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-