Itaque nescimus qua ratione vulgus et medici quidam podagricis eas interdicant ceu podagram generantes, quod si fieret, nullam certam ob causam, sed occulta quodam proprietate contingeret. ab authoribus quidem nihil huius modi proditum est. (Putavit Aristoteles eum qui aliquandiu gallinas pingues esitaverit, inducere h{a}ereditatem haemorroidum et podagrae, Rasis.) Coloris bonitatem faciunt: et cerebella earum substantiam cerebri augent, ac sensus acuunt. Ipsae in cibo conveniunt convalescentibus et otiosis, praecipue pulli et antequam coierint, Elluchasem. Idem in tabulis laudat eas quae pascantur viridi et libero campo: genituram augere scribit et cerebrum, exercitio utentibus convenire, praesertim cum bono vino odorato: temperatis, pueris, vere. calidas esse temperate, vel in secundo abscessu. gallos vero calidos et siccos in secundo. praeferri ex eis qui vocis temperatae sunt, stomachum roborare. convenire frigidis, decrepitis, hyeme: nutrimentum ex eis non laudari. ¶ Gallina est temperatae carnis et levis, Albert. ¶ Galli caro durior quam gallinae est, Idem. Decrepiti galli carnes teneriores sunt quam iunioris, et si quid inest viscosum decoctione consumitur, Idem.

Therefore we don't know why the people and some physicians forbid hens to persons suffering from gout as able in rousing gout, and if this would occur, it would happen for no certain reason, but for some hidden property. In reality by authors nothing of this sort has been handed down. (Aristotle thought that he who had eaten fat hens for a certain period of time would have caused an inheritance of hemorrhoids and gout, Razi). They give a beautiful complexion: and their brains improve the cerebral substance and sharpen the senses. They are suitable for feeding of convalescents and idlers, above all young chickens and before they started to mate, Elluchasem Elimithar or Ibn Butlan. Always he in his Tacuini sanitatis praises the hens grazing in a green field and without fences: he writes that they strengthen sperm and brain, that are proper for those people taking exercise, above all with a good perfumed wine: to tell the truth they have to be given lukewarm to children. They have to be moderately warm especially in the second phase of weaning. But in the second period of weaning the roosters have to be warm and dry. Among them must be preferred those endowed with a little ringing voice, and they strengthen the stomach. In winter they are suitable for those who are feeling the cold and without energies: the nourishment which can be drawn is not appreciated. ¶ The hen has a meat of right composition - neither warm nor cold - and light to be digested, Albertus Magnus. ¶ The meat of rooster is harder than that of hen, even he. The meats of a decrepit rooster are more tender than those of a younger rooster, and if they have some stickiness, this is removed by a long cooking, still Albertus.

¶ Caro gallinarum iuvenum est calida et humida, licet parum: unde Galenus temperatam esse scripsit. pulchrum colorem efficit, quamobrem a mulieribus appetitur. Sed nimis annosarum caro frigida est et sicca, difficilis concoctu, sicut et gallorum et caponum decrepitorum. Avicenna tertia primi: Praestant (inquit) gallinae quae in ventre agni aut hoedi assantur. earum enim humiditates conservantur. Pullorum marium caro est temperata, ad humiditatem declinans quod ad nos. facile concoquitur, sanguinem laudabilem gignit, appetitum roborat, omnibus fere temperamentis conveniens. ius eorum humores aequat et ventrem solvit Avicennae. ius vero gallinarum magis nutrit. Pullastrarum vero caro humidior et minus calida est, non aeque sanis conveniens, sed magis intemperatis quibusdam. ex his earum quae nondum peperere caro, mediocriter pinguis, proba et temperata est Avicennae. Gallina siccior est quam pulli, et ventrem nonnihil astringit, quem pulli humectant, quare elixae magis quam assae gallinae sunt comedendae, Isaac.

¶ The meat of young hens is warm and damp, even if not too much: that's why Galen wrote that it is of right composition. It gives a beautiful complexion, hence it is sought by women. But the meat of too much old hens is cold and dry, difficult to be digested, as it also happens for that of decrepit roosters and capons. Avicenna in the third section of the first book of Canon medicinae says: They are better the hens roasted in the belly of lamb or kid. In fact their humors are keeping. The meat of male chickens is of right composition, verging to the dampness as much as we need. It is easily digested, makes a good blood's production, strengthens the appetite and is suitable for almost any temperament. For Avicenna their broth balances the humors and is laxative. But the broth of hen is more nourishing. But the meat of the pullets is damp and less warm and fairly is not suitable in appropriate way to healthy people, but more to some people living without moderation. For Avicenna the meat of hens that didn't lay yet is not too much fat, of good quality and of right composition. The hen is drier than young chickens, and is a  little constipating, while young chickens make the feces watery, that's why the hens have to be eaten more boiled than roasted, Isaac Judaeus.

¶ Electio. Galli gallinaeque veteres improbantur. eliguntur pulli mediocriter pingues, Savonarola. Mares antequam cantent aut coëant: foeminae antequam pariant, (cum parere incipiunt, Arnoldus Villanov.) Idem, Sym. Sethi, Avicenna, Rasis, Elluchasem. Capos praepingues assos medios inter maciem et pinguedinem comedes. idem fiet de gallina et pullastra, Platina. His tamquam saluberrimis vesci< >debent quotidie vel maiori ex parte, quicunque sanitatis rationem habent, Elluchasem. Gallinae meliores sunt hyeme. quia tum minus foetu exhauriuntur. Pulli vero aestate dum tritura fit, dumque adhuc de vite omphacium pendet, esui meliores habentur: masculi tamen magis quam foemellae, Platina. Galli ante interfectionem fatigari debent, Elluchasem. Gallinae (parum iuvenes scilicet, quo minus durae sint) statim occisae eviscerari debent, et suspendi a matutino tempore usque ad vespertinum, vel contra, Arnoldus de Villanov. Vulgo experimento cognitum est pullos albos in ventriculo non facile coqui, ut Gilb. Anglicus scribit[1]. Marsilius tamen praefert albos pro hecticis[2], tanquam minus calidos, {Gaynerius} <Guainerius>. Gallinas albas nigris aliqui suaviores esse tradunt, Chrysippus apud Athenaeum. Gallorum et gallinarum caro alimenti est inter aves optimi. quia facile in sanguinem vertitur, et parum excrementosa est. Caro autem gallinarum est melior quam gallorum, nisi sint castrati. nigrarum quoque et quae nondum peperunt caro est melior et levior. Veterum autem, praecipue gallorum, caro nitrosa est et salsa, cibo inepta, Sylvius. Gallinas autem carnem tunc habere suavissimam, cum non alimento abunde eis exhibito, ipsae suis pedibus scalpentes non sine labore cibum inveniunt, Clemens 2. Stromat.

¶ Choice. Old roosters and hens are not appreciated. A little fat chickens are preferred, Michele Savonarola. The males before starting to sing or to mate: the females before laying (when they start to lay, Arnaldo from Villanova), Savonarola, Simeon Sethi, Avicenna, Razi, Elluchasem. You will eat exceedingly fat capons roasted when are in between thinness and fatness. The same will happen for hen and pullet, Platina. All those people caring for physical wellbeing have to eat them every day or very often, since they are very healthful, Elluchasem. The hens are better in winter. Because in this time they are less worn out by laying. But young chickens are reckoned better to be eaten in summer when threshing occurs, and when from grapevine sour grape is still dangling: however the males more than females, Platina. The roosters have to be exhausted before are killed, Elluchasem. The hens (obviously a little bit young, so that they are less tough) as soon as have been killed must be disemboweled and kept hanging from morning to evening or the contrary, Arnaldo from Villanova. As Gilbertus Anglicus writes, it is known for common experience that white chickens are not easily digested at a gastric level. Nevertheless Marsilio of Santa Sofia for those people suffering from continuous fever prefers white chickens being less warm, Antonio Guainerio. Some report that white hens are more tasteful than black ones, Chrysippus in Athenaeus. Among birds the meat of roosters and hens is a very good food. Because it easily turns into blood and has a little taste of excrements. But the meat of hens is better than that of roosters, unless are castrated. Also the meat of black hens which didn't lay yet is better and lighter to be digested. On the contrary the meat of old subjects, above all of roosters, has taste of saltpeter and is salty, unsuitable as food, Jacques Dubois. But the hens have a very tasteful meat when, not giving them food in abundance, by themselves are finding food scratching with their legs not without a certain work, Titus Flavius Clemens in the 2^nd book of Stromata.

¶ Hippocrates in libro de internis affectionibus, A pituita (inquit) maxime in aquam intercutem transitus fit, etc. in hac qui curabilis est, obsonium edat carnem galli assatam et calidam, etc. Et rursus, Qui pituita alba laborat, etc. in coena utatur galli carnibus et suis tritis. In morbo crasso etiam a pituita putrefacta obsonium e gallinaceo pullo cocto commendat. Et alibi in eodem libro, Ab {hepate} <hepati> laborans aqua intercute, etc. galli carnem assatam calidam habeat. ¶ Aretaeus in curatione cephalaeae carnes nuper interfecti galli laudat. Morsus a cane rabido pullorum ius sorbeat, Arnoldus de Villan.  ¶ Qui gallinaceam carnem esitaverint, non statim lac acidum (oxygala) sumant: quoniam observatum est colicos morbos inde fieri, Sym. Sethi.

¶ Hippocrates in the treatise De internis affectionibus says: The way of a cooling disease is above all through the water of the subcutaneous, etc. In this illness he who can recover has to eat as food some meat of rooster roasted and warm, etc. And again: He who suffers from white catarrh etc., at supper has to use minced meat of rooster and pig. In case of purulent catarrh also from rotten cold he recommends a food made by boiled chicken. And in another passage of the same treatise: He who has edemas due to the liver, etc., must be allowed to have meat of rooster roasted and warm. ¶ Aretaeus of Cappadocia in the treatment of headache praises the meat of a just killed rooster. He who has been bitten by a rabid dog has to drink broth of chicken, Arnaldo from Villanova. ¶ Those who ate meat of chickens have not to drink behind sour milk (oxygala): in fact they saw that colics are arising, Simeon Sethi.

¶ Gallinarum ius astringit, gallorum vero veterum ventrem solvit, ut scribit Galenus lib. 11. de simplicib. et in libro de attenu. victu. Vide mox in G.

¶ The broth of hen gives constipation, on the contrary that of old roosters acts as laxative, as Galen writes in the 11^th book of De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis et facultatibus and in the treatise De victu attenuante - or De subtiliante diaeta. See shortly afterwards in the paragraph G.

¶ Gallinarum sanguis non est inferior sanguine suum, sed multo peior leporino. sunt qui eo vescantur, Galenus lib. 3. de alimentis. Et rursus lib. 10. de simplicib. cap. 4. Non pauci (inquit) pro alimento habent sanguinem leporis et gallinarum, et ex iis etiam qui urbes incolunt complures.

¶ The blood of hens is not lesser than the blood of pigs, but to a great extent is worse than that of hare. There are some feeding on it, Galen 3^rd book of De alimentorum facultatibus. And then in 10^th  book 4^th chapter of De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis et facultatibus says: A lot of people are feeding on blood of hare and hen, and among them also quite a lot living in town.

¶ Patina ex capitibus et interaneis caponum et gallinarum: Gallinarum atque avium iecuscula, pulmones, pedes, capita et colla, bene lavabis. Lota et elixa in patinam sine iure transferes. Indes acetum, mentham, petroselinum, inspergesque piper aut cinnamum, ac statim convivis appones, Platina[3].

¶ A pie prepared with heads and entrails of capons and hens: Rinse carefully livers, lungs, legs, heads and necks of hens and birds. When washed and boiled you will pass these things in a course dish without the broth. You will put vinegar, mint, parsley and sprinkle pepper or cinnamon and serve to guests at once, Platina.

¶ Gallinaceorum cristae et paleae nec probandae nec improbandae sunt, Galenus libro tertio de alimentis.

¶  The combs and the wattles of roosters are neither to be praised nor despised, Galen 3^rd book De alimentorum facultatibus.

¶ Ventres et hepat<i>a anserum pinguium, deinde gallinarum pinguium omnibus praeferuntur, Elluchasem. Ventriculus volatilium si concoquatur, uberrime nutrit. Gallinae quidem et anseris [392] praestantissimus est, Galenus in libro de cibis boni et mali succi.

¶ To all are preferred gizzards and livers of fat geese, then of fat hens, Elluchasem. The gizzard of birds, if is digested, nourishes a lot. That of hen and goose is the best, Galen in the treatise De probis pravisque alimentorum sucis - or De bonis malisque sucis.