The Extant Works of Aretaeus, The Cappadocian.

The Extant Works of Aretaeus, The Cappadocian.
By Aretaeus
Edited by: Francis Adams LL.D. (trans.)

Boston Milford House Inc. 1972 (Republication of the 1856 edition).


Digital Hippocrates Collection Table of Contents



OF ARETÆUS, THE CAPPADOCIAN. CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE DISEASE
   BOOK I.

OF ARETÆUS, THE CAPPADOCIAN, ON THE CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE DISEASE
   BOOK II.

OF ARETÆUS, THE CAPPADOCIAN, ON THE CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF CHRONIC DISEASE
   BOOK I.


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OF ARETÆUS, THE CAPPADOCIAN, ON THE CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF CHRONIC DISEASE

BOOK I.

 [p. 294]

frequently disorders the senses, nay, even deranges the soul by the intemperament of the body. Such we know mania and melancholy to be, of which I will treat afterwards. At the present time I shall give an account of cephalæa.


CHAPTER II. ON CEPHALÆA

IF the head be suddenly seized with pain from a temporary cause, even if it should endure for several days, the disease is called Cephalalgia. But if the disease be protracted for a long time, and with long and frequent periods, or if greater and more untractable symptoms supervene, we call it Cephalæa.

There are infinite varieties of it; for, in certain cases, the pain is incessant and slight, but not intermittent; but in others it returns periodically, as in quotidian fevers, or in those which have exacerbations every alternate day: in others it continues from sunset to noon, and then completely ceases; or from noon to evening, or still further into night; this period is not much protracted. And in certain cases the whole head is pained; and the pain is sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left side, or the forehead, or the bregma; and these may all occur the same day in a random manner.

But in certain cases, the parts on the right side, or those on the left solely, so far that a separate temple, or ear, or one eyebrow, or one eye, or the nose which divides the face into two equal parts; and the pain does not pass this limit, but remains in the half of the head. This is called Heterocrania, an illness by no means mild, even though it intermits, and although it appears to be slight. For if at any time it set in acutely, it occasions unseemly and dreadful symptoms; spasm