ſpirit yt a man hath, the féebler and the vneaſier of ſight he is. Alſo the eye is déemed by chaunging of colour: for li. 19. Ariſtotle ſaith, the eien in the beginning of bréeding, be of gréene coulour: and then they chaunge into black, either into yeolow, either into anye meane coulour ſéemely thereto. For if ther be much humour & little ſpirit of ſight, diſturbed by any happe, the blacke coulour therein is ſtrengthened. If there be little humour & féeble ſpirit of ſight: the coulour ſhalbe yeolow. For as Ariſtotle ſaith, yeolownes of eien is mouing of féebleneſſe. And if the humour be meane, & the ſpirit tēporate of cauſe according to whiteneſſe & blacknes the coulour is diuerſe. If ye eien be black, they be of ſharpe ſight by day, by reſon of gathering togethers of light, & of humours in the ſame lim of ye ſight: and by night they be dim of ſight. For the light of the night is féeble, & the humour of the night is kindly of more heauy mouing, as Ariſtotle ſaith. A yeolow eie contrariwiſe is feeble of ſight by day & ſtrong by night. For the matter of yeolowneſſe that is brighter of it ſelfe when it is ioyned to the daye light, is more darke, & therefore ye ſpirit of ſight, the light remaining, is féebled in ye déede of fight. By night the ſpirit of ſight in the eie is holpe by cléerenes, that is conteined within a little humour, & the day light paſſeth, and there abideth in the eie the vertue of ſéeing and of deeming ſome deale in darkneſſe, as it fareth in Cats. Alſo the eie is knowen by diſpoſition of the parts that be about it. As of the eye lids and browes. For if the eye lids yt be the helers & couerers of the eyen, be full of fleſh within, and of ſuperfluitie of humours, they hinder ſight. For ſuch eye lids by cauſe of their little mouing, put not of thick aire. Liber primo Ariſtotle ſayth. If the place of teares that followeth to the corner of the eie, be much fleſhie,[1] as it fareth in the eie of Kites: it ſignifieth wilyneſſe and euill fortune. Séeke for other properties of the eie before in the treatiſe of ſight. And this that is ſayd of the compoſition, ffectese, and dooings of the eyen, is ſufficient at this time.
¶The blacke of the Eie. Chap. 7.
LIber. 12. chap. 2. Iſidore ſayth, that the blacke of the eye, wherein is the vertue of ſight, and is called Pupilla in latine, for the ſmal images that be ſéene therein. And ſmall children bee called Pupilli. And the blacke of the eye, is ſo called, becauſe it is cleane and pure as Puella, a little maid childe. Phiſitions ſay, that the Images that we ſée in eyen, bée not ſéene in eyen of ye them, that ſhal die,[2] thrée dayes afore. And if the ſayd Images bée not ſéene, it is a certeine token of death. The blacke hath about it a circle yt is called Corona. By ye Corona the blacke of the eye is marked and bounded. And the white parts of the eye departed therefrom. This Corona by the roundneſſe thereof highteth the blacke of the eie all about. And in this Corona is yt moſt fayreneſſe of the eye. Hetherto ſpeaketh Iſidore. Halye ſaith, that in the blacke of the eye as in glaſſe appeareth Images of thoſe things, that be ſéene in the eye. And all that is in the eye, of reumes and humoures, eyther they helpe or ſerue the blacke of the eye: And therefore it ſitteth in the middle, as a Quéene. The blacke of the eye is little in quantity & moſt in vertue among all the members. And therfore as it is leaſt, it taketh and comprehendeth things that be moſt of ſpirit, that commeth of the braine within, and taketh lykeneſſe and receyueth without by lyght. And ſo by light it taketh in it ſelfe the lykeneſſe of the thing that is ſéene, and ſendeth it to the perſeueraunce of the Soule. For from all partes of the thing that is ſeene, lines come togethers and make a Pirami in a toppewiſe
, either in a ſhield wiſe, of the which ſteeple the ſharpe ende is in the blacke of the eye, and the broade ende in the thing that is ſeene, as it is ſhewed afore of the ſight, looke there: this blacke of the eye perceiueth & hath diſcouering of the coulours and ſhape of all thinges by the vtter parts. And hath lyking in the middle coulours
