‹‹‹ Vitr. 1.4.5 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 1.4.7 ›››
6so, in those bodies wherein fire predominates, their temperament is destroyed, and their strength dissipated. Such is the case in exposure to certain aspects of the heavens whence the heat insinuates itself through the pores in a greater degree than the temperature of the system will bear. Bodies which contain a greater proportion of water than is necessary to balance the other elements, are speedily corrupted, and lose their virtues and properties. Hence bodies are much injured by damp winds and atmosphere. Lastly, the elements of earth and air being increased or diminished more than is consistent with the temperature of any given body, will have a tendency to destroy its equilibrium; the earthy elements by repletion, the aërial by the weight of the atmosphere.
6Therefore, if one of these elements, heat, becomes predominant in any body whatsoever, it destroys and dissolves all the others with its violence. This defect may be due to violent heat from certain quarters of the sky, pouring into the open pores in too great proportion to admit of a mixture suited to the natural temperament of the body in question. Again, if too much moisture enters the channels of a body, and thus introduces disproportion, the other elements, adulterated by the liquid, are impaired, and the virtues of the mixture dissolved. This defect, in turn, may arise from the cooling properties of moist winds and breezes blowing upon the body. In the same way, increase or diminution of the proportion of air or of the earthy which is natural to the body may enfeeble the other elements; the predominance of the earthy being due to overmuch food, that of air to a heavy atmosphere.