Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
An Irish Materia Medica (Author: Tadhg Ó Cuinn)
subsection 280
280. Uinum: i.e. wine; it is hot and dry; it greatly nourishes the body and preserves the health if drunk in moderation, as Ysaac says in the Liber Dietarum Universalium, it soothes the digestive virtue of the stomach, the liver and all parts of the body in general; as Galen
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says in his book De sanitate tuenda, it is impossible, without wine, to soothe the operation of the digestive virtue properly when it is weakened, because no food or drink is known which more soothes the natural virtue and the digestive virtue than wine; it unites its own heat with the natural heat, and its own fluid with the natural fluids. It readily converts to very pure blood, it augments the spirits, it cleans the blood, it opens the oppilation of the liver and spleen, it clears the eyes, it drives out sorrow and sadness from the heart, and it soothes the parts of the body in general. Not only that, but it also soothes the soul, because it overcomes sorrow, mourning and sadness, it increases gladness, and it gives the soul strength to repent and to turn to God; it makes a person lively and vigorous; according to Ysaac, it is obvious that wine should be given in every age and season and complex and place, in greater or lesser quantity, according as the nature of the circumstances dictates. Ysaac says that adolescents and young adults should drink wine more than the old people, because, although wine suits the old people from the point of view of their complex, their brains are not able for it, on account of the weakness of their animal virtue, and the softness of their nerves. Wine works in different ways in people of different ages, according to Ysaac; it should be given to old people for medical purposes only, to young adults only as nourishment, and to adolescents both for nourishment and as medicine. The reason why it is a medicine for old people is that the hotness of the wine counteracts the coldness of old age. The reason why it is a food for young adults is that the wine and the person have the same complex and nature, as far as the hotness of each is concerned, and, because they are alike, the wine nourishes
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the person. The reason why it is both food and medicine for children is that their hotness and virtues and their body in general have not been yet fully developed, and their wetness is excessive, as we have said, and the wine corrects those things and is the right thing for the nourishment of the parts of the body. In winter time and in a cold district, wine should be given in substantial quantity. In summer time and in a hot district, it should be mixed with water, because the thinness of the wine carries the water to the body internally, refreshing and wetting it. Wines are distinguished by age, new wine is one year old, old wine is from four to seven years, and medium wine from two years to four. New wine is hot and wet in the first degree, for which reason it serves well against coldness; according to Ysaac, this is the drink that most serves to nourish the body; however, bad and corrupt humours are generated by it, and windiness in the stomach and intestines, because, as Galen says, new wine cannot carry the food to the parts of the body. Old wine is hot and dry in the third degree; it is somewhat sour and it nourishes but little; it quickly goes to the head and upsets the senses when it is drunk in a way that is not in accordance with the person's nature, unless it be mixed with pure water; this wine should be avoided by those whose senses are very acute and whose nerves are weak, unless the wine have plenty of wetness in it in order to counteract the sharpness and great hotness of the wine itself. Medium wine is hot and dry in the second degree, this it is that is suitable for people of every age, in every season, and whatever the complex, provided that it be given in moderation.
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