For what is straight
becomes bent, if the moisture in it is evaporated, and runs together
as a hair does when burning upon the fire; curliness will then be a
contraction owing to deficiency of moisture caused by the heat of
the environment. A sign of this is the fact that curly hair is
harder than straight, for the dry is hard. And animals with much
moisture are straight-haired; for in these hairs the moisture advances
as a stream, not in drops. For this reason the Scythians on the
Black Sea and the Thracians are straight-haired, for both they
themselves and the environing air are moist, whereas the Aethiopians
and men in hot countries are curly-haired, for their brains and the
surrounding air are dry.
Some, however, of the thick-skinned animals are fine-haired for
the cause previously stated, for the finer the pores are the finer
must the hairs be. Hence the class of sheep have such hairs (for wool
is only a multitude of hairs).
There are some animals whose hair is soft and yet less fine, as is
the case with the class of hares compared with that of sheep; in
such animals the hair is on the surface of the skin, not deeply rooted
in it, and so is not long but in much the same state as the
scrapings from linen, for these also are not long but are soft and
do not admit of weaving.
The condition of sheep in cold climates is opposite to that of
man; the hair of the Scythians is soft but that of the Sauromatic
sheep is hard.
Pages:
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237