sluggishness, intellectual dullness, forgetfulness, and a pale complexion; they designate this person’s temperament as cold and moist. Finally, when the melancholic humor dominates, they describe the person as fearful but possessing a good memory, crafty, and leaden-hued—a person suited for deep speculation and the pursuit of great deeds, characterized by a cold and dry temperament.

If one wishes to examine the temperaments of the individual parts of the human body, it is necessary to consult Galen. He determined that the skin is the most balanced of all body parts, and that the skin covering the palm of the hand enjoys this balanced prerogative above all others. As for the remaining parts, some are classified as hot and moist, such as all the fleshy regions. Others possess coldness and moisture, like the brain, the spinal cord, and fat. Still others—including the bones, cartilage, nerves, ligaments, membranes, veins, arteries, tendons, and hair—possess a cold and dry temperament. Finally, parts like the heart and the vital spirits partake of heat and dryness.

NATURE

The Platonists have unanimously proclaimed that man naturally possesses two bodies: one mortal and the other immortal. By the immortal body, they understood the rational part of the soul—a spiritual and eternal body of sorts. By the mortal body, they meant that which is seen and felt, composed of the four elements and consequently subject to decay. Therefore, by reason of the former, humans are naturally driven to benefit many, especially through teaching; consequently, in the view of Cicero, humans alone are inclined toward learning and instruction.

Since no animal besides man is adorned with mind and intellect, the oracle in the *Revelations of St. Bridget* provides a reason for this, stating: *All things that have been created are for the use of man—either for his necessity and sustenance, for his instruction and correction, or for his consolation and humiliation. If, therefore, the brutes possessed intellect like man, they would surely be a source of tribulation to him, and would harm him rather than benefit him. Thus, all things were made subject to man, for whose sake they were created, so that all might fear him, while he fears no one but his God. For this reason, a rational intellect was not granted to the brutes.*

Furthermore, it is believed that laughter and weeping were bestowed by nature upon man alone. Although authors report that the cuckoo and a certain yellow bird in the Indies laugh, and that dogs mourned shortly before the death of Caesar; and though Virgil brings a horse onto the field shedding tears for Pallas, and Homer says the same of the horses of Achilles (leading Isidore, moved by these authorities, to assert that tears belong naturally to both man and horse); and though Aelian attributes tears to the Mauritanians and Xiphilinus assigns a mournful voice to the elephant—one must nevertheless consider whether these traits are coupled with rational emotion. In that sense, such qualities are observed in man alone.

Moreover, following the opinion of Aristotle, some maintain that nature has made human ears immobile. Nevertheless, Procopius of Caesarea records that Justinian was called an "Ass" by his adversaries—not because of stupidity, but because he could move his ears in the manner of a donkey. Vesalius also mentions that he knew two men in Padua who could move their ears, and Laurentius reveals that he observed mobile ears in certain individuals, asserting that this is achieved through the aid of tiny muscles. Since this occurs so rarely, however, we cannot entirely discard the doctrine of Aristotle.

Galen adds that nature granted the ability to sit comfortably on the buttocks only to man. As for why the shrew-mouse, the rooster, and the hyena supposedly have a profound horror of the human skull, that will be addressed in its proper place. Here, we must simply admire the natural sympathy between man and the dolphin. Historians have written that Arion, while avoiding pirates amidst the sea waves, was carried to a harbor of safety by a dolphin. They also add that when the corpse of Hesiod was cast into the sea, it was carried to the shore near Locris by dolphins. For this reason, Georgius Camerarius, moved by this natural property and sympathy, depicted a young boy upon the back of a dolphin under the title,