The 9. chap. Of Fleash: conteinyng. 4. quest.

HEnceforward now let vs sée what may bée sayd of Fleash. And first it may demaunded, why strong Fleash is soonest digested? It is answered in the Saturn. that naturall heate is strong in a man which stoutly inuadeth the matter and sub∣stance which resisteth it, consuming & dissoluing the same, and that which is tendre & light it burneth sooner into ashes, then turneth it into iuice. For like as sound wood being hewen in to pieces is soone conuerted into coales, & if chaf fal into y^e fier there scarce remaineth any ashes therof to be found: so fareth it in the digestion of strong and light meates. So likewise an heauy milstone breaketh the greatest cornes, and letteth the smale depart whole. The strong windes also throw downe hie Firtrees & mighty Oakes to the ground, & letteth the low Page  [unnumbered] shrubs, & bushes to stand: Euen so naturall heat digesteth the hard fleash, and ouerpasseth the fine and tendre nutriment.

Secondly, Why be Cullices which are made of Fleash, harder of digestion then the fleash it self? The lightnes which it get∣teth by pounding, causeth it to swim vpon the top of all kynde of moysture which it findeth in the stomacke, so that it cannot cleaue vnto the sides of the stomack, the truth wherof is per∣ceiued if some portion of the cullice be thrown into water, for it will alwaies fléete vpon the toppe, and for that cause is the slowlier concocted in the stomacke.

Thirdly, which is moister of rosted or sodden fleash? Wée must answer hereunto with Aristotle in the. 4. booke of the Me∣teors,* that the rosted is moistest: for in rost fleash by reason of the fire the outward parts are hardened, and consequently y^e the pores are stopped, so that y^e inmost moisture cannot issue foorth. But in sodden fleash the outward pores are resolued through the heate and moysture of the water, and so opened y^t al y^e moisture departeth. Thus it hapneth that rosted fleash se∣meth drie without and is moist within, and sodden fleash con∣trarywise. Fourthly, why do the beames of the Moone cause fleash sooner to putrify, then of the Sunne? There can bée no putrifaction vnlesse heat and moysture do méete. And the pu∣trifaction of fleash is nothing els but a certain secret dissolutiō conuerting the sodility of the flesh into moisture. And heat if it bée temperate, nourisheth humours, but being immoderate drieth thē vp, & doth extenuate. So y^t the Sun beeing hot, dra∣weth all y^e moisture out of y^e flesh and drieth it. But y^e beames of y^e Moone, in whom ther is no manifest heat but an hidden warmth, increasing the moisture, ingendreth quickly therin great putrifactiō. For ther abideth in the beames of y^e Moone a certen natural propriety to moisten bodies, & to imbrue thē as it were with a misty dew, wherunto y^e heat which she hath being ioyned, corrupteth y^e flesh which lieth any time in it.