries the
voice is formed, as appears by this similitude, that a small pipe
sounds shriller than a great. Also in women, because the passage where
the voice is formed is made narrow and strait, by reason of cold, it
being the nature of cold to bind; but in men, the passage is open and
wider through heat, because it is the property of heat to open and
dissolve. It proceedeth in women through the moistness of the lungs, and
weakness of the heat. Young and diseased men have sharp and shrill
voices from the same cause.

Q. Why doth the voice change in men at fourteen, and in women at twelve;
in men they begin to yield seed, in women when their breasts begin to
grow? A. Because then the beginning of the voice is slackened and
loosened; and this is proved by the similitude of the string of an
instrument let down or loosened, which gives a great sound, and also
because creatures that are gelded, as eunuchs, capons., etc., have
softer and slenderer voices than others, by the want of their stones.

Q. Why do small birds sing more and louder than great ones, as appears
in the lark and nightingale? A. Because the spirits of small birds are
subtle and soft, and the organ conduit strait, as appeareth in a pipe;
therefore their notes fol