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                                     400 BC
                              ON ANCIENT MEDICINE
                                 by Hippocrates
                          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-