n any
venomous humour goes out of the stomach that turns the heart and parts
adjoining, that causeth this fainting.

_Of the Stomach._

Q. For what reason is the stomach large and wide? A. Because in it the
food is first concocted or digested as it were in a pot, to the end that
which is pure should be separated from that which is not; and therefore,
according to the quantity of food, the stomach is enlarged.

Q. How comes it that the stomach is round? A. Because if it had angles
and corners, food would remain in them and breed ill-humours, so that a
man would never want agues, which humours are evacuated and consumed,
and not hid in any such corners, by the roundness of the stomach.

Q. How comes the stomach to be full of sinews? A. Because the sinews can
be extended and enlarged, and so is the stomach when it is full; but
when empty it is drawn together, and therefore nature provides the
sinews.

Q. How comes the stomach to digest? A. Because of the heat which is in
it, and comes from the parts adjoining, that is, the liver and the
heart. For as we see in metals the heat of the fire takes away the rust
and dross from iron, the silver from tin, and gold from copper; so also
by digestion the pure is separated from the impure.

Q. For what reason doth the stomach join the liver? A. Because the liver
is very hot, and with its heat helps digestion, and provokes appetite.

Q. Why are we commonly cold after dinner? A. Because then the heat goes
to the stomach to further digestion, and so the other parts grow cold.

Q. Why is it hurtful to study soon after dinner? A. Because when the
heat labours to help the imagination in study, it ceases from digesting
the food, which remains undigested; therefore people should walk
sometimes after meals.

Q. How cometh the stomach slowly to digest meat? A. Because it swims in
the stomach. Now, the best digestion is in the bottom of the stomach,
because the fat descends not there; such as eat fat meat are very sleepy
by reason that digestion is hindered.

Q. Why is all the body wrong when the stomach is uneasy? A. Because the
stomach is knit with the brain, heart and liver, which are the principal
parts in man; and when it is not well, the others are indisposed.
Again, if the first digestion be hindered, the others are also
hindered; for in the first digestion is the beginning of the infirmity
in the stomach.

Q. Why are young men sooner hungry than old men? A. Young men do