Hippocrates
On Ancient Medicine
Translated by Francis Adams
PART 1
Whoever having undertaken to speak or write on Medicine, have first
laid down for themselves some hypothesis to their argument, such as
hot, or cold, or moist, or dry, or whatever else they choose (thus
reducing their subject within a narrow compass, and supposing only
one or two original causes of diseases or of death among mankind),
are all clearly mistaken in much that they say; and this is the more
reprehensible as relating to an art which all men avail themselves
of on the most important occasions, and the good operators and practitioners
in which they hold in especial honor. For there are practitioners,
some bad and some far otherwise, which, if there had been no such
thing as Medicine, and if nothing had been investigated or found out
in it, would not have been the case, but all would have been equally
unskilled and ignorant of it, and everything concerning the sick would
have been directed by chance. But now it is not so; for, as in all
the other arts, those who practise them differ much from one another
in dexterity and knowledge, so is it in like manner with Medicine.
Wherefore I have not thought that it stood in need of an empty hypothesis,
like those subjects which are occult and dubious, in attempting to
handle which it is necessary to use some hypothesis; as, for example,
with regard to things above us and things below the earth; if any
one should treat of these and undertake to declare how they are constituted,
the reader or hearer could not find out, whether what is delivered
be true or false; for there is nothing which can be referred to in
order to discover the truth.
PART 2
But all these requisites belong of old to Medicine, and an origin
and way have been found out, by which many and elegant discoveries
have been made, during a length of time, and others will yet be found
out, if a person possessed of the proper ability, and knowing those
discoveries which have been made, should proceed from them to prosecute
his investigations. But whoever, rejecting and despising all these,
attempts to pursue another course and form of inquiry, and says he
has discovered anything, is deceived himself and deceives others,
for the thing is impossible. And for what reason it is impossible,
I will now endeavor to explain, by stating and showing what the art
really is. From this it will be manifest that discoveries cannot possibly
be made in any other way. And most especially, it appears to me, that
whoever treats of this art should treat of things which are familiar
to the common people. For of nothing else will such a one have to
inquire or treat, but of the diseases under which the common people
have labored, which diseases and the causes of their origin and departure,
their increase and decline, illiterate persons cannot easily find
out themselves, but still it is easy for them to understand these
things when discovered and expounded by others. For it is nothing
more than that every one is put in mind of what had occurred to himself.
But whoever does not reach the capacity of the illiterate vulgar and
fails to make them listen to him, misses his mark. Wherefore, then,
there is no necessity for any hypothesis.
PART 3
For the art of Medicine would not have been invented at first, nor
would it have been made a subject of investigation (for there would
have been no need of it), if when men are indisposed, the same food
and other articles of regimen which they eat and drink when in good
health were proper for them, and if no others were preferable to these.
But now necessity itself made medicine to be sought out and discovered
by men, since the same things when administered to the sick, which
agreed with them when in good health, neither did nor do agree with
them. But to go still further back, I hold that the diet and food
which people in health now use would not have been discovered, provided
it had suited with man to eat and drink in like manner as the ox,
the horse, and all other animals, except man, do of the productions
of the earth, such as fruits, weeds, and grass; for from such things
these animals grow, live free of disease, and require no other kind
of food. And, at first, I am of opinion that man used the same sort
of food, and that the present articles of diet had been discovered
and invented only after a long lapse of time, for when they suffered
much and severely from strong and brutish diet, swallowing things
which were raw, unmixed, and possessing great strength, they became
exposed to strong pains and diseases, and to early deaths. It is likely,
indeed, that from habit they would suffer less from these things then
than we would now, but still they would suffer severely even then;
and it is likely that the greater number, and those who had weaker
constitutions, would all perish; whereas the stronger would hold out
for a longer time, as even nowadays some, in consequence of using
strong articles of food, get off with little trouble, but others with
much pain and suffering. From this necessity it appears to me that
they would search out the food befitting their nature, and thus discover
that which we now use: and that from wheat, by macerating it, stripping
it of its hull, grinding it all down, sifting, toasting, and baking
it, they formed bread; and from barley they formed cake (maza), performing
many operations in regard to it; they boiled, they roasted, they mixed,
they diluted those things which are strong and of intense qualities
with weaker things, fashioning them to the nature and powers of man,
and considering that the stronger things Nature would not be able
to manage if administered, and that from such things pains, diseases,
and death would arise, but such as Nature could manage, that from
them food, growth, and health, would arise. To such a discovery and
investigation what more suitable name could one give than that of
Medicine? since it was discovered for the health of man, for his nourishment
and safety, as a substitute for that kind of diet by which pains,
diseases, and deaths were occasioned.
PART 4
And if this is not held to be an art, I do not object. For it is not
suitable to call any one an artist of that which no one is ignorant
of, but which all know from usage and necessity. But still the discovery
is a great one, and requiring much art and investigation. Wherefore
those who devote themselves to gymnastics and training, are always
making some new discovery, by pursuing the same line of inquiry, where,
by eating and drinking certain things, they are improved and grow
stronger than they were.
PART 5
Let us inquire then regarding what is admitted to be Medicine; namely,
that which was invented for the sake of the sick, which possesses
a name and practitioners, whether it also seeks to accomplish the
same objects, and whence it derived its origin. To me, then, it appears,
as I said at the commencement, that nobody would have sought for medicine
at all, provided the same kinds of diet had suited with men in sickness
as in good health. Wherefore, even yet, such races of men as make
no use of medicine, namely, barbarians, and even certain of the Greeks,
live in the same way when sick as when in health; that is to say,
they take what suits their appetite, and neither abstain from, nor
restrict themselves in anything for which they have a desire. But
those who have cultivated and invented medicine, having the same object
in view as those of whom I formerly spoke, in the first place, I suppose,
diminished the quantity of the articles of food which they used, and
this alone would be sufficient for certain of the sick, and be manifestly
beneficial to them, although not to all, for there would be some so
affected as not to be able to manage even small quantities of their
usual food, and as such persons would seem to require something weaker,
they invented soups, by mixing a few strong things with much water,
and thus abstracting that which was strong in them by dilution and
boiling. But such as could not manage even soups, laid them aside,
and had recourse to drinks, and so regulated them as to mixture and
quantity, that they were administered neither stronger nor weaker
than what was required.
PART 6
But this ought to be well known, that soups do not agree with certain
persons in their diseases, but, on the contrary, when administered
both the fevers and the pains are exacerbated, and it becomes obvious
that what was given has proved food and increase to the disease, but
a wasting and weakness to the body. But whatever persons so affected
partook of solid food, or cake, or bread, even in small quantity,
would be ten times and more decidedly injured than those who had taken
soups, for no other reason than from the strength of the food in reference
to the affection; and to whomsoever it is proper to take soups and
not eat solid food, such a one will be much more injured if he eat
much than if he eat little, but even little food will be injurious
to him. But all the causes of the sufferance refer themselves to this
rule, that the strongest things most especially and decidedly hurt
man, whether in health or in disease.
PART 7
What other object, then, had he in view who is called a physician,
and is admitted to be a practitioner of the art, who found out the
regimen and diet befitting the sick, than he who originally found
out and prepared for all mankind that kind of food which we all now
use, in place of the former savage and brutish mode of living? To
me it appears that the mode is the same, and the discovery of a similar
nature. The one sought to abstract those things which the constitution
of man cannot digest, because of their wildness and intemperature,
and the other those things which are beyond the powers of the affection
in which any one may happen to be laid up. Now, how does the one differ
from the other, except that the latter admits of greater variety,
and requires more application, whereas the former was the commencement
of the process?
PART 8
And if one would compare the diet of sick persons with that of persons
in health, he will find it not more injurious than that of healthy
persons in comparison with that of wild beasts and of other animals.
For, suppose a man laboring under one of those diseases which are
neither serious and unsupportable, nor yet altogether mild, but such
as that, upon making any mistake in diet, it will become apparent,
as if he should eat bread and flesh, or any other of those articles
which prove beneficial to healthy persons, and that, too, not in great
quantity, but much less than he could have taken when in good health;
and that another man in good health, having a constitution neither
very feeble, nor yet strong, eats of those things which are wholesome
and strengthening to an ox or a horse, such as vetches, barley, and
the like, and that, too, not in great quantity, but much less than
he could take; the healthy person who did so would be subjected to
no less disturbance and danger than the sick person who took bread
or cake unseasonably. All these things are proofs that Medicine is
to be prosecuted and discovered by the same method as the other.
PART 9
And if it were simply, as is laid down, that such things as are stronger
prove injurious, but such as are weaker prove beneficial and nourishing,
both to sick and healthy persons, it were an easy matter, for then
the safest rule would be to circumscribe the diet to the lowest point.
But then it is no less mistake, nor one that injuries a man less,
provided a deficient diet, or one consisting of weaker things than
what mare proper, be administered. For, in the constitution of man,
abstinence may enervate, weaken, and kill. And there are many other
ills, different from those of repletion, but no less dreadful, arising
from deficiency of food; wherefore the practice in those cases is
more varied, and requires greater accuracy. For one must aim at attaining
a certain measure, and yet this measure admits neither weight nor
calculation of any kind, by which it may be accurately determined,
unless it be the sensation of the body; wherefore it is a task to
learn this accurately, so as not to commit small blunders either on
the one side or the other, and in fact I would give great praise to
the physician whose mistakes are small, for perfect accuracy is seldom
to be seen, since many physicians seem to me to be in the same plight
as bad pilots, who, if they commit mistakes while conducting the ship
in a calm do not expose themselves, but when a storm and violent hurricane
overtake them, they then, from their ignorance and mistakes, are discovered
to be what they are, by all men, namely, in losing their ship. And
thus bad and commonplace physicians, when they treat men who have
no serious illness, in which case one may commit great mistakes without
producing any formidable mischief (and such complaints occur much
more frequently to men than dangerous ones): under these circumstances,
when they commit mistakes, they do not expose themselves to ordinary
men; but when they fall in with a great, a strong, and a dangerous
disease, then their mistakes and want of skill are made apparent to
all. Their punishment is not far off, but is swift in overtaking both
the one and the other.
PART 10
And that no less mischief happens to a man from unseasonable depletion
than from repletion, may be clearly seen upon reverting to the consideration
of persons in health. For, to some, with whom it agrees to take only
one meal in the day, and they have arranged it so accordingly; whilst
others, for the same reason, also take dinner, and this they do because
they find it good for them, and not like those persons who, for pleasure
or from any casual circumstance, adopt the one or the other custom
and to the bulk of mankind it is of little consequence which of these
rules they observe, that is to say, whether they make it a practice
to take one or two meals. But there are certain persons who cannot
readily change their diet with impunity; and if they make any alteration
in it for one day, or even for a part of a day, are greatly injured
thereby. Such persons, provided they take dinner when it is not their
wont, immediately become heavy and inactive, both in body and mind,
and are weighed down with yawning, slumbering, and thirst; and if
they take supper in addition, they are seized with flatulence, tormina,
and diarrhea, and to many this has been the commencement of a serious
disease, when they have merely taken twice in a day the same food
which they have been in the custom of taking once. And thus, also,
if one who has been accustomed to dine, and this rule agrees with
him, should not dine at the accustomed hour, he will straightway feel
great loss of strength, trembling, and want of spirits, the eyes of
such a person will become more pallid, his urine thick and hot, his
mouth bitter; his bowels will seem, as it were, to hang loose; he
will suffer from vertigo, lowness of spirit, and inactivity,- such
are the effects; and if he should attempt to take at supper the same
food which he was wont to partake of at dinner, it will appear insipid,
and he will not be able to take it off; and these things, passing
downwards with tormina and rumbling, burn up his bowels; he experiences
insomnolency or troubled and disturbed dreams; and to many of them
these symptoms are the commencement of some disease.
PART 11
But let us inquire what are the causes of these things which happened
to them. To him, then, who was accustomed to take only one meal in
the day, they happened because he did not wait the proper time, until
his bowels had completely derived benefit from and had digested the
articles taken at the preceding meal, and until his belly had become
soft, and got into a state of rest, but he gave it a new supply while
in a state of heat and fermentation, for such bellies digest much
more slowly, and require more rest and ease. And as to him who had
been accustomed to dinner, since, as soon as the body required food,
and when the former meal was consumed, and he wanted refreshment,
no new supply was furnished to it, he wastes and is consumed from
want of food. For all the symptoms which I describe as befalling to
this man I refer to want of food. And I also say that all men who,
when in a state of health, remain for two or three days without food,
experience the same unpleasant symptoms as those which I described
in the case of him who had omitted to take dinner.
PART 12
Wherefore, I say, that such constitutions as suffer quickly and strongly
from errors in diet, are weaker than others that do not; and that
a weak person is in a state very nearly approaching to one in disease;
but a person in disease is the weaker, and it is, therefore, more
likely that he should suffer if he encounters anything that is unseasonable.
It is difficult, seeing that there is no such accuracy in the Art,
to hit always upon what is most expedient, and yet many cases occur
in medicine which would require this accuracy, as we shall explain.
But on that account, I say, we ought not to reject the ancient Art,
as if it were not, and had not been properly founded, because it did
not attain accuracy in all things, but rather, since it is capable
of reaching to the greatest exactitude by reasoning, to receive it
and admire its discoveries, made from a state of great ignorance,
and as having been well and properly made, and not from chance.
PART 13
But I wish the discourse to revert to the new method of those who
prosecute their inquiries in the Art by hypothesis. For if hot, or
cold, or moist, or dry, be that which proves injurious to man, and
if the person who would treat him properly must apply cold to the
hot, hot to the cold, moist to the dry, and dry to the moist- let
me be presented with a man, not indeed one of a strong constitution,
but one of the weaker, and let him eat wheat, such as it is supplied
from the thrashing-floor, raw and unprepared, with raw meat, and let
him drink water. By using such a diet I know that he will suffer much
and severely, for he will experience pains, his body will become weak,
and his bowels deranged, and he will not subsist long. What remedy,
then, is to be provided for one so situated? Hot? or cold? or moist?
or dry? For it is clear that it must be one or other of these. For,
according to this principle, if it is one of the which is injuring
the patient, it is to be removed by its contrary. But the surest and
most obvious remedy is to change the diet which the person used, and
instead of wheat to give bread, and instead of raw flesh, boiled,
and to drink wine in addition to these; for by making these changes
it is impossible but that he must get better, unless completely disorganized
by time and diet. What, then, shall we say? whether that, as he suffered
from cold, these hot things being applied were of use to him, or the
contrary? I should think this question must prove a puzzler to whomsoever
it is put. For whether did he who prepared bread out of wheat remove
the hot, the cold, the moist, or the dry principle in it?- for the
bread is consigned both to fire and to water, and is wrought with
many things, each of which has its peculiar property and nature, some
of which it loses, and with others it is diluted and mixed.
PART 14
And this I know, moreover, that to the human body it makes a great
difference whether the bread be fine or coarse; of wheat with or without
the hull, whether mixed with much or little water, strongly wrought
or scarcely at all, baked or raw- and a multitude of similar differences;
and so, in like manner, with the cake (maza); the powers of each,
too, are great, and the one nowise like the other. Whoever pays no
attention to these things, or, paying attention, does not comprehend
them, how can he understand the diseases which befall a man? For,
by every one of these things, a man is affected and changed this way
or that, and the whole of his life is subjected to them, whether in
health, convalescence, or disease. Nothing else, then, can be more
important or more necessary to know than these things. So that the
first inventors, pursuing their investigations properly, and by a
suitable train of reasoning, according to the nature of man, made
their discoveries, and thought the Art worthy of being ascribed to
a god, as is the established belief. For they did not suppose that
the dry or the moist, the hot or the cold, or any of these are either
injurious to man, or that man stands in need of them, but whatever
in each was strong, and more than a match for a man's constitution,
whatever he could not manage, that they held to be hurtful, and sought
to remove. Now, of the sweet, the strongest is that which is intensely
sweet; of the bitter, that which is intensely bitter; of the acid,
that which is intensely acid; and of all things that which is extreme,
for these things they saw both existing in man, and proving injurious
to him. For there is in man the bitter and the salt, the sweet and
the acid, the sour and the insipid, and a multitude of other things
having all sorts of powers both as regards quantity and strength.
These, when all mixed and mingled up with one another, are not apparent,
neither do they hurt a man; but when any of them is separate, and
stands by itself, then it becomes perceptible, and hurts a man. And
thus, of articles of food, those which are unsuitable and hurtful
to man when administered, every one is either bitter, or intensely
so, or saltish or acid, or something else intense and strong, and
therefore we are disordered by them in like manner as we are by the
secretions in the body. But all those things which a man eats and
drinks are devoid of any such intense and well-marked quality, such
as bread, cake, and many other things of a similar nature which man
is accustomed to use for food, with the exception of condiments and
confectioneries, which are made to gratify the palate and for luxury.
And from those things, when received into the body abundantly, there
is no disorder nor dissolution of the powers belonging to the body;
but strength, growth, and nourishment result from them, and this for
no other reason than because they are well mixed, have nothing in
them of an immoderate character, nor anything strong, but the whole
forms one simple and not strong substance.
PART 15
I cannot think in what manner they who advance this doctrine, and
transfer Art from the cause I have described to hypothesis, will cure
men according to the principle which they have laid down. For, as
far as I know, neither the hot nor the cold, nor the dry, nor the
moist, has ever been found unmixed with any other quality; but I suppose
they use the same articles of meat and drink as all we other men do.
But to this substance they give the attribute of being hot, to that
cold, to that dry, and to that moist. Since it would be absurd to
advise the patient to take something hot, for he would straightway
ask what it is? so that he must either play the fool, or have recourse
to some one of the well known substances; and if this hot thing happen
to be sour, and that hot thing insipid, and this hot thing has the
power of raising a disturbance in the body (and there are many other
kinds of heat, possessing many opposite powers), he will be obliged
to administer some one of them, either the hot and the sour, or the
hot and the insipid, or that which, at the same time, is cold and
sour (for there is such a substance), or the cold and the insipid.
For, as I think, the very opposite effects will result from either
of these, not only in man, but also in a bladder, a vessel of wood,
and in many other things possessed of far less sensibility than man;
for it is not the heat which is possessed of great efficacy, but the
sour and the insipid, and other qualities as described by me, both
in man and out of man, and that whether eaten or drunk, rubbed in
externally, and otherwise applied.
PART 16
But I think that of all the qualities heat and cold exercise the least
operation in the body, for these reasons: as long time as hot and
cold are mixed up with one another they do not give trouble, for the
cold is attempered and rendered more moderate by the hot, and the
hot by the cold; but when the one is wholly separate from the other,
then it gives pain; and at that season when cold is applied it creates
some pain to a man, but quickly, for that very reason, heat spontaneously
arises in him without requiring any aid or preparation. And these
things operate thus both upon men in health and in disease. For example,
if a person in health wishes to cool his body during winter, and bathes
either in cold water or in any other way, the more he does this, unless
his body be fairly congealed, when he resumes his clothes and comes
into a place of shelter, his body becomes more heated than before.
And thus, too, if a person wish to be warmed thoroughly either by
means of a hot bath or strong fire, and straightway having the same
clothing on, takes up his abode again in the place he was in when
he became congealed, he will appear much colder, and more disposed
to chills than before. And if a person fan himself on account of a
suffocating heat, and having procured refrigeration for himself in
this manner, cease doing so, the heat and suffocation will be ten
times greater in his case than in that of a person who does nothing
of the kind. And, to give a more striking example, persons travelling
in the snow, or otherwise in rigorous weather, and contracting great
cold in their feet, their hands, or their head, what do they not suffer
from inflammation and tingling when they put on warm clothing and
get into a hot place? In some instances, blisters arise as if from
burning with fire, and they do not suffer from any of those unpleasant
symptoms until they become heated. So readily does either of these
pass into the other; and I could mention many other examples. And
with regard to the sick, is it not in those who experience a rigor
that the most acute fever is apt to break out? And yet not so strongly
neither, but that it ceases in a short time, and, for the most part,
without having occasioned much mischief; and while it remains, it
is hot, and passing over the whole body, ends for the most part in
the feet, where the chills and cold were most intense and lasted longest;
and, when sweat supervenes, and the fever passes off, the patient
is much colder than if he had not taken the fever at all. Why then
should that which so quickly passes into the opposite extreme, and
loses its own powers spontaneously, be reckoned a mighty and serious
affair? And what necessity is there for any great remedy for it?
PART 17
One might here say- but persons in ardent fevers, pneumonia, and other
formidable diseases, do not quickly get rid of the heat, nor experience
these rapid alterations of heat and cold. And I reckon this very circumstance
the strongest proof that it is not from heat simply that men get into
the febrile state, neither is it the sole cause of the mischief, but
that this species of heat is bitter, and that acid, and the other
saltish, and many other varieties; and again there is cold combined
with other qualities. These are what proves injurious; heat, it is
true, is present also, possessed of strength as being that which conducts,
is exacerbated and increased along with the other, but has no power
greater than what is peculiar to itself.
PART 18
With regard to these symptoms, in the first place those are most obvious
of which we have all often had experience. Thus, then, in such of
us as have a coryza and defluxion from the nostrils, this discharge
is much more acrid than that which formerly was formed in and ran
from them daily; and it occasions swelling of the nose, and it inflames,
being of a hot and extremely ardent nature, as you may know, if you
apply your hand to the place; and, if the disease remains long, the
part becomes ulcerated although destitute of flesh and hard; and the
heat in the nose ceases, not when the defluxion takes place and the
inflammation is present, but when the running becomes thicker and
less acrid, and more mixed with the former secretion, then it is that
the heat ceases. But in all those cases in which this decidedly proceeds
from cold alone, without the concourse of any other quality, there
is a change from cold to hot, and from hot to cold, and these quickly
supervene, and require no coction. But all the others being connected,
as I have said, with acrimony and intemperance of humors, pass off
in this way by being mixed and concocted.
PART 19
But such defluxions as are determined to the eyes being possessed
of strong and varied acrimonies, ulcerate the eyelids, and in some
cases corrode the and parts below the eyes upon which they flow, and
even occasion rupture and erosion of the tunic which surrounds the
eyeball. But pain, heat, and extreme burning prevail until the defluxions
are concocted and become thicker, and concretions form about the eyes,
and the coction takes place from the fluids being mixed up, diluted,
and digested together. And in defluxions upon the throat, from which
are formed hoarseness, cynanche, crysipelas, and pneumonia, all these
have at first saltish, watery, and acrid discharges, and with these
the diseases gain strength. But when the discharges become thicker,
more concocted, and are freed from all acrimony, then, indeed, the
fevers pass away, and the other symptoms which annoyed the patient;
for we must account those things the cause of each complaint, which,
being present in a certain fashion, the complaint exists, but it ceases
when they change to another combination. But those which originate
from pure heat or cold, and do not participate in any other quality,
will then cease when they undergo a change from cold to hot, and from
hot to cold; and they change in the manner I have described before.
Wherefore, all the other complaints to which man is subject arise
from powers (qualities?). Thus, when there is an overflow of the bitter
principle, which we call yellow bile, what anxiety, burning heat,
and loss of strength prevail! but if relieved from it, either by being
purged spontaneously, or by means of a medicine seasonably administered,
the patient is decidedly relieved of the pains and heat; but while
these things float on the stomach, unconcocted and undigested, no
contrivance could make the pains and fever cease; and when there are
acidities of an acrid and aeruginous character, what varieties of
frenzy, gnawing pains in the bowels and chest, and inquietude, prevail!
and these do not cease until the acidities be purged away, or are
calmed down and mixed with other fluids. The coction, change, attenuation,
and thickening into the form of humors, take place through many and
various forms; therefore the crises and calculations of time are of
great importance in such matters; but to all such changes hot and
cold are but little exposed, for these are neither liable to putrefaction
nor thickening. What then shall we say of the change? that it is a
combination (crasis) of these humors having different powers toward
one another. But the hot does not loose its heat when mixed with any
other thing except the cold; nor again, the cold, except when mixed
with the hot. But all other things connected with man become the more
mild and better in proportion as they are mixed with the more things
besides. But a man is in the best possible state when they are concocted
and at rest, exhibiting no one peculiar quality; but I think I have
said enough in explanation of them.
PART 20
Certain sophists and physicians say that it is not possible for any
one to know medicine who does not know what man is [and how he was
made and how constructed], and that whoever would cure men properly,
must learn this in the first place. But this saying rather appertains
to philosophy, as Empedocles and certain others have described what
man in his origin is, and how he first was made and constructed. But
I think whatever such has been said or written by sophist or physician
concerning nature has less connection with the art of medicine than
with the art of painting. And I think that one cannot know anything
certain respecting nature from any other quarter than from medicine;
and that this knowledge is to be attained when one comprehends the
whole subject of medicine properly, but not until then; and I say
that this history shows what man is, by what causes he was made, and
other things accurately. Wherefore it appears to me necessary to every
physician to be skilled in nature, and strive to know, if he would
wish to perform his duties, what man is in relation to the articles
of food and drink, and to his other occupations, and what are the
effects of each of them to every one. And it is not enough to know
simply that cheese is a bad article of food, as disagreeing with whoever
eats of it to satiety, but what sort of disturbance it creates, and
wherefore, and with what principle in man it disagrees; for there
are many other articles of food and drink naturally bad which affect
man in a different manner. Thus, to illustrate my meaning by an example,
undiluted wine drunk in large quantity renders a man feeble; and everybody
seeing this knows that such is the power of wine, and the cause thereof;
and we know, moreover, on what parts of a man's body it principally
exerts its action; and I wish the same certainty to appear in other
cases. For cheese (since we used it as an example) does not prove
equally injurious to all men, for there are some who can take it to
satiety without being hurt by it in the least, but, on the contrary,
it is wonderful what strength it imparts to those it agrees with;
but there are some who do not bear it well, their constitutions are
different, and they differ in this respect, that what in their body
is incompatible with cheese, is roused and put in commotion by such
a thing; and those in whose bodies such a humor happens to prevail
in greater quantity and intensity, are likely to suffer the more from
it. But if the thing had been pernicious to of man, it would have
hurt all. Whoever knows these things will not suffer from it.
PART 21
During convalescence from diseases, and also in protracted diseases,
many disorders occur, some spontaneously, and some from certain things
accidentally administered. I know that the common herd of physicians,
like the vulgar, if there happen to have been any innovation made
about that day, such as the bath being used, a walk taken, or any
unusual food eaten, all which were better done than otherwise, attribute
notwithstanding the cause of these disorders, to some of these things,
being ignorant of the true cause but proscribing what may have been
very proper. Now this ought not to be so; but one should know the
effects of a bath or a walk unseasonably applied; for thus there will
never be any mischief from these things, nor from any other thing,
nor from repletion, nor from such and such an article of food. Whoever
does not know what effect these things produce upon a man, cannot
know the consequences which result from them, nor how to apply them.
PART 22
And it appears to me that one ought also to know what diseases arise
in man from the powers, and what from the structures. What do I mean
by this? By powers, I mean intense and strong juices; and by structures,
whatever conformations there are in man. For some are hollow, and
from broad contracted into narrow; some expanded, some hard and round,
some broad and suspended, some stretched, some long, some dense, some
rare and succulent, some spongy and of loose texture. Now, then, which
of these figures is the best calculated to suck to itself and attract
humidity from another body? Whether what is hollow and expanded, or
what is solid and round, or what is hollow, and from broad, gradually
turning narrow? I think such as from hollow and broad are contracted
into narrow: this may be ascertained otherwise from obvious facts:
thus, if you gape wide with the mouth you cannot draw in any liquid;
but by protruding, contracting, and compressing the lips, and still
more by using a tube, you can readily draw in whatever you wish. And
thus, too, the instruments which are used for cupping are broad below
and gradually become narrow, and are so constructed in order to suck
and draw in from the fleshy parts. The nature and construction of
the parts within a man are of a like nature; the bladder, the head,
the uterus in woman; these parts clearly attract, and are always filled
with a juice which is foreign to them. Those parts which are hollow
and expanded are most likely to receive any humidity flowing into
them, but cannot attract it in like manner. Those parts which are
solid and round could not attract a humidity, nor receive it when
it flows to them, for it would glide past, and find no place of rest
on them. But spongy and rare parts, such as the spleen, the lungs,
and the breasts, drink up especially the juices around them, and become
hardened and enlarged by the accession of juices. Such things happen
to these organs especially. For it is not with the spleen as with
the stomach, in which there is a liquid, which it contains and evacuates
every day; but when it (the spleen) drinks up and receives a fluid
into itself, the hollow and lax parts of it are filled, even the small
interstices; and, instead of being rare and soft, it becomes hard
and dense, and it can neither digest nor discharge its contents: these
things it suffers, owing to the nature of its structure. Those things
which engender flatulence or tormina in the body, naturally do so
in the hollow and broad parts of the body, such as the stomach and
chest, where they produce rumbling noises; for when they do not fill
the parts so as to be stationary, but have changes of place and movements,
there must necessarily be noise and apparent movements from them.
But such parts as are fleshy and soft, in these there occur torpor
and obstructions, such as happen in apoplexy. But when it (the flatus?)
encounters a broad and resisting structure, and rushes against such
a part, and this happens when it is by nature not strong so as to
be able to withstand it without suffering injury; nor soft and rare,
so as to receive or yield to it, but tender, juicy, full of blood,
and dense, like the liver, owing to its density and broadness, it
resists and does not yield. But flatus, when it obtains admission,
increases and becomes stronger, and rushes toward any resisting object;
but owing to its tenderness, and the quantity of blood which it (the
liver) contains, it cannot be without uneasiness; and for these reasons
the most acute and frequent pains occur in the region of it, along
with suppurations and chronic tumors (phymata). These symptoms also
occur in the site of the diaphragm, but much less frequently; for
the diaphragm is a broad, expanded, and resisting substance, of a
nervous (tendinous?) and strong nature, and therefore less susceptible
of pain; and yet pains and chronic abscesses do occur about it.
PART 23
There are both within and without the body many other kinds of structure,
which differ much from one another as to sufferings both in health
and disease; such as whether the head be small or large; the neck
slender or thick, long or short; the belly long or round; the chest
and ribs broad or narrow; and many others besides, all which you ought
to be acquainted with, and their differences; so that knowing the
causes of each, you may make the more accurate observations.
PART 24
And, as has been formerly stated, one ought to be acquainted with
the powers of juices, and what action each of them has upon man, and
their alliances towards one another. What I say is this: if a sweet
juice change to another kind, not from any admixture, but because
it has undergone a mutation within itself; what does it first become?-
bitter? salt? austere? or acid? I think acid. And hence, an acid juice
is the most improper of all things that can be administered in cases
in which a sweet juice is the most proper. Thus, if one should succeed
in his investigations of external things, he would be the better able
always to select the best; for that is best which is farthest removed
from that which is unwholesome.
THE END