Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Why do most perfumes become foul-smelling when sweated out along with the body's sweat, while some become more pleasant, or at least no worse? Is it that those which change through motion or friction become worse, while those that do not, do the opposite? There are indeed such cases, just as among flowers, from which sweet scents are made: some, when rubbed or heated or dried, become poor, such as gillyflowers, while others remain the same, such as roses. So too among perfumes, those made from such flowers change, while others do not — hence rose-perfume changes least of all. And those perfumes appear more foul-smelling whose corresponding sweats are foul-smelling, both for this reason and because of mixing with the opposite: just as honey mixed with salt is not sweeter but less sweet. Why does everything smell more when in motion? Is it because motion fills the air with the smell? The smell is then transmitted more quickly to the sense of smell. BOOK 14. PROBLEMS CONCERNING TEMPERAMENTS Why are those who live in extremes, whether of cold or of heat, bestial in their characters and appearances? Is it for the same reason in both cases? For the best mixture is also beneficial to the intellect, while extremes derange it, and just as they distort the body, so too they distort the mixture of the intellect.
2| Why does grain in the Pontus, left in the cold, remain uncorrupted for many years? Is it because the foreign moisture is drawn off together with the heat, as happens in grapes? For in some cases this happens through cold, in others together with heat. Why do burning fevers occur more in the coldest season? Is it because the cold drives the heat back inward, in the opposite way to what happens in summer, when the inner parts become colder? Burning fever is a fever in which, while the outer parts are chilled, the inner parts exceed in heat. Why are the Ethiopians and the Egyptians bandy-legged? Is it because, just as wood is warped by drying out under heat, so too are the bodies of living creatures? Their hair shows this too: they have more curly hair, and curliness is a kind of bandy-ness in hair. Why do matings produce more females in southerly regions? Is it that the more abundant moisture thickens more slowly? In southerly regions, because of the moistness of the climate, the seed becomes moister. Why in marshy regions do wounds on the head heal quickly, while those on the shins heal only with difficulty? Is it because the moisture there is heavy, being earthy, and heavy things settle downward? So the upper parts digest well because the moisture has withdrawn downward, while the lower parts are full of much residue that putrefies easily.
3| Why do those who live in well-ventilated places age slowly, while those in hollow and marshy places age quickly? Is it that old age is a kind of putrefaction, and what is still putrefies, while what is in motion either does not putrefy at all or is less affected by it — as with water? In high places, then, because of the good ventilation, the air is in motion, but in hollow places it stays still. Further, in the former places the air is always pure and constantly renewed because of the motion, while in marshy places it stays the same.
4| Why are those who live in hot places cowardly, while those who live in cold places are courageous? Is it because nature works oppositely to place and season, since things kept in a like condition are necessarily burned up quickly? Those who are courageous are those hot by nature, and those who are cowardly are those chilled. And it happens that those living in hot places are chilled, while those living in cold places are heated in their nature. Both are large in body: those in cold places because of the innate heat within them, those in hot places because of the heat of the place — for in hot places creatures grow through the action of heat as well. But cold is condensing. Since, then, the one group has a vigorous principle of growth within themselves, and the other is not hindered by external cold, it is reasonable that both admit growth to a great extent. Those around us are less so, both because they have a lesser principle within themselves, and because those in cold places are condensed together. Why are those who live in hot places longer-lived? Is it because they have a drier nature, and the drier is less prone to putrefaction and longer-lasting, death being a kind of putrefaction? Or is it because death is a chilling of the internal heat, and everything is chilled by what surrounds it when that is colder? The surrounding air in warm places is hot, but in cold places cold, so that it destroys the heat within more quickly and more thoroughly there.
5| Why are those who live in hot places longer-lived? Is it because they preserve heat and moisture more? For death is the destruction of these. Why do we become sleepier in marshy places? Is it because we are more chilled in them, and chilling, being a kind of stillness, prepares the way for sleep, and sleep comes about through stillness? Why are those who live on ships, spending their lives on water, better-colored than those who live in marshes? Is the season and the good ventilation the cause? Water makes people sallow when it putrefies, which it suffers through lack of motion; hence people in marshes are somewhat sallow. Why do violent stifling heats occur, and more of them, in wintry regions than in warm ones? Is it on account of the moistness of the air? For from the same degree of heat water becomes hotter than air does, so that the air, too, is moister than the hot itself. Or is the air in such places not actually drier at all, but only appears so by contrast, just as the sun seems brighter coming out of a cloud, by contrast with having just been touched by shadow.
6| Why are those who live toward the south more dark-eyed? Is it that eyes are gray on account of an excess of the internal heat, and dark on account of its absence, just as Empedocles also says? Just as, then, among those living toward the north the eyes are gray because the internal heat is prevented from escaping on account of the external cold, so among those living toward the south the moisture does not escape on account of the surrounding heat, while the heat, with nothing blocking it, escapes, and the moisture left behind makes the eye dark; for through the absence of light what is left behind is murky. Or is the color in the eye assimilated to the colors of the rest of the body? Hence, since those toward the north are pale, their eyes are gray (for this color is close to pale), and since those toward the south are dark, their eyes too are dark. Why are those in hot places wiser than those in cold places? Is it for the same reason that old men are wiser than the young? For those in cold places, on account of the coldness of the place, as their nature turns back inward, become much hotter internally, so that they resemble people who are very drunk, and they are not given to inquiry, but are courageous and full of hope; while those in warm places are sober, because they are chilled. Everywhere, those who are fearful set about inquiring more than those who are confident, so that they also discover more. Or is it because this race is of longer standing, while the others perished in the flood, so that those living in cold places are like the young compared to old men, relative to those living in hot places?