160 Ulisse Aldrovandi

curative indications emerge, which physicians rightly and deservedly judge most difficult to satisfy, unless we assert that the parts afflicted by gout are joints, which are naturally cold. These joints can neither entirely expel nor fully consume and digest the flowing matter, and thus, becoming weaker by the day, they are rendered less fit to drive out the cause of the disease.

Another problem is added: why man alone, among all animals, suffers from consumption. Some respond that this depends on the delicate human temperament, whereby the lungs are easily damaged even by slight causes. Although others attribute the cause of consumption to the variety of foods—from which sharp and salty matter results, suitable for generating the aforementioned condition—we might rather say that this affliction happens to man primarily because of his upright posture. Matter descending from the head easily slips down into the chest, an ailment other animals do not incur since they are prone. Furthermore, it is asked why those suffering from stones are cured if they go to sea. It is answered that sailors frequently purge themselves through vomiting, thereby removing the material cause of this condition; or it must be said that the body’s temperament is changed by the sea air, thus destroying the efficient cause.

They also inquire why many people rise from their beds while dreaming, walk about, seek out the kitchens of their houses, and perform many actions from which they would shrink while awake. The reason is that these people abound in surging and subtle blood, whose fervid spirits drive their instrumental parts into action. Therefore, since such blood is carried upward, it follows that by its force they are incited to such actions during rest. Such people are usually of a rare and loose bodily constitution and small in stature, yet endowed with great agility of spirit and a fervent mind. They also investigate why a man oppressed by great heat emits sweat from his head and face rather than from other parts. The better answer is that the passages in those parts are wider, which is known from the fact that they abound in hair. Again, it is asked why a man, once moved to sneeze, is usually troubled by several sneezes in a row. It must be said that this arises from a quantity of matter that cannot be dissipated by a single sneeze.

Curious minds ask whether a man who is hunchbacked, mutilated in some part, sickly, or monstrous will be resurrected at the universal resurrection still burdened with these bodily defects. It should be noted that on the last day, men are to rise again with every bodily vice removed, according to these lines by Prudentius:

"He who repairs the body will not return anything weak, for if debility returns, it is not a restoration. Whatever accident seized, whatever disease or pain consumed, whatever devouring old age cut short with wasting decay—all shall return to the restored limbs as they come back. For such is the power of the immense Creator."

This is also the opinion of Saint Augustine, who declared that on the last day, all monsters would rise again with their limbs restored to a decorous form worthy of heaven.

Furthermore, it is asked why men sitting down when tired from labor or travel rest one thigh upon the other to perceive greater rest. Some respond that compressed parts feel less weariness; but the better answer seems to be that fatigue arises from the dissipation of spirits. Thus, while the parts are compressed, the dissolution of the spirits is prevented, and consequently, greater rest is felt.

One must also ask why some people see nearby objects poorly and distant ones distinctly, while conversely, there are others who see nearby things perfectly and distant ones not at all. It must be answered that this occurs because the visual spirit issuing from the eye is sometimes thick and does not perfectly perceive a nearby thing, but recognizes a distant one as it becomes thinned and more subtle along the way. On the other hand, if the spirit is subtle and sparse, it sees nearby things best but does not perceive things at a distance, since it is dissolved and vanishes on the way.

Finally, it must be investigated why some men can live for a long time without food. For according to Textor, Abaris the Hyperborean carried an arrow around the entire world while eating nothing at all. Likewise, Albertus Magnus left it in writing that there was a woman in Cologne who, without food