# History of Monsters. 71

...able to reach an exact understanding of the temperament of human nature, because of various human customs and diets, all of which alter the body's natural constitution. Nor should we overlook the different climates of the sky, which vary not only human temperaments but also their character and the inclinations of the soul. For example, people living in southern regions have curly hair, short bodies, slender legs, and light spirits. Conversely, those who dwell in northern regions have large bodies, long hair, white skin, thick legs, and loose flesh; consequently, they are not without a certain dullness. Highlanders and other mountain dwellers appear rugged and thin; they often have swollen throats, and not only live longer but are also more robust than those who live in the plains.

To ensure that one has at least a basic knowledge of human temperament, if not a perfect one, physicians propose two things that must be understood first. First, they assign a certain number of temperaments; then, they diligently explore the nature of the humors, from whose perfect knowledge they claim to derive human temperaments. Regarding the first, they establish nine temperaments. Four of these they call "simple," following the four simple qualities of the elements, and four they call "composite," following the four rational combinations of elemental qualities. But because they assert that the excess of these temperaments cannot be known unless the balanced "norm" of others is perfectly understood, they establish a dual balance: one "by weight" and one "by justice." Deliberately setting aside the balance "by weight" (which would result from equal portions of elements and is purely imaginary), they establish only one equal temperament "by justice," which consists of a certain symmetry of elements necessary for performing perfect operations. Therefore, they call a person "temperate by justice" if they are ready and fit to perform all functions, and "intemperate" if they depart from that balance and lean toward one of the eight intemperate states.

Furthermore, regarding the nature of the humors, physicians observe that all food and drink remains in the human stomach for a space of six or seven hours, because perfect digestion is completed there in that time. Hence, one observer, noting that the cooking of food is best performed during sleep, used to recite:

Seven hours of sleep is enough for both the young and the old.

Indeed, food is altered in the human stomach as if in a pot over the fire of natural heat, and is transformed into a substance very similar to the cream of barley water, called chyle. This material then descends through the small intestines, which are filled with a great many veins, and is absorbed by them until it finally enters the liver through the portal vein. There, altered once more by the power of the liver, it is changed into blood, which then exits the liver through the vena cava and its descending branches to be distributed to the other parts of the human body for the sake of nourishment. Moreover, physicians note that although this material is altered in the liver, not all of it is converted into pure blood; only the greater part is. The portion that escapes cooking and remains white is called phlegm; the hotter portion is bile; and finally, the thicker portion is called melancholy.

According to Galen, these four humors are called the elements of animals endowed with blood; indeed, as Hippocrates reported, these humors typically fill the human veins at all times and at every age. Thus, physicians classify blood as having an airy nature and bile as fiery, while they liken phlegm to water and melancholy to earth. However, Agostino Doni, in his book *On the Nature of Man*, does not seem to accept this comparison, preferring instead to link blood with fire and phlegm with air—a point of doubt the reader can contemplate in the cited author’s work.

Having established and noted these things, physicians generally derive a person's temperament from the predominant humor. Therefore, a dominance of blood will be manifest when a person is fleshy, cheerful, of excellent constitution, sharp-witted, and endowed with a ruddy complexion; to such a person, physicians assign a hot and moist temperament. The dominance of bile, however, they recognize by a lightness of mind, cunning, agility, speed of action, and finally, by a color between yellow and red; they therefore refer such a person to a hot and dry temperament. But when phlegm prevails in the body, they judge it from