the heart.
Therefore the heart of a living creature is triangular, having its least
part towards its left side, and the greater towards the right; and doth
also open and shut in the least part, by which means it is in continual
motion; the first motion is called _diastole_, that is extending the
heart or breast; the other _systole_, that is, shutting of the heart;
and from these all the motions of the body proceed, and that of the
pulse which the physicians feel.

Q. How comes it that the flesh of the heart is so compact and knit
together? A. Because in thick compacted substances heat is commonly
received and united. And because the heart with its heat should moderate
the coldness of the brain, it is made of that fat flesh apt to keep a
strong heat.

Q. How comes the heart to be the hottest part of all living creatures?
A. It is so compacted as to receive the heat best, and because it should
mitigate the coldness of the brain.

Q. Why is the heart the beginning of life? A. It is plain that in it the
vital spirit is bred, which is the heat of life; and therefore the heart
having two receptacles, viz., the right and the left the right hath more
blood than spirits; which spirit is engendered to give life and vivify
the body.

Q. Why is the heart long and sharp like a pyramid? A. The round figure
hath an angle, therefore the heart is round, for fear any poison or
hurtful matter should be retained in it; and because that figure is
fittest for motion.

Q. How comes the blood chiefly to be in the heart? A. The blood in the
heart has its proper or efficient place, which some attribute to the
liver; and therefore the heart doth not receive blood from any other
parts but all other parts of it.

Q. How happens it that some creatures want a heart? A. Although they
have no heart, yet they have somewhat that answers for it, as appears in
eels and fish that have the back bone instead of the heart.

Q. Why does the heart beat in some creatures after the head is cut off,
as in birds and hens? A. Because the heart lives first and dies last,
and therefore beats longer than other parts.

Q. Why doth the heat of the heart sometimes fail of a sudden, and in
those who have the falling sickness? A. This proceeds from the defect of
the heart itself, and of certain small skins with which it is covered,
which, being infected and corrupted, the heart faileth on a sudden;
sometimes only by reason of the parts adjoining; and therefore, whe