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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: delicate portions of flesh--when, as they are dissolved, they contract and
dry up the little veins, they are astringent if they are rougher, but if
not so rough, then only harsh. Those of them which are of an abstergent
nature, and purge the whole surface of the tongue, if they do it in excess,
and so encroach as to consume some part of the flesh itself, like potash
and soda, are all termed bitter. But the particles which are deficient in
the alkaline quality, and which cleanse only moderately, are called salt,
and having no bitterness or roughness, are regarded as rather agreeable
than otherwise. Bodies which share in and are made smooth by the heat of
the mouth, and which are inflamed, and again in turn inflame that which
heats them, and which are so light that they are carried upwards to the
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