The Project Gutenberg EBook of On the Natural Faculties, by Galen

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license


Title: On the Natural Faculties

Author: Galen

Translator: Arthur John Brock

Release Date: August 2, 2013 [EBook #43383]
[Last updated: January 31, 2016]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE NATURAL FACULTIES ***




Produced by Eileen Gormly, Turgut Dincer, Ted Garvin and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net








                              GALEN

                    ON THE NATURAL FACULTIES

                 WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY

                    ARTHUR JOHN BROCK, M.D.

                           EDINBURGH

                  LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN

                NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

                             MCMXVI




PREFACE


The text used is (with a few unimportant modifications) that of Khn
(Vol. II), as edited by Georg Helmreich; Teubner, Leipzig, 1893. The
numbers of the pages of Khn's edition are printed at the side of the
Greek text, a parallel mark (||) in the line indicating the exact
point of division between Khn's pages.

Words in the English text which are enclosed in square brackets are
supplementary or explanatory; practically all explanations, however,
are relegated to the footnotes or introduction. In the footnotes,
also, attention is drawn to words which are of particular philological
interest from the point of view of modern medicine.

I have made the translation directly from the Greek; where passages of
special difficulty occurred, I have been able to compare my own
version with Linacre's Latin translation (1523) and the French
rendering of Charles Daremberg (1854-56); in this respect I am also
peculiarly fortunate in having had the help of Mr. A. W. Pickard
Cambridge of Balliol College, Oxford, who most kindly went through the
proofs and made many valuable suggestions from the point of view of
exact scholarship.

My best thanks are due to the Editors for their courtesy and for the
kindly interest they have taken in the work. I have also gratefully to
acknowledge the receipt of much assistance and encouragement from Sir
William Osler, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, and from
Dr. J. D. Comrie, first lecturer on the History of Medicine at Edinburgh
University. Professor D'Arcy W. Thompson of University College,
Dundee, and Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, late director of the Royal
Botanic Gardens at Kew, have very kindly helped me to identify several
animals and plants mentioned by Galen.

I cannot conclude without expressing a word of gratitude to my former
biological teachers, Professors Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson.
The experience reared on the foundation of their teaching has gone far
to help me in interpreting the great medical biologist of Greece.

I should be glad to think that the present work might help, however
little, to hasten the coming reunion between the "humanities" and
modern biological science; their present separation I believe to be
against the best interest of both.


  A. J. B.

  22nd Stationary Hospital, Aldershot.
            _March_, 1916.




  CONTENTS


                             PAGE

  PREFACE                       v

  INTRODUCTION                 ix

  BIBLIOGRAPHY                xli

  SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS      xliii

  BOOK I                        1

  BOOK II                     115

  BOOK III                    221

  INDEX AND GLOSSARY          333




INTRODUCTION


[Sidenote: Hippocrates and Galen.]

If the work of Hippocrates be taken as representing the foundation
upon which the edifice of historical Greek medicine was reared, then
the work of Galen, who lived some six hundred years later, may be
looked upon as the summit or apex of the same edifice. Galen's merit
is to have crystallised or brought to a focus all the best work of the
Greek medical schools which had preceded his own time. It is
essentially in the form of Galenism that Greek medicine was
transmitted to after ages.

[Sidenote: The Beginnings of Medicine in Greece.]

The ancient Greeks referred the origins of medicine to a god Asklepios
(called in Latin Aesculapius), thereby testifying to their
appreciation of the truly divine function of the healing art. The
emblem of Aesculapius, familiar in medical symbolism at the present
day, was a staff with a serpent coiled round it, the animal typifying
wisdom in general, and more particularly the wisdom of the
medicine-man, with his semi-miraculous powers over life and death.

"_Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves._"

[Sidenote: The Asclepiea or Health-Temples.]

The temples of Aesculapius were scattered over the ancient Hellenic
world. To them the sick and ailing resorted in crowds. The treatment,
which was in the hands of an hereditary priesthood, combined the best
of the methods carried on at our present-day health-resorts, our
hydropathics, sanatoriums, and nursing-homes. Fresh air, water-cures,
massage, gymnastics, psychotherapy, and natural methods in general
were chiefly relied on.

[Sidenote: Hippocrates and the Unity of the Organism.]

Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine" (5th to 4th centuries, B.C.) was
associated with the Asclepieum of Cos, an island off the south-west
coast of Asia Minor, near Rhodes. He apparently revitalized the work
of the health-temples, which had before his time been showing a
certain decline in vigour, coupled with a corresponding excessive
tendency towards sophistry and priestcraft.

Celsus says: "_Hippocrates Cous primus quidem ex omnibus memoria
dignis ab studio sapientiae disciplinam hanc separavit_." He means
that Hippocrates first gave the physician an independent standing,
separating him from the cosmological speculator. Hippocrates confined
the medical man to medicine. He did with medical thought what Socrates
did with thought in general--he "brought it down from heaven to
earth." His watchword was "Back to Nature!"

At the same time, while assigning the physician his post, Hippocrates
would not let him regard that post as sacrosanct. He set his face
against any tendency to mystery-mongering, to exclusiveness, to
sacerdotalism. He was, in fact, opposed to the spirit of
trade-unionism in medicine. His concern was rather with the
physician's duties than his "rights."

At the dawn of recorded medical history Hippocrates stands for the
fundamental and primary importance of _seeing clearly_--that is of
_clinical observation_. And what he observed was that the human
organism, when exposed to certain abnormal conditions--certain
stresses--tends to behave in a certain way: that in other words, each
"disease" tends to run a certain definite course. To him a disease was
essentially a process, one and indivisible, and thus his practical
problem was essentially one of _prognosis_--"what will be the natural
course of this disease, if left to itself?" Here he found himself to
no small extent in opposition with the teaching of the neighbouring
medical school of Cnidus, where a more static view-point laid special
emphasis upon the minutiae of _diagnosis_.

Observation taught Hippocrates to place unbounded faith in the
recuperative powers of the living organism--in what we sometimes call
nowadays the _vis medicatrix Naturae_. His observation was that even
with a very considerable "abnormality" of environmental stress the
organism, in the large majority of cases, manages eventually by its
own inherent powers to adjust itself to the new conditions. "Merely
give Nature a chance," said the father of medicine in effect, "and
most diseases will cure themselves." And accordingly his treatment
was mainly directed towards "giving Nature a chance."

His keen sense of the solidarity (or rather, of the constant
interplay) between the organism and its environment (the "conditions"
to which it is exposed) is instanced in his book, "Airs, Waters, and
Places." As we recognise, in our popular everyday psychology, that "it
takes two to make a quarrel," so Hippocrates recognised that in
pathology, it takes two (organism and environment) to make a disease.

As an outstanding example of his power of clinical observation we may
recall the _facies Hippocratica_, an accurate study of the countenance
of a dying man.

His ideals for the profession are embodied in the "Hippocratic oath."

[Sidenote: Anatomy.]

Impressed by this view of the organism as a unity, the Hippocratic
school tended in some degree to overlook the importance of its
constituent _parts_. The balance was re-adjusted later on by the
labours of the anatomical school of Alexandria, which, under the aegis
of the enlightened Ptolemies, arose in the 3rd century B.C. Two
prominent exponents of anatomy belonging to this school were
Herophilus and Erasistratus, the latter of whom we shall frequently
meet with in the following pages (_v._ p. 95 _et seq._).

[Sidenote: The Empirics.]

After the death of the Master, the Hippocratic school tended, as so
often happens with the best of cultural movements, to show signs
itself of diminishing vitality: the letter began to obscure and hamper
the spirit. The comparatively small element of theory which existed in
the Hippocratic physiology was made the groundwork of a somewhat
over-elaborated "system." Against this tendency on the part of the
"Dogmatic" or "Rationalist" school there arose, also at Alexandria,
the sect of the Empiricists. "It is not," they said, "the cause but
the cure of diseases that concerns us; not how we digest, but what is
digestible."

[Sidenote: Greek Medicine in Rome.]

Horace said "_Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit_." Political
domination, the occupation of territory by armies, does not
necessarily mean real conquest. Horace's statement applied to medicine
as to other branches of culture.

The introducer of Greek medicine into Rome was Asclepiades (1st
century B.C.). A man of forceful personality, and equipped with a
fully developed philosophic system of health and disease which
commended itself to the Roman _savants_ of the day, he soon attained
to the pinnacle of professional success in the Latin capital: he is
indeed to all time the type of the fashionable (and somewhat "faddy")
West-end physician. His system was a purely mechanistic one, being
based upon the atomic doctrine of Leucippus and Democritus, which had
been completed by Epicurus and recently introduced to the Roman public
in Lucretius's great poem "_De Rerum Natura_." The disbelief of
Asclepiades in the self-maintaining powers of the living organism are
exposed and refuted at considerable length by Galen in the volume
before us.

[Sidenote: The Methodists.]

Out of the teaching of Asclepiades that physiological processes depend
upon the particular way in which the ultimate indivisible molecules
come together ([Greek: en t poia synod tn prtn ekeinn smatn
tn apathn]) there was developed by his pupil, Themison of Laodicea,
a system of medicine characterised by the most engaging simplicity
both of diagnosis and treatment. This so-called "Methodic" system was
intended to strike a balance between the excessive leaning to
apriorism shown by the Rationalist (Hippocratic) school and the
opposite tendency of the Empiricists. "A pathological theory we must
have," said the Methodists in effect, "but let it be simple." They
held that the molecular groups constituting the tissues were traversed
by minute channels ([Greek: poroi], "pores"); all diseases belonged to
one or other of two classes; if the channels were constricted the
disease was one of _stasis_ ([Greek: stegnsis]), and if they were
dilated the disease was one of _flux_ ([Greek: rhysis]). Flux and
stasis were indicated respectively by increase and diminution of the
natural secretions; treatment was of opposites by opposites--of
stasis by methods causing dilatation of the channels, and conversely.

Wild as it may seem, this pathological theory of the Methodists
contained an element of truth; in various guises it has cropped up
once and again at different epochs of medical history; even to-day
there are pathologists who tend to describe certain classes of disease
in terms of vaso-constriction and vaso-dilatation. The vice of the
Methodist teaching was that it looked on a disease too much as
something fixed and finite, an independent _entity_, to be considered
entirely apart from its particular setting. The Methodists illustrate
for us the tyranny of _names_. In its defects as in its virtues this
school has analogues at the present day; we are all acquainted with
the medical man to whom a name (such, let us say, as "tuberculosis,"
"gout," or "intestinal auto-intoxication") stands for an entity, one
and indivisible, to be treated by a definite and unvarying formula.

To such an individual the old German saying "_Jedermann hat am Ende
ein Bischen Tuberkulose_" is simply--incomprehensible.

[Sidenote: Galen.]

All the medical schools which I have mentioned were still holding
their ground in the 2nd century A.D., with more or less popular
acceptance, when the great Galen made his entry into the world of
Graeco-Roman medicine.

[Sidenote: His Nature and Nurture.]

Claudius Galenus was born at Pergamos in Asia Minor in the year
A.D. His father was one Nicon, a well-to-do architect of that city. "I
had the great good fortune," says Galen,[1] "to have as a father a
highly amiable, just, good, and benevolent man. My mother, on the
other hand, possessed a very bad temper; she used sometimes to bite
her serving-maids, and she was perpetually shouting at my father and
quarrelling with him--worse than Xanthippe with Socrates. When,
therefore, I compared the excellence of my father's disposition with
the disgraceful passions of my mother, I resolved to embrace and love
the former qualities, and to avoid and hate the latter."

Nicon called his son [Greek: Galnos], which means _quiet, peaceable_,
and although the physician eventually turned out to be a man of
elevated character, it is possible that his somewhat excessive leaning
towards controversy (exemplified in the following pages) may have
resulted from the fact that he was never quite able to throw off the
worst side of the maternal inheritance.

His father, a man well schooled in mathematics and philosophy, saw to
it that his son should not lack a liberal education. Pergamos itself
was an ancient centre of civilisation, containing, among other
culture-institutions, a library only second in importance to that of
Alexandria itself; it also contained an Asclepieum.

Galen's training was essentially eclectic: he studied all the chief
philosophical systems of the time--Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, and
Epicurean--and then, at the age of seventeen, entered on a course of
medical studies; these he pursued under the best teachers at his own
city, and afterwards, during a period of _Wanderjahre_, at Smyrna,
Alexandria, and other leading medical centres.

Returning to Pergamos, he received his first professional
appointment--that of surgeon to the gladiators. After four years here
he was drawn by ambition to Rome, being at that time about thirty-one
years of age. At Rome the young Pergamene attained a brilliant
reputation both as a practitioner and as a public demonstrator of
anatomy; among his patients he finally numbered even the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius himself.

Medical practice in Rome at this time was at a low ebb, and Galen took
no pains to conceal his contempt for the ignorance, charlatanism, and
venality of his fellow-practitioners. Eventually, in spite of his
social popularity, he raised up such odium against himself in medical
circles, that he was forced to flee the city. This he did hurriedly
and secretly in the year 168 A.D., when thirty-six years of age. He
betook himself to his old home at Pergamos, where he settled down once
more to a literary life.

His respite was short, however, for within a year he was summoned back
to Italy by imperial mandate. Marcus Aurelius was about to undertake
an expedition against the Germans, who at that time were threatening
the northern frontiers of the Empire, and he was anxious that his
consulting physician should accompany him to the front. "Patriotism"
in this sense, however, seems to have had no charms for the Pergamene,
and he pleaded vigorously to be excused. Eventually, the Emperor gave
him permission to remain at home, entrusting to his care the young
prince Commodus.

Thereafter we know little of Galen's history, beyond the fact that he
now entered upon a period of great literary activity. Probably he died
about the end of the century.

[Sidenote: Subsequent History of Galen's Works.]

Galen wrote extensively, not only on anatomy, physiology, and medicine
in general, but also on logic; his logical proclivities, as will be
shown later, are well exemplified in his medical writings. A
considerable number of undoubtedly genuine works of his have come down
to us. The full importance of his contributions to medicine does not
appear to have been recognized till some time after his death, but
eventually, as already pointed out, the terms Galenism and Greek
medicine became practically synonymous.

A few words may be devoted to the subsequent history of his writings.

[Sidenote: Byzantine Medicine.]

During and after the final break-up of the Roman Empire came times or
confusion and of social reconstruction, which left little opportunity
for scientific thought and research. The Byzantine Empire, from the
4th century onwards, was the scene of much internal turmoil, in which
the militant activities of the now State-established Christian church
played a not inconsiderable part. The Byzantine medical scholars
were at best compilers, and a typical compiler was Oribasius,
body-physician to the Emperor Julian (4th century, A.D.); his
excellent _Synopsis_ was written in order to make the huge mass of
the Galenic writings available for the ordinary practitioner.

[Sidenote: Arabian Medicine.]

Greek medicine spread, with general Greek culture, throughout Syria,
and from thence was carried by the Nestorians, a persecuted heretical
sect, into Persia; here it became implanted, and hence eventually
spread to the Mohammedan world. Several of the Prophet's successors
(such as the Caliphs Harun-al-Rashid and Abdul-Rahman III) were great
patrons of Greek learning, and especially of medicine. The Arabian
scholars imbibed Aristotle and Galen with avidity. A partial
assimilation, however, was the farthest stage to which they could
attain; with the exception of pharmacology, the Arabians made
practically no independent additions to medicine. They were
essentially systematizers and commentators. "_Averrois che il gran
comento feo_"[2] may stand as the type _par excellence_ of the Moslem
sage.

Avicenna (Ebn Sina), (10th to 11th century) is the foremost name in
Arabian medicine: his "Book of the Canon in Medicine," when translated
into Latin, even overshadowed the authority of Galen himself for some
four centuries. Of this work the medical historian Max Neuburger says:
"Avicenna, according to his lights, imparted to contemporary medical
science the appearance of almost mathematical accuracy, whilst the art
of therapeutics, although empiricism did not wholly lack recognition,
was deduced as a logical sequence from theoretical (Galenic and
Aristotelian) premises."

[Sidenote: Introduction of Arabian Medicine to the West.
Arabo-Scholastic Period.]

Having arrived at such a condition in the hands of the Mohammedans,
Galenism was now destined to pass once more to the West. From the 11th
century onwards Latin translations of this "Arabian" Medicine (being
Greek medicine in oriental trappings) began to make their way into
Europe; here they helped to undermine the authority of the one medical
school of native growth which the West produced during the Middle
Ages--namely the School of Salerno.

Blending with the Scholastic philosophy at the universities of Naples
and Montpellier, the teachings of Aristotle and Galen now assumed a
position of supreme authority: from their word, in matters scientific
and medical, there was no appeal. In reference to this period the
Pergamene was referred to in later times as the "Medical Pope of the
Middle Ages."

It was of course the logical side of Galenism which chiefly commended
it to the mediaeval Schoolmen, as to the essentially speculative
Moslems.

[Sidenote: The Renascence.]

The year 1453, when Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks,
is often taken as marking the commencement of the Renascence. Among
the many factors which tended to stimulate and awaken men's minds
during these spacious times was the rediscovery of the Greek classics,
which were brought to Europe by, among others, the scholars who fled
from Byzantium. The Arabo-Scholastic versions of Aristotle and Galen
were now confronted by their Greek originals. A passion for Greek
learning was aroused. The freshness and truth of these old writings
helped to awaken men to a renewed sense of their own dignity and
worth, and to brace them in their own struggle for self-expression.

Prominent in this "Humanist" movement was the English physician,
Thomas Linacre (_c._ 1460-1524) who, having gained in Italy an
extraordinary zeal for the New Learning, devoted the rest of his life,
after returning to England, to the promotion of the _litterae
humaniores_, and especially to making Galen accessible to readers of
Latin. Thus the "_De Naturalibus Facultatibus_" appeared in London in
1523, and was preceded and followed by several other translations,
all marked by minute accuracy and elegant Latinity.

Two new parties now arose in the medical world--the so-called "Greeks"
and the more conservative "Arabists."

[Sidenote: Paracelsus.]

But the swing of the pendulum did not cease with the creation of the
liberal "Greek" party; the dazzling vision of freedom was to drive
some to a yet more anarchical position. Paracelsus, who flourished in
the first half of the 16th century, may be taken as typifying this
extremist tendency. His one cry was, "Let us away with all authority
whatsoever, and get back to Nature!" At his first lecture as professor
at the medical school of Basle he symbolically burned the works of
Galen and of his chief Arabian exponent, Avicenna.

[Sidenote: The Renascence Anatomists.]

But the final collapse of authority in medicine could not be brought
about by mere negativism. It was the constructive work of the
Renascence anatomists, particularly those of the Italian school, which
finally brought Galenism to the ground.

Vesalius (1514-64), the modern "Father of Anatomy," for dissecting
human bodies, was fiercely assailed by the hosts of orthodoxy,
including that stout Galenist, his old teacher Jacques Dubois (Jacobus
Sylvius). Vesalius held on his way, however, proving, _inter alia_,
that Galen had been wrong in saying that the interventricular septum
of the heart was permeable (_cf._ present volume, p. 321).

Michael Servetus (1509-53) suggested that the blood, in order to get
from the right to the left side of the heart, might have to pass
through the lungs. For his heterodox opinions he was burned at the
stake.

Another 16th-century anatomist, Andrea Cesalpino, is considered by the
Italians to have been a discoverer of the circulation of the blood
before Harvey; he certainly had a more or less clear idea of the
circulation, but, as in the case of the "organic evolutionists before
Darwin," he failed to prove his point by conclusive demonstration.

[Sidenote: William Harvey (1578-1657).]

William Harvey, the great Englishman who founded modern experimental
physiology and was the first to establish not only the fact of the
circulation but also the physical laws governing it, is commonly
reckoned the Father of Modern Medicine. He owed his interest in the
movements of the blood to Fabricio of Acquapendente, his tutor at
Padua, who drew his attention to the valves in the veins, thus
suggesting the idea of a circular as opposed to a to-and-fro motion.
Harvey's great generalisation, based upon a long series of experiments
_in vivo_, was considered to have given the _coup de grce_ to the
Galenic physiology, and hence threw temporary discredit upon the whole
system of medicine associated therewith.

Modern medicine, based upon a painstaking research into the details
of physiological function, had begun.

[Sidenote: Back to Galen!]

While we cannot sufficiently commend the results of the long modern
period of research-work to which the labours of the Renascence
anatomists from Vesalius to Harvey form a fitting prelude, we yet by
no means allow that Galen's general medical outlook was so entirely
invalidated as many imagine by the conclusive demonstration of his
anatomical errors. It is time for us now to turn to Galen again after
three hundred years of virtual neglect: it may be that he will help us
to see something fundamentally important for medical practice which is
beyond the power even of our microscopes and _X_-rays to reveal. While
the value of his work undoubtedly lies mainly in its enabling us to
envisage one of the greatest of the early steps attained by man in
medical knowledge, it also has a very definite intrinsic value of its
own.

[Sidenote: Galen's Debt to his Precursors.]

No attempt can be made here to determine how much of Galen's work is,
in the true sense of the word, original, and how much is drawn from
the labours of his predecessors. In any case, there is no doubt that
he was much more than a mere compiler and systematizer of other men's
work: he was great enough to be able not merely to collect, to digest,
and to assimilate all the best of the work done before his time, but,
adding to this the outcome of his own observations, experiments, and
reflections, to present the whole in an articulated "system" showing
that perfect balance of parts which is the essential criterion of a
work of art. Constantly, however, in his writings we shall come across
traces of the influence of, among others, Plato, Aristotle, and
writers of the Stoic school.

[Sidenote: Influence of Hippocrates on Galen.]

Although Galen is an eclectic in the best sense of influence of the
term, there is one name to which he pays a very special tribute--that
of his illustrious forerunner Hippocrates. Him on quite a number of
occasions he actually calls "divine" (_cf._ p. 293).

"Hippocrates," he says, "was the first known to us of all who have
been both physicians and philosophers, in that _he was the first to
recognise what nature does_." Here is struck the keynote of the
teaching of both Hippocrates and Galen; this is shown in the volume
before us, which deals with "the _natural_ faculties"--that is with
the faculties of this same "Nature" or vital principle referred to in
the quotation.

[Sidenote: "The Natural Faculties."]

If Galen be looked on as a crystallisation of Greek medicine, then
this book may be looked on as a crystallisation of Galen. Within its
comparatively short compass we meet with instances illustrating
perhaps most of the sides of this many-sided writer. The "Natural
Faculties" therefore forms an excellent prelude to the study of his
larger and more specialised works.

[Sidenote: Galen's "Physiology."]

What, now, is this "Nature" or biological principle upon which Galen,
like Hippocrates, bases the whole of his medical teaching, and which,
we may add, is constantly overlooked--if indeed ever properly
apprehended--by many physiologists of the present day? By using this
term Galen meant simply that, when we deal with a living thing, we are
dealing primarily with a unity, which, _qu_ living, is not further
divisible; all its parts can only be understood and dealt with as
being _in relation to_ this principle of unity. Galen was thus led to
criticise with considerable severity many of the medical and surgical
specialists of his time, who acted on the assumption (implicit if not
explicit) that the whole was merely the sum of its parts, and that if,
in an ailing organism, these parts were treated each in and for
itself, the health of the whole organism could in this way be
eventually restored.

Galen expressed this idea of the unity of the organism by saying that
it was governed by a _Physis_ or Nature ([Greek: h physis hper
dioikei to zon]), with whose "faculties" or powers it was the
province of [Greek: physiologia] (physiology, Nature-lore) to deal.
It was because Hippocrates had a clear sense of this principle that
Galen called him master. "Greatest," say the Moslems, "is Allah, and
Mohammed is his prophet." "Greatest," said Galen, "is the Physis, and
Hippocrates is its prophet." Never did Mohammed more zealously
maintain the unity of the Godhead than Hippocrates and Galen the unity
of the organism.

[Sidenote: Galen's Physics.]

But we shall not have read far before we discover that the term
_Physiology_, as used by Galen, stands not merely for what we
understand by it nowadays, but also for a large part of _Physics_ as
well. This is one of the chief sources of confusion in his writings.
Having grasped, for example, the uniqueness of the process of
_specific selection_ ([Greek: holk tou oikeiou]), by which the
tissues nourish themselves, he proceeds to apply this principle in
explanation of entirely different classes of phenomena; thus he mixes
it up with the physical phenomenon of the attraction of the lodestone
for iron, of dry grain for moisture, etc. It is noteworthy, however,
in these latter instances, that he does not venture to follow out his
comparison to its logical conclusion; he certainly stops short of
hinting that the lodestone (like a living organ or tissue)
_assimilates_ the metal which it has attracted!

Setting aside, however, these occasional half-hearted attempts to
apply his principle of a [Greek: physis] in regions where it has no
natural standing, we shall find that in the field of biology Galen
moves with an assurance bred of first-hand experience.

[Sidenote: The Mechanical Physicists.]

Against his attempt to "biologize" physics may be set the converse
attempt of the mechanical Atomist school. Thus in Asclepiades he found
a doughty defender of the view that physiology was "merely" physics.
Galen's ire being roused, he is not content with driving the enemy out
of the biological camp, but must needs attempt also to dislodge him
from that of physics, in which he has every right to be.

[Sidenote: The Anatomists.]

In defence of the universal validity of his principle, Galen also
tends to excessive disparagement of morphological factors; witness his
objection to the view of the anatomist Erasistratus that the calibre
of vessels played a part in determining the secretion of fluids (p.
123), that digestion was caused by the mechanical action of the
stomach walls (p. 243), and dropsy by induration of the liver (p.
171).

[Sidenote: Characteristics of the Living Organism.]

While combating the atomic explanation of physical processes, Galen of
course realised that there were many of these which could only be
explained according to what we should now call "mechanical laws." For
example, non-living things could be subjected to [Greek: phora]
(passive motion), they answered to the laws of gravity ([Greek: tais
tn hyln oiakizomena rhopais], p. 126). Furthermore, Galen did not
fail to see that living things also were not entirely exempted from
the operation of these laws; they too may be at least partly subject
to gravity (_loc. cit._); a hollow organ exerts, by virtue of its
cavity, an attraction similar to that of dilating bellows, as well as,
by virtue of the living tissue of its walls, a specifically "vital" or
selective kind of attraction (p. 325).

As a type of characteristically vital action we may take _nutrition_,
in which occurs a phenomenon which Galen calls _active motion_
([Greek: drastik kinsis]) or, more technically, _alteration_
([Greek: alloisis]). This active type of motion cannot be adequately
stated in terms of the passive movements (groupings and re-groupings)
of its constituent parts according to certain empirical "laws."
Alteration involves _self-movement_, a self-determination of the
organism or organic part. Galen does not attempt to explain this
fundamental characteristic of _alteration_ any further; he contents
himself with referring his opponents to Aristotle's work on the
"Complete Alteration of Substance" (p. 9).

The most important characteristic of the Physis or Nature is its
[Greek: techn]--its artistic creativeness. In other words, the living
organism is a creative artist. This feature may be observed typically
in its primary functions of _growth_ and _nutrition_; these are
dependent on the characteristic _faculties_ or powers, by virtue of
which each part draws to itself what is proper or appropriate to it
([Greek: to oikeion]) and rejects what is foreign ([Greek: to
allotrion]), thereafter appropriating or assimilating the attracted
material; this assimilation is an example of the _alteration_ (or
qualitative change) already alluded to; thus the food eaten is
"altered" into the various tissues of the body, each of these having
been provided by "Nature" with its own specific faculties of
attraction and repulsion.

[Sidenote: The Three Categories.]

Any of the operations of the living part may be looked on in three
ways, either (_a_) as a [Greek: dynamis], faculty, potentiality;
(_b_) as an [Greek: energeia], which is this [Greek: dynamis] in
operation; or (_c_) as an [Greek: ergon], the product or effect of the
[Greek: energeia].[3]

[Sidenote: Galen's Method.]

Like his master Hippocrates, Galen attached fundamental importance to
clinical observation--to the evidence of the senses as the
indispensable groundwork of all medical knowledge. He had also,
however, a forte for rapid generalisation from observations, and his
logical proclivities disposed him particularly to deductive
reasoning. Examples of an almost Euclidean method of argument may be
found in the _Natural Faculties_ (_e.g._ Book III. chap. i.). While
this method undoubtedly gave him much help in his search for truth, it
also not unfrequently led him astray. This is evidenced by his
attempt, already noted, to apply the biological principle of the
[Greek: physis] in physics. Characteristic examples of attempts to
force facts to fit premises will be found in Book II. chap. ix., where
our author demonstrates that yellow bile is "virtually" dry, and also,
by a process of exclusion, assigns to the spleen the function of
clearing away black bile. Strangest of all is his attempt to prove
that the same principle of specific attraction by which the ultimate
tissues nourish themselves (and the lodestone attracts iron!) accounts
for the reception of food into the stomach, of urine into the kidneys,
of bile into the gall-bladder, and of semen into the uterus.

These instances are given, however, without prejudice to the system of
generalisation and deduction which, in Galen's hands, often proved
exceedingly fruitful. He is said to have tried "to unite professional
and scientific medicine with a philosophic link." He objected,
however, to such extreme attempts at simplification of medical science
as that of the Methodists, to whom diseases were isolated entities,
without any relationships in time or space (_v._ p. xv. _supra_).

He based much of his pathological reasoning upon the "humoral theory"
of Hippocrates, according to which certain diseases were caused by one
or more of the four humours (blood, phlegm, black and yellow bile)
being in excess--that is, by various _dyscrasiae_. Our modern
conception of "hormone" action shows certain resemblances with this
theory.

Besides observation and reasoning, Galen took his stand on
_experiment_; he was one of the first of experimental physiologists,
as is illustrated in the present book by his researches into the
function of the kidneys (p. 59 _et seq._). He also conducted a long
series of experiments into the physiology of the spinal cord, to
determine what parts controlled movement and what sensibility.

As a practitioner he modelled his work largely on the broad and simple
lines laid down by Hippocrates. He had also at his disposal all the
acquisitions of biological science dating from the time of Aristotle
five hundred years earlier, and reinforced by the discoveries in
anatomy made by the Alexandrian school. To these he added a large
series of researches of his own.

Galen never confined himself to what one might call the academic or
strictly orthodox sources of information; he roamed the world over for
answers to his queries. For example, we find him on his journeys
between Pergamos and Rome twice visiting the island of Lemnos in order
to procure some of the _terra sigillata_, a kind of earth which had a
reputation for healing the bites of serpents and other wounds. At
other times he visited the copper-mines of Cyprus in search for
copper, and Palestine for the resin called Balm of Gilead.

By inclination and training Galen was the reverse of a "party-man." In
the _Natural Faculties_ (p. 55) he speaks of the bane of sectarian
partizanship, "harder to heal than any itch." He pours scorn upon the
ignorant "Erasistrateans" and "Asclepiadeans," who attempted to hide
their own incompetence under the shield of some great man's name
(_cf._ p. 141).

Of the two chief objects of his censure in the _Natural Faculties_,
Galen deals perhaps less rigorously with Erasistratus than with
Asclepiades. Erasistratus did at least recognize the existence of a
vital principle in the organism, albeit, with his eye on the
structures which the scalpel displayed he tended frequently to forget
it. The researches of the anatomical school of Alexandria had been
naturally of the greatest service to surgery, but in medicine they
sometimes had a tendency to check progress by diverting attention from
the whole to the part.

[Sidenote: The Pneuma or Spirit.]

Another novel conception frequently occurring in Galen's writings is
that of the _Pneuma_ (_i.e._ the breath, _spiritus_). This word is
used in two senses, as meaning (1) the inspired air, which was drawn
into the left side of the heart and thence carried all over the body
by the arteries; this has not a few analogies with oxygen,
particularly as its action in the tissues is attended with the
appearance of the so-called "innate heat." (2) A vital principle,
conceived as being made up of matter in the most subtle imaginable
state (_i.e._ air). This vital principle became resolved into three
kinds: (_a_) [Greek: pneuma physikon] or _spiritus naturalis_, carried
by the veins, and presiding over the subconscious vegetative life;
this "natural spirit" is therefore practically equivalent to the
[Greek: physis] or "nature" itself. (_b_) The [Greek: pneuma ztikon]
or _spiritus vitalis_; here particularly is a source of error, since
the air already alluded to as being carried by the arteries tends to
be confused with this principle of "individuality" or relative
autonomy in the circulatory (including, perhaps, the vasomotor)
system. (_c_) The [Greek: pneuma psychikon] or _spiritus animalis_
(anima = [Greek: psych]), carried by longitudinal canals in the nerves;
this corresponds to the [Greek: psych].

This view of a "vital principle" as necessarily consisting of matter
in a finely divided, fluid, or "etheric" state is not unknown even in
our day. Belief in the fundamental importance of the Pneuma formed the
basis of the teaching of another vitalist school in ancient Greece,
that of the Pneumatists.

[Sidenote: Galen and the Circulation of the Blood.]

It is unnecessary to detail here the various ways in which Galen's
physiological views differ from those of the Moderns, as most of these
are noticed in footnotes to the text of the present translation. His
ignorance of the circulation of the blood does not lessen the force of
his general physiological conclusions to the extent that might be
anticipated. In his opinion, the great bulk of the blood travelled
with a to-and-fro motion in the veins, while a little of it, mixed
with inspired air, moved in the same way along the arteries; whereas
we now know that all the blood goes outward by the arteries and
returns by the veins; in either case blood is carried to the tissues
by blood-vessels, and Galen's ideas of tissue-nutrition were
wonderfully sound. The ingenious method by which (in ignorance of the
pulmonary circulation) he makes blood pass from the right to the left
ventricle, may be read in the present work (p. 321). As will be seen,
he was conversant with the "anastomoses" between the ultimate branches
of arteries and veins, although he imagined that they were not used
under "normal" conditions.

[Sidenote: Galen's Character.]

Galen was not only a man of great intellectual gifts, but one also of
strong moral fibre. In his short treatise "That the best Physician is
also a Philosopher" he outlines his professional ideals. It is
necessary for the efficient healer to be versed in the three branches
of "philosophy," viz.: (_a_) _logic_, the science of how to think;
(_b_) _physics_, the science of what is--_i.e._ of "Nature" in the
widest sense; (_c_) _ethics_, the science of what to do. The amount of
toil which he who wishes to be a physician must undergo--firstly, in
mastering the work of his predecessors and afterwards in studying
disease at first hand--makes it absolutely necessary that he should
possess perfect self-control, that he should scorn money and the weak
pleasures of the senses, and should live laborious days.

Readers of the following pages will notice that Galen uses what we
should call distinctly immoderate language towards those who ventured
to differ from the views of his master Hippocrates (which were also
his own). The employment of such language was one of the few
weaknesses of his age which he did not transcend. Possibly also his
mother's choleric temper may have predisposed him to it.

The fact, too, that his vivisection experiments (_e.g._ pp. 59, 273)
were carried out apparently without any kind of anaesthetisation being
even thought of is abhorrent to the feelings of to-day, but must be
excused also on the ground that callousness towards animals was then
customary, men having probably never thought much about the subject.

[Sidenote: Galen's Greek Style.]

Galen is a master of language, using a highly polished variety of
Attic prose with a precision which can be only very imperfectly
reproduced in another tongue. Every word he uses has an exact and
definite meaning attached to it. Translation is particularly difficult
when a word stands for a physiological conception which is not now
held; instances are the words _anadosis_, _prosthesis_, and
_prosphysis_, indicating certain steps in the process by which
nutriment is conveyed from the alimentary canal to the tissues.

Readers will be surprised to find how many words are used by Galen
which they would have thought had been expressly coined to fit modern
conceptions; thus our author employs not merely such terms as
_physiology_, _phthisis_, _atrophy_, _anastomosis_, but also
_haematopoietic_, _anaesthesia_, and even _aseptic_! It is only fair,
however, to remark that these terms, particularly the last, were not
used by Galen in quite their modern significance.

[Sidenote: Summary.]

To resume, then: What contribution can Galen bring to the art of
healing at the present day? It was not, surely, for nothing that the
great Pergamene gave laws to the medical world for over a thousand
years!

Let us draw attention once more to:

(1) The high ideal which he set before the profession.

(2) His insistence on immediate contact with nature as the primary
condition for arriving at an understanding of disease; on the need for
due consideration of previous authorities; on the need also for
reflection--for employment of the mind's eye ([Greek: h logik
theria]) as an aid to the physical eye.

(3) His essentially broad outlook, which often helped him in the
comprehension of a phenomenon through his knowledge of an analogous
phenomenon in another field of nature.

(4) His keen appreciation of the unity of the organism, and of the
inter-dependence of its parts; his realisation that the vital
phenomena (physiological and pathological) in a living organism can
only be understood when considered in relation to the _environment_ of
that organism or part. This is the foundation for the war that Galen
waged _ outrance_ on the Methodists, to whom diseases were things
without relation to anything. This dispute is, unfortunately, not
touched upon in the present volume. What Galen combated was the
tendency, familiar enough in our own day, to reduce medicine to the
science of finding a label for each patient, and then treating not the
patient, but the label. (This tendency, we may remark in parenthesis,
is one which is obviously well suited for the _standardising_ purposes
of a State medical service, and is therefore one which all who have
the weal of the profession at heart must most jealously watch in the
difficult days that lie ahead.)

(5) His realisation of the inappropriateness and inadequacy of
physical formulae in explaining physiological activities. Galen's
disputes with Asclepiades over [Greek: ta prta ekeina smata ta
apath], over the [Greek: anarma stoicheia kai lrdeis onkoi], is but
another aspect of his quarrel with the Methodists regarding their
pathological "units," whose primary characteristic was just this same
[Greek: apatheia] (impassiveness to environment, "unimpressionability").
We have of course our Physiatric or Iatromechanical school at the
present day, to whom such processes as absorption from the alimentary
canal, the respiratory interchange of gases, and the action of the renal
epithelium are susceptible of a purely physical explanation.[4]

(6) His quarrel with the Anatomists, which was in essence the same as
that with the Atomists, and which arose from his clear realisation
that that primary and indispensable desideratum, a view of the whole,
could never be obtained by a mere summation of partial views; hence,
also, his sense of the dangers which would beset the medical art if it
were allowed to fall into the hands of a mere crowd of competing
specialists without any organising head to guide them.


    [1] _On the Affections of the Mind_, p. 41 (Khn's ed.).

    [2] "Averrhos who made the great Commentary" (Dante). It
    was Averrhos (Ebn Roshd) who, in the 12th century,
    introduced Aristotle to the Mohammedan world, and the
    "Commentary" referred to was on Aristotle.

    [3] What appear to me to be certain resemblances between
    the Galenical and the modern vitalistic views of Henri
    Bergson may perhaps be alluded to here. Galen's vital
    principle, [Greek: h technik physis] ("creative
    growth"), presents analogies with _l'Evolution cratrice_:
    both manifest their activity in producing qualitative
    change ([Greek: alloisis], _changement_): in both, the
    creative change cannot be analysed into a series of static
    states, but is one and continuous. In Galen, however, it
    comes to an end with the _development of the individual_,
    whereas in Bergson it continues indefinitely as the
    _evolution of life_. The three aspects of organic life may
    be tabulated thus:--

    [Greek: dynamis]  [Greek: energeia]         [Greek: ergon]

    Work to be done.  Work being done.           Work done, finished.
    Future aspect.      Present aspect.            Past aspect.
                        Function.                  Structure.
                        The _lan vital_.          A "thing."
                        A changing which
                          cannot be understood
                          as a sum of static
                          parts; a constant
                          becoming, never
                          stopping--at least
                          till the [Greek: ergon]
                          is reached.

    Bergson's         Bergson's                  Bergson's "outlook
     "teleological"     "philosophical"            of physical
      aspect.            aspect.                   science."

    Galen recognized "creativeness" ([Greek: techn]) in the
    _development_ of the individual and its parts (ontogeny)
    and in the maintenance of these, but he failed to
    appreciate the creative _evolution_ of species
    (phylogeny), which is, of course, part of the same
    process. To the teleologist the possibilities ([Greek:
    dynameis]) of the Physis are limited, to Bergson they
    are unlimited. Galen and Bergson agree in attaching most
    practical importance to the middle category--that of
    Function.

    While it must be conceded that Galen, following
    Aristotle, had never seriously questioned the fixity of
    species, the following quotation from his work _On
    Habits_ (chap. ii.) will show that he must have at least
    had occasional glimmerings of our modern point of view
    on the matter. Referring to _assimilation_, he says:
    "Just as everything we eat or drink becomes _altered in
    quality_, so of course also does the altering factor
    itself become altered.... A clear proof of the
    assimilation of things which are being nourished to that
    which is nourishing them is the change which occurs in
    plants and seeds; this often goes so far that what is
    highly noxious in one soil becomes, when transplanted
    into another soil, not merely harmless, but actually
    useful. This has been largely put to the test by those
    who compose memoirs on farming and on plants, as also by
    zoological authors who have written on the changes which
    occur according to the countries in which animals live.
    Since, therefore, not only is the nourishment altered by
    the creature nourished, but the latter itself also
    undergoes some slight alteration, _this slight
    alteration must necessarily become considerable in the
    course of time_, and thus properties resulting from
    prolonged habit must come to be on a par with natural
    properties."

    Galen fails to see the possibility that the "natural"
    properties themselves originated in this way, as
    activities which gradually became habitual--that is to
    say, that the effects of _nurture_ may become a "second
    nature," and so eventually _nature_ itself.

    The whole passage, however, may be commended to modern
    biologists--particularly, might one say, to those
    bacteriologists who have not yet realised how
    extraordinarily _relative_ is the term "specificity"
    when applied to the subject-matter of their science.

    [4] In terms of filtration, diffusion, and osmosis.




BIBLIOGRAPHY

Codices

Bibliothque Nationale. Paris. No. 2267.
Library of St. Mark. Venice. No. 275.


Translations

  Arabic translations by Honain in the Escurial Library, and
    in the Library at Leyden. Hebrew translation in the
    Library at Bonn. Latin translations in the Library of
    Gonville and Caius College (MSS.), No. 947; also by
    Linacre in editions published, London, 1523; Paris,
    1528; Leyden, 1540, 1548, and 1550; also by C.G. Khn,
    Leipzig, 1821.


Commentaries and Appreciations

  Nic. de Anglia in Bib. Nat. Paris (MSS.), No. 7015; J.
    Rochon, _ibidem_, No. 7025; J. Segarra, 1528; J. Sylvius,
    1550, 1560; L. Joubert, 1599; M. Sebitz, 1644, 1645;
    J.B. Pacuvius, 1554; J.C.G. Ackermann, 1821, in
    the introduction to Khn's translation, p. lxxx; Ilberg
    in articles on "Die Schriftstellerei des Klaudios
    Galenos," in _Rhein. Mus._, Nos. 44, 47, 51, and 52
    (years 1889, 1892, 1896 and 1897); I. von Mueller in
    _Qustiones Criticae de Galeni libris_, Erlangen, 1871;
    Steinschneider in Virchow's _Archiv_, No. cxxiv. for
    1891; Wenrich in _De auctorum graecorum versionibus
    et commentariis syriacis, arabicis, armiacis, persisque_,
    Leipzig, 1842.


SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS


  BOOK I


  Chapter I

  Distinction between the effects of (_a_) the organism's
  _psyche_ or soul (_b_) its _physis_ or nature. The
  author proposes to confine himself to a consideration of
  the latter--the vegetative--aspect of life.


  Chapter II

  Definition of terms. Different kinds of _motion_.
  _Alteration_ or qualitative change. Refutation of the
  Sophists' objection that such change is only apparent,
  not real. The four fundamental qualities of Hippocrates
  (later Aristotle). Distinction between _faculty_,
  _activity_ (function), and _effect_ (work or product).


  Chapter III

  It is by virtue of the _four qualities_ that each part
  functions. Some authorities subordinate the dry and the
  moist principles to the hot and the cold. Aristotle
  inconsistent here.


  Chapter IV

  We must suppose that there are _faculties_ corresponding
  in number to the visible _effects_ (or products) with
  which we are familiar.


  Chapter V

  Genesis, growth, and nutrition. Genesis (embryogeny)
  sub-divided into histogenesis and organogenesis. Growth
  is a tridimensional expansion of the solid parts formed
  during genesis. Nutrition.


  Chapter VI

  The process of genesis (embryogeny) from insemination
  onwards. Each of the simple, elementary, homogeneous
  parts (tissues) is produced by a special blend of the
  four primary alterative faculties (such secondary
  alterative faculties being _ostopoietic_,
  _neuropoietic_, etc.). A special _function_ and _use_
  also corresponds to each of these special tissues. The
  bringing of these tissues together into _organs_ and the
  disposal of these organs is performed by another faculty
  called _diaplastic_, _moulding_, or _formative_.


  Chapter VII

  We now pass from genesis to _growth_. Growth essentially
  a post-natal process; it involves two factors, expansion
  and nutrition, explained by analogy of a familiar
  child's game.


  Chapter VIII

  Nutrition.


  Chapter IX

  These three primary faculties (genesis, growth,
  nutrition) have various others subservient to them.


  Chapter X

  Nutrition not a simple process. (1) Need of subsidiary
  organs for the various stages of alteration, _e.g._, of
  bread into blood, of that into bone, etc. (2) Need also
  of organs for excreting the non-utilizable portions of
  the food, _e.g._, much vegetable matter is superfluous.
  (3) Need of organs of a third kind, for distributing the
  pabulum through the body.


  Chapter XI

  Nutrition analysed into the stages of application
  (_prosthesis_), adhesion (_prosphysis_), and
  assimilation. The stages illustrated by certain
  pathological conditions. Different shades of meaning of
  the term _nutriment_.


  Chapter XII

  The two chief medico-philosophical schools--Atomist and
  Vitalist. Hippocrates an adherent of the latter
  school--his doctrine of an original principle or
  "nature" in every living thing (doctrine of the unity of
  the organism).


  Chapter XIII

  Failure of Asclepiades to understand the functions of
  kidneys and ureters. His hypothesis of vaporization of
  imbibed fluids is here refuted. A demonstration of
  urinary secretion in the living animal; the forethought
  and artistic skill of Nature vindicated. Refutation also
  of Asclepiades's disbelief in the special selective
  action of purgative drugs.


  Chapter XIV

  While Asclepiades denies _in toto_ the obvious fact of
  specific attraction, Epicurus grants the fact, although
  his attempt to explain it by the atomic hypothesis
  breaks down. Refutation of the Epicurean theory of
  magnetic attraction. Instances of specific attraction of
  thorns and animal poisons by medicaments, of moisture by
  corn, etc.


  Chapter XV

  It now being granted that the urine is secreted by the
  kidneys, the _rationale_ of this secretion is enquired
  into. The kidneys are not mechanical filters, but are by
  virtue of their _nature_ possessed of a specific faculty
  of attraction.


  Chapter XVI

  Erasistratus, again, by his favourite principle of
  _horror vacui_ could never explain the secretion of
  urine by the kidneys. While, however, he acknowledged
  that the kidneys do secrete urine, he makes no attempt
  to explain this; he ignores, but does not attempt to
  refute, the Hippocratic doctrine of specific
  _attraction_. "Servile" position taken up by Asclepiades
  and Erasistratus in regard to this function of urinary
  secretion.


  Chapter XVII

  Three other attempts (by adherents of the Erasistratean
  school and by Lycus of Macedonia) to explain how the
  kidneys come to separate out urine from the blood. All
  these ignore the obvious principle of attraction.


  BOOK II


  Chapter I

  In order to explain dispersal of food from alimentary
  canal _vi_ the veins (_anadosis_) there is no need to
  invoke with Erasistratus, the _horror vacui_, since here
  again the principle of specific attraction is operative;
  moreover, blood is also driven forward by the
  compressing action of the stomach and the contractions
  of the veins. Possibility, however, of Erasistratus's
  factor playing a certain minor _rle_.


  Chapter II

  The Erasistratean idea that bile becomes separated out
  from the blood in the liver because, being the thinner
  fluid, it alone can enter the narrow stomata of the
  bile-ducts, while the thicker blood can only enter the
  wider mouths of the hepatic venules.


  Chapter III

  The morphological factors suggested by Erasistratus are
  quite inadequate to explain biological happenings.
  Erasistratus inconsistent with his own statements. The
  immanence of the _physis_ or nature; her shaping is not
  merely external like that of a statuary, but involves
  the entire substance. In genesis (embryogeny) the semen
  is the active, and the menstrual blood the passive,
  principle. Attractive, alterative, and formative
  faculties of the semen. Embryogeny is naturally followed
  by growth; these two functions distinguished.


  Chapter IV

  Unjustified claim by Erasistrateans that their founder
  had associations with the Peripatetic (Aristotelian)
  school. The characteristic physiological tenets of that
  school (which were all anticipated by Hippocrates) in no
  way agree with those of Erasistratus, save that both
  recognize the purposefulness of Nature; in practice,
  however, Erasistratus assumed numerous exceptions to
  this principle. Difficulty of understanding why he
  rejected the biological principle of attraction in
  favour of anatomical factors.


  Chapter V

  A further difficulty raised by Erasistratus's statement
  regarding secretion of bile in the liver.


  Chapter VI

  The same holds with nutrition. Even if we grant that
  veins may obtain their nutrient blood by virtue of the
  _horror vacui_ (chap. i.), how could this explain the
  nutrition of nerves? Erasistratus's hypothesis of minute
  elemental nerves and vessels within the ordinary visible
  nerves simply throws the difficulty further back. And is
  Erasistratus's minute "simple" nerve susceptible of
  further analysis, as the Atomists would assume? If so,
  this is opposed to the conception of a constructive and
  artistic Nature which Erasistratus himself shares with
  Hippocrates and the writer. And if his minute nerve is
  really elementary and not further divisible, then it
  cannot, according to his own showing, contain a cavity;
  therefore the _horror vacui_ does not apply to it. And
  how could this principle apply to the restoration to its
  original bulk of a part which had become thin through
  disease, where more matter must become attached than
  runs away? A quotation from Erasistratus shows that he
  did acknowledge an "attraction," although not exactly in
  the Hippocratic sense.


  Chapter VII

  In the last resort, the ultimate living elements
  (Erasistratus's _simple vessels_) must draw in their
  food by virtue of an inherent attractive faculty like
  that which the lodestone exerts on iron. Thus the
  process of anadosis, from beginning to end, can be
  explained without assuming a _horror vacui_.


  Chapter VIII

  Erasistratus's disregard for the humours. In respect to
  excessive formation of bile, however, prevention is
  better than cure: accordingly we must consider its
  pathology. Does blood pre-exist in the food, or does it
  come into existence in the body? Erasistratus's purely
  anatomical explanation of _dropsy_. He entirely avoids
  the question of the four qualities (_e.g._ the
  importance of innate heat) in the generation of the
  humours, etc. Yet the problem of blood-production is no
  less important than that of gastric digestion. Proof
  that bile does not pre-exist in the food. The four
  fundamental qualities of Hippocrates and Aristotle. How
  the humours are formed from food taken into the veins:
  when heat is in proportionate amount, blood results;
  when in excess, bile; when deficient, phlegm. Various
  conditions determining cold or warm temperaments. The
  four primary diseases result each from excess of one of
  the four qualities. Erasistratus unwillingly
  acknowledges this when he ascribes the indigestion
  occurring in fever to _impaired function_ of the
  stomach. For what causes this _functio laesa_? Proof
  that it is the fever (excess of innate heat).

  If, then, heat plays so important a part in abnormal
  functioning, so must it also in normal (_i.e._ causes of
  eucrasia involved in those of dyscrasia, of physiology
  in those of pathology). A like argument explains the
  _genesis of the humours_. Addition of warmth to things
  already warm makes them bitter; thus honey turns to bile
  in people who are already warm; where warmth deficient,
  as in old people, it turns to useful blood. This is a
  proof that bile does not pre-exist, as such, in the
  food.


  Chapter IX

  The _functions of organs_ also depend on the way in
  which the four qualities are mixed--_e.g._ the
  contracting function of the stomach. Treatment only
  possible when we know the _causes_ of errors of
  function. The Erasistrateans practically Empiricists in
  this respect. On an appreciation of the meaning of a
  _dyscrasia_ follows naturally the Hippocratic principle
  of treating opposites by opposites (_e.g._ cooling the
  over-heated stomach, warming it when chilled, etc.).
  Useless in treatment to know merely the function of each
  organ; we must know the _bodily condition_ which upsets
  this function. Blood is warm and moist. Yellow bile is
  warm and (virtually, though not apparently) dry. Phlegm
  is cold and moist. The fourth possible combination (cold
  and dry) is represented by _black bile_. For the
  clearing out of this humour from the blood, Nature has
  provided the spleen--an organ which, according to
  Erasistratus, fulfils no purpose. Proof of the
  importance of the spleen is the jaundice, toxaemia,
  etc., occurring when it is diseased. Erasistratus's
  failure to mention the views of leading authorities on
  this organ shows the hopelessness of his position. The
  Hippocratic view has now been demonstrated deductively
  and inductively. The classical view as to the generation
  of the humours. Normal and pathological forms of yellow
  and black bile. Part played by the _innate heat_ in
  their production. Other kinds of bile are merely
  transition-stages between these extreme types. Abnormal
  forms removed by liver and spleen respectively. Phlegm,
  however, does not need a special excretory organ, as it
  can undergo entire metabolism in the body.

  Need for studying the works of the Ancients carefully,
  in order to reach a proper understanding of this
  subject.


  BOOK III


  Chapter I

  A recapitulation of certain points previously
  demonstrated. Every part of the animal has an attractive
  and an alterative (assimilative) faculty; it attracts
  the nutrient juice which is proper to it. Assimilation
  is preceded by adhesion (_prosphysis_) and that again,
  by application (_prosthesis_). Application the goal of
  attraction. It would not, however, be followed by
  adhesion and assimilation if each part did not also
  possess a faculty for _retaining in position_ the
  nutriment which has been applied. _A priori_ necessity
  for this _retentive_ faculty.


  Chapter II

  The same faculty to be proved _a posteriori_. Its
  corresponding _function_ (_i.e._ the activation of this
  faculty or potentiality) well seen in the large hollow
  organs, notably the uterus and stomach.


  Chapter III

  Exercise of the retentive faculty particularly well seen
  in the uterus. Its object is to allow the embryo to
  attain full development; this being completed, a new
  faculty--the expulsive--hitherto quiescent, comes into
  play. Characteristic signs and symptoms of pregnancy.
  Tight grip of uterus on growing embryo, and accurate
  closure of os uteri during operation of the retentive
  faculty. Dilatation of os and expulsive activities of
  uterus at full term, or when foetus dies. Prolapse from
  undue exercise of this faculty. _Rle_ of the midwife.
  Accessory muscles in parturition.


  Chapter IV

  Same two faculties seen in stomach. _Gurglings_ or
  _borborygmi_ show that this organ is weak and is not
  gripping its contents tightly enough. Undue delay of
  food in a weak stomach proved not to be due to
  narrowness of pylorus: length of stay depends on whether
  _digestion_ (another instance of the characteristically
  vital process of _alteration_) has taken place or not.
  Erasistratus wrong in attributing digestion merely to
  the mechanical action of the stomach walls. When
  digestion completed, then pylorus opens and allows
  contents to pass downwards, just as os uteri when
  development of embyro completed.


  Chapter V

  If attraction and elimination always proceeded _pari
  passu_, the content of these hollow organs (including
  gall-bladder and urinary bladder) would never vary in
  amount. A _retentive_ faculty, therefore, also logically
  needed. Its existence demonstrated. Expulsion determined
  by qualitative and quantitative changes of contents.
  "Diarrhoea" of stomach. Vomiting.


  Chapter VI

  Every organic part has an _appetite_ and _aversion_ for
  the qualities which are appropriate and foreign to it
  respectively. Attraction necessarily leads to a certain
  _benefit_ received. This again necessitates _retention_.


  Chapter VII

  Interaction between two bodies; the stronger masters the
  weaker; a deleterious drug masters the forces of the
  body, whereas food is mastered by them; this mastery is
  an _alteration_, and the amount of alteration varies
  with the different organs; thus a partial alteration is
  effected in mouth by saliva, but much greater in
  stomach, where not only gastric juice, but also bile,
  pneuma, innate heat (_i.e._ oxidation?), and other
  powerful factors are brought to bear on it; need of
  considerable alteration in stomach as a
  transition-stage between food and blood; appearance of
  faeces in intestine another proof of great alteration
  effected in stomach. Asclepiades's denial of real
  qualitative change in stomach rebutted. Erasistratus's
  denial that digestion in any way resembles a _boiling_
  process comes from his taking words too literally.


  Chapter VIII

  Erasistratus denies that the stomach exerts any pull in
  the act of swallowing. That he is wrong, however, is
  proved by the anatomical structure of the stomach--its
  inner coat with longitudinal fibres obviously acts as a
  _vis a fronte_ (attraction), whilst its outer coat
  exercises through the contraction of its circular fibres
  a _vis a tergo_ (propulsion); the latter also comes into
  play in vomiting. The stomach uses the oesophagus as a
  kind of hand, to draw in its food with. The functions of
  the two coats proved also by vivisection. Swallowing
  cannot be attributed merely to the force of gravity.


  Chapter IX

  These four faculties which subserve nutrition are thus
  apparent in many different parts of the body.


  Chapter X

  Need for elaborating the statements of the ancient
  physicians. Superiority of Ancients to Moderns. This
  state of affairs can only be rectified by a really
  efficient education of youth. The chief requisites of
  such an education.


  Chapter XI

  For the sake of the few who realty wish truth, the
  argument will be continued. A third kind of fibre--the
  _oblique_--subserves _retention_; the way in which this
  fibre is disposed in different coats.


  Chapter XII

  The factor which brings the expulsive faculty into
  action is essentially a condition of the organ or its
  contents which is the reverse of that which determined
  attraction. Analogy between abortion and normal
  parturition. Whatever produces _discomfort_ must be
  expelled. That discomfort also determines expulsion of
  contents from gall-bladder is not so evident as in the
  case of stomach, uterus, urinary bladder, etc., but can
  be logically demonstrated.


  Chapter XIII

  Expulsion takes place through the same channel as
  attraction (_e.g._, in stomach, gall-bladder, uterus).
  Similarly the delivery (_anadosis_) of nutriment to the
  liver from the food-canal _vi_ the mesenteric veins may
  have its direction reversed. Continuous give-and-take
  between different parts of the body; superior strength
  of certain parts is natural, of others acquired. When
  liver contains abundant food and stomach depleted,
  latter may draw on former; this occurs when animal can
  get nothing to eat, and so prevents starvation.
  Similarly, when one part becomes over-distended, it
  tends to deposit its excess in some weaker part near it;
  this passes it on to some still weaker part, which
  cannot get rid of it; hence _deposits_ of various kinds.
  Further instances of reversal of the normal direction of
  anadosis from the food canal through the veins. Such
  reversal of functions would in any case be expected _a
  priori_. In the vomiting of intestinal obstruction,
  matter may be carried backwards all the way from the
  intestine to the mouth; not surprising, therefore, that,
  under certain circumstances, food-material might be
  driven right back from the skin-surface to the
  alimentary canal (_e.g._ in excessive chilling of
  surface); not much needed to determine this reversal of
  direction. Action of purgative drugs upon terminals of
  veins; one part draws from another until whole body
  participates; similarly in intestinal obstruction, each
  part passes on the irritating substance to its weaker
  neighbour. Reversal of direction of flow occurs not
  merely on occasion but also constantly (as in arteries,
  lungs, heart, etc.). The various stages of normal
  nutrition described. Why the stomach sometimes draws
  back the nutriment it had passed on to portal veins and
  liver. A similar ebb and flow in relation to the spleen.
  Comparison of the parts of the body to a lot of animals
  at a feast. The valves of the heart are a provision of
  Nature to prevent this otherwise inevitable
  regurgitation, though even they are not quite efficient.


  Chapter XIV

  The superficial arteries, when they dilate, draw in air
  from the atmosphere, and the deeper ones a fine,
  vaporous blood from the veins and heart. Lighter matter
  such as air will always be drawn in preference to
  heavier; this is why the arteries in the food-canal draw
  in practically none of the nutrient matter contained in
  it.


  Chapter XV

  The two kinds of attraction--the mechanical attraction
  of dilating bellows and the "physical" (vital)
  attraction by living tissue of nutrient matter which is
  specifically allied or appropriate to it. The former
  kind--that resulting from _horror vacui_--acts primarily
  on light matter, whereas vital attraction has no
  essential concern with such mechanical factors. A hollow
  organ exercises, by virtue of its cavity, the former
  kind of attraction, and by virtue of the living tissue
  of its walls, the second kind. Application of this to
  question of contents of arteries; _anastomoses of
  arteries and veins_. _Foramina in interventricular
  septum of heart_, allowing some blood to pass from right
  to left ventricle. Large size of aorta probably due to
  fact that it not merely carries the pneuma received from
  the lungs, but also some of the blood which percolates
  through septum from right ventricle. Thus arteries carry
  not merely pneuma, but also some light vaporous blood,
  which certain parts need more than the ordinary thick
  blood of the veins. The organic parts must have their
  blood-supply sufficiently near to allow them to absorb
  it; comparison with an irrigation system in a garden.
  Details of the process of nutrition in the ultimate
  specific tissues; some are nourished from the blood
  directly; in others a series of intermediate stages must
  precede complete assimilation; for example, marrow is an
  intermediate stage between blood and bone.

  From the generalisations arrived at in the present work
  we can deduce the explanation of all kinds of particular
  phenomena; an instance is given, showing the
  co-operation of various factors previously discussed.




                              GALEN

                   ON THE NATURAL FACULTIES[5]


                              BOOK I


                                I

Since feeling and voluntary motion are peculiar to animals, whilst
growth and nutrition are common to plants as well, we may look on the
former as effects[6] of the _soul_[7] and the latter as effects of the
_nature_.[8] And if there be anyone who allows a share in soul to
plants as well, and separates the two kinds of soul, naming the kind
in question _vegetative_, and the other _sensory_, this person is not
saying anything else, although his language is somewhat unusual. We,
however, for our part, are convinced that the chief merit of language
is clearness, and we know that nothing detracts so much from this as
do unfamiliar terms; accordingly we employ those terms which the bulk
of people are accustomed to use, and we say that animals are governed
at once by their soul and by their nature, and plants by their nature
alone, and that growth and nutrition are the effects of nature, not of
soul.


                    GALNOU

             PERI PHYSIKN DYNAMEN


                        A


                        I

  Epeid to men aisthanesthai te kai kineisthai kata              1
  proairesin idia tn zn esti, to d' auxanesthai te kai
  trephesthai koina kai tois phytois, ei an ta men
  protera ts psychs, ta de deutera ts physes erga. ei
  de tis kai tois phytois psychs metadidsi kai
  diairoumenos autas onomazei phytikn men tautn,
  aisthtikn de tn heteran, legei men oud' houtos alla,
  t lexei d' ou pany t synthei kechrtai. all' hmeis
  ge megistn lexes aretn saphneian einai pepeismenoi
  kai tautn eidotes || hyp' oudenos houts hs hypo tn          2
  asynthn onomatn diaphtheiromenn, hs tois pollois
  ethos, houts onomazontes hypo men psychs th' hama kai
  physes ta za dioikeisthai phamen, hypo de physes
  mons ta phyta kai to g' auxanesthai te kai trephesthai
  physes erga phamen, ou psychs.


                              II

Thus we shall enquire, in the course of this treatise, from what
_faculties_ these effects themselves, as well as any other effects of
nature which there may be, take their origin.

First, however, we must distinguish and explain clearly the various
terms which we are going to use in this treatise, and to what things
we apply them; and this will prove to be not merely an explanation of
terms but at the same time a demonstration of the effects of nature.

When, therefore, such and such a body undergoes no change from its
existing state, we say that it is _at rest_; but, if it departs from
this in any respect we then say that in this respect it _undergoes
motion_.[9] Accordingly, when it departs in various ways from its
pre-existing state, it will be said to undergo various kinds of
motion. Thus, if that which is white becomes black, or what is black
becomes white, it undergoes motion in respect to _colour_; or if what
was previously sweet now becomes bitter, or, conversely, from being
bitter now becomes sweet, it will be said to undergo motion in respect
to _flavour_; to both of these instances, as well as to those
previously mentioned, we shall apply the term _qualitative motion_.
And further, it is not only things which are altered in regard to
colour and flavour which, we say, undergo motion; when a warm thing
becomes cold, and a cold warm, here, too we speak of its undergoing
motion; similarly also when anything moist becomes dry, or dry
moist. Now, the common term which we apply to all these cases is
_alteration_.

This is one kind of motion. But there is another kind which occurs in
bodies which change their position, or as we say, pass from one place
to another; the name of this is _transference_.[10]

These two kinds of motion, then, are simple and primary, while
compounded from them we have _growth_ and _decay_,[11] as when a small
thing becomes bigger, or a big thing smaller, each retaining at the
same time its particular form. And two other kinds of motion are
_genesis_ and _destruction_,[12] genesis being a coming into
existence,[13] and destruction being the opposite.

Now, common to all kinds of motion is _change from the pre-existing
state_, while common to all conditions of rest is _retention of the
pre-existing state_. The Sophists, however, while allowing that bread
in turning into blood becomes changed as regards sight, taste, and
touch, will not agree that this change occurs in reality. Thus some of
them hold that all such phenomena are tricks and illusions of our
senses; the senses, they say, are affected now in one way, now in
another, whereas the underlying substance does not admit of any of
these changes to which the names are given. Others (such as
Anaxagoras)[14] will have it that the qualities do exist in it, but
that they are unchangeable and immutable from eternity to eternity,
and that these apparent alterations are brought about by _separation_
and _combination_.

Now, if I were to go out of my way to confute these people, my
subsidiary task would be greater than my main one. Thus, if they do
not know all that has been written, "On Complete Alteration of
Substance"[15] by Aristotle, and after him by Chrysippus,[16] I must
beg of them to make themselves familiar with these men's writings. If,
however, they know these, and yet willingly prefer the worse views to
the better, they will doubtless consider my arguments foolish also. I
have shown elsewhere that these opinions were shared by Hippocrates,
who lived much earlier than Aristotle. In fact, of all those known to
us who have been both physicians and philosophers Hippocrates was the
first who took in hand to demonstrate that there are, in all, four
mutually interacting _qualities_, and that to the operation of these
is due the genesis and destruction of all things that come into and
pass out of being. Nay, more; Hippocrates was also the first to
recognise that all these qualities undergo an intimate mingling with
one another; and at least the beginnings of the proofs to which
Aristotle later set his hand are to be found first in the writings of
Hippocrates.

As to whether we are to suppose that the _substances_ as well as their
_qualities_ undergo this intimate mingling, as Zeno of Citium
afterwards declared, I do not think it necessary to go further into
this question in the present treatise;[17] for immediate purposes we
only need to recognize the _complete alteration of substance_. In
this way, nobody will suppose that bread represents a kind of
meeting-place[18] for bone, flesh, nerve, and all the other parts, and
that each of these subsequently becomes separated in the body and goes
to join its own kind;[19] before any separation takes place, the whole
of the bread obviously becomes blood; (at any rate, if a man takes no
other food for a prolonged period, he will have blood enclosed in his
veins all the same).[20] And clearly this disproves the view of those
who consider the elements[21] unchangeable, as also, for that matter,
does the oil which is entirely used up in the flame of the lamp, or
the faggots which, in a somewhat longer time, turn into fire.

I said, however, that I was not going to enter into an argument with
these people, and it was only because the example was drawn from the
subject-matter of medicine, and because I need it for the present
treatise, that I have mentioned it. We shall then, as I said, renounce
our controversy with them, since those who wish may get a good grasp
of the views of the ancients from our own personal investigations into
these matters.

The discussion which follows we shall devote entirely, as we
originally proposed, to an enquiry into the number and character of
the _faculties_ of Nature, and what is the effect which each naturally
produces. Now, of course, I mean by an effect[22] that which has
already come into existence and has been completed by the
_activity_[23] of these faculties--for example, blood, flesh, or
nerve. And _activity_ is the name I give to the active change or
_motion_, and the _cause_ of this I call a _faculty_. Thus, when food
turns into blood, the motion of the food is passive, and that of the
vein active. Similarly, when the limbs have their position altered, it
is the muscle which produces, and the bones which undergo the motion.
In these cases I call the motion of the vein and of the muscle an
_activity_, and that of the food and the bones a _symptom_ or
_affection_,[24] since the first group undergoes _alteration_ and the
second group is merely _transported_. One might, therefore, also speak
of the _activity_ as an _effect_ of Nature[25]--for example,
digestion, absorption,[26] blood-production; one could not, however,
in every case call the effect an activity; thus flesh is an effect of
Nature, but it is, of course, not an activity. It is, therefore, clear
that one of these terms is used in two senses, but not the other.


                       II

  Kai ztsomen kata tonde ton logon, hypo tinn gignetai
  dynamen auta d tauta kai ei d ti allo physes ergon
  estin.

  Alla proteron ge dielesthai te chr kai mnysai saphs
  hekaston tn onomatn, hois chrsometha kata tonde ton
  logon, kai eph' ho ti pheromen pragma. gensetai de
  tout' euthys ergn physikn didaskalia syn tais tn
  onomatn exgsesin.

  Hotan oun ti sma kata mden exallatttai tn
  proparchontn, hsychazein auto phamen; ei d' existaito
  p, kat' ekeino kineisthai. kai toinyn epei polyeids
  existatai, polyeids kai kinthsetai. kai gar ei leukon
  hyparchon melainoito kai ei melan leukainoito, kineitai
  kata chroan, kai ei glyky tes hyparchon authis ||              3
  austron  empalin ex austrou glyky genoito, kai tout'
  an kineisthai legoito kata ton chymon. amph de tauta te
  kai ta proeirmena kata tn poiotta kineisthai
  lechthsetai kai ou monon ge ta kata tn chroan  ton
  chymon exallattomena kineisthai phamen, alla kai to
  thermoteron ek psychroterou genomenon  psychroteron ek
  thermoterou kineisthai kai touto legomen, hsper ge kai
  ei ti xron ex hygrou  hygron ek xrou gignoito. koinon
  de kata toutn hapantn onoma pheromen tn alloisin.

  Hen ti touto genos kinses. heteron de genos epi tois
  tas chras ameibousi smasi kai topon ek topou
  metallattein legomenois, onoma de kai tout phora.

  Hautai men oun hai dyo kinseis haplai kai prtai,
  synthetoi d' ex autn auxsis te kai phthisis, hotan ex
  elattonos ti meizon  ek meizonos elatton gentai
  phylatton to oikeion eidos. heterai de dyo kinseis
  genesis kai phthora, genesis men h eis ousian agg,
  phthora d' h enantia.

  Pasais de tais kinsesi koinon exallaxis tou ||                 4
  proparchontos, hsper oun kai tais hsychiais h
  phylak tn proparchontn. all' hoti men exallattetai
  kai pros tn opsin kai pros tn geusin kai pros tn
  haphn haima gignomena ta sitia, synchrousin; hoti de
  kai kat' altheian, ouketi touth' homologousin hoi
  sophistai. hoi men gar tines autn hapanta ta toiauta
  tn hmetern aisthsen apatas tinas kai paraggas
  nomizousin allot' alls paschousn, ts hypokeimens
  ousias mden toutn, hois eponomazetai, dechomens; hoi
  de tines einai men en aut boulontai tas poiottas,
  ametabltous de kai atreptous ex ainos eis aina kai
  tas phainomenas tautas alloiseis t diakrisei te kai
  synkrisei gignesthai phasin hs Anaxagoras.

  Ei d toutous ektrapomenos exelenchoimi, meizon an moi
  to parergon tou ergou genoito. ei men gar ouk isasin,
  hosa peri ts kath' holn tn ousian alloises
  Aristotelei te kai met' auton Chrysipp gegraptai,
  parakalesai chr tois ekeinn autous homilsai
  grammasin; ei de gignskontes epeith' hekontes ta cheir
  pro tn beltionn || hairountai, mataia dpou kai ta            5
  hmetera nomiousin. hoti de kai Hippokrats houts
  egignsken Aristotelous eti proteros n, en heterois
  hmin apodedeiktai. prtos gar houtos hapantn hn ismen
  iatrn te kai philosophn apodeiknyein epecheirse
  tettaras einai tas pasas drastikas eis alllas
  poiottas, hyph' hn gignetai te kai phtheiretai panth',
  hosa genesin te kai phthoran epidechetai. kai mentoi kai
  to kerannysthai di' allln autas holas di' holn
  Hippokrats hapantn prtos egn; kai tas archas ge tn
  apodeixen, hn hysteron Aristotels metecheirisato,
  par' ekein prt gegrammenas estin heurein.

  Ei d' hsper tas poiottas hout kai tas ousias di'
  holn kerannysthai chr nomizein, hs hysteron
  apephnato Znn ho Kittieus, ouch hgoumai dein eti
  peri toutou kata tonde ton logon epexienai. monn gar
  eis ta paronta deomai gignskesthai tn di' hols ts
  ousias alloisin, hina m tis ostou kai sarkos kai
  neurou kai tn alln hekastou morin hoionei misgankeian
  tina t art nomis periechesthai kapeit' en || t              6
  smati diakrinomenon hs to homophylon hekaston ienai.
  kaitoi pro ge ts diakrises haima phainetai gignomenos
  ho pas artos. ei goun pampoll tis chron mden all' ei
  sition prospheromenos, ouden htton en tais phlepsin
  haima periechomenon hexei. kai phaners touto tn tn
  ametablta ta stoicheia tithemenn exelenchei doxan,
  hsper oimai kai toulaion eis tn tou lychnou phloga
  katanaliskomenon hapan kai ta xyla pyr mikron hysteron
  gignomena.

  Kaitoi to g' antilegein autois rnsamn, all' epei ts
  iatriks hyls n to paradeigma kai chrz pros ton
  paronta logon autou, dia tout' emnmoneusa. katalipontes
  oun, hs ephn, tn pros toutous antilogian, <enon> tois
  boulomenois ta tn palain ekmanthanein kax hn hmeis
  idia peri autn epeskemmetha.

  Ton ephexs logon hapanta poisometha ztountes hyper
  hn ex archs prouthemetha, posai te kai tines eisin hai
  ts physes dynameis kai ti poiein ergon hekast
  pephyken. ergon de dlonoti kal to gegonos d kai
  sympepl||rmenon hypo ts energeias autn, hoion to            7
  haima, tn sarka, to neuron; energeian de tn drastikn
  onomaz kinsin kai tn tauts aitian dynamin. epei gar
  en t to sition haima gignesthai pathtik men h tou
  sitiou, drastik d' h ts phlebos gignetai kinsis,
  hsauts de kan t metapherein ta kla kinei men ho mys,
  kineitai de ta osta, tn men ts phlebos kai tn myn
  kinsin energeian einai phmi, tn de tn sitin te kai
  tn ostn symptma te kai pathma; ta men gar
  alloioutai, ta de pheretai. tn men oun energeian
  enchrei kalein kai ergon ts physes, hoion tn pepsin,
  tn anadosin, tn haimatsin, ou mn to g' ergon ex
  hapantos energeian; h gar toi sarx ergon men esti ts
  physes, ou mn energeia ge. dlon oun, hs thateron men
  tn onomatn dichs legetai, thateron d' ou.


                             III

It appears to me, then, that the vein, as well as each of the other
parts, functions in such and such a way according to the manner in
which _the four qualities_[27] are mixed. There are, however, a
considerable number of not undistinguished men--philosophers and
physicians--who refer action to the Warm and the Cold, and who
subordinate to these, as passive, the Dry and the Moist; Aristotle, in
fact, was the first who attempted to bring back the causes of the
various special activities to these principles, and he was followed
later by the Stoic school. These latter, of course, could logically
make active principles of the Warm and Cold, since they refer the
change of the elements themselves into one another to certain
_diffusions_ and _condensations_.[28] This does not hold of Aristotle,
however; seeing that he employed the four qualities to explain the
genesis of the elements, he ought properly to have also referred the
causes of all the special activities to these. How is it that he uses
the four qualities in his book "On Genesis and Destruction," whilst in
his "Meteorology," his "Problems," and many other works he uses the
two only? Of course, if anyone were to maintain that in the case of
animals and plants the Warm and Cold are _more_ active, the Dry and
Moist _less_ so, he might perhaps have even Hippocrates on his side;
but if he were to say that this happens in all cases, he would, I
imagine, lack support, not merely from Hippocrates, but even from
Aristotle himself--if, at least, Aristotle chose to remember what he
himself taught us in his work "On Genesis and Destruction," not as a
matter of simple statement, but with an accompanying demonstration. I
have, however, also investigated these questions, in so far as they
are of value to a physician, in my work "On Temperaments."


                      III

  Emoi men oun kai h phleps kai tn alln hapantn
  hekaston dia tn ek tn tettarn poian krasin hdi ps
  energein dokei. eisi de ge mn ouk oligoi tines andres
  || oud' adoxoi, philosophoi te kai iatroi, t men therm        8
  kai t psychr to dran anapherontes, hypoballontes d'
  autois pathtika to xron te kai to hygron. kai prtos
  g' Aristotels tas tn kata meros hapantn aitias eis
  tautas anagein peiratai tas archas, kolouthse d'
  hysteron aut kai ho apo ts stoas choros. kaitoi
  toutois men, hs an kai autn tn stoichein tn eis
  allla metaboln chysesi te tisi kai pilsesin
  anapherousin, eulogon n archas drastikas poisasthai to
  thermon kai to psychron, Aristotelei d' ouch houts,
  alla tais tettarsi poiotsin eis tn tn stoichein
  genesin chrmen beltion n kai tas tn kata meros
  aitias hapasas eis tautas anagein. ti dpot' oun en men
  tois peri geneses kai phthoras tais tettarsi chrtai,
  en de tois meterologikois kai tois problmasi kai
  allothi pollachothi tais dyo monais? ei men gar hs en
  tois zois te kai tois phytois mallon men dra to thermon
  kai to psychron, htton de to xron kai to hygron
  apophainoito tis, iss an echoi kai ton Hippokratn
  sympsphon; ei d' hsauts en || hapasin, ouket' oimai          9
  synchrsein touto m hoti ton Hippokratn alla md'
  auton ton Aristoteln memnsthai ge boulomenon hn en
  tois peri geneses kai phthoras ouch hapls alla met'
  apodeixes autos hmas edidaxen. alla peri men toutn
  kan tois peri krasen, eis hoson iatr chrsimon,
  epeskepsametha.


                              IV

The so-called _blood-making_[29] faculty in the veins, then, as well
as all the other faculties, fall within the category of relative
concepts; primarily because the faculty is the cause of the activity,
but also, accidentally, because it is the cause of the effect. But if
the cause is relative to something--for it is the cause of what
results from it, and of nothing else--it is obvious that the faculty
also falls into the category of the relative; and so long as we are
ignorant of the true essence of the cause which is operating, we call
it a _faculty_. Thus we say that there exists in the veins a
blood-making faculty, as also a digestive[30] faculty in the stomach,
a pulsatile[31] faculty in the heart, and in each of the other parts a
special faculty corresponding to the function or activity of that
part. If, therefore, we are to investigate methodically the number and
kinds of faculties, we must begin with the effects; for each of these
effects comes from a certain activity, and each of these again is
preceded by a cause.


                       IV

  H d' oun dynamis h en tais phlepsin h haimatopoitik
  prosagoreuomen kai pasa d' all dynamis en t pros ti
  nenotai; prts men gar ts energeias aitia, d de kai
  tou ergou kata symbebkos. all' eiper h aitia pros ti,
  tou gar hyp' auts genomenou monou, tn d' alln
  oudenos, eudlon, hoti kai h dynamis en t pros ti. kai
  mechri g' an agnomen tn ousian ts energouss aitias,
  dynamin autn onomazomen, einai tina legontes en tais
  phlepsin haimatopoitikn, hsauts de kan t koilia
  peptikn kan t kardia sphygmikn kai kath' hekaston tn
  alln idian tina ts || kata to morion energeias. eiper        10
  oun method melloimen exeursein, hoposai te kai hopoiai
  tines hai dynameis eisin, apo tn ergn autn arkteon;
  hekaston gar autn hypo tinos energeias gignetai kai
  toutn hekasts progeitai tis aitia.


                               V

The effects of Nature, then, while the animal is still being formed in
the womb, are all the different _parts_ of its body; and after it has
been born, an effect in which all parts share is the progress of each
to its full size, and thereafter its maintenance of itself as long as
possible.

The activities corresponding to the three effects mentioned are
necessarily three--one to each--namely, Genesis, Growth, and
Nutrition. Genesis, however, is not a simple activity of Nature, but
is compounded of _alteration_ and of _shaping_.[32] That is to say, in
order that bone, nerve, veins, and all other [tissues] may come into
existence, the _underlying substance_ from which the animal springs
must be _altered_; and in order that the substance so altered may
acquire its appropriate shape and position, its cavities, outgrowths,
attachments, and so forth, it has to undergo a _shaping_ or
_formative_ process.[33] One would be justified in calling this
substance which undergoes alteration the _material_ of the animal,
just as wood is the material of a ship, and wax of an image.

_Growth_ is an increase and expansion in length, breadth, and
thickness of the solid parts of the animal (those which have been
subjected to the moulding or shaping process). _Nutrition_ is an
addition to these, without expansion.


                        V

  Erga toinyn ts physes eti men kyoumenou te kai
  diaplattomenou tou zou ta sympant' esti tou smatos
  moria, gennthentos de koinon eph' hapasin ergon h eis
  to teleion hekast megethos agg kai meta tauth' h
  mechri tou dynatou diamon.

  Energeiai d' epi trisi tois eirmenois ergois treis ex
  ananks, eph' hekast mia, genesis te kai auxsis kai
  threpsis. all' h men genesis ouch hapl tis energeia
  ts physes, all' ex alloises te kai diaplases esti
  synthetos. hina men gar ostoun gentai kai neuron kai
  phleps kai tn alln hekaston, alloiousthai chr tn
  hypobeblmenn ousian, ex hs gignetai to zon; hina de
  kai schma to deon kai thesin kai koilottas tinas kai
  apophyseis kai symphyseis kai talla || ta toiauta              11
  ktstai, diaplattesthai chr tn alloioumenn ousian,
  hn d kai hyln tou zou kaln, hs ts nes ta xyla
  kai ts eikonos ton kron, ouk an hamartois.

  H d' auxsis epidosis esti kai diastasis kata mkos kai
  platos kai bathos tn steren tou zou morin, hnper
  kai h diaplasis n, h de threpsis prosthesis tois
  autois aneu diastases.


                              VI

Let us speak then, in the first place, of Genesis, which, as we have
said, results from _alteration_ together with _shaping_.

The seed having been cast into the womb or into the earth (for there
is no difference),[34] then, after a certain definite period, a great
number of parts become constituted in the substance which is being
generated; these differ as regards moisture, dryness, coldness and
warmth,[35] and in all the other qualities which naturally derive
therefrom.[36] These derivative qualities, you are acquainted with, if
you have given any sort of scientific consideration to the question of
genesis and destruction. For, first and foremost after the qualities
mentioned come the other so-called _tangible_ distinctions, and after
them those which appeal to taste, smell, and sight. Now, tangible
distinctions are hardness and softness, viscosity, friability,
lightness, heaviness, density, rarity, smoothness, roughness,
thickness and thinness; all of these have been duly mentioned by
Aristotle.[37] And of course you know those which appeal to taste,
smell, and sight. Therefore, if you wish to know which alterative
faculties are primary and elementary, they are moisture, dryness,
coldness, and warmth, and if you wish to know which ones arise from
the combination of these, they will be found to be in each animal of a
number corresponding to its _sensible elements_. The name _sensible
elements_ is given to all the _homogeneous_[38] parts of the body, and
these are to be detected not by any system, but by personal
observation of dissections.[39]

Now Nature constructs bone, cartilage, nerve, membrane, ligament,
vein, and so forth, at the first stage of the animal's genesis,[40]
employing at this task a faculty which is, in general terms,
generative and alterative, and, in more detail, warming, chilling,
drying, or moistening; or such as spring from the blending of
these, for example, the bone-producing, nerve-producing, and
cartilage-producing faculties[41] (since for the sake of clearness
these names must be used as well).

Now the peculiar[42] flesh of the liver is of this kind as well, also
that of the spleen, that of the kidneys, that of the lungs, and that
of the heart; so also the proper substance of the brain, stomach,
gullet, intestines, and uterus is _a sensible element_, of similar
parts all through, simple, and uncompounded. That is to say, if you
remove from each of the organs mentioned its arteries, veins, and
nerves,[43] the substance remaining in each organ is, from the point
of view of the senses, simple and elementary. As regards those organs
consisting of two dissimilar _coats_,[44] of which each is simple, of
these organs the coats are the elements--for example, the coats of the
stomach, oesophagus, intestines, and arteries; each of these two coats
has an alterative faculty peculiar to it, which has engendered it from
the menstrual blood of the mother. Thus the _special_ alterative
faculties in each animal are of the same number as the elementary
parts[45]; and further, the _activities_ must necessarily correspond
each to one of the special parts, just as each part has its special
_use_--for example, those ducts which extend from the kidneys into the
bladder, and which are called _ureters_; for these are not arteries,
since they do not pulsate nor do they consist of two coats; and they
are not veins, since they neither contain blood, nor do their coats
in any way resemble those of veins; from nerves they differ still more
than from the structures mentioned.

"What, then, are they?" someone asks--as though every part must
necessarily be either an artery, a vein, a nerve, or a complex of
these,[46] and as though the truth were not what I am now stating,
namely, that every one of the various organs has its own particular
substance. For in fact the two bladders--that which receives the
urine, and that which receives the yellow bile--not only differ from
all other organs, but also from one another. Further, the ducts which
spring out like kinds of conduits from the gall-bladder and which pass
into the liver have no resemblance either to arteries, veins or
nerves. But these parts have been treated at a greater length in my
work "On the Anatomy of Hippocrates," as well as elsewhere.

As for the actual substance of the coats of the stomach, intestine,
and uterus, each of these has been rendered what it is by a special
alterative faculty of Nature; while the bringing of these
together,[47] the combination therewith of the structures which are
inserted into them, the outgrowth into the intestine,[48] the shape of
the inner cavities, and the like, have all been determined by a
faculty which we call the shaping or formative faculty[49]; this
faculty we also state to be _artistic_--nay, the best and highest
art--doing everything for some purpose, so that there is nothing
ineffective or superfluous, or capable of being better disposed. This,
however, I shall demonstrate in my work "On the Use of Parts."


                       VI

  Peri prts oun ts geneses eipmen, hn ex alloises
  th' hama kai diaplases elegomen gignesthai.

  Katablthentos d tou spermatos eis tn mtran  eis tn
  gn, ouden gar diapherei, chronois tisin hrismenois
  pampolla synistatai moria ts gennmens ousias
  hygrotti kai xrotti kai psychrotti kai thermotti
  kai tois allois hapasin, hosa toutois hepetai,
  diapheronta. ta d' hepomena gignskeis, eiper hols
  ephilosophsas ti peri geneses kai phthoras; hai loipai
  gar tn haptn onomazomenn diaphorn tais eirmenais
  hepontai prtai kai malista, meta de tau||tas hai              12
  geustai te kai osphrtai kai horatai. sklrots men oun
  kai malakots kai glischrots kai kraurots kai
  kouphots kai baryts kai pyknots kai araiots kai
  leiots kai trachyts kai pachyts kai leptots haptai
  diaphorai kai eirtai peri pasn Aristotelei kals.
  oistha de dpou kai tas geustas te kai osphrtas kai
  horatas diaphoras. hst', ei men tas prtas te kai
  stoicheideis alloitikas dynameis ztois, hygrots
  esti kai xrots kai psychrots kai thermots; ei de tas
  ek ts toutn krases genomenas, tosautai kath' hekaston
  esontai zon, hosaper an autou ta aisthta stoicheia
  hyparch; kaleitai d' aisthta stoicheia ta homoiomer
  panta tou smatos moria; kai taut' ouk ek methodou tinos
  all' autoptn genomenon ekmathein chr dia tn anatomn.

  Ostoun d kai chondron kai neuron kai hymena kai
  syndesmon kai phleba kai panth' hosa toiauta kata tn
  prtn tou zou genesin h physis apergazetai dynamei
  chrmen katholou men eipein t genntik te kai
  alloi||tik, kata meros de thermantik te kai psyktik        13
  kai xrantik kai hygrantik kai tais ek ts toutn
  krases genomenais, hoion ostopoitik te kai
  neuropoitik kai chondropoitik; saphneias gar heneka
  kai toutois tois onomasi chrsteon.

  Esti goun kai h idia sarx tou hpatos ek toutou tou
  genous kai h tou splnos kai h tn nephrn kai h tou
  pneumonos kai h ts kardias hout de kai tou enkephalou
  to idion sma kai ts gastros kai tou stomachou kai tn
  entern kai tn hystern aisthton stoicheion estin
  homoiomeres te kai haploun kai asyntheton; ean gar
  exels hekastou tn eirmenn tas artrias te kai tas
  phlebas kai ta neura, to hypoloipon sma to kath'
  hekaston organon haploun esti kai stoicheides hs pros
  aisthsin. hosa de tn toioutn organn ek dyoin
  synkeitai chitnn ouch homoin men alllois, haplou d'
  hekaterou, toutn hoi chitnes eisi ta stoicheia
  kathaper ts te gastros kai tou stomachou kai tn
  entern kai tn artrin, kai kath' hekateron ge tn
  chitnn idios h alloitik dynamis h ek tou para ts
  || mtros epimniou gennsasa to morion, hste tas kata        14
  meros alloitikas dynameis tosautas einai kath' hekaston
  zon, hosaper an ech ta stoicheid moria. kai men ge
  kai tas energeias idias hekast tn kata meros anankaion
  hyparchein hsper kai tas chreias, hoion kai tn apo tn
  nephrn eis tn kystin dikontn porn, hoi d kai
  ourtres kalountai. houtoi gar out' artriai eisin,
  hoti mte sphyzousi mt' ek dyoin chitnn synestkasin,
  oute phlebes, hoti mth' haima periechousi mt' eoiken
  autn ho chitn kata ti t ts phlebos; alla kai neurn
  epi pleon aphestkasin  tn eirmenn.

  Ti pot' oun eisin? erta tis, hsper anankaion on hapan
  morion  artrian  phleba  neuron hyparchein  ek
  toutn peplechthai kai m tout' auto to nyn legomenon,
  hs idios hekast tn kata meros organn estin h ousia.
  kai gar kai hai kysteis hekaterai h te to ouron
  hypodechomen kai h tn xanthn choln ou monon tn
  alln hapantn alla kai allln diapherousi kai hoi eis
  to hpar apophyomenoi || poroi, kathaper stomachoi tines       15
  apo ts choldochou kystes, ouden out' artriais oute
  phlepsin oute neurois eoikasin. alla peri men toutn epi
  pleon en allois te tisi kan tois peri ts Hippokratous
  anatoms eirtai.

  Hai de kata meros hapasai dynameis ts physes hai
  alloitikai autn men tn ousian tn chitnn ts
  koilias kai tn entern kai tn hystern apetelesan,
  hoiaper esti; tn de synthesin autn kai tn tn
  emphyomenn plokn kai tn eis to enteron ekphysin kai
  tn ts endon koilottos idean kai tall' hosa toiauta
  dynamis tis hetera dieplasen, hn diaplastikn
  onomazomen, hn d kai technikn einai legomen, mallon
  d' aristn kai akran technn kai panta tinos heneka
  poiousan, hs mden argon einai mde peritton md' hols
  houts echon, hs dynasthai beltion heters echein. alla
  touto men en tois peri chreias morin apodeixomen. ||          16


                             VII

Passing now to the faculty of Growth[50] let us first mention that
this, too, is present in the foetus _in utero_ as is also the
nutritive faculty, but that at that stage these two faculties are, as
it were, _handmaids_ to those already mentioned,[51] and do not
possess in themselves supreme authority. When, however, the animal[52]
has attained its complete size, then, during the whole period
following its birth and until the acme is reached, the faculty of
growth is predominant, while the alterative and nutritive faculties
are accessory--in fact, act as its handmaids. What, then, is the
property of this faculty of growth? To extend in every direction that
which has already come into existence--that is to say, the solid parts
of the body, the arteries, veins, nerves, bones, cartilages,
membranes, ligaments, and the various _coats_ which we have just
called elementary, homogeneous, and simple. And I shall state in what
way they gain this extension in every direction, first giving an
illustration for the sake of clearness.

Children take the bladders of pigs, fill them with air, and then rub
them on ashes near the fire, so as to warm, but not to injure them.
This is a common game in the district of Ionia, and among not a few
other nations. As they rub, they sing songs, to a certain measure,
time, and rhythm, and all their words are an exhortation to the
bladder to increase in size. When it appears to them fairly well
distended, they again blow air into it and expand it further; then
they rub it again. This they do several times, until the bladder seems
to them to have become large enough. Now, clearly, in these doings of
the children, the more the interior cavity of the bladder increases in
size, the thinner, necessarily, does its substance become. But, if the
children were able to bring nourishment to this thin part, then they
would make the bladder big in the same way that Nature does. As it is,
however, they cannot do what Nature does, for to imitate this is
beyond the power not only of children, but of any one soever; it is a
property of Nature alone.

It will now, therefore, be clear to you that _nutrition_ is a
necessity for growing things. For if such bodies were distended, but
not at the same time nourished, they would take on a false appearance
of growth, not a true growth. And further, to be distended _in all
directions_ belongs only to bodies whose growth is directed by Nature;
for those which are distended by us undergo this distension in one
direction but grow less in the others; it is impossible to find a body
which will remain entire and not be torn through whilst we stretch it
in the three dimensions. Thus Nature alone has the power to expand a
body in all directions so that it remains unruptured and preserves
completely its previous form.

Such then is _growth_, and it cannot occur without the nutriment which
flows to the part and is worked up into it.


                      VII

  Epi de tn auxtikn d metabantes dynamin auto touth'
  hypomnsmen prton, hs hyparchei men kai aut tois
  kyoumenois hsper kai h threptik; all' hoion
  hypretides tines eisi tnikauta tn proeirmenn
  dynamen, ouk en hautais echousai to pan kyros. epeidan
  de to teleion apolab megethos to zon, en t meta tn
  apokysin chron panti mechri ts akms h men auxtik
  tnikauta kratei; bothoi d' auts kai hoion hypretides
  h t' alloitik dynamis esti kai h threptik. ti oun
  to idion esti ts auxtiks dynames? eis pan meros
  ekteinai ta pephykota. kaleitai d' hout ta sterea moria
  tou smatos, artriai kai phlebes kai neura kai osta kai
  chondroi kai hymenes kai syndesmoi kai hoi chitnes
  hapantes, hous stoicheideis te kai homoiomereis kai
  haplous oligon emprosthen ekaloumen. hot de trop tn
  eis pan meros ektasin ischousin, eg phras paradeigma
  ti proteron eipn heneka tou saphous. ||                       17

  Tas kysteis tn hyn labontes hoi paides plrousi te
  pneumatos kai tribousin epi ts tephras plsion tou
  pyros, hs aleainesthai men, blaptesthai de mden; kai
  poll g' haut h paidia peri te tn Inian kai en
  allois ethnesin ouk oligois estin. epilegousi de d kai
  tin' ep tribontes en metr te tini kai melei kai
  rhythm kai esti panta ta rhmata tauta parakeleusis t
  kystei pros tn auxsin. epeidan d' hikans autois
  diatetasthai dok, palin emphyssi te kai epidiateinousi
  kai authis tribousi kai touto pleonakis poiousin, achris
  an autois h kystis hikans echein dok ts auxses.
  all' en toutois ge tois ergois tn paidn enargs, hoson
  eis megethos epididsin h entos eurychria ts kystes,
  tosouton anankaion eis leptotta kathaireisthai to sma
  kai ei ge tn leptotta tautn anatrephein hoioi t' san
  hoi paides, homois an t physei tn kystin ek mikras
  megaln apeirgazonto. nyni de tout' autois endei to
  ergon oude kath' hena tropon eis mimsin endechomenon
  achthnai m hoti tois || paisin all' oud' all tini;          18
  mons gar ts physes idion estin.

  Hst' d soi dlon, hs anankaia tois auxanomenois h
  threpsis. ei gar diateinoito men, anatrephoito de m,
  phantasian pseud mallon, ouk auxsin alth ta toiauta
  smata ktsetai. kaitoi kai to diateinesthai pant
  monois tois hypo physes auxanomenois hyparchei. ta gar
  hyph' hmn diateinomena smata kata mian tina diastasin
  touto paschonta meioutai tais loipais, oud' estin
  heurein ouden, ho syneches eti menon kai adiaspaston eis
  tas treis diastaseis epekteinai dynametha. mons oun ts
  physes to pant diistanai syneches heaut menon eti kai
  tn archaian hapasan idean phylatton to sma.

  Kai tout' estin h auxsis aneu ts epirrheouss te kai
  prosplattomens trophs m dynamen genesthai.


                            VIII

We have, then, it seems, arrived at the subject of Nutrition, which is
the third and remaining consideration which we proposed at the outset.
For, when the matter which flows to each part of the body in the form
of nutriment is being worked up into it, this activity is _nutrition_,
and its cause is the _nutritive faculty_. Of course, the kind of
activity here involved is also an _alteration_, but not an alteration
like that occurring at the stage of _genesis_.[53] For in the latter
case something comes into existence which did not exist previously,
while in nutrition the inflowing material becomes assimilated to that
which has already come into existence. Therefore, the former kind of
alteration has with reason been termed _genesis_, and the latter,
_assimilation_.


                     VIII

  Kai toinyn ho logos hkein eoiken ho peri ts threpses,
  hos d loipos esti kai tritos hn ex archs
  prouthemetha. tou gar epirrheontos en eidei trophs
  panti || mori tou trephomenou smatos prosplattomenou         19
  threpsis men h energeia, threptik de dynamis h aitia.
  alloisis men d kantautha to genos ts energeias, all'
  ouch hoiaper h en t genesei. ekei men gar ouk on
  proteron hysteron egeneto, kata de tn threpsin t d
  gegonoti synexomoioutai to epirrheon kai dia tout'
  eulogs ekeinn men tn alloisin genesin, tautn d'
  exomoisin nomasan.


                              IX

Now, since the three faculties of Nature have been exhaustively dealt
with, and the animal would appear not to need any others (being
possessed of the means for growing, for attaining completion, and for
maintaining itself as long a time as possible), this treatise might
seem to be already complete, and to constitute an exposition of all
the faculties of Nature. If, however, one considers that it has not
yet touched upon any of _the parts_ of the animal (I mean the stomach,
intestines, liver, and the like), and that it has not dealt with the
faculties resident in these, it will seem as though merely a kind of
introduction had been given to the practical parts of our teaching.
For the whole matter is as follows: Genesis, growth, and nutrition are
the first, and, so to say, the principal effects of Nature; similarly
also the faculties which produce these effects--the first
faculties--are three in number, and are the most dominating of all.
But as has already been shown, these need the service both of each
other, and of yet different faculties. Now, these which the faculties
of generation and growth require have been stated. I shall now say
what ones the nutritive faculty requires.


                       IX

  Epeid de peri tn trin dynamen ts physes autarks
  eirtai kai phainetai mdemias alls prosdeisthai to
  zon, echon ge kai hops auxth kai hops teleith kai
  hops hes pleistou diaphylachth, doxeie men an iss
  hikans echein ho logos houtos d kai pasas exgeisthai
  tas ts physes dynameis. all' ei tis palin ennoseien,
  hs oudenos oudep tn tou zou morin ephpsato,
  koilias leg kai entern kai hpatos kai tn homoin,
  oud' exgsato tas en autois dynameis, authis doxeien an
  hoion prooimion ti monon eirsthai ts chrsimou
  didaskalias. || to gar sympan hd' echei. genesis kai          20
  auxsis kai threpsis ta prta kai hoion kephalaia tn
  ergn esti ts physes; hste kai hai toutn ergastikai
  dynameis hai prtai treis eisi kai kyritatai; deontai
  d' eis hypresian, hs d dedeiktai, kai allln kai
  alln. tinn men oun h genntik te kai auxtik
  deontai, eirtai, tinn d' h threptik, nyn eirsetai.


                               X

For I believe that I shall prove that the organs which have to do with
the disposal[54] of the nutriment, as also their faculties, exist for
the sake of this _nutritive faculty_. For since the action of this
faculty[55] is _assimilation_, and it is impossible for anything to be
assimilated by, and to change into anything else unless they already
possess a certain _community and affinity_ in their qualities,[56]
therefore, in the first place, any animal cannot naturally derive
nourishment from any kind of food, and secondly, even in the case of
those from which it can do so, it cannot do this at once. Therefore,
by reason of this law,[57] every animal needs several organs for
_altering_ the nutriment. For in order that the yellow may become red,
and the red yellow, one simple process of alteration is required, but
in order that the white may become black, and the black white, all the
intermediate stages are needed.[58] So also, a thing which is very
soft cannot all at once become very hard, nor _vice versa_; nor,
similarly can anything which has a very bad smell suddenly become
quite fragrant, nor again, can the converse happen.

How, then, could blood ever turn into bone, without having first
become, as far as possible, thickened and white? And how could bread
turn into blood without having gradually parted with its whiteness and
gradually acquired redness? Thus it is quite easy for blood to become
flesh; for, if Nature thicken it to such an extent that it acquires a
certain consistency and ceases to be fluid, it thus becomes original
newly-formed flesh; but in order that blood may turn into bone, much
time is needed and much elaboration and transformation of the blood.
Further, it is quite clear that bread, and, more particularly lettuce,
beet, and the like, require a great deal of alteration in order to
become blood.

This, then, is one reason why there are so many organs concerned in
the alteration of food. A second reason is the nature of the
_superfluities_.[59] For, as we are unable to draw any nourishment
from grass, although this is possible for cattle, similarly we can
derive nourishment from radishes, albeit not to the same extent as
from meat; for almost the whole of the latter is mastered by our
natures[60]; it is transformed and altered and constituted useful
blood; but, in the radish, what is appropriate[61] and able of being
altered (and that only with difficulty, and with much labour) is the
very smallest part; almost the whole of it is surplus matter, and
passes through the digestive organs, only a very little being taken up
into the veins as blood--nor is this itself entirely utilisable blood.
Nature, therefore had need of a second process of separation for the
superfluities in the veins. Moreover, these superfluities need, on the
one hand, certain fresh routes to conduct them to the outlets, so that
they may not spoil the useful substances, and they also need certain
_reservoirs_, as it were, in which they are collected till they reach
a sufficient quantity, and are then discharged.

Thus, then, you have discovered bodily parts of a second kind,
consecrated in this case to the [removal of the] superfluities of the
food. There is, however, also a third kind, for carrying the pabulum
in every direction; these are like a number of roads intersecting the
whole body.

Thus there is one entrance--that through the mouth--for all the
various articles of food. What receives nourishment, however, is not
one single part, but a great many parts, and these widely separated;
do not be surprised, therefore, at the abundance of organs which
Nature has created for the purpose of nutrition. For those of them
which have to do with alteration prepare the nutriment suitable for
each part; others separate out the superfluities; some pass these
along, others store them up, others excrete them; some, again, are
paths for the transit[62] in all directions of the _utilisable_
juices. So, if you wish to gain a thorough acquaintance with all the
faculties of Nature,[63] you will have to consider each one of these
organs.

Now in giving an account of these we must begin with those effects of
Nature, together with their corresponding parts and faculties, which
are closely connected with the purpose to be achieved.[64]


                        X

  Dok gar moi deixein ta peri tn ts trophs oikonomian
  organa te kai tas dynameis autn dia tautn gegonota.
  epeid gar h energeia tauts ts dynames exomoisis
  estin, homoiousthai de kai metaballein eis allla pasi
  tois ousin adynaton, ei m tina echoi koinnian d kai
  syngeneian en tais poiotsi, dia touto prton men ouk ek
  pantn edesmatn pan zon trephesthai pephyken, epeita
  d' oud' ex hn hoion t' estin oud' ek toutn parachrma,
  kai dia tautn tn anankn pleionn organn alloitikn
  ts trophs hekaston || tn zn chrzei. hina men gar         21
  to xanthon erythron gentai kai to erythron xanthon,
  hapls kai mias deitai ts alloises; hina de to leukon
  melan kai to melan leukon, hapasn tn metaxy. kai
  toinyn kai to malaktaton ouk an athros sklrotaton kai
  to sklrotaton ouk an athros malaktaton genoito,
  hsper oude to dysdestaton eudestaton oud' empalin to
  eudestaton dysdestaton exaiphns genoit' an.

  Ps oun ex haimatos ostoun an pote genoito m
  pachynthentos ge proteron epi pleiston autou kai
  leukanthentos  ps ex artou to haima m kata brachy men
  apothemenou tn leukotta, kata brachy de lambanontos
  tn erythrotta? sarka men gar ex haimatos genesthai
  rhaston; ei gar eis tosouton auto pachyneien h physis,
  hs systasin tina schein kai mket' einai rhyton, h
  prt kai neopags houts an ei sarx; ostoun d' hina
  gentai, pollou men deitai chronou, polls d' ergasias
  kai metabols t haimati. hoti de kai t art kai poly
  mallon thrida||kin kai teutl kai tois homoiois               22
  pampolls deitai ts alloises eis haimatos genesin,
  oude tout' adlon.

  Hen men d tout' aition tou polla genesthai ta peri tn
  ts trophs alloisin organa. deuteron d' h tn
  perittmatn physis. hs gar hypo botann oud' hols
  dynametha trephesthai, kaitoi tn boskmatn
  trephomenn, houts hypo rhaphanidos trephometha men,
  all' ouch hs hypo tn kren. toutn men gar oligou dein
  holn h physis hmn kratei kai metaballei kai alloioi
  kai chrston ex autn haima synistsin; en de t
  rhaphanidi to men oikeion te kai metablthnai
  dynamenon, mogis kai touto kai syn poll t katergasia,
  pantapasin elachiston; hol d' oligou dein esti
  perittmatik kai diexerchetai ta ts pepses organa,
  bracheos ex auts eis tas phlebas analphthentos
  haimatos kai oude toutou teles chrstou. deuteras oun
  authis edese diakrises t physei tn en tais phlepsi
  perittmatn. kai chreia kai toutois hodn te tinn
  hetern epi tas ek||kriseis auta paragousn, hs m            23
  lymainoito tois chrstois, hypodochn te tinn hoion
  dexamenn, en hais hotan eis hikanon plthos aphiktai,
  tnikaut' ekkrithsetai.

  Deuteron d soi kai touto to genos tn en t smati
  morin exeurtai tois perittmasi ts trophs
  anakeimenon. allo de triton hyper tou pant pheresthai,
  kathaper tines hodoi pollai dia tou smatos holou
  katatetmmenai.

  Mia men gar eisodos h dia tou stomatos hapasi tois
  sitiois, ouch hen de to trephomenon alla pampolla te kai
  pampoly diestta. m toinyn thaumaze to plthos tn
  organn, hosa threpses heneken h physis edmiourgse.
  ta men gar alloiounta proparaskeuazei tn epitdeion
  hekast mori trophn, ta de diakrinei ta perittmata,
  ta de parapempei, ta d' hypodechetai, ta d' ekkrinei, ta
  d' hodoi ts pant phoras eisi tn chrstn chymn,
  hst', eiper boulei tas dynameis ts physes hapasas
  ekmathein, hyper hekastou toutn an ei soi tn organn
  episkepteon.

  Arch d' autn ts didaskalias, hosa || tou telous engys       24
  erga te ts physes esti kai moria kai dynameis autn.


                              XI

Let us once more, then, recall the actual purpose for which Nature has
constructed all these parts. Its name, as previously stated, is
_nutrition_, and the definition corresponding to the name is: _an
assimilation of that which nourishes to that which receives
nourishments_.[65] And in order that this may come about, we must
assume a preliminary process of _adhesion_,[66] and for that, again,
one of _presentation_.[67] For whenever the juice which is destined to
nourish any of the parts of the animal is emitted from the vessels, it
is in the first place dispersed all through this part, next it is
presented, and next it adheres, and becomes completely assimilated.

The so-called white [leprosy] shows the difference between
assimilation and adhesion, in the same way that the kind of dropsy
which some people call _anasarca_ clearly distinguishes presentation
from adhesion. For, of course, the genesis of such a dropsy does not
come about as do some of the conditions of atrophy and wasting,[68]
from an insufficient supply of moisture; the flesh is obviously moist
enough,--in fact it is thoroughly saturated,--and each of the solid
parts of the body is in a similar condition. While, however, the
nutriment conveyed to the part does undergo presentation, it is still
too watery, and is not properly transformed into a _juice_,[69] nor
has it acquired that viscous and agglutinative quality which results
from the operation of _innate heat_;[70] therefore, adhesion cannot
come about, since, owing to this abundance of thin, crude liquid, the
pabulum runs off and easily slips away from the solid parts of the
body. In white [leprosy], again, there is adhesion of the nutriment
but no real assimilation. From this it is clear that what I have just
said is correct, namely, that in that part which is to be nourished
there must first occur presentation, next adhesion, and finally
assimilation proper.

Strictly speaking, then, _nutriment_ is that which is actually
nourishing, while the _quasi-nutriment_ which is not yet nourishing
(_e.g._ matter which is undergoing adhesion or presentation) is not,
strictly speaking, nutriment, but is so called only by an
equivocation. Also, that which is still contained in the veins, and
still more, that which is in the stomach, from the fact that it is
destined to nourish if properly elaborated, has been called
"nutriment." Similarly we call the various kinds of food "nutriment,"
not because they are already nourishing the animal, nor because they
exist in the same state as the material which actually is nourishing
it, but because they are able and destined to nourish it if they be
properly elaborated.

This was also what Hippocrates said, viz., "Nutriment is what is
engaged in nourishing, as also is quasi-nutriment, and what is
destined to be nutriment." For to that which is already being
assimilated he gave the name of _nutriment_; to the similar material
which is being presented or becoming adherent, the name of
_quasi-nutriment_; and to everything else--that is, contained in the
stomach and veins--the name of _destined nutriment_.


                       XI

  Autou de d palin anamnsteon hmin tou telous, houper
  heneka tosauta te kai toiauta t physei dedmiourgtai
  moria. to men oun onoma tou pragmatos, hsper kai
  proteron eirtai, threpsis; ho de kata tounoma logos
  homoisis tou trephontos t trephomen. hina d' haut
  gentai, progsasthai chr prosphysin, hina d' ekein,
  prosthesin. epeidan gar ekpes tn angein ho melln
  threpsein hotioun tn tou zou morin chymos, eis hapan
  auto diaspeiretai prton, epeita prostithetai kapeita
  prosphyetai kai teles homoioutai.

  Dlousi d' hai kaloumenai leukai tn diaphoran
  homoises te kai prosphyses, hsper to genos ekeino
  tn hydern, ho tines onomazousin ana sarka, diorizei
  saphs prosthesin prosphyses. ou gar endeia dpou ts
  epirrheouss hygrottos, hs eniai tn atrophin te kai
  phthisen, h tou toioutou genesis hyderou ||                  25
  synteleitai. phainetai gar hikans h te sarx hygra kai
  diabrochos hekaston te tn steren tou smatos morin
  hsauts diakeimenon. alla prosthesis men tis gignetai
  ts epipheromens trophs, hate d' hydatdesteras ouss
  eti kai m pany ti kechymmens mde to glischron ekeino
  kai kolldes, ho d ts emphytou thermasias oikonomia
  prosgignetai, kektmens h prosphysis adynatos estin
  epiteleisthai plthei lepts hygrottos apeptou
  diarrheouss te kai rhadis olisthainouss apo tn
  steren tou smatos morin ts trophs. en de tais
  leukais prosphysis men tis gignetai ts trophs, ou mn
  exomoisis ge. kai dlon en tde to mikr prosthen
  rhthen hs orths elegeto to dein prosthesin men
  prton, ephexs de prosphysin, epeit' exomoisin
  genesthai t mellonti trephesthai.

  Kyris men oun to trephon d troph, to d' hoion men
  troph, oup de trephon, hopoion esti to prosphyomenon 
  prostithemenon, troph men ou kyris, homnyms de
  troph; to d' en tais phlepsin eti periechomenon || kai        26
  toutou mallon eti to kata tn gastera t mellein pote
  threpsein, ei kals katergasthei, kekltai troph. kata
  tauta de kai tn edesmatn hekaston trophn onomazomen
  oute t trephein d to zon oute t toiouton hyparchein
  hoion to trephon, alla t dynasthai te kai mellein
  trephein, ei kals katergasthei.

  Touto gar n kai to pros Hippokratous legomenon; "Troph
  de to trephon, troph kai to hoion troph kai to
  mellon." to men gar homoioumenon d trophn nomase, to
  d' hoion men ekeino prostithemenon  prosphyomenon hoion
  trophn; to d' allo pan, hoson en t gastri kai tais
  phlepsi periechetai, mellon.


                             XII

It is quite clear, therefore, that nutrition must necessarily be a
process of assimilation of that which is nourishing to that which is
being nourished. Some, however, say that this assimilation does not
occur in reality, but is merely apparent; these are the people who
think that Nature is not artistic, that she does not show forethought
for the animal's welfare, and that she has absolutely no native powers
whereby she alters some substances, attracts others, and discharges
others.

Now, speaking generally, there have arisen the following two sects in
medicine and philosophy among those who have made any definite
pronouncement regarding Nature. I speak, of course, of such of them as
know what they are talking about, and who realize the logical sequence
of their hypotheses, and stand by them; as for those who cannot
understand even this, but who simply talk any nonsense that comes to
their tongues, and who do not remain definitely attached either to one
sect or the other--such people are not even worth mentioning.

What, then, are these sects, and what are the logical consequences of
their hypotheses?[71] The one class supposes that all substance which
is subject to genesis and destruction is at once _continuous_[72] and
susceptible of _alteration_. The other school assumes substance to be
unchangeable, unalterable, and sub-divided into fine particles, which
are separated from one another by empty spaces.

All people, therefore, who can appreciate the logical sequence of an
hypothesis hold that, according to the second teaching, there does not
exist any substance or faculty peculiar either to Nature or to
Soul,[73] but that these result from the way in which the primary
corpuscles,[74] which are unaffected by change, come together.
According to the first-mentioned teaching, on the other hand, Nature
is not posterior to the corpuscles, but is a long way prior to them
and older than they; and therefore in their view it is Nature which
puts together the bodies both of plants and animals; and this she does
by virtue of certain faculties which she possesses--these being, on
the one hand, attractive and assimilative of what is appropriate, and,
on the other, expulsive of what is foreign. Further, she skilfully
moulds everything during the stage of genesis; and she also provides
for the creatures after birth, employing here other faculties again,
namely, one of affection and forethought for offspring, and one of
sociability and friendship for kindred. According to the other school,
none of these things exist in the natures[75] [of living things], nor
is there in the soul any original innate idea, whether of agreement or
difference, of separation or synthesis, of justice or injustice, of
the beautiful or ugly; all such things, they say, arise in us _from
sensation and through sensation_, and animals are steered by certain
images and memories.

Some of these people have even expressly declared that the soul
possesses no reasoning faculty, but that we are led like cattle by the
impression of our senses, and are unable to refuse or dissent from
anything. In their view, obviously, courage, wisdom, temperance, and
self-control are all mere nonsense, we do not love either each other
or our offspring, nor do the gods care anything for us. This school
also despises dreams, birds, omens, and the whole of astrology,
subjects with which we have dealt at greater length in another
work,[76] in which we discuss the views of Asclepiades the
physician.[77] Those who wish to do so may familiarize themselves with
these arguments, and they may also consider at this point which of the
two roads lying before us is the better one to take. Hippocrates took
the first-mentioned. According to this teaching, substance is one and
is subject to _alteration_; there is a consensus in the movements of
air and fluid throughout the whole body;[78] Nature acts throughout in
an artistic and equitable manner, having certain faculties, by virtue
of which each part of the body draws to itself the juice which is
proper to it, and, having done so, attaches it to every portion of
itself, and completely assimilates it; while such part of the juice as
has not been mastered,[79] and is not capable of undergoing complete
alteration and being assimilated to the part which is being nourished,
is got rid of by yet another (an expulsive) faculty.


                      XII

  Hoti men oun anankaion homoisin tin' einai tou
  trephontos t trephomen tn threpsin, antikrys dlon.
  ou mn hyparchousan ge tautn tn homoisin, alla
  phainomenn monon einai phasin hoi mte technikn
  oiomenoi tn physin einai mte pronotikn tou zou
  mth' hols tinas oikeias echein dynameis, hais chrmen
  ta men alloioi, ta d' helkei, || ta d' ekkrinei.               27

  Kai hautai dyo gegonasin haireseis kata genos en iatrik
  te kai philosophia tn apophnamenn ti peri physes
  andrn, hosoi g' autn gignskousin, ho ti legousi, kai
  tn akolouthian hn hypethento therousi th' hama kai
  diaphylattousin. hosoi de md' auto touto syniasin, all'
  hapls, ho ti an epi glttan elth, lrousin, en
  oudetera tn hairesen akribs katamenontes, oude
  memnsthai tn toioutn proskei.

  Tines oun hai dyo haireseis hautai kai tis h tn en
  autais hypothesen akolouthia? tn hypobeblmenn ousian
  genesei kai phthora pasan hnmenn th' hama kai
  alloiousthai dynamenn hypetheto thateron genos ts
  haireses, ametablton de kai analloiton kai
  katatetmmenn eis lepta kai kenais tais metaxy chrais
  dieilmmenn h loip.

  Kai toinyn hosoi ge ts akolouthias tn hypothesen
  aisthanontai, kata men tn deuteran hairesin oute
  physes oute psychs idian tina nomizousin ousian 
  dynamin hyparchein, || all' en t poia synod tn prtn       28
  ekeinn smatn tn apathn apoteleisthai. kata de tn
  proteran eirmenn hairesin ouch hystera tn smatn h
  physis, alla poly protera te kai presbytera. kai toinyn
  kata men toutous haut ta smata tn te phytn kai tn
  zn synistsi dynameis tinas echousa tas men helktikas
  th' hama kai homoitikas tn oikein, tas d' apokritikas
  tn allotrin, kai techniks hapanta diaplattei te
  gennsa kai pronoeitai tn gennmenn heterais authis
  tisi dynamesi, sterktik men tini kai pronotik tn
  engonn, koinnik de kai philik tn homogenn. kata d'
  au tous heterous oute toutn ouden hyparchei tais
  physesin out' ennoia tis esti t psych symphytos ex
  archs ouk akolouthias ou machs, ou diaireses ou
  syntheses, ou dikain ouk adikn, ou kaln ouk
  aischrn, all' ex aisthses te kai di' aisthses
  hapanta ta toiauth' hmin engignesthai phasi kai
  phantasiais tisi kai mnmais oiakizesthai ta za.

  Enioi || d' autn kai rhts apephnanto mdemian einai        29
  ts psychs dynamin, h logizometha, all' hypo tn
  aisthtn agesthai pathn hmas kathaper boskmata pros
  mden ananeusai md' anteipein dynamenous. kath' hous
  dlonoti kai andreia kai phronsis kai sphrosyn kai
  enkrateia lros esti makros kai philoumen out' alllous
  oute ta engona kai tois theois ouden hmn melei.
  kataphronousi de kai tn oneiratn kai tn oinn kai
  tn symboln kai pass astrologias, hyper hn hmeis men
  idia di' hetern grammatn epi pleon eskepsametha peri
  tn Asklpiadou tou iatrou skopoumenoi dogmatn. enesti
  de tois boulomenois kakeinois men homilsai tois logois
  kai nyn d' d skopein, hsper tinn dyoin hodn hmin
  prokeimenn, hopoteran beltion esti trepesthai.
  Hippokrats men gar tn proteran rhtheisan etrapeto,
  kath' hn hntai men h ousia kai alloioutai kai
  sympnoun holon esti kai syrrhoun to sma kai h physis
  hapanta techniks kai dikais prattei dynameis echousa,
  kath' has hekaston tn morin helkei men || eph' heauto        30
  ton oikeion heaut chymon, helxan de prosphyei te panti
  merei tn en haut kai teles exomoioi, to de m
  kratthen en tout mde tn pantel dynthen alloisin
  te kai homoiotta tou trephomenou katadexasthai di'
  heteras au tinos ekkritiks dynames apotribetai.


                            XIII

Now the extent of exactitude and truth in the doctrines of Hippocrates
may be gauged, not merely from the way in which his opponents are at
variance with obvious facts, but also from the various subjects of
natural research themselves--the functions of animals, and the rest.
For those people who do not believe that there exists in any part of
the animal a faculty for attracting _its own special quality_[80] are
compelled repeatedly to deny obvious facts.[81] For instance,
Asclepiades, the physician,[82] did this in the case of the kidneys.
That these are organs for secreting [separating out] the urine, was
the belief not only of Hippocrates, Diocles, Erasistratus,
Praxagoras,[83] and all other physicians of eminence, but practically
every butcher is aware of this, from the fact that he daily observes
both the position of the kidneys and the duct (termed the ureter)
which runs from each kidney into the bladder, and from this
arrangement he infers their characteristic use and faculty. But, even
leaving the butchers aside, all people who suffer either from frequent
dysuria or from retention of urine call themselves "nephritics,"[84]
when they feel pain in the loins and pass sandy matter in their water.

I do not suppose that Asclepiades ever saw a stone which had been
passed by one of these sufferers, or observed that this was preceded
by a sharp pain in the region between kidneys and bladder as the stone
traversed the ureter, or that, when the stone was passed, both the
pain and the retention at once ceased. It is worth while, then,
learning how his theory accounts for the presence of urine in the
bladder, and one is forced to marvel at the ingenuity of a man who
puts aside these broad, clearly visible routes,[85] and postulates
others which are narrow, invisible--indeed, entirely imperceptible.
His view, in fact, is that the fluid which we drink passes into the
bladder by being resolved into vapours, and that, when these have been
again condensed, it thus regains its previous form, and turns from
vapour into fluid. He simply looks upon the bladder as a sponge or a
piece of wool, and not as the perfectly compact and impervious body
that it is, with two very strong coats. For if we say that the vapours
pass through these coats, why should they not pass through the
peritoneum[86] and the diaphragm, thus filling the whole abdominal
cavity and thorax with water? "But," says he, "of course the
peritoneal coat is more impervious than the bladder, and this is why
it keeps out the vapours, while the bladder admits them." Yet if he
had ever practised anatomy, he might have known that the outer coat of
the bladder springs from the peritoneum and is essentially the same as
it, and that the inner coat, which is peculiar to the bladder, is more
than twice as thick as the former.

Perhaps, however, it is not the thickness or thinness of the coats,
but the _situation_ of the bladder, which is the reason for the
vapours being carried into it? On the contrary, even if it were
probable for every other reason that the vapours accumulate there, yet
the situation of the bladder would be enough in itself to prevent
this. For the bladder is situated below, whereas vapours have a
natural tendency to rise upwards; thus they would fill all the region
of the thorax and lungs long before they came to the bladder.

But why do I mention the situation of the bladder, peritoneum, and
thorax? For surely, when the vapours have passed through the coats of
the stomach and intestines, it is in the space between these and the
peritoneum[87] that they will collect and become liquefied (just as in
dropsical subjects it is in this region that most of the water
gathers).[88] Otherwise the vapours must necessarily pass straight
forward through everything which in any way comes in contact with
them, and will never come to a standstill. But, if this be assumed,
then they will traverse not merely the peritoneum but also the
epigastrium, and will become dispersed into the surrounding air;
otherwise they will certainly collect under the skin.

Even these considerations, however, our present-day Asclepiadeans
attempt to answer, despite the fact that they always get soundly
laughed at by all who happen to be present at their disputations on
these subjects--so difficult an evil to get rid of is this sectarian
partizanship, so excessively resistant to all cleansing processes,
harder to heal than any itch!

Thus, one of our Sophists who is a thoroughly hardened disputer and as
skilful a master of language as there ever was, once got into a
discussion with me on this subject; so far from being put out of
countenance by any of the above-mentioned considerations, he even
expressed his surprise that I should try to overturn obvious facts by
ridiculous arguments! "For," said he, "one may clearly observe any day
in the case of any bladder, that, if one fills it with water or air
and then ties up its neck and squeezes it all round, it does not let
anything out at any point, but accurately retains all its contents.
And surely," said he, "if there were any large and perceptible
channels coming into it from the kidneys the liquid would run out
through these when the bladder was squeezed, in the same way that it
entered?"[89] Having abruptly made these and similar remarks in
precise and clear tones, he concluded by jumping up and
departing--leaving me as though I were quite incapable of finding any
plausible answer!

The fact is that those who are enslaved to their sects are not merely
devoid of all sound knowledge, but they will not even stop to learn!
Instead of listening, as they ought, to the reason why liquid can
enter the bladder through the ureters, but is unable to go back again
the same way,--instead of admiring Nature's artistic skill[90]--they
refuse to learn; they even go so far as to scoff, and maintain that
the kidneys, as well as many other things, have been made by Nature
_for no purpose!_[91] And some of them who had allowed themselves to
be shown the ureters coming from the kidneys and becoming implanted in
the bladder, even had the audacity to say that these also existed for
no purpose; and others said that they were spermatic ducts, and that
this was why they were inserted into the neck of the bladder and not
into its cavity. When, therefore, we had demonstrated to them the real
spermatic ducts[92] entering the neck of the bladder lower down than
the ureters, we supposed that, if we had not done so before, we would
now at least draw them away from their false assumptions, and convert
them forthwith to the opposite view. But even this they presumed to
dispute, and said that it was not to be wondered at that the semen
should remain longer in these latter ducts, these being more
constricted, and that it should flow quickly down the ducts which came
from the kidneys, seeing that these were well dilated. We were,
therefore, further compelled to show them in a still living animal,
the urine plainly running out through the ureters into the bladder;
even thus we hardly hoped to check their nonsensical talk.

Now the method of demonstration is as follows. One has to divide the
peritoneum in front of the ureters, then secure these with ligatures,
and next, having bandaged up the animal, let him go (for he will not
continue to urinate). After this one loosens the external bandages and
shows the bladder empty and the ureters quite full and distended--in
fact almost on the point of rupturing; on removing the ligature from
them, one then plainly sees the bladder becoming filled with urine.

When this has been made quite clear, then, before the animal urinates,
one has to tie a ligature round his penis and then to squeeze the
bladder all over; still nothing goes back through the ureters to the
kidneys. Here, then, it becomes obvious that not only in a dead
animal, but in one which is still living, the ureters are prevented
from receiving back the urine from the bladder. These observations
having been made, one now loosens the ligature from the animal's penis
and allows him to urinate, then again ligatures one of the ureters and
leaves the other to discharge into the bladder. Allowing, then, some
time to elapse, one now demonstrates that the ureter which was
ligatured is obviously full and distended on the side next to the
kidneys, while the other one--that from which the ligature had been
taken--is itself flaccid, but has filled the bladder with urine. Then,
again, one must divide the full ureter, and demonstrate how the urine
spurts out of it, like blood in the operation of venesection; and
after this one cuts through the other also, and both being thus
divided, one bandages up the animal externally. Then when enough time
seems to have elapsed, one takes off the bandages; the bladder will
now be found empty, and the whole region between the intestines and
the peritoneum full of urine, as if the animal were suffering from
dropsy. Now, if anyone will but test this for himself on an animal, I
think he will strongly condemn the rashness of Asclepiades, and if he
also learns the reason why nothing regurgitates from the bladder into
the ureters, I think he will be persuaded by this also of the
forethought and art shown by Nature in relation to animals.[93]

Now Hippocrates, who was the first known to us of all those who have
been both physicians and philosophers inasmuch as he was the first to
recognize what Nature effects, expresses his admiration of her, and is
constantly singing her praises and calling her "just." Alone, he says,
she suffices for the animal in every respect, performing of her own
accord and without any teaching all that is required. Being such, she
has, as he supposes, certain _faculties_, one attractive of what is
appropriate,[94] and another eliminative of what is foreign, and she
nourishes the animal, makes it grow, and expels its diseases by
crisis.[95] Therefore he says that there is in our bodies a
concordance in the movements of air and fluid, and that everything is
in sympathy. According to Asclepiades, however, nothing is naturally
in sympathy with anything else, all substance being divided and broken
up into inharmonious elements and absurd "molecules." Necessarily,
then, besides making countless other statements in opposition to plain
fact, he was ignorant of Nature's faculties, both that attracting what
is appropriate, and that expelling what is foreign. Thus he invented
some wretched nonsense to explain blood-production and _anadosis_,[96]
and, being utterly unable to find anything to say regarding the
clearing-out[97] of superfluities, he did not hesitate to join issue
with obvious facts, and, in this matter of urinary secretion, to
deprive both the kidneys and the ureters of their activity, by
assuming that there were certain invisible channels opening into the
bladder. It was, of course, a grand and impressive thing to do, to
mistrust the obvious, and to pin one's faith in things which could not
be seen!

Also, in the matter of the yellow bile, he makes an even grander and
more spirited venture; for he says this is actually generated in the
bile-ducts, not merely separated out.

How comes it, then, that in cases of jaundice two things happen at the
same time--that the dejections contain absolutely no bile, and that
the whole body becomes full of it? He is forced here again to talk
nonsense, just as he did in regard to the urine. He also talks no less
nonsense about the black bile and the spleen, not understanding what
was said by Hippocrates; and he attempts in stupid--I might say
insane--language, to contradict what he knows nothing about.

And what profit did he derive from these opinions from the point of
view of treatment? He neither was able to cure a kidney ailment, nor
jaundice, nor a disease of black bile, nor would he agree with the
view held not merely by Hippocrates but by all men regarding
drugs--that some of them purge away yellow bile, and others black,
some again phlegm, and others the thin and watery superfluity[98]; he
held that all the substances evacuated[99] were _produced by the drugs
themselves_, just as yellow bile is produced by the biliary passages!
It matters nothing, according to this extraordinary man, whether we
give a hydragogue or a cholagogue in a case of dropsy, for these all
equally purge[99] and dissolve the body, and produce a solution having
such and such an appearance, which did not exist as such before![100]

Must we not, therefore, suppose he was either mad, or entirely
unacquainted with practical medicine? For who does not know that if a
drug for attracting phlegm be given in a case of jaundice it will not
even evacuate four _cyathi_[101] of phlegm? Similarly also if one of
the hydragogues be given. A cholagogue, on the other hand, clears away
a great quantity of bile, and the skin of patients so treated at once
becomes clear. I myself have, in many cases, after treating the liver
condition, then removed the disease by means of a single purgation;
whereas, if one had employed a drug for removing phlegm one would have
done no good.

Nor is Hippocrates the only one who knows this to be so, whilst those
who take experience alone as their starting-point[102] know otherwise;
they, as well as all physicians who are engaged in the practice of
medicine, are of this opinion. Asclepiades, however is an exception;
he would hold it a betrayal of his assumed "elements"[103] to confess
the truth about such matters. For if a single drug were to be
discovered which attracted such and such a humour only, there would
obviously be danger of the opinion gaining ground that there is in
every body[104] a faculty which attracts its own particular quality.
He therefore says that safflower,[105] the Cnidian berry,[106] and
_Hippophaes_,[107] do not draw phlegm from the body, but actually make
it. Moreover, he holds that the flower and scales of bronze, and burnt
bronze itself, and germander,[108] and wild mastich[109] dissolve the
body into water, and that dropsical patients derive benefit from these
substances, not because they are purged by them, but because they are
rid of substances which actually help to increase the disease; for, if
the medicine does not evacuate[110] the dropsical fluid contained in
the body, but generates it, it aggravates the condition further.
Moreover, scammony, according to the Asclepiadean argument, not only
fails to evacuate[110] the bile from the bodies of jaundiced subjects,
but actually turns the useful blood into bile, and dissolves the body;
in fact it does all manner of evil and increases the disease.

And yet this drug may be clearly seen to do good to numbers of people!
"Yes," says he, "they derive benefit certainly, but merely in
proportion to the evacuation." ... But if you give these cases a drug
which draws off phlegm they will not be benefited. This is so obvious
that even those who make experience alone their starting-point[111]
are aware of it; and these people make it a cardinal point of their
teaching to trust to no arguments, but only to what can be clearly
seen. In this, then, they show good sense; whereas Asclepiades goes
far astray in bidding us distrust our senses where obvious facts
plainly overturn his hypotheses. Much better would it have been for
him not to assail obvious facts, but rather to devote himself entirely
to these.

Is it, then, these facts only which are plainly irreconcilable with
the views of Asclepiades? Is not also the fact that in summer yellow
bile is evacuated in greater quantity by the same drugs, and in winter
phlegm, and that in a young man more bile is evacuated, and in an old
man more phlegm? Obviously each drug attracts something which already
exists, and does not generate something previously non-existent. Thus
if you give in the summer season a drug which attracts phlegm to a
young man of a lean and warm habit, who has lived neither idly nor too
luxuriously, you will with great difficulty evacuate a very small
quantity of this humour, and you will do the man the utmost harm. On
the other hand, if you give him a cholagogue, you will produce an
abundant evacuation and not injure him at all.

Do we still, then, disbelieve that each drug attracts _that humour
which is proper to it_?[112] Possibly the adherents of Asclepiades
will assent to this--or rather, they will--not possibly, but
certainly--declare that they disbelieve it, lest they should betray
their darling prejudices.


                     XIII

  Mathein d' enestin ou monon ex hn hoi tanantia
  tithemenoi diapherontai tois enargs phainomenois, eis
  hoson orthottos te kai altheias hkei ta Hippokratous
  dogmata, alla kax autn tn kata meros en t physik
  theria ztoumenn tn t' alln hapantn kai tn en tois
  zois energein. hosoi gar oudemian oudeni mori
  nomizousin hyparchein helktikn ts oikeias poiottos
  dynamin, anankazontai pollakis enantia legein tois
  enargs phainomenois, hsper kai Asklpiads ho iatros
  epi tn nephrn epoisen, hous ou monon Hippokrats 
  Diokls  Erasistratos  Praxagoras  tis allos iatros
  aristos organa diakritika tn ourn pepisteukasin
  hyparchein, alla kai hoi || mageiroi schedon hapantes          31
  isasin, hosmerai themenoi tn te thesin autn kai ton
  aph' hekaterou poron eis tn kystin emballonta, ton
  ourtra kaloumenon, ex auts ts kataskeus
  analogizomenoi tn te chreian autn kai tn dynamin. kai
  pro ge tn mageirn hapantes anthrpoi kai dysourountes
  pollakis kai pantapasin ischourountes, hotan algsi men
  ta kata tas psoas, psammd d' exoursin, nephritikous
  onomazousi sphas autous.

  Asklpiadn d' oimai mde lithon ourthenta pote
  theasasthai pros tn hout paschontn md' hs
  progsato kata tn metaxy tn nephrn kai ts kystes
  chran odyn tis oxeia dierchomenou tou lithou ton
  ourtra md' hs ourthentos autou ta te ts odyns kai
  ta ts ischourias epausato parachrma. ps oun eis tn
  kystin t log paragei to ouron, axion akousai kai
  thaumasai tandros tn sophian, hos katalipn houts
  eureias hodous enargs phainomenas aphaneis kai stenas
  kai pantapasin anaisthtous || hypetheto. bouletai gar         32
  eis atmous analyomenon to pinomenon hygron eis tn
  kystin diadidosthai kapeit' ex ekeinn authis alllois
  syniontn houts apolambanein auto tn archaian idean
  kai gignesthai palin hygron ex atmn atechns hs peri
  spongias tinos  eriou ts kystes dianooumenos, all' ou
  smatos akribs pyknou kai steganou dyo chitnas
  ischyrotatous kektmenou, di' hn eiper dierchesthai
  phsomen tous atmous, ti dpot' ouchi dia tou
  peritonaiou kai tn phrenn dielthontes eneplsan
  hydatos to t' epigastrion hapan kai ton thraka? alla
  pachyteros, phsin, esti dlad kai steganteros ho
  peritonaios chitn ts kystes kai dia tout' ekeinos men
  apostegei tous atmous, h de kystis paradechetai. all'
  eiper anatetmkei pote, tach' an pistato ton men
  exthen chitna ts kystes apo tou peritonaiou
  pephykota tn autn ekein physin echein, ton d'
  endothen ton auts ts kystes idion pleon  diplasion
  ekeinou to pachos hyparchein.

  All' iss oute to || pachos outh' h leptots tn              33
  chitnn, all' h thesis ts kystes aitia tou
  pheresthai tous atmous eis autn. kai mn ei kai dia
  talla panta pithanon n autous entauthoi
  synathroizesthai, to ge ts theses mons autarkes
  klysai. kat men gar h kystis keitai, tois d' atmois
  symphytos h pros to meteron phora, hste poly proteron
  an eplsan hapanta ta kata ton thraka te kai ton
  pneumona, prin epi tn kystin aphikesthai.

  Kaitoi ti theses kystes kai peritonaiou kai thrakos
  mnmoneu? diekpesontes gar dpou tous te ts koilias
  kai tn entern chitnas hoi atmoi kata tn metaxy
  chran autn te toutn kai tou peritonaiou
  synathroisthsontai kai hygron entauthoi gensontai,
  hsper kai tois hyderikois en tout t chri to
  pleiston athroizetai tou hydatos,  pants autous chr
  pheresthai pros dia pantn tn hopsoun homilountn kai
  mdepoth' histasthai. all' ei kai touto tis hypothoito,
  diekpesontes an houts ou to peritonaion monon alla kai
  to epigastrion, eis to periechon skedastheien  pants
  an hypo t dermati || synathroistheien.                        34

  Alla kai pros taut' antilegein hoi nyn Asklpiadeioi
  peirntai, kaitoi pros hapantn aei tn paratynchanontn
  autois, hotan peri toutn erizsi, katagelmenoi. houts
  ara dysapotripton ti kakon estin h peri tas haireseis
  philotimia kai dyseknipton en tois malista kai psras
  hapass dysiatoteron.

  Tn goun kath' hmas tis sophistn ta t' alla kai peri
  tous eristikous logous hikans synkekrotmenos kai
  deinos eipein, eiper tis allos, aphikomenos emoi poth'
  hyper toutn eis logous, tosouton apedei tou
  dyspeisthai pros tinos tn eirmenn, hste kai
  thaumazein ephasken emou ta saphs phainomena logois
  lrdesin anatrepein epicheirountos. enargs gar
  hosmerai thereisthai tas kysteis hapasas, ei tis autas
  emplseien hydatos  aeros, eita dsas ton trachlon
  piezoi pantachothen, oudamothen methieisas ouden, all'
  akribs hapan entos heautn stegousas. kaitoi g' eiper
  san tines ek tn nephrn eis autas hkontes aisthtoi
  kai megaloi poroi, pants an, eph, di' ekeinn, hsper
  eisei to || hygron eis autas, hout kai thlibontn            35
  exekrineto. tauta kai ta toiaut' eipn exaiphns
  aptaist kai saphei t stomati teleutn anapdsas apei
  katalipn hmas hs oude pithans tinos antilogias
  euporsai dynamenous.

  Houts ou monon hygies ouden isasin hoi tais hairesesi
  douleuontes, all' oude mathein hypomenousi. deon gar
  akousai tn aitian, di' hn eisienai men dynatai dia tn
  ourtrn eis tn kystin to hygron, exienai d' authis
  opis tn autn hodon ouketh' hoion te, kai thaumasai
  tn technn ts physes, oute mathein ethelousi kai
  loidorountai proseti matn hyp' auts alla te polla kai
  tous nephrous gegonenai phaskontes. eisi d' hoi kai
  deichthnai parontn autn tous apo tn nephrn eis tn
  kystin emphyomenous ourtras hypomeinantes etolmsan
  eipein hoi men, hoti matn kai houtoi gegonasin, hoi d',
  hoti spermatikoi tines eisi poroi kai dia touto kata ton
  trachlon auts, ouk eis to kytos emphyontai. deixantes
  oun hmeis autois tous hs alths spermatikous porous
  katter tn ourtrn || emballontas eis ton trachlon,       36
  nyn goun, ei kai m proteron, thmen apaxein te tn
  pseuds hypeilmmenn epi te tanantia metastsein
  autika. hoi de kai pros tout' antilegein etolmn ouden
  einai thaumaston eipontes, en ekeinois men hs an
  steganterois ousin epi pleon hypomenein to sperma, kata
  de tous apo tn nephrn hs an hikans aneurysmenous
  ekrein dia tachen. hmeis oun nankasthmen autois tou
  loipou deiknyein eisreon t kystei dia tn ourtrn to
  ouron enargs epi zntos eti tou zou, mogis an hout
  pote tn phlyarian autn epischsein elpizontes.

  Ho de tropos ts deixes esti toiosde. dielein chr to
  pro tn ourtrn peritonaion, eita brochois autous
  eklabein kapeit' epidsantas easai to zon; ou gar an
  ourseien eti. meta de tauta lyein men tous exthen
  desmous, deiknynai de kenn men tn kystin, mestous d'
  hikans kai diatetamenous tous ourtras kai
  kindyneuontas rhagnai kapeita tous brochous autn
  aphelontas enargs horan d plroumenn ourou tn
  kystin.

  Epi de tout || phanenti, prin oursai to zon, brochon        37
  autou peribalein chr t aidoi kapeita thlibein
  pantachothen tn kystin. oude gar an ouden eti dia tn
  ourtrn epanelthoi pros tous nephrous. kan tout dlon
  gignetai to m monon epi tethnetos alla kai periontos
  eti tou zou klyesthai metalambanein authis ek ts
  kystes tous ourtras to ouron. epi toutois ophtheisin
  epitrepein d to zon ourein lyontas autou ton epi t
  aidoi brochon, eit' authis epibalein men thater tn
  ourtrn, easai de ton heteron eis tn kystin syrrhein
  kai tina dialipontas chronon epideiknyein d, ps ho
  men heteros autn ho dedemenos mestos kai diatetamenos
  kata ta pros tn nephrn mer phainetai, ho d' heteros
  ho lelymenos autos men chalaros esti, peplrke d' ourou
  tn kystin. eit' authis diatemein prton men ton plr
  kai deixai, ps exakontizetai to ouron ex autou,
  kathaper en tais phlebotomiais to haima, meta tauta de
  kai ton heteron authis diatemein kapeit' epidsai to
  zon exthen, amphotern dirmenn, || eith' hotan            38
  hikans echein dok, lysai ton desmon. heurethsetai gar
  h men kystis ken, plres d' ourou to metaxy tn
  entern te kai tou peritonaiou chrion hapan, hs an ei
  kai hyderikon n to zon. taut' oun ei tis autos kath'
  heauton boulthei basanizein epi zou, megals moi
  dokei katagnsesthai ts Asklpiadou propeteias. ei de
  d kai tn aitian mathoi, di' hn ouden ek ts kystes
  eis tous ourtras antekrei, peisthnai an moi dokei kai
  dia toude tn eis ta za pronoian te kai technn ts
  physes.

  Hippokrats men oun hn ismen iatrn te kai philosophn
  prtos hapantn, hs an kai prtos epignous ta ts
  physes erga, thaumazei te kai dia pantos autn hymnei
  dikaian onomazn kai monn exarkein eis hapanta tois
  zois phsin, autn ex hauts adidakts prattousan
  hapanta ta deonta; toiautn d' ousan autn euthes kai
  dynameis hypelaben echein helktikn men tn oikein,
  apokritikn de tn allotrin kai trephein te kai auxein
  au||tn ta za kai krinein ta nosmata; kai dia tout' en       39
  tois smasin hmn sympnoian te mian einai phsi kai
  syrrhoian kai panta sympathea. kata de ton Asklpiadn
  ouden oudeni sympathes esti physei, dirmens te kai
  katatethrausmens eis anarma stoicheia kai lrdeis
  onkous hapass ts ousias. ex ananks oun alla te myria
  tois enargs phainomenois enantis apephnato kai ts
  physes gnose tn te tn oikein epispastikn dynamin
  kai tn tn allotrin apokritikn. epi men oun ts
  exaimatses te kai anadoses exeure tina psychran
  adoleschian; eis de tn tn perittmatn katharsin ouden
  hols heurn eipein ouk knsen homose chrsai tois
  phainomenois, epi men ts tn ourn diakrises
  apostersas men tn te nephrn kai tn ourtrn tn
  energeian, adlous de tinas porous eis tn kystin
  hypothemenos; touto gar n dlad mega kai semnon
  apistsanta tois phainomenois pisteusai tois adlois.

  Epi || de ts xanths chols eti meizon aut kai               40
  neanikteron esti to tolmma; gennasthai gar autn en
  tois choldochois angeiois, ou diakrinesthai legei.

  Ps oun tois ikterikois ham' amph sympiptei, ta men
  diachrmata mden hols en hautois echonta chols,
  anaplen d' autois gignomenon holon to sma? lrein
  palin entauth' anankazetai tois epi tn ourn eirmenois
  paraplsis. lrei d' ouden htton kai peri ts melains
  chols kai tou splnos oute ti poth' hyph' Hippokratous
  eirtai synieis antilegein t' epicheirn hois ouk oiden
  emplkt tini kai manik stomati.

  Ti d to kerdos ek tn toioutn dogmatn eis tas
  therapeias ektsato? mte nephritikon ti nosma
  dynasthai therapeusai mt' ikterikon mte melancholikon,
  alla kai peri tou pasin anthrpois ouch Hippokratei
  monon homologoumenou tou kathairein tn pharmakn enia
  men tn xanthn choln, enia de tn melainan, alla de
  tina phlegma kai tina to lepton kai hydatdes perittma,
  mde peri toutn synchrein, all' hyp' autn tn
  pharmakn gignesthai legein toiouton hekaston tn
  kenoumenn, hsper hypo tn chol||dochn porn tn            41
  choln; kai mden diapherein kata ton thaumaston
  Asklpiadn  hydraggon didonai tois hyderisin 
  cholaggon pharmakon; hapanta gar homois kenoun kai
  syntkein to sma kai to syntgma toionde ti phainesthai
  poiein, m proteron hyparchon toiouton.

  Ar' oun ou mainesthai nomisteon auton  pantapasin
  apeiron einai tn ergn ts techns? tis gar ouk oiden,
  hs, ei men phlegmatos aggon dothei pharmakon tois
  ikterisin, ouk an oude tettaras kyathous kathartheien;
  hout d' oud' ei tn hydraggn ti; cholagg de
  pharmak pleiston men ekkenoutai chols, autika de
  katharos tois hout kathartheisin ho chrs gignetai.
  pollous goun hmeis meta to therapeusai tn en t hpati
  diathesin hapax kathrantes apllaxamen tou pathmatos.
  ou mn oud' ei phlegmatos agg kathairois pharmak,
  pleon an ti diapraxaio.

  Kai taut' ouch Hippokrats men houts oide gignomena,
  tois d' apo ts empeirias mons hormmenois heters
  egnstai, alla kakei||nois hsauts kai pasin iatrois,         42
  hois melei tn ergn ts techns, hout dokei pln
  Asklpiadou. prodosian gar einai nenomike tn stoichein
  hn hypetheto tn alth peri tn toioutn homologian.
  ei gar hols heurethei ti pharmakon helktikon toude
  tinos tou chymou monou, kindynos kratein dlad t log
  to en hekast tn smatn einai tina dynamin
  epispastikn ts oikeias poiottos. dia touto knkon men
  kai kokkon ton knidion kai hippophaes ouch helkein ek
  tou smatos alla poiein to phlegma phsin; anthos de
  chalkou kai lepida kai auton ton kekaumenon chalkon kai
  chamaidryn kai chamaileonta eis hydr analyein to sma
  kai tous hyderikous hypo toutn ou kathairomenous
  oninasthai alla kenoumenous synauxontn dlad to
  pathos. ei gar ou kenoi to periechomenon en tois smasin
  hydatdes hygron all' auto genna, t nosmati
  prostimreitai. kai men ge kai h skammnia pros t m
  kenoun ek tou smatos tn ikterikn tn choln eti kai
  to chrston haima choln ergazomen || kai syntkousa to       43
  sma kai tlikauta kaka drsa kai to pathos epauxousa
  kata ge ton Asklpiadou logon.

  Homs enargs horatai pollous phelousa. nai, phsin,
  oninantai men, all' aut mon t log ts kenses. kai
  mn ei phlegmatos aggon autois dois pharmakon, ouk
  onsontai. kai touth' houts enarges estin, hste kai
  hoi apo mons ts empeirias hormmenoi gignskousin
  auto. kaitoi toutois ge tois andrasin auto d tout' esti
  philosophma, to mdeni log pisteuein alla monois tois
  enargs phainomenois. ekeinoi men oun sphronousin;
  Asklpiads de parapaiei tais aisthsesin hmas apistein
  keleun, entha to phainomenon anatrepei saphs autou tas
  hypotheseis. kaitoi makr g' n ameinon ouch homose
  chrein tois phainomenois all' ekeinois anathesthai to
  pan.

  Ar' oun tauta monon enargs machetai tois Asklpiadou
  dogmasin  kai to therous men pleiona kenousthai tn
  xanthn choln hypo tn autn pharmakn, cheimnos de to
  phlegma, kai neanisk men pleiona tn choln, presbyt
  de to phlegma? phainetai || gar hekaston helkein tn           44
  ousan, ouk auto gennan tn ouk ousan. ei goun ethelsais
  neanisk tini tn ischnn kai thermn hra therous mt'
  args bebikoti mt' en plsmon phlegmatos aggon
  dounai pharmakon, oligiston men kai meta bias polls
  ekkenseis tou chymou, blapseis d' eschats ton
  anthrpon; empalin d' ei cholaggon dois, kai pampoly
  kenseis kai blapseis ouden.

  Ar' apistoumen eti t m ouch hekaston tn pharmakn
  epagesthai ton oikeion heaut chymon? iss phsousin hoi
  ap' Asklpiadou, mallon d' ouk iss, alla pants
  apistein erousin, hina m prodsi ta philtata.


                             XIV

Let us pass on, then, again to another piece of nonsense; for the
sophists do not allow one to engage in enquiries that are of any
worth, albeit there are many such; they compel one to spend one's time
in dissipating the fallacious arguments which they bring forward.

What, then, is this piece of nonsense? It has to do with the famous
and far-renowned stone which draws iron [the lodestone]. It might be
thought that this would draw[113] their minds to a belief that there
are in all bodies certain _faculties_ by which they attract their own
proper qualities.

Now Epicurus, despite the fact that he employs in his _Physics_[114]
elements similar to those of Asclepiades,[115] yet allows that iron is
attracted by the lodestone,[116] and chaff by amber. He even tries to
give the cause of the phenomenon. His view is that the atoms which
flow from the stone are related in shape to those flowing from the
iron, and so they become easily interlocked with one another; thus it
is that, after colliding with each of the two compact masses (the
stone and the iron) they then rebound into the middle and so become
entangled with each other, and draw the iron after them. So far, then,
as his hypotheses regarding causation[117] go, he is perfectly
unconvincing; nevertheless, he does grant that there is an attraction.
Further, he says that it is on similar principles that there occur in
the bodies of animals the dispersal of nutriment[118] and the
discharge of waste matters, as also the actions of cathartic drugs.

Asclepiades, however, who viewed with suspicion the incredible
character of the cause mentioned, and who saw no other credible cause
on the basis of his supposed elements, shamelessly had recourse to the
statement that nothing is in any way attracted by anything else. Now,
if he was dissatisfied with what Epicurus said, and had nothing better
to say himself, he ought to have refrained from making hypotheses, and
should have said that Nature is a constructive artist and that the
substance of things is always tending towards unity and also towards
alteration because its own parts act upon and are acted upon by one
another.[119] For, if he had assumed this, it would not have been
difficult to allow that this constructive nature has powers which
attract appropriate and expel alien matter. For in no other way could
she be constructive, preservative of the animal, and eliminative of
its diseases,[120] unless it be allowed that she conserves what is
appropriate and discharges what is foreign.

But in this matter, too, Asclepiades realized the logical sequence of
the principles he had assumed; he showed no scruples, however, in
opposing plain fact; he joins issue in this matter also, not merely
with all physicians, but with everyone else, and maintains that there
is no such thing as a crisis, or critical day,[121] and that Nature
does absolutely nothing for the preservation of the animal. For his
constant aim is to follow out logical consequences and to upset
obvious fact, in this respect being opposed to Epicurus; for the
latter always stated the observed fact, although he gives an
ineffective explanation of it. For, that these small corpuscles
belonging to the lodestone rebound, and become entangled with other
similar particles of the iron, and that then, by means of this
entanglement (which cannot be seen anywhere) such a heavy substance as
iron is attracted--I fail to understand how anybody could believe
this. Even if we admit this, the same principle will not explain the
fact that, when the iron has another piece brought in contact with it,
this becomes attached to it.

For what are we to say? That, forsooth, some of the particles that
flow from the lodestone collide with the iron and then rebound back,
and that it is by these that the iron becomes suspended? that others
penetrate into it, and rapidly pass through it by way of its empty
channels?[122] that these then collide with the second piece of iron
and are not able to penetrate it although they penetrated the first
piece? and that they then course back to the first piece, and produce
entanglements like the former ones?

The hypothesis here becomes clearly refuted by its absurdity. As a
matter of fact, I have seen five writing-stylets of iron attached to
one another in a line, only the first one being in contact with the
lodestone, and the power[123] being transmitted through it to the
others. Moreover, it cannot be said that if you bring a second stylet
into contact with the lower end of the first, it becomes held,
attached, and suspended, whereas, if you apply it to any other part of
the side it does not become attached. For the power of the lodestone
is distributed in all directions; it merely needs to be in contact
with the first stylet at any point; from this stylet again the power
flows, as quick as a thought, all through the second, and from that
again to the third. Now, if you imagine a small lodestone hanging in a
house, and in contact with it all round a large number of pieces of
iron, from them again others, from these others, and so on,--all these
pieces of iron must surely become filled with the corpuscles which
emanate from the stone; therefore, this first little stone is likely
to become dissipated by disintegrating into these emanations.[124]
Further, even if there be no iron in contact with it, it still
disperses into the air, particularly if this be also warm.

"Yes," says Epicurus, "but these corpuscles must be looked on as
exceedingly small, so that some of them are a ten-thousandth part of
the size of the very smallest particles carried in the air." Then do
you venture to say that so great a weight of iron can be suspended by
such small bodies? If each of them is a ten-thousandth part as large
as the dust particles which are borne in the atmosphere, how big must
we suppose the hook-like extremities by which they interlock with each
other[125] to be? For of course this is quite the smallest portion of
the whole particle.

Then, again, when a small body becomes entangled with another small
body, or when a body in motion becomes entangled with another also in
motion, they do not rebound at once. For, further, there will of
course be others which break in upon them from above, from below, from
front and rear, from right and left, and which shake and agitate them
and never let them rest. Moreover, we must perforce suppose that each
of these small bodies has a large number of these hook-like
extremities. For by one it attaches itself to its neighbours, by
another--the topmost one--to the lodestone, and by the bottom one to
the iron. For if it were attached to the stone above and not
interlocked with the iron below, this would be of no use.[126] Thus,
the upper part of the superior extremity must hang from the lodestone,
and the iron must be attached to the lower end of the inferior
extremity; and, since they interlock with each other by their sides as
well, they must, of course, have hooks there too. Keep in mind also,
above everything, what small bodies these are which possess all these
different kinds of outgrowths. Still more, remember how, in order that
the second piece of iron may become attached to the first, the third
to the second, and to that the fourth, these absurd little particles
must both penetrate the passages in the first piece of iron and at the
same time rebound from the piece coming next in the series, although
this second piece is naturally in every way similar to the first.

Such an hypothesis, once again, is certainly not lacking in audacity;
in fact, to tell the truth, it is far more shameless than the previous
ones; according to it, when five similar pieces of iron are arranged
in a line, the particles of the lodestone which easily traverse the
first piece of iron rebound from the second, and do not pass readily
through it in the same way. Indeed, it is nonsense, whichever
alternative is adopted. For, if they do rebound, how then do they pass
through into the third piece? And if they do not rebound, how does the
second piece become suspended to the first? For Epicurus himself
looked on the rebound as the active agent in attraction.

But, as I have said, one is driven to talk nonsense whenever one gets
into discussion with such men. Having, therefore, given a concise and
summary statement of the matter, I wish to be done with it. For if one
diligently familiarizes oneself with the writings of Asclepiades, one
will see clearly their logical dependence on his first principles, but
also their disagreement with observed facts. Thus, Epicurus, in his
desire to adhere to the facts, cuts an awkward figure by aspiring to
show that these agree with his principles, whereas Asclepiades
safeguards the sequence of principles, but pays no attention to the
obvious fact. Whoever, therefore, wishes to expose the absurdity of
their hypotheses, must, if the argument be in answer to Asclepiades,
keep in mind his disagreement with observed fact; or if in answer to
Epicurus, his discordance with his principles. Almost all the other
sects depending on similar principles are now entirely extinct, while
these alone maintain a respectable existence still. Yet the tenets of
Asclepiades have been unanswerably confuted by Menodotus the
Empiricist, who draws his attention to their opposition to phenomena
and to each other; and, again, those of Epicurus have been confuted by
Asclepiades, who adhered always to logical sequence, about which
Epicurus evidently cares little.

Now people of the present day do not begin by getting a clear
comprehension of these sects, as well as of the better ones,
thereafter devoting a long time to judging and testing the true and
false in each of them; despite their ignorance, they style themselves,
some "physicians" and others "philosophers." No wonder, then, that
they honour the false equally with the true. For everyone becomes like
the first teacher that he comes across, without waiting to learn
anything from anybody else. And there are some of them, who, even if
they meet with more than one teacher, are yet so unintelligent and
slow-witted that even by the time they have reached old age they are
still incapable of understanding the steps of an argument.... In the
old days such people used to be set to menial tasks.... What will be
the end of it God knows!

Now, we usually refrain from arguing with people whose principles are
wrong from the outset. Still, having been compelled by the natural
course of events to enter into some kind of a discussion with them, we
must add this further to what was said--that it is not only cathartic
drugs which naturally attract their special qualities,[127] but also
those which remove thorns and the points of arrows such as sometimes
become deeply embedded in the flesh. Those drugs also which draw out
animal poisons or poisons applied to arrows all show the same faculty
as does the lodestone. Thus, I myself have seen a thorn which was
embedded in a young man's foot fail to come out when we exerted
forcible traction with our fingers, and yet come away painlessly and
rapidly on the application of a medicament. Yet even to this some
people will object, asserting that when the inflammation is dispersed
from the part the thorn comes away of itself, without being pulled out
by anything. But these people seem, in the first place, to be unaware
that there are certain drugs for drawing out inflammation and
different ones for drawing out embedded substances; and surely if it
was on the cessation of an inflammation that the abnormal matters were
expelled, then all drugs which disperse inflammations ought, _ipso
facto_, to possess the power of extracting these substances as
well.[128]

And secondly, these people seem to be unaware of a still more
surprising fact, namely, that not merely do certain medicaments draw
out thorns and others poisons, but that of the latter there are some
which attract the poison of the viper, others that of the
sting-ray,[129] and others that of some other animal; we can, in fact,
plainly observe these poisons deposited on the medicaments. Here,
then, we must praise Epicurus for the respect he shows towards obvious
facts, but find fault with his views as to causation. For how can it
be otherwise than extremely foolish to suppose that a thorn which we
failed to remove by digital traction could be drawn out by these
minute particles?

Have we now, therefore, convinced ourselves that everything which
exists[130] possesses a faculty by which it attracts its proper
quality, and that some things do this more, and some less?

Or shall we also furnish our argument with the illustration afforded
by _corn_?[131] For those who refuse to admit that anything is
attracted by anything else, will, I imagine, be here proved more
ignorant regarding Nature than the very peasants. When, for my own
part, I first learned of what happens, I was surprised, and felt
anxious to see it with my own eyes. Afterwards, when experience also
had confirmed its truth, I sought long among the various sects for an
explanation, and, with the exception of that which gave the first
place to _attraction_, I could find none which even approached
plausibility, all the others being ridiculous and obviously quite
untenable.

What happens, then, is the following. When our peasants are bringing
corn from the country into the city in wagons, and wish to filch some
away without being detected, they fill earthen jars with water and
stand them among the corn; the corn then draws the moisture into
itself through the jar and acquires additional bulk and weight, but
the fact is never detected by the onlookers unless someone who knew
about the trick before makes a more careful inspection. Yet, if you
care to set down the same vessel in the very hot sun, you will find
the daily loss to be very little indeed. Thus corn has a greater power
than extreme solar heat of drawing to itself the moisture in its
neighbourhood.[132] Thus the theory that the water is carried towards
the rarefied part of the air surrounding us[133] (particularly when
that is distinctly warm) is utter nonsense; for although it is much
more rarefied there than it is amongst the corn, yet it does not take
up a tenth part of the moisture which the corn does.


                      XIV

  Palin oun kai hmeis eph' heteran metabmen adoleschian;
  ou gar epitrepousin hoi sophistai tn axin ti ztmatn
  procheirizesthai kaitoi pampolln hyparchontn, alla
  katatribein anankazousi ton chronon eis tn tn
  sophismatn, hn proballousi, lysin.

  Tis oun h adoleschia? h endoxos haut kai
  polythryltos lithos h ton sidron || epispmen. tacha       45
  gar an haut pote tn psychn autn epispasaito
  pisteuein einai tinas en hekast tn smatn helktikas
  tn oikein poiottn dynameis.

  Epikouros men oun kaitoi paraplsiois Asklpiad
  stoicheiois pros tn physiologian chrmenos homs
  homologei, pros men ts hrakleias lithou ton sidron
  helkesthai, pros de tn lektrn ta kyrbia kai peiratai
  ge kai tn aitian apodidonai tou phainomenou. tas gar
  aporrheousas atomous apo ts lithou tais aporrheousais
  apo tou sidrou tois schmasin oikeias einai phsin,
  hste periplekesthai rhadis. proskrouousas oun autas
  tois synkrimasin hekaterois ts te lithou kai tou
  sidrou kapeit' eis to meson apopallomenas houts
  alllais te periplekesthai kai synepispasthai ton
  sidron. to men oun tn hypothesen eis tn aitiologian
  apithanon antikrys dlon, homs d' oun homologei tn
  holkn. kai hout ge kai kata ta smata tn zn phsi
  gignesthai tas t' anadoseis kai tas diakriseis tn
  perittmatn kai tas tn kathairontn pharmakn
  energeias.

  Asklpiads d to te ts eirmens aitias apithanon ||         46
  hypidomenos kai mdemian alln eph' hois hypetheto
  stoicheiois exeuriskn pithann epi to md' hols
  helkesthai legein hypo mdenos mden anaischyntsas
  etrapeto, deon, ei mth' hois Epikouros eipen resketo
  mt' alla belti legein eichen, apostnai tn
  hypothesen kai tn te physin eipein technikn kai tn
  ousian tn ontn henoumenn te pros heautn aei kai
  alloioumenn hypo tn heauts morin eis allla drntn
  te kai paschontn. ei gar tauth' hypetheto, chalepon
  ouden n tn technikn ekeinn physin homologsai
  dynameis echein epispastikn men tn oikein,
  apokritikn de tn allotrin. ou gar di' allo ti g' n
  aut to technik t' einai kai tou zou diasstik kai
  tn nosmatn kritik para to prosiesthai men kai
  phylattein to oikeion, apokrinein de to allotrion.

  All' Asklpiads kantautha to men akolouthon tais
  archais hais hypetheto syneiden, ou mn tn ge pros to
  phainomenon enargs desth machn, all' homose ||             47
  chrei kai peri toutou pasin ouk iatrois monon all' d
  kai tois allois anthrpois oute krisin einai tina legn
  outh' hmeran krisimon outh' hols ouden epi stria tou
  zou pragmateusasthai tn physin. aei gar to men
  akolouthon phylattein bouletai, to d' enargs
  phainomenon anatrepein empalin Epikour. titheis gar
  ekeinos aei to phainomenon aitian autou psychran
  apodidsi. ta gar apopallomena smikra smata ts
  hrakleias lithou toioutois heterois periplekesthai
  moriois tou sidrou kapeita dia ts periploks tauts
  mdamou phainomens epispasthai bareian houts ousian
  ouk oid' hops an tis peisthei. kai gar ei touto
  synchrsomen, to ge t sidr palin heteron prostethen
  ti synaptesthai tn autn aitian ouketi prosietai.

  Ti gar eroumen?  dlad tn aporrheontn ts lithou
  morin enia men proskrousanta t sidr palin
  apopallesthai kai tauta men einai, di' hn kremannysthai
  symbainei ton sidron, ta d' eis auton eisdyomena dia
  tn || kenn porn diexerchesthai tachista kapeita t          48
  parakeimen sidr proskrouonta mt' ekeinon diadynai
  dynasthai, kaitoi ton ge prton diadynta, palindromounta
  d' authis epi ton proteron heteras authis ergazesthai
  tais proterais homoias periplokas?

  Enargs gar entautha to lrdes ts aitias elenchetai.
  grapheia goun oida pote sidra pente kata to syneches
  alllois synaphthenta, tou prtou men monou ts lithou
  psausantos, ex ekeinou d' eis talla ts dynames
  diadotheiss; kai ouk estin eipein, hs, ei men t kat
  tou grapheiou perati prosagois heteron, echetai te kai
  synaptetai kai krematai to prosenechthen; ei d' all
  tini merei tn plagin prostheis, ou synaptetai. pant
  gar homois h ts lithou diadidotai dynamis, ei monon
  hapsaito kata ti tou prtou grapheiou. kai mentoi kak
  toutou palin eis to deuteron holon h dynamis hama
  nomati diarrhei kax ekeinou palin eis to triton holon.
  ei d nosais smikran tina lithon hrakleian en oik
  tini kremamenn, eit' en kykl psauonta pampolla sidria
  kakeinn palin hetera kakeinn alla kai tout' achri
  pleionos, hapanta || dpou pimplasthai dei ta sidria          49
  tn aporrheontn ts lithou smatn. kai kindyneuei
  diaphorthnai to smikron ekeino lithidion eis tas
  aporrhoas dialythen. kaitoi, kan ei mden parakeoit'
  aut sidrion, eis ton aera skedannytai, malist' ei kai
  thermos hyparchoi.

  Nai, phsi, smikra gar auta chr pany noein, hste tn
  empheromenn t aeri psgmatn toutn d tn smikrotatn
  ekeinn enia myrioston einai meros. eit' ex hout
  smikrn tolmate legein kremannysthai bar tlikauta
  sidrou? ei gar hekaston autn myrioston esti meros tn
  en t aeri pheromenn psgmatn, plikon chr nosai to
  peras autn to ankistroeides, h peripleketai pros
  allla? pants gar dpou touto smikrotaton estin holou
  tou psgmatos.

  Eita mikron mikr, kinoumenon kinoumen periplaken ouk
  euthys apopalletai. kai gar d kai all' atta pants
  autois, ta men anthen, ta de katthen, kai ta men
  emprosthen, ta d' opisthen, ta d' ek tn dexin, ta d'
  ek tn aristern || ekrgnymena seiei te kai brattei kai       50
  menein ouk ea. kai mentoi kai polla chr noein ex
  ananks hekaston ekeinn tn smikrn smatn echein
  ankistrd perata. di' henos men gar alllois
  synaptetai, di' heterou d' henos tou men hyperkeimenou
  t lith, tou d' hypokeimenou t sidr. ei gar an men
  exaphthei ts lithou, kat de t sidr m symplakei,
  pleon ouden. hste tou men hyperkeimenou to an meros
  ekkremasthai chr ts lithou, tou d' hypokeimenou t
  kat perati synphthai ton sidron. epei de kak tn
  plagin alllois peripleketai, pants pou kantautha
  echei ta ankistra. kai memnso moi pro pantn, hops
  onta smikra tas toiautas kai tosautas apophyseis echei.
  kai toutou mallon eti, ps, hina to deuteron sidrion
  synaphth t prt kai t deuter to triton kakein to
  tetarton, hama men diexerchesthai chr tous porous tauti
  ta smikra kai lrd psgmata, hama d' apopallesthai tou
  met' auto || tetagmenou, kaitoi kata pan homoiou tn           51
  physin hyparchontos.

  Oude gar h toiaut palin hypothesis atolmos, all', ei
  chr talthes eipein, makr tn emprosthen
  anaischyntotera, pente sidrin homoin alllois ephexs
  tetagmenn dia tou prtou diadyomena rhadis ts lithou
  ta moria kata to deuteron apopallesthai kai m dia
  toutou kata ton auton tropon hetoims diexerchesthai.
  kai mn hekaters atopon. ei men gar apopalletai, ps
  eis to triton kes diexerchetai? ei d' ouk apopalletai,
  ps kremannytai to deuteron ek tou prtou? tn gar
  apopalsin autos hypetheto dmiourgon ts holks.

  All', hoper ephn, eis adoleschian anankaion empiptein,
  epeidan tis toioutois andrasi dialegtai. syntomon oun
  tina kai kephalaid logon eipn apallattesthai
  boulomai. tois Asklpiadou grammasin ei tis epimels
  homilseie, tn te pros tas archas akolouthian tn
  toioutn dogmatn akribs an ekmathoi kai tn pros ta
  phainomena machn. ho men oun Epikouros ta phainomena
  phylattein boulomenos aschmonei || philotimoumenos            52
  epideiknyein auta tais archais homologounta; ho d'
  Asklpiads to men akolouthon tais archais phylattei,
  tou phainomenou d' ouden aut melei. hostis oun bouletai
  tn atopian exelenchein tn hypothesen, ei men pros
  Asklpiadn ho logos aut gignoito, ts pros to
  phainomenon hypomimnsket machs; ei de pros Epikouron,
  ts pros tas archas diaphnias. hai d' allai schedon
  haireseis hai tn homoin archn echomenai teles
  apesbsan, hautai d' eti monai diarkousin ouk agenns.
  kaitoi ta men Asklpiadou Mnodotos ho empeirikos
  aphykts exelenchei, tn te pros ta phainomena machn
  hypomimnskn auton kai tn pros allla; ta d' Epikourou
  palin ho Asklpiads echomenos aei ts akolouthias, hs
  ekeinos ou pany ti phainetai phrontizn.

  All' hoi nyn anthrpoi, prin kai tautas ekmathein tas
  haireseis kai tas allas tas beltious kapeita chron
  poll krinai te kai basanisai to kath' hekastn autn
  althes te kai pseudos, hoi men iatrous heautous, hoi de
  philosophous onomazousi mden eidotes. || ouden oun            53
  thaumaston episs tois althesi ta pseud tetimsthai.
  hot gar an hekastos prt peritych didaskal, toioutos
  egeneto, m perimeinas mden eti par' allou mathein.
  enioi d' autn, ei kai pleiosin entychoien, all' hout
  g' eisin asynetoi te kai bradeis tn dianoian, hste kai
  gegrakotes oup syniasin akolouthian logou. palai de
  tous toioutous epi tas banausous apelyon technas. alla
  tauta men es ho ti teleutsei theos oiden.

  Hmeis d' epeid, kaitoi pheugontes antilegein tois en
  autais tais archais euthys esphalmenois, homs
  nankasthmen hyp' auts tn pragmatn ts akolouthias
  eipein tina kai dialechthnai pros autous, eti kai touto
  prosthsomen tois eirmenois, hs ou monon ta
  kathaironta pharmaka pephyken epispasthai tas oikeias
  poiottas alla kai ta tous skolopas anagonta kai tas tn
  beln akidas eis poly bathos sarkos empeparmenas eniote.
  kai mentoi kai hosa tous ious tn thrin  tous
  empepharmagmenous tois belesin anelkei, kai tauta tn
  autn tais hrakleiais lithois epi||deiknytai dynamin.         54
  egg' oun oida pote katapeparmenon en podi neaniskou
  skolopa tois men daktylois helkousin hmin biais ouk
  akolouthsanta, pharmakou d' epitethentos alyps te kai
  dia tachen anelthonta. kaitoi kai pros touto tines
  antilegousi phaskontes, hotan h phlegmon lyth tou
  merous, automaton exienai ton skolopa pros oudenos
  anelkomenon. all' houtoi ge prton men agnoein eoikasin,
  hs alla men esti phlegmons, alla de tn hout
  katapeparmenn helktika pharmaka; kaitoi g' eiper
  aphlegmantn genomenn exekrineto ta para physin, hosa
  phlegmons esti lytika, taut' euthys an n kakeinn
  helktika.

  Deuteron d', ho kai mallon an tis thaumaseien, hs ou
  monon alla men tous skolopas, alla de tous ious exagei
  pharmaka, alla kai autn tn tous ious helkontn ta men
  ton ts echidns, ta de ton ts trygonos, ta d' allou
  tinos epispatai kai saphs estin idein tois pharmakois
  epikeimenous autous. entauth' oun Epikouron men epainein
  chr ts pros || to phainomenon aidous, memphesthai de         55
  ton logon ts aitias. hon gar hmeis helkontes tois
  daktylois ouk angagomen skolopa, touton hypo tn
  smikrn ekeinn anelkesthai psgmatn, ps ou pantapasin
  atopon einai chr nomizein?

  Ar' oun d pepeismetha tn ontn hekast dynamin tin'
  hyparchein, h tn oikeian helkei poiotta, to men
  mallon, to d' htton?

   kai to tn pyrn eti paradeigma procheirisometha t
  log? phansontai gar oimai kai tn gergn autn
  amathesteroi peri tn physin hoi mden hols hypo
  mdenos helkesthai synchrountes; hs egge prton men
  akousas to gignomenon ethaumasa kai autos boulthn
  autopts autou katastnai. meta tauta de, hs kai ta ts
  peiras hmologei, tn aitian skopoumenos en pampoll
  chron kata pasas tas haireseis oudemian alln heurein
  hoios t' n oud' achri tou pithanou proousan alla
  katagelastous te kai saphs exelenchomenas tas allas
  hapasas pln ts tn holkn presbeuouss.

  Esti de to gignomenon toionde. katakomizontes hoi par'
  hmin gergoi tous || ek tn agrn pyrous eis tn polin        56
  en hamaxais tisin, hotan hyphelesthai boulthsin, hste
  m phrathnai, kerami' atta plrsantes hydatos mesois
  autois enistasin. helkontes oun ekeinoi dia tou keramiou
  to hygron eis hautous onkon men kai baros prosktntai,
  katadloi d' ou pany gignontai tois horsin, ei m tis
  propepysmenos d periergoteron episkopoito. kaitoi g'
  ei boultheis en hli katatheinai pany therm tauton
  angeion, elachiston pantels heurseis to dapanmenon
  eph' hekasts hmeras. houts ara kai ts hliaks
  thermasias ts sphodras ischyroteran hoi pyroi dynamin
  echousin helkein eis heautous tn plsiazousan
  hygrotta. lros oun entautha makros h pros to
  leptomeres phora tou periechontos hmas aeros kai
  malisth' hotan hikans  thermos, poly men hyparchontos
   kata tous pyrous leptomeresterou, dechomenou d' oude
  to dekaton meros ts eis ekeinous metalambanomens
  hygrottos.


                              XV

Since then, we have talked sufficient nonsense--not willingly, but
because we were forced, as the proverb says, "to behave madly among
madmen"--let us return again to the subject of urinary secretion. Here
let us forget the absurdities of Asclepiades, and, in company with
those who are persuaded that the urine does pass through the kidneys,
let us consider what is the character of this function. For, most
assuredly, either the urine is conveyed by its own motion to the
kidneys, considering this the better course (as do we when we go off
to market![134]), or, if this be impossible, then some other reason
for its conveyance must be found. What, then, is this? If we are not
going to grant the kidneys a faculty for attracting this particular
quality,[135] as Hippocrates held, we shall discover no other reason.
For, surely everyone sees that either the kidneys must attract the
urine, or the veins must propel it--if, that is, it does not move of
itself. But if the veins did exert a propulsive action when they
contract, they would squeeze out into the kidneys not merely the
urine, but along with it the whole of the blood which they
contain.[136] And if this is impossible, as we shall show, the
remaining explanation is that the kidneys do exert traction.

And how is propulsion by the veins impossible? The situation of the
kidneys is against it. They do not occupy a position beneath the
hollow vein [vena cava] as does the sieve-like [ethmoid] passage in
the nose and palate in relation to the surplus matter from the
brain;[137] they are situated on both sides of it. Besides, if the
kidneys are like sieves, and readily let the thinner serous
[whey-like] portion through, and keep out the thicker portion, then
the whole of the blood contained in the vena cava must go to them,
just as the whole of the wine is thrown into the filters. Further, the
example of milk being made into cheese will show clearly what I mean.
For this, too, although it is all thrown into the wicker strainers,
does not all percolate through; such part of it as is too fine in
proportion to the width of the meshes passes downwards, and this is
called _whey_ [serum]; the remaining thick portion which is destined
to become cheese cannot get down, since the pores of the strainers
will not admit it. Thus it is that, if the blood-serum has similarly
to percolate through the kidneys, the whole of the blood must come to
them, and not merely one part of it.

What, then, is the appearance as found on dissection?

One division of the vena cava is carried upwards[138] to the heart,
and the other mounts upon the spine and extends along its whole length
as far as the legs; thus one division does not even come near the
kidneys, while the other approaches them but is certainly not inserted
into them. Now, if the blood were destined to be purified by them as
if they were sieves, the whole of it would have to fall into them, the
thin part being thereafter conveyed downwards, and the thick part
retained above. But, as a matter of fact, this is not so. For the
kidneys lie on either side of the vena cava. They therefore do not act
like sieves, filtering fluid sent to them by the vena cava, and
themselves contributing no force. They obviously exert traction; for
this is the only remaining alternative.

_How_, then, do they exert this traction? If, as Epicurus thinks, all
attraction takes place by virtue of the _rebounds_ and _entanglements_
of atoms, it would be certainly better to maintain that the kidneys
have no attractive action at all; for his theory, when examined, would
be found as it stands to be much more ridiculous even than the theory
of the lodestone, mentioned a little while ago. Attraction occurs in
the way that Hippocrates laid down; this will be stated more clearly
as the discussion proceeds; for the present our task is not to
demonstrate this, but to point out that no other cause of the
secretion of urine can be given except that of attraction by the
kidneys,[139] and that this attraction does not take place in the way
imagined by people who do not allow Nature a faculty of her own.[140]

For if it be granted that there is any attractive faculty at all in
those things which are governed by Nature,[141] a person who attempted
to say anything else about the absorption of nutriment[142] would be
considered a fool.


                       XV

  Epei d' hikans doleschsamen ouch hekontes, all', hs
  h paroimia phsi, mainomenois anankasthentes
  sym||mannai, palin epi tn tn ourn epanelthmen             57
  diakrisin, en h tn men Asklpiadou lrn
  epilathmetha, meta de tn pepeismenn ditheisthai ta
  oura dia tn nephrn, tis ho tropos ts energeias estin,
  episkepsmetha; pants gar  ex hautn epi tous nephrous
  pheretai ta oura touto beltion einai nomizonta, kathaper
  hmeis, hopotan eis tn agoran apimen; , ei tout'
  adynaton, heteron ti chr ts phoras autn exeurein
  aition. ti d tout' estin? ei gar m tois nephrois
  dsomen tina dynamin helktikn ts toiauts poiottos,
  hs Hippokrats enomizen, ouden heteron exeursomen.
  hoti men gar toi toutous helkein auto prosken  tas
  phlebas pempein, eiper ge m ex heautou pheretai, panti
  pou dlon. all' ei men hai phlebes peristellomenai
  prothoien, ouk ekeino monon, alla syn aut kai to pan
  haima to periechomenon en heautais eis tous nephrous
  ekthlipsousin; ei de tout' adynaton, hs deixomen,
  leipetai tous nephrous helkein.

  Ps oun adynaton touto? tn nephrn h thesis
  antibainei. ou gar d hout g' hypokeintai t koil
  phlebi || kathaper tois ex enkephalou perittmasin en te       58
  t rhini kai kata tn hyperan hoi tois thmois homoioi
  poroi, all' hekaterthen aut parakeintai. kai mn,
  eiper homois tois thmois hoson an  leptoteron kai
  teles orrhdes, touto men hetoims diapempousi, to de
  pachyteron apostegousin, hapan ep' autous ienai chr to
  haima to periechomenon en t koil phlebi, kathaper eis
  tous trygtous ho pas oinos emballetai. kai men ge kai
  to tou galaktos tou tyroumenou paradeigma saphs an, ho
  boulomai legein, endeixaito. kai gar kai touto pan
  emblthen eis tous talarous ou pan ditheitai, all'
  hoson men an  leptoteron ts euryttos tn plokamn,
  eis to katantes pheretai kai touto men orrhos
  eponomazetai; to loipon de to pachy to mellon esesthai
  tyros, hs an ou paradechomenn auto tn en tois
  talarois porn, ou diekpiptei kat. kai toinyn, eiper
  hout mellei ditheisthai tn nephrn ho tou haimatos
  orrhos, hapan ep' autous hkein chr to haima kai m to
  men nai, to d' ou. ||                                          59

  Ps oun echei to phainomenon ek ts anatoms?

  To men heteron meros ts koils an pros tn kardian
  anapheretai, to loipon d' epibainei t rhachei kath'
  hols auts ekteinomenon achri tn skeln, hste to men
  heteron oud' engys aphikneitai tn nephrn, to loipon de
  plsiazei men, ou mn eis autous ge kataphyetai. echrn
  d', eiper emellen hs di' thmn autn katharthsesthai
  to haima, pan empiptein eis autous kapeita kat men
  pheresthai to lepton, ischesthai d' an to pachy. nyni
  d' ouch houts echei; plagioi gar hekaterthen ts
  koils phlebos hoi nephroi keintai. oukoun hs thmoi
  dithousi, pempouss men ekeins, autoi d' oudemian
  eispheromenoi dynamin, all' helkousi dlonoti; touto gar
  eti leipetai.

  Ps oun helkousin? ei men, hs Epikouros oietai tas
  holkas hapasas gignesthai kata tas tn atomn apopalseis
  te kai periplokas, ameinon n onts eipein autous md'
  helkein hols; poly gar an hout ge tn epi ts
  hrakleias lithou mikr prosthen eir||menn ho logos          60
  exetazomenos heurethei geloioteros; all' hs
  Hippokrats bouleto. lechthsetai de saphesteron epi
  prokonti t log. nyni gar ou touto prokeitai
  didaskein, all' hs out' allo ti dynaton eipein aition
  einai ts tn ourn diakrises pln ts holks tn
  nephrn outh' hout gignesthai tn holkn, hs hoi
  mdemian oikeian didontes t physei dynamin oiontai
  gignesthai.

  Toutou gar homologthentos, hs estin hols tis en tois
  hypo physes dioikoumenois dynamis helktik, lrds
  nomizoit' an ho peri anadoses trophs allo ti legein
  epicheirn.


                             XVI

Now, while Erasistratus[143] for some reason replied at great length
to certain other foolish doctrines, he entirely passed over the view
held by Hippocrates, not even thinking it worth while to mention it,
as he did in his work "On Deglutition"; in that work, as may be seen,
he did go so far as at least to make mention of the word _attraction_,
writing somewhat as follows:

"Now, the stomach does not appear to exercise any attraction."[143]
But when he is dealing with _anadosis_ he does not mention the
Hippocratic view even to the extent of a single syllable. Yet we
should have been satisfied if he had even merely written this:
"Hippocrates lies in saying 'The flesh[144] attracts both from the
stomach and from without,' for it cannot attract either from the
stomach or from without." Or if he had thought it worth while to state
that Hippocrates was wrong in criticizing the weakness of the neck of
the uterus, "seeing that the orifice of the uterus has no power of
attracting semen,"[145] or if he [Erasistratus] had thought proper to
write any other similar opinion, then we in our turn would have
defended ourselves in the following terms:

"My good sir, do not run us down in this rhetorical fashion without
some proof; state some definite objection to our view, in order that
either you may convince us by a brilliant refutation of the ancient
doctrine, or that, on the other hand, we may convert you from your
ignorance." Yet why do I say "rhetorical"? For we too are not to
suppose that when certain rhetoricians pour ridicule upon that which
they are quite incapable of refuting, without any attempt at argument,
their words are really thereby constituted rhetoric. For rhetoric
proceeds by persuasive reasoning; words without reasoning are
buffoonery rather than rhetoric. Therefore, the reply of Erasistratus
in his treatise "On Deglutition" was neither rhetoric nor logic. For
what is it that he says? "Now, the stomach does not appear to exercise
any traction." Let us testify against him in return, and set our
argument beside his in the same form. _Now, there appears to be no
peristalsis[146] of the gullet._ "And how does this appear?" one of
his adherents may perchance ask. "For is it not indicative of
_peristalsis_ that always when the upper parts of the gullet contract
the lower parts dilate?" Again, then, we say, "And in what way does
the attraction of the stomach not appear? For is it not indicative of
_attraction_ that always when the lower parts of the gullet dilate the
upper parts contract?" Now, if he would but be sensible and recognize
that this phenomenon is not more indicative of the one than of the
other view, but that it applies equally to both,[147] we should then
show him without further delay the proper way to the discovery of
truth.

We will, however, speak about the stomach again. And the dispersal of
nutriment [anadosis] need not make us have recourse to the theory
regarding the _natural tendency of a vacuum to become refilled_,[148]
when once we have granted the attractive faculty of the kidneys. Now,
although Erasistratus knew that this faculty most certainly existed,
he neither mentioned it nor denied it, nor did he make any statement
as to his views on the secretion of urine.

Why did he give notice at the very beginning of his "General
Principles" that he was going to speak about natural
activities--firstly what they are, how they take place, and in what
situations--and then, in the case of urinary secretion, declared that
this took place through the kidneys, but left out its method of
occurrence? It must, then, have been for no purpose that he told us
how digestion occurs, or spends time upon the secretion of biliary
superfluities;[149] for in these cases also it would have been
sufficient to have named the parts through which the function takes
place, and to have omitted the method. On the contrary, in these cases
he was able to tell us not merely through what organs, but also in
what way it occurs--as he also did, I think, in the case of
_anadosis_; for he was not satisfied with saying that this took place
through the veins, but he also considered fully the method, which he
held to be from the tendency of a vacuum to become refilled.
Concerning the secretion of urine, however, he writes that this occurs
through the kidneys, but does not add in what _way_ it occurs. I do
not think he could say that this was from the tendency of matter to
fill a vacuum,[150] for, if this were so, nobody would have ever died
of retention of urine, since no more can flow into a vacuum than has
run out. For, if no other factor comes into operation[151] save only
this tendency by which a vacuum becomes refilled, no more could ever
flow in than had been evacuated. Nor could he suggest any other
plausible cause, such, for example, as the expression of nutriment by
the stomach[152] which occurs in the process of anadosis; this had
been entirely disproved in the case of blood in the vena cava;[153] it
is excluded, not merely owing to the long distance, but also from the
fact that the overlying heart, at each diastole, robs the vena cava by
violence of a considerable quantity of blood.

In relation to the lower part of the vena cava[154] there would still
remain, solitary and abandoned, the specious theory concerning the
filling of a vacuum. This, however, is deprived of plausibility by the
fact that people die of retention of urine, and also, no less, by the
situation of the kidneys. For, if the whole of the blood were carried
to the kidneys, one might properly maintain that it all undergoes
purification there. But, as a matter of fact, the whole of it does not
go to them, but only so much as can be contained in the veins going to
the kidneys;[155] this portion only, therefore, will be purified.
Further, the thin serous part of this will pass through the kidneys as
if through a sieve, while the thick sanguineous portion remaining in
the veins will obstruct the blood flowing in from behind; this will
first, therefore, have to run back to the vena cava, and so to empty
the veins going to the kidneys; these veins will no longer be able to
conduct a second quantity of unpurified blood to the kidneys--occupied
as they are by the blood which had preceded, there is no passage left.
What power have we, then, which will draw back the purified blood from
the kidneys? And what power, in the next place, will bid this blood
retire to the lower part of the vena cava, and will enjoin on another
quantity coming from above not to proceed downwards before turning off
into the kidneys?

Now Erasistratus realized that all these ideas were open to many
objections, and he could only find one idea which held good in all
respects--namely, that of _attraction_. Since, therefore, he did not
wish either to get into difficulties or to mention the view of
Hippocrates, he deemed it better to say nothing at all as to the
manner in which secretion occurs.

But even if he kept silence, I am not going to do so. For I know that
if one passes over the Hippocratic view and makes some other
pronouncement about the function of the kidneys, one cannot fail to
make oneself utterly ridiculous. It was for this reason that
Erasistratus kept silence and Asclepiades lied; they are like slaves
who have had plenty to say in the early part of their career, and have
managed by excessive rascality to escape many and frequent
accusations, but who, later, when caught in the act of thieving,
cannot find any excuse; the more modest one then keeps silence, as
though thunderstruck, whilst the more shameless continues to hide the
missing article beneath his arm and denies on oath that he has ever
seen it. For it was in this way also that Asclepiades, when all subtle
excuses had failed him and there was no longer any room for nonsense
about "conveyance towards the rarefied part [of the air],"[156] and
when it was impossible without incurring the greatest derision to say
that this superfluity [_i.e._ the urine] is generated by the kidneys
as is bile by the canals in the liver--he, then, I say, clearly lied
when he swore that the urine does not reach the kidneys, and
maintained that it passes, in the form of vapour, straight from the
region of the vena cava,[157] to collect in the bladder.

Like slaves, then, caught in the act of stealing, these two are quite
bewildered, and while the one says nothing, the other indulges in
shameless lying.


                      XVI

  Erasistratos d' ouk oid' hops heterais men tisi doxais
  euthesin anteipe dia makrn, hypereb de teles tn
  Hippokratous, oud' achri tou mnmoneusai monon auts,
  hs en tois peri kataposes epoisen, axisas. en
  ekeinois men gar achri tosoutou phainetai mnmoneun,
  hs tounom' eipein ts holks monon hde ps graphn;

  "Holk men oun ts koilias oudemia phainetai einai";
  peri de ts || anadoses ton logon poioumenos oud' achri       61
  syllabs mias emnmoneuse ts Hippokrateiou doxs.
  kaitoi g' eprkesen an hmin, ei kai tout' egrapse
  monon, hs Hippokrats eipn "Sarkes holkoi kai ek
  koilis kai exthen" pseudetai; oute gar ek ts koilias
  out' exthen helkein dynantai. ei de kai hoti mtras
  aitimenos arrhston auchena kaks eipen "Ou gar dynatai
  autes ho stomachos eirysai tn gonn,"  ei kai ti
  toiouton allo graphein ho Erasistratos xise, tot' an
  kai hmeis pros auton apologoumenoi eipomen;

   gennaie, m rhtoriks hmn katatreche chris
  apodeixes, all' eipe tina katgorian tou dogmatos, hin'
   peisthmen soi hs kals exelenchonti ton palaion
  logon  metapeismen hs agnoounta. kaitoi ti leg
  rhtoriks? m gar, epeid tines tn rhtorn, ha
  malist' adynatousi dialyesthai, tauta diagelasantes oud'
  epicheirousin antilegein, d pou touto kai hmeis
  hgmeth' einai to rhtoriks; to gar dia logou pithanou
  esti to || rhtoriks, to d' aneu logou bmolochikon, ou       62
  rhtorikon. oukoun oute rhtoriks oute dialektiks
  anteipen ho Erasistratos en t peri ts kataposes log.
  ti gar phsin? "Holk men oun ts koilias oudemia
  phainetai einai." palin oun aut par' hmn antimartyrn
  ho autos logos antiparaballesth; peristol men oun tou
  stomachou oudemia phainetai einai. kai ps ou phainetai?
  tach' an iss eipoi tis tn ap' autou; to gar aei tn
  anthen autou mern systellomenn diastellesthai ta kat
  ps ouk esti ts peristols endeiktikon? authis oun
  hmeis, kai ps ou phainetai, phsomen, h ts koilias
  holk? to gar aei tn katthen mern tou stomachou
  diastellomenn systellesthai ta an ps ouk esti ts
  holks endeiktikon? ei de sphronseie pote kai gnoi to
  phainomenon touto mden mallon ts heteras tn doxn
  hyparchein endeiktikon all' amphotern einai koinon,
  houts an d deixaimen aut tn orthn hodon ts tou
  althous heureses.

  Alla peri men ts koilias authis. h de ts trophs
  anadosis ouden deitai || ts pros to kenoumenon                63
  akolouthias hapax ge ts helktiks dynames epi tn
  nephrn hmologmens, hn kaitoi pany saphs alth
  gignskn hyparchein ho Erasistratos out' emnmoneusen
  out' anteipen outh' hols apephnato, tin' echei doxan
  hyper ts tn ourn diakrises.

   dia ti proeipn euthys kat' archas tn kath' holou
  logn, hs hyper tn physikn energein erei, prton
  tines t' eisi kai ps gignontai kai dia tinn topn, epi
  ts tn ourn diakrises, hoti men dia nephrn,
  apephnato, to d' hops gignetai parelipe? matn oun
  hmas kai peri ts pepses edidaxen, hops gignetai, kai
  peri ts tou choldous perittmatos diakrises
  katatribei. rkei gar eipein kantautha ta moria, di' hn
  gignetai, to d' hops paralipein. alla peri men ekeinn
  eiche legein, ou monon di' hn organn alla kai kath'
  hontina gignetai tropon, hsper oimai kai peri ts
  anadoses; ou gar rkesen eipein aut monon, hoti dia
  phlebn, alla kai ps epexlthen, hoti t pros || to           64
  kenoumenon akolouthia; peri de tn ourn ts diakrises,
  hoti men dia nephrn gignetai, graphei, to d' hops
  ouketi prostithsin. oude gar oimai t pros to
  kenoumenon akolouthia n eipein; hout gar an oudeis
  hyp' ischourias apethanen oudepote m dynamenou pleionos
  epirrhynai pote para to kenoumenon; alls gar aitias
  mdemias prostetheiss, alla mons ts pros to
  kenoumenon akolouthias podgouss to syneches, ouk
  enchrei pleon epirrhynai pote tou kenoumenou. all'
  oud' alln tina prostheinai pithann aitian eichen, hs
  epi ts anadoses tn ekthlipsin ts gastros. all' haut
  g' epi tou kata tn koiln haimatos apllei teles, ou
  t mkei monon ts apostases eklytheisa, alla kai t
  tn kardian hyperkeimenn exarpazein auts sphodrs
  kath' hekastn diastoln ouk oligon haima.

  Mon d tis eti kai pantn ermos apeleipeto tn
  sophismatn en tois kat ts koils h pros || to              65
  kenoumenon akolouthia, dia te tous epi tais ischouriais
  apothnskontas apollekuia tn pithanotta kai dia tn
  tn nephrn thesin ouden htton, ei men gar hapan ep'
  autous ephereto to haima, deonts an tis hapan ephasken
  auto kathairesthai. nyni de, ou gar holon alla tosouton
  autou meros, hoson hai mechri nephrn dechontai phlebes,
  ep' autous erchetai, monon ekeino katharthsetai. kai to
  men orrhdes autou kai lepton hoion di' thmn tinn tn
  nephrn diadysetai; to d' haimatdes te kai pachy kata
  tas phlebas hypomenon empodn stsetai t katopin
  epirrheonti. palindromein oun auto proteron epi tn
  koiln anankaion kai kenas houts ergazesthai tas epi
  tous nephrous iousas phlebas, hai deuteron ouketi
  parakomiousin ep' autous akatharton haima; kateilphotos
  gar autas tou proterou parodos oudemia leleiptai. tis
  oun hmin h dynamis apaxei palin opis tn nephrn to
  katharon haima? tis de touto men diadexamen keleusei
  palin pros to kat meros ienai ts koils, heter d'
  anthen epipheromen prostaxei, prin || epi tous               66
  nephrous apelthein, m pheresthai kat?

  Taut' oun hapanta synidn ho Erasistratos aporin mesta
  kai mian monn doxan euporon heurn en hapasi tn ts
  holks, out' aporeisthai boulomenos oute tn
  Hippokratous etheln legein ameinon hypelabe sipteon
  einai peri tou tropou ts diakrises.

  All' ei kakeinos esigsen, hmeis ou sipsomen; ismen
  gar, hs ouk endechetai parelthonta tn Hippokrateion
  doxan, eith' heteron ti peri nephrn energeias eiponta
  m ou katagelaston einai pantapasi. dia tout'
  Erasistratos men esipsen, Asklpiads d' epseusato
  paraplsis oiketais lalois men ta prosthen tou biou kai
  polla pollakis enklmata dialysamenois hypo peritts
  panourgias, ep' autophr de pote kateilmmenois, eit'
  ouden exeuriskousi sophisma kapeit' entautha tou men
  aidmonesterou sipntos, hoion apoplxia tini
  kateilmmenou, tou d' anaischyntoterou kryptontos men
  eth' hypo mals to ztoumenon, exomnymenou de kai md'
  herakenai ppote phaskontos. hout gar toi kai ho
  Asklpiads || epileipontn auton tn ts panourgias           67
  sophismatn kai mte ts pros to leptomeres phoras
  echouss eti chran entauthoi lreisthai mth' hs hypo
  tn nephrn gennatai touti to perittma, kathaper hypo
  tn en hpati porn h chol, dynaton on eiponta m ou
  megiston ophlein gelta, exomnytai te kai pseudetai
  phaners, ou dikein legn epi tous nephrous to ouron
  all' atmoeids euthys ek tn kata tn koiln mern eis
  tn kystin athroizesthai.

  Houtoi men oun tois ep' autophr kateilmmenois
  oiketais homois ekplagentes ho men esipsen, ho d'
  anaischynts pseudetai.


                            XVII

Now such of the younger men as have dignified themselves with the
names of these two authorities by taking the appellations
"Erasistrateans" or "Asclepiadeans" are like the _Davi_ and
_Getae_--the slaves introduced by the excellent Menander into his
comedies. As these slaves held that they had done nothing fine unless
they had cheated their master three times, so also the men I am
discussing have taken their time over the construction of impudent
sophisms, the one party striving to prevent the lies of Asclepiades
from ever being refuted, and the other saying stupidly what
Erasistratus had the sense to keep silence about.

But enough about the Asclepiadeans. The Erasistrateans, in attempting
to say how the kidneys let the urine through, will do anything or
suffer anything or try any shift in order to find some plausible
explanation which does not demand the principle of _attraction_.

Now those near the times of Erasistratus maintain that the parts above
the kidneys receive pure blood, whilst the watery residue, being
heavy, tends to run downwards; that this, after percolating through
the kidneys themselves, is thus rendered serviceable, and is sent, as
blood, to all the parts below the kidneys.

For a certain period at least this view also found favour and
flourished, and was held to be true; after a time, however, it became
suspect to the Erasistrateans themselves, and at last they abandoned
it. For apparently the following two points were assumed, neither of
which is conceded by anyone, nor is even capable of being proved. The
first is the heaviness of the serous fluid, which was said to be
produced in the vena cava, and which did not exist, apparently, at the
beginning, when this fluid was being carried up from the stomach to
the liver. Why, then, did it not at once run downwards when it was in
these situations? And if the watery fluid is so heavy, what
plausibility can anyone find in the statement that it assists in the
process of _anadosis_?

In the second place there is this absurdity, that even if it be agreed
that all the watery fluid does fall downwards, and only when it is in
the vena cava,[158] still it is difficult, or, rather, impossible, to
say through what means it is going to fall into the kidneys, seeing
that these are not situated below, but on either side of the vena
cava, and that the vena cava is not inserted into them, but merely
sends a branch[159] into each of them, as it also does into all the
other parts.

What doctrine, then, took the place of this one when it was condemned?
One which to me seems far more foolish than the first, although it
also flourished at one time. For they say, that if oil be mixed with
water and poured upon the ground, each will take a different route,
the one flowing this way and the other that, and that, therefore, it
is not surprising that the watery fluid runs into the kidneys, while
the blood falls downwards along the vena cava. Now this doctrine also
stands already condemned. For why, of the countless veins which spring
from the vena cava, should blood flow into all the others, and the
serous fluid be diverted to those going to the kidneys? They have not
answered the question which was asked; they merely state what happens
and imagine they have thereby assigned the reason.

Once again, then (the third cup to the Saviour!),[160] let us now
speak of the worst doctrine of all, lately invented by Lycus of
Macedonia,[161] but which is popular owing to its novelty. This Lycus,
then, maintains, as though uttering an oracle from the inner
sanctuary, that urine is _residual matter from the nutrition of the
kidneys_![162] Now, the amount of urine passed every day shows clearly
that it is the whole of the fluid drunk which becomes urine, except
for that which comes away with the dejections or passes off as sweat
or insensible perspiration. This is most easily recognized in winter
in those who are doing no work but are carousing, especially if the
wine be thin and diffusible; these people rapidly pass almost the same
quantity as they drink. And that even Erasistratus was aware of this
is known to those who have read the first book of his "General
Principles."[163] Thus Lycus is speaking neither good Erasistratism,
nor good Asclepiadism, far less good Hippocratism. He is, therefore,
as the saying is, like a white crow, which cannot mix with the genuine
crows owing to its colour, nor with the pigeons owing to its size. For
all this, however, he is not to be disregarded; he may, perhaps, be
stating some wonderful truth, unknown to any of his predecessors.

Now it is agreed that all parts which are undergoing nutrition produce
a certain amount of residue, but it is neither agreed nor is it
likely, that the kidneys alone, small bodies as they are, could hold
four whole _congii_,[164] and sometimes even more, of residual matter.
For this surplus must necessarily be greater in quantity in each of
the larger viscera; thus, for example, that of the lung, if it
corresponds in amount to the size of the viscus, will obviously be
many times more than that in the kidneys, and thus the whole of the
thorax will become filled, and the animal will be at once suffocated.
But if it be said that the residual matter is equal in amount in each
of the other parts, where are the _bladders_, one may ask, through
which it is excreted? For, if the kidneys produce in drinkers three
and sometimes four _congii_ of superfluous matter, that of each of the
other viscera will be much more, and thus an enormous barrel will be
needed to contain the waste products of them all. Yet one often
urinates practically the same quantity as one has drunk, which would
show that the whole of what one drinks goes to the kidneys.

Thus the author of this third piece of trickery would appear to have
achieved nothing, but to have been at once detected, and there still
remains the original difficulty which was insoluble by Erasistratus
and by all others except Hippocrates. I dwell purposely on this topic,
knowing well that nobody else has anything to say about the function
of the kidneys, but that either we must prove more foolish than the
very butchers[165] if we do not agree that the urine passes through
the kidneys; or, if one acknowledges this, that then one cannot
possibly give any other reason for the secretion than the principle of
attraction.

Now, if the movement of urine does not depend on the tendency of a
vacuum to become refilled,[166] it is clear that neither does that of
the blood nor that of the bile; or if that of these latter does so,
then so also does that of the former. For they must all be
accomplished in one and the same way, even according to Erasistratus
himself.

This matter, however, will be discussed more fully in the book
following this.


                     XVII

  Tn de netern hosoi tois toutn onomasin heautous
  esemnynan Erasistrateious te kai Asklpiadeious
  eponomasantes, homois tois hypo tou beltistou Menandrou
  kata tas kmdias eisagomenois oiketais, Daois te tisi
  kai Getais, ouden hgoumenois sphisi peprachthai
  gennaion, ei m tris exapatseian ton despotn, hout
  kai autoi kata polln scholn anaischynta sophismata
  synethesan, hoi men, hina md' hols exelenchthei pot'
  || Asklpiads pseudomenos, hoi d', hina kaks eipsin,        68
  ha kals esipsen Erasistratos.

  Alla tn men Asklpiadein halis. hoi d' Erasistrateioi
  legein epicheirountes, hops hoi nephroi dithousi to
  ouron, hapanta drsi te kai paschousi kai pantoioi
  gignontai pithanon exeurein ti ztountes aition holks
  m deomenon.

  Hoi men d plsion Erasistratou tois chronois genomenoi
  ta men an tn nephrn moria katharon haima lambanein
  phasi, t de baros echein to hydatdes perittma
  brithein te kai hyporrhein kat; dithoumenon d'
  entautha kata tous nephrous autous chrston hout
  genomenon hapasi tois kat tn nephrn epipempesthai to
  haima.

  Kai mechri ge tinos eudokimsen hde h doxa kai kmase
  kai alths enomisth; chron d' hysteron kai autois
  tois Erasistrateiois hypoptos ephan kai teleutntes
  apestsan auts. aiteisthai gar edokoun dyo tauta mte
  synchroumena pros tinos all' oud' apodeichthnai
  dynamena, prton men to baros ts orrhdous hygrottos
  en t koil || phlebi gennmenon, hsper ouk ex archs         69
  hyparchon, hopot' ek ts koilias eis hpar anephereto.
  ti d oun ouk euthys en ekeinois tois chriois hyperrhei
  kat? ps d' an t doxeien eulogs eirsthai syntelein
  eis tn anadosin h hydatds hygrots, eiper houts
  esti bareia?

  Deuteron d' atopon, hoti kan kat synchrth pheresthai
  pasa kai m kat' allo chrion  tn koiln phleba, tina
  tropon eis tous nephrous empeseitai, chalepon, mallon d'
  adynaton eipein, mt' en tois kat meresi keimenn autn
  ts phlebos all' ek tn plagin mt' emphyomens eis
  autous ts koils all' apophysin tina monon eis
  hekateron pempouss, hsper kai eis talla panta moria.

  Tis oun h diadexamen tautn doxa katagnstheisan? emoi
  men lithitera makr phainetai ts proteras. kmase d'
  oun kai haut pote. phasi gar, ei kata ts gs
  ekchythei memigmenon elaion hydati, diaphoron hekateron
  hodon badieisthai kai rhysesthai to men tde, to de
  tde. thaumaston oun ouden einai phasin, ei to men
  hydatdes hygron eis tous ne||phrous rhei, to d' haima         70
  dia ts koils pheretai kat. kategnstai oun d kai
  hde h doxa. dia ti gar apo ts koils myrin
  ekpephykuin phlebn haima men eis tas allas hapasas, h
  d' orrhds hygrots eis tas epi tous nephrous
  pheromenas ektrepetai? tout' auto to ztoumenon ouk
  eirkasin, alla to gignomenon eipontes monon oiontai tn
  aitian apodedkenai.

  Palin oun, to triton t stri, tn cheiristn hapasn
  doxan exeurmenn nyn hypo Lykou tou Makedonos,
  eudokimousan de dia to kainon d legmen. apephnato
  gar d ho Lykos houtos, hsper ex adytou tinos chrsmon
  apophthengomenos, perittma ts tn nephrn threpses
  einai to ouron. hoti men oun auto to pinomenon hapan
  ouron gignetai, pln ei ti meta tn diachrmatn
  hyplthen  eis hidrtas apechrsen  eis tn adlon
  diapnon, enargs endeiknytai to plthos tn kath'
  hekastn hmeran ouroumenn. en cheimni de malista
  mathein estin epi tn argountn men, kthnizomenn de,
  kai malist' ei leptos ho oinos ei kai porimos. ourousi
  || gar houtoi dia tachen oligou dein, hosonper kai            71
  pinousin. hoti de kai ho Erasistratos houts egignsken,
  hoi to prton anegnkotes autou syngramma tn katholou
  logn epistantai. hsth' ho Lykos out' alth phainetai
  legn out' Erasistrateia, dlon d' hs oud'
  Asklpiadeia, poly de mallon oud' Hippokrateia. leuk
  toinyn kata tn paroimian eoike koraki mt' autois tois
  koraxin anamichthnai dynamen dia tn chroan mte tais
  peristerais dia to megethos, all' outi pou toutou g'
  heneka paropteos; iss gar ti legei thaumaston, ho
  mdeis tn emprosthen egn.

  To men oun hapanta ta trephomena moria poiein ti
  perittma synchroumenon, to de tous nephrous monous,
  hout smikra smata, choas holous tettaras  kai pleious
  ischein eniote perittmatos outh' homologoumenon oute
  logon echon; to gar hekastou tn meizonn splanchnn
  perittma pleion anankaion hyparchein. hoion autika to
  tou pneumonos, eiper analogon t megethei tou splanchnou
  gignoito, pollapla||sion estai dpou tou kata tous             72
  nephrous, hsth' holos men ho thrax emplsthsetai,
  pnigsetai d' autika to zon. all' ei ison phsei tis
  gignesthai to kath' hekaston tn alln morin perittma,
  dia poin kysten ekkrinetai? ei gar hoi nephroi tois
  kthnizomenois treis  tettaras eniote choas poiousi
  perittmatos, hekastou tn alln splanchnn poll
  pleious esontai kai pithou tinos hout megistou desei
  tou dexomenou ta pantn perittmata. kaitoi pollakis,
  hoson epie tis, oligou dein oursen hapan, hs an epi
  tous nephrous pheromenou tou pomatos hapantos.

  Eoiken oun ho to triton exapatn houtos ouden anyein
  all' euthys gegonenai kataphros kai menein eti to ex
  archs aporon Erasistrat te kai tois allois hapasi pln
  Hippokratous. diatrib d' hekn en t top saphs eids,
  hoti mden eipein echei mdeis allos peri ts tn
  nephrn energeias, all' anankaion  tn mageirn
  amathesterous phainesthai md' hoti ditheitai di' autn
  to ouron homologountas  || touto synchrsantas mden         73
  et' echein eipein heteron aition ts diakrises pln ts
  holks.

  All' ei m tn ourn h phora t pros to kenoumenon
  akolouthia gignetai, dlon, hs oud' h tou haimatos
  oud' h ts chols  eiper ekeinn kai toutou; panta gar
  hsauts anankaion epiteleisthai kai kat' auton ton
  Erasistraton.

  Eirsetai d' epi pleon hyper autn en t meta tauta
  grammati.


    [5] That is, "On the Natural Powers," the powers of the
    _Physis_ or Nature. By that Galen practically means what
    we would call the physiological or biological powers,
    the characteristic faculties of the living organism; his
    Physis is the subconscious vital principle of the animal
    or plant. Like Aristotle, however, he also ascribes
    quasi-vital properties to inanimate things, _cf._
    Introduction, p. xxvii.

    [6] _Ergon_, here rendered an _effect_, is literally a
    _work_ or _deed_; strictly speaking, it is something
    _done_, _completed_, as distinguished from _energeia_,
    which is the actual _doing_, the _activity_ which
    produces this _ergon_, _cf._ p. 13, and Introduction, p.
    xxx.

    [7] Gk. _psyche_, Lat. _anima_.

    [8] Gk. _physis_, Lat. _natura_.

    [9] _Motion_ (kinesis) is Aristotle's general term for
    what we would rather call _change_. It includes various
    kinds of change, as well as movement proper, _cf._
    Introduction, p. xxix.

    [10] "Conveyance," "transport," "transit"; purely
    mechanical or passive motion, as distinguished from
    _alteration_ (qualitative change).

    [11] "Waxing and waning," the latter literally
    _phthisis_, a wasting or "decline;" _cf._ Scotch
    _divining_, Dutch _verdwijnen_.

    [12] Becoming and perishing: Latin, _generatio et
    corruptio_.

    [13] "Ad substantiam productio seu ad formam processus"
    (Linacre).

    [14] "Preformationist" doctrine of Anaxagoras. To him
    the apparent alteration in qualities took place when a
    number of minute pre-existing bodies, all bearing the
    same quality, came together in sufficient numbers to
    impress that quality on the senses. The factor which
    united the minute quality-bearers was Nous. "In the
    beginning," says Anaxagoras, "all things existed
    together--then came Nous and brought them into order."

    [15] "De ea alteratione quae per totam fit substantiam"
    (Linacre).

    [16] The systematizer of Stoicism and successor of Zeno.

    [17] Note characteristic impatience with metaphysics. To
    Galen, as to Hippocrates and Aristotle, it sufficed to
    look on the qualitative differences apprehended by the
    senses as fundamental. Zeno of Citium was the founder of
    the Stoic school; on the further analysis by this school
    of the _qualities_ into _bodies_ _cf._ p. 144, note 3
    (203).

    [18] A rallying-ground: lit. a place where two glens
    meet.

    [19] Thus according to Gomperz (_Greek Thinkers_), the
    hypothesis of Anaxagoras was that "the bread ... already
    contained the countless forms of matter as such which
    the human body displays. Their minuteness of size would
    withdraw them from our perception. For the defect or
    'weakness' of the senses is the narrowness of their
    receptive area. These elusive particles are rendered
    visible and tangible by the process of _nutrition_,
    which combines them."

    [20] Therefore the blood must have come from the bread.
    The food from the alimentary canal was supposed by Galen
    to be converted into blood in and by the portal veins,
    _cf._ p. 17.

    [21] By "elements" is meant all homogeneous, amorphous
    substances, such as metals, &c., as well as the
    elementary _tissues_.

    [22] Work or product. Lat. _opus_. _cf._ p. 3, note 2
    (6).

    [23] Operation, activation, or functioning. Lat.
    _actio_. _cf._ _loc. cit._

    [24] _i.e._ a concomitant (secondary) or passive
    affection. Galen is contrasting active and passive
    "motion." _cf._ p. 6, note 1 (10).

    [25] As already indicated, there is no exact English
    equivalent for the Greek term _physis_, which is a
    principle immanent in the animal itself, whereas our
    term "Nature" suggests something more transcendent; we
    are forced often, however, to employ it in default of a
    better word. _cf._ p. 2, note 1 (5).

    [26] In Greek _anadosis_. This process includes two
    stages: (1) transmission of food from alimentary canal
    to liver (rather more than our "absorption"); (2)
    further transmission from liver to tissues. _Anadosis_
    is lit. a yielding-up, a "delivery;" it may sometimes be
    rendered "dispersal." "Distribution" (_diadosis_) is a
    further stage; _cf._ p. 163, note 4 (230).

    [27] _cf._ p. 9.

    [28] Since heat and cold tend to cause diffusion and
    condensation respectively.

    [29] Lit. _haematopoietic_. _cf._ p. 11, note 3 (20).

    [30] Lit. _peptic_.

    [31] Lit. _sphygmic_.

    [32] _Genesis_ corresponds to the intrauterine life, or
    what we may call _embryogeny_. _Alteration_ here means
    histogenesis or tissue-production; _shaping_ or
    _moulding_ (in Greek _diaplasis_) means the ordering of
    these tissues into organs (organogenesis).

    [33] _cf._ p. 25, note 4 (49).

    [34] Note inadequate analogy of semen with fertilised
    seeds of plants (_i.e._ of gamete with zygote). Strictly
    speaking, of course, semen corresponds to pollen. _cf._
    p. 130, note 2 (188).

    [35] _i.e._ the four primary qualities; _cf._ chap. iii.
    _supra_.

    [36] Various secondary or derivative differences in the
    tissues. Note pre-eminence of sense of touch.

    [37] _De Anima_, ii. _et seq._

    [38] Lit. _homoeomerous_ = of similar parts throughout,
    "the same all through." He refers to the elementary
    tissues, conceived as not being susceptible of further
    analysis.

    [39] That is, by the bodily eye, and not by the mind's
    eye. The observer is here called an _autoptes_ or
    "eye-witness." Our medical term _autopsy_ thus means
    literally a _persona inspection_ of internal parts,
    ordinarily hidden.

    [40] _i.e._ "alteration" is the earlier of the two
    stages which constitute embryogeny or "genesis." _cf._
    p. 18, note 1 (32).

    [41] The terms Galen actually uses are: _ostopoietic_,
    _neuropoietic_, _chondropoietic_.

    [42] As we should say, _parenchyma_ (a term used by
    Erasistratus).

    [43] Those were all the elemental tissues that
    Aristotle, for example, had recognized; other tissues
    (_e.g._ flesh or muscle) he believed to be complexes of
    these.

    [44] Or _tunics_.

    [45] _i.e._ tissues.

    [46] As, for example, Aristotle had held; _cf._ p. 23,
    note 3 (43). Galen added many new tissues to those described
    by Aristotle.

    [47] Lit. _synthesis_.

    [48] By this is meant the _duodenum_, considered as an
    outgrowth or prolongation of the stomach towards the
    intestines.

    [49] _cf._ p. 19, note 2 (33).

    [50] Lit. the _auxetic_ or _incremental_ faculty.

    [51] _i.e._ to the alterative and shaping faculties
    (histogenetic and organogenetic).

    [52] If the reading is correct we can only suppose that
    Galen meant _the embryo_.

    [53] _i.e._ not the pre-natal development of tissue
    already described. _cf._ chap. vi.

    [54] Administration, lit. "economy."

    [55] The _activation_ or _functioning_ of this faculty,
    the faculty _in actual operation_. _cf._ p. 3, note 2
    (6).

    [56] "Un rapport commun et une affinit" (Daremberg).
    "Societatem aliquam cognationemque in qualitatibus"
    (Linacre). _cf._ p. 36, note 2 (61).

    [57] Lit. "necessity"; more _restrictive_, however, than
    our "law of Nature." _cf._ p. 314, note 1 (386).

    [58] His point is that no great change, in colours or in
    anything else, can take place at one step.

    [59] Not quite our "waste _products_," since these are
    considered as being partly synthetic, whereas the Greek
    _perittomata_ were simply superfluous substances which
    could not be used and were thrown aside.

    [60] Note "our natures," _cf._ p. 12, note 4 (25); p. 47,
    note 1 (75).

    [61] The term [Greek: oikeios], here rendered
    _appropriate_, is explained on p. 33. _cf._ also
    footnote on same page. Linacre often translated it
    _conveniens_, and it may usually be rendered _proper_,
    _peculiar_, _own special_, or _own particular_ in
    English. Sometimes it is almost equal to _akin_,
    _cognate_, _related_: _cf._ p. 319, note 2 (394). With
    Galen's [Greek: oikeios] and [Greek: allotrios] we may
    compare the German terms _eigen_ and _fremd_ used by
    Aberhalden in connection with his theory of defensive
    ferments in the blood-serum.

    [62] Transit, _cf._ p. 6, note 1 (10).

    [63] _i.e._ of the living organism, _cf._ p. 2, note 1
    (5).

    [64] _i.e._ with nutrition.

    [65] We might perhaps say, more shortly, "assimilation
    of food to feeder," or, "of food to fed"; Linacre
    renders, "nutrimenti cum nutrito assimilatio."

    [66] Lit. _prosphysis_, _i.e._ attachment, implantation.

    [67] Lit. _prosthesis_, "apposition." One is almost
    tempted to retain the terms _prosthesis_ and
    _prosphysis_ in translation, as they obviously
    correspond much more closely to Galen's physiological
    conceptions than any English or semi-English words can.

    [68] Lit. _phthisis_. _cf._ p. 6, note 2 (11). Now
    means _tuberculosis_ only.

    [69] More literally, "chymified." In _anasarca_ the
    subcutaneous tissue is soft, and pits on pressure. In
    the "white" disease referred to here (by which is
    probably meant _nodular leprosy_) the same tissues are
    indurated and "brawny." The principle of certain
    diseases being best explained as cases of _arrest_ at
    various stages of the metabolic path is recognized in
    modern pathology, although of course the instances given
    by Galen are too crude to stand.

    [70] The effects of _oxidation_ attributed to the heat
    which accompanies it? _cf._ p. 141, note 1 (199); p.
    254, note 1 (332).

    [71] Here follows a contrast between the Vitalists and
    the Epicurean Atomists. _cf._ p. 153 _et seq._

    [72] A unity or _continuum_, an _individuum_.

    [73] Lit. to the _physis_ or the _psyche_; that is, a
    denial of the autonomy of physiology and psychology.

    [74] Lit. _somata_.

    [75] For "natures" in the plural, involving the idea of
    a separate nature immanent in each individual, _cf._ p.
    36, note 1 (60).

    [76] A lost work.

    [77] For Asclepiades _v._ p. 49, note 5 (82).

    [78] "Le corps tout entier a unit de souffle
    (_perspiration et expiration_) et unit de flux
    (_courants_, _circulation des liquides_)" (Daremberg).
    "Conspirabile et confluxile corpus esse" (Linacre).
    Apparently Galen refers to the pneuma and the various
    humours. _cf._ p. 293, note 2 (366).

    [79] _i.e._ "appropriated"; very nearly "assimilated."

    [80] "Attractricem convenientis qualitatis vim"
    (Linacre). _cf._ p. 36, note 2 (61).

    [81] Lit. "obvious phenomena."

    [82] Asclepiades of Bithynia, who flourished in the
    first half of the first century B.C., was an adherent of
    the atomistic philosophy of Democritus, and is the
    typical representative of the Mechanistic school in
    Graeco-Roman medicine; he disbelieved in any principle
    of individuality ("nature") in the organism, and his
    methods of treatment, in accordance with his pathology,
    were mechano-therapeutical. _cf._ p. 64, note 3 (100).

    [83] Diocles of Carystus was the chief representative of
    the Dogmatic or Hippocratic school in the first half of
    the fourth century B.C. Praxagoras was his disciple, and
    followed him in the leadership of the school. For
    Erasistratus, _cf._ p. 95 _et seq._

    [84] Sufferers from kidney-trouble.

    [85] The ureters.

    [86] Unless otherwise stated, "peritoneum" stands for
    parietal peritoneum alone.

    [87] In the peritoneal cavity.

    [88] Contrast, however, _anasarca_, p. 41.

    [89] Regurgitation, however, is prevented by the fact
    that the ureter runs for nearly one inch obliquely
    through the bladder wall before opening into its cavity,
    and thus an efficient _valve_ is produced.

    [90] On the [Greek: techn] (artistic or creative skill)
    shown by the living organism ([Greek: physis]) _v._ pp.
    25, 45, 47; Introduction, p. xxix.

    [91] Direct denial of Aristotle's dictum that "Nature
    does nothing in vain." We are reminded of the view of
    certain modern laboratory physicians and surgeons that
    the _colon_ is a "useless" organ, _cf._ Erasistratus, p.
    143.

    [92] The _vasa deferentia_.

    [93] "De l'habilet et de la prvoyance de la nature 
    l'gard des animaux" (Daremberg). _cf._ p. 56, note 1
    (90).

    [94] _cf._ p. 36, note 2 (61).

    [95] The morbid material passed successively through the
    stages of "crudity," "coction" (_pepsis_), and
    "elimination" (_crisis_). For "critical days" _cf._ p.
    74, note 1 (121).

    [96] This was the process by which nutriment was taken
    up from the alimentary canal; "absorption," "dispersal;"
    _cf._ p. 13, note 5 (26). The subject is dealt with more
    fully in chap. xvi.

    [97] Lit. _catharsis_.

    [98] _i.e._ urine.

    [99] On use of [Greek: keno] _v._ p. 67, note 9 (110).

    [100] _i.e._ bile and phlegm had no existence as such
    before the drugs were given; they are the products of
    dissolved tissue. Asclepiades did not believe that
    diseases were due to a _materia peccans_, but to
    disturbances in the movements of the molecules ([Greek:
    onkoi]) which constitute the body; thus, in opposition
    to the humoralists such as Galen, he had no use for
    drugs. _cf._ p. 49, note 5 (82).

    [101] About 4 oz., or one-third of a pint.

    [102] The Empiricists, _cf._ Introduction, p. xiii.

    [103] His [Greek: onkoi] or molecules.

    [104] He does not say "organized" or "living" body;
    inanimate things were also thought to possess "natures";
    _cf._ p. 2, note 1 (5).

    [105] Carthamus tinctorius.

    [106] Daphne Gnidium.

    [107] Euphorbia acanthothamnos.

    [108] Teucrium chamaedrys.

    [109] Atractylis gummifera.

    [110] On use of [Greek: keno] _cf._ p. 98, note 1 (148).

    [111] Empiricist physicians.

    [112] Note that drugs also have "natures"; _cf._ p. 66,
    note 3 (104), and pp. 83-84.

    [113] Pun here.

    [114] Lit. _physiology_, _i.e._ _nature-lore_, almost
    our "Natural Philosophy"; _cf._ Introduction, p. xxvi.

    [115] The ultimate particle of Epicurus was the [Greek:
    atomos] or atom (lit. "non-divisible"), of Asclepiades,
    the [Greek: onkos] or molecule. Asclepiades took his
    atomic theory from Epicurus, and he again from
    Democritus; _cf._ p. 49, note 5 (82).

    [116] Lit. _Herculean stone_.

    [117] Lit. _aetiology_.

    [118] _Anadosis_; _cf._ p. 62, note 1 (96).

    [119] _cf._ p. 45.

    [120] The _vis conservatrix et medicatrix Naturae_.

    [121] _cf._ p. 61, note 3 (95). The _crisis_ or resolution in
    fevers was observed to take place with a certain
    regularity; hence arose the doctrine of "critical days."

    [122] These were hypothetical spaces or channels between
    the atoms; _cf._ Introduction, p. xiv.

    [123] He means the specific drawing power or faculty of
    the lodestone.

    [124] _cf._ our modern "radium-emanations."

    [125] _cf._ Ehrlich's hypothesis of "receptors" in
    explanation of the "affinities" of animal cells.

    [126] _i.e._ from the point of view of the theory.

    [127] _cf._ p. 69, note 2 (112).

    [128] That is to say, the two properties should go
    together in all cases--which they do not.

    [129] _Trygon pastinaca_.

    [130] _cf._ p. 66, note 3 (104).

    [131] The way that corn can attract moisture.

    [132] Specific attraction of the "proper" quality; _cf._
    p. 85, note 3 (130).

    [133] Theory of evaporation insufficient to account for
    it. _cf._ p. 104, note 1 (156).

    [134] Playful suggestion of free-will in the urine.

    [135] Specific attraction, _cf._ p. 87, note 2 (233).

    [136] _i.e._ there would be no selective action.

    [137] Nasal mucus was supposed to be the non-utilizable
    part of the nutriment conveyed to the brain, _cf._ p.
    214, note 3 (297).

    [138] He means from its origin in the liver (_i.e._ in
    the three hepatic veins). His idea was that the upper
    division took nutriment to heart, lungs, head, etc., and
    the lower division to lower part of body. On the
    relation of right auricle to vena cava and right
    ventricle, _cf._ p. 321, notes 4 (398) and 5 (399).

    [139] We arrive at our belief by excluding other
    possibilities.

    [140] _i.e._ the mechanistic physicists. _cf._ pp.
    45-47.

    [141] _cf._ p. 85, note 3 (130).

    [142] The subject of _anadosis_ is taken up in the next
    chapter. _cf._ also p. 62, note 1 (96).

    [143] On Erasistratus _v._ Introd. p. xii. His view that the
    stomach exerts no _holk_, or attraction, is dealt with
    more fully in Book III., chap. viii.

    [144] _i.e._ the tissues.

    [145] _cf._ p. 291.

    [146] _Peristalsis_ may be used here to translate Gk.
    _peristol_, meaning the contraction and dilation of
    muscle-fibres _circularly_ round a lumen, _cf._ p. 263,
    note 2 (341).

    [147] For a demonstration that this phenomenon is a
    conclusive proof neither of _peristol_ nor of real
    vital _attraction_, but is found even in dead bodies
    _v._ p. 267.

    [148] This was Erasistratus's favourite principle, known
    in Latin as the "horror vacui" and in English as
    "Nature's abhorrence of a vacuum," although these terms
    are not an exact translation of the Greek. [Greek: to
    kenoumenon] probably means _the vacuum_, not the _matter
    evacuated_, although Galen elsewhere uses [Greek: keno]
    in the latter (non-classical) sense, _e.g._ pp. 67, 215.
    Akolouthia is a _following-up_, a _sequence_, almost a
    _consequence_.

    [149] _v._ p. 123.

    [150] _cf._ Book II., chap. i.

    [151] Vital factor necessary over and above the
    mechanical.

    [152] _cf._ p. 119, note 2 (173).

    [153] pp. 91, 93.

    [154] _i.e._ the part below the liver; _cf._ p. 91, note
    2 (138).

    [155] Renal veins.

    [156] _cf._ p. 87, note 3 (133).

    [157] [Greek: koiln]: the usual reading is [Greek:
    koilian], which would make it "from the region of the
    alimentary canal." _cf._ p. 118, note 1 (171).

    [158] Not at an earlier stage, when it is still on its
    way from the alimentary canal to the liver.

    [159] _i.e._ a renal vein.

    [160] In a toast, the third cup was drunk to Zeus Str
    (the Saviour).

    [161] An anatomist of the Alexandrian school.

    [162] _cf._ nasal mucus, p. 90, note 1 (137).

    [163] "Sur l'Ensemble des Choses" (Daremberg).

    [164] About twelve quarts. This is about five times as
    much as the average daily excretion, and could only be
    passed if a very large amount of wine were drunk.

    [165] _cf._ p. 51.

    [166] Horror vacui. Note analogical reasoning; _cf._ p.
    289, note 1 (360).




                            BOOK II


                               I

In the previous book we demonstrated that not only Erasistratus, but
also all others who would say anything to the purpose about urinary
secretion, must acknowledge that the kidneys possess some faculty
which attracts to them this particular quality existing in the
urine.[167] Besides this we drew attention to the fact that the urine
is not carried through the kidneys into the bladder by one method, the
blood into parts of the animal by another, and the yellow bile
separated out on yet another principle. For when once there has been
demonstrated in any one organ, the drawing, or so-called
_epispastic_[168] faculty, there is then no difficulty in transferring
it to the rest. Certainly Nature did not give a power such as this to
the kidneys without giving it also to the vessels which abstract the
biliary fluid,[169] nor did she give it to the latter without also
giving it to each of the other parts. And, assuredly, if this is true,
we must marvel that Erasistratus should make statements concerning the
delivery of nutriment from the food-canal[170] which are so false as
to be detected even by Asclepiades. Now, Erasistratus considers it
absolutely certain that, if anything flows from the veins, one of two
things must happen: either a completely empty space will result, or
the contiguous quantum of fluid will run in and take the place of that
which has been evacuated. Asclepiades, however, holds that not one of
two, but one of three things must be said to result in the emptied
vessels: either there will be an entirely empty space, or the
contiguous portion will flow in, or the vessel will contract. For
whereas, in the case of reeds and tubes it is true to say that, if
these be submerged in water, and are emptied of the air which they
contain in their lumens, then either a completely empty space will be
left, or the contiguous portion will move onwards; in the case of
veins this no longer holds, since their coats can collapse and so fall
in upon the interior cavity. It may be seen, then, how false this
hypothesis--by Zeus, I cannot call it a demonstration!--of
Erasistratus is.

And, from another point of view, even if it were true, it is
superfluous, if the stomach[171] has the power of compressing the
veins, as he himself supposed, and the veins again of contracting upon
their contents and propelling them forwards.[172] For, apart from
other considerations, no _plethora_[173] would ever take place in the
body, if delivery of nutriment resulted merely from the tendency of a
vacuum to become refilled. Now, if the compression of the stomach
becomes weaker the further it goes, and cannot reach to an indefinite
distance, and if, therefore, there is need of some other mechanism to
explain why the blood is conveyed in all directions, then the
principle of the refilling of a vacuum may be looked on as a necessary
addition;[174] there will not, however, be a plethora in any of the
parts coming after the liver,[175] or, if there be, it will be in the
region of the heart and lungs; for the heart alone of the parts which
come after the liver draws the nutriment into its right ventricle,
thereafter sending it through the _arterioid vein_[176] to the lungs
(for Erasistratus himself will have it that, owing to the membranous
excrescences,[177] no other parts save the lungs receive nourishment
from the heart). If, however, in order to explain how plethora comes
about, we suppose the force of compression by the stomach to persist
indefinitely, we have no further need of the principle of the
refilling of a vacuum, especially if we assume contraction of the
veins in addition--as is, again, agreeable to Erasistratus himself.


                     BOOK II

                        B


                        I

  Hoti men oun anankaion estin ouk Erasistrat monon alla        74
  kai tois allois hapasin, hosoi mellousi peri diakrises
  ourn erein ti chrston, homologsai dynamin tin'
  hyparchein tois nephrois helkousan eis heautous poiotta
  toiautn, hoia en tois ourois esti, dia tou prosthen
  epidedeiktai grammatos, anamimnskontn ham' aut kai
  touth' hmn, hs ouk alls men eis tn kystin pheretai
  ta oura dia tn nephrn, alls d' eis hapanta tou zou
  ta moria to haima, kat' allon de tina tropon h xanth
  chol diakrinetai. deichtheiss gar enargs eph' henos
  || houtinosoun organou ts helktiks te kai epispastiks       75
  onomazomens dynames ouden eti chalepon epi ta loipa
  metapherein autn; ou gar d tois men nephrois h physis
  edke tina toiautn dynamin, ouchi de ge kai tois to
  choldes hygron helkousin angeiois oude toutois men,
  ouketi de kai tn alln morin hekast. kai mn ei tout'
  althes esti, thaumazein chr tou Erasistratou pseudeis
  hout logous hyper anadoses trophs eipontos, hs md'
  Asklpiadn lathein. kaitoi g' oietai pantos mallon
  althes hyparchein, hs, eiper ek tn phlebn aporrheoi
  ti, dyoin thateron  kenos estai topos athros  to
  syneches epirrhysetai tn basin anaplroun tou
  kenoumenou. all' ho g' Asklpiads ou dyoin thateron
  phsin, alla trin hen ti chrnai legein epi tois
  kenoumenois angeiois hepesthai  kenon athros topon 
  to syneches akolouthsein  systalsesthai to angeion.
  epi men gar tn kalamn kai tn auliskn tn eis to
  hydr kathiemenn althes eipein, hoti kenoumenou tou
  periechomenou kata tn || eurychrian autn aeros             76
  kenos athros estai topos  akolouthsei to syneches;
  epi de tn phlebn ouket' enchrei, dynamenou d tou
  chitnos autn eis heauton synizanein kai dia touto
  katapiptein eis tn entos eurychrian. hout men d
  pseuds h peri ts pros to kenoumenon akolouthias ouk
  apodeixis ma Di' eipoim' an all' hypothesis
  Erasistrateios.

  Kath' heteron d' au tropon, ei kai alths ei, peritt,
  ts men koilias enthlibein tais phlepsi dynamens, hs
  autos hypetheto, tn phlebn d' au peristellesthai t
  enyparchonti kai prothein auto. ta te gar alla kai
  plthos ouk an en t smati genoito, t pros to
  kenoumenon akolouthia mon ts anadoses epiteloumens.
  ei men oun h ts gastros enthlipsis eklyetai proousa
  kai mechri pantos adynatos estin exikneisthai kai dia
  tout' alls tinos dei mchans eis tn pant phoran tou
  haimatos, anankaia men h pros to kenoumenon akolouthia
  prosexeurtai; plthos d' en oudeni tn meth' hpar
  estai || morin, , eiper ara, peri tn kardian te kai         77
  ton pneumona. mon gar haut tn meth' hpar eis tn
  dexian hauts koilian helkei tn trophn, eita dia ts
  phlebos ts artridous ekpempei t pneumoni; tn gar
  alln ouden oud' autos ho Erasistratos ek kardias
  bouletai trephesthai dia tn tn hymenn epiphysin. ei
  de g', hina plthos gentai, phylaxomen achri pantos tn
  rhmn ts kata tn koilian enthlipses, ouden eti
  deometha ts pros to kenoumenon akolouthias, malist' ei
  kai tn tn phlebn synypothoimetha peristoln, hs au
  kai tout' aut palin areskei t Erasistrat.


                              II

Let me draw his attention, then, once again, even if he does not wish
it, to the kidneys, and let me state that these confute in the very
clearest manner such people as object to the principle of
_attraction_. Nobody has ever said anything plausible, nor, as we
previously showed, has anyone been able to discover, by any means,
any other cause for the secretion of urine; we necessarily appear mad
if we maintain that the urine passes into the kidneys in the form of
vapour, and we certainly cut a poor figure when we talk about the
tendency of a vacuum to become refilled;[178] this idea is foolish in
the case of blood, and impossible, nay, perfectly nonsensical, in the
case of the urine.[179]

This, then, is one blunder made by those who dissociate themselves
from the principle of attraction. Another is that which they make
about the _secretion of yellow bile_. For in this case, too, it is not
a fact that when the blood runs past the mouths [stomata] of the
bile-ducts there will be a thorough separation out [secretion] of
biliary waste-matter. "Well," say they, "let us suppose that it is not
secreted but carried with the blood all over the body." But, you
sapient folk, Erasistratus himself supposed that Nature took thought
for the animals' future, and was workmanlike in her method; and at the
same time he maintained that the biliary fluid was useless in every
way for the animals. Now these two things are incompatible. For how
could Nature be still looked on as exercising forethought for the
animal when she allowed a noxious humour such as this to be carried
off and distributed with the blood?...

This, however, is a small matter. I shall again point out here the
greatest and most obvious error. For if the yellow bile adjusts itself
to the narrower vessels and stomata, and the blood to the wider ones,
for no other reason than that blood is thicker and bile thinner, and
that the stomata of the veins are wider and those of the bile-ducts
narrower,[180] then it is clear that this watery and serous
superfluity,[181] too, will run out into the bile-ducts quicker than
does the bile, exactly in proportion as it is thinner than the bile!
How is it, then, that it does not run out? "Because," it may be said,
"urine is thicker than bile!" This was what one of our Erasistrateans
ventured to say, herein clearly disregarding the evidence of his
senses, although he had trusted these in the case of the bile and
blood. For, if it be that we are to look on bile as thinner than blood
because it runs more, then, since the serous residue[181] passes
through fine linen or lint or a sieve more easily even than does bile,
by these tokens bile must also be thicker than the watery fluid. For
here, again, there is no argument which will demonstrate that bile is
thinner than the serous superfluities.

But when a man shamelessly goes on using circumlocutions, and never
acknowledges when he has had a fall, he is like the amateur wrestlers,
who, when they have been overthrown by the experts and are lying on
their backs on the ground, so far from recognizing their fall,
actually seize their victorious adversaries by the necks and prevent
them from getting away, thus supposing themselves to be the winners!


                       II

  Anamnsteon oun authis auton, kan m boultai, tn
  nephrn kai lekteon, hs elenchos houtoi phanertatos
  hapantn tn apochrountn ts holks; oudeis gar ouden
  out' eipe pithanon, all' oud' exeurein eiche kat' oudena
  tropon, hs emprosthen edeiknymen, heteron aition ourn
  diakrises, all' anankaion  mainesthai dokein, ei
  phsaimen atmoei||ds eis tn kystin ienai to ouron           78
  aschmonein ts pros to kenoumenon akolouthias
  mnmoneuontas, lrdous men ouss kapi tou haimatos,
  adynatou de kai lithiou pantapasin epi tn ourn.

  Hen men d touto sphalma tn apostantn ts holks;
  heteron de to peri ts kata tn xanthn choln
  diakrises. oude gar oud' ekei pararrheontos tou
  haimatos ta stomata tn choldochn angein akribs
  diakrithsetai to choldes perittma. kai m
  diakrinesth, phasin, alla synanapheresth t haimati
  pant tou smatos. all',  sophtatoi, pronotikn tou
  zou kai technikn autos ho Erasistratos hypetheto tn
  physin. alla kai to choldes hygron achrston einai
  pantapasi tois zois ephasken. ou symbainei d' alllois
  amph tauta. ps gar an eti pronoeisthai tou zou
  doxeien epitrepousa synanapheresthai t haimati
  mochthron hout chymon?

  Alla tauta men smikra; to de megiston kai saphestaton
  palin entauth' hamartma kai d phras. eiper gar di'
  ouden all'  hoti pachyteron men esti to haima,
  leptotera d' h || xanth chol kai ta men tn phlebn         79
  eurytera stomata, ta de tn choldochn angein
  stenotera, dia touth' h men chol tois stenoterois
  angeiois te kai stomasin enarmottei, to d' haima tois
  euryterois, dlon, hs kai to hydatdes touto kai
  orrhdes perittma tosout proteron eisrysetai tois
  choldochois angeiois, hos leptoteron esti ts chols.
  ps oun ouk eisrei? hoti pachyteron esti n Dia to ouron
  ts chols; touto gar etolmse tis eipein tn kath'
  hmas Erasistratein apostas dlonoti tn aisthsen,
  hais episteusen epi te ts chols kai tou haimatos. eite
  gar hoti mallon h chol tou haimatos rhei, dia touto
  leptoteran autn hmin esti nomisteon, eith' hoti di'
  othons  rhakous  tinos thmou rhaon diexerchetai kai
  tauts to orrhdes perittma, kata tauta ta gnrismata
  pachytera ts hydatdous hygrottos kai haut gensetai.
  palin gar oud' entautha logos oudeis estin, hos
  apodeixei leptoteran tn choln tn orrhdn
  perittmatn.

  All' hotan tis anaischynt periplekn te kai mp
  katapeptkenai synchrn, || homoios estai tois iditais       80
  tn palaistn, hoi katablthentes hypo tn palaistrikn
  kai kata ts gs hyptioi keimenoi tosoutou deousi to
  ptma gnrizein, hste kai kratousi tn auchenn autous
  tous katabalontas ouk entes apallattesthai, kan tout
  nikan hypolambanousi.


                             III

Thus, every hypothesis of _channels_[182] as an explanation of natural
functioning is perfect nonsense. For, if there were not _an inborn
faculty_ given by Nature to each one of the organs at the very
beginning, then animals could not continue to live even for a few
days, far less for the number of years which they actually do. For let
us suppose they were under no guardianship, lacking in creative
ingenuity[183] and forethought; let us suppose they were steered only
by material forces,[184] and not by any special _faculties_ (the one
attracting what is proper to it, another rejecting what is foreign,
and yet another causing alteration and adhesion of the matter destined
to nourish it); if we suppose this, I am sure it would be ridiculous
for us to discuss natural, or, still more, psychical, activities--or,
in fact, life as a whole.[185]

For there is not a single animal which could live or endure for the
shortest time if, possessing within itself so many different parts, it
did not employ faculties which were attractive of what is appropriate,
eliminative of what is foreign, and alterative of what is destined for
nutrition. On the other hand, if we have these faculties, we no longer
need _channels_, little or big, resting on an unproven hypothesis, for
explaining the secretion of urine and bile, and the conception of some
_favourable situation_ (in which point alone Erasistratus shows some
common sense, since he does regard all the parts of the body as having
been well and truly placed and shaped by Nature).

But let us suppose he remained true to his own statement that Nature
is "artistic"--this Nature which, at the beginning, well and truly
shaped and disposed all the parts of the animal,[186] and, after
carrying out this function (for she left nothing undone), brought it
forward to the light of day, endowed with certain faculties necessary
for its very existence, and, thereafter, gradually increased it until
it reached its due size. If he argued consistently on this principle,
I fail to see how he can continue to refer natural functions to the
smallness or largeness of canals, or to any other similarly absurd
hypothesis. For this Nature which shapes and gradually adds to the
parts is most certainly extended throughout their whole substance. Yes
indeed, she shapes and nourishes and increases them through and
through, not on the outside only. For Praxiteles and Phidias and all
the other statuaries used merely to decorate their material on the
outside, in so far as they were able to touch it; but its inner parts
they left unembellished, unwrought, unaffected by art or forethought,
since they were unable to penetrate therein and to reach and handle
all portions of the material. It is not so, however, with Nature.
Every part of a bone she makes bone, every part of the flesh she makes
flesh, and so with fat and all the rest; there is no part which she
has not touched, elaborated, and embellished. Phidias, on the other
hand, could not turn wax into ivory and gold, nor yet gold into wax:
for each of these remains as it was at the commencement, and becomes a
perfect statue simply by being clothed externally in a form and
artificial shape. But Nature does not preserve the original character
of any kind of matter; if she did so then all parts of the animal
would be blood--that blood, namely, which flows to the semen from the
impregnated female and which is, so to speak, like the statuary's wax,
a single uniform matter, subjected to the artificer. From this blood
there arises no part of the animal which is as red and moist [as blood
is], for bone, artery, vein, nerve, cartilage, fat, gland, membrane,
and marrow are not blood, though they arise from it.

I would then ask Erasistratus himself to inform me what the altering,
coagulating, and shaping agent is. He would doubtless say, "Either
Nature or the semen," meaning the same thing in both cases, but
explaining it by different devices. For that which was previously
semen, when it begins to procreate and to shape the animal, becomes,
so to say, a special _nature_.[187] For in the same way that Phidias
possessed the faculties of his art even before touching his material,
and then activated these in connection with this material (for every
faculty remains inoperative in the absence of its proper material), so
it is with the semen: its faculties it possessed from the
beginning,[188] while its activities it does not receive from its
material, but it manifests them in connection therewith.

And, of course, if it were to be overwhelmed with a great quantity of
blood, it would perish, while if it were to be entirely deprived of
blood it would remain inoperative and would not turn into a _nature_.
Therefore, in order that it may not perish, but may become a _nature_
in place of semen, there must be an afflux to it of a little
blood--or, rather, one should not say a little, but a quantity
commensurate with that of the semen. What is it then that measures the
quantity of this afflux? What prevents more from coming? What ensures
against a deficiency? What is this third overseer of animal generation
that we are to look for, which will furnish the semen with a due
amount of blood? What would Erasistratus have said if he had been
alive, and had been asked this question? Obviously, the semen itself.
This, in fact, is the artificer analogous with Phidias, whilst the
blood corresponds to the statuary's wax.

Now, it is not for the wax to discover for itself how much of it is
required; that is the business of Phidias. Accordingly the artificer
will draw to itself as much blood as it needs. Here, however, we must
pay attention and take care not unwittingly to credit the semen with
reason and intelligence; if we were to do this, we would be making
neither semen nor a nature, but an actual living animal.[189] And if
we retain these two principles--that of proportionate attraction[190]
and that of the non-participation of intelligence--we shall ascribe to
the semen a faculty for attracting blood similar to that possessed by
the lodestone for iron.[191] Here, then, again, in the case of the
semen, as in so many previous instances, we have been compelled to
acknowledge some kind of attractive faculty.

And what is the semen? Clearly the active principle of the animal, the
material principle being the menstrual blood.[192] Next, seeing that
the active principle employs this faculty primarily, therefore, in
order that any one of the things fashioned by it may come into
existence, it [the principle] must necessarily be possessed of its own
faculty. How, then, was Erasistratus unaware of it, if the primary
function of the semen be to draw to itself a due proportion of blood?
Now, this fluid would be in due proportion if it were so thin and
vaporous, that, as soon as it was drawn like dew into every part of
the semen, it would everywhere cease to display its own particular
character; for so the semen will easily dominate and quickly
assimilate it--in fact, will use it as food. It will then, I imagine,
draw to itself a second and a third quantum, and thus by feeding it
acquires for itself considerable bulk and quantity.[193] In fact, _the
alterative faculty_ has now been discovered as well, although about
this also Erasistratus has not written a word. And, thirdly the
_shaping_[194] faculty will become evident, by virtue of which the
semen firstly surrounds itself with a thin membrane like a kind of
superficial condensation; this is what was described by Hippocrates in
the sixth-day birth, which, according to his statement, fell from the
singing-girl and resembled the pellicle of an egg. And following this
all the other stages will occur, such as are described by him in his
work "On the Child's Nature."

But if each of the parts formed were to remain as small as when it
first came into existence, of what use would that be? They have, then,
to grow. Now, how will they grow? By becoming extended in all
directions and at the same time receiving nourishment. And if you will
recall what I previously said about the bladder which the children
blew up and rubbed,[195] you will also understand my meaning better as
expressed in what I am now about to say.

Imagine the heart to be, at the beginning, so small as to differ in no
respect from a millet-seed, or, if you will, a bean; and consider how
otherwise it is to become large than by being extended in all
directions and acquiring nourishment throughout its whole substance,
in the way that, as I showed a short while ago, the semen is
nourished. But even this was unknown to Erasistratus--the man who
sings the artistic skill of Nature! He imagines that animals grow like
webs, ropes, sacks, or baskets, each of which has, woven on to its end
or margin, other material similar to that of which it was originally
composed.

But this, most sapient sir, is not growth, but genesis! For a bag,
sack, garment, house, ship, or the like is said to be still coming
into existence [undergoing genesis] so long as the appropriate form
for the sake of which it is being constructed by the artificer is
still incomplete. Then, when does it grow? Only when the basket, being
complete, with a bottom, a mouth, and a belly, as it were, as well as
the intermediate parts, now becomes larger in all these respects. "And
how can this happen?" someone will ask. Only by our basket suddenly
becoming an animal or a plant; for growth belongs to living things
alone. Possibly you imagine that a house _grows_ when it is being
built, or a basket when being plaited, or a garment when being woven?
It is not so however. Growth belongs to that which has already been
completed in respect to its form, whereas the process by which that
which is still _becoming_ attains its form is termed not growth but
genesis. That which _is_, grows, while that which _is not_, becomes.


                      III

  Lros oun makros hapasa porn hypothesis eis physikn
  energeian. ei m gar dynamis tis symphytos hekast tn
  organn hypo ts physes euthys ex archs dothei,
  diarkein ou dynsetai ta za, m hoti tosouton arithmon
  etn all' oud' hmern oligistn; anepitropeuta gar
  easantes auta kai techns kai pronoias erma monais tais
  tn hyln oiakizomena rhopais, oudamou dynames oudemias
  ts men helkouss to proskon heaut, ts d' apthouss
  to allotrion, ts d' alloiouss te kai prosphyouss to
  threpson, ouk oid' hops ouk an eimen katagelastoi peri
  te tn physikn energein dialegomenoi kai poly mallon
  eti peri tn psychikn kai || sympass ge ts zs.            81

  Oude gar zn oude diamenein oudeni tn zn oud' eis
  elachiston chronon estai dynaton, ei tosauta kektmenon
  en heaut moria kai hout diapheronta mth' helktik tn
  oikein chrsetai dynamei mt' apokritik tn allotrin
  mt' alloitik tn threpsontn. kai mn ei tautas
  echoimen, ouden eti porn mikrn  megaln ex
  hypotheses anapodeiktou lambanomenn eis ourou kai
  chols diakrisin deometha kai tinos epikairou theses,
  en h mon sphronein eoiken ho Erasistratos hapanta
  kals tethnai te kai diaplasthnai ta moria tou smatos
  hypo ts physes oiomenos.

  All' ei parakolouthseien heaut physin onomazonti
  technikn, euthys men ex archs hapanta kals
  diaplasasan te kai diatheisan tou zou ta moria, meta de
  tn toiautn energeian, hs ouden eleipen, eti
  proagagousan eis phs auto syn tisi dynamesin, hn aneu
  zn ouk dynato, kai meta tauta kata brachy
  prosauxsasan achri tou prepontos megethous, ouk oida
  ps hypomenei porn smikrotsin ||  megethesin  tisin        82
  allais hout lrdesin hypothesesi physikas energeias
  epitrepein. h gar diaplattousa ta moria physis ekein
  kai kata brachy prosauxousa pants dpou di' holn autn
  ektetatai; kai gar hola di' holn ouk exthen monon auta
  diaplattei te kai trephei kai prosauxei. Praxitels men
  gar  Pheidias  tis allos agalmatopoios exthen monon
  ekosmoun tas hylas, katha kai psauein autn dynanto, to
  bathos d' akosmton kai argon kai atechnon kai
  apronoton apelipon, hs an m dynamenoi katelthein eis
  auto kai katadynai kai thigein hapantn ts hyls tn
  mern. h physis d' ouch houts, alla to men ostou meros
  hapan ostoun apotelei, to de sarkos sarka, to de pimels
  pimeln kai tn alln hekaston; ouden gar estin
  apsauston aut meros oud' anexergaston oud' akosmton.
  alla ton men kron ho Pheidias ouk dynato poiein
  elephanta kai chryson, all' oude ton chryson kron;
  hekaston gar autn menon, hoion n ex archs, exthen
  monon mphiesmenon eidos ti kai schma technikon, agalma
  teleion || gegonen. h physis d' oudemias eti phylattei        83
  tn hyln tn archaian idean; haima gar an n houts
  hapanta tou zou ta moria, to para ts kyouss epirrheon
  t spermati, dikn krou tinos hyl mia kai monoeids
  hypobeblmen t technit. gignetai d' ex auts ouden
  tn tou zou morin out' erythron houts outh' hygron.
  ostoun gar kai artria kai phleps kai neuron kai
  chondros kai pimel kai adn kai hymn kai myelos anaima
  men, ex haimatos de gegone.

  Tinos alloisantos kai tinos pxantos kai tinos
  diaplasantos edeomn an moi ton Erasistraton auton
  apokrinasthai. pants gar an eipen toi tn physin  to
  sperma, tauton men legn kath' hekateron, diaphorois d'
  epinoiais hermneun; ho gar n proteron sperma, touth',
  hotan arxtai phyein te kai diaplattein to zon, physis
  tis gignetai. kathaper gar ho Pheidias eiche men tas
  dynameis ts techns kai prin psauein ts hyls, enrgei
  d' autais peri tn hyln--hapasa gar dynamis argei
  aporousa ts oikeias hyls--, hout kai to sperma tas
  men || dynameis oikothen ekektto, tas d' energeias ouk        84
  ek ts hyls elaben, alla peri tn hyln epedeixato.

  Kai mn ei poll men epiklyzoito t haimati to sperma,
  diaphtheiroit' an; ei d' hols aporoi pantapasin
  argoun, ouk an genoito physis. hin' oun mte phtheirtai
  kai gigntai physis anti spermatos, oligon epirrhein
  anankaion aut tou haimatos, mallon d' ouk oligon legein
  chr, alla symmetron t plthei tou spermatos. tis oun
  ho metrn autou to poson ts epirrhos? tis ho klyn
  ienai pleon? tis ho protrepn, hin' endeesteron m i?
  tina ztsomen entautha triton epistatn tou zou ts
  geneses, hos chorgsei t spermati to symmetron haima?
  ti an eipen Erasistratos, ei zn taut' rtth? to
  sperma auto dlonoti; touto gar estin ho technits ho
  analogn t Pheidia, to d' haima t kr proseoiken.

  Oukoun prepei ton kron auton heaut to metron
  exeuriskein, alla ton Pheidian. helxei d tosouton
  haimatos ho technits eis heauton, hoposou deitai. all'
  en||tautha chr prosechein d ton noun kai skopein, m        85
  ps lathmen t spermati logismon tina kai noun
  charisamenoi; hout gar an oute sperma poisaimen oute
  physin all' d zon auto. kai mn ei phylaxomen
  amphotera, tn th' holkn tou symmetrou kai to chris
  logismou, dynamin tina, kathaper h lithos helktikn
  eiche tou sidrou, kai t spermati phsomen hyparchein
  haimatos epispastikn. nankasthmen oun palin
  kantautha, kathaper d pollakis emprosthen, helktikn
  tina dynamin homologsai kata to sperma.

  Ti d' n to sperma? h arch tou zou dlonoti h
  drastik; h gar hylik to katamnion estin. eit' auts
  ts archs prt taut t dynamei chrmens, hina
  gentai tn hyp' auts ti dedmiourgmenn, amoiron
  einai ts oikeias dynames ouk endechetai. ps oun
  Erasistratos autn ouk oiden, ei d prt men haut tou
  spermatos energeia to symmetron haimatos epispasthai
  pros heauto? symmetron d' an ei to lepton hout kai
  atmdes, hst' euthys eis pan morion helkomenon tou
  spermatos drosoeids mdamou tn || heautou                    86
  paremphainein idean. hout gar autou kai kratsei
  rhadis to sperma kai taches exomoisei kai trophn
  heaut poisetai kapeit' oimai deuteron epispasetai kai
  triton, hs onkon heaut kai plthos axiologon
  ergasasthai traphenti. kai mn d kai h alloitik
  dynamis exeurtai md' aut pros Erasistratou
  gegrammen. trit d' an h diaplastik phanei, kath'
  hn prton men hoion epipagon tina lepton hymena
  peritithsin heaut to sperma, ton hyph' Hippokratous
  epi ts hektaias gons, hn ekpesein elege ts
  mousourgou, t tn n eikasthenta chitni; meta de
  touton d kai tall', hosa pros ekeinou legetai dia tou
  peri physios paidiou syngrammatos.

  All' ei tn diaplasthentn hekaston hout meineie
  smikron, hs ex archs egeneto, ti an ei pleon?
  auxanesthai toinyn auta chr. ps oun auxthsetai?
  pant diateinomena th' hama kai trephomena. kai moi tn
  emprosthen eirmenn epi ts kystes, hn hoi paides
  emphysntes etribon, anamnstheis maths mallon || kak        87
  tn nyn rhthsomenn.

  Ennoson gar d tn kardian hout men mikran einai kat'
  archas, hs kenchrou mden diapherein , ei boulei,
  kyamou, kai ztson, hops an alls haut genoito megal
  chris tou pant diateinomenn trephesthai di' hols
  heauts, hs olig prosthen edeiknyto to sperma
  trephomenon. all' oude tout' Erasistratos oiden ho tn
  technn ts physes hymnn, all' houts auxanesthai ta
  za nomizei kathaper tina krseran  seiran  sakkon 
  talaron, hn hekast kata to peras epiplekomenn homoin
  hetern tois ex archs auta syntitheisin h prosthesis
  gignetai.

  Alla touto g' ouk auxsis estin alla genesis, 
  sophtate; gignetai gar ho thylakos eti kai ho sakkos
  kai thoimation kai h oikia kai to ploion kai tn alln
  hekaston, hotan mdep to proskon eidos, hou charin
  hypo tou technitou dmiourgeitai, sympeplrmenon .
  pot' oun auxanetai? hotan d teleios n ho talaros, hs
  echein pythmena te tina kai stoma kai hoion gastera kai
  ta toutn metaxy, meizn hapasi toutois gentai. kai ps
  || estai touto? phsei tis. ps d' alls  ei zon             88
  exaiphns  phyton ho talaros hmin genoito? monn gar
  tn zntn h auxsis. sy d' iss oiei tn oikian
  oikodomoumenn auxanesthai kai ton talaron plekomenon
  kai thoimation hyphainomenon. all' ouch hd' echei; tou
  men gar d sympeplrmenou kata to eidos h auxsis,
  tou d' eti gignomenou h eis to eidos hodos ouk auxsis
  alla genesis onomazetai; auxanetai men gar to on,
  gignetai de to ouk on.


                              IV

This also was unknown to Erasistratus, whom nothing escaped, if his
followers speak in any way truly in maintaining that he was familiar
with the Peripatetic philosophers. Now, in so far as he acclaims
Nature as being an artist in construction, even I recognize the
Peripatetic teachings, but in other respects he does not come near
them. For if anyone will make himself acquainted with the writings
of Aristotle and Theophrastus, these will appear to him to consist
of commentaries on the Nature-lore [physiology][196] of
Hippocrates--according to which the principles of heat, cold, dryness
and moisture act upon and are acted upon by one another, the hot
principle being the most active, and the cold coming next to it in
power; all this was stated in the first place by Hippocrates and
secondly by Aristotle.[197] Further, it is at once the Hippocratic and
the Aristotelian teaching that the parts which are being nourished
receive that nourishment throughout their whole substance, and that,
similarly, processes of _mingling_ and _alteration_ involve the entire
substance.[198] Moreover, that digestion is a species of alteration--a
transmutation of the nutriment into the proper quality of the thing
receiving it; that blood-production also is an alteration, and
nutrition as well; that growth results from extension in all
directions, combined with nutrition; that alteration is effected
mainly by the warm principle, and that therefore digestion, nutrition,
and the generation of the various humours, as well as the qualities of
the surplus substances, result from the _innate heat_;[199] all these
and many other points besides in regard to the aforesaid faculties,
the origin of diseases, and the discovery of remedies, were correctly
stated first by Hippocrates of all writers whom we know, and were in
the second place correctly expounded by Aristotle. Now, if all these
views meet with the approval of the Peripatetics, as they undoubtedly
do, and if none of them satisfy Erasistratus, what can the
Erasistrateans possibly mean by claiming that their leader was
associated with these philosophers? The fact is, they revere him as a
god, and think that everything he says is true. If this be so, then we
must suppose the Peripatetics to have strayed very far from truth,
since they approve of none of the ideas of Erasistratus. And, indeed,
the disciples of the latter produce his connection with the
Peripatetics in order to furnish his Nature-lore with a respectable
pedigree.

Now, let us reverse our argument and put it in a different way from
that which we have just employed. For if the Peripatetics were correct
in their teaching about Nature, there could be nothing more absurd
than the contentions of Erasistratus. And, I will leave it to the
Erasistrateans themselves to decide; they must either advance the one
proposition or the other. According to the former one the Peripatetics
had no accurate acquaintance with Nature, and according to the second,
Erasistratus. It is my task, then, to point out the opposition between
the two doctrines, and theirs to make the choice....

But they certainly will not abandon their reverence for Erasistratus.
Very well, then; let them stop talking about the Peripatetic
philosophers. For among the numerous physiological teachings regarding
the genesis and destruction of animals, their health, their diseases,
and the methods of treating these, there will be found one only which
is common to Erasistratus and the Peripatetics--namely, the view that
Nature does everything for some purpose, and nothing in vain.

But even as regards this doctrine their agreement is only verbal; in
practice Erasistratus makes havoc of it a thousand times over. For,
according to him, the spleen was made for no purpose, as also the
omentum; similarly, too, the arteries which are inserted into
kidneys[200]--although these are practically the largest of all those
that spring from the great artery [aorta]! And to judge by the
Erasistratean argument, there must be countless other useless
structures; for, if he knows nothing at all about these structures, he
has little more anatomical knowledge than a butcher, while, if he is
acquainted with them and yet does not state their use, he clearly
imagines that they were made for no purpose, like the spleen. Why,
however, should I discuss these structures fully, belonging as they do
to the treatise "On the Use of Parts," which I am personally about to
complete?

Let us, then, sum up again this same argument, and, having said a few
words more in answer to the Erasistrateans, proceed to our next topic.
The fact is, these people seem to me to have read none of Aristotle's
writings, but to have heard from others how great an authority he was
on "Nature," and that those of the Porch[201] follow in the steps of
his Nature-lore; apparently they then discovered a single one of the
current ideas which is common to Aristotle and Erasistratus, and made
up some story of a connection between Erasistratus and these
people.[202] That Erasistratus, however, has no share in the
Nature-lore of Aristotle is shown by an enumeration of the aforesaid
doctrines, which emanated first from Hippocrates, secondly from
Aristotle, thirdly from the Stoics (with a single modification,
namely, that for them the _qualities_ are _bodies_).[203]

Perhaps, however, they will maintain that it was in the matter of
_logic_ that Erasistratus associated himself with the Peripatetic
philosophers? Here they show ignorance of the fact that these
philosophers never brought forward false or inconclusive arguments,
while the Erasistratean books are full of them.

So perhaps somebody may already be asking, in some surprise, what
possessed Erasistratus that he turned so completely from the doctrines
of Hippocrates, and why it is that he takes away the attractive
faculty from the biliary[204] passages in the liver--for we have
sufficiently discussed the kidneys--alleging [as the cause of
bile-secretion] a favourable situation, the narrowness of vessels, and
_a common space_ into which the veins from the gateway [of the
liver][205] conduct the unpurified blood, and from which, in the first
place, the [biliary] passages take over the bile, and secondly, the
[branches] of the vena cava take over the purified blood. For it would
not only have done him no harm to have mentioned the idea of
_attraction_, but he would thereby have been able to get rid of
countless other disputed questions.


                       IV

  Kai taut' Erasistratos ouk oiden, hon ouden lanthanei,
  eiper hols altheuousin hoi ap' autou phaskontes
  hmilkenai tois ek tou peripatou philosophois auton.
  achri men oun tou tn physin hymnein hs technikn kag
  gnriz ta tou peripatou dogmata, tn d' alln ouden
  oud' engys. ei gar tis homilseie tois Aristotelous kai
  Theophrastou grammasi, ts Hippokratous an auta doxeie
  physiologias hypomnmata synkeisthai, to thermon kai to
  psychron || kai to xron kai to hygron eis allla drnta       89
  kai paschonta kai toutn autn drastiktaton men to
  thermon, deuteron de t dynamei to psychron Hippokratous
  tauta sympanta prtou, deuterou d' Aristotelous
  eipontos. trephesthai de di' holn hautn ta trephomena
  kai kerannysthai di' holn ta kerannymena kai
  alloiousthai di' holn ta alloioumena, kai tauth'
  Hippokrateia th' hama kai Aristoteleia. kai tn pepsin
  alloisin tin' hyparchein kai metaboln tou trephontos
  eis tn oikeian tou trephomenou poiotta, tn d'
  exaimatsin alloisin einai kai tn threpsin hsauts
  kai tn auxsin ek ts pant diatases kai threpses
  gignesthai, tn d' alloisin hypo tou thermou malista
  synteleisthai kai dia touto kai tn pepsin kai tn
  threpsin kai tn tn chymn hapantn genesin, d de kai
  tois perittmasi tas poiottas hypo ts emphytou
  thermasias engignesthai, tauta sympanta kai pros toutois
  hetera polla ta te tn proeirmenn dynamen kai ta ||         90
  tn nosmatn ts geneses kai ta tn iamatn ts
  heureses Hippokrats men prtos hapantn hn ismen
  orths eipen, Aristotels de deuteros orths exgsato.
  kai mn ei tauta sympanta tois ek tou peripatou dokei,
  kathaper oun dokei, mden d' autn areskei t
  Erasistrat, ti pote bouletai tois Erasistrateiois h
  pros tous philosophous ekeinous tou ts haireses autn
  hgemonos homilia? thaumazousi men gar auton hs theon
  kai pant' altheuein nomizousin. ei d' houts echei
  tauta, pampoly dpou ts altheias esphalthai chr
  nomizein tous ek tou peripatou philosophous, hois mden
  hn Erasistratos hypelambanen areskei. kai mn hsper
  tin' eugeneian aut ts physiologias tn pros tous
  andras ekeinous synousian ekporizousi.

  Palin oun anastrepsmen ton logon heters  hs olig
  prosthen etychomen eipontes. eiper gar hoi ek tou
  peripatou kals ephysiologsan, ouden an ei
  lrdesteron Erasistratou kai didmi tois
  Erasistrateiois autois tn hairesin;  gar ton proteron
  logon  touton || prossontai. legei d' ho men proteros        91
  ouden orths egnkenai peri physes tous peripattikous,
  ho de deuteros Erasistraton. emon men oun hypomnsai tn
  dogmatn tn machn, ekeinn d' h hairesis.

  All' ouk an apostaien tou thaumazein Erasistraton;
  oukoun sipatsan peri tn ek tou peripatou philosophn.
  pampolln gar ontn dogmatn physikn peri te genesin
  kai phthoran tn zn kai hygieian kai nosous kai tas
  therapeias autn hen monon heurethsetai tauton
  Erasistrat kakeinois tois andrasi, to tinos heneka
  panta poiein tn physin kai matn mden.

  Alla kai auto touto mechri logou koinon, erg de
  myriakis Erasistratos auto diaphtheirei; matn men gar
  ho spln egeneto, matn de to epiploon, matn d' hai eis
  tous nephrous artriai kataphyomenai, schedon hapasn
  tn apo ts megals artrias apoblastanousn ousai
  megistai, matn d' alla myria kata ge ton Erasistrateion
  logon; haper ei men oud' hols gignskei, brachei
  mageirou sophteros estin en tais anatomais, ei d' eids
  ou legei tn chreian autn, oietai || dlonoti                 92
  paraplsis t splni matn auta gegonenai. kaitoi ti
  taut' epexerchomai ts peri chreias morin pragmateias
  onta mellouss hmin idia perainesthai?

  Palin oun analabmen ton auton logon eipontes te ti
  brachy pros tous Erasistrateious eti tn ephexs
  echmetha. dokousi gar moi mden anegnkenai tn
  Aristotelous houtoi syngrammatn, all' alln akouontes,
  hs deinos n peri physin ho anthrpos kai hs hoi apo
  ts stoas kat' ichn ts ekeinou physiologias
  badizousin, eith' heurontes hen ti tn peripheromenn
  dogmatn koinon aut pros Erasistraton anaplasai tina
  synousian autou pros ekeinous tous andras. all' hoti men
  ts Aristotelous physiologias ouden Erasistrat
  metestin, ho katalogos tn proeirmenn endeiknytai
  dogmatn, ha prtou men Hippokratous n, deuterou d'
  Aristotelous, tritn de tn Stkn, henos monou
  metatithemenou tou tas poiottas einai smata.

  Tacha d' an ts logiks heneka therias hmilkenai
  phaien ton Erasistraton tois ek tou peripatou
  philosophois, ouk eidotes, hs ekeinoi men pseu||deis          93
  kai aperantous ouk egrapsan logous, ta d' Erasistrateia
  biblia pampollous echei tous toioutous.

  Tach' an oun d tis thaumazoi kai diaporoi, ti pathn
  ho Erasistratos eis tosouton tn Hippokratous dogmatn
  apetrapeto kai dia ti tn en hpati porn tn
  choldochn, halis gar d nephrn, aphelomenos tn
  helktikn dynamin epikairon aitiatai thesin kai stomatn
  stenotta kai chran tina koinn, eis hn paragousi men
  hai apo tn pyln to akatharton haima, metalambanousi de
  proteroi men hoi poroi tn choln, deuterai d' hai apo
  ts koils phlebos to katharon haima. pros gar t mden
  an blabnai tn holkn eipn alln myrin emellen
  amphisbtoumenn apallaxesthai logn.


                               V

At the actual moment, however, the Erasistrateans are engaged in a
considerable battle, not only with others but also amongst themselves,
and so they cannot explain the passage from the first book of the
"General Principles," in which Erasistratus says, "Since there are two
kinds of vessels opening[206] at the same place, the one kind
extending to the gall-bladder and the other to the vena cava, the
result is that, of the nutriment carried up from the alimentary canal,
that part which fits both kinds of stomata is received into both kinds
of vessels, some being carried into the gall-bladder, and the rest
passing over into the vena cava." For it is difficult to say what we
are to understand by the words "opening at the same place" which are
written at the beginning of this passage. Either they mean there is a
_junction_[207] between the termination of the vein which is on the
concave surface of the liver[208] and two other vascular terminations
(that of the vessel on the convex surface of the liver[209] and that
of the bile-duct), or, if not, then we must suppose that there is, as
it were, a common space for all three vessels, which becomes filled
from the lower vein,[210] and empties itself both into the bile-duct
and into the branches of the vena cava. Now, there are many
difficulties in both of these explanations, but if I were to state
them all, I should find myself inadvertently writing an exposition of
the teaching of Erasistratus, instead of carrying out my original
undertaking. There is, however, one difficulty common to both these
explanations, namely, that the whole of the blood does not become
purified. For it ought to fall into the bile-duct as into a kind of
sieve, instead of going (running, in fact, rapidly) past it, into the
larger stoma, by virtue of the impulse of _anadosis_.

Are these, then, the only inevitable difficulties in which the
argument of Erasistratus becomes involved through his disinclination
to make any use of the attractive faculty, or is it that the
difficulty is greatest here, and also so obvious that even a child
could not avoid seeing it?


                        V

  Hs nyn ge polemos ou smikros esti tois Erasistrateiois
  ou pros tous allous monon alla kai pros alllous, ouk
  echousin, hops exgsntai tn ek tou prtou tn
  katholou logn lexin, en h phsin; "Eis to || auto d'         94
  anestommenn hetern anestommenn hetern dyo angein
  tn t' epi tn choldochon teinontn kai tn epi tn
  koiln phleba symbainei ts anapheromens ek ts koilias
  trophs ta enarmozonta hekaterois tn stomatn eis
  hekatera tn angein metalambanesthai kai ta men epi tn
  choldochon pheresthai, ta d' epi tn koiln phleba
  peraiousthai." to gar "eis to auto anestommenn," ho
  kat' archas ts lexes gegraptai, ti pote chr nosai,
  chalepon eipein. toi gar houts eis tauton, hste t
  ts en tois simois phlebos perati synaptein dyo hetera
  perata, to t' en tois kyrtois kai to tou choldochou
  porou, , ei m hout, chran tina koinn epinosai chr
  tn trin angein hoion dexamenn tina, plroumenn men
  hypo ts kat phlebos, ekkenoumenn d' eis te tous
  choldochous porous kai tas ts koils aposchidas; kath'
  hekateran de tn exgsen atopa polla, peri hn ei
  pantn legoimi, lathoim' an emauton exgseis
  Erasistratou graphn, ouch, hoper ex archs prouthemn,
  perainn. koinon d' amphoterais tais exgsesin atopon
  to m || kathairesthai pan to haima. chr gar hs eis          95
  thmon tina to choldochon angeion empiptein auto, ou
  parerchesthai kai pararrhein kes eis to meizon stoma
  t rhym ts anadoses pheromenon.

  Ar' oun en toutois monon aporiais aphyktois ho
  Erasistratou logos enechetai m boulthentos chrsasthai
  tais helktikais dynamesin eis mden,  sphodrotata men
  en toutois kai saphs houts, hs an mde paida lathein?


                            VI

And if one looks carefully into the matter one will find that even
Erasistratus's reasoning on the subject of _nutrition_, which he takes
up in the second book of his "General Principles," fails to escape
this same difficulty. For, having conceded one premise to the
principle that matter tends to fill a vacuum, as we previously showed,
he was only able to draw a conclusion in the case of the veins and
their contained blood.[211] That is to say, when blood is running
away through the stomata of the veins, and is being dispersed, then,
since an absolutely empty space cannot result, and the veins cannot
collapse (for this was what he overlooked), it was therefore shown to
be necessary that the adjoining quantum of fluid should flow in and
fill the place of the fluid evacuated. It is in this way that we may
suppose the veins to be nourished; they get the benefit of the blood
which they contain. But how about the nerves?[212] For they do not
also contain blood. One might obviously say that they draw their
supply from the veins.[213] But Erasistratus will not have it so. What
further contrivance, then, does he suppose? He says that a nerve has
within itself veins and arteries, like a rope woven by Nature out of
three different strands. By means of this hypothesis he imagined that
his theory would escape from the idea of _attraction_. For if the
nerve contain within itself a blood-vessel it will no longer need the
adventitious flow of other blood from the real vein lying adjacent;
this fictitious vessel, perceptible only in theory,[214] will suffice
it for nourishment.

But this, again, is succeeded by another similar difficulty. For this
small vessel will nourish itself, but it will not be able to nourish
this adjacent simple nerve or artery, unless these possess some innate
proclivity for attracting nutriment. For how could the _nerve_, being
simple, attract its nourishment, as do the composite veins, by virtue
of the tendency of a vacuum to become refilled? For, although
according to Erasistratus, it contains within itself a cavity of
sorts, this is not occupied with blood, but with _psychic
pneuma_,[215] and we are required to imagine the nutriment introduced,
not into this cavity, but into the vessel containing it, whether it
needs merely to be nourished, or to grow as well. How, then, are we to
imagine it introduced? For this simple vessel [_i.e._ nerve] is so
small--as are also the other two--that if you prick it at any part
with the finest needle you will tear the whole three of them at once.
Thus there could never be in it a perceptible space entirely empty.
And an emptied space which merely existed in theory could not compel
the adjacent fluid to come and fill it.

At this point, again, I should like Erasistratus himself to answer
regarding this small elementary nerve, whether it is actually one and
definitely continuous, or whether it consists of many small bodies,
such as those assumed by Epicurus, Leucippus, and Democritus.[216] For
I see that the Erasistrateans are at variance on this subject. Some of
them consider it one and continuous, for otherwise, as they say, he
would not have called it _simple_; and some venture to resolve it into
yet other elementary bodies. But if it be one and continuous, then
what is evacuated from it in the so-called _insensible transpiration_
of the physicians will leave no empty space in it; otherwise it would
not be one body but many, separated by empty spaces. But if it
consists of many bodies, then we have "escaped by the back door," as
the saying is, to Asclepiades, seeing that we have postulated certain
_inharmonious elements_. Once again, then, we must call Nature
"inartistic"; for this necessarily follows the assumption of such
elements.

For this reason some of the Erasistrateans seem to me to have done
very foolishly in reducing the simple vessels to elements such as
these. Yet it makes no difference to me, since the theory of both
parties regarding nutrition will be shown to be absurd. For in these
minute simple vessels constituting the large perceptible nerves, it is
impossible, according to the theory of those who would keep the former
continuous, that any "refilling of a vacuum" should take place, since
no vacuum can occur in a continuum even if anything does run away; for
the parts left come together (as is seen in the case of water) and
again become one, taking up the whole space of that which previously
separated them. Nor will any "refilling" occur if we accept the
argument of the other Erasistrateans, since none of their _elements_
need it. For this principle only holds of things which are
perceptible, and not of those which exist merely in theory; this
Erasistratus expressly acknowledges, for he states that it is not a
vacuum such as this, interspersed in small portions among the
corpuscles, that his various treatises deal with, but a vacuum which
is clear, perceptible, complete in itself, large in size, evident, or
however else one cares to term it (for, what Erasistratus himself says
is, that "there cannot be a perceptible space which is entirely
empty"; while I, for my part, being abundantly equipped with terms
which are equally elucidatory, at least in relation to the present
topic of discussion, have added them as well).

Thus it seems to me better that we also should help the Erasistrateans
with some contribution, since we are on the subject, and should advise
those who reduce the vessel called _primary_ and _simple_ by
Erasistratus into other elementary bodies to give up their opinion;
for not only do they gain nothing by it, but they are also at variance
with Erasistratus in this matter. That they gain nothing by it has
been clearly demonstrated; for this hypothesis could not escape the
difficulty regarding _nutrition_. And it also seems perfectly evident
to me that this hypothesis is not in consonance with the view of
Erasistratus, when it declares that what he calls simple and primary
is composite, and when it destroys the principle of Nature's artistic
skill.[217] For, if we do not grant a certain _unity of
substance_[218] to these simple structures as well, and if we arrive
eventually at inharmonious and indivisible elements,[219] we shall
most assuredly deprive Nature of her artistic skill, as do all the
physicians and philosophers who start from this hypothesis. For,
according to such a hypothesis, Nature does not precede, but is
secondary to the _parts_ of the animal.[220] Now, it is not the
province of what comes secondarily, but of what pre-exists, to shape
and to construct. Thus we must necessarily suppose that the faculties
of Nature, by which she shapes the animal, and makes it grow and
receive nourishment, are present from the seed onwards; whereas none
of these inharmonious and non-partite corpuscles contains within
itself any formative, incremental,[221] nutritive, or, in a word, any
artistic power; it is, by hypothesis, unimpressionable and
untransformable,[222] whereas, as we have previously shown,[223] none
of the processes mentioned takes place without transformation,
alteration, and complete intermixture. And, owing to this necessity,
those who belong to these sects are unable to follow out the
consequences of their supposed elements, and they are all therefore
forced to declare Nature devoid of art. It is not from us, however,
that the Erasistrateans should have learnt this, but from those very
philosophers who lay most stress on a preliminary investigation into
the elements of all existing things.

Now, one can hardly be right in supposing that Erasistratus could
reach such a pitch of foolishness as to be incapable of recognizing
the logical consequences of this theory, and that, while assuming
Nature to be artistically creative, he would at the same time break up
substance into insensible, inharmonious, and untransformable elements.
If, however, he will grant that there occurs in the elements a process
of alteration and transformation, and that there exists in them unity
and continuity, then that _simple vessel_ of his (as he himself names
it) will turn out to be single and uncompounded. And the simple vein
will receive nourishment from itself, and the nerve and artery from
the vein. How, and in what way? For, when we were at this point
before, we drew attention to the disagreement among the
Erasistrateans,[224] and we showed that the nutrition of these simple
vessels was impracticable according to the teachings of both parties,
although we did not hesitate to adjudicate in their quarrel and to do
Erasistratus the honour of placing him in the better sect.[225]

Let our argument, then, be transferred again to the doctrine which
assumes this _elementary nerve_[226] to be a single, simple, and
entirely unified structure, and let us consider how it is to be
nourished; for what is discovered here will at once be found to be
common also to the school of Hippocrates.

It seems to me that our enquiry can be most rigorously pursued in
subjects who are suffering from illness and have become very
emaciated, since in these people all parts of the body are obviously
atrophied and thin, and in need of additional substance and
feeding-up; for the same reason the ordinary _perceptible_ nerve,
regarding which we originally began this discussion, has become thin,
and requires nourishment. Now, this contains within itself various
parts, namely, a great many of these primary, invisible, minute
nerves, a few simple arteries, and similarly also veins. Thus, all its
elementary nerves have themselves also obviously become emaciated;
for, if they had not, neither would the nerve as a whole; and of
course, in such a case, the whole nerve cannot require nourishment
without each of these requiring it too. Now, if on the one hand they
stand in need of feeding-up, and if on the other the principle of the
refilling of a vacuum[227] can give them no help--both by reason of
the difficulties previously mentioned and the actual thinness, as I
shall show--we must then seek another cause for nutrition.

How is it, then, that the tendency of a vacuum to become refilled is
unable to afford nourishment to one in such a condition? Because its
rule is that only so much of the contiguous matter should succeed as
has flowed away. Now this is sufficient for nourishment in the case
of those who are in good condition, for, in them, what is
_presented_[228] must be equal to what has flowed away. But in the
case of those who are very emaciated and who need a great restoration
of nutrition, unless what was presented were many times greater than
what has been emptied out, they would never be able to regain their
original habit. It is clear, therefore, that these parts will have to
exert a greater amount of _attraction_, in so far as their
requirements are greater. And I fail to understand how Erasistratus
does not perceive that here again he is putting the cart before the
horse. Because, in the case of the sick, there must be a large amount
of _presentation_[228] in order to feed them up, he argues that the
factor of "refilling"[227] must play an equally large part. And how
could much _presentation_ take place if it were not preceded by an
abundant _delivery_[229] of nutriment? And if he calls the conveyance
of food through the veins delivery, and its assumption by each of
these simple and visible nerves and arteries not delivery but
_distribution_,[230] as some people have thought fit to name it, and
then ascribes conveyance through the veins to the principle of
vacuum-refilling alone, let him explain to us the assumption of food
by the hypothetical elements.[231] For it has been shown that at least
in relation to these there is no question of the refilling of a vacuum
being in operation, and especially where the parts are very
attenuated. It is worth while listening to what Erasistratus says
about these cases in the second book of his "General Principles": "In
the ultimate simple [vessels], which are thin and narrow, presentation
takes place from the adjacent vessels, the nutriment being attracted
through the sides of the vessels and deposited in the empty spaces
left by the matter which has been carried away." Now, in this
statement firstly I admit and accept the words "through the sides."
For, if the simple nerve were actually to take in the food through its
mouth, it could not distribute it through its whole substance; for the
mouth is dedicated to the psychic pneuma.[232] It can, however, take
it in through its sides from the adjacent simple vein. Secondly, I
also accept in Erasistratus's statement the expression which precedes
"through the sides." What does this say? "The nutriment being
attracted through the sides of the vessels." Now I, too, agree that it
is attracted, but it has been previously shown that this is not
through the tendency of evacuated matter to be replaced.


                       VI

  Ei d' episkopoito tis epimels, oud' ho peri threpses
  autou logos, hon en t deuter tn katholou logn
  diexerchetai, tas autas aporias ekpheugei. t gar pros
  to kenoumenon akolouthia synchrthentos henos lmmatos,
  hs prosthen edeiknymen, eperaine ti peri phlebn monn
  kai tou kat' autas haimatos. ekreontos gar tinos kata ta
  stomat' autn kai diaphoroumenou kai mt' athros topou
  kenou dynamenou genesthai mte tn phlebn sympesein,
  touto gar n to paraleipomenon, anankaion n hepesthai
  to syneches anaplroun tou kenou||menou tn basin. hai         96
  men d phlebes hmin hout threpsontai tou periechomenou
  kat' autas haimatos apolauousai; ta de neura ps? ou gar
  d kan toutois estin haima. procheiron men gar n
  eipein, helkonta para tn phlebn; all' ou bouletai. ti
  pot' oun kantautha epitechnatai? phlebas echein en
  heaut kai artrias to neuron hsper tina seiran ek
  trin himantn diapherontn t physei peplegmenn. th
  gar ek tauts ts hypotheses ekpheuxesthai t log tn
  holkn; ou gar an eti desesthai to neuron en heaut
  periechon haimatos angeion epirrhytou tinos exthen ek
  ts parakeimens phlebos ts althins haimatos heterou,
  all' hikanon aut pros tn threpsin esesthai to
  katepseusmenon angeion ekeino to log therton.

  Alla kantautha palin auton homoia tis aporia diedexato.
  touti gar to smikron angeion heauto men threpsei, to
  parakeimenon mentoi neuron ekeino to haploun  tn
  artrian ouch hoion t' estai trephein aneu tou symphyton
  tin' hyparchein autois holkn ts trophs. || t men gar       97
  pros to kenoumenon akolouthia ps an eti dynaito tn
  trophn epispasthai to haploun neuron, hsper hai
  phlebes hai synthetoi? koilots men gar tis estin en
  aut kat' auton, all' ouch haimatos haut g' alla
  pneumatos psychikou mest. deometha d' hmeis ouk eis
  tn koilotta tautn eisagein t log tn trophn all'
  eis to periechon autn angeion, eit' oun trephesthai
  monon eite kai auxesthai deoito. ps oun eisaxomen?
  hout gar esti smikron ekeino to haploun angeion kai
  mentoi kai tn alln hekateron, hst', ei t leptotat
  belon nyxeias ti meros, hama diairseis ta tria. topos
  oun aisthtos athros kenos ouk an pot' en aut genoito;
  log de thertos topos kenoumenos ouk n anankastikos
  ts tou synechous akolouthias.

  boulomn d' au palin moi kantautha ton Erasistraton
  auton apokrinasthai peri tou stoicheidous ekeinou
  neurou tou smikrou, poteron hen ti kai syneches akribs
  estin  ek polln kai smikrn smatn, hn Epikouros kai
  Leukippos kai Dmokritos hypethento, syn||keitai. kai          98
  gar kai peri toutou tous Erasistrateious hor
  diapheromenous. hoi men gar hen ti kai syneches auto
  nomizousin  ouk an haploun eirsthai pros autou phasi;
  tines de kai touto dialyein eis hetera stoicheid
  tolmsin. all' ei men hen ti kai syneches esti, to
  kenoumenon ex autou kata tn adlon hypo tn iatrn
  onomazomenn diapnon oudemian en heaut kataleipsei
  chran kenn. hout gar ouch hen alla polla gensetai,
  dieirgomena dpou tais kenais chrais. ei d' ek polln
  synkeitai, t kpaia kata tn paroimian pros Asklpiadn
  apechrsamen anarma tina stoicheia tithemenoi. palin
  oun atechnos hmin h physis legesth; tois gar
  toioutois stoicheiois ex ananks touth' hepetai.

  Dio d moi kai dokousin amaths pany tn eis ta toiauta
  stoicheia tn hapln angein eisagein dialysin enioi tn
  Erasistratein. emoi goun ouden diapherei. kath'
  hekaterous gar atopos ho ts threpses estai logos,
  ekeinois tois haplois angeiois tois smikrois tois
  syntitheisi ta megala || te kai aisthta neura kata men        99
  tous synech phylattontas auta m dynamens genesthai
  ts pros to kenoumenon akolouthias, hoti mden en t
  synechei gignetai kenon, kan aporrhe ti; synerchetai
  gar pros allla ta kataleipomena moria, kathaper epi tou
  hydatos horatai, kai palin hen gignetai panta tn chran
  tou diaphorthentos auta katalambanonta; kata de tous
  heterous, hoti tn stoichein ekeinn ouden deitai ts
  pros to kenoumenon akolouthias. epi gar tn aisthtn
  monn, ouk epi tn log thertn echei dynamin, hs
  autos ho Erasistratos homologei diarrhdn, ou peri tou
  toioutou kenou phaskn hekastote poieisthai ton logon,
  ho kata brachy parespartai tois smasin, alla peri tou
  saphous kai aisthtou kai athroou kai megalou kai
  enargous kai hops an alls onomazein ethels.
  Erasistratos men gar autos aisthton athros ou phsi
  dynasthai genesthai kenon; eg d' ek periousias
  euporsas onomatn tauton dloun en ge t nyn prokeimen
  log dynamenn kai talla prosethka.

  Kallion oun moi dokei kai || hmas ti syneisenenkasthai       100
  tois Erasistrateiois, epeid kata touto gegonamen, kai
  symbouleusai tois to prton ekeino kai haploun hyp'
  Erasistratou kaloumenon angeion eis heter' atta smata
  stoicheid dialyousin apostnai ts hypolpses, hs
  pros t mden echein pleon eti kai diapheromenois
  Erasistrat. hoti men oun ouden echei pleon,
  epidedeiktai saphs; oude gar dynth diaphygein tn
  peri ts threpses aporian h hypothesis; hoti d' oud'
  Erasistrat symphnos estin, ho ekeinos haploun kai
  prton onomazei, syntheton apophainousa, kai tn ts
  physes technn anairousa, prodlon kai tout' einai moi
  dokei. ei m gar kan tois haplois toutois hensin tina
  ts ousias apoleipsomen, all' eis anarma kai amerista
  katabsometha stoicheia, pantapasin anairsomen ts
  physes tn technn, hsper kai pantes hoi ek tauts
  hormmenoi ts hypotheses iatroi kai philosophoi.
  deutera gar tn tou zou morin kata tn toiautn
  hypothesin h physis, ou prt gignetai. diaplattein de
  || kai dmiourgein ou tou deuterou gegonotos, alla tou        101
  proparchontos estin; hst' anankaion estin euthys ek
  spermatn hypothesthai tas dynameis ts physes, hais
  diaplattei te kai auxanei kai trephei to zon; all'
  ekeinn tn smatn tn anarmn kai amern ouden en
  heaut diaplastikn echei dynamin  auxtikn 
  threptikn  hols technikn; apathes gar kai
  ametablton hypokeitai. tn d' eirmenn ouden aneu
  metabols kai alloises kai ts di' holn krases
  gignetai, kathaper kai dia tn emprosthen enedeixametha.
  kai dia tautn tn anankn ouk echontes, hops ta
  akoloutha tois stoicheiois, hois hypethento,
  phylattoien, hoi apo tn toioutn hairesen hapantes
  atechnon nankasthsan apophnasthai tn physin. kaitoi
  tauta g' ou par' hmn echrn manthanein tous
  Erasistrateious, alla par' autn tn philosophn, hois
  malista dokei prton episkopeisthai ta stoicheia tn
  ontn hapantn.

  Oukoun oud' Erasistraton an tis orths achri tosauts
  amathias nomizoi prokein, hs mde tautn gnrisai
  dynthnai tn akolou||thian, all' hama men hypothesthai      102
  technikn tn physin, hama d' eis apath kai anarma kai
  ametablta stoicheia katathrausai tn ousian. kai mn ei
  dsei tin' en tois stoicheiois alloisin te kai
  metaboln kai hensin kai synecheian, hen asyntheton
  aut to haploun angeion ekeino, kathaper kai autos
  onomazei, gensetai. all' h men hapl phleps ex hauts
  traphsetai, to neuron de kai h artria para ts
  plebos. ps kai tina tropon? en tout gar d kai
  prosthen genomenoi t log ts tn Erasistratein
  diaphnias emnmoneusamen, epedeixamen de kai kath'
  hekaterous men aporon einai tn tn hapln ekeinn
  angein threpsin, alla kai krinai tn machn autn ouk
  knsamen kai timsai ton Erasistraton eis tn beltiona
  metastsantes hairesin.

  Authis oun epi tn hen haploun hnmenon heaut pant to
  stoicheides ekeino neuron hypotithemenn hairesin ho
  logos metabas episkopeisth, ps traphsetai; to gar
  heurethen entautha koinon an d kai ts Hippokratous
  haireses genoito.

  Kallion d' an moi dok to ztou||menon epi tn                103
  nenoskotn kai sphodra kataleleptysmenn basanisthnai.
  panta gar toutois enargs phainetai ta moria tou smatos
  atropha kai lepta kai polls prosthks te kai
  anathrepses deomena. kai toinyn kai to neuron touto to
  aisthton, eph' houper ex archs epoisamn ton logon,
  ischnon men hikans gegone, deitai de threpses. echei
  d' en heaut mer pampolla men ekeina ta prta kai
  aorata neura ta smikra kai tinas artrias haplas oligas
  kai phlebas homois. hapant' oun autou ta neura ta
  stoicheid kataleleptyntai dlonoti kai auta, , ei
  md' ekeina, oude to holon. kai toinyn kai threpses ou
  to men holon deitai neuron, hekaston d' ekeinn ou
  deitai. kai mn ei deitai men anathrepses, ouden d' h
  pros to kenoumenon akolouthia bothein autois dynatai
  dia te tas emprosthen eirmenas aporias kai dia tn
  hypoguion ischnotta, kathaper deix, ztteon hmin
  estin heteran aitian threpses.

  Ps oun h pros to kenoumenon akolouthia trephein
  adynatos esti ton hout diakeimenon? hoti tosouton
  akolouthein || anankazei tn synechn, hoson aporrhei.        104
  touto d' epi men tn euektountn hikanon estin eis tn
  threpsin, isa gar ep' autn einai chr tois aporrheousi
  ta prostithemena; epi de tn eschats ischnn kai polls
  anathrepses deomenn ei m pollaplasion ei to
  prostithemenon tou kenoumenou, tn ex archs hexin
  analabein ouk an pote dynainto. dlon oun, hs helkein
  auta desei tosout pleion, hos kai deitai pleionos.
  Erasistratos de kantautha proteron poisas to deuteron
  ouk oid' hops ouk aisthanetai. dioti gar, phsi, poll
  prosthesis eis anathrepsin gignetai tois nenoskosi, dia
  touto kai h pros tautn akolouthia poll. ps d' an
  poll prosthesis genoito m progoumens anadoses
  dapsilous? ei de tn dia tn phlebn phoran ts trophs
  anadosin kalei, tn d' eis hekaston tn hapln kai
  aoratn ekeinn neurn kai artrin metalpsin ouk
  anadosin alla diadosin, hs tines onomazein xisan,
  eita || tn dia tn phlebn mon t pros to kenoumenon        105
  akolouthia phsi gignesthai, tn eis ta log therta
  metalpsin hmin exgsasth. hoti men gar ouket' epi
  toutn h pros to kenoumenon akolouthia legesthai
  dynatai kai malist' epi tn eschats ischnn,
  apodedeiktai. ti de phsin ep' autn en t deuter tn
  katholou logn ho Erasistratos, axion epakousai ts
  lexes; "Tois d' eschatois te kai haplois, leptois te
  kai stenois ousin, ek tn parakeimenn angein h
  prosthesis symbainei eis ta kenmata tn apenechthentn
  kata ta plagia tn angein helkomens ts trophs kai
  katachrizomens." ek tauts ts lexes prton men to
  kata ta plagia prosiemai te kai apodechomai; kata men
  gar auto to stoma to haploun neuron ouk an dynaito
  dechomenon tn trophn houts eis holon heauto
  dianemein; anakeitai gar ekeino t psychik pneumati;
  kata de to plagion ek ts parakeimens phlebos ts
  hapls enchrei labein auto. deuteron d' apodechomai tn
  ek ts Erasistratou lexes onomatn to gegrammenon
  ephexs t kata ta plagia. || ti gar phsi? "Kata ta          106
  plagia tn angein helkomens ts trophs." hoti men oun
  helketai, kai hmeis homologoumen, hoti d' ou t pros to
  kenoumenon akolouthia, dedeiktai prosthen.


                           VII

Let us, then, consider together how it is attracted. How else than in
the way that iron is attracted by the lodestone, the latter having a
faculty attractive of this particular quality [existing in iron]?[233]
But if the beginning of anadosis depends on the squeezing action of
the stomach,[234] and the whole movement thereafter on the peristalsis
and propulsive action of the veins, as well as on the traction exerted
by each of the parts which are undergoing nourishment, then we can
abandon the principle of replacement of evacuated matter, as not being
suitable for a man who assumes Nature to be a skilled artist; thus we
shall also have avoided the contradiction of Asclepiades[235] though
we cannot refute it: for the disjunctive argument used for the
purposes of demonstration is, in reality, disjunctive not of two but
of three alternatives; now, if we treat the disjunction as a
disjunction of two alternatives, one of the two propositions assumed
in constructing our proof must be false; and if as a disjunctive of
three alternatives, no conclusion will be arrived at.


                      VII

  Exeurmen oun koin, ps helketai. ps d' alls  hs ho
  sidros hypo ts hrakleias lithou dynamin echouss
  helktikn toiauts poiottos? all' ei tn men archn ts
  anadoses h ts koilias enthlipsis parechetai, tn de
  meta tauta phoran hapasan hai te phlebes peristellomenai
  kai prothousai kai tn trephomenn hekaston epispmenon
  eis heauto, ts pros to kenoumenon akolouthias
  apostantes, hs ou prepouss andri technikn hypothemen
  tn physin, houts an d kai tn antilogian eimen
  pepheugotes tn Asklpiadou m dynamenoi ge lyein autn.
  to gar eis tn apodeixin paralambanomenon lmma to
  diezeugmenon ouk ek dyoin all' ek trin esti kata ge tn
  altheian diezeugmenon. ei men oun hs ek dyoin aut
  chr||saimetha, pseudos estai ti tn eis tn apodeixin        107
  pareilmmenn; ei d' hs ek trin, aperantos ho logos
  gensetai.


                            VIII

Now Erasistratus ought not to have been ignorant of this if he had
ever had anything to do with the Peripatetics--even in a dream. Nor,
similarly, should he have been unacquainted with the genesis of the
_humours_, about which, not having even anything moderately plausible
to say, he thinks to deceive us by the excuse that the consideration
of such matters is not the least useful. Then, in Heaven's name, is it
useful to know how food is digested in the stomach, but unnecessary to
know how _bile_ comes into existence in the veins? Are we to pay
attention merely to the evacuation of this humour, and not to its
genesis? As though it were not far better to prevent its excessive
development from the beginning than to give ourselves all the trouble
of expelling it![236] And it is a strange thing to be entirely unaware
as to whether its genesis is to be looked on as taking place in the
body, or whether it comes from without and is contained in the food.
For, if it was right to raise this problem, why should we not make
investigations concerning the _blood_ as well--whether it takes its
origin in the body, or is distributed through the food as is
maintained by those who postulate _homoemeries_?[237] Assuredly it
would be much more useful to investigate what kinds of food are
suited, and what kinds unsuited, to the process of
blood-production[238] rather than to enquire into what articles of
diet are easily mastered by the activity of the stomach, and what
resist and contend with it. For the choice of the latter bears
reference merely to digestion, while that of the former is of
importance in regard to the generation of useful blood. For it is not
equally important whether the aliment be imperfectly chylified[239] in
the stomach or whether it fail to be turned into useful blood. Why is
Erasistratus not ashamed to distinguish all the various kinds of
digestive failure and all the occasions which give rise to them,
whilst in reference to the errors of blood-production he does not
utter a single word--nay, not a syllable? Now, there is certainly to
be found in the veins both thick and thin blood; in some people it is
redder, in others yellower, in some blacker, in others more of the
nature of phlegm. And one who realizes that it may smell offensively
not in one way only, but in a great many different respects (which
cannot be put into words, although perfectly appreciable to the
senses), would, I imagine, condemn in no measured terms the
carelessness of Erasistratus in omitting a consideration so essential
to the practice of our art.

Thus it is clear what errors in regard to the subject of _dropsies_
logically follow this carelessness. For, does it not show the most
extreme carelessness to suppose that the blood is prevented from going
forward into the liver owing to the _narrowness of the passages_, and
that dropsy can never occur in any other way? For, to imagine that
dropsy is never caused by the spleen[240] or any other part, but
always by induration of the liver,[241] is the standpoint of a man
whose intelligence is perfectly torpid and who is quite out of touch
with things that happen every day. For, not merely once or twice, but
frequently, we have observed dropsy produced by chronic haemorrhoids
which have been suppressed,[242] or which, through immoderate
bleeding, have given the patient a severe chill; similarly, in women,
the complete disappearance of the monthly discharge,[243] or an undue
evacuation such as is caused by violent bleeding from the womb, often
provoke dropsy; and in some of them the so-called female flux ends in
this disorder. I leave out of account the dropsy which begins in the
flanks or in any other susceptible part; this clearly confutes
Erasistratus's assumption, although not so obviously as does that kind
of dropsy which is brought about by an excessive chilling of the whole
constitution; this, which is the primary reason for the occurrence of
dropsy, results from a failure of blood-production,[244] very much
like the diarrhoea which follows imperfect digestion of food;
certainly in this kind of dropsy neither the liver nor any other
viscus becomes indurated.

The learned Erasistratus, however, overlooks--nay, despises--what
neither Hippocrates, Diocles, Praxagoras, nor Philistion[245]
despised, nor indeed any of the best philosophers, whether Plato,
Aristotle, or Theophrastus; he passes by whole functions as though it
were but a trifling and casual department of medicine which he was
neglecting, without deigning to argue whether or not these authorities
are right in saying that the bodily parts of all animals are governed
by the Warm, the Cold, the Dry and the Moist, the one pair being
active and the other passive, and that among these the Warm has most
power in connection with all functions, but especially with the
genesis of the humours.[246] Now, one cannot be blamed for not
agreeing with all these great men, nor for imagining that one knows
more than they; but not to consider such distinguished teaching worthy
either of contradiction or even mention shows an extraordinary
arrogance.

Now, Erasistratus is thoroughly small-minded and petty to the last
degree in all his disputations--when, for instance, in his treatise
"On Digestion,"[247] he argues jealously with those who consider that
this is a process of putrefaction of the food; and, in his work "On
Anadosis,"[248] with those who think that the anadosis of blood
through the veins results from the contiguity of the arteries; also,
in his work "On Respiration," with those who maintain that the air is
forced along by contraction. Nay, he did not even hesitate to
contradict those who maintain that the urine passes into the bladder
in a vaporous state,[249] as also those who say that imbibed fluids
are carried into the lung. Thus he delights to choose always the most
valueless doctrines, and to spend his time more and more in
contradicting these; whereas on the subject of the _origin of blood_
(which is in no way less important than the chylification[250] of food
in the stomach) he did not deign to dispute with any of the ancients,
nor did he himself venture to bring forward any other opinion, despite
the fact that at the beginning of his treatise on "General Principles"
he undertook to say how all the various natural functions take place,
and through what parts of the animal! Now, is it possible that, when
the faculty which naturally digests food is weak, the animal's
digestion fails, whereas the faculty which turns the digested food
into blood cannot suffer any kind of impairment?[251] Are we to
suppose this latter faculty alone to be as tough as steel and
unaffected by circumstances? Or is it that weakness of this faculty
will result in something else than dropsy? The fact, therefore, that
Erasistratus, in regard to other matters, did not hesitate to attack
even the most trivial views, whilst in this case he neither dared to
contradict his predecessors nor to advance any new view of his own,
proves plainly that he recognized the fallacy of his own way of
thinking.[252]

For what could a man possibly say about blood who had no use for
_innate heat_? What could he say about yellow or black bile, or
phlegm? Well, of course, he might say that the bile could come
directly from without, mingled with the food! Thus Erasistratus
practically says so in the following words: "It is of no value in
practical medicine to find out whether a fluid of this kind[253]
arises from the elaboration of food in the stomach-region, or whether
it reaches the body because it is mixed with the food taken in from
outside." But, my very good Sir, you most certainly maintain also that
this humour has to be evacuated from the animal, and that it causes
great pain if it be not evacuated. How, then, if you suppose that no
good comes from the bile, do you venture to say that an investigation
into its origin is of no value in medicine?

Well, let us suppose that it is contained in the food, and not
specifically secreted in the liver (for you hold these two things
possible). In this case, it will certainly make a considerable
difference whether the ingested food contains a minimum or a maximum
of bile; for the one kind is harmless, whereas that containing a large
quantity of bile, owing to the fact that it cannot be properly
purified[254] in the liver, will result in the various
affections--particularly jaundice--which Erasistratus himself states
to occur where there is much bile. Surely, then, it is most essential
for the physician to know in the first place, that the bile is
contained in the food itself from outside, and, secondly, that for
example, beet contains a great deal of bile, and bread very little,
while olive oil contains most, and wine least of all, and all the
other articles of diet different quantities. Would it not be absurd
for any one to choose voluntarily those articles which contain more
bile, rather than those containing less?

What, however, if the bile is not contained in the food, but comes
into existence in the animal's body? Will it not also be useful to
know what _state of the body_ is followed by a greater, and what by a
smaller occurrence of bile?[255] For obviously it is in our power to
alter and transmute morbid states of the body--in fact, to give them a
turn for the better. But if we did not know in what respect they were
morbid or in what way they diverged from the normal, how should we be
able to ameliorate them?

Therefore it is not useless in treatment, as Erasistratus says, to
know the actual truth about the genesis of bile. Certainly it is not
impossible, or even difficult to discover that the reason why _honey_
produces yellow bile is not that it contains a large quantity of this
within itself, but because it [the honey] undergoes change, becoming
_altered_ and transmuted into bile. For it would be bitter to the
taste if it contained bile from the outset, and it would produce an
equal quantity of bile in every person who took it. The facts,
however, are not so.[256] For in those who are in the prime of life,
especially if they are warm by nature and are leading a life of toil,
the honey changes entirely into yellow bile. Old people, however, it
suits well enough, inasmuch as the alteration which it undergoes is
not into bile, but into blood. Erasistratus, however, in addition to
knowing nothing about this, shows no intelligence even in the division
of his argument; he says that it is of no practical importance to
investigate whether the bile is contained in the food from the
beginning or comes into existence as a result of gastric digestion. He
ought surely to have added something about its genesis in liver and
veins, seeing that the old physicians and philosophers declare that it
along with the blood is generated in these organs. But it is
inevitable that people who, from the very outset, go astray, and
wander from the right road, should talk such nonsense, and should,
over and above this, neglect to search for the factors of most
practical importance in medicine.

Having come to this point in the argument, I should like to ask those
who declare that Erasistratus was very familiar with the Peripatetics,
whether they know what Aristotle stated and demonstrated with regard
to our bodies being compounded out of the Warm, the Cold, the Dry and
the Moist, and how he says that among these the Warm is the most
active, and that those animals which are by nature warmest have
abundance of blood, whilst those that are colder are entirely lacking
in blood, and consequently in winter lie idle and motionless, lurking
in holes like corpses. Further, the question of the colour of the
blood has been dealt with not only by Aristotle but also by
Plato.[257] Now I, for my part, as I have already said, did not set
before myself the task of stating what has been so well demonstrated
by the Ancients, since I cannot surpass these men either in my views
or in my method of giving them expression. Doctrines, however, which
they either stated without demonstration, as being self-evident (since
they never suspected that there could be sophists so degraded as to
contemn the truth in these matters), or else which they actually
omitted to mention at all--these I propose to discover and prove.

Now in reference to the _genesis of the humours_, I do not know that
any one could add anything wiser than what has been said by
Hippocrates, Aristotle, Praxagoras, Philotimus[258] and many other
among the Ancients. These men demonstrated that when the nutriment
becomes altered in the veins by the innate heat, blood is produced
when it is in moderation, and the other humours when it is not in
proper proportion. And all the observed facts[259] agree with this
argument. Thus, those articles of food, which are by nature warmer are
more productive of bile, while those which are colder produce more
phlegm. Similarly of the periods of life, those which are naturally
warmer tend more to bile, and the colder more to phlegm. Of
occupations also, localities and seasons, and, above all, of
natures[260] themselves, the colder are more phlegmatic, and the
warmer more bilious. Also cold diseases result from phlegm, and warmer
ones from yellow bile. There is not a single thing to be found which
does not bear witness to the truth of this account. How could it be
otherwise? For, seeing that every part functions in its own special
way because of the manner in which the four qualities are compounded,
it is absolutely necessary that the function [activity] should be
either completely destroyed, or, at least hampered, by any damage to
the qualities, and that thus the animal should fall ill, either as a
whole, or in certain of its parts.

Also the diseases which are primary and most generic are four in
number, and differ from each other in warmth, cold, dryness and
moisture. Now, Erasistratus himself confesses this, albeit
unintentionally;[261] for when he says that the digestion of food
becomes worse in fever, not because the innate heat has ceased to be
in due proportion, as people previously supposed, but because the
stomach, with its activity impaired, cannot contract and triturate as
before--then, I say, one may justly ask him what it is that has
impaired the activity of the stomach.

Thus, for example, when a bubo develops following an accidental
wound[262] gastric digestion does not become impaired _until after the
patient has become fevered_; neither the bubo nor the sore of itself
impedes in any way or damages the activity of the stomach. But if
fever occurs, the digestion at once deteriorates, and we are also
right in saying that the activity of the stomach at once becomes
impaired. We must add, however, by what it has been impaired. For the
wound was not capable of impairing it, nor yet the bubo, for, if they
had been, then they would have caused this damage before the fever as
well. If it was not these that caused it, then it was the excess of
heat[263] (for these two symptoms occurred besides the bubo--an
alteration in the arterial and cardiac movements[264] and an excessive
development of natural heat). Now the alteration of these movements
will not merely not impair the function of the stomach in any way: it
will actually prove an additional help among those animals in which,
according to Erasistratus, the _pneuma_, which is propelled through
the arteries and into the alimentary canal, is of great service in
digestion;[265] there is only left, then, the disproportionate heat to
account for the damage to the gastric activity. For the pneuma is
driven in more vigorously and continuously, and in greater quantity
now than before; thus in this case, the animal whose digestion is
promoted by pneuma will digest more, whereas the remaining
factor--abnormal heat--will give them indigestion. For to say, on the
one hand, that the pneuma has a certain property by virtue of which it
promotes digestion, and then to say that this property disappears in
cases of fever, is simply to admit the absurdity. For when they are
again asked what it is that has altered the pneuma, they will only be
able to reply, "the abnormal heat," and particularly if it be the
pneuma in the food canal which is in question (since this does not
come in any way near the bubo).

Yet why do I mention those animals in which the property of the pneuma
plays an important part, when it is possible to base one's argument
upon human beings, in whom it is either of no importance at all, or
acts quite faintly and feebly?[266] But Erasistratus himself agrees
that human beings digest badly in fevers, adding as the cause that the
activity of the stomach has been impaired. He cannot, however, advance
any other cause of this impairment than abnormal heat. But if it is
not by accident that the abnormal heat impairs this activity, but by
virtue of its own essence and power, then this abnormal heat must
belong to the _primary diseases_. But, indeed, if _disproportion_ of
heat belongs to the primary diseases, it cannot but be that a
_proportionate_ blending [eucrasia] of the qualities produces the
normal activity.[267] For a disproportionate blend [dyscrasia] can
only become a cause of the primary diseases through derangement of the
eucrasia. That is to say, it is because the [normal] activities arise
from the eucrasia that the primary impairments of these activities
necessarily arise from its derangement.

I think, then, it has been proved to the satisfaction of those people
who are capable of seeing logical consequences, that, even according
to Erasistratus's own argument, the cause of the normal functions is
eucrasia of the Warm.[268] Now, this being so, there is nothing
further to prevent us from saying that, in the case of each function,
eucrasia is followed by the more, and dyscrasia by the less favourable
alternative. And, therefore, if this be the case, we must suppose
blood to be the outcome of proportionate, and yellow bile of
disproportionate heat. So we naturally find yellow bile appearing in
greatest quantity in ourselves at the warm periods of life, in warm
countries, at warm seasons of the year, and when we are in a warm
condition; similarly in people of warm temperaments, and in connection
with warm occupations, modes of life, or diseases.

And to be in doubt as to whether this humour has its genesis in the
human body or is contained in the food is what you would expect from
one who has--I will not say failed to see that, when those who are
perfectly healthy have, under the compulsion of circumstances, to fast
contrary to custom, their mouths become bitter and their urine
bile-coloured, while they suffer from gnawing pains in the
stomach--but has, as it were, just made a sudden entrance into the
world, and is not yet familiar with the phenomena which occur there.
Who, in fact, does not know that anything which is overcooked grows at
first salt and afterwards bitter? And if you will boil honey itself,
far the sweetest of all things, you can demonstrate that even this
becomes quite bitter. For what may occur as a result of boiling in the
case of other articles which are not warm by nature, exists naturally
in honey; for this reason it does not become sweeter on being boiled,
since exactly the same quantity of heat as is needed for the
production of sweetness exists from beforehand in the honey. Therefore
the external heat, which would be useful for insufficiently warm
substances, becomes in the honey a source of damage, in fact an
excess; and it is for this reason that honey, when boiled, can be
demonstrated to become bitter sooner than the others. For the same
reason it is easily transmuted into bile in those people who are
naturally warm, or in their prime, since warm when associated with
warm becomes readily changed into a disproportionate combination and
turns into bile sooner than into blood. Thus we need a cold
temperament and a cold period of life if we would have honey brought
to the nature of blood.[269] Therefore Hippocrates not improperly
advised those who were naturally bilious not to take honey, since they
were obviously of too warm a temperament. So also, not only
Hippocrates, but all physicians say that honey is bad in bilious
diseases but good in old age; some of them having discovered this
through the indications afforded by its nature, and others simply
through experiment,[270] for the Empiricist physicians too have made
precisely the same observation, namely, that honey is good for an old
man and not for a young one, that it is harmful for those who are
naturally bilious, and serviceable for those who are phlegmatic. In a
word, in bodies which are warm either through nature, disease, time of
life, season of the year, locality, or occupation, honey is productive
of bile, whereas in opposite circumstances it produces blood.

But surely it is impossible that the same article of diet can produce
in certain persons bile and in others blood, if it be not that the
genesis of these humours is accomplished _in the body_. For if all
articles of food contained bile from the beginning and of themselves,
and did not produce it by undergoing change in the animal body, then
they would produce it similarly in all bodies; the food which was
bitter to the taste would, I take it, be productive of bile, while
that which tasted good and sweet would not generate even the smallest
quantity of bile. Moreover, not only honey but all other sweet
substances are readily converted into bile in the aforesaid bodies
which are warm for any of the reasons mentioned.

Well, I have somehow or other been led into this discussion,--not in
accordance with my plan, but compelled by the course of the argument.
This subject has been treated at great length by Aristotle and
Praxagoras, who have correctly expounded the view of Hippocrates and
Plato.


                     VIII

  Kai taut' ouk echrn agnoein ton Erasistraton, eiper kan
  onar pote tois ek tou peripatou synetychen, hsper oun
  oude ta peri ts geneses tn chymn, hyper hn ouden
  echn eipein oude mechri tou metriou pithanon oietai
  parakrouesthai skptomenos, hs oude chrsimos hols
  estin h tn toioutn episkepsis. eit',  pros then,
  hops men ta sitia kata tn gastera pettetai chrsimon
  epistasthai, ps d' en tais phlepsin h chol gignetai,
  peritton? kai ts kenses ara phrontisteon auts mons,
  amelteon de ts geneses? hsper ouk ameinon hyparchon
  makr to klyein euthys ex archs gennasthai pleiona tou
  pragmat' echein ekkenountas. thaumaston de kai to
  diaporein, eit' en t smati tn genesin auts
  hypotheteon eit' euthys exthen en tois sitiois
  periechesthai phateon. ei gar d touto kals portai,
  ti ouchi kai peri tou haimatos episkepsometha, poteron
  en t smati || lambanei tn genesin  tois sitiois           108
  parespartai, kathaper hoi tas homoiomereias
  hypotithemenoi phasi? kai mn poll g' n chrsimteron
  zteisthai, poia tn sitin homologei t ts haimatses
  energeia kai poia diapheretai, tou ztein, tina men t
  ts gastros energeia nikatai rhadis, tina d' antibainei
  kai machetai. toutn men gar h eklexis eis pepsin
  monn, ekeinn d' eis haimatos chrstou diapherei
  genesin. oude gar ison estin  m kals en t gastri
  chylthnai tn trophn  m chrston haima gennthnai.
  ps d' ouk aideitai tas men ts pepses apotychias
  diairoumenos, hs pollai t' eisi kai kata pollas
  gignontai prophaseis, hyper de tn ts haimatses
  sphalmatn oud' achri rhmatos henos oud' achri syllabs
  mias phthenxamenos? kai mn heurisketai ge kai pachy kai
  lepton en tais phlepsin haima kai tois men erythroteron,
  tois de xanthoteron, tois de melanteron, tois de
  phlegmatdesteron. ei d' hoti kai dysdes ouch hena
  tropon all' en pollais pany diaphorais arrhtois men
  log, sa||phestatais d' aisthsesi phainetai gignomenon,      109
  eidei tis, ouk an oimai metris eti katagnsesthai ts
  Erasistratou rhathymias auton hout g' anankaian eis ta
  erga ts techns therian paralipontos.

  Enarg gar d kai ta peri tn hydern hamartmata t
  rhathymia taut kata logon kolouthkota. to te gar t
  stenochria tn hodn klyesthai nomizein pros tou
  hpatos ienai to haima kai mdepot' an alls hyderon
  dynasthai systnai ps ouk eschatn endeiknytai
  rhathymian? to te m dia ton splna mde di' allo ti
  morion, all' aei dia ton en t hpati skirrhon hyderon
  oiesthai gignesthai teles argou tn dianoian anthrpou
  kai mdeni tn hosmerai gignomenn parakolouthountos.
  epi men ge chroniais haimorrhosin epischetheisais  dia
  kensin ametron eis psyxin eschatn agagousais ton
  anthrpon ouch hapax oude dis alla pollakis d
  tetheametha systantas hyderous, hsper ge kai gynaixin
  h te ts eph' hekast mni katharses apleia pantels
  kai ametros kensis, hotan haimorrhagssi poth' hai
  mtrai sphodrs, epekalesanto pol||lakis hyderon kai          110
  tisin autn kai ho gynaikeios onomazomenos rhous eis
  tout' eteleutse to pathos, hina tous apo tn kenenn
  archomenous  allou tinos tn epikairn morin hyderous
  paralip, saphs men kai autous exelenchontas tn
  Erasistrateion hypolpsin, all' ouch houts enargs hs
  hoi dia katapsyxin sphodran ts hols hexes
  apoteloumenoi. prt gar haut geneses hydern aitia
  dia tn apotychian ts haimatses gignomen tropon
  homoiotaton tais epi t tn sitin apepsia diarrhoiais.
  ou mn eskirrhtai ge kata tous toioutous hyderous oud'
  allo ti splanchnon oude to hpar.

  All' Erasistratos ho sophos hyperidn kai kataphronsas,
  hn outh' Hippokrats oute Diokls oute Praxagoras oute
  Philistin all' oude tn aristn philosophn oudeis
  katephronsen oute Platn out' Aristotels oute
  Theophrastos, holas energeias hyperbainei kathaper ti
  smikron kai to tychon ts techns paralipn meros oud'
  anteipein axisas, eit' orths eite kai m || sympantes       111
  houtoi therm kai psychr kai xr kai hygr, tois men
  hs drsi, tois d' hs paschousi, ta kata to sma tn
  zn hapantn dioikeisthai phasi kai hs to thermon en
  autois eis te tas allas energeias kai malist' eis tn
  tn chymn genesin to pleiston dynatai. alla to men m
  peithesthai tosoutois te kai tlikoutois andrasi kai
  pleon autn oiesthai ti gignskein anemeston, to de
  mt' antilogias axisai mte mnms houts endoxon dogma
  thaumastn tina tn hyperopsian endeiknytai.

  Kai mn smikrotatos esti tn gnmn kai tapeinos
  eschats en hapasais tais antilogiais en men tois peri
  ts pepses logois tois spesthai ta sitia nomizousi
  philotims antilegn, en de tois peri ts anadoses tois
  dia tn parathesin tn artrin anadidosthai to dia tn
  phlebn haima nomizousin, en de tois peri ts anapnos
  tois peritheisthai ton aera phaskousin. ouk knse d'
  oude tois atmoeids eis tn kystin ienai ta oura
  nomizousin anteipein oude tois eis || ton pneumona            112
  pheresthai to poton. houts en hapasi tas cheiristas
  epilegomenos doxas agalletai diatribn epi pleon en tais
  antilogiais; epi de ts tou haimatos geneses ouden
  atimoteras ouss ts en t gastri chylses tn sitin
  out' anteipein tini tn presbytern xisen out' autos
  eisgsasthai tin' heteran gnmn etolmsen, ho peri
  pasn tn physikn energein en arch tn katholou logn
  hyposchomenos erein, hops te gignontai kai di' hntinn
  tou zou morin.  ts men pettein ta sitia pephykuias
  dynames arrhstouss apeptsei to zon, ts d'
  haimatouss ta pephthenta ouden estai pathma to
  parapan, all' adamantin tis hmin haut mon kai
  apaths estin?  allo ti ts arrhstias auts ekgonon
  hyparxei kai ouch hyderos? dlos oun enargs estin ho
  Erasistratos ex hn en men tois allois oude tais
  phaulotatais doxais antilegein knsen, entauthoi d'
  out' anteipein tois prosthen out' autos eipein ti kainon
  etolmse, to sphalma ts heautou gnrizn haireses.

  Ti gar an kai legein eschen hyper haimatos || anthrpos       113
  eis mden t symphyt therm chrmenos? ti de peri
  xanths chols  melains  phlegmatos? hoti n Dia
  dynaton estin anamemigmenn tois sitiois euthys exthen
  paragignesthai tn choln. legei goun hde ps autois
  onomasi; "Poteron d' en t peri tn koilian katergasia
  ts trophs gennatai toiaut hygrasia  memigmen tois
  exthen prospheromenois paragignetai, ouden chrsimon
  pros iatrikn epeskephthai." kai mn,  gennaiotate, kai
  kenousthai chrnai phaskeis ek tou zou ton chymon
  touton kai megals lypein, ei m kenthei. ps oun
  ouden ex autou chrston hypolambann gignesthai tolmas
  achrston legein eis iatrikn einai tn peri ts
  geneses autou skepsin?

  Hypokeisth gar en men tois sitiois periechesthai, m
  diakrinesthai d' akribs en hpati; tauta gar amphotera
  nomizeis einai dynata. kai mn ou smikron entautha to
  diapheron  elachistn  pampolln choln en heautois
  periechonta prosarasthai sitia. ta men gar akindyna, ta
  de pampolln periechonta t m dynasthai pasan autn en
  || hpati katharthnai kals aitia katastsetai tn t'        114
  alln pathn, hn autos ho Erasistratos epi plthei
  chols gignesthai phsi, kai tn iktern ouch hkista.
  ps oun ouk anankaiotaton iatr gignskein, prton men,
  hs en tois sitiois autois exthen h chol periechetai,
  deuteron d', hs to men teutlon, ei tychoi, pampolln,
  ho d' artos elachistn kai to men elaion pleistn, ho d'
  oinos oligistn hekaston te tn alln anison t plthei
  periechei tn choln? ps gar ouk an ei geloiotatos,
  hos an hekn hairtai ta pleiona choln en heautois
  periechonta pro tn enantin?

  Ti d' ei m periechetai men en tois sitiois h chol,
  gignetai d' en tois tn zn smasin?  ouchi kai kata
  touto chrsimon epistasthai, tini men katastasei smatos
  hepetai plein auts h genesis, tini d' elattn?
  alloioun gar dpou kai metaballein hoioi t' esmen kai
  trepein epi to beltion aei tas mochthras katastaseis
  tou smatos. all' ei m gignskoimen, kathoti mochthrai
  kai hop ts deouss existantai, ps an autas epanagein
  hoioi t' eimen epi to || kreitton?                           115

  Oukoun achrston estin eis tas iaseis, hs Erasistratos
  phsin, epistasthai talthes auto peri geneses chols.
  ou mn oud' adynaton oud' asaphes exeurein, hoti m t
  pleistn en heaut periechein to meli tn xanthn choln
  all' en t smati metaballomenon eis autn alloioutai te
  kai trepetai. pikron te gar an n geuomenois, ei choln
  exthen euthys en heaut perieichen hapasi t' an
  hsauts tois anthrpois ison auts egenna to plthos.
  all' ouch hd' echei talthes. en men gar tois akmazousi
  kai malist' ei physei thermoteroi kai bion eien biountes
  talaipron, hapan eis xanthn choln metaballei to meli;
  tois gerousi d' hikans estin epitdeion, hs an ouk eis
  choln all' eis haima tn alloisin en ekeinois
  lambanon. Erasistratos de pros t mden toutn
  gignskein oude peri tn diairesin tou logou sphronei,
  poteron en tois sitiois h chol periechetai euthys ex
  archs  kata tn en t koilia katergasian egeneto,
  mden einai chrsimon eis iatrikn epeskephthai legn.
  echrn || gar dpou prostheinai ti kai peri ts en            116
  hpati kai phlepsi geneses auts, en toisde tois
  organois gennasthai tn choln hama t haimati tn
  palain iatrn te kai philosophn apophnamenn. alla
  tois euthys ex archs sphaleisi kai diamartanousi ts
  orths hodou toiauta te lrein anankaion esti kai
  proseti tn chrsimtatn eis tn technn paralipein tn
  ztsin.

  Hdes d' an entautha tou logou gegons romn tous
  homilsai phaskontas auton epi pleiston tois ek tou
  peripatou philosophois, ei gignskousin, hosa peri tou
  kekrasthai ta smath' hmn ek thermou kai psychrou kai
  xrou kai hygrou pros Aristotelous eirtai te kai
  apodedeiktai, kai hs to thermon en autois esti to
  drastiktaton kai hs tn zn hosa men thermotera
  physei, tauta pants enaima, ta d' epi pleon psychrotera
  pants anaima kai dia touto tou cheimnos arga kai
  akinta keitai phleuonta dikn nekrn. eirtai de kai
  peri ts chroias tou haimatos ouk Aristotelei monon,
  alla kai Platni. kai hmeis nyn, hoper d kai prosthen
  eipon, || ou ta kals apodedeigmena tois palaiois legein      117
  prouthemetha, mte t gnm mte t lexei tous andras
  ekeinous hyperbalesthai dynamenoi; ta d' toi chris
  apodeixes hs enarg pros autn eirmena dia to md'
  hyponosai mochthrous houts esesthai tinas sophistas,
  hoi kataphronsousi ts en autois altheias,  kai
  paraleleimmena teles hyp' ekeinn axioumen heuriskein
  te kai apodeiknynai.

  Peri de ts tn chymn geneses ouk oid', ei echei tis
  heteron prostheinai sophteron hn Hippokrats eipe kai
  Aristotels kai Praxagoras kai Philotimos kai alloi
  polloi tn palain. apodedeiktai gar ekeinois tois
  andrasin alloioumens ts trophs en tais phlepsin hypo
  ts emphytou thermasias haima men hypo ts symmetrias
  ts kat' autn, hoi d' alloi chymoi dia tas ametrias
  gignomenoi; kai tout t log panth' homologei ta
  phainomena. kai gar tn edesmatn hosa men esti
  thermotera physei, choldestera, ta de psychrotera
  phlegmatiktera; kai tn hlikin hsauts
  choldeste||rai men hai thermoterai physei,                   118
  phlegmatdesterai d' hai psychroterai; kai tn
  epitdeumatn de kai tn chrn kai tn hrn kai poly
  d proteron eti tn physen autn hai men psychroterai
  phlegmatdesterai, choldesterai d' hai thermoterai; kai
  nosmatn ta men psychra tou phlegmatos ekgona, ta de
  therma ts xanths chols; kai hols ouden estin heurein
  tn pantn, ho m tout t log martyrei. ps d' ou
  mellei? dia gar tn ek tn tettarn poian krasin
  hekastou tn morin hdi ps energountos anank pasa kai
  dia tn blabn autn  diaphtheiresthai teles 
  empodizesthai ge tn energeian kai hout nosein to zon
   holon  kata ta moria.

  Kai ta prta ge kai geniktata nosmata tettara ton
  arithmon hyparchei thermotti kai psychrotti kai
  xrotti kai hygrotti diapheronta. touto de kai autos
  ho Erasistratos homologei kaitoi m boulomenos. hotan
  gar en tois pyretois cheirous tn sitin tas pepseis
  gignesthai leg, m dioti ts emphytou || thermasias h       119
  symmetria diephthartai, kathaper hoi prosthen
  hypelambanon, all' hoti peristellesthai kai tribein h
  gastr ouch homois dynatai beblammen tn energeian,
  eresthai dikaion auton, hypo tinos h ts gastros
  energeia beblaptai.

  Genomenou gar, ei tychoi, boubnos epi prosptaismati,
  prin men pyrexai ton anthrpon, ouk an cheiron h gastr
  pepseien; ou gar hikanon n oudeteron autn outh' ho
  boubn oute to helkos empodisai ti kai blapsai tn
  energeian ts koilias; ei de pyrexeien, euthys men hai
  pepseis gignontai cheirous, euthys de kai tn energeian
  ts gastros beblaphthai phamen orths legontes. all'
  hypo tinos eblab, prostheinai chr t log. to men gar
  helkos ouch hoion t' n autn blaptein, hsper oud' ho
  boubn;  gar an eblapse kai pro tou pyretou. ei de m
  tauta, dlon, hs h ts thermasias pleonexia. dyo gar
  tauta prosegeneto t boubni, h ts kata tas artrias
  te kai tn kardian kinses alloisis kai h ts kata
  physin thermasias pleonexia. all' h men ts kinses
  alloisis ou monon ouden blapsei tn energeian ts
  ga||stros, alla kai prosphelsei kat' ekeina tn zn,       120
  en hois eis tn pepsin hypetheto pleiston dynasthai to
  dia tn artrin eis tn koilian empipton pneuma. dia
  loipn oun eti kai monn tn ametron thermasian h blab
  ts energeias t gastri. to men gar pneuma sphodroteron
  te kai synechesteron kai pleon empiptei nyn  proteron.
  hste taut men mallon pepsei ta dia to pneuma kals
  pettonta za, dia loipn d' eti tn para physin
  thermasian apeptsei. to gar kai t pneumati phanai tin'
  hyparchein idiotta, kath' hn pettei, kapeita tautn
  pyrettontn diaphtheiresthai kath' heteron tropon estin
  homologsai to atopon. ertthentes gar authis, hypo
  tinos lloith to pneuma, monn hexousin apokrinesthai
  tn para physin thermasian kai malist' epi tou kata tn
  koilian; oude gar plsiazei kat' ouden touto t boubni.

  Kaitoi ti tn zn ekeinn, en hois h tou pneumatos
  idiots mega dynatai, mnmoneu, paron ep' anthrpois,
  en hois  ouden  pantapasin amy||dron ti kai mikron          121
  phelei, poieisthai ton logon? all' hoti men en tois
  pyretois houtoi kaks pettousin, homologei kai autos kai
  tn g' aitian prostitheis beblaphthai phsi ts gastros
  tn energeian. ou mn alln ge tina prophasin ts blabs
  eipein echei pln ts para physin thermasias. all' ei
  blaptei tn energeian h para physin thermasia m kata
  ti symbebkos, alla dia tn hauts ousian te kai
  dynamin, ek tn prtn an ei nosmatn; kai mn ouk
  endechetai tn prtn men einai nosmatn tn ametrian
  ts thermasias, tn d' energeian hypo ts eukrasias m
  gignesthai. oude gar di' allo ti dynaton gignesthai tn
  dyskrasian aitian tn prtn nosmatn all'  dia tn
  eukrasian diaphtheiromenn. t gar hypo tauts
  gignesthai tas energeias anank kai tas prtas autn
  blabas diaphtheiromens gignesthai.

  Hoti men oun kai kat' auton ton Erasistraton h eukrasia
  tou thermou tn energein aitia, tois therein to
  akolouthon dynamenois hikans apodedeichthai nomiz.
  toutou d' hyparchontos hmin ouden eti chalepon || eph'       122
  hekasts energeias t men eukrasia to beltion hepesthai
  legein, t de dyskrasia ta cheir. kai toinyn eiper
  tauth' houts echei, to men haima ts symmetrou
  thermasias, tn de xanthn choln ts ametrou nomisteon
  hyparchein engonon. hout gar kai hmin en te tais
  thermais hlikiais kai tois thermois chriois kai tais
  hrais tou etous tais thermais kai tais thermais
  katastasesin, hsauts de kai tais thermais krasesi tn
  anthrpn kai tois epitdeumasi te kai tois diaitmasi
  kai tois nosmasi tois thermois eulogs h xanth chol
  pleist phainetai gignomen.

  To d' aporein, eit' en tois smasi tn anthrpn ho
  chymos houtos echei tn genesin eit' en tois sitiois
  periechetai, md' hoti tois hygiainousin amempts, hotan
  asitssi para to ethos hypo tinos peristases pragmatn
  anankasthentes, pikron men to stoma gignetai, chold de
  ta oura, daknetai d' h gastr, herakotos estin all'
  hsper exaiphns nyn eis ton kosmon ellythotos kai mp
  ta kat' auton phainomena gignskontos. epei tis ouk
  oiden, hs hekaston tn hepsomenn epi pleon halykteron
  men to prton, hysteron || de pikroteron gignetai? kan        123
  ei to meli boultheis auto to pantn glykytaton epi
  pleiston hepsein, apodeixeis kai touto pikrotaton; ho
  gar tois allois, hosa m physei therma, para ts
  hepsses engignetai, tout' ek physes hyparchei t
  meliti. dia tout' oun hepsomenon ou gignetai glykyteron;
  hoson gar echrn einai thermottos eis genesin
  glykyttos, akribs aut touto pan oikothen hyparchei.
  ho toinyn exthen tois ellips thermois n phelimon,
  tout' ekein blab te kai ametria gignetai kai dia touto
  thatton tn alln hepsomenon apodeiknytai pikron. di'
  auto de touto kai tois thermois physei kai tois
  akmazousin eis choln hetoims metaballetai. therm gar
  thermon plsiazon eis ametrian krases hetoims
  existatai kai phthanei chol gignomenon, ouch haima.
  deitai toinyn psychras men krases anthrpou, psychras
  d' hlikias, hin' eis haimatos agtai physin. oukoun apo
  tropou synebouleusen Hippokrats tois physei
  pikrocholois m prospherein to meli, hs an thermoteras
  || dlonoti krases hyparchousin. hout de kai tois           124
  nosmasi tois pikrocholois polemion einai to meli kai t
  tn gerontn hlikia philion ouch Hippokrats monon alla
  kai pantes iatroi legousin, hoi men ek ts physes autou
  tn dynamin endeixamens heurontes, hoi d' ek ts peiras
  mons. oude gar oude tois apo ts empeirias iatrois
  heteron ti para tauta tetrtai gignomenon, alla
  chrston men geronti, ne d' ou chrston, kai t men
  physei pikrochol blaberon, phelimon de t
  phlegmatdei; kai tn nosmatn hsauts tois men
  pikrocholois echthron, tois de phlegmatdesi philion;
  heni de log tois men thermois smasin  dia physin 
  dia noson  di' hlikian  di' hran  dia chran  di'
  epitdeuma chols genntikon, haimatos de tois
  enantiois.

  Kai mn ouk endechetai tauton edesma tois men choln
  gennan, tois d' haima m ouk en t smati ts geneses
  autn epiteloumens. ei gar d oikothen ge kai par'
  heautou tn edesmatn hekaston echon kai ouk en tois tn
  zn smasi || metaballomenon egenna tn choln, en           125
  hapasin an homois autn tois smasin egenna kai to men
  pikron ex geuomenois n an oimai chols poitikon, ei
  de ti glyky kai chrston, ouk an oude to brachytaton ex
  autou chols egennato. kai mn ou to meli monon, alla
  kai tn alln hekaston tn glyken tois proeirmenois
  smasi tois di' hotioun tn eirmenn thermois ousin eis
  choln hetoims existatai.

  Kaitoi taut' ouk oid' hops exnechthn eipein ou
  proelomenos all' hyp' auts tou logou ts akolouthias
  anankastheis. eirtai d' epi pleiston hyper autn
  Aristotelei te kai Praxagora tn Hippokratous kai
  Platnos gnmn orths exgsamenois.


                              IX

For this reason the things that we have said are not to be looked upon
as proofs but rather as indications of the dulness[271] of those who
think differently, and who do not even recognise what is agreed on by
everyone and is a matter of daily observation. As for the scientific
proofs of all this, they are to be drawn from these principles of
which I have already spoken[272]--namely, that bodies act upon and are
acted upon by each other in virtue of the Warm, Cold, Moist and Dry.
And if one is speaking of any activity, whether it be exercised by
vein, liver, arteries, heart, alimentary canal, or any part, one will
be inevitably compelled to acknowledge that this activity depends upon
the way in which the four qualities are blended. Thus I should like to
ask the Erasistrateans why it is that the stomach contracts upon the
food, and why the veins generate blood. There is no use in recognizing
the mere fact of contraction, without also knowing the _cause_; if we
know this, we shall also be able to rectify the failures of function.
"This is no concern of ours," they say; "we do not occupy ourselves
with such causes as these; they are outside the sphere of the
_practitioner_,[273] and belong to that of the _scientific
investigator_."[274] Are you, then, going to oppose those who maintain
that the cause of the function of every organ is a natural
eucrasia,[275] that the dyscrasia is itself known as a _disease_, and
that it is certainly by this that the activity becomes impaired? Or,
on the other hand, will you be convinced by the proofs which the
ancient writers furnished? Or will you take a midway course between
these two, neither perforce accepting these arguments as true nor
contradicting them as false, but suddenly becoming
sceptics--Pyrrhonists, in fact? But if you do this you will have to
shelter yourselves behind the Empiricist teaching. For how are you
going to be successful in treatment, if you do not understand the real
essence of each disease? Why, then, did you not call yourselves
Empiricists from the beginning? Why do you confuse us by announcing
that you are investigating natural activities with a view to
treatment? If the stomach is, in a particular case, unable to exercise
its peristaltic and grinding functions, how are we going to bring it
back to the normal if we do not know the _cause_ of its disability?
What I say is[276] that we must cool the over-heated stomach and warm
the chilled one; so also we must moisten the one which has become
dried up, and conversely; so, too, in combinations of these
conditions; if the stomach becomes at the same time warmer and drier
than normally, the first principle of treatment is at once to chill
and moisten it; and if it become colder and moister, it must be warmed
and dried; so also in other cases. But how on earth are the followers
of Erasistratus going to act, confessing as they do that they make no
sort of investigation into the cause of disease? For the fruit of the
enquiry into activities is that by knowing the causes of the
dyscrasiae one may bring them back to the normal, since it is of no
use for the purposes of treatment merely to know what the activity of
each organ is.

Now, it seems to me that Erasistratus is unaware of this fact also,
that the actual disease is that condition of the body which, not
accidentally, but primarily and of itself, impairs the normal
function. How, then, is he going to diagnose or cure diseases if he is
entirely ignorant of what they are, and of what kind and number? As
regards the stomach, certainly, Erasistratus held that one should at
least investigate _how_ it digests the food. But why was not
investigation also made as to the primary originative cause of this?
And, as regards the veins and the blood, he omitted even to ask the
question "_how?_"

Yet neither Hippocrates nor any of the other physicians or
philosophers whom I mentioned a short while ago thought it right to
omit this; they say that when the heat which exists naturally in every
animal is well blended and moderately moist it generates blood; for
this reason they also say that the blood is a _virtually_ warm and
moist humour, and similarly also that yellow bile is warm and dry,
even though for the most part it appears moist. (For in them the
_apparently_ dry would seem to differ from the _virtually_ dry.) Who
does not know that brine and sea-water preserve meat and keep it
uncorrupted,[277] whilst all other water--the drinkable kind--readily
spoils and rots it? And who does not know that when yellow bile is
contained in large quantity in the stomach, we are troubled with an
unquenchable thirst, and that when we vomit this up, we at once become
much freer from thirst than if we had drunk very large quantities of
fluid? Therefore this humour has been very properly termed warm, and
also virtually dry. And, similarly, _phlegm_ has been called cold and
moist; for about this also clear proofs have been given by Hippocrates
and the other Ancients.

Prodicus[278] also, when in his book "On the Nature of Man" he gives
the name "phlegm" (from the verb [Greek: pephlechthai]) to that
element in the humours which has been burned or, as it were,
over-roasted, while using a different terminology, still keeps to the
fact just as the others do; this man's innovations in nomenclature
have also been amply done justice to by Plato.[279] Thus, the
white-coloured substance which everyone else calls _phlegm_, and which
Prodicus calls _blenna_ [mucus],[280] is the well-known cold, moist
humour which collects mostly in old people and in those who have been
chilled[281] in some way, and not even a lunatic could say that this
was anything else than cold and moist.

If, then, there is a warm and moist humour, and another which is warm
and dry, and yet another which is moist and cold, is there none which
is virtually _cold and dry_? Is the fourth combination of
temperaments, which exists in all other things, non-existent in the
humours alone? No; the _black bile_ is such a humour. This, according
to intelligent physicians and philosophers, tends to be in excess, as
regards seasons, mainly in the fall of the year, and, as regards ages,
mainly after the prime of life. And, similarly, also they say that
there are cold and dry modes of life, regions, constitutions, and
diseases. Nature, they suppose, is not defective in this single
combination like the three other combinations, it extends everywhere.

At this point, also, I would gladly have been able to ask Erasistratus
whether his "artistic" Nature has not constructed any organ for
_clearing away_ a humour such as this. For whilst there are two organs
for the excretion of urine, and another of considerable size for that
of yellow bile, does the humour which is more pernicious than these
wander about persistently in the veins mingled with the blood? Yet
Hippocrates says, "Dysentery is a fatal condition if it proceeds from
black bile"; while that proceeding from yellow bile is by no means
deadly, and most people recover from it; this proves how much more
pernicious and acrid in its potentialities is black than yellow bile.
Has Erasistratus, then, not read the book, "On the Nature of Man," any
more than any of the rest of Hippocrates's writings, that he so
carelessly passes over the consideration of the humours? Or, does he
know it, and yet voluntarily neglect one of the finest studies[282] in
medicine? Thus he ought not to have said anything about the
_spleen_,[283] nor have stultified himself by holding that an artistic
Nature would have prepared so large an organ for no purpose. As a
matter of fact, not only Hippocrates and Plato--who are no less
authorities on Nature than is Erasistratus--say that this viscus also
is one of those which cleanse the blood, but there are thousands of
the ancient physicians and philosophers as well who are in agreement
with them. Now, all of these the high and mighty Erasistratus affected
to despise, and he neither contradicted them nor even so much as
mentioned their opinion. Hippocrates, indeed, says that the spleen
wastes in those people in whom the body is in good condition, and all
those physicians also who base themselves on experience[284] agree
with this. Again, in those cases in which the spleen is large and is
increasing from internal suppuration, it destroys the body and fills
it with evil humours;[285] this again is agreed on, not only by
Hippocrates, but also by Plato and many others, including the Empiric
physicians. And the jaundice which occurs when the spleen is out of
order is darker in colour, and the cicatrices of ulcers are dark. For,
generally speaking, when the spleen is drawing the atrabiliary[286]
humour into itself to a less degree than is proper, the blood is
unpurified, and the whole body takes on a bad colour. And when does it
draw this in to a less degree than proper? Obviously, when it [the
spleen] is in a bad condition. Thus, just as the kidneys, whose
function it is to attract the urine, do this badly when they are out
of order, so also the spleen, which has in itself a native power of
attracting an atrabiliary quality,[287] if it ever happens to be weak,
must necessarily exercise this attraction badly, with the result that
the blood becomes thicker and darker.

Now all these points, affording as they do the greatest help in the
diagnosis and in the cure of disease were entirely passed over by
Erasistratus, and he pretended to despise these great men--he who does
not despise ordinary people, but always jealously attacks the most
absurd doctrines. Hence, it was clearly because he had nothing to say
against the statements made by the ancients regarding the function and
utility of the spleen, and also because he could discover nothing new
himself, that he ended by saying nothing at all. I, however, for my
part, have demonstrated, firstly from the _causes_ by which everything
throughout nature is governed (by the causes I mean the Warm, Cold,
Dry and Moist) and secondly, from obvious bodily phenomena, that there
must needs be a cold and dry humour.[288] And having in the next place
drawn attention to the fact that this humour is black bile
[atrabiliary] and that the viscus which clears it away is the
spleen--having pointed this out by help of as few as possible of the
proofs given by ancient writers, I shall now proceed to what remains
of the subject in hand.

What else, then, remains but to explain clearly what it is that
happens in the generation of the humours, according to the belief and
demonstration of the Ancients? This will be more clearly understood
from a comparison. Imagine, then, some new wine which has been not
long ago pressed from the grape, and which is fermenting and
undergoing _alteration_ through the agency of its contained heat.[289]
Imagine next two residual substances produced during this process of
alteration, the one tending to be light and air-like and the other to
be heavy and more of the nature of earth; of these the one, as I
understand, they call the _flower_ and the other the _lees_. Now you
may correctly compare yellow bile to the first of these, and black
bile to the latter, although these humours have not the same
appearance when the animal is in normal health as that which they
often show when it is not so; for then the yellow bile becomes
_vitelline_,[290] being so termed because it becomes like the yolk of
an egg, both in colour and density; and again, even the black bile
itself becomes much more malignant than when in its normal
condition,[291] but no particular name has been given to [such a
condition of] the humour, except that some people have called it
_corrosive_ or _acetose_, because it also becomes sharp like vinegar
and corrodes the animal's body--as also the earth, if it be poured out
upon it--and it produces a kind of fermentation and seething,
accompanied by bubbles--an abnormal putrefaction having become added
to the natural condition of the black humour. It seems to me also that
most of the ancient physicians give the name _black humour_ and not
_black bile_ to the normal portion of this humour, which is discharged
from the bowel and which also frequently rises to the top [of the
stomach-contents]; and they call _black bile_ that part which, through
a kind of combustion and putrefaction, has had its quality changed to
acid. There is no need, however, to dispute about names, but we must
realise the facts, which are as follow:--

In the genesis of blood, everything in the nutriment[292] which
belongs naturally to the thick and earth-like part of the food,[292]
and which does not take on well the alteration produced by the innate
heat--all this the spleen draws into itself. On the other hand, that
part of the nutriment which is roasted, so to speak, or burnt (this
will be the warmest and sweetest part of it, like honey and fat),
becomes _yellow bile_, and is cleared away through the so-called
biliary[293] vessels; now, this is thin, moist, and fluid, not like
what it is when, having been roasted to an _excessive_ degree, it
becomes yellow, fiery, and thick, like the yolk of eggs; for this
latter is already abnormal, while the previously mentioned state is
natural. Similarly with the black humour: that which does not yet
produce, as I say, this seething and fermentation on the ground, is
natural, while that which has taken over this character and faculty is
unnatural; it has assumed an acridity owing to the combustion caused
by abnormal heat, and has practically become transformed into
ashes.[294] In somewhat the same way burned lees differ from unburned.
The former is a warm substance, able to burn, dissolve, and destroy
the flesh. The other kind, which has not yet undergone combustion, one
may find the physicians employing for the same purposes that one uses
the so-called _potter's earth_ and other substances which have
naturally a combined drying and chilling action.

Now the vitelline bile also may take on the appearance of this
combusted black bile, if ever it chance to be roasted, so to say, by
fiery heat. And all the other forms of bile are produced, some from a
blending of those mentioned, others being, as it were,
transition-stages in the genesis of these or in their conversion into
one another. And they differ in that those first mentioned are unmixed
and unique, while the latter forms are diluted with various kinds of
_serum_. And all the serums in the humours are waste substances, and
the animal body needs to be purified from them. There is, however, a
natural use for the humours first mentioned, both thick and thin; the
blood is purified both by the spleen and by the bladder beside the
liver, and a part of each of the two humours is put away, of such
quantity and quality that, if it were carried all over the body, it
would do a certain amount of harm. For that which is decidedly thick
and earthy in nature, and has entirely escaped alteration in the
liver, is drawn by the spleen into itself[295]; the other part which
is only moderately thick, after being elaborated [in the liver], is
carried all over the body. For the blood in many parts of the body has
need of a certain amount of thickening, as also, I take it, of the
_fibres_ which it contains. And the use of these has been discussed by
Plato,[296] and it will also be discussed by me in such of my
treatises as may deal with the use of parts. And the blood also needs,
not least, the yellow humour, which has as yet not reached the extreme
stage of combustion; in the treatises mentioned it will be pointed out
what purpose is subserved by this.

Now Nature has made no organ for clearing away _phlegm_, this being
cold and moist, and, as it were, half-digested nutriment; such a
substance, therefore, does not need to be evacuated, but remains in
the body and undergoes _alteration_ there. And perhaps one cannot
properly give the name of _phlegm_ to the surplus-substance which runs
down from the brain,[297] but one should call it _mucus_ [blenna] or
_coryza_--as, in fact, it is actually termed; in any case it will be
pointed out, in the treatise "On the Use of Parts," how Nature has
provided for the evacuation of this substance. Further, the device
provided by Nature which ensures that the phlegm which forms in the
stomach and intestines may be evacuated in the most rapid and
effective way possible--this also will be described in that
commentary. As to that portion of the phlegm which is carried in the
veins, seeing that this is of service to the animal it requires no
evacuation. Here too, then, we must pay attention and recognise that,
just as in the case of each of the two kinds of bile, there is one
part which is useful to the animal and in accordance with its nature,
while the other part is useless and contrary to nature, so also is it
with the phlegm; such of it as is sweet is useful to the animal and
according to nature, while, as to such of it as has become bitter or
salt, that part which is bitter is completely undigested, while that
part which is salt has undergone putrefaction. And the term "_complete
indigestion_" refers of course to the second digestion--that which
takes place in the veins; it is not a failure of the first
digestion--that in the alimentary canal--for it would not have become
a humour at the outset if it had escaped this digestion also.

It seems to me that I have made enough reference to what has been said
regarding the genesis and destruction of humours by Hippocrates,
Plato, Aristotle, Praxagoras, and Diocles, and many others among the
Ancients; I did not deem it right to transport the whole of their
final pronouncements into this treatise. I have said only so much
regarding each of the humours as will stir up the reader, unless he be
absolutely inept, to make himself familiar with the writings of the
Ancients, and will help him to gain more easy access to them. In
another treatise[298] I have written on the humours according to
Praxagoras, son of Nicarchus; although this authority makes as many as
ten humours, not including the blood (the blood itself being an
eleventh), this is not a departure from the teaching of Hippocrates;
for Praxagoras divides into species and varieties the humours which
Hippocrates first mentioned, with the demonstration proper to each.

Those, then, are to be praised who explain the points which have been
duly mentioned, as also those who add what has been left out; for it
is not possible for the same man to make both a beginning and an end.
Those, on the other hand, deserve censure who are so impatient that
they will not wait to learn any of the things which have been duly
mentioned, as do also those who are so ambitious that, in their lust
after novel doctrines, they are always attempting some fraudulent
sophistry, either purposely neglecting certain subjects, as
Erasistratus does in the case of the humours, or unscrupulously
attacking other people, as does this same writer, as well as many of
the more recent authorities.

But let this discussion come to an end here, and I shall add in the
third book all that remains.


                       IX

  M toinyn hs apodeixeis hyph' hmn eirsthai nomizein
  ta toiauta mallon  peri ts tn alls gignskontn
  anaisthsias endeixeis, hoi mde ta pros hapantn
  homologoumena kai kath' hekastn hmeran phainomena
  gignskousin; tas d' apodeixeis autn tas kat' epistmn
  ex ekeinn chr lambanein tn archn, hn d kai
  prosthen || eipomen, hs to dran kai paschein eis allla      126
  tois smasin hyparchei kata to thermon kai psychron kai
  xron kai hygron. kai eite phlebas eith' hpar eit'
  artrias eite kardian eite koilian eit' allo ti morion
  energein tis phseien hntinoun energeian, aphyktois
  anankais anankasthsetai dia tn ek tn tettarn poian
  krasin homologsai tn energeian hyparchein aut. dia ti
  gar h gastr peristelletai tois sitiois, dia ti d' hai
  phlebes haima gennsi, para tn Erasistratein edeomn
  akousai. to gar hoti peristelletai monon auto kath'
  heauto gignskein oudep chrston, ei m kai tn aitian
  eideimen; hout gar an oimai kai ta sphalmata
  therapeusaimen. ou melei, phasin, hmin oude
  polypragmonoumen eti tas toiautas aitias; hyper iatron
  gar eisi kai t physik proskousi. poteron oun oud'
  antereite t phaskonti tn men eukrasian tn kata physin
  aitian einai ts energeias hekast tn organn, tn d'
  au dyskrasian noson t d kaleisthai kai pants hyp'
  au||ts blaptesthai tn energeian?  peisthsesthe tais       127
  tn palain apodeixesin?  triton ti kai meson hekaterou
  toutn praxete mth' hs althesi tois logois ex ananks
  peithomenoi mt' antilegontes hs pseudesin, all'
  aportikoi tines exaiphns kai Pyrrhneioi gensesthe?
  kai mn ei touto drasete, tn empeirian anankaion hymin
  prostsasthai. t gar an eti trop kai tn iamatn
  euporoite tn ousian hekastou tn nosmatn agnoountes?
  ti oun ouk ex archs empeirikous hymas autous ekalesate?
  ti de pragmath' hmin parechete physikas energeias
  epangellomenoi ztein iases heneken? ei gar adynatos h
  gastr esti tini peristellesthai kai tribein, ps autn
  eis to kata physin epanaxomen agnoountes tn aitian ts
  adynamias? eg men phmi tn men hypertethermasmenn
  empsykteon hmin einai, tn d' epsygmenn thermanteon;
  hout de kai tn exrasmenn hygranteon, tn d'
  hygrasmenn xranteon. alla kai || kata syzygian, ei          128
  thermotera tou kata physin hama kai xrotera tychoi
  gegenmen, kephalaion einai ts iases empsychein th'
  hama kai hygrainein; ei d' au psychrotera te kai
  hygrotera, thermainein te kai xrainein kapi tn alln
  hsauts; hoi d' ap' Erasistratou ti pote kai praxousin
  oud' hols ztein tn energein tas aitias
  homologountes? ho gar toi karpos ts peri tn energein
  ztses houtos esti, to tas aitias tn dyskrasin
  eidota eis to kata physin epanagein autas, hs auto ge
  monon to gnnai tn hekastou tn organn energeian htis
  estin oup chrston eis tas iaseis.

  Erasistratos de moi dokei kai auto tout' agnoein, hs,
  htis an en t smati diathesis blapt tn energeian m
  kata ti symbebkos alla prts te kai kath' heautn,
  haut to nosma estin auto. ps oun eti diagnstikos te
  kai iatikos estai tn nosmatn agnon hols auta tina
  t' esti kai posa kai poia? kata men d tn gastera to ge
  tosouton Erasistratos xise zteisthai to ps pettetai
  ta sitia; || to d' htis prt te kai archgos aitia          129
  toutou, ps ouk epeskepsato? kata de tas phlebas kai to
  haima kai auto to ps parelipen.

  All' outh' Hippokrats out' allos tis hn olig prosthen
  emnmoneusa philosophn  iatrn axion et' einai
  paralipein; alla tn kata physin en hekast z
  thermasian eukraton te kai metris hygran ousan haimatos
  einai phasi genntikn kai di' auto ge touto kai to
  haima thermon kai hygron einai phasi t dynamei chymon,
  hsper tn xanthn choln thermn kai xran einai, ei
  kai hoti malisth' hygra phainetai. diapherein gar autois
  dokei to kata phantasian hygron tou kata dynamin.  tis
  ouk oiden, hs halm men kai thalatta taricheuei ta krea
  kai aspta diaphylattei, to d' allo pan hydr to potimon
  hetoims diaphtheirei te kai spei? tis d' ouk oiden,
  hs xanths chols en t gastri periechomens polls
  apaust dipsei synechometha kai hs emesantes autn
  euthys adipsoi gignometha mallon  ei pampoly poton
  prosrametha? || thermos oun eulogs ho chymos houtos         130
  eirtai kai xros kata dynamin, hsper ge kai to phlegma
  psychron kai hygron. enargeis gar kai peri toutou
  pisteis Hippokratei te kai tois allois eirntai
  palaiois.

  Prodikos d' en t peri physes anthrpou grammati to
  synkekaumenon kai hoion hyperptmenon en tois chymois
  onomazn phlegma para to pephlechthai t lexei men
  heters chrtai, phylattei mentoi to pragma kata tauto
  tois allois. tn d' en tois onomasi tandros toutou
  kainotomian hikans endeiknytai kai Platn. alla touto
  ge to pros hapantn anthrpn onomazomenon phlegma to
  leukon tn chroan, ho blennan onomazei Prodikos, ho
  psychros kai hygros chymos estin houtos kai pleistos
  tois te gerousi kai tois hopsdpote psygeisin
  athroizetai kai oudeis oude mainomenos an allo ti 
  psychron kai hygron eipoi an auton.

  Ar' oun thermos men tis esti kai hygros chymos kai
  thermos kai xros heteros kai hygros kai psychros allos,
  oudeis d' esti psychros kai xros tn dynamin, all' h
  tetart syzygia tn krasen || en hapasi tois allois          131
  hyparchousa monois tois chymois ouch hyparchei? kai mn
  h ge melaina chol toioutos esti chymos, hon hoi
  sphronountes iatroi kai philosophoi pleonektein ephasan
  tn men hrn tou etous en phthinopr malista, tn d'
  hlikin en tais meta tn akmn. hout de kai diaitmata
  kai chria kai katastaseis kai nosous tinas psychras kai
  xras einai phasin; ou gar d chln en taut mon t
  syzygia tn physin einai nomizousin all' hsper tas
  allas treis hout kai tnde dia pantn ektetasthai.

  uxamn oun kantauth' ertsai dynasthai ton
  Erasistraton, ei mden organon h technik physis
  edmiourgse kathartikon tou toioutou chymou, alla tn
  men ourn ara ts diakrises estin organa dyo kai ts
  xanths chols heteron ou smikron, ho de toutn
  kakothesteros chymos alatai dia pantos en tais phlepsin
  anamemigmenos t haimati. kaitoi "Dysenteri," phsi pou
  Hippokrats, "n apo chols melains arxtai,
  thanasimon," ou mn h g' apo ts xan||ths chols            132
  archomen pants olethrios, all' hoi pleious ex auts
  diaszontai. tosout kakothestera te kai drimytera tn
  dynamin h melaina chol ts xanths estin. ar' oun oute
  tn alln anegn ti tn tou Hippokratous grammatn ho
  Erasistratos ouden oute to peri physes anthrpou
  biblion, hin' houts args parelthoi tn peri tn chymn
  episkepsin,  gignskei men, hekn de paraleipei
  kallistn ts techns therian? echrn oun auton mde
  peri tou splnos eirkenai ti md' aschmonein hypo ts
  techniks physes organon tlikouton matn hgoumenon
  kateskeuasthai. kai mn ouch Hippokrats monon  Platn,
  ouden ti cheirous Erasistratou peri physin andres, hen
  ti tn kathairontn to haima kai tout' einai phasi to
  splanchnon, alla kai myrioi syn autois alloi tn palain
  iatrn te kai philosophn, hn hapantn prospoisamenos
  hyperphronein ho gennaios Erasistratos out' anteipen
  outh' hols ts doxs autn emnmoneuse. kai mn hosois
  ge to sma thallei, toutois ho spln phthinei, phsin
  Hippokrats, kai hoi apo ts || empeirias hormmenoi          133
  pantes homologousin iatroi. kai hosois g' au megas kai
  hypoulos auxanetai, toutois kataphtheirei te kai
  kakochyma ta smata tithsin, hs kai touto palin ouch
  Hippokrats monon alla kai Platn alloi te polloi kai
  hoi apo ts empeirias homologousin iatroi. kai hoi apo
  splnos de kakopragountos ikteroi melanteroi kai tn
  helkn hai oulai melainai. katholou gar, hotan
  endeesteron  prosken eis heauton helk ton
  melancholikon chymon, akatharton men to haima,
  kakochroun de to pan gignetai sma. pote d' endeesteron
  helkei?  dlon hoti kaks diakeimenos? hsper oun tois
  nephrois energeias ouss helkein ta oura kaks helkein
  hyparchei kakopragousin, hout kai t splni poiottos
  melancholiks helktikn en heaut dynamin echonti
  symphyton arrhstsanti pote tautn anankaion helkein
  kaks kan tde pachyteron d kai melanteron gignesthai
  to haima.

  Taut' oun hapanta pros te tas diagnseis tn nosmatn
  kai tas iaseis megistn parechomena chreian ||                134
  hyperepdse teles ho Erasistratos kai kataphronein
  prosepoisato tlikoutn andrn ho mde tn tychontn
  kataphronn all' aei philotims antilegn tais
  lithitatais doxais. h kai dlon, hs ouden echn out'
  anteipein tois presbyterois hyper hn apephnanto peri
  splnos energeias te kai chreias out' autos exeuriskn
  ti kainon eis to mden hols eipein aphiketo. all'
  hmeis ge prton men ek tn aitin, hois hapanta
  dioikeitai ta kata tas physeis, tou thermou leg kai
  psychrou kai xrou kai hygrou, deuteron d' ex autn tn
  enargs phainomenn kata to sma psychron kai xron
  einai tina chrnai chymon apedeixamen. hexs d', hoti
  kai melancholikos houtos hyparchei kai to kathairon
  auton splanchnon ho spln estin, dia brachen hs eni
  malista tn tois palaiois apodedeigmenn anamnsantes
  epi to leipon eti tois parousi logois aphixometha.

  Ti d' an ei leipon allo g'  exgsasthai saphs, hoion
  ti boulontai te || kai apodeiknyousi peri tn tn chymn      135
  genesin hoi palaioi symbainein. enargesteron d' an
  gnsthei dia paradeigmatos. oinon d moi noei gleukinon
  ou pro pollou tn staphyln ektethlimmenon zeonta te kai
  alloioumenon hypo ts en aut thermasias; epeita kata
  tn autou metaboln dyo gennmena perittmata to men
  kouphoteron te kai aerdesteron, to de baryteron te kai
  gedesteron, hn to men anthos, oimai, to de tryga
  kalousi. toutn t men heter tn xanthn choln, t d'
  heter tn melainan eikazn ouk an hamartois, ou tn
  autn echontn idean tn chymn toutn en t kata physin
  dioikeisthai to zon, hoian kai para physin echontos
  epiphainontai pollakis. h men gar xanth lekithds
  gignetai; kai gar onomazousin houts autn, hoti tais
  tn n lekithois homoioutai kata te chroan kai pachos.
  h d' au melaina kakothestera men poly kai haut ts
  kata physin; onoma d' ouden idion keitai t toiout
  chym, pln ei pou tines  xystikon  oxd keklkasin
  auton, hoti kai drimys homois oxei gignetai kai || xyei      136
  ge to sma tou zou kai tn gn, ei kat' auts
  ekchythei, kai tina meta pompholygn hoion zymsin te
  kai zesin ergazetai, spedonos epikttou proselthouss
  ekein t kata physin echonti chym t melani. kai moi
  dokousin hoi pleistoi tn palain iatrn auto men to
  kata physin echon tou toioutou chymou kai diachroun
  kat kai pollakis epipolazon an melana kalein chymon,
  ou melainan choln, to d' ek synkauses tinos kai
  spedonos eis tn oxeian methistamenon poiotta melainan
  onomazein choln. alla peri men tn onomatn ou chr
  diapheresthai, to d' althes hd' echon eidenai.

  Kata tn tou haimatos genesin hoson an hikans pachy kai
  gedes ek ts tn sitin physes empheromenon t troph
  m dextai kals tn ek ts emphytou thermasias
  alloisin, ho spln eis heauton helkei touto. to d'
  optthen, hs an tis eipoi, kai synkauthen ts trophs,
  ei d' an touto to thermotaton en aut kai glykytaton,
  hoion to te meli kai h pimel, xanth genomenon chol
  dia tn choldochn onomazomenn angein ekkathairetai.
  || lepton d' esti touto kai hygron kai rhyton ouch            137
  hsper hotan optthen eschats xanthon kai pyrdes kai
  pachy gentai tais tn n homoion lekithois. touto men
  gar d para physin; thateron de to proteron eirmenon
  kata physin estin; hsper ge kai tou melanos chymou to
  men mp tn hoion zesin te kai zymsin ts gs
  ergazomenon kata physin esti, to d' eis toiautn
  methistamenon idean te kai dynamin d para physin, hs
  an tn ek ts synkauses tou para physin thermou
  proseilphos drimytta kai hoion tephra tis d gegonos.
  hde ps kai h kekaumen tryx ts akaustou dinenke.
  thermon gar ti chrma haut g' hikans estin, hste
  kaiein te kai tkein kai diaphtheirein tn sarka. t d'
  hetera t mp kekaumen tous iatrous estin heurein
  chrmenous eis hosaper kai t g t kaloumen keramitidi
  kai tois allois, hosa xrainein th' hama kai psychein
  pephyken.

  Eis tn ts hout synkautheiss melains chols idean
  kai h lekithds ekein methistatai pollakis, hotan kai
  aut poth' hoion opttheisa tych pyrdei thermasia. ta
  d' alla || tn choln eid sympanta ta men ek ts tn         138
  eirmenn krases gignetai, ta d' hoion hodoi tines eisi
  ts toutn geneses te kai eis allla metabols.
  diapherousi de t tas men akratous einai kai monas, ta
  d' hoion orrhois tisin exygrasmenas. all' hoi men orrhoi
  tn chymn hapantes perittmata kai katharon autn einai
  deitai tou zou to sma. tn d' eirmenn chymn esti
  tis chreia t physei kai tou pacheos kai tou leptou kai
  kathairetai pros te tou splnos kai ts epi t hpati
  kystes to haima kai apotithetai tosouton te kai
  toiouton hekaterou meros, hoson kai hoion, eiper eis
  holon nechth tou zou to sma, blabn an tin'
  eirgasato. to gar hikans pachy kai gedes kai teles
  diapepheugos tn en t hpati metaboln ho spln eis
  heauton helkei; to d' allo to metris pachy syn t
  kateirgasthai pant pheretai. deitai gar en pollois tou
  zou moriois pachyttos tinos to haima kathaper oimai
  kai tn || empheromenn inn. kai eirtai men kai             139
  Platni peri ts chreias autn, eirsetai de kai hmin
  en ekeinois tois grammasin, en hois an tas chreias tn
  morin dierchmetha; deitai d' ouch hkista kai tou
  xanthou chymou tou mp pyrdous eschats gegenmenou to
  haima kai tis aut kai h para toude chreia, di' ekeinn
  eirsetai.

  Phlegmatos d' ouden epoisen h physis organon
  kathartikon, hoti psychron kai hygron esti kai hoion
  hmipeptos tis troph. deitai toinyn ou kenousthai to
  toiouton all' en t smati menon alloiousthai. to d' ex
  enkephalou katarrheon perittma tacha men an oude
  phlegma tis orths alla blennan te kai koryzan, hsper
  oun kai onomazetai, kaloi. ei de m, all' hoti ge ts
  toutou kenses orths h physis prounosato, kai tout'
  en tois peri chreias morin eirsetai. kai gar oun kai
  to kata te tn gastera kai ta entera synistamenon
  phlegma hops an ekkenth kai auto tachista te kai
  kallista, to pareskeuasmenon t physei mchanma di'
  ekeinn eirsetai kai auto tn hypomn||matn. hoson oun      140
  empheretai tais phlepsi phlegma chrsimon hyparchon tois
  zois, oudemias deitai kenses. prosechein de chr
  kantautha ton noun kai gignskein, hsper tn choln
  hekateras to men ti chrsimon esti kai kata physin tois
  zois, to d' achrston te kai para physin, hout kai tou
  phlegmatos, hoson men an  glyky, chrston einai touto
  t z kai kata physin, hoson d' oxy kai halmyron
  egeneto, to men oxy teles peptsthai, to d' halmyron
  diasesphthai. teleian d' apepsian phlegmatos akouein
  chr tn ts deuteras pepses dlonoti ts en phlepsin;
  ou gar d ts ge prts ts kata tn koilian;  oud' an
  egegento tn archn chymos, ei kai tautn diepepheugei.

  Taut' arkein moi dokei peri geneses te kai diaphthoras
  chymn hypomnmat' einai tn Hippokratei te kai Platni
  kai Aristotelei kai Praxagora kai Dioklei kai pollois
  allois tn palain eirmenn; ou gar edikaisa panta
  metapherein eis tonde ton logon ta teles ekeinois
  gegrammena. tosouton de monon hyper hekastou eipon,
  hoson exormsei te tous || entynchanontas, ei m              141
  pantapasin eien skaioi, tois tn palain homilsai
  grammasi kai tn eis to rhaon autois syneinai botheian
  parexei. gegraptai de pou kai di' heterou logou peri tn
  kata Praxagoran ton Nikarchou chymn. ei gar kai hoti
  malista deka poiei chris tou haimatos, hendekatos gar
  an ei chymos auto to haima, ts Hippokratous ouk
  apochrei didaskalias. all' eis eid tina kai diaphoras
  temnei tous hyp' ekeinou prtou pantn hama tais
  oikeiais apodeixesin eirmenous chymous.

  Epainein men oun chr tous t' exgsamenous ta kals
  eirmena kai tous ei ti paraleleiptai prostithentas; ou
  gar hoion te ton auton arxasthai te kai teleisai;
  memphesthai de tous houts atalaiprous, hs mden
  hypomenein mathein tn orths eirmenn, kai tous eis
  tosouton philotimous, hst' epithymia netern dogmatn
  aei panourgein ti kai sophizesthai, ta men hekontas
  paralipontas, hsper Erasistratos epi tn chymn
  epoise, ta de pa||nourgs antilegontas, hsper autos         142
  th' houtos kai alloi polloi tn netern.

  All' houtos men ho logos entauthoi teleutat, to d'
  hypoloipon hapan en t trit prosths.


    [167] _cf._ p. 89.

    [168] This term is nowadays limited to the drawing
    action of a blister, _cf._ p. 223.

    [169] The radicles of the hepatic ducts in the liver
    were supposed to be the active agents in extracting bile
    from the blood. _cf._ pp. 145-149.

    [170] _Anadosis_; _cf._ p. 13, note 5 (26).

    [171] The term [Greek: koilia] is used both specifically
    for the stomach proper and also (as probably here) in a
    somewhat wider sense for the stomach _region_, including
    the adjacent part of the small intestine; this was the
    part of the alimentary canal from which nutriment was
    believed to be absorbed by the mesenteric veins; _cf._
    p. 309, note 2 (382).

    [172] _cf._ p. 100, note 2 (152); p. 167, note 2 (234).

    [173] A characteristic "lesion" in Erasistratus's
    pathology.

    [174] A certain subordinate place allowed to the horror
    vacui.

    [175] _i.e._ the parts to which the veins convey blood
    after it leaves the liver--second stage of _anadosis_;
    _cf._ p. 91, note 2 (138); p. 13, note 5 (26).

    [176] What we now call the pulmonary artery. Galen
    believed that the right ventricle existed for the
    purpose of sending nutrient blood to the lungs.

    [177] Lit. owing to the ongrowth (_epiphysis_) of
    membranes; he means the tricuspid valve; _cf._ p. 314,
    note 2 (387); p. 321, note 4 (398).

    [178] Horror vacui.

    [179] But Erasistratus had never upheld this in the case
    of urinary secretion, _cf._ p. 99.

    [180] This was the characteristically "anatomical"
    explanation of bile-secretion made by Erasistratus.
    _cf._ p. 170, note 2 (241). Why, then, says Galen, does not
    urine, rather than bile, enter the bile-ducts?

    [181] Urine, or, more exactly, blood-serum.

    [182] Or ducts, canals, conduits, _i.e._ _morphological_
    factors.

    [183] Or artistic skill, "artistry." _cf._ Book I.,
    chap. xii.

    [184] "Only"; _cf._ Introd., p. xxviii.

    [185] Note how Galen, although he has not yet clearly
    differentiated physiological from physical processes
    (both are "natural") yet separates them definitely from
    the psychical. _cf._ p. 2, footnote (5). A _psychical_
    function or activity is, in Latin, _actio animalis_
    (from _anima_ = _psyche_).

    [186] The stage of organogenesis or _diaplasis_; cf. p.
    25, note 4 (49).

    [187] The spermatozoon now becomes an "organism" proper.

    [188] Galen attributed to the sperma or semen what we
    should to the fertilized ovum: to him the maternal
    contribution is purely passive--mere food for the sperm.
    The epoch-making Ovum Theory was not developed till the
    seventeenth century. _cf._ p. 19, note 3 (34).

    [189] _i.e._ we should be talking psychology, not
    biology; _cf._ stomach, p. 307, note 3 (380).

    [190] Attraction now described not merely as
    _qualitative_ but also as _quantitative_. _cf._ p. 85,
    note 3 (130).

    [191] He still tends either to biologize physics, or to
    physicize biology--whichever way we prefer to look at
    it. _cf._ Book I., chap. xiv.

    [192] Aristotelian and Stoic duality of an active and a
    passive principle.

    [193] Note that early embryonic development is described
    as a process of _nutrition_. _cf._ p. 130, note 2 (188).

    [194] On the _alterative_ and _shaping_ faculties _cf._
    p. 18, note 1 (32).

    [195] pp. 27-29.

    [196] _cf._ Introduction, p. xxvi.

    [197] _cf._ p. 15.

    [198] For definitions of _alteration_ and _mingling_
    (_crasis_, "temperament") _cf._ Book I., chaps. ii. and
    iii.

    [199] _i.e._ are associated with oxidation? _cf._ p. 41,
    note 3 (70).

    [200] "Useless" organs; _cf._ p. 56, note 2 (91). For fallacy
    of Erasistratus's view on the spleen _v._ p. 205.

    [201] The Stoics.

    [202] The Peripatetics (Aristotelians).

    [203] Aristotle regarded the _qualitative_ differences
    apprehended by our senses (the cold, the warm, the
    moist, and the dry) as fundamental, while the Stoics
    held the four corporeal elements (earth, air, fire, and
    water) to be still more fundamental. _cf._ p. 8, note 3
    (17).

    [204] Lit. bile-receiving (choledochous).

    [205] _Jecoris portae_, the transverse fissure, by which
    the portal vein enters the liver.

    [206] Lit. "anastomosing."

    [207] More literally, "synapse."

    [208] The portal vein.

    [209] The hepatic vein or veins.

    [210] The portal vein.

    [211] _cf._ p. 120, note 1 (174).

    [212] _cf._ p. 272, note 1 (350).

    [213] _i.e._ one might assume an _attraction_.

    [214] _i.e._ visible to the mind's eye as distinguished
    from the bodily eye. _cf._ p. 21, note 4 (39).
    _Theoreton_ without qualification means merely
    _visible_, not _theoretic_. _cf._ p. 205, note 1 (282).

    [215] According to the Pneumatist school, certain of
    whose ideas were accepted by Erasistratus, the air,
    breath, pneuma, or spirit was brought by inspiration
    into the left side of the heart, where it was converted
    into natural, vital, and psychic pneuma; the latter then
    went to the brain, whence it was distributed through the
    nervous system; practically this teaching involved the
    idea of a _psyche_, or conscious vital principle.
    "Psychic pneuma" is in Latin _spiritus animalis_
    (_anima_ = _psyche_); _cf._ p. 126, note 4 (185).
    Introduction, p. xxxiv.

    [216] Observe that Erasistratus's "simple nerve" may be
    almost looked on as an anticipation of the _cell_. The
    question Galen now asks is whether this vessel is a
    "unit mass of living matter," or merely an agglomeration
    of _atoms_ subject to mechanical law. _cf._ Galen's
    "fibres," p. 329.

    [217] _cf._ Book I., chap. xii.

    [218] _i.e._ in biology we must begin with living
    substance--with something which is specifically
    alive--here with the "unit mass of living matter." _cf._
    p. 73, note 3 (119).

    [219] "Ad elementa quae nec coalescere possunt nec in
    partes dividi" (Linacre). On the two contrasted schools
    _cf._ p. 45.

    [220] _cf._ _loc. cit._

    [221] "_Auxetic._" _cf._ p. 26, note 1 (50).

    [222] "At corporum quae nec una committi nec dividi
    possunt nullum in se formatricem, auctricem, nutricem,
    aut in summa artificem facultatem habet; quippe quod
    impatibile esse immutibileque praesumitur" (Linacre).

    [223] Book I., chaps. v.-xi.

    [224] _cf._ p. 153.

    [225] On account of his idea of a simple tissue not
    susceptible of further analysis.

    [226] Or "cell"; _cf._ p. 153, note 2 (216).

    [227] The _horror vacui_.

    [228] _Prosthesis_ of nutriment; _cf._ p. 39, note 6
    (67).

    [229] _Anadosis_, "absorption"; _cf._ p. 13, note 5
    (26).

    [230] Lit. _diadosis_.

    [231] _i.e._ let him explain the _diadosis_.

    [232] "Spiritus animalis"; _cf._ p. 152, note 1 (215).
    The nutriment was for the _walls_ of the vessels, not
    for their cavities. _cf._ p. 319, note 3 (394).

    [233] Specific attraction; _cf._ Book I., chap. xiv.

    [234] _cf._ p. 100, note 2 (152).

    [235] In Book II., chap. i.

    [236] Prevention better than cure.

    [237] _e.g._ Anaxagoras; _cf._ p. 7, note 5 (14); p. 20,
    note 3 (38).

    [238] Lit. _haematosis_.

    [239] _cf._ p. 174, note 4 (250).

    [240] Erasistratus held the spleen to be useless, _cf._
    p. 143.

    [241] Induration: Gk. _skirros_, Lat. _scirrhus_. The
    condition is now commonly known by Lannec's term
    _cirrhosis_, from Gk. _kirros_, meaning yellow or tawny.
    Here again we have an example of Erasistratus's bias
    towards anatomical or structural rather than functional
    explanations of disease, _cf._ p. 124, note 1 (180).

    [242] On the risks which were supposed to attend the
    checking of habitual bleeding from piles _cf._ Celsus
    (_De Re Med._ VI. xviii. 9), "Atque in quibusdam parum
    tuto supprimitur, qui sanguinis profluvio imbecilliores
    non fiunt; habent enim purgationem hanc, non morbum."
    (_i.e._ the habit was to be looked on as a periodical
    cleansing, not as a disease.)

    [243] Lit. _catharsis_.

    [244] Apparently some form of anaemia.

    [245] Philistion of Locri, a contemporary of Plato, was
    one of the chief representatives of the Sicilian school
    of medicine. For Diocles and Praxagoras see p. 51, note
    1 (83).

    [246] _cf._ Book I., chap. iii.

    [247] Gk. _pepsis_; otherwise rendered _coction_.

    [248] _cf._ p. 13, note 5 (26).

    [249] _e.g._ Asclepiades.

    [250] Lit. _chylosis_; _cf._ p. 238, note 2 (312).

    [251] That is to say, the haematopoietic function
    deserves consideration as much as the digestive
    processes which precede it.

    [252] _i.e._ Erasistratus could obviously say nothing
    about any of the humours or their origins, since he had
    not postulated the four qualities (particularly the
    Warm--that is, innate heat).

    [253] _i.e._ bile.

    [254] _i.e._ deprived of its bile.

    [255] Here it is rather the living organism we consider
    than the particular food that is put into it.

    [256] Supreme importance of the "soil." _cf._
    Introduction, pp. xii. and xxxi.

    [257] Aristotle, _Hist. Animal._, iii. xix.; Plato,
    _Timaeus_, 80 E.

    [258] Philotimus succeeded Diocles and Praxagoras, who
    were successive leaders of the Hippocratic school. _cf._
    p. 51, note 1 (83).

    [259] Lit. _phenomena_.

    [260] _i.e._ living organisms; _cf._ p. 47, note 1 (75).

    [261] Erasistratus rejected the idea of innate heat; he
    held that the heat of the body was introduced from
    outside.

    [262] As a _bubo_ is a swelling in the groin, we must
    suppose that the wound referred to would be in the leg
    or lower abdomen.

    [263] _i.e._ fever as a _cause_ of disease.

    [264] As we should say, "circulatory" changes.

    [265] This is the "vital spirit" or pneuma which,
    according to Erasistratus and the Pneumatist school, was
    elaborated in the left ventricle, and thereafter carried
    by the arteries all over the body, there to subserve
    circulatory processes. It has some analogy with oxygen,
    but this is also the case with the "_natural_ spirit" or
    pneuma, whose seat was the liver and which was
    distributed by the _veins_ through the body; it presided
    over the more _vegetative_ processes. _cf._ p. 152, note
    1 (215); Introduction, p. xxxiv.

    [266] Even leaving the pneuma out of account, Galen
    claims that he can still prove his thesis.

    [267] In other words: if _dyscrasia_ is a first
    principle in _pathology_, then _eucrasia_ must be a
    first principle in _physiology_.

    [268] The above is a good instance of Galen's "logical"
    method as applied to medical questions; an appeal to
    those who are capable of following "logical sequence."
    _cf._ p. 209, note 1 (288).

    [269] The aim of dietetics always being the production
    of moderate heat--_i.e._ blood.

    [270] Note contrasted methods of Rationalists and
    Empiricists.

    [271] Lit. _anaesthesia_. Linacre renders it
    _indocilitas_.

    [272] p. 15.

    [273] _Iatros_: lit. "healer."

    [274] Lit. "physicist" or "physiologist," the student of
    the _physis_. _cf._ p. 70, note 2 (114).

    [275] That is, a _blending_ of the four principles in
    their natural proportion; Lat. _temperies_.
    Dyscrasia = _intemperies_, "distemper."

    [276] This is the orthodox Hippocratic treatment, that
    of _opposites by opposites_. Contrast the _homoeopathic_
    principle which is the basis of our modern methods of
    _immunisation_ (_similia similibus curentur_,
    Hahnemann).

    [277] Lit. _aseptic_.

    [278] Prodicus of Ceos, a Sophist, contemporary of
    Socrates.

    [279] Plato, _Timaeus_, 83-86, _passim_.

    [280] _cf._ the term _blennorrhoea_, which is still
    used.

    [281] _cf._ the Scotch term "colded" for "affected with
    a cold"; Germ. _erkltet_.

    [282] The word _theria_ used here is not the same as
    our _theory_. It is rather a "contemplation," the
    process by which a theory is arrived at. _cf._ p. 226,
    note 2 (305).

    [283] Erasistratus on the uselessness of the spleen.
    _cf._ p. 143.

    [284] The Empirical school, _cf._ p. 193.

    [285] Enlargement and suppuration (?) of spleen
    associated with toxaemia or "cacochymy."

    [286] Lit. "melancholic."

    [287] _i.e._ the combination of sensible qualities which
    we call black bile. _cf._ p. 8, note 3 (17).

    [288] Thus Galen has demonstrated the functions of the
    spleen both deductively and inductively. For another
    example of the combined method _cf._ Book III., chaps,
    i. and ii.; _cf._ also Introd. p. xxxii.

    [289] _i.e._ its innate heat.

    [290] Lit. _lecithoid_.

    [291] Note that there can be "normal" black bile.

    [292] The term _food_ here means the food as introduced
    into the stomach; the term _nutriment_ (_troph_) means
    the same food in the digested condition, as it is
    conveyed to the tissues. _cf._ pp. 41-43. Note idea of
    imperfectly oxidized material being absorbed by the
    spleen. _cf._ p. 214, note 1 (295).

    [293] Lit. _choledochous_, bile-receiving.

    [294] Thus _over-roasting_--shall we say excessive
    _oxidation_?--produces the abnormal forms of both black
    and yellow bile.

    [295] _cf._ p. 277, note 2 (353).

    [296] _Timaeus_, 82 C-D.

    [297] _cf._ p. 90, note 1 (137). The term "catarrh"
    refers to this "running down," which was supposed to
    take place through the pores of the cribriform plate of
    the ethmoid into the nose.

    [298] Now lost.




                           BOOK III


                               I

It has been made clear in the preceding discussion that nutrition
occurs by an _alteration_ or _assimilation_ of that which nourishes to
that which receives nourishment,[299] and that there exists in every
part of the animal a faculty which in view of its activity we call, in
general terms, _alterative_, or, more specifically, _assimilative_ and
_nutritive_. It was also shown that a sufficient supply of the matter
which the part being nourished makes into nutriment for itself is
ensured by virtue of another faculty which naturally attracts its
_proper juice_ [humour] that that juice is proper to each part which
is adapted for assimilation, and that the faculty which attracts the
juice is called, by reason of its activity, _attractive_ or
_epispastic_.[300] It has also been shown that assimilation is
preceded by _adhesion_, and this, again, by _presentation_,[301] the
latter stage being, as one might say, the end or goal of the activity
corresponding to the attractive faculty. For the actual bringing up of
nutriment from the veins into each of the parts takes place through
the activation of the attractive faculty,[302] whilst to have been
finally brought up and presented to the part is the actual end for
which we desired such an activity; it is attracted in order that it
may be presented. After this, considerable time is needed for the
nutrition of the animal; whilst a thing may be even rapidly attracted,
on the other hand to become adherent, altered, and entirely
assimilated to the part which is being nourished and to become a part
of it, cannot take place suddenly, but requires a considerable amount
of time. But if the nutritive juice, so presented, does not remain in
the part, but withdraws to another one, and keeps flowing away, and
constantly changing and shifting its position, neither adhesion nor
complete assimilation will take place in any of them. Here too, then,
the [animal's] nature has need of some other faculty for ensuring a
prolonged stay of the presented juice at the part, and this not a
faculty which comes in from somewhere outside but one which is
resident in the part which is to be nourished. This faculty, again, in
view of its activity our predecessors were obliged to call
_retentive_.

Thus our argument has clearly shown[303] the necessity for the genesis
of such a faculty, and whoever has an appreciation of logical sequence
must be firmly persuaded from what we have said that, if it be laid
down and proved by previous demonstration that Nature is artistic and
solicitous for the animal's welfare, it necessarily follows that she
must also possess a faculty of this kind.


                     BOOK III

                        G


                        I

  Hoti men oun h threpsis alloioumenou te kai                  143
  homoioumenou gignetai tou trephontos t trephomen kai
  hs en hekast tn tou zou morin esti tis dynamis, hn
  apo ts energeias alloitikn men kata genos,
  homoitikn de kai threptikn kat' eidos onomazomen, en
  t prosthen dedltai log. tn d' euporian ts hyls,
  hn trophn heaut poieitai to trephomenon, ex heteras
  tinos echein edeiknyto dynames epispasthai pephykuias
  ton oikeion chymon, einai d' oikeion hekast tn morin
  chymon, hos an || epitdeios eis tn exomoisin , kai        144
  tn helkousan auton dynamin apo ts energeias helktikn
  te tina kai epispastikn onomazesthai. dedeiktai de kai,
  hs pro men ts homoises h prosphysis estin, ekeins
  d' emprosthen h prosthesis gignetai, telos, hs an
  eipoi tis, ousa ts kata tn epispastikn dynamin
  energeias. auto men gar to paragesthai tn trophn ek
  tn phlebn eis hekaston tn morin ts helktiks
  energouss gignetai dynames, to d' d parchthai te
  kai prostithesthai t mori to telos estin auto, di' ho
  kai ts toiauts energeias edethmen; hina gar
  prosteth, dia touth' helketai. chronou d' enteuthen d
  pleionos eis tn threpsin tou zou dei; helchthnai men
  gar kai dia tachen ti dynatai, prosphynai de kai
  alloithnai kai teles homoithnai t trephomen kai
  meros autou genesthai parachrma men ouch hoion te,
  chron d' an pleioni symbainoi kals. all' ei m menoi
  kata to meros ho prostetheis houtos chymos, eis heteron
  de ti methistaito kai pararrheoi dia pantos ameibn te
  kai hypallattn ta chria, kat' ouden autn || oute           145
  prosphysis out' exomoisis estai. dei de kantautha tinos
  t physei dynames heteras eis polychronion monn tou
  prostethentos t mori chymou kai tauts ouk exthen
  pothen epirrheouss all' en aut t threpsomen
  katkismens, hn apo ts energeias palin hoi pro hmn
  nankasthsan onomasai kathektikn.

  Ho men d logos d saphs enedeixato tn anankn ts
  geneses ts toiauts dynames kai hostis akolouthias
  synesin echei, pepeistai bebais ex hn eipomen, hs
  hypokeimenou te kai proapodedeigmenou tou technikn
  einai tn physin kai tou zou kdemonikn anankaion
  hyparchein aut kai tn toiautn dynamin.


                              II

Since, however, it is not our habit to employ this kind of
demonstration[304] alone, but to add thereto cogent and compelling
proofs drawn from obvious facts, we will also proceed to the latter
kind in the present instance: we will demonstrate that in certain
parts of the body _the retentive faculty_ is so obvious that its
operation can be actually recognised by the _senses_, whilst in other
parts it is less obvious to the senses, but is capable even here of
being detected by the _argument_.[305]

Let us begin our exposition, then, by first dealing systematically for
a while with certain definite parts of the body, in reference to which
we may accurately test and enquire what sort of thing the retentive
faculty is.

Now, could one begin the enquiry in any better way than with the
largest and hollowest organs? Personally I do not think one could. It
is to be expected that in these, owing to their size, the activities
will show quite clearly, whereas with respect to the small organs,
even if they possess a strong faculty of this kind, its activation
will not at once be recognisable to sense.

Now those parts of the animal which are especially hollow and large
are the stomach and the organ which is called the womb or uterus.[306]
What prevents us, then, from taking up these first and considering
their activities, conducting the enquiry on our own persons in
regard to those activities which are obvious without dissection, and,
in the case of those which are more obscure, dissecting animals which
are near to man;[307] not that even animals unlike him will not show,
in a general way, the faculty in question, but because in this manner
we may find out at once what is common to all and what is peculiar to
ourselves, and so may become more resourceful in the diagnosis and
treatment of disease.

Now it is impossible to speak of both organs at once, so we shall deal
with each in turn, beginning with the one which is capable of
demonstrating the retentive faculty most plainly. For the stomach
retains the food until it has quite digested it, and the uterus
retains the embryo until it brings it to completion, but the time
taken for the completion of the embryo is many times more than that
for the digestion of food.


                       II

  All' hmeis ou tout mon t genei ts apodeixes
  eithismenoi chrsthai, prostithentes d' aut kai tas ek
  tn enargs phainomenn anankazousas te kai biazomenas
  pisteis epi tas toiautas kai nyn aphixometha kai
  deixomen epi men tinn morin tou smatos houts enarg
  tn kathektikn dynamin, hs autais tais aisthsesi ||        146
  diagignskesthai tn energeian auts, epi de tinn
  htton men enargs tais aisthsesi, log de kantautha
  phrathnai dynamenn.

  Arxmeth' oun ts didaskalias ap' autou tou tes prton
  method tini procheirisasthai mori' atta tou smatos,
  eph' hn akribs esti basanisai te kai ztsai tn
  kathektikn dynamin hopoia pot' estin.

  Ar' oun ameinon an tis heterthen  apo tn megistn te
  kai koilotatn organn hyparxaito ts ztses? emoi men
  oun ouk an dokei beltion. enargeis goun eikos epi toutn
  phannai tas energeias dia to megethos; hs ta ge smikra
  tach' an, ei kai sphodran echei tn toiautn dynamin,
  all' ouk aisthsei g' hetoimn diagignskesthai tn
  energeian auts.

  All' estin en tois malista koilotata kai megista tn tou
  zou morin h te gastr kai <hai> mtrai te kai hysterai
  kaloumenai. ti oun klyei tauta prta procheirisamenous
  episkepsasthai tas energeias autn, hosai men kai pro
  ts anatoms dlai, tn exetasin eph' hmn autn
  poioumenous, hosai d' amydroterai, ta paraplsia
  diairountas anthrp za, || ouch hs ouk an hikans to       147
  ge katholou peri ts ztoumens dynames kai tn
  anomoin endeixomenn, all' hs hin' hama t koin kai
  to idion eph' hmn autn egnkotes eis te tas
  diagnseis tn nosmatn kai tas iaseis euporteroi
  gignmetha.

  Peri men oun amphotern tn organn hama legein
  adynaton, en merei d' hyper hekaterou poisometha ton
  logon apo tou saphesteron endeixasthai dynamenou tn
  kathektikn dynamin arxamenoi. katechei men gar kai h
  gastr ta sitia, mechri per an ekpeps, katechousi de
  kai hai mtrai to embryon, est' an teleissin; alla
  pollaplasios estin ho ts tn embryn teleises chronos
  ts tn sitin pepses.


                           III

We may expect, then, to detect the retentive faculty in the uterus
more clearly in proportion to the longer duration of its activity as
compared with that of the stomach. For, as we know, it takes nine
months in most women for the foetus to attain maturity in the womb,
this organ having its neck quite closed, and entirely surrounding the
embryo together with the _chorion_. Further, it is the utility of the
function which determines the closure of the os and the stay of the
foetus in the uterus. For it is not casually nor without reason that
Nature has made the uterus capable of contracting upon, and of
retaining the embryo, but in order that the latter may arrive at a
proper size. When, therefore, the object for which the uterus brought
its retentive faculty into play has been fulfilled, it then stops this
faculty and brings it back to a state of rest, and employs instead of
it another faculty hitherto quiescent--the _propulsive_ faculty. In
this case again the quiescent and active states are both determined by
utility; when this calls, there is activity; when it does not, there
is rest.

Here, then, once more, we must observe well the Art [artistic
tendency] of Nature--how she has not merely placed in each organ the
capabilities of useful activities, but has also fore-ordained the
times both of rest and movement. For when everything connected with
the pregnancy proceeds properly, the _eliminative_ faculty remains
quiescent as though it did not exist, but if anything goes wrong in
connection either with the chorion or any of the other membranes or
with the foetus itself, and its completion is entirely despaired of,
then the uterus no longer awaits the nine-months period, but the
retentive faculty forthwith ceases and allows the heretofore
inoperative faculty to come into action. Now it is that something is
done--in fact, useful work effected--by the _eliminative or propulsive
faculty_ (for so it, too, has been called, receiving, like the rest,
its names from the corresponding activities).

Further, our theory can, I think, demonstrate both together; for
seeing that they succeed each other, and that the one keeps giving
place to the other according as utility demands, it seems not
unreasonable to accept a common demonstration also for both. Thus it
is the work of the retentive faculty to make the uterus contract upon
the foetus at every point, so that, naturally enough, when the
midwives palpate it, the os is found to be closed, whilst the pregnant
women themselves, during the first days--and particularly on that on
which conception takes place--experience a sensation as if the uterus
were moving and contracting upon itself. Now, if both of these things
occur--if the os closes apart from inflammation or any other disease,
and if this is accompanied by a feeling of movement in the
uterus--then the women believe that they have received the semen which
comes from the male, and that they are retaining it.

Now we are not inventing this for ourselves: one may say the statement
is based on prolonged experience of those who occupy themselves with
such matters. Thus Herophilus[308] does not hesitate to state in his
writings that up to the time of labour the os uteri will not admit so
much as the tip of a probe, that it no longer opens to the slightest
degree if pregnancy has begun--that, in fact, it dilates more widely
at the times of the menstrual flow. With him are in agreement all the
others who have applied themselves to this subject; and particularly
Hippocrates, who was the first of all physicians and philosophers to
declare that the os uteri closes during pregnancy and inflammation,
albeit in pregnancy it does not depart from its own nature, whilst in
inflammation it becomes hard.

In the case of the opposite (the eliminative) faculty, the os opens,
whilst the whole fundus approaches as near as possible to the os,
expelling the embryo as it does so; and along with the fundus the
contiguous parts--which form as it were a girdle round the whole
organ--co-operate in the work; they squeeze upon the embryo and propel
it bodily outwards. And, in many women who exercise such a faculty
immoderately, violent pains cause forcible prolapse of the whole womb;
here almost the same thing happens as frequently occurs in
wrestling-bouts and struggles, when in our eagerness to overturn and
throw others we are ourselves upset along with them; for similarly
when the uterus is forcing the embryo forward it sometimes becomes
entirely prolapsed, and particularly when the ligaments connecting it
with the spine happen to be naturally lax.[309]

A wonderful device of Nature's also is this--that, when the foetus is
alive, the os uteri is closed with perfect accuracy, but if it dies,
the os at once opens up to the extent which is necessary for the
foetus to make its exit. The midwife, however, does not make the
parturient woman get up at once and sit down on the [obstetric] chair,
but she begins by palpating the os as it gradually dilates, and the
first thing she says is that it has dilated "enough to admit the
little finger," then that "it is bigger now," and as we make enquiries
from time to time, she answers that the size of the dilatation is
increasing. And when it is sufficient to allow of the transit of the
foetus,[310] she then makes the patient get up from her bed and sit on
the chair, and bids her make every effort to expel the child. Now,
this additional work which the patient does of herself is no longer
the work of the uterus but of the epigastric muscles, which also help
us in defaecation and micturition.


                      III

  Eikos oun kai tn dynamin enargesteron en tais mtrais
  phrasein hmas tn kathektikn, hos kai
  polychroniteran ts gastros tn energeian kekttai.
  msi gar ennea pou tais pleistais tn gynaikn en autais
  teleioutai ta kymata, memykuiais men hapanti t
  aucheni, periechousais de pantachothen auta syn t
  chori. || kai peras ge ts tou stomatos myses kai ts       148
  tou kyoumenou kata tas mtras mons h chreia ts
  energeias estin; ou gar hs etychen oud' alogs hikanas
  peristellesthai kai katechein to embryon h physis
  apeirgasato tas hysteras, all' hin' eis to prepon
  aphiktai megethos to kyoumenon. hotan oun, hou charin
  enrgoun t kathektik dynamei, sympeplrmenon ,
  tautn men anepausan te kai eis remian epangagon, ant'
  auts d' hetera chrntai t tes hsychazous, t
  prostik. n d' ara kai ts ekeins hsychias horos h
  chreia kai ts g' energeias hsauts h chreia; kalouss
  men gar auts energei, m kalouss d' hsychazei.

  Kai chr palin kantautha katamathein ts physes tn
  technn, hs ou monon energein chrsimn dynameis
  enethken hekast tn organn, alla kai tou tn
  hsychin te kai kinsen kairou prounosato. kals men
  gar hapantn gignomenn tn kata tn kysin h
  apokritik dynamis hsychazei teles hsper ouk ousa,
  kakopragias de tinos genomens  peri to chorion  peri
  tina tn alln || hymenn  peri to kyoumenon auto kai        149
  ts teleises autou pantapasin apognstheiss ouket'
  anamenousi ton enneamnon hai mtrai chronon, all' h
  men kathektik dynamis autika d pepautai kai parachrei
  kineisthai t proteron argous, prattei d' d ti kai
  pragmateuetai chrston h apokritik te kai prostik;
  kai gar oun kai tautn houts ekalesan apo tn energein
  aut ta onomata themenoi kathaper kai tais allais.

  Kai ps ho logos eoiken hyper amphotern apodeixein
  hama; kai gar toi kai diadechomenas autas alllas kai
  parachrousan aei tn heteran t loip, kathoti an h
  chreia keleu, kai tn didaskalian koinn ouk apeikos
  esti dechesthai. ts men oun kathektiks dynames ergon
  peristeilai tas mtras t kyoumen pantachothen, hst'
  eulogs haptomenais men tais maieutriais to stoma
  memykos autn phainetai, tais kyousais d' autais kata
  tas prtas hmeras kai malista kat' autn ekeinn, en
  hper an h ts gons syllpsis gentai, kinoumenn te
  kai syntrechousn eis heautas tn hystern aisth||sis        150
  gignetai kai n amph tauta symb, mysai men to stoma
  chris phlegmons  tinos allou pathmatos, aisthsin de
  ts kata tas mtras kinses akolouthsai, pros hautas
  d to sperma to para tandros eilphenai te kai
  katechein hai gynaikes nomizousi.

  Tauta d' ouch hmeis nyn anaplattomen hmin autois, all'
  ek makras peiras dokimasthenta pasi gegraptai schedon ti
  tois peri toutn pragmateusamenois. Hrophilos men ge
  kai hs oude pyrna mls an dechoito tn mtrn to
  stoma, prin apokyein tn gynaika, kai hs oude
  toulachiston eti diestken, n hyparxtai kyein, kai hs
  epi pleon anastomountai kata tas tn epimnin phoras,
  ouk knse graphein; synomologousi d' aut kai hoi alloi
  pantes hoi peri toutn pragmateusamenoi kai prtos g'
  hapantn iatrn te kai philosophn Hippokrats
  apephnato myein to stoma tn hystern en te tais
  kysesi kai tais phlegmonais, all' en men tais kysesin
  ouk existamenon ts physes, en de tais phlegmonais
  sklron gignomenon.

  Epi de ge ts enantias ts ekkritiks anoignytai men to
  stoma, proerchetai d' ho pythmn || hapas hoson hoion t'      151
  engytat tou stomatos apthoumenos ex to embryon, hama
  d' aut kai ta synech mer ta hoion pleura tou pantos
  organou synepilambanomena tou ergou thlibei te kai
  prothei pan ex to embryon. kai pollais tn gynaikn
  dines biaioi tas mtras holas ekpesein nankasan
  ametrs chrsamenais t toiaut dynamei, paraplsiou
  tinos gignomenou t pollakis en palais tisi kai
  philoneikiais symbainonti, hotan anatrepsai te kai
  katabalein heterous speudontes autoi synkatapesmen.
  hout gar kai hai mtrai to embryon thousai synexepeson
  eniote kai malisth', hotan hoi pros tn rhachin autn
  syndesmoi chalaroi physei tynchansin ontes.

  Esti de kai touto thaumaston ti ts physes sophisma, to
  zntos men tou kymatos akribs pany memykenai to stoma
  tn mtrn, apothanontos de parachrma dianoigesthai
  tosouton, hoson eis tn exodon autou diapherei. kai
  mentoi kai hai maiai tas tiktousas ouk euthys anistasin
  oud' epi ton diphron kathizousin, all' haptontai
  proteron anoigomenou tou stomatos || kata brachy kai          152
  prton men, hste ton mikron daktylon kathienai,
  diestkenai phasin, epeit' d kai meizon kai kata
  brachy d pynthanomenois hmin apokrinontai to megethos
  ts diastases epauxanomenon. hotan d' hikanon  pros
  tn tou kyoumenou diodon, anistasin autas kai kathizousi
  kai prothymeisthai keleuousin apsasthai to paidion.
  esti d' d touto to ergon, ho par' heautn hai kyousai
  prostitheasin, ouketi tn hystern, alla tn kat'
  epigastrion myn, hoi pros tn apopatsin te kai tn
  oursin hmin synergousin.


                            IV

Thus the two faculties are clearly to be seen in the case of the
uterus; in the case of the _stomach_ they appear as follows:--Firstly
in the condition of _gurgling_, which physicians are persuaded, and
with reason, to be a symptom of weakness of the stomach; for sometimes
when the very smallest quantity of food has been ingested this does
not occur, owing to the fact that the stomach is contracting
accurately upon the food and constricting it at every point; sometimes
when the stomach is full the gurglings yet make themselves heard as
though it were empty. For if it be in a natural condition, employing
its contractile faculty in the ordinary way, then, even if its
contents be very small, it grasps the whole of them and does not leave
any empty space. When it is weak, however, being unable to lay hold of
its contents accurately, it produces a certain amount of vacant space,
and allows the liquid contents to flow about in different directions
in accordance with its changes of shape, and so to produce gurglings.

Thus those who are troubled with this symptom expect, with good
reason, that they will also be unable to digest adequately; proper
digestion cannot take place in a weak stomach. In such people also,
the mass of food may be plainly seen to remain an abnormally long time
in the stomach, as would be natural if their digestion were slow.
Indeed, the chief way in which these people will surprise one is in
the length of time that not food alone but even fluids will remain in
their stomachs. Now, the actual cause of this is not, as one would
imagine, that the lower outlet of the stomach,[311] being fairly
narrow, will allow nothing to pass before being reduced to a fine
state of division. There are a great many people who frequently
swallow large quantities of big fruit-stones; one person, who was
holding a gold ring in his mouth, inadvertently swallowed it; another
swallowed a coin, and various people have swallowed various hard and
indigestible objects; yet all these people easily passed by the bowel
what they had swallowed, without there being any subsequent symptoms.
Now surely if narrowness of the gastric outlet were the cause of
untriturated food remaining for an abnormally long time, none of these
articles I have mentioned would ever have escaped. Furthermore, the
fact that it is liquids which remain longest in these people's
stomachs is sufficient to put the idea of narrowness of the outlet out
of court. For, supposing a rapid descent were dependent upon
emulsification,[312] then soups, milk, and barley-emulsion[313] would
at once pass along in every case. But as a matter of fact this is not
so. For in people who are extremely asthenic it is just these fluids
which remain undigested, which accumulate and produce gurglings, and
which oppress and overload the stomach, whereas in strong persons not
merely do none of these things happen, but even a large quantity of
bread or meat passes rapidly down.

And it is not only because the stomach is distended and loaded and
because the fluid runs from one part of it to another accompanied by
gurglings--it is not only for these reasons that one would judge that
there was an unduly long continuance of the food in it, in those
people who are so disposed, but also from the _vomiting_. Thus, there
are some who vomit up every particle of what they have eaten, not
after three or four hours, but actually in the middle of the night, a
lengthy period having elapsed since their meal.

Suppose you fill any animal whatsoever with liquid food--an experiment
I have often carried out in pigs, to whom I give a sort of mess of
wheaten flour and water, thereafter cutting them open after three or
four hours; if you will do this yourself, you will find the food still
in the stomach. For it is not _chylification_[314] which determines
the length of its stay here--since this can also be effected outside
the stomach; the determining factor is _digestion_[315] which is a
different thing from chylification, as are blood-production and
nutrition. For, just as it has been shown[316] that these two
processes depend upon a _change of qualities_, similarly also the
digestion of food in the stomach involves a transmutation of it into
the quality proper to that which is receiving nourishment.[317] Then,
when it is completely digested, the lower outlet opens and the food is
quickly ejected through it, even if there should be amongst it
abundance of stones, bones, grape-pips, or other things which cannot
be reduced to chyle. And you may observe this yourself in an animal,
if you will try to hit upon the time at which the descent of food from
the stomach takes place. But even if you should fail to discover the
time, and nothing was yet passing down, and the food was still
undergoing digestion in the stomach, still even then you would find
dissection not without its uses. You will observe, as we have just
said, that the pylorus is accurately closed, and that the whole
stomach is in a state of contraction upon the food very much as the
womb contacts upon the foetus. For it is never possible to find a
vacant space in the uterus, the stomach, or in either of the two
bladders--that is, either in that called bile-receiving[318] or in the
other; whether their contents be abundant or scanty, their cavities
are seen to be replete and full, owing to the fact that their coats
contract constantly upon the contents--so long, at least, as the
animal is in a natural condition.

Now Erasistratus for some reason declares that it is the
contractions[319] of the stomach which are the cause of
everything--that is to say, of the softening of the food,[320] the
removal of waste matter, and the absorption of the food when chylified
[emulsified].

Now I have personally, on countless occasions, divided the peritoneum
of a still living animal and have always found all _the intestines_
contracting peristaltically[321] upon their contents. The condition of
_the stomach_, however, is found less simple; as regards the
substances freshly swallowed, it had grasped these accurately both
above and below, in fact at every point, and was as devoid of movement
as though it had grown round and become united with the food.[322] At
the same time I found the pylorus persistently closed and accurately
shut, like the os uteri on the foetus.

In the cases, however, where digestion had been completed the pylorus
had opened, and the stomach was undergoing peristaltic movements,
similar to those of the intestines.


                       IV

  Hout men epi tn mtrn enargs hai dyo phainontai
  dynameis, epi de ts gastros hde. prton men tois
  klydsin, hoi d kai pepisteuntai tois iatrois arrhstou
  koilias einai symptmata kai kata logon pepisteuntai;
  eniote men gar elachista prosennegmenn ou gignontai
  peristellomens akribs autois ts gastros kai
  sphingouss pantachothen, eniote de mest men h gastr
  estin, hoi kly||dnes d' hs epi kens exakouontai. kata      153
  physin men gar echousa kai chrmen kals t
  peristaltik dynamei, kan oligon  to periechomenon,
  hapan auto perilambanousa chran oudemian apoleipei
  kenn, arrhstousa de, kathoti an adynats perilabein
  akribs, entauth' eurychrian tin' ergazomen synchrei
  tois periechomenois hygrois kata tas tn schmatn
  metallagas allot' allachose metarrheousi klydnas
  apotelein.

  Eulogs oun, hoti mde pepsousin hikans, hoi en tde t
  symptmati genomenoi prosdoksin; ou gar endechetai
  pepsai kals arrhston gastera. tois toioutois de kai
  mechri pleionos en aut phainetai paramenon to baros,
  hs an kai bradyteron pettousi. kai mn thaumaseien an
  tis ep' autn toutn malista to polychronion ts en t
  gastri diatribs ou tn sitin monon alla kai tou
  pomatos; ou gar, hoper an oithei tis, hs to ts
  gastros stoma to kat stenon hikans hyparchon ouden
  parisi prin akribs leithnai, tout' aition onts
  esti. polla goun pollakis oprn osta megista
  katapinousi || pampolloi kai tis daktylion chrysoun en        154
  t stomati phylattn akn katepie kai allos tis nomisma
  kai allos allo ti sklron kai dyskatergaston, all' homs
  hapantes houtoi rhadis apepatsan, ha katepion, oudenos
  autois akolouthsantos symptmatos. ei de g' h stenots
  tou porou ts gastros aitia tou menein epi pleon n tois
  atriptois sitiois, ouden an toutn pote diechrsen.
  alla kai to ta pomat' autois en t gastri paramenein epi
  pleiston hikanon apagein tn hyponoian tou porou ts
  stenottos; hols gar, eiper n en t kechylsthai to
  thatton hypienai, ta te rhophmat' an hout kai to gala
  kai ho ts ptisans chylos autika diexei pasin. all'
  ouch hd' echei; tois men gar asthenesin epi pleiston
  emplei tauta kai klydnas ergazetai paramenonta kai
  thlibei kai barynei tn gastera, tois d' ischyrois ou
  monon toutn ouden symbainei, alla kai poly plthos
  artn kai kren hypochrei taches.

  Ou monon d' ek tou peritetasthai tn gastera kai
  barynesthai || kai metarrhein allot' eis alla mer meta       155
  klydnos to paramenein epi pleon en aut pants tois
  houts echousi tekmrait' an tis alla kak tn emetn;
  enioi gar ou meta treis hras  tettaras alla nyktn d
  mesn pampollou metaxy chronou dielthontos epi tais
  prosphorais anmesan akribs hapanta ta eddesmena.

  Kai men d kai zon hotioun emplsas hygras trophs,
  hsper hmeis pollakis epi syn epeirathmen ex aleurn
  meth' hydatos hoion kykena tina dontes autois, epeita
  meta treis pou kai tettaras hras anatemontes, ei hout
  kai sy praxeias, heurseis eti kata tn gastera ta
  eddesmena; peras gar autois esti ts entautha mons
  ouch h chylsis, hn kai ektos eti ontn mchansasthai
  dynaton estin, all' h pepsis, heteron ti ts chylses
  ousa, kathaper haimatsis te kai threpsis. hs gar
  kakeina dedeiktai poiottn metabol gignomena, ton
  auton tropon kai h en t gastri pepsis tn sitin eis
  tn oikeian esti t trephomen poiotta || metabol kai       156
  hotan ge pephth teles, anoignytai men tnikauta to
  kat stoma, diekpiptei d' autou ta sitia rhadis, ei kai
  plthos ti meth' heautn echonta tychoi lithn  ostn 
  gigartn  tinos allou chylthnai m dynamenou. kai soi
  tout' enestin epi zou theasasthai stochasamen ton
  kairon ts kat diexodou. kai men ge kai ei sphaleis
  pote tou kairou kai mden mp kat parerchoito
  pettomenn eti kata tn gastera tn sitin, oud' houts
  akarpos h anatom soi gensetai; theas gar ep' autn,
  hoper olig prosthen elegomen, akribs men memykota ton
  pylron, hapasan de tn gastera periestalmenn tois
  sitiois tropon homoiotaton, hoionper kai hai mtrai tois
  kyoumenois. ou gar estin oudepote kenn heurein chran
  oute kata tas hysteras oute kata tn koilian oute kata
  tas kysteis amphoteras oute kata tn choldochon
  onomazomenn oute tn heteran; all' eit' oligon ei to
  periechomenon en autais eite poly, mestai kai plreis
  autn hai koiliai phainontai peristellomenn aei tn
  chitnn tois periechomenois, hotan ge kata physin ech
  to zon. ||                                                   157

  Erasistratos d' ouk oid' hops tn peristoln ts
  gastros hapantn aitian apophainei kai ts leises tn
  sitin kai ts tn perittmatn hypochrses kai ts
  tn kechylmenn anadoses.

  Eg men gar myriakis epi zntos eti tou zou dieln to
  peritonaion heuron aei ta men entera panta
  peristellomena tois enyparchousi, tn koilian d' ouch
  hapls, all' epi men tais eddais anthen te kai
  katthen auta kai pantachothen akribs perieilphuian
  akinton, hs dokein hnsthai kai peripephykenai tois
  sitiois; en de tout kai ton pylron heuriskon aei
  memykota kai kekleismenon akribs hsper to tn hystern
  stoma tais enkymosin.

  Epi mentoi tais pepsesi sympeplrmenais anekto men ho
  pylros, h gastr de peristaltiks ekineito paraplsis
  tois enterois.


                             V

Thus all these facts agree that the stomach, uterus, and bladders
possess certain inborn faculties which are retentive of their own
proper qualities and eliminative of those that are foreign. For it has
been already shown[323] that the bladder by the liver draws bile into
itself, while it is also quite obvious that it eliminates this daily
into the stomach. Now, of course, if the eliminative were to succeed
the attractive faculty and there were not a _retentive_ faculty
between the two, there would be found, on every occasion that animals
were dissected, an equal quantity of bile in the gall-bladder. This
however, we do not find. For the bladder is sometimes observed to be
very full, sometimes quite empty, while at other times you find in it
various intermediate degrees of fulness, just as is the case with the
other bladder--that which receives the urine; for even without
resorting to anatomy we may observe that the urinary bladder continues
to collect urine up to the time that it becomes uncomfortable through
the increasing quantity of urine or the irritation caused by its
acidity--the presumption thus being that here, too, there is a
retentive faculty.

Similarly, too, the stomach, when, as often happens, it is irritated
by acidity, gets rid of the food, although still undigested, earlier
than proper; or again, when oppressed by the quantity of its contents,
or disordered from the co-existence of both conditions, it is seized
with _diarrhoea_. _Vomiting_ also is an affection of the upper [part
of the] stomach analogous to diarrhoea, and it occurs when the stomach
is overloaded or is unable to stand the quality of the food or surplus
substances which it contains. Thus, when such a condition develops in
the lower parts of the stomach, while the parts about the inlet are
normal, it ends in diarrhoea, whereas if this condition is in the
upper stomach, the lower parts being normal, it ends in vomiting.


                        V

  Hapant' oun alllois homologei tauta kai t gastri kai
  tais hysterais kai tais kystesin einai tinas emphytous
  dynameis kathektikas men tn oikein poiottn, ||            158
  apokritikas de tn allotrin. hoti men gar helkei tn
  choln eis heautn h epi t hpati kystis, emprosthen
  dedeiktai, hoti de kai apokrinei kath' hekastn hmeran
  eis tn gastera, kai tout' enargs phainetai. kai mn ei
  diedecheto tn helktikn dynamin h ekkritik kai m
  mes tis amphoin n h kathektik, dia pantos echrn
  anatemnomenn tn zn ison plthos chols heuriskesthai
  kata tn kystin; ou mn heurisketai ge. pote men gar
  plrestat, pote de kenotat, pote de tas en t metaxy
  diaphoras echousa thereitai, kathaper kai h hetera
  kystis h to ouron hypodechomen. tauts men ge kai pro
  ts anatoms aisthanometha, prin aniathnai t plthei
  baryntheisan  t drimytti dchtheisan, athroizouss
  eti to ouron, hs ouss tinos kantautha dynames
  kathektiks.

  Hout de kai h gastr hypo drimyttos pollakis
  dchtheisa priaiteron tou deontos apepton eti tn
  trophn apotribetai. authis d' an pote t plthei
  baryntheisa  kai kat' amph synelthonta kaks
  diatetheisa diarrhoiais heal. kai men ge kai hoi
  emetoi, t plthei baryntheiss || auts  tn poiotta       159
  tn en aut sitin te kai perittmatn m pherouss,
  analogon ti tais diarrhoiais pathma ts an gastros
  estin. hotan men gar en tois kat meresin auts h
  toiaut gentai diathesis, errhmenn tn kata ton
  stomachon, eis diarrhoias eteleutsen, hotan d' en tois
  kata to stoma, tn alln eurstountn, eis emetous.


                              VI

This may often be clearly observed in those who are disinclined for
food; when obliged to eat, they have not the strength to swallow, and,
even if they force themselves to do so, they cannot retain the food,
but at once vomit it up. And those especially who have a dislike to
some particular kind of food, sometimes take it under compulsion, and
then promptly bring it up; or, if they force themselves to keep it
down, they are nauseated and feel their stomach turned up, and
endeavouring to relieve itself of its discomfort.

Thus, as was said at the beginning, all the observed facts testify
that there must exist in almost all parts of the animal a certain
inclination towards, or, so to speak; an appetite for their own
special quality, and an aversion to, or, as it were, a hatred[324] of
the foreign quality. And it is natural that when they feel an
inclination they should attract, and that when they feel aversion they
should expel.

From these facts, then, again, both the attractive and the propulsive
faculties have been demonstrated to exist in everything.[325]

But if there be an inclination or attraction, there will also be some
benefit derived; for no existing thing attracts anything else for the
mere sake of attracting, but in order to benefit by what is acquired
by the attraction. And of course it cannot benefit by it if it cannot
retain it. Herein, then, again, the retentive faculty is shown to have
its necessary origin: for the stomach obviously inclines towards its
own proper qualities and turns away from those that are foreign to
it.[326]

But if it aims at and attracts its food and benefits by it while
retaining and contracting upon it, we may also expect that there will
be some _termination_ to the benefit received, and that thereafter
will come the time for the exercise of the eliminative faculty.


                       VI

  Enesti de kai touto pollakis enargs idein epi tn
  apositn; anankazomenoi gar esthiein oute katapinein
  eusthenousin out', ei kai biasainto, katechousin, all'
  euthys anemousi. kai hoi alls de tn edesmatn pros
  hotioun dyscherainontes biasthentes eniote prosarasthai
  taches exemousin,  ei kataschoien biasamenoi,
  nautideis t' eisi kai ts gastros hyptias aisthanontai
  kai speudouss apothesthai to lypoun.

  Houts ex hapantn tn phainomenn, hoper ex archs
  errheth, martyreitai to dein hyparchein tois tou zou
  moriois schedon hapasin ephesin men tina kai hoion
  orexin ts oikeias poiottos, apostrophn de tina || kai      160
  hoion misos ti ts allotrias, all' ephiemena men helkein
  eulogon, apostrephomena d' ekkrinein.

  Kak toutn palin h th' helktik dynamis apodeiknytai
  kath' hapan hyparchousa kai h prostik.

  All' eiper ephesis te tis esti kai helxis, ei an tis
  kai apolausis; ouden gar tn ontn helkei ti di' auto to
  helkein, all' hin' apolaus tou dia ts holks
  euporthentos. kai mn apolauein ou dynatai m
  kataschon. kan tout palin h kathektik dynamis
  apodeiknytai tn genesin anankaian echousa; saphs gar
  ephietai men tn oikein poiottn h gastr,
  apostrephetai de tas allotrias.

  All' eiper ephietai te kai helkei kai apolauei
  katechousa kai peristellomen, ei an ti kai peras aut
  ts apolauses kapi td' ho kairos d ts ekkritiks
  dynames energouss.


                             VII

But if the stomach both retains and benefits by its food, then it
employs it for the end for which it [the stomach] naturally exists.
And it exists to partake of that which is of a quality befitting and
proper to it. Thus it attracts all the most useful parts of the food
in a vaporous[327] and finely divided condition, storing this up in
its own coats, and applying[328] it to them. And when it is
sufficiently full it puts away from it, as one might something
troublesome, the rest of the food, this having itself meanwhile
obtained some profit from its association with the stomach. For it is
impossible for two bodies which are adapted for acting and being acted
upon to come together without either both acting or being acted upon,
or else one acting and the other being acted upon. For if their forces
are equal they will act and be acted upon equally, and if the one be
much superior in strength, it will exert its activity upon its passive
neighbour; thus, while producing a great and appreciable effect, it
will itself be acted upon either little or not at all. But it is
herein also that the main difference lies between nourishing food and
a deleterious drug; the latter masters the forces of the body, whereas
the former is mastered by them.[329]

There cannot, then, be food which is suited for the animal which is
not also correspondingly subdued by the qualities existing in the
animal. And to be subdued means to undergo _alteration_.[330] Now,
some parts are stronger in power and others weaker; therefore, while
all will subdue the nutriment which is proper to the animal, they will
not all do so equally. Thus the stomach will subdue and alter its
food, but not to the same extent as will the liver, veins, arteries,
and heart.

We must therefore observe to what extent it does alter it. The
alteration is more than that which occurs in the mouth, but less than
that in the liver and veins. For the latter alteration changes the
nutriment into the _substance_ of blood, whereas that in the mouth
obviously changes it into a new _form_, but certainly does not
completely transmute it. This you may discover in the food which is
left in the intervals between the teeth, and which remains there all
night; the bread is not exactly bread, nor the meat, for they
have a smell similar to that of the animal's mouth, and have been
disintegrated and dissolved, and have had the qualities of the
animal's flesh impressed upon them. And you may observe the extent of
the alteration which occurs to food in the mouth if you will chew some
corn and then apply it to an unripe [undigested] boil: you will see it
rapidly transmuting--in fact entirely digesting--the boil, though it
cannot do anything of the kind if you mix it with water. And do not
let this surprise you; this phlegm [saliva] in the mouth is also a
cure for _lichens_[331]; it even rapidly destroys scorpions; while, as
regards the animals which emit venom, some it kills at once, and
others after an interval; to all of them in any case it does great
damage. Now, the masticated food is all, firstly, soaked in and mixed
up with this phlegm; and secondly, it is brought into contact with the
actual skin of the mouth; thus it undergoes more change than the food
which is wedged into the vacant spaces between the teeth.

But just as masticated food is more altered than the latter kind, so
is food which has been swallowed more altered than that which has been
merely masticated. Indeed, there is no comparison between these two
processes; we have only to consider what the stomach contains--phlegm,
bile, pneuma, [innate] heat,[332] and, indeed the whole substance of
the stomach. And if one considers along with this the adjacent
viscera, like a lot of burning hearths around a great cauldron--to the
right the liver, to the left the spleen, the heart above, and along
with it the diaphragm (suspended and in a state of constant movement),
and the omentum sheltering them all--you may believe what an
extraordinary alteration it is which occurs in the food taken into the
stomach.

How could it easily become blood if it were not previously prepared by
means of a change of this kind? It has already been shown[333] that
nothing is altered all at once from one quality to its opposite. How
then could bread, beef, beans, or any other food turn into blood if
they had not previously undergone some other alteration? And how could
the faeces be generated right away in the small intestine?[334] For
what is there in this organ more potent in producing alteration than
the factors in the stomach? Is it the number of the coats, or the way
it is surrounded by neighbouring viscera, or the time that the food
remains in it, or some kind of innate heat which it contains? Most
assuredly the intestines have the advantage of the stomach in none of
these respects. For what possible reason, then, will objectors have it
that bread may often remain a whole night in the stomach and still
preserve its original qualities, whereas when once it is projected
into the intestines, it straightway becomes ordure? For, if such a
long period of time is incapable of altering it, neither will the
short period be sufficient, or, if the latter is enough, surely the
longer time will be much more so! Well, then, can it be that, while
the nutriment does undergo an alteration in the stomach, this is a
different kind of alteration and one which is not dependent on the
nature of the organ which alters it? Or if it be an alteration of this
latter kind, yet one perhaps which is not proper to the body of the
animal? This is still more impossible. Digestion was shown to be
nothing else than an alteration to the quality proper to that which is
receiving nourishment.[335] Since, then, this is what digestion means
and since the nutriment has been shown to take on in the stomach a
quality appropriate to the animal which is about to be nourished by
it, it has been demonstrated adequately that nutriment does undergo
digestion in the stomach.

And Asclepiades is absurd when he states that the quality of the
digested food never shows itself either in eructations or in the
vomited matter, or on dissection.[336] For of course the mere fact
that the food smells of the body shows that it has undergone gastric
digestion. But this man is so foolish that, when he hears the Ancients
saying that the food is converted in the stomach into something
"good," he thinks it proper to look out not for what is good in its
possible effects, but for what is _good to the taste_: this is like
saying that apples (for so one has to argue with him) become more
apple-like [in flavour] in the stomach, or honey more honey-like!

Erasistratus, however, is still more foolish and absurd, either
through not perceiving in what sense the Ancients said that digestion
is similar to the process of _boiling_, or because he purposely
confused himself with sophistries. It is, he says, inconceivable that
digestion, involving as it does such trifling warmth, should be
related to the boiling process. This is as if we were to suppose that
it was necessary to put the fires of Etna under the stomach before it
could manage to alter the food; or else that, while it was capable of
altering the food, it did not do this by virtue of its innate heat,
which of course was moist, so that the word _boil_ was used instead of
_bake_.

What he ought to have done, if it was facts that he wished to dispute
about, was to have tried to show, first and foremost, that the food is
not transmuted or altered in quality by the stomach at all, and
secondly, if he could not be confident of this, he ought to have tried
to show that this alteration was not of any advantage to the
animal.[337] If, again, he were unable even to make this
misrepresentation, he ought to have attempted to confute the postulate
concerning _the active principles_--to show, in fact, that the
functions taking place in the various parts do not depend on the way
in which the Warm, Cold, Dry, and Moist are mixed, but on some other
factor. And if he had not the audacity to misrepresent facts even so
far as this, still he should have tried at least to show that the Warm
is not the most active of all the principles which play a part in
things governed by Nature. But if he was unable to demonstrate this
any more than any of the previous propositions, then he ought not to
have made himself ridiculous by quarrelling uselessly with a mere
name--as though Aristotle had not clearly stated in the fourth book of
his "Meteorology," as well as in many other passages, in what way
digestion can be said to be allied to boiling, and also that the
latter expression is not used in its primitive or strict sense.

But, as has been frequently said already,[338] the one starting-point
of all this is a thoroughgoing enquiry into the question of the Warm,
Cold, Dry and Moist; this Aristotle carried out in the second of his
books "On Genesis and Destruction," where he shows that all the
transmutations and alterations throughout the body take place as a
result of these principles. Erasistratus, however, advanced nothing
against these or anything else that has been said above, but occupied
himself merely with the word "boiling."


                      VII

  All' ei kai katechei kai apolauei, katachrtai pros ho
  pephyke. pephyke de tou proskontos heaut || kata            161
  poiotta kai oikeiou metalambanein; hsth' helkei tn
  sitin hoson chrstotaton atmds te kai kata brachy kai
  touto tois heauts chitsin enapotithetai te kai
  prostithsin. hotan d' hikans emplsth, kathaper
  achthos ti tn loipn apotithetai trophn eschkuian ti
  chrston d kai autn ek ts pros tn gastera
  koinnias; oude gar endechetai dyo smata dran kai
  paschein epitdeia synelthonta m ouk toi paschein th'
  hama kai dran  thateron men dran, thateron de paschein.
  ean men gar isaz tais dynamesin, ex isou drasei te kai
  peisetai, an d' hyperech poly kai krat thateron,
  energsei peri to paschon; hste drasei mega men ti kai
  aisthton, auto d' toi smikron ti kai ouk aisthton 
  pantapasin ouden peisetai. all' en tout d kai malista
  dinenke pharmakou dltriou troph; to men gar kratei
  ts en t smati dynames, h de krateitai.

  Oukoun endechetai trophn men einai ti t z
  proskousan, ou mn kai krateisthai g' homois pros tn
  || en t z poiottn; to krateisthai d' n                  162
  alloiousthai. all' epei ta men ischyrotera tais
  dynamesin esti moria, ta d' asthenestera, kratsei men
  panta ts oikeias t z trophs, ouch homois de panta;
  kratsei d' ara kai h gastr kai alloisei men tn
  trophn, ou mn homois hpati kai phlepsi kai artriais
  kai kardia.

  Poson oun estin, ho alloioi, kai d theasmetha; pleon
  men  kata to stoma, meion d'  kata to hpar te kai tas
  phlebas. haut men gar h alloisis eis haimatos ousian
  agei tn trophn, h d' en t stomati methistsi men
  autn enargs eis heteron eidos, ou mn eis telos ge
  metakosmei. mathois d' an epi tn enkataleiphthentn
  tais diastasesi tn odontn sitin kai katameinantn di'
  hols nyktos; oute gar artos akribs ho artos oute kreas
  esti to kreas, all' ozei men toiouton, hoionper kai tou
  zou to stoma, dialelytai de kai diatetke kai tas en t
  z ts sarkos apomemaktai poiottas. enesti de soi
  theasasthai to megethos ts en t stomati || tn sitin       163
  alloises, ei pyrous massamenos epitheis apeptois
  dothisin; opsei gar autous tachista metaballontas te
  kai sympettontas, ouden toiouton, hotan hydati
  phyrathsin, ergasasthai dynamenous. kai m thaumass;
  to gar toi phlegma touti to kata to stoma kai leichnn
  estin akos kai skorpious anairei parachrma kai polla
  tn ioboln thrin ta men euthes apokteinei, ta d' es
  hysteron; hapanta goun blaptei megals. alla ta
  memasmena sitia prton men tout t phlegmati bebrektai
  te kai pephyratai, deuteron de kai t chrti tou
  stomatos hapanta peplsiaken, hste pleiona metaboln
  eilphe tn en tais kenais chrais tn odontn
  esphnmenn.

  All' hoson ta memasmena toutn epi pleon lloitai,
  tosouton ekeinn ta katapothenta. m gar oude parablton
   to ts hyperbols, ei to kata tn koilian ennosaimen
  phlegma kai choln kai pneuma kai thermasian kai holn
  tn ousian ts gastros. ei de kai synepinosais aut ta
  parakeimena || splanchna kathaper tini lebti megal          164
  pyros hestias pollas, ek dexin men to hpar, ex
  aristern de ton splna, tn kardian d' ek tn an, syn
  aut de kai tas phrenas airoumenas te kai dia pantos
  kinoumenas, eph' hapasi de toutois skepon to epiploon,
  exaision tina peisths tn alloisin gignesthai tn eis
  tn gastera katapothentn sitin.

  Ps d' an dynato rhadis haimatousthai m
  proparaskeuasthenta t toiaut metabol? dedeiktai gar
  oun kai prosthen, hs ouden eis tn enantian athros
  methistatai poiotta. ps oun ho artos haima gignetai,
  ps de to teutlon  ho kyamos  ti tn alln, ei m
  proteron tin' heteran alloisin edexato? ps d' h
  kopros en tois leptois enterois athros gennthsetai?
  ti gar en toutois sphodroteron eis alloisin esti tn
  kata tn gastera? potera tn chitnn to plthos  tn
  geitnintn splanchnn h perithesis  ts mons ho
  chronos  symphytos tis en tois organois thermasia? kai
  mn kat' ouden toutn pleonektei ta entera ts gastros.
  ti pot' oun en men t gastri nyktos || hols pollakis         165
  meinanta ton arton eti phylattesthai boulontai tas
  archaias diaszonta poiottas, epeidan d' hapax empes
  tois enterois, euthys gignesthai kopron? ei men gar ho
  tosoutos chronos adynatos alloioun, oud' ho brachys
  hikanos; ei d' houtos autarks, ps ou poly mallon ho
  makros? ar' oun alloioutai men h troph kata tn
  koilian, alln de tin' alloisin kai ouch hoian ek ts
  physes ischei tou metaballontos organou?  tautn men,
  ou mn tn g' oikeian t tou zou smati? makr tout'
  adynatteron esti. kai mn ouk allo g' n h pepsis 
  alloisis eis tn oikeian tou trephomenou poiotta.
  eiper oun h pepsis tout' esti kai h troph kata tn
  gastera dedeiktai dechomen poiotta t mellonti pros
  auts threpsesthai z proskousan, hikans apodedeiktai
  to pettesthai kata tn gastera tn trophn.

  Kai geloios men Asklpiads out' en tais erygais legn
  emphainesthai pote tn poiotta tn pephthentn sitin
  out' en tois emetois out' en tais ana||tomais; auto gar       166
  d to tou smatos exozein auta ts koilias esti to
  pepephthai. ho d' houts estin euths, hst', epeid
  tn palain akouei legontn epi to chrston en t gastri
  metaballein ta sitia, dokimazei ztein ou to kata
  dynamin alla to kata geusin chrston, hsper  tou mlou
  mldesterou--chr gar houts aut
  dialegesthai--gignomenou kata tn koilian  tou melitos
  melitdesterou.

  Poly d' euthesteros esti kai geloioteros ho
  Erasistratos  m non, hops eirtai pros tn palain
  h pepsis hepssei paraplsios hyparchein,  hekn
  sophizomenos heauton. hepssei men oun, phsin, houts
  elaphran echousan thermasian ouk eikos einai paraplsian
  tn pepsin, hsper  tn Aitnn deon hypotheinai t
  gastri  alls auts alloisai ta sitia m dynamens 
  dynamens men alloioun, ou kata tn emphyton de
  thermasian, hygran ousan dlonoti kai dia touth' hepsein
  ouk optan eirmenn.

  Echrn d' auton, eiper peri pragmatn antilegein
  ebouleto, peirathnai deixai malista men kai || prton,       167
  hs oude metaballei tn archn oud' alloioutai kata
  poiotta pros ts gastros ta sitia, deuteron d', eiper
  m hoios t' n touto pistsasthai, to tn alloisin
  autn achrston einai t z; ei de mde tout' eiche
  diaballein, exelenxai tn peri tas drastikas archas
  hypolpsin kai deixai tas energeias en tois moriois ou
  dia tn ek thermou kai psychrou kai xrou kai hygrou
  poian krasin hyparchein alla di' allo ti; ei de mde
  tout' etolma diaballein, all' hoti ge m to thermon
  estin en tois hypo physes dioikoumenois to tn alln
  drastiktaton.  ei mte touto mte tn alln ti tn
  emprosthen eichen apodeiknynai, m lrein onomati
  prospalaionta matn, hsper ou saphs Aristotelous en t'
  allois pollois kan t tetart tn meterologikn hops
  h pepsis hepssei paraplsios einai legetai, kai hoti
  m prts mde kyris onomazontn, eirkotos.

  All', hs d lelektai pollakis, arch toutn hapantn
  esti mia to peri thermou kai psychrou kai xrou kai
  hygrou diaskepsasthai, kathaper Aristotels epoisen en
  t deuter peri geneses kai phthoras, apo||deixas            168
  hapasas tas kata ta smata metabolas kai alloiseis hypo
  toutn gignesthai. all' Erasistratos oute toutois out'
  all tini tn proeirmenn anteipn epi tounoma monon
  etrapeto ts hepsses.


                            VIII

Thus, as regards _digestion_, even though he neglected everything
else, he did at least attempt to prove his point--namely, that
digestion in animals differs from boiling carried on outside; in
regard to the question of _deglutition_, however, he did not go even
so far as this. What are his words?

"The stomach does not appear to exercise any traction."[339]

Now the fact is that the stomach possesses two coats, which certainly
exist for some purpose; they extend as far as the mouth, the internal
one remaining throughout similar to what it is in the stomach, and the
other one tending to become of a more fleshy nature in the gullet. Now
simple observation will testify that these coats have their fibres
inserted in contrary directions.[340] And, although Erasistratus did
not attempt to say for what reason they are like this, I am going to
do so.

The inner coat has its fibres straight, since it exists for the
purpose of traction. The outer coat has its fibres transverse, for the
purpose of peristalsis.[341] In fact, the movements of each of the
_mobile_ organs of the body depend on the setting of the fibres. Now
please test this assertion first in the muscles themselves; in these
the fibres are most distinct, and their movements visible owing to
their vigour. And after the muscles, pass to the _physical_
organs,[342] and you will see that they all move in correspondence
with their fibres. This is why the fibres throughout the intestines
are circular in both coats--they only contract peristaltically, they
do not exercise traction. The stomach, again, has some of its fibres
longitudinal for the purpose of traction and the others transverse for
the purpose of peristalsis.[342] For just as the movements in the
muscles[343] take place when each of the fibres becomes tightened and
drawn towards its origin, such also is what happens in the stomach;
when the transverse fibres tighten, the breadth of the cavity
contained by them becomes less; and when the longitudinal fibres
contract and draw in upon themselves, the length must necessarily be
curtailed. This curtailment of length, indeed, is well seen in the act
of swallowing: the larynx is seen to rise upwards to exactly the same
degree that the gullet is drawn downwards; while, after the process of
swallowing has been completed and the gullet is released from tension,
the larynx can be clearly seen to sink down again. This is because the
inner coat of the stomach, which has the longitudinal fibres and which
also lines the gullet and the mouth, extends to the interior of the
larynx, and it is thus impossible for it to be drawn down by the
stomach without the larynx being involved in the traction.

Further, it will be found acknowledged in Erasistratus's own writings
that the circular fibres (by which the stomach as well as other parts
performs its contractions) do not curtail its length, but contract and
lessen its breadth. For he says that the stomach contracts
peristaltically round the food during the whole period of digestion.
But if it contracts, without in any way being diminished in length,
this is because downward traction of the gullet is not a property of
the movement of circular peristalsis. For what alone happens, as
Erasistratus himself said, is that when the upper parts contract the
lower ones dilate.[344] And everyone knows that this can be plainly
seen happening even in a dead man, if water be poured down his throat;
this symptom[345] results from the passage of matter through a narrow
channel; it would be extraordinary it the channel did not dilate when
a mass was passing through it.[346] Obviously then the dilatation of
the lower parts along with the contraction of the upper is common both
to dead bodies, when anything whatsoever is passing through them, and
to living ones, whether they contract peristaltically round their
contents or attract them.[347]

Curtailment of length, on the other hand, is peculiar to organs which
possess longitudinal fibres for the purpose of attraction. But the
gullet was shown to be pulled down; for otherwise it would not have
drawn upon the larynx. It is therefore clear that the stomach attracts
food by the gullet.

Further, in _vomiting_, the mere passive conveyance of rejected matter
up to the mouth will certainly itself suffice to keep open those parts
of the oesophagus which are distended by the returned food; as it
occupies each part in front [above], it first dilates this, and of
course leaves the part behind [below] contracted. Thus, in this
respect at least, the condition of the gullet is precisely similar to
what it is in the act of swallowing.[348] But there being no
_traction_, the whole length remains equal in such cases.

And for this reason it is easier to swallow than to vomit, for
deglutition results from _both_ coats of the stomach being brought
into action, the inner one exerting a pull and the outer one helping
by peristalsis and propulsion, whereas emesis occurs from the outer
coat alone functioning, without there being any kind of pull towards
the mouth. For, although the swallowing of food is ordinarily preceded
by a feeling of desire on the part of the stomach, there is in the
case of vomiting no corresponding desire from the mouth-parts for the
experience; the two are opposite dispositions of the stomach itself;
it yearns after and tends towards what is advantageous and proper to
it, it loathes and rids itself of what is foreign. Thus the actual
process of swallowing occurs very quickly in those who have a good
appetite for such foods as are proper to the stomach; this organ
obviously draws them in and down before they are masticated; whereas
in the case of those who are forced to take a medicinal draught or who
take food as medicine, the swallowing of these articles is
accomplished with distress and difficulty.

From what has been said, then, it is clear that the inner coat of the
stomach (that containing longitudinal fibres) exists for the purpose
of exerting a pull from mouth to stomach, and that it is only in
deglutition that it is active, whereas the external coat, which
contains transverse fibres, has been so constituted in order that it
may contract upon its contents and propel them forward; this coat
furthermore, functions in vomiting no less than in swallowing. The
truth of my statement is also borne out by what happens in the case of
the _channae_ and _synodonts_[349]; the stomachs of these animals are
sometimes found in their mouths, as also Aristotle writes in his
_History of Animals_; he also adds the cause of this: he says that it
is owing to their voracity.

The facts are as follows. In all animals, when the appetite is very
intense, the stomach rises up, so that some people who have a clear
perception of this condition say that their stomach "creeps out" of
them; in others, who are still masticating their food and have not yet
worked it up properly in the mouth, the stomach obviously snatches
away the food from them against their will. In those animals,
therefore, which are naturally voracious, in whom the mouth cavity is
of generous proportions, and the stomach situated close to it (as in
the case of the synodont and channa), it is in no way surprising that,
when they are sufficiently hungry and are pursuing one of the smaller
animals, and are just on the point of catching it, the stomach should,
under the impulse of desire, spring into the mouth. And this cannot
possibly take place in any other way than by the stomach drawing the
food to itself by means of the gullet, as though by a hand. In fact,
just as we ourselves, in our eagerness to grasp more quickly something
lying before us, sometimes stretch out our whole bodies along with our
hands, so also the stomach stretches itself forward along with the
gullet, which is, as it were, its hand. And thus, in these animals in
whom those three factors co-exist--an excessive propensity for food, a
small gullet, and ample mouth proportions--in these, any slight
tendency to movement forwards brings the whole stomach into the mouth.

Now the constitution of the organs might itself suffice to give a
naturalist an indication of their functions. For Nature would never
have purposelessly constructed the oesophagus of two coats with
contrary dispositions; they must also have each been meant to have a
different action. The Erasistratean school, however, are capable of
anything rather than of recognizing the effects of Nature. Come,
therefore, let us demonstrate to them by animal dissection as well
that each of the two coats does exercise the activity which I have
stated. Take an animal, then; lay bare the structures surrounding the
gullet, without severing any of the nerves,[350] arteries, or veins
which are there situated; next divide with vertical incisions, from
the lower jaw to the thorax, the outer coat of the oesophagus (that
containing transverse fibres); then give the animal food and you will
see that it still swallows although the peristaltic function has been
abolished. If, again, in another animal, you cut through both
coats[351] with transverse incisions, you will observe that this
animal also swallows although the inner coat is no longer functioning.
From this it is clear that the animal can also swallow by either of
the two coats, although not so well as by both. For the following
also, in addition to other points, may be distinctly observed in the
dissection which I have described--that during deglutition the gullet
becomes slightly filled with air which is swallowed along with the
food, and that, when the outer coat is contracting, this air is easily
forced with the food into the stomach, but that, when there only
exists an inner coat, the air impedes the conveyance of food, by
distending this coat and hindering its action.

But Erasistratus said nothing about this, nor did he point out that
the oblique situation of the gullet clearly confutes the teaching of
those who hold that it is simply by virtue of the impulse from above
that food which is swallowed reaches the stomach. The only correct
thing he said was that many of the long-necked animals bend down to
swallow. Hence, clearly, the observed fact does not show how we
swallow but how we do not swallow. For from this observation it is
clear that swallowing is not due merely to the impulse from above; it
is yet, however, not clear whether it results from the food being
attracted by the stomach, or conducted by the gullet. For our part,
however, having enumerated all the different considerations--those
based on the constitution of the organs, as well as those based on the
other symptoms which, as just mentioned, occur both before and after
the gullet has been exposed--we have thus sufficiently proved that the
inner coat exists for the purpose of attraction and the outer for the
purpose of propulsion.

Now the original task we set before ourselves was to demonstrate that
the _retentive_ faculty exists in every one of the organs, just as in
the previous book we proved the existence of the _attractive_, and,
over and above this, the _alterative_ faculty. Thus, in the natural
course of our argument, we have demonstrated these four faculties
existing in the stomach--the attractive faculty in connection with
swallowing, the retentive with digestion, the expulsive with vomiting
and with the descent of digested food into the small intestine--and
digestion itself we have shown to be a process of _alteration_.


                     VIII

  Epi men oun ts pepses, ei kai talla panta parelipe, to
  goun hoti diapherei ts ektos hepsses h en tois zois
  pepsis, epeirath deiknynai, peri de ts kataposes oud'
  achri tosoutou. ti gar phsin?

  "Holk men oun ts koilias oudemia phainetai einai."

  Kai mn dyo chitnas h gastr echei pants heneka tou
  gegonotas kai dikousin houtoi mechri tou stomatos, ho
  men endon, hoios esti kata tn gastera, toioutos
  diamenn, ho d' heteros epi to sarkdesteron en t
  stomach trepomenos. hoti men oun enantias alllais tas
  epibolas tn inn echousin hoi chitnes houtoi, to
  phainomenon auto martyrei. tinos d' heneka toioutoi
  gegonasin, Erasistratos men oud' epecheirsen eipein,
  hmeis d' eroumen.

  Ho men endon eutheias echei tas inas, holks gar heneka
  ge||gonen; ho d' exthen enkarsias hyper tou kata kyklon      169
  peristellesthai; hekast gar tn kinoumenn organn en
  tois smasi kata tas tn inn theseis hai kinseis
  eisin. ep' autn de prton tn myn, ei boulei,
  basanison ton logon, eph' hn kai hai ines enargestatai
  kai hai kinseis autn horntai dia sphodrotta. meta de
  tous mys epi ta physika tn organn ithi kai pant' opsei
  kata tas inas kinoumena kai dia touth' hekast men tn
  entern strongylai kath' hekateron tn chitnn hai ines
  eisi; peristellontai gar monon, helkousi d' ouden. h
  gastr de tn inn tas men eutheias echei charin holks,
  tas d' enkarsias heneka peristols; hsper gar en tois
  mysin hekasts tn inn teinomens te kai pros tn
  archn helkomens hai kinseis gignontai, kata ton auton
  logon kan t gastri; tn men oun enkarsin inn
  teinomenn elatton anank gignesthai to euros ts
  periechomens hyp' autn koilottos, tn d' euthein
  helkomenn te kai eis heautas synagomenn ouk endechetai
  m ou synaireisthai to mkos. alla mn || enargs ge          170
  phainetai katapinontn synairoumenon kai tosouton ho
  larynx anatrechn, hoson ho stomachos kataspatai, kai
  hotan ge symplrtheiss ts en t katapinein energeias
  apheth ts tases ho stomachos, enargs palin phainetai
  katapheromenos ho larynx; ho gar endon chitn ts
  gastros ho tas eutheias inas echn ho kai ton stomachon
  hypaleiphn kai to stoma tois entos meresin epekteinetai
  tou laryngos, hst' ouk endechetai kataspmenon auton
  hypo ts koilias m ou synepispasthai kai ton larynga.

  Hoti d' hai periphereis ines, hais peristelletai ta t'
  alla moria kai h gastr, ou synairousi to mkos, alla
  systellousi kai stenousi tn eurytta, kai par' autou
  labein estin homologoumenon Erasistratou;
  peristellesthai gar phsi tois sitiois tn gastera kata
  ton ts pepses hapanta chronon. all' ei peristelletai
  men, ouden de tou mkous aphaireitai ts koilias, ouk
  esti ts peristaltiks kinses idion to kataspan kat
  ton stomachon. hoper gar autos ho Erasistratos eipe,
  touto monon auto symbsetai to tn an systel||lomenn        171
  diastellesthai ta kat. touto d' hoti, kan eis nekrou
  ton stomachon hydatos enches, phainetai gignomenon,
  oudeis agnoei. tais gar tn hyln dia stenou smatos
  hodoiporiais akolouthon esti to symptma; thaumaston
  gar, ei dierchomenou tinos auton onkou m diastalsetai.
  oukoun to men tn an systellomenn diastellesthai ta
  kat koinon esti kai tois nekrois smasi, di' hn
  hopsoun ti diexerchetai, kai tois zsin, eite
  peristelloito tois dierchomenois eith' helkoito.

  To de ts tou mkous synaireses idion tn tas eutheias
  inas echontn organn, hin' epispasntai ti. alla mn
  edeichth kataspmenos ho stomachos, ou gar an heilke
  ton larynga; dlon oun, hs h gastr helkei ta sitia
  dia tou stomachou.

  Kai h kata ton emeton de tn emoumenn achri tou
  stomatos phora pants men pou kai aut ta men hypo tn
  anapheromenn diateinomena mer tou stomachou diestta
  kekttai, tn pros d' ho ti an hekastot' epilambantai,
  tout' archomenon diastelletai, to d' || opisthen              172
  kataleipei dlonoti systellomenon, hsth' homoian einai
  pant tn diathesin tou stomachou kata ge touto t tn
  katapinontn; alla ts holks m parouss to mkos holon
  ison en tois toioutois symptmasi diaphylattetai.

  Dia touto de kai katapinein rhaon estin  emein, hoti
  katapinetai men amphoin ts gastros tn chitnn
  energountn, tou men entos helkontos, tou d' ektos
  peristellomenou te kai synepthountos, emeitai de
  thaterou monou tou exthen energountos, oudenos
  helkontos eis to stoma. ou gar d hsper h ts gastros
  orexis progeito tou katapinein ta sitia, ton auton
  tropon kan tois emetois epithymei ti tn kata to stoma
  morin tou gignomenou pathmatos, all' amph ts gastros
  auts eisin enantiai diatheseis, oregomens men kai
  prosiemens ta chrsima te kai oikeia, dyscherainouss
  de kai apotribomens ta allotria. dio kai to katapinein
  auto tois men hikans oregomenois tn oikein edesmatn
  t gastri tachista gignetai, saphs helkouss auta kai
  kataspss prin  masthnai, tois d' toi pharmakon ti
  kat' anan||kn pinousin  sition en chra pharmakou           173
  prospheromenois aniara kai mogis h kataposis autn
  epiteleitai.

  Dlos oun estin ek tn eirmenn ho men endon chitn ts
  gastros ho tas eutheias echn inas ts ek tou stomatos
  eis autn holks heneka gegons kai dia tout' en tais
  kataposesi monais energn, ho d' exthen ho tas
  enkarsias echn heneka men tou peristellesthai tois
  enyparchousi kai prothein auta toioutos apotelestheis,
  energn d' ouden htton en tois emetois  tais
  kataposesin. enargestata de martyrei t legomen kai to
  kata tas channas te kai tous synodontas gignomenon;
  heurisketai gar eniote toutn h gastr en t stomati
  kathaper kai ho Aristotels en tais peri zn egrapsen
  historiais kai prostithsi ge tn aitian hypo laimargias
  autois touto symbainein phaskn.

  Echei gar hde; kata tas sphodroteras orexeis an
  prostrechei pasi tois zois h gastr, hste tines tou
  pathous aisthsin enarg schontes exerpein hautois phasi
  tn koilian, enin de masmenn eti kai mp || kals en      174
  t stomati ta sitia katergasamenn exarpazei phaners
  akontn. eph' hn oun zn physei laimargn hyparchontn
  h t' eurychria tou stomatos esti dapsils h te ts
  gastros thesis engys, hs epi synodontos te kai channs,
  ouden thaumaston, hotan hikans peinasanta dik ti tn
  mikrotern zn, eit' d plsion  tou syllabein,
  anatrechein epeigouss ts epithymias eis to stoma tn
  gastera. genesthai d' alls amchanon touto m ouch
  hsper dia cheiros tou stomachou ts gastros epispmens
  eis heautn ta sitia. kathaper gar kai hmeis hypo
  prothymias eniote t cheiri synepekteinomen holous hmas
  autous heneka tou thatton epidraxasthai tou prokeimenou
  smatos, hout kai h gastr hoion cheiri t stomach
  synepekteinetai. kai dia tout' eph' hn zn hama ta
  tria tauti synepesen, ephesis te sphodra ts trophs ho
  te stomachos mikros h t' eurychria tou stomatos
  dapsils, epi toutn olig rhop ts epektases eis to
  stoma tn koilian holn anapherei.

  rkei men oun iss andri physik par' auts mons ts
  kataskeus tn orga||nn tn endeixin ts energeias           175
  lambanein. ou gar d matn g' an h physis ek dyoin
  chitnn enantis alllois echontn apeirgasato ton
  oisophagon, ei m kai diaphors hekateros autn energein
  emellen. all' epei panta mallon  ta ts physes erga
  diagignskein hoi peri ton Erasistraton eisin hikanoi,
  phere kak ts tn zn anatoms epideixmen autois, hs
  hekateros tn chitnn energei tn eirmenn energeian.
  ei d ti labn zon, eita gymnsas autou ta perikeimena
  t stomach smata chris tou diatemein tina tn neurn
   tn artrin  tn phlebn tn autothi tetagmenn
  ethelois apo ts genyos hes tou thrakos eutheiais
  tomais dielein ton ex chitna ton tas enkarsias inas
  echonta kapeita t z trophn prosenenkois, opsei
  katapinon auto kaitoi ts peristaltiks energeias
  apolluias. ei d' au palin eph' heterou zou diatemois
  amphoterous tous chitnas tomais enkarsiais, theas kai
  touto katapinon ouket' energountos tou entos. h dlon,
  hoti kai dia thaterou men autn katapinein hoion t'
  estin, || alla cheiron  di' amphotern. pros gar au          176
  tois allois kai tout' esti theasasthai saphs epi ts
  eirmens anatoms, hs en t katapinein hypopimplatai
  pneumatos ho stomachos tou synkatapinomenou tois
  sitiois, ho peristellomenou men tou exthen chitnos
  theitai rhadis eis tn gastera syn tois edesmasi,
  monou de tou endon hyparchontos empodn histatai t
  phora tn sitin diateinon t' auton kai tn energeian
  empodizon.

  All' oute toutn ouden Erasistratos eipen outh' hs h
  skolia thesis tou stomachou diaballei saphs to dogma
  tn nomizontn hypo ts anthen bols mons podgoumena
  mechri ts gastros ienai ta katapinomena. monon d' hoti
  polla tn makrotrachln zn epikekyphota katapinei,
  kals eipen. h dlon, hoti to phainomenon ou to ps
  katapinomen apodeiknysin, alla to ps ou katapinomen;
  hoti gar m dia mons ts anthen bols, ek toutou
  dlon; ou mn eith' helkouss ts koilias eite
  paragontos auta tou stomachou, dlon d p. all' hmeis
  ge || pantas tous logismous eipontes tous t' ek ts           177
  kataskeus tn organn hormmenous kai tous apo tn
  alln symptmatn tn te pro tou gymnthnai ton
  stomachon kai gymnthentos, hs olig prosthen elegomen,
  hikans enedeixametha tou men helkein heneka ton entos
  chitna, tou d' apthein ton ektos gegonenai.

  Prouthemetha men oun apodeixai tn kathektikn dynamin
  en hekast tn organn ousan, hsper en t prosthen log
  tn helktikn te kai proseti tn alloitikn. hypo de
  ts akolouthias tou logou tas tettaras apedeixamen
  hyparchousas t gastri, tn helktikn men en t
  katapinein, tn kathektikn d' en t pettein, tn
  apstikn d' en tois emetois kai tais tn pepemmenn
  sitin eis to lepton enteron hypochrsesin, autn de
  tn pepsin alloisin hyparchein.


                            IX

Concerning the spleen, also, we shall therefore have no further
doubts[352] as to whether it attracts what is proper to it, rejects
what is foreign, and has a natural power of altering and retaining all
that it attracts; nor shall we be in any doubt as to the liver, veins,
arteries, heart, or any other organ. For these four faculties have
been shown to be necessary for every part which is to be nourished;
this is why we have called these faculties the _handmaids of
nutrition_. For just as human faeces are most pleasing to dogs, so the
residual matters from the liver are, some of them, proper to the
spleen,[353] others to the gall-bladder, and others to the kidneys.


                       IX

  Oukoun et' aporsomen oude peri tou splnos, ei helkei
  men to oikeion, apokrinei de to allotrion, alloioun de
  kai katechein, hoson an epispastai, pephyken, oude peri
  hpatos  phlebos  artrias  kardias  tn || alln         178
  tinos; anankaiai gar edeichthsan hai tettares hautai
  dynameis hapanti mori t mellonti threpsesthai kai dia
  tout' autas hypretidas einai threpses ephamen; hs gar
  to tn anthrpn apopatma tois kysin hdiston, hout
  kai ta tou hpatos perittmata to men t splni, to de
  t choldoch kystei, to de tois nephrois oikeion.


                               X

I should not have cared to say anything further as to the origin of
these [surplus substances] after Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle,
Diocles, Praxagoras, and Philotimus, nor indeed should I even have
said anything about the _faculties_, if any of our predecessors had
worked out this subject thoroughly.

While, however, the statements which the Ancients made on these points
were correct, they yet omitted to defend their arguments with logical
proofs; of course they never suspected that there could be sophists so
shameless as to try to contradict obvious facts. More recent
physicians, again, have been partly conquered by the sophistries of
these fellows and have given credence to them; whilst others who
attempted to argue with them appear to me to lack to a great extent
the power of the Ancients. For this reason I have attempted to put
together my arguments in the way in which it seems to me the Ancients,
had any of them been still alive, would have done, in opposition to
those who would overturn the finest doctrines of our art.

I am not, however, unaware that I shall achieve either nothing at all
or else very little. For I find that a great many things which have
been conclusively demonstrated by the Ancients are unintelligible to
the bulk of the Moderns owing to their ignorance--nay, that, by reason
of their laziness, they will not even make an attempt to comprehend
them; and even if any of them have understood them, they have not
given them impartial examination.

The fact is that he whose purpose is to know anything better than the
multitude do must far surpass all others both as regards his nature
and his early training. And when he reaches early adolescence he must
become possessed with an ardent love for truth, like one inspired;
neither day nor night may he cease to urge and strain himself in order
to learn thoroughly all that has been said by the most illustrious of
the Ancients. And when he has learnt this, then for a prolonged period
he must test and prove it, observing what part of it is in agreement,
and what in disagreement with obvious fact; thus he will choose this
and turn away from that. To such an one my hope has been that my
treatise would prove of the very greatest assistance.... Still, such
people may be expected to be quite few in number, while, as for the
others, this book will be as superfluous to them as a tale told to an
ass.


                        X

  Kai legein eti peri ts toutn geneses ouk an etheloimi
  meth' Hippokratn kai Platna kai Aristoteln kai
  Dioklea kai Praxagoran kai Philotimon; oude gar oude
  peri tn dynamen eipon an, ei tis tn emprosthen
  akribs exeirgasato ton hyper autn logon.

  Epei d' hoi men palaioi kals hyper autn apophnamenoi
  parelipon agnisasthai t log, md' hyponosantes
  esesthai tinas eis tosouton anaischyntous sophistas, hs
  antilegein epicheirsai tois enargesin, hoi neteroi de
  to men ti nikthentes hypo tn sophismatn epeisthsan
  autois, to de ti kai antilegein epicheirsantes apodein
  moi poly ts tn palain edoxan dynames, || dia touth',      179
  hs an ekeinn autn, eiper et' n tis, agnisasthai moi
  dokei pros tous anatrepontas ts techns ta kallista,
  kai autos houts epeirathn syntheinai tous logous.

  Hoti d'  ouden  pantapasin anys ti smikron, ouk
  agno; pampolla gar heurisk teles men apodedeigmena
  tois palaiois, oute de syneta tois pollois tn nyn di'
  amathian all' oud' epicheiroumena gignskesthai dia
  rhathymian, out', ei kai gnsthei tini, dikais
  exetazomena.

  Chr gar ton mellonta gnsesthai ti tn polln ameinon
  euthys men kai t physei kai t prt didaskalia poly
  tn alln dienenkein; epeidan de gentai meirakion,
  altheias tina schein ertikn manian, hsper
  enthousinta kai mth' hmeras mte nyktos dialeipein
  speudonta te kai syntetamenon ekmathein, hosa tois
  endoxotatois eirtai tn palain; epeidan d' ekmath,
  krinein auta kai basanizein chron pampoll kai skopein,
  posa men homologei tois enargs phainomenois, posa de
  diapheretai, || kai hout ta men haireisthai, ta d'           180
  apostrephesthai. t men d toiout pany sphodra
  chrsimous lpika tous hmeterous esesthai logous; eien
  d' an oligoi pantapasin houtoi; tois d' allois hout
  gensetai to gramma peritton, hs ei kai mython on tis
  legoi.


                              XI

For the sake, then, of those who are aiming at truth, we must complete
this treatise by adding what is still wanting in it. Now, in people
who are very hungry, the stomach obviously attracts or draws down the
food before it has been thoroughly softened in the mouth, whilst in
those who have no appetite or who are being forced to eat, the stomach
is displeased and rejects the food.[354] And in a similar way each of
the other organs possesses both faculties--that of attracting what is
proper to it, and that of rejecting what is foreign. Thus, even if
there be any organ which consists of only one coat (such as the two
bladders,[355] the uterus, and the veins), it yet possesses both kinds
of fibres, the longitudinal and the transverse.

But further, there are fibres of a third kind--the _oblique_--which
are much fewer in number than the two kinds already spoken of. In the
organs consisting of two coats this kind of fibre is found in the one
coat only, mixed with the longitudinal fibres; but in the organs
composed of one coat it is found along with the other two kinds. Now,
these are of the greatest help to the action of the faculty which we
have named _retentive_. For during this period the part needs to be
tightly contracted and stretched over its contents at every point--the
stomach during the whole period of digestion,[356] and the uterus
during that of gestation.

Thus too, the coat of a vein, being single, consists of various kinds
of fibres; whilst the outer coat of an artery consists of circular
fibres, and its inner coat mostly of longitudinal fibres, but with a
few oblique ones also amongst them. Veins thus resemble the uterus or
the bladder as regards the arrangement of their fibres, even though
they are deficient in thickness; similarly arteries resemble the
stomach. Alone of all organs the intestines consist of two coats of
which both have their fibres transverse.[357] Now the proof that it
was _for the best_ that all the organs should be naturally such as
they are (that, for instance, the intestines should be composed of two
coats) belongs to the subject of the _use of parts_[358]; thus we must
not now desire to hear about matters of this kind nor why the
anatomists are at variance regarding the number of coats in each
organ. For these questions have been sufficiently discussed in the
treatise "On Disagreement in Anatomy." And the problem as to why each
organ has such and such a character will be discussed in the treatise
"On the Use of Parts."


                       XI

  Symperanteon oun hmin ton logon heneka tn ts
  altheias ephiemenn hosa leipei kat' auton eti
  prostheisin. hs gar h gastr helkei men enargs kai
  kataspa ta sitia tois sphodra peindesi, prin akribs en
  t stomati leithnai, dyscherainei de kai aptheitai
  tois apositois te kai pros anankn esthiousin, hout kai
  tn alln organn hekaston amphoteras echei tas
  dynameis, tn te tn oikein helktikn kai tn tn
  allotrin apokritikn. kai dia touto, kan ex henos 
  chitnos organon ti synests, hsper kai hai kysteis
  amphoterai kai hai mtrai kai hai phlebes, amphotera tn
  inn echei ta gen, tn euthein te kai tn enkarsin.

  Kai men ge kai triton ti || genos inn esti <tn> loxn,      181
  elatton poly t plthei tn proeirmenn dyo genn.
  heurisketai d' en men tois ek dyoin chitnn
  synestkosin organois en thater mon tais eutheiais
  isin anamemigmenon, en de tois ex henos hama tois allois
  dyo genesi. synepilambanousi d' hautai megiston t ts
  kathektiks onomastheiss dynames energeia; deitai gar
  en tout t chron pantachothen esphinchthai kai
  peritetasthai tois enyparchousi to morion, h men gastr
  en t ts pepses, hai mtrai d' en t ts kyses
  chron panti.

  Taut' ara kai ho ts phlebos chitn heis n ek polyeidn
  inn egeneto kai tn ts artrias ho men exthen ek tn
  strongyln, ho d' esthen ek men tn euthein pleistn,
  olign de tinn syn autais kai tn loxn, hste tas men
  phlebas tais mtrais kai tais kystesin eoikenai kata ge
  tn tn inn synthesin, ei kai t pachei leipontai, tas
  d' artrias t gastri. mona de pantn organn ek dyoin
  th' hama kai amphotern enkarsias echontn tas inas
  egeneto ta entera. to d' hoti beltion n || tn t' alln      182
  hekast toiout tn physin hyparchein, hoionper kai nyn
  esti, tois t' enterois ek dyoin homoin chitnn
  synkeisthai, ts peri chreias morin pragmateias estin.
  oukoun nyn chr pothein akouein peri tn toioutn,
  hsper oude dia ti peri tou plthous tn chitnn
  hekastou tn organn diapephntai tois anatomikois
  andrasin. hyper men gar toutn autarks en tois peri ts
  anatomiks diaphnias eirtai; peri de tou dioti
  toiouton hekaston egeneto tn organn, en tois peri
  chreias morin eirsetai.


                             XII

It is not, however, our business to discuss either of these questions
here, but to consider duly the _natural faculties_, which, to the
number of four, exist in each organ. Returning then, to this point,
let us recall what has already been said, and set a crown to the whole
subject by adding what is still wanting. For when every part of the
animal has been shewn to draw into itself the juice which is proper to
it (this being practically _the first of the natural faculties_), the
next point to realise is that the part does not get rid either of this
attracted nutriment as a whole, or even of any superfluous portion of
it, until either the organ itself, or the major part of its contents
also have their condition reversed. Thus, when the stomach is
sufficiently filled with the food and has absorbed and stored away the
most useful part of it in its own coats, it then rejects the rest like
an alien burden. The same happens to the bladders, when the matter
attracted into them begins to give trouble either because it distends
them through its quantity or irritates them by its quality.

And this also happens in the case of the uterus; for it is either
because it can no longer bear to be stretched that it strives to
relieve itself of its annoyance, or else because it is irritated by
the quality of the fluids poured out into it. Now both of these
conditions sometimes occur with actual violence, and then
_miscarriage_ takes place. But for the most part they happen in a
normal way, this being then called not miscarriage but _delivery_ or
_parturition_. Now abortifacient drugs or certain other conditions
which destroy the embryo or rupture certain of its membranes are
followed by abortion, and similarly also when the uterus is in pain
from being in a bad state of tension; and, as has been well said by
Hippocrates, excessive movement on the part of the embryo itself
brings on labour. Now _pain_ is common to all these conditions, and of
this there are three possible causes--either excessive bulk, or
weight, or irritation; bulk when the uterus can no longer support the
stretching, weight when the contents surpass its strength, and
irritation when the fluids which had previously been pent up in the
membranes, flow out, on the rapture of these, into the uterus itself,
or else when the whole foetus perishes, putrefies, and is resolved
into pernicious ichors, and so irritates and bites the coat of the
uterus.

In all organs, then, both their natural effects and their disorders
and maladies plainly take place on analogous lines,[359] some so
clearly and manifestly as to need no demonstration, and others less
plainly, although not entirely unrecognizable to those who are willing
to pay attention.

Thus, to take the case of the stomach: the irritation is evident here
because this organ possesses most sensibility, and among its other
affections those producing nausea and the so-called heartburn clearly
demonstrate the eliminative faculty which expels foreign matter. So
also in the case of the uterus and the urinary bladder; this latter
also may be plainly observed to receive and accumulate fluid until it
is so stretched by the amount of this as to be incapable of enduring
the pain; or it may be the quality of the urine which irritates it;
for every superfluous substance which lingers in the body must
obviously putrefy, some in a shorter, and some in a longer time, and
thus it becomes pungent, acrid, and burdensome to the organ which
contains it. This does not apply, however, in the case of the bladder
alongside the liver, whence it is clear that it possesses fewer nerves
than do the other organs. Here too, however, at least the
physiologist[360] must discover an analogy. For since it was shown
that the gall-bladder attracts its own special juice, so as to be
often found full, and that it discharges it soon after, this desire to
discharge must be either due to the fact that it is burdened by the
quantity or that the bile has changed in quality to pungent and acrid.
For while food does not change its original quality so fast that it is
already ordure as soon as it falls into the small intestine, on the
other hand the bile even more readily than the urine becomes altered
in quality as soon as ever it leaves the veins, and rapidly undergoes
change and putrefaction. Now, if there be clear evidence in relation
to the uterus, stomach, and intestines, as well as to the urinary
bladder, that there is either some distention, irritation, or burden
inciting each of these organs to elimination, there is no difficulty
in imagining this in the case of the gall-bladder also, as well as in
the other organs,--to which obviously the arteries and veins also
belong.


                      XII

  Nyni d' oudeteron toutn prokeitai legein, alla tas
  physikas dynameis monas apodeiknyein en hekast tn
  organn tettaras hyparchousas. epi tout' oun palin
  epanelthontes anamnsmen te tn emprosthen eirmenn
  epithmen te kephaln d t log panti to leipon eti
  prosthentes. epeid gar hekaston tn en t z morin
  helkein eis heauto ton oikeion chymon apodedeiktai kai
  prt schedon haut tn physikn esti dynamen, ephexs
  || ekein gnsteon, hs ou proteron apotribetai tn           183
  helchtheisan <trophn> toi sympasan  kai ti perittma auts,
  prin an eis enantian metapes diathesin  auto to
  organon  kai tn periechomenn en aut ta pleista. h
  men oun gastr, epeidan men hikans emplsth tn sitin
  kai to chrstotaton autn eis tous heauts chitnas
  enapothtai bdallousa, tnikaut' d to loipon
  apotribetai kathaper achthos allotrion; hai kysteis d',
  epeidan hekaston tn helchthentn  t plthei diateinon
   t poiotti daknon aniaron gentai.

  T d' aut trop kai hai mtrai; toi gar, epeidan
  mketi phersi diateinomenai, to lypoun apothesthai
  speudousin  t poiotti daknomenai tn ekchythentn eis
  autas hygrn. hekateron de tn eirmenn gignetai men
  kai biais estin hote kai amblskousi tnikauta,
  gignetai d' hs ta polla kai proskonts, hoper ouk
  amblskein all' apokyskein te kai tiktein onomazetai.
  tois men oun amblthridiois pharmakois  tisin allois
  pathmasi diaphthei||rousi to embryon  tinas tn             184
  hymenn autou rhgnyousin hai amblseis hepontai, hout
  de kapeidan aniathsi poth' hai mtrai kaks echousai t
  diatasei, tais de tn embryn autn kinsesi tais
  sphodrotatais hoi tokoi, kathaper kai touth' Hippokratei
  kals eirtai. koinon d' hapasn tn diathesen h ania
  kai tauts aition tritton  onkos perittos  ti baros 
  dxis; onkos men, epeidan mketi phersi diateinomenai,
  baros d', epeidan hyper tn rhmn autn  to
  periechomenon, dxis d', epeidan toi ta proteron en
  tois hymesin hygra stegomena rhagentn autn eis autas
  ekchyth tas mtras  kai sympan apophtharen to kyma
  spomenon te kai dialyomenon eis mochthrous ichras
  houts erethiz te kai dakn ton chitna tn hystern.

  Analogon oun en hapasi tois organois hekasta tn t'
  ergn autn tn physikn kai mentoi tn pathmatn te
  kai nosmatn phainetai gignomena, ta men enargs kai
  saphs houts, hs apodeixes deisthai mden, ta d'
  htton men enargs, ou mn agnsta ge pantapasi tois ||       185
  ethelousi prosechein ton noun.

  Epi men oun ts gastros hai te dxeis enargeis, dioti
  pleists aisthses metechei, ta t' alla pathmata ta te
  nautian empoiounta kai hoi kaloumenoi kardigmoi saphs
  endeiknyntai tn apokritikn te kai apstikn tn
  allotrin dynamin, hout de kapi tn hystern te kai ts
  kystes ts to ouron hypodechomens; enargs gar oun kai
  haut phainetai mechri tosoutou to hygron hypodechomen
  te kai athroizousa, achris an toi pros tou plthous
  autou diateinomen mketi pher tn anian  pros ts
  poiottos daknomen; chronizon gar hekaston tn
  perittmatn en t smati spetai dlonoti, to men
  elattoni, to de pleioni chron, kai hout dakndes te
  kai drimy kai aniaron tois periechousi gignetai. ou mn
  epi ge ts epi t hpati kystes homois echei; h
  dlon, hoti neurn hkista metechei. chr de kantautha
  ton ge physikon andra to analogon exeuriskein. ei gar
  helkein te ton oikeion apedeichth chymon, hs
  phainesthai pollakis mestn, apokri||nein te ton auton        186
  touton ouk eis makran, anankaion estin autn  dia to
  plthos barynomenn  ts poiottos metaballouss epi to
  dakndes te kai drimy ts apokrises ephiesthai. ou gar
  d ta men sitia tn archaian hypallattei poiotta
  taches houts, hst', epeidan empes tois leptois
  enterois, euthys einai kopron, h chol d' ou poly
  mallon  to ouron, epeidan hapax ekpes tn phlebn,
  exallattei tn poiotta, tachista metaballonta kai
  spomena. kai mn eiper epi te tn kata tas hysteras kai
  tn koilian kai ta entera kai proseti tn to ouron
  hypodechomenn kystin enargs phainetai diatasis tis 
  dxis  achthos epegeiron hekaston tn organn eis
  apokrisin, ouden chalepon kapi ts choldochou kystes
  tauto tout' ennoein epi te tn alln hapantn organn,
  ex hn dlonoti kai hai artriai kai hai phlebes eisin.


                            XIII

Nor is there any further difficulty in ascertaining that it is through
the same channel that both attraction and discharge take place at
different times. For obviously the inlet to the stomach does not
merely conduct food and drink into this organ, but in the condition of
nausea it performs the opposite service. Further, the neck of the
bladder which is beside the liver, albeit single, both fills and
empties the bladder. Similarly the canal of the uterus affords an
entrance to the semen and an exit to the foetus.

But in this latter case, again, whilst the eliminative faculty is
evident, the attractive faculty is not so obvious to most people. It
is, however, the cervix which Hippocrates blames for inertia of the
uterus when he says:--"Its orifice has no power of attracting
semen."[361]

Erasistratus, however, and Asclepiades reached such heights of wisdom
that they deprived not merely the stomach and the womb of this faculty
but also the bladder by the liver, and the kidneys as well. I have,
however, pointed out in the first book that it is impossible to assign
any other cause for the secretion of urine or bile.[362]

Now, when we find that the uterus, the stomach and the bladder by the
liver carry out attraction and expulsion through one and the same
duct, we need no longer feel surprised that Nature should also
frequently discharge waste-substances into the stomach through the
veins. Still less need we be astonished if a certain amount of the
food should, during long fasts, be drawn back from the liver into the
stomach through the same veins[363] by which it was yielded up to the
liver during absorption of nutriment.[364] To disbelieve such things
would of course be like refusing to believe that purgative drugs draw
their appropriate humours from all over the body by the same stomata
through which absorption previously takes place, and to look for
separate stomata for absorption and purgation respectively. As a
matter of fact one and the same stoma subserves two distinct
faculties, and these exercise their pull at different times in
opposite directions--first it subserves the pull of the liver and,
during catharsis, that of the drug. What is there surprising, then, in
the fact that the veins situated between the liver and the region of
the stomach[365] fulfil a double service or purpose? Thus, when there
is abundance of nutriment contained in the food-canal, it is carried
up to the liver by the veins mentioned; and when the canal is empty
and in need of nutriment, this is again attracted from the liver by
the same veins.

For everything appears to attract from and to go shares with
everything else, and, as the most divine Hippocrates has said, there
would seem to be a consensus in the movements of fluids and
vapours.[366] Thus the stronger draws and the weaker is evacuated.

Now, one part is weaker or stronger than another either absolutely, by
nature, and in all cases, or else it becomes so in such and such a
particular instance. Thus, by nature and in all men alike, the heart
is stronger than the liver at attracting what is serviceable to it and
rejecting what is not so; similarly the liver is stronger than the
intestines and stomach, and the arteries than the veins. In each of us
personally, however, the liver has stronger drawing power at one time,
and the stomach at another. For when there is much nutriment contained
in the alimentary canal and the appetite and craving of the liver is
violent, then the viscus[367] exerts far the strongest traction.
Again, when the liver is full and distended and the stomach empty and
in need, then the force of the traction shifts to the latter.

Suppose we had some food in our hands and were snatching it from one
another; if we were equally in want, the stronger would be likely to
prevail, but if he had satisfied his appetite, and was holding what
was over carelessly, or was anxious to share it with somebody, and if
the weaker was excessively desirous of it, there would be nothing to
prevent the latter from getting it all. In a similar manner the
stomach easily attracts nutriment from the liver when it [the stomach]
has a sufficiently strong craving for it, and the appetite of the
viscus is satisfied. And sometimes the surplusage of nutriment in the
liver is a reason why the animal is not hungry; for when the stomach
has better and more available food it requires nothing from extraneous
sources, but if ever it is in need and is at a loss how to supply the
need, it becomes filled with waste-matters; these are certain biliary,
phlegmatic [mucous] and serous fluids, and are the only substances
that the liver yields in response to the traction of the stomach, on
the occasions when the latter too is in want of nutriment.

Now, just as the parts draw food from each other, so also they
sometimes deposit their excess substances in each other, and just as
the stronger prevailed when the two were exercising traction, so it is
also when they are depositing; this is the cause of the so-called
fluxions,[368] for every part has a definite inborn tension, by virtue
of which it expels its superfluities, and, therefore, when one of
these parts,--owing, of course, to some special condition--becomes
weaker, there will necessarily be a confluence into it of the
superfluities from all the other parts. The strongest part deposits
its surplus matter in all the parts near it; these again in other
parts which are weaker; these next into yet others; and this goes on
for a long time, until the superfluity, being driven from one part
into another, comes to rest in one of the weakest of all; it cannot
flow from this into another part, because none of the stronger ones
will receive it, while the affected part is unable to drive it away.
When, however, we come to deal again with the origin and cure of
disease, it will be possible to find there also abundant proofs of all
that we have correctly indicated in this book. For the present,
however, let us resume again the task that lay before us, _i.e._ to
show that there is nothing surprising in nutriment coming from the
liver to the intestines and stomach by way of the very veins through
which it had previously been yielded up from these organs into the
liver. And in many people who have suddenly and completely given up
active exercise, or who have had a limb cut off, there occurs at
certain periods an evacuation of blood by way of the intestines--as
Hippocrates has also pointed out somewhere. This causes no further
trouble but sharply purges the whole body and evacuates the plethoras;
the passage of the superfluities is effected, of course, through the
same veins by which absorption took place.

Frequently also in disease Nature purges the animal through these same
veins--although in this case the discharge is not sanguineous, but
corresponds to the humour which is at fault. Thus in _cholera_ the
entire body is evacuated by way of the veins leading to the intestines
and stomach.

To imagine that matter of different kinds is carried in one direction
only would characterise a man who was entirely ignorant of all the
natural faculties, and particularly of the eliminative faculty, which
is the opposite of the attractive. For opposite movements of matter,
active and passive, must necessarily follow opposite faculties; that
is to say, every part, after it has attracted its special nutrient
juice and has retained and taken the benefit of it hastens to get rid
of all the surplusage as quickly and effectively as possible, and this
it does in accordance with the mechanical tendency of this surplus
matter.[369]

Hence the stomach clears away by vomiting those superfluities which
come to the surface of its contents,[370] whilst the sediment it
clears away by diarrhoea. And when the animal becomes sick, this means
that the stomach is striving to be evacuated by vomiting. And the
expulsive faculty has in it so violent and forcible an element that in
cases of _ileus_ [volvulus], when the lower exit is completely closed,
vomiting of faeces occurs; yet such surplus matter could not be
emitted from the mouth without having first traversed the whole of the
small intestine, the jejunum, the pylorus, the stomach, and the
oesophagus. What is there to wonder at, then, if something should also
be transferred from the extreme skin-surface and so reach the
intestines and stomach? This also was pointed out to us by
Hippocrates, who maintained that not merely pneuma or excess-matter,
but actual nutriment is brought down from the outer surface to the
original place from which it was taken up. For the slightest
mechanical movements[371] determine this expulsive faculty, which
apparently acts through the transverse fibres, and which is very
rapidly transmitted from the source of motion to the opposite
extremities. It is, therefore, neither unlikely nor impossible that,
when the part adjoining the skin becomes suddenly oppressed by an
unwonted cold, it should at once be weakened and should find that the
liquid previously deposited beside it without discomfort had now
become more of a burden than a source of nutrition, and should
therefore strive to put it away. Finally, seeing that the passage
outwards was shut off by the condensation [of tissue], it would turn
to the remaining exit and would thus forcibly expel all the
waste-matter at once into the adjacent part; this would do the same to
the part following it; and the process would not cease until the
transference finally terminated at the inner ends of the veins.[372]

Now, movements like these come to an end fairly soon, but those
resulting from internal irritants (_e.g._, in the administration of
purgative drugs or in cholera) become much stronger and more lasting;
they persist as long as the condition of things[373] about the mouths
of the veins continues, that is, so long as these continue to attract
what is adjacent. For this condition[374] causes evacuation of the
contiguous part, and that again of the part next to it, and this never
stops until the extreme surface is reached; thus, as each part keeps
passing on matter to its neighbour, the original affection[375] very
quickly arrives at the extreme termination. Now this is also the case
in _ileus_; the inflamed intestine is unable to support either the
weight or the acridity of the waste substances and so does its best to
excrete them, in fact to drive them as far away as possible. And,
being prevented from effecting an expulsion downwards when the
severest part of the inflammation is there, it expels the matter into
the adjoining part of the intestines situated above. Thus the tendency
of the eliminative faculty is step by step upwards, until the
superfluities reach the mouth.

Now this will be also spoken of at greater length in my treatise on
disease. For the present, however, I think I have shewn clearly that
there is a universal conveyance or transference from one thing into
another, and that, as Hippocrates used to say, there exists in
everything a consensus in the movement of air and fluids. And I do not
think that anyone, however slow his intellect, will now be at a loss
to understand any of these points,--how, for instance, the stomach or
intestines get nourished, or in what manner anything makes its way
inwards from the outer surface of the body. Seeing that all parts have
the faculty of attracting what is suitable or well-disposed and of
eliminating what is troublesome or irritating, it is not surprising
that opposite movements should occur in them consecutively--as may be
clearly seen in the case of the heart, in the various arteries, in the
thorax, and lungs. In all these[376] the active movements of the
organs and therewith the passive movements of [their contained]
matters may be seen taking place almost every second in opposite
directions. Now, you are not astonished when the trachea-artery[377]
alternately draws air into the lungs and gives it out, and when the
nostrils and the whole mouth act similarly; nor do you think it
strange or paradoxical that the air is dismissed through the very
channel by which it was admitted just before. Do you, then, feel a
difficulty in the case of the veins which pass down from the liver
into the stomach and intestines, and do you think it strange that
nutriment should at once be yielded up to the liver and drawn back
from it into the stomach by the same veins? You must define what you
mean by this expression "at once." If you mean "at the same time" this
is not what we ourselves say; for just as we take in a breath at one
moment and give it out again at another, so at one time the liver
draws nutriment from the stomach, and at another the stomach from the
liver. But if your expression "at once" means that in one and the same
animal a single organ subserves the transport of matter in opposite
directions, and if it is this which disturbs you, consider inspiration
and expiration. For of course these also take place through the same
organs, albeit they differ in their manner of movement, and in the way
in which the matter is conveyed through them.

Now the lungs, the thorax, the arteries rough and smooth, the heart,
the mouth, and the nostrils reverse their movements at very short
intervals and change the direction of the matters they contain. On the
other hand, the veins which pass down from the liver to the intestines
and stomach reverse the direction of their movements not at such short
intervals, but sometimes once in many days.

The whole matter, in fact, is as follows:--Each of the organs draws
into itself the nutriment alongside it, and devours all the useful
fluid in it, until it is thoroughly satisfied; this nutriment, as I
have already shown, it stores up in itself, afterwards making it
adhere and then assimilating it--that is, it becomes nourished by it.
For it has been demonstrated with sufficient clearness already[378]
that there is something which necessarily precedes actual nutrition,
namely _adhesion_, and that before this again comes _presentation_.
Thus as in the case of the _animals_ themselves the end of eating is
that the stomach should be filled, similarly in the case of each of
the _parts_, the end of presentation is the filling of this part with
its appropriate liquid. Since, therefore, every part has, like the
stomach, a _craving_[379] to be nourished, it too envelops its
nutriment and clasps it all round as the stomach does. And this
[action of the stomach], as has been already said, is necessarily
followed by the digestion of the food, although it is not to make it
suitable for the other parts that the stomach contracts upon it; if it
did so, it would no longer be a physiological organ,[380] but an
animal possessing reason and intelligence, with the power of choosing
the better [of two alternatives].

But while the stomach contracts for the reason that the whole body
possesses a power of attracting and of utilising appropriate
qualities, as has already been explained, it also happens that, in
this process, the food undergoes alteration; further, when filled and
saturated with the fluid pabulum from the food, it thereafter looks on
the food as a burden; thus it at once gets rid of the excess--that is
to say, drives it downwards--itself turning to another task, namely
that of causing adhesion. And during this time, while the nutriment is
passing along the whole length of the _intestine_, it is caught up by
the vessels which pass into the intestine; as we shall shortly
demonstrate,[381] most of it is seized by the veins, but a little also
by the arteries; at this stage also it becomes _presented_ to the
coats of the intestines.

Now imagine the whole economy of nutrition divided into three periods.
Suppose that in the first period the nutriment remains in the stomach
and is digested and presented to the stomach until satiety is reached,
also that some of it is taken up from the stomach to the liver.[382]

During the second period it passes along the intestines and becomes
presented both to them and to the liver--again until the stage of
satiety--while a small part of it is carried all over the body.[382]
During this period, also imagine that what was presented to the
stomach in the first period becomes now adherent to it.

During the third period the stomach has reached the stage of receiving
nourishment; it now entirely assimilates everything that had become
adherent to it: at the same time in the intestines and liver there
takes place adhesion of what had been before presented, while
dispersal [anadosis] is taking place to all parts of the body,[383] as
also presentation. Now, if the animal takes food immediately after
these [three stages] then, during the time that the stomach is again
digesting and getting the benefit of this by presenting all the useful
part of it to its own coats, the intestines will be engaged in final
assimilation of the juices which have adhered to them, and so also
will the liver: while in the various parts of the body there will be
taking place adhesion of the portions of nutriment presented. And if
the stomach is forced to remain without food during this time, it will
draw its nutriment from the veins in the mesentery and liver; for it
will not do so from the actual body of the liver (by _body of the
liver_ I mean first and foremost its flesh proper, and after this all
the vessels contained in it), for it is irrational to suppose that one
part would draw away from another part the juice already contained in
it, especially when adhesion and final assimilation of that juice were
already taking place; the juice, however, that is in the cavity of the
veins will be abstracted by the part which is stronger and more in
need.

It is in this way, therefore, that the stomach, when it is in need of
nourishment and the animal has nothing to eat, seizes it from the
veins in the liver. Also in the case of the spleen we have shown in a
former passage[384] how it draws all material from the liver that
tends to be thick, and by working it up converts it into more useful
matter. There is nothing surprising, therefore, if, in the present
instance also, some of this should be drawn from the spleen into such
organs as communicate with it by veins, _e.g._ the omentum, mesentery,
small intestine, colon, and the stomach itself. Nor is it surprising
that the spleen should disgorge its surplus matters into the stomach
at one time, while at another time it should draw some of its
appropriate nutriment from the stomach.

For, as has already been said, speaking generally, everything has the
power at different times of attracting from and of adding to
everything else. What happens is just as if you might imagine a number
of animals helping themselves at will to a plentiful common stock of
food; some will naturally be eating when others have stopped, some
will be on the point of stopping when others are beginning, some
eating together, and others in succession. Yes, by Zeus! and one will
often be plundering another, if he be in need while the other has an
abundant supply ready to hand. Thus it is in no way surprising that
matter should make its way back from the outer surface of the body to
the interior, or should be carried from the liver and spleen into the
stomach by the same vessels by which it was carried in the reverse
direction.

In the case of the arteries[385] this is clear enough, as also in the
case of heart, thorax, and lungs; for, since all of these dilate and
contract alternately, it must needs be that matter is subsequently
discharged back into the parts from which it was previously drawn. Now
Nature foresaw this necessity,[386] and provided the cardiac openings
of the vessels with membranous attachments,[387] to prevent their
contents from being carried backwards. How and in what manner this
takes place will be stated in my work "On the Use of Parts," where
among other things I show that it is impossible for the openings of
the vessels to be closed so accurately that nothing at all can run
back. Thus it is inevitable that the reflux into the _venous
artery_[388] (as will also be made clear in the work mentioned) should
be much greater than through the other openings. But what it is
important for our present purpose to recognise is that every thing
possessing a large and appreciable cavity must, when it dilates,
abstract matter from all its neighbours, and, when it contracts, must
squeeze matter back into them. This should all be clear from what has
already been said in this treatise and from what Erasistratus and I
myself have demonstrated elsewhere respecting the tendency of a vacuum
to become refilled.[389]


                     XIII

  Ou mn oude to dia tou autou porou tn th' holkn
  gignesthai kai tn apokrisin en diapherousi || chronois       187
  ouden eti chalepon exeurein, ei ge kai ts gastros ho
  stomachos ou monon edesmata kai pomata paragn eis
  autn, alla kan tais nautiais tn enantian hypresian
  hypretn enargs phainetai, kai ts epi t hpati
  kystes ho auchn heis n hama men plroi di' hautou tn
  kystin, hama d' ekkenoi, kai tn mtrn ho stomachos
  hsauts hodos estin eis men tou spermatos, ex de tou
  kymatos.

  Alla kantautha palin h men ekkritik dynamis enargs,
  ou mn homois g' aut saphs tois pollois h helktik;
  all' Hippokrats men arrhstou mtras aitimenos auchena
  phsi; "Ou gar dynatai autes ho stomachos eirysai tn
  gonn."

  Erasistratos de kai Asklpiads eis tosouton hkousi
  sophias, hst' ou monon tn koilian kai tas mtras
  aposterousi ts toiauts dynames alla kai tn epi t
  hpati kystin hama tois nephrois. kaitoi g' hoti md'
  eipein dynaton heteron aition  ourn  chols
  diakrises, en t prt dedeiktai log.

  Kai mtran oun kai gastera kai tn epi t hpati kystin
  di' henos kai tautou sto||machou tn th' holkn kai tn       188
  apokrisin heuriskontes poioumenas mketi thaumazmen, ei
  kai dia tn phlebn h physis ekkrinei pollakis eis tn
  gastera perittmata. toutou d' eti mallon ou chr
  thaumazein, ei, di' hn eis hpar anedoth phlebn ek
  gastros, authis eis autn ex hpatos en tais makroterais
  asitiais helkesthai tis dynatai troph. to gar tois
  toioutois apistein homoion esti dpou t mketi
  pisteuein md' hoti ta kathaironta pharmaka dia tn
  autn stomatn ex holou tou smatos eis tn gastera tous
  oikeious epispatai chymous, di' hn emprosthen h
  anadosis egeneto, all' hetera men ztein anadoses,
  hetera de katharses stomata. kai mn eiper hen kai
  tauto stoma dittais hypretei dynamesin, en diaphorois
  chronois eis tanantia tn holkn poioumenais, emprosthen
  men t kata to hpar, en de t ts katharses kair t
  tou pharmakou, ti thaumaston esti dittn hypresian te
  kai chreian einai tais phlepsi tais en t mes
  tetagmenais hpatos te kai tn kata tn koilian, hsth',
  hopote men en toutois aphthonos ei periechomen troph,
  dia tn eirmenn eis || hpar anapheresthai phlebn,         189
  hopote d' ei kena kai deomena trephesthai, dia tn
  autn authis ex hpatos helkesthai?

  Pan gar ek pantos helkein phainetai kai panti
  metadidonai kai mia tis einai syrrhoia kai sympnoia
  pantn, kathaper kai touth' ho theiotatos Hippokrats
  eipen. helkei men oun to ischyroteron, ekkenoutai de to
  asthenesteron.

  Ischyroteron de kai asthenesteron heteron heterou morion
   hapls kai physei kai koin pasin estin  idis tde
  tini gignetai. physei men kai koin pasin anthrpois th'
  hama kai zois h men kardia tou hpatos, to d' hpar
  tn entern te kai ts gastros, hai d' artriai tn
  phlebn helkysai te to chrsimon heautais apokrinai te
  to m toiouton ischyroterai. kath' hekaston d' hmn
  idis en men tde t kair to hpar ischyroteron
  helkein, h gastr d' en tde. polls men gar en t
  koilia periechomens trophs kai sphodrs oregomenou te
  kai chrzontos tou hpatos, pants ischyroteron helkei
  to splanchnon; empalin de tou men hpatos empeplsmenou
  te kai dia||tetamenou, ts gastros d' oregomens kai          190
  kens hyparchouss h ts holks ischys eis ekeinn
  methistatai.

  Hs gar, ei kan tais chersi tina sitia katechontes
  allln harpazoimen, ei men homois eimen deomenoi,
  perigignesthai ton ischyroteron eikos, ei d' houtos men
  empeplsmenos ei kai dia tout' amels katechn ta
  peritta  kai tini metadounai pothn, ho d'
  asthenesteros oregoito deins, ouden an ei klyma tou
  m panta labein auton, hout kai h gastr ek tou
  hpatos epispatai rhadis, hotan aut men hikans
  oregtai trophs, empeplsmenon d'  to splanchnon. kai
  tou ge m peinn eniote to zon h periousia ts en
  hpati trophs aitia; kreittona gar echousa kai
  hetoimoteran h gastr trophn ouden deitai ts exthen;
  ei de ge pote deoito men, aporoi de, plroutai
  perittmatn. ichres de tines eisi tauta choldeis te
  kai phlegmatdeis kai orrhdeis, hous monous helkous
  methisin aut to hpar, hotan pote kai aut detai
  trophs.

  Hsper oun ex allln helkei ta moria || trophn, hout       191
  kai apotithetai pot' eis allla to peritton kai hsper
  helkontn epleonektei to ischyroteron, hout kai
  apotithemenn kai tn ge kaloumenn rheumatn hde h
  prophasis. hekaston gar tn morin echei tina tonon
  symphyton, h ditheitai to peritton. hotan oun hen ex
  autn arrhstoteron gentai kata d tina diathesin, ex
  hapantn eis ekeino syrrhein anank ta perittmata. to
  men gar ischyrotaton enapotithetai tois plsion hapasin,
  ekeinn d' au palin hekaston eis heter' atta tn
  asthenestern, eit' authis ekeinn hekaston eis alla kai
  tout' epi pleiston gignetai, mechri per an ex hapantn
  elaunomenon to perittma kath' hen ti mein tn
  asthenestatn; enteuthen gar ouket' eis allo dynatai
  metarrhein, hs an mte dechomenou tinos auto tn
  ischyrotern mt' apsasthai dynamenou tou peponthotos.

  Alla peri men tn pathn ts geneses kai ts iases
  authis hmn epideiknyntn hikana kax ekeinn estai
  labein martyria tn en tde t log panti || dedeigmenn      192
  orths. ho d' en t paronti deixai proukeito, palin
  analabmen, hs ouden thaumaston ex hpatos hkein tina
  trophn enterois te kai gastri dia tn autn phlebn,
  di' hn emprosthen ex ekeinn eis hpar anedidoto. kai
  pollois athros te kai teles apostasin ischyrn
  gymnasin  ti klon apokopeisin haimatos dia tn
  entern gignetai kensis ek tinn periodn, hs pou kai
  Hippokrats elegen, ouden men allo lypousa, kathairousa
  d' oxes to pan sma kai tas plsmonas ekkenousa, dia
  tn autn dpou phlebn ts phoras tn perittn
  epiteloumens, di' hn emprosthen h anadosis egigneto.

  Pollakis d' en nosois h physis dia men tn autn dpou
  phlebn to pan ekkathairei zon, ou mn haimatds g' h
  kensis autois, alla kata ton lypounta gignetai chymon.
  hout de kan tais cholerais ekkenoutai to pan sma dia
  tn eis entera te kai gastera kathkousn phlebn.

  To d' oiesthai mian einai tais hylais phoran teles
  agnoountos esti tas physikas || dynameis tas t' allas         193
  kai tn ekkritikn enantian ousan t helktikt; tais gar
  enantiais dynamesin enantias kinseis te kai phoras tn
  hyln anankaion akolouthein. hekaston gar tn morin,
  hotan helkys ton oikeion chymon, epeita katasch kai
  apolaus, to peritton hapan apothesthai speudei, kathoti
  malista dynatai tachista th' hama kai kallista, kata tn
  tou perittou rhopn.

  Hothen h gastr ta men epipolazonta tn perittmatn
  emetois ekkathairei, ta d' hyphistamena diarrhoiais. kai
  to ge nautides gignesthai to zon tout' estin hormsai
  tn gastera kenthnai di' emetou. hout de d ti biaion
  kai sphodron h ekkritik dynamis echei, hst' en tois
  eileois, hotan apokleisth teles h kat diexodos,
  emeitai kopros. kaitoi prin dielthein to te lepton
  enteron hapan kai tn nstin kai ton pylron kai tn
  gastera kai ton oisophagon ouch hoion te dia tou
  stomatos ekpesein oudeni toiout perittmati. ti d
  thaumaston, ei kak ts eschats epiphaneias ts kata to
  derma mechri tn entern te kai ts gastros aphiknoito
  ti || metalambanomenon, hs kai touth' Hippokrats hmas      194
  edidaxen, ou pneuma monon  perittma phaskn alla kai
  tn trophn autn ek ts eschats epiphaneias authis epi
  tn archn, hothen annechth, katapheresthai.
  elachistai gar rhopai kinsen tn ekkritikn tautn
  oiakizousi dynamin, hs an dia tn enkarsin men inn
  gignomenn, kytata de diadidomenn apo ts kinsass
  archs epi ta katantikry perata. oukoun apeikos oud'
  adynaton athei pote psyxei to pros t dermati morion
  exaiphns pilthen hama men arrhstoteron auto
  genomenon, hama d' hoion achthos ti mallon  paraskeun
  threpses echon tn emprosthen alyps aut paresparmenn
  hygrotta kai dia tout' aptheisthai speudon, hama de
  ts ex phoras apokekleismens t pyknsei, pros tn
  loipn epistraphnai kai hout biasamenon eis to
  parakeimenon aut morion athros apsasthai to peritton,
  ekeino d' au palin eis to met' auto, || kai touto m          195
  pausasthai gignomenon, achris an h metalpsis epi ta
  entos perata tn phlebn teleuts.

  Hai men d toiautai kinseis thatton apopauontai, hai d'
  apo tn endothen dierethizontn, hs en te tois
  kathairousi pharmakois kai tais cholerais ischyroterai
  te poly kai monimterai gignontai kai diamenousin, est'
  an kai h peri tois stomasi tn angein diathesis, h to
  plsion helkousa, paramen. haut men gar to syneches
  ekkenoi morion, ekeino d' au to met' auto kai tout' ou
  pauetai mechri ts eschats epiphaneias, hste
  diadidontn tn ephexs aei morin hetern heterois to
  prton pathos kytata diikneisthai mechri tn eschatn.
  houts oun echei kapi tn eilen. auto men gar to
  phlegmainon enteron oute tou barous oute ts drimyttos
  anechetai tn perittmatn kai dia tout' ekkrinein auta
  speudei kai aptheisthai porrhtat. klyomenon de kat
  poieisthai tn disin, hotan entauthoi pote to
  sphodrotaton  ts phlegmons, eis ta plsiazonta tn
  hyperkeimenn entern aptheitai. kai houts d kata ||      196
  to syneches tn rhopn ts ekkritiks dynames an
  poisamens achri tou stomatos epanerchetai ta
  perittmata.

  Tauta men oun d kan tois tn nosmatn logismois epi
  pleon eirsetai. to d' ek pantos eis pan pheresthai ti
  kai metalambanesthai kai mian hapantn einai sympnoian
  te kai syrrhoian, hs Hippokrats elegen, d moi dok
  dedeichthai saphs kai mket' an tina, md' ei bradys
  aut nous enei, peri tn toioutn aporsai mdenos,
  hoion hops h gastr  ta entera trephetai kai tina
  tropon ek ts eschats epiphaneias eis ti diikneitai.
  pantn gar tn morin helkein men to proskon te kai
  philion, apokrinein de to barynon  daknon echontn
  dynamin ouden thaumaston enantias synechs gignesthai
  kinseis en autois, hsper epi te ts kardias horatai
  saphs kai tn artrin hapasn kai tou thrakos kai tou
  pneumonos. epi men ge toutn hapantn monon ou kath'
  hekastn kairou rhopn tas enantias kinseis th' hama
  tn organn kai phoras tn hyln || enargs estin idein       197
  gignomenas. eit' epi men ts tracheias artrias ouk
  aporeis enallax pote men eis paragouss eis ton
  pneumona to pneuma, pote d' ex, kai tn kata tas rhinas
  porn kai holou tou stomatos hsauts oud' einai soi
  dokei thaumaston oude paradoxon, ei, di' hou mikr
  prosthen eis parekomizeto to pneuma, dia toutou nyn
  ekpempetai, peri de tn ex hpatos eis entera te kai
  gastera kathkousn phlebn aporeis kai soi thaumaston
  einai phainetai, dia tn autn anadidosthai th' hama tn
  trophn eis hpar helkesthai t' ex ekeinou palin eis
  gastera? diorisai d to hama touto poters legeis. ei
  men gar kata ton auton chronon, oud' hmeis touto ge
  phamen. hsper gar eispneomen en heter chron kai
  authis palin en heter antekpneomen, hout kai trophn
  en heter men chron to hpar ek ts gastros, en heter
  d' h gastr ek tou hpatos epispatai. ei d' hoti kath'
  hen kai tauto zon hen organon enantiais phorais hyln
  hypretei, touto soi bouletai dloun to hama kai touto
  se tarattei, tn t' || eispnon ide kai tn ekpnon.          198
  pants pou kai hautai dia men tn autn organn
  gignontai, trop de kinses te kai phoras tn hyln
  diapherousin.

  Ho pneumn men oun kai ho thrax kai artriai hai
  tracheiai kai hai leiai kai kardia kai stoma kai rhines
  en elachistais chronou rhopais eis enantias kinseis
  auta te metaballei kai tas hylas methistsin. hai d' ex
  hpatos eis entera kai gastera kathkousai phlebes ouk
  en hout brachesi chronou moriois all' en pollais
  hmerais hapax eniote tn enantian kinountai kinsin.

  Echei gar hde to sympan. hekaston tn organn eis
  heauto tn plsiazousan epispatai trophn ekboskomenon
  auts hapasan tn chrstn notida, mechris an hikans
  koresth, kai tautn, hs kai prosthen edeiknymen,
  enapotithetai heaut kai meta tauta prosphyei te kai
  homoioi, toutesti trephetai. diristai gar hikans
  emprosthen heteron ti ts threpses ex ananks auts
  progoumenon h prosphysis hyparchein, ekeins d' eti
  proteron h prosthesis. hsper oun || tois zois autois       199
  horos esti ts edds to plrsai tn gastera, kata ton
  auton tropon hekast tn morin horos esti ts
  prostheses h plrsis ts oikeias hygrottos. epei
  toinyn hapan morion t gastri homois oregetai
  trephesthai, kai periptyssetai t troph kai hout
  sphingei pantachothen autn hs h gastr. hepetai d' ex
  ananks tout, kathaper kai prosthen errheth, to
  pettesthai tois sitiois, ts gastros ou dia touto
  peristellomens autois, hin' epitdeia tois allois
  ergastai moriois; hout gar an ouketi physikon organon
  alla zon ti gignoito logismon te kai noun echon, hs
  haireisthai to beltion.

  All' haut men peristelletai t to pan sma dynamin
  helktikn tina kai apolaustikn kektsthai tn oikein
  poiottn, hs emprosthen edeiknyto; symbainei d' en
  tout tois sitiois alloiousthai. kai mentoi kai
  plrtheisa ts ex autn hygrottos kai korestheisa
  baros hgeitai to loipon auta. to peritton oun euthys
  apotribetai te kai thei kat pros || heteron ergon aut      200
  trepomen, tn prosphysin. en de tout t chron
  dierchomen to enteron hapan h troph dia tn eis auto
  kathkontn angein anarpazetai, pleist men eis tas
  phlebas, olig de tis eis tas artrias, hs mikron
  hysteron apodeixomen. en tout d' au t chron kai tois
  tn entern chitsi prostithetai.

  Kai moi temn d t logism tn ts trophs oikonomian
  hapasan eis treis moiras chronn, en men t prt noei
  menousan th' hama kata tn koilian autn kai pettomenn
  kai prostithemenn eis koron t gastri kai ti kai t
  hpati par' auts anapheromenon.

  En de t deutera, dierchomenn ta t' entera kai
  prostithemenn eis koron autois te toutois kai t hpati
  kai ti brachy meros auts pant tou smatos pheromenon;
  en de d tout t kair to prostethen en t prt chron
  prosphyesthai noei t gastri.

  Kata de tn tritn moiran tou chronou trephesthai men
  d tn koilian homoisasan heaut teles ta prosphynta,
  prosphysin de tois enterois kai t hpati gignesthai tn
  prostethentn, ana||dosin de pant tou smatos kai            201
  prosthesin. ei men oun epi toutois euthes to zon
  lambanoi trophn, en h palin h gastr chron pettei te
  tautn kai apolauei prostitheisa pan ex auts to
  chrston tois heauts chitsi, ta men entera teles
  homoisei ton prosphynta chymon, hsauts de kai to
  hpar. en hol de t smati prosphysis tn prostethentn
  ts trophs estai morin. ei d' asitos anankazoito
  menein h gastr en tout t chron, para tn en
  mesenteri te kai hpati phlebn helxei tn trophn; ou
  gar ex autou ge tou smatos tou hpatos. leg de sma
  tou hpatos autn te tn idian autou sarka prtn kai
  malista, meta de tnde kai tn angein hekaston tn kat'
  auto. ton men gar en hekast tn morin d
  periechomenon chymon ouket' eulogon antispan heter
  mori kai malisth' hotan d prosphysis  exomoisis
  autou gigntai. ton d' en tais eurychriais tn phlebn
  to mallon ischyon th' hama kai deomenon antispa morion.

  Houts oun kai h gastr en || h chron deitai men aut      202
  trophs, esthiei d' oudep to zon, en tout tn kata to
  hpar exarpazei phlebn. epei de kai ton splna dia tn
  emprosthen edeiknymen hoson en hpati pachyteron
  helkonta katergazesthai te kai metaballein epi to
  chrstoteron, ouden oud' entautha thaumaston helkesthai
  ti kak tou splnos eis hekaston tn koinnountn aut
  kata tas phlebas organn, hoion eis epiploon kai
  mesenterion kai lepton enteron kai klon kai autn tn
  gastera; kata de ton auton tropon exereugesthai men eis
  tn gastera to perittma kath' heteron chronon, auton d'
  authis ek ts gastros helkein ti ts oikeias trophs en
  heter kair.

  Katholou d' eipein, ho kai prosthen d lelektai, pan ek
  pantos helkein te kai pempein enchrei kata diapherontas
  chronous, homoiotatou gignomenou tou symbainontos, hs
  ei kai za nosais polla trophn aphthonon en koin
  katakeimenn, eis hoson bouletai, prospheromena. kath'
  hon gar d pepautai chronon hetera, kata touton eikos
  esthiein hetera, kai mellein ge ta men || pauesthai, ta       203
  d' archesthai, kai tina men synesthionta, ta d' ana
  meros esthionta kai nai ma Dia ge to heteron harpazein
  thaterou pollakis, ei to men heteron epideoito, t d'
  aphthons parakeoito. kai houts ouden thaumaston out'
  ek ts eschats epiphaneias eis ti palin hypostrephein
  oute dia tn autn angein ex hpatos te kai splnos eis
  koilian anenechthnai ti, di' hn ek tauts eis ekeina
  proteron annechth.

  Kata men gar tas artrias hikans enarges to toiouton,
  hsper kai kata tn kardian te kai ton thraka kai ton
  pneumona. toutn gar hapantn diastellomenn te kai
  systellomenn enallax anankaion, ex hn heilkysth ti
  proteron, eis tauth' hysteron ekpempesthai. kai tautn
  ara tn anankn h physis progignskousa tois en t
  kardia stomasi tn angein hymenas epephyse klysontas
  eis toupis pheresthai tas hylas. all' hops men touto
  gignetai kai kath' hontina tropon, en tois peri chreias
  morin eirsetai deiknyntn hmn ta t' alla kai hs
  adynaton houts akribs kleiesthai ta stomata tn
  angein, hs || mden palindromein. eis men gar tn           204
  artrian tn phlebd, kai gar kai tout' en ekeinois
  deichthsetai, poly pleon  dia tn alln stomatn eis
  toupis palin anankaion epanerchesthai. to d' eis ta
  paronta chrsimon, hs ouk endechetai ti tn aisthtn
  kai megaln echontn eurytta m ouk toi diastellomenon
  helkein ex hapantn tn plsion  ekthlibein authis eis
  tauta systellomenon ek te tn d proeirmenn en tde
  t log saphes an ei kax hn Erasistratos te kai hmeis
  heterthi peri ts pros to kenoumenon akolouthias
  edeixamen.


                             XIV

And further, it has been shown in other treatises that all the
arteries possess a power which derives from the heart, and by virtue
of which they dilate and contract.

Put together, therefore, the two facts--that the arteries have this
motion, and that everything, when it dilates, draws neighbouring
matter into itself--and you will find nothing strange in the fact that
those arteries which reach the skin draw in the outer air when they
dilate, while those which anastomose at any point with the veins
attract the thinnest and most vaporous part of the blood which these
contain, and as for those arteries which are near the heart, it is on
the heart itself that they exert their traction. For, by virtue of the
tendency by which a vacuum becomes refilled, the lightest and thinnest
part obeys the tendency before that which is heavier and thicker. Now
the lightest and thinnest of anything in the body is firstly pneuma,
secondly vapour, and in the third place that part of the blood which
has been accurately elaborated and refined.

These, then, are what the arteries draw into themselves on every side;
those arteries which reach the skin draw in the outer air[390] (this
being near them and one of the lightest of things); as to the other
arteries, those which pass up from the heart into the neck, and that
which lies along the spine, as also such arteries as are near
these--draw mostly from the heart itself; and those which are further
from the heart and skin necessarily draw the lightest part of the
blood out of the veins. So also the traction exercised by the diastole
of the arteries which go to the stomach and intestines takes place at
the expense of the heart itself and the numerous veins in its
neighbourhood; for these arteries cannot get anything worth speaking
of from the thick heavy nutriment contained in the intestines and
stomach,[391] since they first become filled with lighter elements.
For if you let down a tube into a vessel full of water and sand, and
suck the air out of the tube with your mouth, the sand cannot come up
to you before the water, for in accordance with the principle of the
refilling of a vacuum the lighter matter is always the first to
succeed to the evacuation.


                      XIV

  Alla mn kai hs en hekast tn artrin esti tis
  dynamis ek ts kardias epirrheousa, kath' hn
  diastellontai te kai systellontai, dedeiktai di'
  hetern.

  Eiper oun syntheis amph to te tautn einai tn kinsin
  autais to te pan to diastellomenon helkein ek tn
  plsion eis heauto, thaumaston ouden soi phaneitai tas
  artrias, hosai men eis to derma perainousin autn,
  epispasthai ton exthen aera diastellomenas, hosai de
  kata ti pros tas || phlebas anestomntai, to leptotaton       205
  en autais kai atmdestaton epispasthai tou haimatos,
  hosai d' engys ts kardias eisin, ex auts ekeins
  poieisthai tn holkn. en gar t pros to kenoumenon
  akolouthia to kouphotaton te kai leptotaton hepetai
  prton tou baryterou te kai pachyterou; kouphotaton d'
  esti kai leptotaton hapantn tn kata to sma prton men
  to pneuma, deuteron d' ho atmos, epi tout de triton,
  hoson an akribs  kateirgasmenon te kai leleptysmenon
  haima.

  Taut' oun eis heautas helkousin hai artriai
  pantachothen, hai men eis to derma kathkousai ton
  exthen aera; plsion te gar autais houtos esti kai
  kouphotatos en tois malista; tn d' alln h men epi ton
  trachlon ek ts kardias aniousa kai h kata rhachin,
  d de kai hosai toutn engys ex auts malista ts
  kardias; hosai de kai ts kardias porrhter kai tou
  dermatos, helkein tautais anankaion ek tn phlebn to
  kouphotaton tou haimatos; hste kai tn eis tn gastera
  te kai ta entera kathkousn artrin tn holkn en t
  diastellesthai gignesthai para te ts || kardias auts        206
  kai tn parakeimenn aut phlebn pampolln ousn. ou
  gar d ek ge tn entern kai ts koilias trophn hout
  pacheian te kai bareian en heautois echontn dynantai ti
  metalambanein, ho ti kai axion logou, phthanousai
  plrousthai tois kouphoterois. oude gar ei katheis
  auliskon eis angeion hydatos te kai psammou plres
  epispasaio t stomati ton ek tou auliskou aera, dynait'
  an akolouthsai soi pro tou hydatos h psammos; aei gar
  en t pros to kenoumenon akolouthia to kouphoteron
  hepetai proteron.


                              XV

It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that only a very little
[nutrient matter] such, namely, as has been accurately
elaborated--gets from the stomach into the arteries, since these first
become filled with lighter matter. We must understand that _there are
two kinds of attraction_, that by which a vacuum becomes refilled and
that caused by appropriateness of quality;[392] air is drawn into
bellows in one way, and iron by the lodestone in another. And we must
also understand that the traction which results from evacuation acts
primarily on what is light, whilst that from appropriateness of
quality acts frequently, it may be, on what is heavier (if this should
be naturally more nearly related[393]). Therefore, in the case of the
heart and the arteries, it is in so far as they are hollow organs,
capable of diastole, that they always attract the lighter matter
first, while, in so far as they require nourishment, it is actually
into their _coats_ (which are the real _bodies_ of these organs) that
the appropriate matter is drawn.[394] Of the blood, then, which is
taken into their cavities when they dilate, that part which is most
proper to them and most able to afford nourishment is attracted by
their actual coats.

Now, apart from what has been said,[395] the following is sufficient
proof that something is taken over from the veins into the arteries.
If you will kill an animal by cutting through a number of its large
arteries, you will find the veins becoming empty along with the
arteries: now, this could never occur if there were not anastomoses
between them. Similarly, also, in the heart itself, the thinnest
portion of the blood is drawn from the right ventricle into the left,
owing to there being perforations in the septum between them: these
can be seen for a great part [of their length]; they are like a kind
of fossae [pits] with wide mouths, and they get constantly narrower;
it is not possible, however, actually to observe their extreme
terminations, owing both to the smallness of these and to the fact
that when the animal is dead all the parts are chilled and
shrunken.[396] Here, too, however, our argument,[397] starting from
the principle that nothing is done by Nature in vain, discovers these
anastomoses between the ventricles of the heart; for it could not be
at random and by chance that there occurred fossae ending thus in
narrow terminations.

And secondly [the presence of these anastomoses has been assumed] from
the fact that, of the two orifices in the right ventricle, the one
conducting blood in and the other out, the former[398] is much the
larger. For, the fact that the insertion of the vena cava into the
heart[399] is larger than the vein which is inserted into the
lungs[400] suggests that not all the blood which the vena cava gives
to the heart is driven away again from the heart to the lungs. Nor can
it be said that any of the blood is expended in the nourishment of the
actual body of the heart, since there is another vein[401] which
breaks up in it and which does not take its origin nor get its share
of blood from the heart itself. And even if a certain amount is so
expended, still the vein leading to the lungs is not to such a slight
extent smaller than that inserted into the heart as to make it likely
that the blood is used as nutriment for the heart: the disparity is
much too great for such an explanation. It is, therefore, clear that
something _is_ taken over into the left ventricle.[402]

Moreover, of the two vessels connected with it, that which brings
pneuma into it from the lungs[403] is much smaller than the great
outgrowing artery[404] from which the arteries all over the body
originate; this would suggest that it not merely gets pneuma from the
lungs, but that it also gets blood from the right ventricle through
the anastomoses mentioned.

Now it belongs to the treatise "On the Use of Parts" to show that it
was best that some parts of the body should be nourished by pure,
thin, and vaporous blood, and others by thick, turbid blood, and that
in this matter also Nature has overlooked nothing. Thus it is not
desirable that these matters should be further discussed. Having
mentioned, however, that there are two kinds of attraction, certain
bodies exerting attraction along wide channels during diastole (by
virtue of the principle by which a vacuum becomes refilled) and others
exerting it by virtue of their appropriateness of quality, we must
next remark that the former bodies can attract even from a distance,
while the latter can only do so from among things which are quite
close to them; the very longest tube let down into water can easily
draw up the liquid into the mouth, but if you withdraw iron to a
distance from the lodestone or corn from the jar (an instance of this
kind has in fact been already given[405]) no further attraction can
take place.

This you can observe most clearly in connection with _garden
conduits_. For a certain amount of moisture is distributed from these
into every part lying close at hand but it cannot reach those lying
further off: therefore one has to arrange the flow of water into all
parts of the garden by cutting a number of small channels leading from
the large one. The intervening spaces between these small channels are
made of such a size as will, presumably, best allow them [the spaces]
to satisfy their needs by drawing from the liquid which flows to them
from every side. So also is it in the bodies of animals. Numerous
conduits distributed through the various limbs bring them pure blood,
much like the garden water-supply, and, further, the intervals between
these conduits have been wonderfully arranged by Nature from the
outset so that the intervening parts should be plentifully provided
for when absorbing blood, and that they should never be deluged by a
quantity of superfluous fluid running in at unsuitable times.

For the way in which they obtain nourishment is somewhat as follows.
In the body[406] which is continuous throughout, such as Erasistratus
supposes his _simple vessel_ to be, it is the superficial parts which
are the first to make use of the nutriment with which they are brought
into contact; then the parts coming next draw their share from these
by virtue of their contiguity; and again others from these; and this
does not stop until the quality of the nutrient substance has been
distributed among all parts of the corpuscle in question. And for such
parts as need the humour which is destined to nourish them to be
altered still further, Nature has provided a kind of storehouse,
either in the form of a central cavity or else as separate
caverns,[407] or something analogous to caverns. Thus the flesh of the
viscera and of the muscles is nourished from the blood directly, this
having undergone merely a slight alteration; the bones, however, in
order to be nourished, require very great change, and what blood is to
flesh marrow is to bone; in the case of the small bones, which do not
possess central cavities, this marrow is distributed in their caverns,
whereas in the larger bones which do contain central cavities the
marrow is all concentrated in these.

For, as was pointed out in the first book,[408] things having a
similar substance can easily change into one another, whereas it is
impossible for those which are very different to be assimilated to one
another without intermediate stages. Such a one in respect to
cartilage is the myxoid substance which surrounds it, and in respect
to ligaments, membranes, and nerves the viscous liquid dispersed
inside them; for each of these consists of numerous fibres, which are
homogeneous[409]--in fact, actual _sensible elements_; and in the
intervals between these fibres is dispersed the humour most suited for
nutrition; this they have drawn from the blood in the veins, choosing
the most appropriate possible, and now they are assimilating it step
by step and changing it into their own substance.

All these considerations, then, agree with one another, and bear
sufficient witness to the truth of what has been already demonstrated;
there is thus no need to prolong the discussion further. For, from
what has been said, anyone can readily discover in what way all the
particular [vital activities] come about. For instance, we could in
this way ascertain why it is that in the case of many people who are
partaking freely of wine, the fluid which they have drunk is rapidly
absorbed[410] through the body and almost the whole of it is passed by
the kidneys within a very short time. For here, too, the rapidity with
which the fluid is absorbed depends on appropriateness of quality, on
the thinness of the fluid, on the width of the vessels and their
mouths, and on the efficiency of the attractive faculty. The parts
situated near the alimentary canal, by virtue of their appropriateness
of quality, draw in the imbibed food for their own purposes, then the
parts next to them in their turn snatch it away, then those next again
take it from these, until it reaches the vena cava, whence finally the
kidneys attract that part of it which is proper to them. Thus it is in
no way surprising that wine is taken up more rapidly than water, owing
to its appropriateness of quality, and, further, that the white clear
kind of wine is absorbed more rapidly owing to its thinness, while
black turbid wine, is checked on the way and retarded because of its
thickness.

These facts, also, will afford abundant proof of what has already been
said about the arteries; everywhere, in fact, such blood as is both
specifically appropriate and at the same time thin in consistency
answers more readily to their traction than does blood which is not
so; this is why the arteries which, in their diastole, absorb vapour,
pneuma, and thin blood attract either none at all or very little of
the juices contained in the stomach and intestines.


                       XV

  Oukoun chr thaumazein, ei pantels oligon ek ts
  koilias, hoson an akribs  kateirgasmenon, eis tas
  artrias paragignetai phthanousas plrousthai tn
  kouphotern, all' ekeino gignskein, hs dy' eston
  holks eid, to men t pros to kenoumenon akolouthia, to
  d' oikeiotti poiottos gignomenon; heters men gar eis
  tas physas ho ar, heters d' ho sidros hypo ts
  hrakleias epispatai lithou; kai hs h men pros to
  kenoumenon akolouthia || to kouphoteron helkei proteron,      207
  h de kata tn ts poiottos oikeiotta pollakis, ei
  houts etyche, to baryteron, an t physei syngenesteron
  hyparch. kai toinyn kai tais artriais te kai t
  kardia, hs men koilois te kai diastellesthai dynamenois
  organois, aei to kouphoteron akolouthei proteron, hs de
  trephesthai deomenois, eis autous tous chitnas, hoi d
  ta smata tn organn eisin, helketai to oikeion. hoson
  an oun eis tn koilotta diastellomenn autn haimatos
  metalphth, toutou to oikeiotaton te kai malista
  trephein dynamenon hoi chitnes autoi tn angein
  epispntai.

  Tou d' ek tn phlebn eis tas artrias metalambanesthai
  ti pros tois eirmenois hikanon kai touto ge tekmrion.
  ei pollas kai megalas artrias diatemn apokteinai to
  zon boultheis, heurseis autou tas phlebas homois
  tais artrias ekkenoumenas, ouk an toutou pote genomenou
  chris tn pros alllas autais anastomsen. hsauts de
  kai kat' autn tn kardian ek ts dexias koilias eis tn
  aristeran helketai to lepto||taton echontos tina trmata      208
  tou mesou diaphragmatos autn, ha mechri men pleistou
  dynaton estin idein, hoion bothynous tinas ex euryterou
  stomatos aei kai mallon eis stenoteron proontas. ou mn
  auta ge ta eschata perata dynaton eti theasasthai dia te
  smikrotta kai hoti tethnetos d tou zou katepsyktai
  te kai pepykntai panta. all' ho logos kantautha prton
  men ek tou mden hypo ts physes gignesthai matn
  hormmenos exeuriskei tas anastomseis tautas tn
  koilin ts kardias; ou gar d eik ge kai hs etychen
  hoi es stenon hout teleutntes egenonto bothynoi.

  Deuteron de kak tou dyoin ontoin stomatoin en t dexia
  ts kardias koilia tou men eisagontos to haima, tou d'
  exagontos poly meizon einai to eisagon. hs gar ou
  pantos tou haimatos, hoson h koil phleps didsi t
  kardia, palin ex ekeins ekpempomenou t pneumoni,
  meizn estin h apo ts koils eis autn emphysis ts
  emphyomens eis ton pneumona phlebos. oude || gar tout'       209
  estin eipein, hs edapanth ti tou haimatos eis tn
  autou tou smatos ts kardias threpsin. hetera gar esti
  phleps h eis ekeino kataschizomen mte tn genesin ek
  ts kardias auts mte tn tou haimatos echousa
  metalpsin. ei de kai dapanatai ti, all' ou tosouton ge
  mein estin h eis ton pneumona phleps agousa ts eis
  tn kardian emphyomens, hoson eikos eis tn trophn
  anlsthai ts kardias, alla pleon poll. dlon oun, hs
  eis tn aristeran ti metalambanetai koilian.

  Kai gar oun kai tn kat' ekeinn angein dyoin ontn
  elatton esti poll to ek tou pneumonos eis autn eisagon
  to pneuma ts ekphyomens artrias ts megals, aph' hs
  hai kata to sma sympasai pephykasin, hs an m monon ek
  tou pneumonos pneuma metalambanouss auts, alla kak ts
  dexias koilias haima dia tn eirmenn anastomsen.

  Hoti d' ameinon n tois tou smatos moriois tois men
  hypo katharou kai leptou kai atmdous haimatos
  trephesthai, tois d' hypo pacheos kai tholerou kai hs
  oud' entautha ti pareratai t physei, ts || peri            210
  chreias morin pragmateias estin, hst' ou chr nyn
  hyper toutn eti legein, all' hypomnsantas, hs dyo
  eston holks eid, tn men eureiais hodois en t
  diastellesthai t pros to kenoumenon akolouthia tn
  helxin poioumenn, tn d' oikeiotti poiottos, ephexs
  legein, hs ta men protera kai porrhthen helkein ti
  dynatai, ta de deutera ek tn engytat monn. auliskon
  men gar hoti mkiston eis hydr enesti kathenta rhadis
  anaspan eis to stoma di' autou to hygron; ou mn ei g'
  epi pleon apagagois ts hrakleias lithou ton sidron 
  tous pyrous tou keramiou--kai gar kai toiouton ti
  prosthen elegeto paradeigma--dynait' an eti genesthai
  tis holk.

  Saphestata d' an auto mathois epi tn en tois kpois
  ochetn; ek toutn gar eis men ta parakeimena kai
  plsion hapanta diadidotai tis ikmas, eis de ta
  porrhter proselthein ouketi dynatai, kai dia tout'
  anankazontai pollois ochetois mikrois apo tou megalou
  tetmmenois eis hekaston meros tou kpou tn epirrhysin
  tou hydatos epitechnasthai; kai tlikauta ge ta ||            211
  metaxy diastmata toutn tn mikrn ochetn poiousin,
  hlika malista nomizousin arkein eis to hikans
  apolauein helkonta ts hekaterthen autois epirrheouss
  hygrottos. houts oun echei kan tois tn zn smasin.
  ochetoi polloi kata panta ta mel diesparmenoi
  paragousin autois haima kathaper en kpois hydreian
  tina. kai toutn tn ochetn ta metaxy diastmata
  thaumasts hypo ts physes euthys ex archs diatetaktai
  pros to mt' endes chorgeisthai tois metaxy moriois
  helkousin eis heauta to haima mte kataklyzesthai pot'
  auta plthei peritts hygrottos akairs epirrheouss.

  Ho gar d tropos ts threpses autn toiosde tis esti.
  tou synechous heaut smatos, hoionper to haploun
  angeion Erasistratos hypotithetai, ta men epipols mer
  prta ts homilouss apolauei trophs; ek de toutn au
  metalambanei kata to syneches helkonta ta toutn hexs,
  eit' ex ekeinn authis hetera kai tout' ou pauetai
  gignomenon, achris an eis hapant' autou diadoth ta
  moria ts trephouss ousias h poiots. hosa de tn
  morin epi pleon || alloioumenou deitai tou mellontos         212
  auta threpsein chymou, toutois hsper ti tamieion h
  physis pareskeuasen toi koilias  srangas  ti tais
  sranxin analogon. hai men gar sarkes hai te tn
  splanchnn hapantn hai te tn myn ex haimatos autou
  trephontai bracheian alloisin dexamenou. ta d' osta
  pampolls en t metaxy deitai ts metabols, hina
  traph, kai estin hoionper to haima tais sarxi, toioutos
  ho myelos tois ostois en men tois mikrois te kai
  akoiliois kata tas srangas autn diesparmenos, en de
  tois meizosi te kai koilias echousin en ekeinais
  throismenos.

  Hs gar kai dia tou prtou grammatos edeiknyto, tois men
  homoian echousi tn ousian eis allla metaballein
  enchrei, tois de pampoly diestsin amchanon alllois
  homoithnai chris tn en mes metaboln. toiouton ti
  kai tois chondrois esti to perikechymenon myxdes kai
  tois syndesmois kai tois hymesi kai tois neurois to
  paresparmenon en autois hygron glischron; hekaston gar
  || toutn ex inn synkeitai polln, haiper homoiomereis       213
  t' eisi kai onts aisthta stoicheia. kata de tas metaxy
  chras autn ho oikeiotatos eis threpsin parespartai
  chymos, hon heilkysan men ek tn phlebn tou haimatos,
  hoson hoion t' n eklexamenai ton epitdeiotaton,
  exomoiousi de kata brachy kai metaballousin eis tn
  heautn ousian.

  Hapant' oun tauta kai alllois homologei kai tois
  emprosthen apodedeigmenois hikans martyrei kai ou chr
  mkynein eti ton logon; ek gar tn eirmenn enestin
  hekast ta kata meros hapanta kath' hontina gignetai
  tropon exeuriskein hetoims, hsper kai dia ti pollois
  kthnizomenois pampoly tachista men anadidotai to
  pothen, oureitai d' oligou dein hapan entos ou pollou
  chronou. kai gar kantautha t te ts poiottos
  oikeiotti kai t ts hygrottos leptotti kai t tn
  angein te kai tn kat' auta stomatn eurytti kai t
  ts helktiks dynames eurstia to tachos synteleitai
  ts anadoses, tn men plsion ts koilias tetagmenn
  morin oikeiotti poiottos || heautn heneka helkontn       214
  to poma, tn d' hexs toutois exarpazontn kai autn eis
  heauta kapeita tn ephexs palin ek toutn
  metalambanontn, achris an eis tn koiln aphiktai
  phleba, tounteuthen d' d tn nephrn to oikeion
  epispmenn. hst' ouden thaumaston oinon men hydatos
  analambanesthai thatton oikeiotti poiottos, auton de
  ton oinon ton men leukon kai katharon hetoims
  anadidosthai dia leptotta, ton d' au melana kai
  tholeron ischesthai te kata tn hodon kai bradynein hypo
  pachous.

  Ei d' an tauta kai tn hyper tn artrin emprosthen
  eirmenn ou smikra martyria. pantachou gar hoson
  oikeion te kai lepton haima tou m toioutou rhaon
  hepetai tois helkousin. atmon oun helkousai kai pneuma
  kai lepton haima kata tas diastaseis hai artriai tn
  kata tn koilian kai ta entera periechomenn chymn 
  oud' hols  pantapasin epispntai brachy.


    [299] "Of food to feeder," _i.e._ of the environment to
    the organism. _cf._ p. 39, chap. xi.

    [300] "Drawing"; _cf._ p. 116, note 2 (168).

    [301] For these terms (_prosthesis_ and _prosphysis_ in
    Greek) _cf._ p. 39, notes 5 (66) and 6 (67).

    [302] Lit. "through the _energizing_ (or _functioning_)
    of the attractive faculty"; the faculty ([Greek:
    dynamis]) _in operation_ is an activity ([Greek:
    energeia]). _cf._ p. 3, note 2 (6).

    [303] This chapter is an excellent example of Galen's
    method of reasoning _a priori_. The complementary
    inductive method, however, is employed in the next
    chapter. _cf._ p. 209, note 1 (288).

    [304] The deductive.

    [305] The _logos_ is the argument or "theory" arrived
    at by the process of [Greek: logik theria] or
    "theorizing"; _cf._ p. 151, note 3 (214); p. 205, note 1
    (282).

    [306] The Greek words for the uterus (_mtrae_ and
    _hysterae_) probably owe their plural form to the belief
    that the organ was bicornuate in the human, as it is in
    some of the lower species.

    [307] Note this expression. For Galen's views on the
    origin of species, _cf._ Introduction, p. xxxi.,
    footnote (3).

    [308] Herophilus of Chalcedon (_circa_ 300 B.C.) was,
    like Erasistratus, a representative of the anatomical
    school of Alexandria. His book on Midwifery was known
    for centuries. _cf._ Introduction, p. xii.

    [309] Relaxation of utero-sacral ligaments as an
    important predisposing cause of prolapsus uteri.

    [310] That is, at the end of the first stage of labour.

    [311] The pylorus.

    [312] "Chylosis," chylification. _cf._ p. 240, note 1
    (314).

    [313] Lit. barley-"chyle," _i.e._ barley-water.

    [314] _i.e._ not the mere mechanical breaking down of
    food, but a distinctively vital action of "alteration."

    [315] _Pepsis._

    [316] Book I., chaps. x., xi.

    [317] _cf._ p. 222, note 1 (299).

    [318] _Choledochous_.

    [319] More exactly _peristol_; _cf._ p. 97, note 1
    (146).

    [320] Neuburger says of Erasistratus that "dissection
    had taught him to think in terms of anatomy." It was
    chiefly the gross movements or structure of organs with
    which he concerned himself. Where an organ had no
    obvious function, he dubbed it "useless"; _e.g._ the
    spleen (_cf._ p. 143).

    [321] _i.e._ contracting and dilating; no longitudinal
    movements involved; _cf._ p. 263, note 2 (341).

    [322] _cf._ p. 282, note 1 (356).

    [323] Book II., chaps. ii. and viii.

    [324] Note use of psychological terms in biology. _cf._
    also p. 133, note 3 (191).

    [325] "In everything." _cf._ p. 66, note 3 (104).

    [326] Galen confuses the nutrition of organs with that
    of the ultimate living elements or cells; the stomach
    does not, of course, feed itself in the way a cell does.
    _cf._ Introduction, p. xxxii.

    [327] _cf._ Asclepiades's theory regarding the urine, p.
    51.

    [328] The process of _application_ or _prosthesis_.
    _cf._ p. 223, note 3 (301).

    [329] Mutual influence of organism and environment.

    [330] Qualitative change. _cf._ Book I., chap. ii.

    [331] Apparently skin-diseases in which a superficial
    crust (resembling the lichen on a tree-trunk)
    forms--_e.g._ psoriasis.

    [332] Note especially pneuma and innate heat, which
    practically stand for oxygen and the heat generated in
    oxidation. _cf._ p. 41, note 3 (70).

    [333] Book I., chap. x.

    [334] That is to say, faeces are obviously altered food.
    This alteration cannot have taken place entirely in the
    small intestine: therefore alteration of food must take
    place in the stomach.

    [335] _cf._ p. 39.

    [336] Asclepiades held that there was no such thing as
    real qualitative change; the food was merely broken up
    into its constituent molecules, and absorbed unaltered.
    _cf._ p. 49, note 5 (82).

    [337] _i.e._ denial of forethought in the Physis.

    [338] _v._ p. 9, _et passim_.

    [339] _cf._ p. 97.

    [340] It appears to me, from comparison between this and
    other passages in Galen's writings (notably _Use of
    Parts_, iv., 8), that he means by the "two coats" simply
    the mucous and the muscular coats. In this case the
    "straight" or "longitudinal" fibres of the inner coat
    would be the _rugae_; the "circular" fibres of the inner
    intestinal coat would be the _valvulae conniventes_.

    [341] The term here rendered _peristalsis_ is
    _peristol_ in Greek; it is applied only to the
    intermittent movements of muscles placed circularly
    round a lumen or cavity, and comprehends _systol_ or
    contraction and _diastol_ or dilatation. In its modern
    significance, _peristalsis_, however, also includes the
    movements of _longitudinal_ fibres. _cf._ p. 97, note 1
    (146).

    [342] _i.e._ those containing non-striped or
    "involuntary" muscle fibres; organs governed by the
    "natural" pneuma; _cf._ p. 186, note 3 (265).

    [343] By this term is meant only what we should call the
    "voluntary" muscles.

    [344] _cf._ p. 97.

    [345] For "symptom," _cf._ p. 13, and p. 12, note 3
    (24). "Transitum namque materiae per angustum corpus id
    accidens consequitur" (Linacre). Less a "result" or
    "consequence" than an "accompaniment."

    [346] _i.e._ this is a purely mechanical process.

    [347] _i.e._. this phenomenon is a proof neither of
    _peristol_ nor of attraction. _cf._ p. 97, note 2
    (147).

    [348] Contraction and dilatation of course being
    reversed.

    [349] The _channa_ is a kind of sea-perch; "a species of
    _Serranus_, either _S. scriba_ or _S. cabrilla_" (D'Arcy
    W. Thompson). _cf._ Aristotle's _Nat. Hist._ (D'Arcy
    Thompson's edition, Oxford, 1910), IV., xi., 538 A, 20.
    The _synodont_ "is not to be identified with certainty,
    but is supposed to be _Dentex vulgaris_," that is, an
    edible Mediterranean perch. "It is not the stomach,"
    adds Prof. Thompson, "but the air-bladder that gets
    everted and hangs out of the mouth in fishes, especially
    when they are hauled in from a considerable depth."
    _cf._ _H. A._, VIII., ii., 591 B, 5.

    [350] Under the term "neura," tendons were often
    included as well as nerves. Similarly in modern Dutch
    the word _zenuw_ ("sinew") means both a tendon and a
    nerve; _zenuwachtig_ = "nervous."

    [351] Rather than the alternative reading, [Greek: ton
    esthen chitna]. Galen apparently supposes that the
    outer coat will not be damaged, as the cuts will pass
    _between_ its fibres. These cuts would be, presumably,
    short ones, at various levels, no single one of them
    involving the whole circumference of the gullet.

    [352] _cf._ p. 205.

    [353] Thus Galen elsewhere calls the spleen a mere
    _emunctory_ ([Greek: ekmageion]) of the liver. _cf._ p.
    214, note 1 (295).

    [354] _cf._ p. 269.

    [355] The urinary bladders of pigs (such as Galen
    dissected) are thin, and appear to have only one coat.

    [356] _cf._ p. 243.

    [357] My suggestion is that Galen refers to (1) the
    _mucous_ coat, with its _valvulae conniventes_, and (2)
    the _muscular_ coat, of which the chief layer is made up
    of circular fibres. _cf._ p. 262, note 1 (340).

    [358] Or _utility_.

    [359] Relationship between physiology and pathology
    again emphasized. _cf._ p. 188, note 2 (267).

    [360] Or physicist--the investigator of the Physis or
    Nature. _cf._ p. 196, note 2 (274). Note here the use of
    analogical reasoning. _cf._ p. 113, note 2 (166).

    [361] _cf._ p. 95.

    [362] I. xiii.; II. ii.

    [363] Galen's idea is that if reversal of the direction
    of flow can occur in the _primae viae_ (in vomiting), it
    may also be expected to occur in the _secundae viae_ or
    absorptive channels.

    [364] For this "delivery," "up-yield," or _anadosis_,
    _v._ p. 13, note 5 (26).

    [365] The mesenteric veins.

    [366] Linacre renders: "Una omnium confluxio ac
    conspiratio"; and he adds the marginal note "Totum
    corpus nostrum est conspirabile et confluxile per meatus
    communes." _cf._ p. 48.

    [367] The alimentary canal, as not being edible, is not
    considered a _splanchnon_ or viscus.

    [368] Lit. _rheums_; hence our term _rheumatism_.

    [369] Here Galen apparently indicates that vital
    functions are at least partly explicable in terms of
    mechanical law. _cf._ Introduction, p. xxviii.

    [370] _cf._ pp. 211, 247.

    [371] See p. 298, note 1 (369).

    [372] The ends of the veins in the alimentary canal from
    which absorption or _anadosis_ had originally taken
    place.

    [373] _Diathesis_.

    [374] _Diathesis_.

    [375] _Pathos_.

    [376] He means, not only under the stress of special
    circumstances, but also normally.

    [377] Lit. "rough artery." The air-passages as well as
    the arteries proper were supposed by the Greeks to carry
    air (pneuma); diastole of arteries was, like expansion
    of the chest, a movement for drawing in air. _cf._ p.
    317, note 1 (390).

    [378] _cf._ p. 39, chap. xi.

    [379] Lit. _orexis_.

    [380] Lit. a "physical" organ; that is, a mere
    instrument or organon of the Physis,--not one of the
    Psyche or conscious personality. _cf._ semen, p. 132,
    note 1 (189).

    [381] _cf._ p. 317, note 2 (391); p. 319, chap. xv.

    [382] Note that absorption takes place from the stomach
    as well as the intestines. _cf._ p. 118, note 1 (171).

    [383] That is, among the ultimate tissues or cells.

    [384] Pp. 205-9.

    [385] By this term, of course, the air-passages are also
    meant; _cf._ p. 305.

    [386] _cf._ p. 34, note 1 (57).

    [387] _cf._ p. 121, note 4 (177).

    [388] Pulmonary vein, or rather, left auricle. Galen
    means a reflux through the mitral orifice; the left
    auricle was looked on rather as the termination of the
    pulmonary veins than as a part of the heart. _cf._ p.
    323, note 4 (403). He speaks here of a kind of
    "physiological" mitral incompetence.

    [389] _Horror vacui._

    [390] _cf._ p. 305, note 2 (377).

    [391] _cf._ p. 308, note 1 (381).

    [392] The "mechanical" principle of _horror vacui_
    contrasted with the "physical" or semi-physiological
    principle of specific attraction. _Appropriateness_ here
    might almost be rendered _affinity_ or _kinship_. _cf_.
    note 2 (393), _infra_.

    [393] "Related," "akin." _cf._ p. 36, note 2 (61).

    [394] The coats exercise the _vital_ traction, the
    cavities the merely _mechanical_. _cf_. p. 165, note 2
    (232).

    [395] Chap. xiv.

    [396] These fossae were probably the recesses between
    the _columnae carnae_.

    [397] On _logos_ _cf._ p. 226, note 2 (305).

    [398] He means the tricuspid orifice. _cf._ p. 121, note
    4 (177).

    [399] The right auricle was looked on less as a part of
    the heart than as an expansion or "insertion" of the
    vena cava.

    [400] This "vein" (really the pulmonary artery) was
    supposed to be the channel by which the lungs received
    nutriment from the right heart. _cf._ p. 121, note 3
    (176).

    [401] The coronary vein.

    [402] Galen's conclusion, of course, is, so far,
    correct, but he has substituted an imaginary direct
    communication between the ventricles for the actual and
    more roundabout pulmonary circulation, of whose
    existence he apparently had no idea. His views were
    eventually corrected by the Renascence anatomists. _cf._
    Introduction, pp. xxii.-xxiii.

    [403] He means the left auricle, considered as the
    termination of the pulmonary "arteries"; _cf._ p. 314,
    note 3 (388).

    [404] The aorta, its orifice being circular, appears
    bigger than the slit-like mitral orifice.

    [405] p. 87.

    [406] Or we may render it "corpuscle"; Galen practically
    means the _cell_. _cf._ p. 153, note 2 (216).

    [407] _cf._ the term "cavernous tissue."

    [408] I. x.

    [409] Lit. _homoeomerous_, _i.e._ "the same all
    through," of similar structure throughout, the
    _elements_ of living matter, _cf._ p. 20, note 3 (38),
    and _cf._ also the "cell" of Erasistratus, p. 153.

    [410] "Delivered," "dispersed"; _cf._ p. 13, note 5
    (26).




  INDEX AND GLOSSARY

  (The numbers refer to the pages of the present edition;
  fuller references will be found in the footnotes.)


  Abortifacient drugs, 285

  Abortion, 231, 285

  Absorption from digestive tract (_v. Anadosis_)

  Acidity of urine, 245, 287

  Activity (function), 13

  Adhesion (prosphysis) of nutriment to tissues, 39

  Affinity, 33

  Alimentary canal, 119, 309
      coats of, 23, 263

  Allopathic treatment, 199

  Alteration (qualitative change), 7, 9, 241, 251

  Anadosis (absorption from digestive tract), 63, 119

  Anmia, 173

  Anasarca (dropsy), 41

  Anastomoses (communications between arteries and veins), 321

  Anaxagoras, "preformationist" doctrine of, 7

  Ancient writers, value of, 279

  Animal life, 3

  Animals (_v._ also _History, Natural_)
      cold-blooded, 181
      long-necked, 275

  Anorexia (want of appetite), 247

  Aorta (main artery of body), 143, 323

  Appetite, 249

  Aristotle, 9, _et passim_ (_v._ also _Peripatetic School_)

  Arrows, drugs for extracting heads of, 83

  "Art" of Nature (_i.e._ of the living organism), 57

  Arteries, structure of, 283
      to-and-fro motion in, 313
      attraction of air by, through skin, 317

  Artery, pulmonary, 121, 323

  Artificer, 133

  Asclepiades, 49, _et passim_

  Asepsis (absence of corruption), 201

  Assimilation, 33

  Asthenia (weakness), 239

  Atomist School in Medicine, 45

  Atrabiliary (melancholic) humour, 209

  Attraction (_v._ also _Horror vacui_)
      physiological, 45
      magnetic, 73

  Auricle, left, of heart, 315
      right, of heart, 321

  Authority, value of, 279

  Aversion, 249


  Baking, 259

  Beauty, 47

  Bile, yellow, 63, 123, 177, 191, 289
      "vitelline," 209
      black, 203 (_v._ also _Melancholic humour_)

  Bile-passages, mechanical blocking of, 171

  Biliousness, 193

  Biology, repudiation of, by Atomist School, 45

  Bladder, urinary, 51, 53, _et passim_
      for bile (_v. Gall-bladder_)

  Blood-production, 17, 169, 183, 191, 201

  Boiling, 259

  Boils, 253

  Bone, structure of, 327

  Bone-marrow, 327

  Borborygmi (gurglings) in stomach, 237

  Bread, constitution of, 11

  Bubo (swollen lymphatic glands in groin), 185

  Butchers (as the primitive anatomists), 51


  Cadaver (corpse), experiment on, 265

  Cartilage (gristle), 329

  Catarrh (mucous discharge), 215

  Cattle (as typifying "herd-morality"), 47

  "Cell," of animal tissues, 153
      nutrition of, 327

  Change, qualitative (_v. Alteration_)

  Channels (_v. Morphological hypothesis_)

  Cheese-making, 91

  Childbirth, 231, 285

  Children's game, 27

  Chill, 171, 203 (_v._ also _Cold_)

  Cholagogues (drugs that draw off bile), 65

  Cholera, 299

  Chorion (membrane enclosing unborn child), 229

  Chrysippus, 9

  Chyle (emulsified contents of stomach), (_v. Emulsification_)

  Cirrhosis (induration) of liver, 171

  Coats (tunics), 23

  Cold, action of, on skin, 301

  Cold-in-the-head, 215 (_v._ also _Chill_)

  Colon (large intestine), 313

  Colour, 5

  Conception, of semen, 233

  Congius (measure), 111

  Contractions (_v. Peristalsis_)

  Cooking, 191

  Corn, attractive power of, 87

  Coryza (mucous discharge: now a "cold"), 215

  Crisis, 75

  Cyathus (measure), 65


  Decay, 7

  Deductive reasoning, 227

  Deglutition (swallowing), 95, 261, 265, 273

  Democritus, 153

  Deposits (in tissues), 297

  Desire (appetite), 249, 269

  Destruction (act of perishing), 7

  Diaphragm (midriff), 255

  Diarrhoea, 247, 299

  Diet, 35, 179, 255

  Digestion, cause of, 243
      impairment of, 185, 217, 237

  Digestive tract, action on food, 251, _et seq._
      structure (_v. Alimentary Canal_)

  Diocles, 51

  Disease, definition of, 197

  Diseases, the four primary, 185

  Disjunctive argument, 167

  Distribution (diadosis) of nutriment to tissues, 163

  Dropsy, 41, 67, 171

  Drugs, 65, 285, 293 (_v._ also _Poisons_)

  Dyscrasia (abnormal blending of the four qualities), 189

  Dysentery, 205

  Dyspepsia (_v. Indigestion_)


  Education, 279

  Effect (product, work done), 13

  Emaciation, 161

  Emanations, 77

  Embryo, 229

  Emesis (_v. Vomiting_)

  Empiricist physicians, 69, 193

  Emulsification, 239

  Epicurus, 71

  Epigastric muscles, 237

  Epispastic (attractive), 117

  Erasistratus, 95

  Erasistrateans, 105

  Etna, 259

  Eucrasia (proper blending of the four qualities), 189

  Evaporation, 51, 87, 251

  Experience (_v. Empiricist physicians_)

  Expulsive faculty, 231


  Faculty (potentiality), 13

  Fces (ordure from bowel), 255

  Fermentation, 209

  Fever as a cause of indigestion, 185

  Fibres, 329
      of blood, 215
      circular and longitudinal, 263
      oblique, 281

  Filtration, 91

  Fish, voraciousness of, 269

  Flavour, 5

  Fluxions, 297

  Foetus (unborn child), 233
      death of, 287

  Forced-feeding, 247

  Forces, material, 127, 301

  Function (activity), cause of, 197


  Gall-bladder, 147, 245
      absence of nerves in, 289

  Gardens, irrigation of, 325

  Genesis (development of embryo), 19

  Germander (drug), 67

  Gestation (carrying of embryo by mother), 229

  Give-and-take between organs, 295

  Gravity (explaining secretion of urine), 107

  Greediness, 271

  Growth, 27, 137

  Gullet, 263
      use of, by stomach, 271
      function of its two coats, 273

  Gurgling in stomach, 237


  Habit of body, 69

  Hmorrhage, intestinal, 297

  Hmorrhoids (_v. Piles_)

  Heartburn, 287

  Heat, innate, 41, 141, 185

  Hepatic veins (entering vena cava from liver), 147

  Herophilus, 233

  Hippocrates, 9, _et passim_

  Histogenesis (tissue-production), 21

  History, natural, 269

  Homoeomeries (similar parts), 169

  Homoeopathy, p. 199, Note 1 (276)

  Honey, 179, 191

  Horror vacui ("Nature's abhorrence of a vacuum"), 99, 155

  Humours, the four, origin of, 167, 183, 209

  Hydragogues (drugs that draw water out of the system), 65


  Ileus volvulus (obstruction of bowels), 299, 303

  Illusions, sensory, 7

  Indigestion, 185, 217, 237

  Inductive reasoning, 227

  Inflammation, 89, 233

  Interaction of any two bodies, 251

  Intestine, small, 255

  Intestines, structure of, 283
      movements of, 243

  Ionia, 29

  Iron, 71

  Irrigation of gardens and tissues, 325


  Jaundice, 179, 207

  Jejunum (part of small intestine), 299


  Kidneys, 49, 89


  Labour (_v. Childbirth_)

  Larynx (voice-box), involved in swallowing, 265

  Leprosy, 41

  Leucippus, 153

  Lichen (a skin-disease), 253

  Liver, proper tissue of, 311
      transverse fissure of, 147
      induration of, 171
      give-and-take between it and stomach, 291

  Lodestone, 71

  Love, 47

  Lumen (internal cavity of a vessel), 119

  Lycus, 109


  Magnetism, 71

  Marrow of bones, 327

  Mastication, 253

  Material forces, 127

  Medicine, taking of, 269 (_v._ also _Drugs_)

  Melancholic (_v. Atrabiliary_)

  Membranes, foetal, 231, 285 (_v._ also _Chorion_)

  Menander, 105

  Menodotus, 81

  Menstrual blood, 131, 171

  Metabolism, diseases of, 41

  Midwife, 235

  Miscarriage, (_v. Abortion_)

  Molecules (of Asclepiades), 63

  Morphological hypothesis of bile-secretion, 125, 147

  Motion, active and passive, 57

  Mouth, lining of, 261
      digestion in, 253

  Mucus, 203, 215

  Muscles, voluntary, 263


  "Nature," 2;
      its "Art," 57

  Nature-lore (_v. Physiology_)

  Nausea, 287

  "Nerve," 151, 273

  Nutriment, 41

  Nutrition, 31, 149


  Obstetric chair, 235

  Obstruction of bowels, 299, 303

  Oesophagus (_v. Gullet_)

  Omentum (an apron-like fold of fat, overlying the intestine), 143,
    255, 313

  Organism, unity of, 61

  Organs, nutrition of, 307

  Os uteri (mouth of womb), 229

  Ovum, human, 135

  Oxidation, 211

  Oxygen (_v. Pneuma_)


  Pain, 287

  Parturition, 231

  Pathology, relation to Physiology, 189, 287

  Peasants, 87

  Perch (_v. Fish_)

  Peripatetic (Aristotelian) School, 139

  Peristalsis (contraction and dilatation), 97, 243, 263

  Peritoneum, 53

  Phidias, 129

  Philistion, 173

  Philotimus, 183

  Phlegm, 67, 201, 215

  Phlegmatic temperament, 193

  "Physiology," 139

  Piles, 171

  Plant-life, 3

  Plato, 173, 203, 215

  Plethora (congestion), 119

  Pneuma (as a vital principle), 153;
      (as oxygen), 187

  Poisons, action of, 251

  Porch, the (Stoic School), 145

  "Pores" (_v. Channels_)

  Portal vein, 147

  Potter's earth, 213

  Practitioner, 197

  Praxagoras, 51

  Praxiteles, 129

  "Preformationist" doctrine of Anaxagoras, p. 7, Note 5 (14)

  Presentation (prosthesis) of nutriment to tissues, 39

  Prevention and Cure, 169

  Principles, the four fundamental (_v. Qualities_)

  Prodicus, 201

  Prolapse of uterus, 235

  Propulsive faculty, 231

  Prosphysis (_v. Adhesion_)

  Prosthesis (_v. Presentation_)

  Psyche, 3, 153

  Psychology, repudiation of, by Atomist School, 45

  Pulmonary artery, 121

  Pylorus (outlet of stomach), 239
      regurgitation through, 289

  Pyrrhonists (typical sceptics), 197


  Qualities, the four fundamental, 9, 183, 259
      derivative, 21


  Relativity, 17

  Renal veins, 107

  Respiration, 175, 305

  Retentive faculty, 225

  Rhetoric, 97


  Safflower (drug), 67

  Saliva, action of, 253

  Scammony (drug), 67

  Schools, two contrasted, in Medicine, 45

  Scientist, 197

  Scorpions, 253

  Sculpture, 129

  Sectarianism, 55

  Sects, medical (_v. Schools_)

  Self-control, 47

  Self-education, 279

  Semen, 131, 233

  Sensation, 47

  Septum, perforated, between ventricles of heart, 321

  Serum (watery part of blood or milk), 91, 213

  Shaping (development of organs), 19

  Sieves, 91

  Skin-diseases, 253 (_v._ also _Leprosy_ and _Lichens_)

  Slaves, 103

  Sociability, 47

  Sophistry, 219, 279

  Sophists, 7

  Soul, 45

  Specific selection of nutriment by tissues (_v. Attraction,
    physiological_)

  Spermatic ducts, 57

  Spirit (_v. Pneuma_)

  Spleen, function and diseases of, 205
      "uselessness" of, 143
      as an emunctory of the liver, 277

  Statues, 129

  Sting-ray (fish), bite of, 85

  Stoics, 15, 145

  Stomach, function of, 197, 237, 251, 255
      coats of, 261
      independent habits of, 271
      give-and-take between it and liver, 291

  Stone in bladder, 51

  Strength, relative, of different organs, 293

  Substance, 9

  Superfluities (waste-substances), 35, 291

  Swallowing (_v. Deglutition_)

  Symptoms, 13

  Synapse, 147


  Teeth, 253

  Temperament (crasis, mixture of elementary principles), 15, 139, 193

  Temperance, 47

  Theophrastus, 139

  Thorns, drugs for extracting, 83

  Tissues, development of, 21
      their action in producing humours, 179, 195

  Trachea (windpipe), 305

  Transference (passive motion), 7

  Transpiration, 153

  Treatment, principles of, 199

  Tricuspid orifice of heart, 321

  Tubes, rigid, 119, 317, 325


  Unity of organism, 61

  Ureters, 23, 51

  Urine, 51

  "Useless" organs (Erasistratus), 143

  Uterus (womb), 227


  Vacuum, tendency to refill (_v. Horror vacui_)

  Valves of heart, 121, 315

  Vaporisation (_v. Evaporation_)

  Vegetable diet, 35, 179

  Vegetative life, 3

  Veins, structure of, 283
      "arterial" (_v. Pulmonary artery_)
      coronary, 323
      hepatic, 147
      mesenteric, 293, 305
      portal, 147
      renal, 107, 143
      vena cava (chief vein of body), 91
      collapse of, 119

  Ventricles of heart, communication between, 321

  Vipers, 85

  Vitalist School in Medicine, 45

  Vivisection, 59, 241, 273

  Voluntary motion, 3

  Volvulus (intestinal obstruction), 299, 303

  Vomiting, 241, 247, 267
      fcal, 299


  Waste-products (_v. Superfluities_)

  Whey (_v. Serum_)

  Wine, 209, 329

  Womb (_v. Uterus_)

  Wounds, 185

  Wrestling, 125


  Zeno, of Citium, 9






End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of On the Natural Faculties, by Galen

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE NATURAL FACULTIES ***

***** This file should be named 43383-8.txt or 43383-8.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
        http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/3/8/43383/

Produced by Eileen Gormly, Turgut Dincer, Ted Garvin and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net


Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.



*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).


Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works

1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.  See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.

1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.

1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license

1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.

1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.

1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.

1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that

- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."

- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
     License.  You must require such a user to return or
     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
     Project Gutenberg-tm works.

- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
     of receipt of the work.

- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.

1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.

1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.

1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.


Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.


Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://pglaf.org

For additional contact information:
     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
     Chief Executive and Director
     gbnewby@pglaf.org


Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://pglaf.org

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate


Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.

Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.


Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.


Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:

     http://www.gutenberg.org

This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
