Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
A Treatise on Fevers (Author: [unknown])

Section 2

{TCD 1299 page and line 26a21} And since fever affects the whole body, it is of that we should wish to speak first here. And Galenus says in this book that fever is a disease caused by an unfavourable hot complexion which affects the whole body. And other doctors say that fever is unnatural heat which proceeds from the heart and from the arteries to all the members, hindering the natural functions, and one gets this attack according to the course of the fever, i.e. according to the heat, and not from the accidental ailments which accompany the fever, though some of the old people said that fever is simply the accidental ailments which follow heat, and they said too that fever is the same as rigor or fotigacio, i.e. an accidental ailment one gets after labour or fatigue or headache. And Hippocrates said in the book entitled Epidemion that fever is simply natural heat moving outside the natural course. And he said in the same book that fevers are of three sorts, one which begins in the spirits and proceeds to the heart, so that it acquires heat, and from the heart to the arteries, and from the arteries to all the members of the body, and this kind is called ephemera. The second sort is a fever caused by the humours, and which begins gently from those to the members near them, and from the members to the heart, and from the heart to the arteries, and from the arteries to the members again, so that thus it goes round the whole body, and this fever is called putrid fever, i.e. fever caused by the corruption of the humours. The third sort is formed in the strong members and in the fundamental fluids, and begins from those to the heart, and from the heart to the arteries, and from the arteries to all the members, and this fever is called hectic fever. And Galenus says here that the whole matter consists simply of these three sorts we have mentioned, namely, ephemera, putrita and etica, and the cause is, as Galenus says: Three matters are the seat of fever in the body, namely the spirits, the humours and the members. And Galenus puts ten fevers here including the heat of the fevers we have mentioned, i.e., the heat of ephemeral fever, namely flatulence compounded with heat. And the heat of putrid fever, like the heat of water boiled in a closed vessel.

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And the heat of hectic fever like a vessel heated when empty and cold water poured in. And Galenus says here that ephemeral fever lasts twenty-four hours, or else forty-eight hours, or seventy-two hours. Putrid fever is fever which comes from the corruption of the four humours, and there are five matters causing corruption in the humours, i.e. the first matter, the humours offending as to quantity. The second matter, the thickness and density of the humours. The third matter, the closing of the pores. The fourth matter, the viscosity of the humours. The fifth matter, vapour kept in the body from the closings we have mentioned. And Galenus says that there are many kinds of putrid fevers, i.e., simple fever and compound fever. Simple fever such as the fever caused by the corruption of one humour, e. g. tertian from the corruption of reddish bile, and sinocha from the corruption of red blood, and quartana from the corruption of black bile, and quotidian from the corruption of phlegm. And Galenus says there are two kinds of fever caused by the corruption of the humours, continued fever and intermittent fever, and continued fever is one which corrupts inside the vessels such as the arteries and the veins, and intermittent fever is when it corrupts outside the vessels, as in tertiana interpolata. And Galenus says that there are twelve hours in the access of true tertian. And twenty-tour hours in the access of true quartana. And eighteen hours in the access of ephemera. And eighteen hours in the access of quotidian. Since we have alluded to the access of fevers: