[p. 16] 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, | Meaning probably the diaphragm, with its membranes. |
some stretched, some long, some dense, some
rare and succulent,| Meaning the mammae, according to Heurnius. |
some spongy and of loose texture.| Such as the spleen and lungs. |
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 con-
|
