Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Book 22. Problems Concerning Fruit-Season. Why, when we eat the same fruits later rather than earlier, does the bulk of our fullness not turn out proportional? Is it because fruit is much heavier than grain-foods? The figs show this, if they are eaten last, for they are the last to be vomited up. So if they are eaten first, their weight carries them downward and so opens up room above, making it easy to take in the bulk of the grain-food. But if the grain-food goes in first, since it is not carried downward, it quickly takes up the empty space above.
2| Why, though sweet things are more akin to us than pungent things, are we filled more quickly by sweet things? One would reasonably expect the opposite — for it was reasonable that we should be filled less by what is akin to us. Or is it because the vessel from which we are filled does not fill up quickly in the same way as the thing that is being nourished? Rather, sometimes the stomach is full, as with people who are thirsty, while the thirst is no less than before. For it is not because the stomach is full that we stop being thirsty, but because each part of the body has drawn to itself what is proper to it, and when those parts have taken in enough, then we stop being thirsty. And it is the same with hunger. Why are we filled more quickly by sweet things than by pungent things? Is it because our desire is satisfied more quickly by sweet things? Is it that, just as the stomach is filled, so too are we filled by sweet things? That is not agreed; but it should be said that our appetite is satisfied more quickly by them. Is it because appetite, speaking simply, is a lack, present whenever we no longer have nourishment, or have only a little? Now pungent things are not nourishing — they contain little nourishment but much residue. It is reasonable, then, that we seek to eat many of these, and do not fill our appetite for them, because we still need further nourishment while these foods do not supply it. Sweet things, on the other hand, are all nourishment, and the body takes in a great deal of nourishment even from a small quantity of them. So when it has taken in a great deal of nourishment, it can no longer go on eating, because it cannot bear more. It is reasonable, then, that we are filled more quickly by sweet things.
3| Why do fruit-rinds and meats, and such things generally, remain unspoiled in skins when the skins are blown up very tight, and likewise things kept in vessels sealed exactly tight? Is it because everything that is moved rots, while what is full is unmoved — for it is impossible for anything to move without a void, and these things are full? Why does wine taste bitter when drunk after spoiled fruit-rinds? Is it because this kind of spoilage carries bitterness with it? So what lingers on the tongue, mixing with the drink and spreading through it, makes the drink bitter. But the same thing, eaten by itself, seems less bitter, because such a flavor touches many parts and is distributed into small portions. Why should dessert-fruits be eaten? Is it for the sake of drinking, so as to have enough to drink? For one should drink not only for the thirst caused by the grain-food, but also after the meal. Why do roasted nuts become worse once they have cooled, and bread too, and acorns, and many things of this kind, while becoming better again once reheated? Is it because when they cool their flavor has congealed, and when warmed through again it is dissolved once more? And the pleasure comes from the flavor.
4| Why is it that after the enjoyment of autumn fruit, such as figs and things of that kind, one needs to drink either unmixed wine or water on top of it? Yet these are opposites. Is it because the fruit is both hot and moist on account of its coming-to-be? For it contains much fire and much moisture, so that through the fire the juice produces a kind of boiling inside, which is what unfermented must produces outside. The other tree-fruits have this power to a lesser degree. And the abundance of moisture produces indigestion. Now water, on account of its coldness, quenches the boiling, while wine, on account of its heat, does so for the most part; for just as fire sometimes takes away the strength of fire, if the second fire is smaller. But wine is more concocting through its heat than through its moisture, and by its weight it overpowers the risings-up of the boiling. Why is it that among dried figs the sweetest are those split in two, and neither the many-times-split ones nor the unsplit ones? Is it because from the many-split ones most of the sweetness has evaporated and dried out along with the moisture, while in the closed-up ones there is more of the watery element because they have not given off vapor? But the ones split, though not into many pieces, are free of both of these conditions.
5| Why do figs become harder when they are cooled in the kiln, if they are cooled while still in the kiln, than if they are taken out and then cooled? Is it because in the kiln all the moisture is evaporated off by the heat, whereas outside the surrounding air, by cooling them, prevents the moisture from going out and condensing? For it evaporates more inside. And dry things are hard, while moist things are soft. Why do wine and water appear sweeter alongside astringent things, as when one eats acorns or myrtle-berries or something of that kind in between? Is this reasonable, just as in other cases too? For everything appears more itself alongside its opposite, and the flavors of opposites are in a way opposed to each other. Or is it because, as in the case of things being dyed, the tongue is first worked upon by the astringent things and its pores are opened, so that the sweet passes through more? For indeed people first soak things that are to be dyed in astringent substances for this very reason, so that being worked upon beforehand they receive the dye more readily. Why do sweet things seem less sweet when they are hot than when they have been cooled? Is it because two perceptions occur for both at once, so that the perception of the heat drives out the other? Or is it because the unfermented must is itself also hot, so that it is, as it were, fire added to fire? The heat, then, hinders the perception. Or is it because fire takes away the powers of all things, being something that sets in motion? So while they are hot they are nearer to changing, but once cooled they have come to rest.
6| Why is it that chaff concocts hard things, yet what has been concocted does not itself rot? Is it because chaff is both hot and absorbent? By its heat, then, it concocts; and by being absorbent it takes up the rotting fluid, which is why it does not rot. Why do figs, being soft and sweet, damage the teeth? Is it because, on account of their stickiness, they cling to the gums, and because they are soft they slip in between the teeth into the spaces between them, and produce decay quickly since they are hot? But perhaps it is also, quickly, on account of the hardness of the little seeds; in the working of these the teeth suffer quickly.