flying into the
inward part of the body, consumeth the humours which cause the disease.
So treacle hath this effect, and many such like, which are hot and dry
when taken after connexion.

Q. Why do steel glasses shine so clearly? A. Because they are lined in
the inside with white lead, whose nature is shining, and being put to
glass, which is lucid and transparent, doth shine much more; and casts
its beams through its passages, and without the body of the glass; and
by that means the glass is very shining and clear.

Q. Why do we see ourselves in glasses and clear water? A. Because the
quality of the sight, passing into the bright bodies by reflection, doth
return again on the beam of the eyes, as the image of him who looketh on
it.

Q. What is the reason that if you cast a stone in standing water which
is near the surface of the earth, it causes many circles, and not if the
water be deep in the earth? A. Because the stone, with the vehemence of
the cast, doth agitate the water in every part of it, until it come to
the bottom; and if there be a very great vehemence in the throw, the
circle is still greater, the stone going down to the bottom causing many
circles. For, first of all, it doth divide the outermost and superficial
parts of the water in many parts, and so, always going down to the
bottom, again dividing the water, it maketh another circle, and this is
done successively until the stone resteth; and because the vehemence of
the stone is slackened, still as it goes down, of necessity the last
circle is less than the first, because by that and also by its force the
water is divided.

Q. Why are such as are deaf by nature, dumb? A. Because they cannot
speak and express that which they never hear. Some physicians do say,
that there is one knitting and uniting of sinews belonging to the like
disposition. But such as are dumb by accident are not deaf at all, for
then there ariseth a local passion.

Q. Why doth itching arise when an ulcer doth wax whole and phlegm
ceases? A. Because the part which is healed and made sound doth pursue
the relic of the humours which remained there against nature, and which
was the cause of the bile, and so going out through the skin, and
dissolving itself, doth originally cause the itch.

Q. How comes a man to sneeze oftener and more vehemently than a beast?
A. Because he uses more meats and drinks, and of more different sorts,
and that more than is requisite; the which, when he