On the Secrets of Women

the humidity is airy, and therefore, since heat always acts upon the humid, and heat is natural. But nevertheless, nature does nothing in vain, as is said in the first [book] On the Heavens and the World. And because the heat in women is always weak, with respect to that which is in men, and since all the food in women cannot be converted into flesh, therefore nature does what is best; it provides for nature with necessities, and sends the remainder into a certain place, in which the menses are kept in the woman. Concerning that, indeed, it has been said to such an extent because it is of greater inquiry than the present business demands.

Here he moves to the third doubt and solves it by himself, as is evident in the letter. Note that the coldest of men is hotter than the hottest of women, given the same region, digestion, and nutritional food, and so on for others. I say this notably, because a woman living delicately in Ethiopia would be hotter than a poor little man in the west always using the coldest foods. But it seems to the contrary that a woman is hotter than a man, because heat is founded in blood, but in a woman there is more blood than in a man, otherwise the blood would not flow daily and continuously in a woman, but it is not so in a man, therefore, etc. It is answered that where there is more well-digested and decocted blood, there is also greater heat, but it is not so in women, therefore, etc. Note, the text says that nature does what is best. The reason is that nature is governed by an unerring intelligence,