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. Their hair, then, instead of being collected in these
parts, is either thickly set over the whole dorsal surface, as is
the case for instance in dogs, or, sometimes, forms a mane, as in
horses and the like, or as in the male lion where the mane is still
more flowing and ample. So, again, whenever there is a tail of any
length, nature decks it with hair, with long hair if the stem of the
tail be short, as in horses, with short hair if the stem be long,
regard also being had to the condition of the rest of the body. For
nature invariably gives to one part what she subtracts from another.
Thus when she has covered the general surface of an animal's body with
an excess of hair, she leaves a deficiency in the region of the
tail. This, for instance, in the case with bears.
No animal has so much hair on the head as man. This, in the first
place, is the necessary result of the fluid character of his brain,
and of the presence of so many sutures in his skull. For wherever
there is the most fluid and the most heat, there also must necessarily
occur the greatest outgrowth. But, secondly, the thickness of the hair
in this part has a final cause, being intended to protect the head, by
preserving it from excess of either heat or cold. And as the brain
of man is larger and more fluid than that of any other animal, it
requires a proportionately greater amount of protection. For the
more fluid a substance is, the more readily does it get excessively
heated or excessively chilled, while substances of an opposite
character are less liable to such injurious affections
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