Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
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1| Book 6. Problems Arising from How Things Are Positioned and Shaped Why does sitting make some people fatter, and others thinner? Is it 〈because〉 their states differ? For some are hot, others cold. Now the hot grow fat, since the body masters the food because of its heat; but those who are chilled, because they need heat brought in from outside, and the body is most affected by this through movements, cannot digest food while at rest. Or is it because some are full of residue and need motion to use it up, while others are not? Why must one produce a stretching of the parts, as the person who exercises does? Is it because the pores must be cleared out by the body's own breath?
2| Why is it better to lie curled up, and many people, including doctors, recommend this? Is it because the stomach, being warmed, digests faster? And curling up warms it more. Further, one must give the winds a place against which to press; for in this way the flatulence will cause the least trouble. This is also why boils and other abscesses are healthy, because they have cavities into which they receive the winds. Now when the body is stretched out, no cavity forms (for the internal organs occupy the whole space), but when it is bent, one forms. Why does dizziness occur more in those standing up than in those sitting down? Is it because, when at rest, the fluid inclines all together toward one part? But fluid that is in motion is uniformly distributed. So people grow dizzy on standing up after being at rest, when they are in this condition; but they sit down after having been in motion, when the fluid is evenly distributed and dispersed. Why does sleep come over people more readily when they lie on their right side? Is it because people are disposed oppositely when awake and when asleep? Since, then, people lie on their left side when awake, the opposite will hold from another starting point, the contrary one. Or is it because sleep is a lack of motion? So the parts that produce motion must be at rest, and the right side is the motive one. So when people lie in this position, some waking principle is, as it were, bound down.
3| Why do people go numb, and why more in the hands and feet? Is it because numbness is a chilling? For it comes about through a deprivation of blood and its displacement. These parts are the least fleshy and most sinewy, especially the feet. So they are, by nature, made ready in advance for being chilled quickly. Why do we lie down pleasantly on our left side, but sleep more on our right? Is it because, turned away from the light, we do not see it? For sleep takes hold more quickly in the dark. Or is it because we are awake while lying on our left side, and our activities are thus ready to hand there, so that the opposite posture is advantageous? For each posture summons a person toward its work more than the other does.
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