Paulus Aegineta

“ Let us suppose that, in the course of a thousand years, a thousand authors had made improvements in the profession; and then a person who has diligently studied their works may improve his mind as much in knowledge as if he had devoted a thousand years to the study of medicine. But, when an acquaintance with former authors is despised, what need be expected from the efforts of a single person? For, however much he may surpass others in abilities, how is it to be supposed that his private stock of knowledge should be at all worthy to compare with the accumulated treasures of antiquity? ”

“ It appears to me that, at certain periods of ancient times, the standard of professional excellence was such as would not easily [xi] be attained at the present day, with all our vaunted improvements in knowledge; and that many of those early masters of our art were distinguished for varied stores of erudition, an ardent love of truth, and an aptitude to detect the fallacies of error, such as few of us even now can lay claim to. ”

“ Surely every age ought to endeavour to benefit by the experiments, whether successful or otherwise, of all preceding ones; instead of every generation commencing a new series of trials, and wandering over the same ground in search of truths which had been long ago discovered ”

“ But if they shed tears involuntarily, or fancy that they see sparks of light, and constantly carry their hands to their nose as if to rub it, then indeed you may see not only an approaching but a present flow of blood ”

“ I am sensible that it is to the growing conviction in the profession, of the value of the ancient authorities, that I owe the very flattering distinction which my work has now obtained; and I shall have great satisfaction in reverting to the labours of former years if they should now prove instrumental in increasing the desire of becoming acquainted with the views and practice of our forefathers. That the ancient literature of medicine has been too much neglected in this country is not disputed by any competent judge ”

“ It is well known that the inhabitants of Greece, of Asia Minor, and of the north coast of Africa have been long sunk into such a state of intellectual decrepitude as renders them incapable of making and recording original observation ”

“ In a word, he who has never turned over the pages of the ancient physicians, nor has formed to his mind a distinct conception of the nature of diseases before he enters the chambers of the sick, will find that, from ignorance and misapprehension, he will confound one complaint with another, for this obvious reason, that he has come to his task unprepared and uninstructed. ”

“ As we have mentioned, he recommends depletion in spring before the heat set in. In summer, he approves of cooling acid fruits with cold water for drink. In autumn he directs abstaining from cold baths, and the use of a restricted regimen. In winter, he recommends a full proportion of calefacients, such as pepper, cumin, mustard, and rocket. (Ad Mansor. iv, 26.) Winter, he says in another work, favours the formation of flesh and blood, braces the body, and strengthens the powers. Spring fills the system with humours. Summer dissolves the humours, and weakens the internal powers. ”

“ By drying and constringing the flesh of ulcers requiring cicatrization to such a degree as not only to dissipate the preternatural superfluity, but also to touch upon that which is in its natural state, we may render the surface of the sore like skin, and make the ulcer cicatrize. ”

“ If the shaft or wooden part of a weapon be broken off, he directs us to apply to the head an impellent instrument with a concave extremity, so as to adapt itself to the form of the body which is to be extracted. When the weapon is poisoned, he recommends us, if possible, to cut out the flesh around it. When a weapon lodges in the breast, belly, bladder, or side, and can be felt with a probe, he directs us to cut cautiously upon it, taking care not to wound a vein or nerve. ”

“ The humid, in all other respects, is like the temperate, but is softer and fatter, and the softness is inseparable from it; but the grossness not only follows the connate temperament, but also that acquired by long habit. ”

“ Straightway dimness of the eyes seizes them, and various pains all over the body, which are altogether slight, and not without enjoyment, supervene; wherefore Nicander has properly said, “and without suffering dies the man.” The colour is changed and becomes as green as grass, there is a gnawing pain at the orifice of the stomach, the forehead is constantly drawn upwards, the eyelids are moved insensibly as in sleep, and with these symptoms death cuts off the man before the third part of a day has passed over. In both these cases speedy amputation of the extremities averts the evil. ”

“ I admit, indeed, that for some time past, since professional research and the study of ancient models have been superseded by a restless desire of novelty in theory and in practice, he has not enjoyed that consideration to which he is justly entitled ”

“ According to the views of the ancient physiologists, the liver is the seat of the Natural powers, being the grand organ of sanguification, and the blood being the pabulum which nourishes the whole body. ”

“ Well, in my opinion, did Aretæus the Cappadocian say, that the power of remedies ought to be greater than those of diseases; and that for this reason elephantiasis is incurable, because it is impossible to find a medicine more powerful than it. For if cancer, which is, as it were, an elephantiasis in a particular part, is ranked among the incurable diseases by Hippocrates himself, how much more is not elephantiasis incurable, which is, as it were, a cancer of the whole body? ”

“ Although Theocritus had declared that neither ointment nor powder is of any efficacy for the cure of love, several of the ancient writers on medicine have given directions for the treatment of desponding lovers. ”

“ The ancients divided the powers or faculties of the human body into the Natural, the Vital, and the Animal. The brain they held to be the seat of the animal powers—that is to say, they considered it to be the organ from which sensation and motion are derived, and these, they maintained, are the powers by which animals are distinguished from vegetables. This doctrine is fully explained by Galen, in his work, ‘De Facultatibus Naturalibus,’ and by several of the Arabian authors, among whom we will venture to mention Haly Abbas, as being particularly worthy of being consulted on this subject. ”

“ One of the best of our modern writers on the teeth, Eustachius, justly remarks that the teeth have a nerve of considerable magnitude distributed upon them, and are in fact possessed of exquisite sensibility. ”

“ Since of all kings you are the most skilled in the arts, and have lived very long, and are skilled in all philosophy, and have attained the highest rank in mathematics, I, supposing that the science which treats of all things that relate to health is a branch of philosophy becoming a king and befitting to you, have written you this account of the origin of diseases, of the symptoms which precede them, and of the modes by which they may be alleviated. ”

“ For it appears strange that lawyers should be possessed of compendious and, as they call them, popular legal synopses, in which are contained the heads of all the laws, to serve for immediate use, whilst we neglect these things, although they have it generally in their power to put off the investigation of any point not only for little but even for a considerable time, whereas we can seldom or very rarely do so; for, in many cases, necessity requires that we act promptly, and hence Hippocrates has properly said, “the season is brief.” ”

“ Albucasis’s directions are so judicious that we regret our limits do not allow of our giving them fully. For the extraction of a piece of stone he recommends us among other means to use a slender forceps, of which he gives a drawing. It resembles the modern dissecting forceps. He also gives a drawing of a hook slightly bent, which he commends; and also of a brazen tube to be used for sucking out bodies. When other means do not succeed, he directs us to make an incision at the under part of the ear, having previously let blood in order to avert inflammation and convulsions. ”

“ Hippocrates thus details the dietetical qualities of fish. Speaking generally, then, he says fishes are light food, both when boiled and roasted, by themselves or with other things. They differ from one another as follows: Those which live in lakes, the fat, and river fishes, are heavier; of sea fish, such as are found near the shore are lighter, and those which are well boiled are lighter than such as are roasted. The stronger kind, therefore, are to be given when our object is to recruit, but the lighter when we wish to attenuate or reduce. ”

“ The fig was a great favorite with the ancients. Galen states that it is decidedly nutritious, but that the flesh formed from it is not firm and compact, like that from pork and bread, but soft and spongy, like that from beans. He says that figs increase the urinary and alvine discharges. Averrhoes says that they are of a hot and humid temperament, and that they loosen the belly and strengthen the stomach. See, in particular, Athenæus (Deipnos. iii) ; Macrobius (Satur. iii, 20) ; and Haly Abbas. Haly says that the fig is the most digestible, nutritious, and wholesome fruit of this class. ”

“ These things we see every day occur in professional matters. And often a certain remedy proves beneficial to one joint, while another joint of the same patient similarly inflamed is not only not benefited at the same time, but occasionally is even injured by it. ”

“ The quotidian does not make its attack with a rigor on the first day, but in progress of time, a chill rather than rigor takes place, which is, with difficulty, succeeded by heat, and it has a protracted increase. Yet, it does not make those affected hot, nor their respiration frequent and thick, nor does it make them pant or drink cold water. But they have vomitings of phlegm, and whatever is voided by the belly is cold, crude, and watery, in these fevers. And they have no sweats during the first days, neither have they an interval of freedom from fever. ”

“ Starch gives little nourishment, like washed bread. Barley is of a cold nature and detergent: when boiled like a ptisan it humectates; but when toasted, as in polenta, it dries. Polenta in summer, drunk with water before the bath, quenches thirst. Barley-bread is dry and of little nourishment. The pudding (maza) is of more difficult digestion, and more flatulent than barley-bread, and when it receives a little honey is laxative. Oats are heating and of little nourishment. Millet and panic are cold and dry, contain little nourishment, and bind the bowels. ”

“ You have also learned that active exercise, an attenuant regimen, medicines of the same class, and mental anxiety, bring on the dry temperament, and thereby render the body lean. What an attenuant diet consists of is perfectly obvious; but the more powerful medicines, such as the seed of rue, particularly the wild, with its tops, the round birthwort (aristolochia rotunda) , the small centaury, gentian, poley, and the stronger diuretic medicines, as Macedonian parsley: all such medicines, either alone, or together, attenuate the humours, and evacuate the body. ”

“ And to those who stand in need of warming, on account of their frigidity, what mode of relief can be more proper than the action of respiration? Such persons ought therefore to read frequently, and, relaxing the whole body, so as to distend the windpipe and all the other passages of air, endeavour to utter the loudest sounds. And yet we must not have recourse to the exercise of the voice rashly, and without consideration, nor when the system is filled with depraved humours, or the stomach loaded with crudities, lest noxious vapours be thereby distributed over the whole body. ”

“ The upper part of the body is covered with frequent spots and tumours, the redness gradually changes to black, the skin is thickened, and covered with hard asperities like scales; the body wastes, but the face, legs, and feet swell; and when the disease is protracted, the fingers and toes become buried in the swelling, and a slight fever comes on, which finishes the patient’s sufferings. Such is his description of the disease. His treatment consists in bleeding at the commencement, abstinence, then supporting the strength, purging, exercise, sudorifics, and friction. ”

“ Jaundice being a disease which often goes off without any remedies, has been, in all ages, a favourite with empirics. Alsaharavius treats of the disease in much the same terms; recommends bleeding when it is connected with an inflammatory cause, and attenuants, bitters, purgatives, and the hot bath according to circumstances. Rhases, who gives a very full account of jaundice, states that the disease generally arises from obstruction either in the liver or its ducts. He particularly recommends drastic purgatives, such as scammony, along with wormwood, fennel-seed, and the like. ”

“ A full pulse, then, as Archigenes defines it, is one which indicates an artery that is completely full, and the impression of which is, that it is distended with fluids; and an empty one conveys an impression as if its contents were full of bubbles of air, so that the finger, when pressed upon it, seems to fall into an empty space. These five kinds of pulses regard one motion of the artery. And since the quality of the heat in the heart may be more developed than usual in the artery, some have hence reckoned a sixth kind of pulses. ”

“ For to other causes we are not all exposed together, nor do we come in contact with them for the whole day; but the ambient air is diffused around all, and is inhaled by respiration. Now, the bodies of animals must undergo a change along with these changes as to temperature. He, therefore, who is acquainted with these matters, will not only be able to predict the diseases which are to arise from every state of the atmosphere, but will be able also to prevent them by substituting a counteracting regimen to the intemperament of the air. ”