400 BC

ON ANCIENT MEDICINE

by Hippocrates

Translated by Francis Adams

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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-