Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Book 38. Problems Concerning Color Why does the sun whiten wax and oil, but blacken the flesh? Is it because it whitens the former by drawing off the water from them (for moisture is by nature black, because of the mixture of earthy matter [in the water]), whereas it scorches the flesh?
2| Why are fishermen and purple-fishers, and in general those who work at sea, red-haired? Is it because the sea is hot and dry because of its brininess? Such a quality makes hair red, just as lye and orpiment do. Or is it that their outer parts become hotter, while their inner parts are chilled all around, because, as they are constantly wetted, their surrounding parts are always being dried out by the sun? And since these parts undergo this, their hair, being dried out, becomes thin and turns red. And all people who live toward the north are red-haired and thin-haired. Why do runs taken in a cloak, and the anointing of oil onto a cloak, produce a poor complexion, while running naked produces a good complexion? Is it because good ventilation produces a good complexion, while stifling produces the opposite? For because the moisture on the surface is heated together with the body and is not cooled, it produces a poor complexion. Both do the same thing, sweating in a cloak and anointing oneself before putting on a cloak: the heat is shut in. But running naked produces a good complexion for the opposite reason, because the air cools the excretions as they collect and lets the body breathe through. Further, the oil, being moist and fine, when smeared on and blocking the passages, allows neither the moisture and breath from the body to flow outward, nor the outside air to enter within. That is why the moist residues, stifled within the body and putrefying, produce a poor complexion.
3| Why does good breathing produce a good complexion? Is it because bad coloring is a kind of putrefaction of the skin? Now this happens when the moisture on the surface is also hot. And it turns out that the skin also becomes sallow, if the heat is not cooled and does not breathe off. Why are those who sweat from exercise well-colored right away, while athletes are poorly colored? Is it because under moderate exertion the heat is kindled and rises to the surface, while under a great deal of exertion it is driven out along with the sweat and the breath, the body being made porous by the exertion? So when the heat rises to the surface, people become well-colored, just as those who are growing warm or who are ashamed; but when the heat leaves entirely, they become poorly colored. Now ordinary people exercise moderately, but athletes exercise a great deal. Why are those who sit still burned more by the sun than those who exercise? Is it because those who are in motion are, as it were, fanned by a current of air because they set the air in motion, while those who are sitting do not experience this? Why does the sun scorch, but fire does not? Is it because the sun is finer, and is more able to penetrate into the flesh? Fire, even if it does scorch, only affects the color on the surface — what are called blisters — but does not penetrate within.
4| Why does fire not make things black, while the sun does — yet fire blackens a tile, while the sun does not? Is it that each does not act in the same way, but rather the sun by scorching blackens the surface color, while fire coats the tile with what rises from it as soot? And this is a fine ash, produced when coals are broken apart and burned at the same time. As for human beings, the sun blackens them but fire does not, because the heat of the sun is gentle and, because of the fineness of its particles, is able to burn the skin itself; so that because it does not touch the flesh it causes no pain, but because it burns it produces blackness. Fire, on the other hand, either does not touch the flesh or passes right through it, since things burned by fire also become black — but it does not burn only that surface where the color is. Why do people become blacker as they grow old? Is it because everything that putrefies becomes blacker, except mold? And this — old age — is a kind of decay. Further, since blood becomes blacker as it dries out, it is reasonable that older people should be blacker, since this is what naturally gives our bodies their color. Why is it that, in the working of grain crops, those who deal with barley become poorly colored and afflicted with catarrh, while those who deal with wheat are in good bodily condition? Is it because wheat is more easily digested than barley, and so are its exhalations as well?
5| Why does the sun whiten oil, but blacken flesh? Is it because it draws off from the oil its earthy element? For this earthy element was the black part, just as it is with wine. But it blackens flesh because it burns it; for everything earthy, when burned, becomes entirely black.