[p. 345]
and straining, from the sensation, as it were, of the passage of
the stone. For the bladder and anus lie close to one another,
and when either suffers, the other suffers likewise. Wherefore,
in inflammations of the rectum, the bladder is affected with
ischuria; and in acute pains of the bladder, the anus passes
nothing, even when the bowels are not much dried up. Such
are the sufferings connected with calculi.
Hemorrhage, although it may not prove fatal very speedily,
yet in the course of time has wasted many patients. But the
clots of blood produced by it are quickly fatal by inducing
ischuria, like as in stones; for even if the blood be thin, of a
bright colour, and not very coagulable, yet the bladder accumulates
it for a length of time, and its heating and boiling (as
it were) coagulates the blood, and thus a thrombus is formed.
Ischuria, then, is most peculiarly fatal. But on these symptoms
there supervene acute pain, acrid heat, a dry tongue, and
from these they die delirious.
If pain come on from a wound, the wound itself is dangerous;
but the sore, even if not fatal at first, becomes incurable
from fever or inflammation; for the bladder is thin, and of
a nervous nature, and such parts do not readily incarnate nor
cicatrise. Moreover, the urine is bilious, acrid, and corrosive.
The ordinary condition of the ulcer is this:--when the bladder
is filled, it is stretched; but when emptied, it contracts: it is
in the condition, then, of a joint in extension and flexion, and
no ulcer in a joint is easy of cure.
The bladder also suppurates from an abscess. The symptoms
of an abscess of the bladder are the same as in other cases; for
the abscess in forming is attended with inflammation, fevers,
and rigors. The dangers are the same. But if it discharges
urine which is thick, white, and not fetid, the ulcers from
them are mild; but if it spread, they pass urine which is feculent,
mixed with pus, and of a bad smell: of such persons the
death is not distant. The urine, indeed, is pungent, and the
