Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Book 1: Medical Problems. Why are great excesses productive of disease? Is it because they produce excess or deficiency, and this is what disease is? Why do diseases often heal when someone departs greatly from the norm? Indeed some doctors' craft works exactly this way: they cure by excesses of wine or water or brine or food or fasting. Is it because the things that cause the disease are opposite to one another, so that each of the two drives the other toward the mean? Why do the changes of the seasons and the winds intensify or halt diseases, bring them to crisis, and produce them? Is it because the seasons are hot and cold and wet and dry, while diseases are excesses of these, and health is equality? So if a disease is due to wetness or cold, the opposite season stops it; but if the opposite season is already at work, a like temperament supervening intensifies it and does away with the patient. For this same reason the changes make even the healthy sick, because in changing they dissolve the temperament; for it (the temperament) increases together with the seasons and ages and places that suit it. That is why one must steer oneself with special care through the changes. What has been said generally about the seasons holds also in particular, for the cause is the same: changes of winds and of ages and of places are themselves changes of a kind of season. That is why these too intensify, halt, bring to crisis, and produce diseases, just as the seasons do, and the risings of the stars, such as Orion and Arcturus and the Pleiades and the Dog-star, [just as] winds and rains and fair weather and storms and heat do.
2| Why should one not use vomiting during the changes of the seasons? Is it so that no disturbance may arise from the residues becoming of different kinds because of the changes? Why do both those cheated of their food and those distressed by hunger swell in the feet? Is it because both waste away? Those suffering from famine waste away because they take in no nourishment at all, while those cheated of food waste away because they get no benefit from the nourishment they do take. Why is it that, of the diseases arising from bile — for people run the highest fevers in summer — the acute ones that come from bile occur more in winter? Is it because, occurring along with fever, they are acute owing to their violence, and violence is contrary to nature? For when certain places become wet, a hot inflammation arises, and inflammation, being an excess of heat, produces the fevers. In summer, then, diseases are dry and hot, but in winter they are wet and hot, and for that reason acute; for they carry the patient off quickly, since the residue, being abundant, will not be concocted. Why is it that plague alone, of all diseases, above all infects those who come near the people being treated for it? Is it because it alone among diseases is common to everyone, so that for this reason it brings the plague upon all who are already in poor condition beforehand? And also, because of the kindling supplied by the disease coming from those under treatment, people are quickly caught by the thing.
3| Why is it that, if the winter turns northerly, and then the spring becomes rainy and southerly, the summer becomes disease-ridden with fevers and eye-inflammations? Is it because bodies then meet the summer already holding much foreign moisture, and the earth and the region people inhabit becomes waterlogged, of the sort that are said to be the perpetually unhealthy places? First, then, eye-inflammations occur, as the residue around the head melts, and afterward fevers. For one must grasp that the very same thing can become both hottest and coldest, as with water and stone: the one boils, the other burns still more. So in the air, stifling heat occurs when the air is heated through thickness, and likewise in bodies there occur stifling heat and burning; and the burning in a body is fever, in the eyes it is eye-inflammation. In general a change that is violent destroys bodies, whenever, the spring being wet, the summer — hot and dry — takes hold immediately after. And it is still worse if the summer too turns rainy. For then the sun has matter which it will make boil, both in bodies and in the earth and in the air; hence fevers and eye-inflammations occur.
4| Why is it that, if the winter turns southerly and rainy, but the spring is parched and northerly, both the spring and the summer become disease-ridden? Is it because in the winter, owing to the mildness and moisture, bodies are disposed similarly to the season? For they must be moist and not well compacted. Bodies being in this state, the spring, being cold, freezes and hardens them because of the drought — (so that for pregnant women the spring delivery ends in miscarriage, because of the heat and the mortification produced by the dry cold, since the moisture is not being excreted, while the children conceived are born weak and defective because of the excess of cold; for it happens that children born at that season are formed and nourished within the mother in fair weather) — while for the rest, since in the spring the phlegm was not purged out on account of the excess, which is what happens when the weather turns mild, but instead was compacted through cold, then, when the summer takes hold and the heat forcibly melts it: in those who are bilious and dry, because their bodies are not moist but have a naturally parched nature, moistures do form, but these are thin, so that they are seized by dry eye-inflammations; while the phlegmatic are seized by hoarseness and by catarrhs running into the lung. Women get dysentery because of the moistness and coldness of their nature; the more elderly get strokes, whenever moisture, released all at once in a mass, falls upon them and, through the weakness of their innate heat, congeals.
5| Why is it that, if the summer turns parched and northerly, but the autumn is the opposite — wet and southerly — headaches occur in the winter, along with hoarseness and coughs, ending in consumption? Is it because the winter takes on much matter, so that its task becomes to congeal the moisture and produce phlegm? In the head, then, when moistness occurs, it produces heaviness, and if it is abundant and cold, it produces mortification; but if because of its quantity it does not congeal, it flows to the neighboring region, whence coughs and hoarseness and consumptions arise. Why is it that, if the summer turns northerly and parched, and the autumn too, this is beneficial to the phlegmatic and to women? Is it because in both of them nature tends to excess in one direction, so that the season, pulling them toward the opposite, restores them to a good mixture? And they become healthy at once, provided they do nothing wrong themselves, and they arrive at winter not moist, though carrying kindling material for the cold.
6| Why is a northerly and parched summer, and likewise autumn, unhealthy for the bilious? Is it because the body and the seasons incline in the same direction for them, so that it is like fire upon fire? For as their bodies dry out, and the sweetest element is drawn off from them as moisture, while they become excessively overheated, it must follow that dry eye-inflammations arise because of the wastings, and that, since the humor left behind is bilious, when this too is overheated, acute fevers arise, coming as they do from unmixed bile; and in some, those in whom black bile is naturally present, it produces fits of madness, for this humor rises to the surface when the opposite humors are dried away. Why do people say that a change of waters is unhealthy, but not a change of air? Is it because water becomes nourishment, and people have had and enjoyed the water before they move on, whereas nothing of the sort happens with air? Further, there are many kinds and differences of water in their own right, but not of air, so that this too is a cause; for in the air it happens that one goes on using more or less the same air even when traveling abroad, but in waters one moves among different ones. Hence a change of water is rightly held to be unhealthy. Why is a change of water more unhealthy than a change of food? Is it because we consume the most water? For it is present in foods and in relishes too, and in drink it is the greatest part.
7| Why is change productive of disease? Is it because every change, whether of season or of stage of life, is easily set in motion? For the extremes are easily moved, for instance both beginnings and endings. So too foods, when they differ from one another, destroy one another's effect: some have only just been assimilated, others not yet. Further, just as varied food is disease-producing (for it is disturbing, and there is no single process of digestion for it), so it happens when people change their use of water for drink, using varied water as their nourishment. And such drink is more decisive than dry food, because it is the greatest part of our diet, and because moisture becomes nourishment even out of the foods themselves. Why does a change of waters make those who have lice have more of them? Is it because a failure of digestion of the moisture arises through the disturbance, which comes about through the variety of waters, when people change frequently, and this produces an excess of moisture, most of all in the place naturally suited for it? And the brain is moist; that is why the head is always most affected. This is shown by the fact that hairs are present there in the greatest number. And the moisture of this region is productive of lice. This is shown too in the case of children: their heads are moist, and they often either run at the nose or bleed, and those of this age have more lice.
8| Why is it that from the setting of the Pleiades until the west wind blows, those suffering from long illnesses die off most, and the old more than the young? Is it because there are two things most destructive, excess and cold? For life is warm, and this season has both these qualities: it is cold, and winter is then at its height, for what is left is spring. Or is it because those who suffer from prolonged weaknesses are disposed in the same way as the old? For a prolonged weakness amounts to a kind of old age already: the body in both cases is dry and cold, in the one case through age, in the other through illness. Now winter and frost are an excess of coldness and dryness. So for people who need only a small tipping-force, winter comes as fire added to fire, and destroys them for this reason. Why is it that in marshy places wounds on the head heal quickly, but those on the shins only with difficulty? Is it because the moisture is heavy, being earthy, and heavy things withdraw downward? So the parts above are free of it, since it has withdrawn to the parts below, while the parts below are full of much residue, and residue easily putrefies.
9| Why is it that, if the winter is northerly and the spring southerly and rainy, and then the summer becomes excessively dry, the autumn proves deadly for everyone, and most of all for children, while for others too dysentery and prolonged quartan fevers occur in it? Is it because, when a moderate amount of summer rain supervenes, the boiling moisture within us is cooled and subsides, that is, whatever was collected during the moist spring? But if this does not happen, children, because they are naturally moist and warm, boil over with the affection, because they are not cooled. And whatever does not boil over in the summer does so, to that extent, in the autumn. And the residues, if they are not carried off at once, form around the lung and windpipe, since being formed above they are the first to be established there, because we are warmed by the air; and this is also why inflammations of the eyes occur before fevers in an unhealthy summer. — If, then, as has been said, the residues are not carried off at once in the upper parts, they descend into the bowels while still undigested, and this is dysentery, because the moisture is not excreted on account of its quantity. And if the dysentery stops, quartan fevers arise in those who survive; for the sediment of the undigested matter is the most persistent, and becomes fixed in the body, like black bile.
10| Why is it that, if the summer turns out rainy and southerly, and the autumn likewise, the winter becomes unhealthy? Is it because winter makes the bodies extremely moist, and the change is still great, coming as it does from much warmth and not by gradual approach, because the autumn too turns out warm? So that for some it is necessary that acute diseases arise, namely those who are not of loose flesh; for in such people the moist residues collect more in the upper parts, because these regions have room for them, while the lower regions belong to other purposes. Those, then, who are close-fleshed do not admit many residues. So when the residue in the upper parts of the body is chilled, just as happens to drunken men when they shiver, the diseases mentioned occur. But in those of looser flesh, when fevers arise, the fevers that come from the greatest indigestion turn out to be burning fevers, because in such people the moisture is more scattered throughout the whole body than in the close-fleshed, and when their flesh contracts under the action of the winter, the moisture, being heated, produces fevers. For fever is an excessive heat of the whole body; and when this is intensified because of the quantity of moisture present in them, it becomes a burning fever.
11| Why is it that, when much vapor rises from the earth under the action of the sun, the year becomes pestilential? Is it because it is necessary that a moist and rainy year, and one in which the earth is moist, be signified? So it is as if one's dwelling were in a marshy place. And such a place is unhealthy. And it is necessary too that bodies then have much residue, so that in the summer they have unhealthy matter. Why do the years become unhealthy when there occurs an abundance of the small toad-like frogs? Is it because each thing thrives in the region proper to its nature? And these creatures are by nature moist, so that they signify that the year is becoming rainy and moist. And such years are unhealthy; for bodies, being moist, have much residue, which is the cause of diseases. Why are the dry south winds, and not the rainy ones, productive of fever? Is it because they produce moisture and heat that is foreign to the body? For they are moist and warm by nature. And this condition is feverish; for fever arises from an excess of both these qualities together. So when they blow without rain, they produce this condition in us, but when accompanied by rain, the water cools us. South winds from the sea are even beneficial to plants; for they arrive at the plants having been cooled by the sea. And blight arises from moisture and heat that are foreign to the plant.
12| Why do people feel heavier and more feeble in south winds? Is it because much moisture arises out of little, melted down by the warmth, and out of a light breath a heavy moisture is made? Further, our strength lies in our joints, and these are relaxed by south winds. This is shown by the creaking of joints that have been glued together, as it were: for what is viscous in the joints, when congealed, prevents us from moving, but when it is too moist, prevents us from being drawn taut. Why do people fall ill more in summer, but those who are ill die more in winter? Is it because in winter, on account of the density of the body, the heat is drawn together within, and people, working harder, if they fail to digest the residues forming within them, must have the onset of the disease be strong? And being of this kind, it is likely to be destructive. But in summer, when the whole body is loose and chilled and relaxed for hard work, the onsets of disease must be more numerous, on account of fatigue and the indigestion of what is taken in (for the new fruits are then in season), but not so strong, and therefore easily treated. Why is it that people die most in the hundred days after each of the two solstices? Is it because the excess, whether of hot or of cold, extends that far in each case? And it is excess that produces diseases and destructions in the weak.
13| Why are spring and autumn prone to sickness? Is it because changes of season are what cause sickness? But autumn is more prone to sickness than spring, because we fall ill more from the hot growing cold than from the cold growing hot. So in spring the cold grows warm, but in autumn the warm grows cold. Why are there fewer illnesses in winter than in summer, yet they are more often fatal? Is it because in summer illnesses arise from a slight cause, but not in winter? For we digest better and are healthier in winter, so naturally what arises from a greater cause is more severe and more deadly. We observe this same thing in athletes too, and in general in people who are in a healthy condition: either they do not catch the disease at all, or they succumb quickly along with it; for they need a great cause.
14| Why do burning fevers occur more in the cold seasons, in autumn and winter, while in summer, when it is hot, shivering fits trouble people instead? Is it because, in a human being, bile is hot and phlegm is cold? So in summer the cold is dissolved, and being diffused it produces shivering and trembling; but in winter the heat is overpowered by the season and grows chilled. Burning fevers trouble people more in winter and autumn, because on account of the cold the heat is drawn together inside, and a burning fever is internal and not on the surface; so naturally burning fevers occur in this season. One could learn this more precisely from those who bathe in cold water in winter and those who bathe in hot water in winter: those who bathe in cold water, after shivering briefly while they bathe, suffer nothing from the cold for the rest of the day, while those who use hot water pass the day more prone to shivering. For in those who bathe in cold water the flesh is made dense and the heat is drawn together inside, while in those who bathe in hot water the flesh is loosened and the heat is drawn out as far as the outer region.
15| What is the virtue of a poultice? Is it that, because it is capable of dissolving matter, it can also produce sweat and exhalation? By what sign is it evident when a swelling is full of pus? Is it that, if it changes when hot water is poured on it, it is full of pus, but if not, it is not? What kind of growths should be cauterized, and what kind cut? Is it that those which have a large mouth and do not close up quickly should be cauterized, so that the scab falls right there? For in this way they will not become hollow beneath the skin. What is the virtue of a styptic for a wound? Is it to be drying, and to check the residue that flows in, checking the forming of a scab and the putrefaction of the flesh? For in this way it will be free of inflammation and will promote healing together. For if nothing flows in it will be free of inflammation, and being dry it will heal together; but as long as it runs with moisture, it will not heal together. For this reason most such remedies are pungent, so as to astringe. What should be cut, what cauterized, and what not, but treated with drugs instead? Is it that those at the armpits and the groin should be treated with drugs? For after cutting, some cases are painful, others dangerous. Cauterize the broad tumors, and those presenting a large surface, and those situated among veiny and not fleshy parts. Cut those drawn together to a point, and those not situated in solid parts.
16| Why, if someone is cut with bronze, does he heal more easily than with iron? Is it because bronze is smoother, so that it tears less and makes less of a wound? Or is it that, since iron takes a sharper edge, the cutting is easier and less painful? But then again bronze is medicinal, while the wound itself, freshly made, is a sensitive thing. So the fact that the medicinal action works at once, together with the cutting, produces the healing-together more quickly. And why do burns made with bronze also heal more quickly? Is it because bronze is more porous and less solid, whereas in more solid things there is more heat retained? Is barley gruel lighter and better for illnesses than wheat gruel? Some think so, taking as their sign that those who work with wheat flour have a much better complexion than those who work with barley meal. Then again, because barley is moister, and the moister requires more concoction. Or is there nothing to prevent some things being harder to digest and yet more useful for lightness? For barley is not only moister than wheat but also colder. And what is given as drink and offered to a feverish patient ought to be of a kind that will provide little nourishment and will cool him. And barley gruel has this property: because it is moister, or less substantial in body, it gives little, and this little is cooling.
17| Why do purslane and salt stop the sensation of teeth being set on edge? Is it because purslane has a certain moisture? This is evident when it is chewed, and if it is crushed for a time, for the moisture is drawn out. So this sticky element, seeping in, draws out the sharp element. And indeed that it is akin to the sharpness is shown by its own sharpness; for the juice of purslane has a certain sharpness in it. Salt, by dissolving matter, also draws out the sharpness. Why then do lye and soda not do this? Is it because they are astringent and do not dissolve? Why should summer fatigue be treated with bathing, but winter fatigue with rubbing in oil, since winter fatigue is treated with oil on account of the shivering fits and the changes that occur? For one should relieve it with warmth, which will produce a sense of being warmed; and oil is warm. But in summer one should moisten instead; for the season is dry, and shivering fits are not to be feared, on account of the body's inclination toward warmth. Now scanty eating and heavy drinking occur in summer, the one absolutely, the other more so: drinking occurs in summer altogether on account of the dryness, while scanty eating, though common to every season, occurs more in summer; for people are heated up by their food on account of the season.
18| Why do some drugs loosen the bowel but not the bladder, while others loosen the bladder but not the bowel? Is it that those which are moist in nature and full of water, if they are medicinal, loosen the bladder? For there the undigested part of moisture settles; for the bladder is the receptacle for the moisture in the belly that is not concocted, which does not remain but withdraws there before it can act or be acted upon. But those which are earthy in nature, if they are medicinal, loosen the bowel instead; for the movement of earthy matter is toward the bowel. So if a drug is capable of causing movement, it disturbs the bowel.
19| Why do some drugs move the upper belly, others the lower, as hellebore moves the upper and scammony the lower, while some move both, as squirting cucumber and the juice of thapsia? Is it because, among the drugs that move the bowel, some are hot and some cold, so that those which, on account of their heat, are at once carried, while still in the upper belly, up toward the upper region, and from there dissolve especially what is most foreign and least assimilated to the body — but if the drug is strong, or given in excess of what nature can bear, it draws down into the upper belly both this matter and any residue there may be, and, on account of its heat, disturbing the breath which becomes abundant because of it, and pressing upon it, produces vomiting. But those cold in nature, on account of their weight, are carried downward even before they act or are acted upon, and starting from there they do the same as the hot ones do above: for rising up through the passages from below, and having set in motion whatever residues and dissolved matter they can overpower, once they have taken hold of it they lead it along the same path downward. But those drugs that partake of both natures, and are mixtures of hot and cold medicinal substances, produce both effects through each of their two powers, just as physicians nowadays prepare them by mixing them together.
20| Why do drugs purge, while other things that are more bitter and more astringent and go to excess in these same respects do not purge? Is it because they do not purge on account of such powers, but because they are unconcocted? For whatever things, on account of an excess of heat or of cold, are small in bulk and unconcocted and such as to overpower rather than be overpowered by the heat of animals, and are easily dissolved by the two cavities — these are drugs. For when they enter the stomach and are dissolved, they travel by the same passages as nourishment into the veins, but not having been concocted; rather, having overpowered the body, they fall out again carrying with them the things that obstruct them; and this is called purgation. Bronze and silver and things of that kind are unconcocted by the heat of animals, but they are not easily dissolved by the cavities. Oil and honey and milk and such foods do purge, but not by their quality, but by their quantity; for when, because of their amount, they become unconcocted, then they purge, if indeed they do purge at all. For there are two causes of being unconcocted: being so by quality, or being so by quantity. Hence none of the things mentioned is a drug; for none of them purges by a power. Astringency and bitterness, and foul odor, are accidental attributes of drugs, arising from the fact that a drug is the opposite of nourishment. For what is concocted by nature attaches itself to bodies and is called nourishment; but what is not naturally overpowered, entering into the veins and, through excess of heat or cold, causing disturbance — this is the nature of a drug.
21| Why does pepper, when taken in a large amount, loosen the bladder, but in a small amount the bowels, while scammony, when taken in a large amount, loosens the bowels, but in a small amount, and when old, loosens the bladder? Is it because each is more able to move the one organ than the other? For pepper is diuretic, while scammony acts downward. So pepper, when much, is carried into the bladder and is not dissolved in the stomach, but when little, being overpowered, it is broken down and becomes a drug for the stomach. Scammony, when much, is overpowered only to the point of being dissolved, and once dissolved it becomes a drug, for the reason stated above; but when little, it is drunk up along with the liquid into the passages, and quickly, before it can cause disturbance, is carried down into the bladder, and there, by its own power, carries off the residues and the meltings that lie near the surface. But the large amount, as has been said, because of its strength, remains a long time and brings down a great and earthy purgation. Why do some cure the same inflammations by cooling, while others concoct them by heating? It is because the latter use a heat foreign to the body, while the former, by cooling, draw together the body's own heat.
22| Why must poultices be changed? Is it so that the body may feel them more? For what is familiar, just as in the case of foods, no longer acts as a drug but becomes nourishment — so too in the case of such things. Why is it healthy to reduce food but increase exertion? Is it because the cause of disease is an abundance of residue, and this arises whenever there is an excess of food or a deficiency of exertion? Why do drugs, and bitter things for the most part, and foul-smelling things, purge? Is it because all foul-smelling and bitter things are unconcocted? That is why drugs too are bitter and foul-smelling; for by being unconcocted and capable of causing movement along with bitterness, a thing is a drug. And if it is given in a greater amount, it destroys. But whatever things are destructive even when given in a small amount are not called drugs, but deadly poisons. Nor are things that purge otherwise than by quality drugs. For many foods also produce the same effect if given in quantity — for instance milk, oil, must; all these purge because of not being easily concocted, and they purge those for whom they are not easily concocted. For different things are easily or with difficulty concocted by different people. Hence the same things are not drug-like for everyone, but for some they are peculiar to them. For in general a drug must not merely fail to be concocted, but must also be capable of causing movement, just as exercise too, whether it comes from outside or from within, by its movement expels what is foreign to the body.
23| Why are fragrant seeds and plants diuretic? Is it because they are hot and easily concocted, and things of that kind are diuretic? For the heat present in them quickly thins the fluid, and their odor is not corporeal, since even odorous things, such as garlic, are diuretic because of their heat, though they act more by melting the flesh; and fragrant seeds are hot. Why must one use dry, sharp, and astringent drugs for sores that are unclean and in bad condition, but for clean sores that are healing, moist ones only? Is it because from the unclean sores something must be taken away — namely, a foreign moisture, which must be removed? Biting, sharp, and astringent things do this, and the dry more than the moist. But clean sores need only a closing-over. Why does sexual intercourse help against diseases arising from phlegm? Is it because semen is a secretion of residue and by nature similar to phlegm, so that intercourse, by removing much that is phlegm-like, gives benefit? And is it better to offer food at the beginning of an illness or later? Is it at the beginning, so that the inflammation does not fall upon a body already weakened beforehand? So one must either reduce food at once, or proceed in this way: one must first restore strength with gruels, for these are gentler and smoother and more easily dissolved, and it is easy for a weakened body to take in solid food after them. For the food ought not first be acted upon in the stomach — dissolved and heated — with the distress that the body suffers when this happens.
24| Why must one examine the signs concerning the urine by catching the urine in separate portions, to see whether it has already been concocted, rather than examining one who is urinating continuously? Is it because the sign of its having been concocted is that it is tawny-red, and this appears more clearly when the flow is taken in separate portions? Or is it because every liquid becomes more of a mirror the smaller the amount of it, and less of a mirror the greater? For in a large amount of liquid the shapes are seen, but in a small amount the colors, as also happens with dew and with raindrops and with the tears on the eyelids. So when discharged continuously it becomes more in volume, but when broken up it takes on color more; so that even if it is already of the concocted kind, it appears more clearly so, because the reflection occurs and it is more visible as a mirror on account of the division.
25| That one must not thicken the flesh for the sake of health, but rather loosen it. For just as a city is healthy when well-ventilated, and a place is healthy when well-ventilated — which is also why the sea is healthy — so too a body that is well-ventilated is the healthier. For it is necessary either that no residue exist at all, or that it be got rid of as quickly as possible, and that the body always be in such a state that, as soon as it takes on residue, it excretes it, and that it be in motion and not at rest. For what remains putrefies, just as water that is not in motion, and by putrefying it causes disease; but what is excreted is separated off before it can be corrupted. Now this does not happen when the flesh is thickened, since the pores are, as it were, blocked up, but it does happen when the flesh is loosened. Hence too one should not walk naked in the sun; for the flesh contracts and is quite stripped away, and the body becomes more moist, since the inner part remains while the surface is carried off — just as roasted meats lose more than boiled ones. Nor should one walk with the chest bare; for the sun takes away, from the best-built parts of the body, what least needs taking away, when it ought rather to take away more from the internal parts. From the interior, because it is far off, it is not possible to bring on sweat except with exertion, but from the surface it is easy, because it lies close at hand.
26| Why is it that both cold water and hot water help chilblains? Is it because chilblains arise from an excess of moisture? Now the cold contracts and roughens the moisture, while the hot turns it into vapor and makes an outlet for the vapor, loosening the flesh. Why does cold both cause and stop chilblains, and heat both cause and stop burns? Is it for the same reason? It causes them by melting the flesh, and stops them rather by drying it.
27| In fevers one should give the patient drink often and in small amounts. For a large amount runs off, whereas a small amount, given often, soaks in and passes into the flesh. It is like what happens in the earth: if water comes in a large amount, it runs off, but if it comes little by little, it does the same thing as it does in fevers, only wetting the ground. For if one directs flowing water in small amounts, the channel drinks it up, but if one directs an equal amount all at once, wherever it is directed, it simply passes through. Next, the patient should lie as still as possible — still, because fire too, plainly, if no one stirs it, dies down of itself. But he should not lie facing a draft, because wind rouses fire, and fire, when fanned, grows from a little into a great deal. He should also be wrapped up, for this reason: if you give fire no outlet for breath, it is put out. And his coverings should not be stripped off until moisture has formed, for visible fire is put out by wetness. The same holds in nature generally. In intermittent fevers one must prepare the patient beforehand by weakening him, applying hot fomentations to the feet, and having him rest well wrapped up, so that he may be as hot as possible before the attack begins. For where there is a great fire, a lamp cannot go on burning: the great fire draws the small one to itself. For this reason one must build up a great fire in the body, because the fever itself has only a little fire, so that the great fire draws the little one to itself.