NUTRIMENT
INTRODUCTION
THE treatise Nutriment is unique. It deals with
an interesting subject in an unusual manner, and, in
spite of the limitations of Greek physiology, many
valuable and interesting views are set forth.
Heraclitus held that matter is, like a stream, in a
state of continuous change. His system contained
other hypotheses,
| Some perhaps (e. g. the union of opposites)
being more
fundamental. |
but this was the most fruitful,
and the one which commended itself most to his
followers and to his successors.
A later Heraclitean, whether a professional doctor
or not is uncertain, applied the theory of perpetual
change to the assimilation of food by a living
organism, and Nutriment is the result. He has
copied the aphoristic
| It is interesting to note that the aphoristic
style, which
is a great aid to memory, came into vogue at a time when
text-books first became necessary. It has its modern analogue
in the "crammer's" analysis. |
style and manner of his
master, as well as the obscurity, with considerable
success, and whole paragraphs might well be genuine
fragments of Heraclitus.
The author's idea of digestion is far from easy to
follow.
Apparently nutritive food is supposed to be dissolved
in moisture, and thus to be carried to every part
of the body, assimilating itself to bone, flesh, and so
