Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Why does purslane, and also salt, stop the shivering of the teeth? Is it because purslane has a certain moisture? This is evident when it is chewed, and even if it is left standing for a while, for the moisture is drawn out of it. So the sticky substance, seeping in, draws out the sharpness. And the fact that the sharpness is akin to it is also a sign of this; for the juice of purslane has a certain sharpness of its own. Salt, for its part, draws out the sharpness by dissolving it. Why then do lye and soda not do this? Is it because they are astringent and do not dissolve things? Book 8. Problems Connected with Chill and Shivering Why do people who are chilled turn livid? Is it because the blood congeals on account of the cold, and in congealing turns dark through the absence of heat? For white belongs to fire. That is also why the flesh of old people turns livid most of all, because they have the least heat. Why can people who are chilled not sleep? Is it because everyone who is chilled holds their breath in more, while a person sleeping breathes out more than he breathes in, so that it is hard for someone chilled to sleep? For it is impossible to do opposite things at the same time. Why, in the cold, are people who have been ill, and people who are grieving, and people who are angry, sharper? Is it because being chilled makes the body more compact?
2| Why are athletes, when in good condition, poor at bearing cold? Is it because their bodily state is clean, well-aerated, and without fat? Such a state is most easily affected by the air, whenever the air passes through it readily and it has no heat within itself; whereas fatty tissue is hot, unless it is very moist. Why do the extremities feel cold most of all? Is it on account of their narrowness? For the passages in them, being narrow, contain little blood, so that they also have little heat; for blood is hot. Why, if the feet are raised up, do people feel colder? Is it that the air blows underneath more? Or is it that the blood collects in a smaller space below, so that the rest of the body becomes more easily chilled once the heat there is lacking? Why do very fat people feel the cold severely, although fatty tissue is hot? Is it because, on account of the thickness of the fat, the extremities are far removed from the heat within, while they are near to the cold without? Why do people shiver after sneezing and after urinating? Is it because the veins are emptied in both cases, and once they are emptied, cold air enters, and this is what causes the shivering?
3| Why are people especially subject to ravenous hunger in the cold, and more in winter than in summer? Is it because boulimia arises from a lack of dry food, and in cold weather and in winter, since the heat within contracts into a smaller region, the food within runs out sooner? And when this happens, it is likely that one becomes more ravenously hungry. The faintness and weakness that occur in boulimia arise because a wasting takes place in the body on account of the gathering together of the heat; when this wasted matter flows into the region of the food, it itself becomes nourishment for the body; but if it reaches the source of the breath, loss of voice and weakness result — loss of voice because the passage of the breath is blocked, weakness because of the body's lack of nourishment and its wasting away. Remedies for such people work quickly and from small amounts, because the starting point of the affection arises from outside. For the cold, by contracting what is within, produces our ravenous hunger. Just as, then, people who are trembling and pale with fear become the same as before immediately once the danger is past, so too people suffering from boulimia, once they have taken in a little bread, having been forcibly moved out of their natural state but not destroyed, recover quickly. For the same thing that opposed the natural course also restores it to that course. One need only let it go — just as with children who are pulling back against cords behind them; for these too, once the cords are let go, immediately fall over backward.
4| Why are people who have been through athletic training more susceptible to chill than the untrained? Is it because the fat has been removed by their labors, and fat provides warmth (for what is oily is hot)? Or is it because their bodies are more well-aerated and more porous, since the fat and the residue have been removed, so that nothing keeps the cold out? Or is it on account of the opening up of the pores by their sweating, as though many doors had been taken away? It is clear that the same bodily condition is not conducive to both health and strength; for the one state appears to be fat, the other porous. Why do people shiver both when cold water is poured over them and when hot water is poured over them? For it is strange that opposites should be the cause of the same thing. Is it because, when cold water is poured on, the heat within, being quenched, produces the shivering, while when hot water is poured on, the cold outside, being driven back together into one place and gathered by its retreat inward, produces it instead? So that both come about through the same thing, but at one time through what is within, at another through what is without. Why do the hairs on the skin bristle? Is it that, whenever they draw the skin together, the hairs naturally stand up? And chill, like other affections too, draws the skin together.
5| Why do we shudder at the final release of urine? Is it because, while the fluid is present, the bladder and the passages around it are full of warmth, but once it has gone out, cold air fills them instead? For nothing must be empty, but must be full either of air or of body. Since, then, cold air has come in, it is natural that shuddering results. Why does the tongue of people who are chilled stumble, just as that of drunk people does? Is it that, being frozen and hardened by the cold, it becomes hard to move, and when this happens it cannot articulate clearly? Or is it that, the outer parts having been made dense by the cold, the moisture flows together inward and moistens the tongue, so that the tongue cannot do its own work — just as was said in the case of drunk people? Or is it on account of the trembling that comes from chill, the motion being disordered, that the tongue cannot articulate what is said, and this is why it stumbles? Why do the hairs on the body of people who are chilled stand up straight? Is it because, from the chilling, the heat gathers into the region within, and as the heat leaves the flesh, the flesh draws together more, and as it is drawn together the hairs become more upright? Or is it because . . . [text breaks off]
6| Why do we feel colder running in winter than standing still? Is it because the air around the body of people standing still, once it has been warmed up, no longer troubles them, while for people running, one cold mass of air after another keeps striking them, and this is why we feel colder? Further, air also becomes colder when it is set in motion, and this happens especially in running. Why is it colder when it is barely light [than] when the sun is nearer? Is it because the time of the sun's absence has been greater, so that the earth has cooled more? Or is it because toward daybreak the dew falls, like frost, and these are cold things? Or do these too fall because the heat rising up is overpowered, and it is overpowered on account of the sun's absence — which is also why, when the sun is farther off, dew does not fall, but when it is nearer, it falls and freezes, because the place has cooled more, the sun having been absent for a longer time? Or is it because toward daybreak the winds coming from the night bring more of the cold? Or does it merely seem to us to be colder, because our food has by then been digested? For people who are more empty are more susceptible to chill. A sign of this is that people feel cold especially after vomiting.
7| Why do people suffer pain when those who are chilled are brought to the fire, but not when they are warmed gradually, little by little? Is it because, in general, a change to the opposite from opposites, when it happens all at once, produces a great disturbance? Just as with trees: if one bends a branch a little at a time, it will not be hurt, but if one bends it more violently and not gradually, it breaks. If, then, like is unaffected by like, and the heat of a person who is chilled gathers and draws together inward, while the moisture and the cold are left behind in the flesh, and the opposite is destructive of the opposite, then if one warms the person gradually, the heat goes out little by little and he suffers less, but if he is not warmed gradually, the heat presses in on him more forcefully. Why, once we have been chilled, do we get burned and feel pain more from the same degree of heat? Is it because, on account of its density, the flesh holds in the heat that strikes it? This is also why lead feels hotter than wool. Or is it that the passage of the heat becomes violent because the pores have been frozen shut by the cold?
8| Why don't angry people shiver? Is it because anger is opposite to cowardice, and so is spirit? Anger comes from fire: for people who hold a great deal of fire inside grow warm. One can observe this best in children. For grown men are harmed by anger, but children first take in a great deal of breath, and then blush; for the heat, being abundant inside and moistening things, makes them blush, since if someone poured a great deal of cold water over them, they would stop being angry, for their heat would be quenched. Cowardly and fearful people are the opposite: they shiver and become cold and pale, for the heat leaves the surface regions of their body.
9| Why, when we shudder, do the hairs stand up straight? Is it because hair is by nature enclosed in moisture? For the depth of the hair is held fast by the moisture. Now shuddering comes about from cold, and cold by nature makes moisture congeal. So when the moisture out of which the hairs grow changes and congeals, it is likely that the hairs change too. If they change to the opposite state, or stay the same, the hair will again prevail over the moisture; but it is not likely that, once the moisture has congealed and become dense, the hair prevails over it by weight. And if it is not possible for the hair to lean in any direction because the moisture has congealed, it remains that it stands upright. Or is it rather because, under the effect of chilling, the heat gathers into the interior region, and as the heat leaves the flesh, the flesh contracts more, and as it is drawn together the hairs become more upright — just as, if one drives a splinter of wood or something else into the earth and packs it down, gathering the earth in from all sides, it stands more upright than if one leaves the earth ungathered. Why do people who are shivering, above all, fail to sleep? Is it because a person who shivers holds his breath in rather than breathing it out, whereas a person who sleeps breathes out or breathes in? So shivering puts one in a state opposite to sleeping.