In the section on air changes we have already mentioned some circumstances related to place of residence; now we want to give a brief discussion about them in a different order, without fear of repeating some of what has already been said.
About the influence of residence. We say: you know that places of residence have different effects on the human body due to the elevated or low-lying location of the dwellings themselves, and also due to the fact that in the neighborhood there is a hill, or a lowland or a mountain, and depending on the soil - whether it is clay, marshy or muddy, or has mineral strength. The effect of a place of residence also depends on the abundance or lack of water, on what is located in the neighborhood: trees, mines, a cemetery, a carrion dump, and the like. You already know how the nature of the air is recognized by latitude, soil, the presence of seas and mountains near it, and the quality of the winds. Now we will say in general that any air that quickly cools down when the sun goes down and warms up when the sun rises is good, but air with the opposite qualities is the opposite. Then, the worst air is the kind that grabs your heart and takes your breath away. Now let us describe in detail the circumstances of each type of settlement.
About settlements where it is hot. Hot settlements make the skin black and the hair curly and weaken digestion. When the evaporation there is very significant and there is little moisture, then old age quickly comes to their inhabitants, as for example in Ethiopia: its inhabitants, living in their own country, grow old by the age of thirty, and their hearts are very timid due to the dissolution of pneuma. Inhabitants of hot places have a softer body than usual.
About cold settlements. The inhabitants of cold places are stronger and braver, they digest food better, as you know. If it is humid there, then the inhabitants of such places are fleshy and fat, and their vessels are deeply gilded. Their joints are dry, but they themselves are blooming and beautiful.
About wet settlements. Inhabitants of damp places have good appearance, soft skin, and quickly weaken from physical movements. In summer they are not very hot, in winter they are not very cold. They often have chronic fevers, diarrhea, heavy bleeding during menstruation and with kidney disease, numerous cases of kidney disease, frequent ulcers, putrefaction, kula, and numerous cases of epilepsy.
About dry settlements. It happens that the inhabitants of dry places have dry out natures, and their skin wrinkles and cracks, and dryness rushes to their brains. They are hot in the summer and cold in the winter for reasons opposite to what we explained above.
About settlements located high. The inhabitants of high places are healthy, strong and brave people and they live long.
About low-lying settlements. The inhabitants of the lowlands are constantly in heat and stuffiness, and their water is not cold, especially if it is stagnant swamp or salt marsh water. Because of the bad air, their water is bad.
About settlements in rocky open areas. In such places the air is very hot in summer and cold in winter. The body of their inhabitants is dense, lean, abundantly covered with hair, with strong joints, and dryness prevails in them. They sleep little, they have a bad temper, they are proud and autocratic, they are distinguished by courage in wars, skill in crafts and hot temper.
About settlements on snowy mountains. The inhabitants of settlements on snowy mountains should be judged in the same way as the inhabitants of all cold countries. The country of the mountaineers is a windy country; While the snow remains lying, good winds are born from it, and when the snow melts and the mountains hold back the winds, they again become suffocating.
About coastal settlements. In these areas, heat and cold are moderate, since moisture resists the effects of heat and does not accept heat penetrating into it; as for humidity and dryness, coastal areas are certainly more humid. If the area lies in the north, then the proximity of the sea and its location in the lowlands make its climate more temperate, and if it is south, warm, then vice versa.
About the settlements located in the north. These settlements should be judged in the same way as cold countries and cold seasons, when diseases of retention and compression of juices are frequent and juices are abundant and collected within the body. The essential properties of their inhabitants include good digestion and a long life, but people there often have nosebleeds due to the large overflow of juices and their low absorption, and blood vessels burst. As for epilepsy, it does not happen to the inhabitants of these places, since everything is healthy inside them, and their innate warmth is great, but if epilepsy does happen, it is strong, because it can only happen to them from a strong reason.
The ulcers on the body of the northerners are quickly healed, because they are strong and their blood is good, and since there is no reason outside that would loosen and soften these ulcers. Because of the fervor of their hearts, these people have brutal qualities.
It happens that in their women, cleansing during menstruation is incomplete, since menstrual blood does not flow from them in sufficient quantities due to compression of the passages and the absence of juices that would flow and relax the compression. Therefore, their women, as they say, are often infertile, because their uterus is not completely clean.
This is the opposite of what the circumstances in the Turkic countries indicate. On the contrary, I will say, the power of innate warmth compensates for the lack of influence of external causes, causing the juices to flow and relaxing the contraction of the ducts. They say that in the north women rarely have miscarriages; This is true proof that the forces of the inhabitants of those countries are powerful. It is difficult for them to give birth, since their birth organs are compressed and clogged: they most often miscarry because of the cold, they have little milk and it is thick, also because of the cold, which prevents it from passing and flowing.
In these areas, especially among those who are weak, for example, among women, there are cuzaz and consumption, in particular among those who give birth. They often suffer from consumption and cusaz due to strong moaning during difficult childbirth. The vessels located in the chest area, or parts of the nerves and fibers burst, and from the first there is consumption, and from the second - cuzaz; The abdominal walls are, so to speak, a weak point for ruptures due to the great difficulty of childbirth.
Children in these areas experience hydrocele, which goes away with age. Girls have water in the stomach and uterus; this also goes away with age. Inflammation of the eyes rarely occurs in them, but when it does occur, it can be severe.
About the settlements located in the south. The southern settlements should be judged in the same way as hot countries and hot seasons. The waters there are mostly salty, sulfuric, and the heads of the inhabitants are filled with damp matter, for such is the effect of the south. Their stomachs are constantly upset, due to the inevitable flow of juices from the head into the stomach, they have sluggish, weak organs and dull senses; Their appetite for food and drinks is also weak, they have a strong hangover from intoxicating drinks due to weakness of the head and stomach. Their ulcers have difficulty healing and become flabby.
Their women often have excessive bleeding during menstruation; they get pregnant only with difficulty and in most cases
cases are thrown out due to frequent illnesses, and not for any other reason. Men there are often affected by bloody diarrhea, kidneys and eye inflammation, which is moist and quickly resolves. As for mature men, those who have passed fifty are struck by paralysis due to the abundant flow of juices. Due to the overflow of juices in the head, they all suffer from asthma, stupor and epilepsy. They are affected by fevers, in which it is both hot and cold at once, as well as long-term, winter, and night fevers. Hot fevers are rare among them due to frequent diarrhea and dissolution of the liquid part of the juices.
About the settlements located in the east. A city open to the east and facing it is a beautiful city with good air. The sun rises above its inhabitants at the beginning of the day and purifies the air, then leaves them when the air is already clean. Light winds blow on them, sent by the sun, and it itself follows them and its movement corresponds to the movement of the winds.
About the settlements located in the west. In a city that is open to the west and closed to the east, the sun does not come until a certain time, and having arrived, it immediately begins to move away from it, but not to approach it. The sun does not soften the air there or dry it out: on the contrary, it leaves the air moist and dense.
If the sun sends winds to such a city, then it sends western winds, and moreover at night, and such cities have to be judged as cities with a humid nature, moderate in heat, and with dense air. If it were not for the air density that occurs there, then the properties of cities in the west would be very similar to the properties of spring, but they are significantly inferior to eastern cities in terms of healthy air. Therefore, one should not pay attention to the words of those who decisively assert that the strength of these cities is the strength of spring, speaking in an absolute sense. No, they are not, but they are very good compared to other areas. One of the blameworthy features of these cities is that the sun comes there only when it heats the area to the limit due to its high altitude, so it appears in western-facing cities immediately after the night's cold. Due to the humidity of the air, the voices of residents of Western cities can be hoarse, especially in the fall.
About the choice and location of residence. Anyone who chooses a place to live should know what the soil is like there, how high or low the land is, open or closed, what the water is like there, what the substance of the water is, to what extent it is open and open, whether it is high or low. He must know whether the given place is accessible | winds or is located in a basin, and what kind of winds there are - are they healthy and cold, as well as what kind of seas, swamps, mountains and mines are nearby. He must find out what the state of the local residents is in terms of health and illness and what diseases they are common with, and find out what their strength, appetite, digestion and type of food are. He should also find out what kind of water they have - whether it is wide and open or whether it goes through narrow passages and its paths are cramped. Then the windows and doors should face east and north; and also so that the east winds can penetrate into the building and the sun reaches any place in them, for it is the sun that heals the air, and also that in the neighborhood there is water - sweet, noble, flowing, deep, clear, which, in contrast to hidden water, is cold in winter and warmth in the summer is a good, healthy thing.
So, we talked in detail about air and dwellings. After this, we must talk about the things that are related to them.