Book II.

10 6 why weak brains are convey f tint among ff beans.
Garland, that children were wont when they were born, as a fign of good fortune to have a cap on their heads by nature, which the midwives catch away and fell to their credulous Advocates 5 The fuprrfntioa por Lawyers think they fhall find great help from them. But fince teiffcm- thofe membranes are icen of divers colours, 1 think that onely drens Helmets, comes from the humours that Bote about in the matrix, for thoie vary the colour ofthem.
When therefore the Womb is wet with a fowl and vitious moifture, which grows together with the feed of both Parents, the membrane is of a dark brown colour, and the childs skin of a fmoky dark colour alfo. But if the feed and bloud be pure, clean, and iubjed to no fault, the cover is red, and the child is of a pleafant and lively colour. And thefe membranes are not onely different in colour, but in lhape alfo, either byreafon of fome internal or external effed, or from fome objed of the eyes or mind. For when feme men are fo lafeivious and given to pleafure, that without choice, taking no heed of the flowing of the terms, they will ufe copulation with womens it falls out fometimes that when the terms have run three dayes or thereabout, and there is not much ^ehind, onely a day or two that they have to run more, the.natdj*al time is hindred, and fomepartof the excrernental flux is £^>t back by unfeafonable copulation but yet fometimes this perfeds the conception. When therefore a woman is in the ad of generation, and knows that her terms are not yet quite ftaid , and that fhe fhould not yet copulate, the parts being ftill wet, fhe fecretly blufheth at it, and her eyes are covered with blood : which affed when it paffeth to the child that membrane becomes of divers colours and fafhions. whence comes This alfo makes children to have chins and cheeks red as a rofe. bca-uiycif (9nU Which then ufeth to happen when the great bellied women blufh, n ‘ or are angry, their blood being raifed by natural hear, and car¬
ried alofe. For fuch as are frighted, or fuddenly put into fear, they are the caufe of a pale colour, and frame the child with an auftere and fad countenance.
CHAP. IX.
why in Holland they fay that fuch as have unconfant and weak brains , have been converfant among ft beans .
IF at any time the Low-Countrey people will fet forth a man of an unconftant brain, and unfetled mind, who in his manners wander amongft geftures, words, and deeds, and all his adions is like a mad-man, eans* they will fay he hath been amongft the beans, and it is their com¬ mon Proverb, the beans flourifh, he wandreth amongft beans : and this is applied to weak brain*d men that want judgment and rea- fon. For we fee m the fpring-months when bean-ftalks begin to flowre, that fome men will gtow mad 'find fpeak many ridiculous,
•v and
Chap. 9. why weak brains are conversant among ft beans,
and abfurd things; and fomctimes they grow fo mad chat they muftbe bound in chains. For at the begining of the fpring the hu¬ mours begin toovcrMow, and to choke the brain with grofle fumes and vapours, which when bean fiowrs doexafperaie if they fmeil to them, the mind begins to rave, and to be troubled with furies.
For though bean flowrs fmeil fweet and plcafant: yet they of- why bean ^ fend the head, and will at great diftance fend forth an offenfive ershurtib: fmeil, efpccially to thofe that have weak brains, and are filled bmn' withacholerickand mclancholiqve humour. Whereupon feme of thelc are difquieted, and wander, then they grow clamorous and full of words, and others again are penfive and alwaies mu- fing.
They mumble filently , and eat the f bund: " * c' ‘
Their lips thru ft forth , their words they do confound.
And as fome things diilipate fumes, and difeufte what is liurc- full to the brain, and raife the fainting foul and fpirits that are flee- py as Vinegar, Rofe- water wherein Cloves are lte*epcd,new bread wet in well -lentcd wine, for thefe breath forth a thin and pleafaht ayre- fo other things caufe pain, and make the head heav^ -as and many fpices that fend forth ftrong heavy fumes,and offend the tbtb^ff brain, violently affe&ing the Noftrils. Which Hippocrates fhewd in this Apriorifm. The fmeil of fpices draws the fecrets of women y and ** f • it is good for many other things , but that it offends the head , arid makes .
it heavy. For all things very odoriferous hurt the head, arid draw 4 HVSQd the heat and moyfture txs'the upper parts, even the very fmels that evaporate from cold plants, efpccially in thofe that are lean, and v. -h- n- decayed in their flefh. For they cannot endure the fmells of their " ^ " i^oT meats, and of boil'd flefh, and when they faint and fwottnd che^ willfuffer nothing to be put to their noftriis that is of a {harp Wrid piercing nature, fo that they feem to be fuffocated by a grofle thick vapour, as thofe that fit down in a dinining room that i‘s,JfiL led with fmoak,whofe breath is flopped and intercepted, uriMflc fhedores be let open, and frelh Aire be let in at the windows!, that houfesg^*' ihehoufemay be Ayr*d, and the wind may paffe in and #fct;
Thofe that dwell near lakes are of another temper than thefeFtrii* der bodies, and fuch as are made to empty Jakes, and make clean finks. For thefe men reject all fweet fmels as offenfive unto them.
So Strabo writes that amongft the Sab&ans, thofe that are offended with fweet odours are refrefhed with biturften, and the fmeil of Goats hair on their beards, when it is burnt. A certain Country- a ridiculous man at Antwerp was an example of this, who when he ca me into tb.3f[a Cou'^ ailbop of lweet fmells he began to faint, but one prefently clape ' fome frefh f cooking warm horf-dung to his nofe, and fetched him
again.
R 2
v
io8
Every filthy f well is not hurt full to Man.