382 HISTORY OF 



annexed. For all those tilings which pertain to the hard 

 ening of the juices are of that nature, that while they pro 

 hibit the absumption of the aliment, they also hinder the 

 operation of the same ; whereby it happens, that the same 

 things are both propitious and adverse to length of life ; 

 but those things which pertain to making the juices oily 

 and roscid, help on both sides, for they render the aliment 

 both less dissipable, and more reparable. 



15. But whereas we say that the juice of the body 

 ought to be roscid and fat, it is to be noted that we mean it 

 not of a visible fat, but of a dewiness dispersed, or (if you 

 will call it) radical in the very substance of the body. 



16. Neither again let any man think, that oil, or the fat 

 of meats or marrow, do engender the like, and satisfy our 

 intention : for those things which are once perfect are not 

 brought back again ; but the aliments ought to be such, 

 which after digestion and maturation, do then in the end 

 engender oleosity in the juices. 



17. Neither again let any man think, that oil or fat by 

 itself and simple is hard of dissipation ; but in. mixture it 

 doth not retain the same nature : for as oil by itself is 

 much more longer in consuming than water, so in paper or 

 linen it sticketh longer, and is later dried, as we noted 

 before. 



18. To the irroration of the body, roasted meats or baked 

 meats are more effectual than boiled meats, and all prepa 

 ration of meat with water is inconvenient ; besides oil is 

 more plentifully extracted out of dried bodies than out of 

 moist bodies. 



19. Generally, to the irroration of the body much use of 

 sweet things is profitable, as of sugar, honey, sweet almonds, 

 pineapples, pistachios, dates, raisins of the sun, corans, figs, 

 and the like. Contrarily, all sour, and very salt, and very 

 biting things are opposite to the generation of roscid juice. 



20. Neither would we be thought to favour the Maeni- 

 chees, or their diet, though we commend the frequent use 

 of all kinds of seeds, kernels, and roots in meats or sauces, 

 considering all bread (and bread is that which maketh the 

 meat firm) is made either of seeds or roots. 



21. But there is nothing makes so much to the irroration 

 of the body as the quality of the drink, which is the con 

 voy of the meat ; therefore let there be in use such drinks 

 as without all acrimony or sourness are notwithstanding 

 subtile; such are those wines which are (as the old woman 

 said in Plautus) vetustate edentula, toothless with age, and 

 ale of the same kind. 



