shed by the
seed.

Q. What is the reason that those that have long yards cannot beget
children? A. The seed, in going a long distance, doth lose the spirit,
and therefore becomes cold and unfit.

Q. Why do such as are corpulent cast forth but little seed in the act of
copulation, and are often barren? A. Because the seed of such goeth to
nourish the body. For the same reason corpulent women have but few
menses.

Q. How come women to be prone to venery in the summer time and men in
the winter? A. In summer the man's testicles hang down and are feebler
than in winter, or because hot natures become more lively in the cold
season; for a man is hot and dry, and a woman cold and moist; and
therefore in summer the strength of men decays, and that of women
increases, and they grow livelier by the benefit of the contrary
quality.

Q. Why is man the proudest of all living creatures? A. By reason of his
great knowledge; or, as philosophers say, all intelligent beings having
understanding, nothing remains that escapes man's knowledge in
particular; or it is because he hath rule over all earthly creatures,
and all things seem to be brought under his dominion.

Q. Why have beasts their hearts in the middle of their breasts, and man
his inclining to the left? A. To moderate the cold on that side.

Q. Why doth the woman love the man best who has got her maidenhead? A.
By reason of shame-facedness; Plato saith, shame-facedness doth follow
love, or, because it is the beginning of great pleasure, which doth
bring a great alteration in the whole body, whereby the powers of the
mind are much delighted, and stick and rest immoveable in the same.

Q. How come hairy people to be more lustful than any other? A. Because
they are said to have greater store of excrements and seed as
philosophers assert.

Q. What is the cause that the suffocation of the matrix, which happens
to women through strife and contention, is more dangerous than the
detaining of the flowers? A. Because the more perfect an excrement is in
its natural disposition, the worse it is when it is altered from that
disposition, and drawn to the contrary quality; as is seen in vinegar,
which is sharpest when it is made of the best wine. And so it happens
that the more men love one another the more they fall into variance and
discord.

Q. How come women's bodies to be looser, softer and less than man's; and
why do they want hair? A. By reason of their menses; for with them