Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
A Treatise on Fevers (Author: [unknown])
Section 5
{TCD 1299 page and line 28b12}Let it be asked here whether the one cure is suitable for the fever and for the cause and for the accidental ailment; it seems it is not, for Galenus says in the second book of Techne: ‘Causa debetur ...’ i.e. digestion and evacuation should be for the cause, and digestion is hot and dry, and evacuation likewise, as Galenus says in the eleventh book of De ingenio sanitatis in the fifth chapter, and in the commentary to Prognosticorum in the first book, and in the commentary to Regimenta acutorum in the third book, every digestive and purgative cure should be hot and dry, and every cure suitable for the fever itself should be cold and moist as it is itself hot and dry, as Hippocrates says in the Aphorisms: ‘Humidi diete ...’ that for that reason the same cure is unsuitable for fever and cause. Then Aristotle says these words: ‘Quod contrarium ...’ i.e. the contrary is not easy in dissimilar things, and fever and the cause of fever are dissimilar and diverse, so the same cure is not suitable for them. Then Galenus says a transmuting digestive cure should be given for the cause of the fever, and a purgative cure should be given for the
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fever itself, if so, since these are dissimilar, the same cure should not be given for cause and for fever. Then Galenus says in De ingenio sanitatis, if syncope comes from the fever, hot things should be given for the syncope, such as pure wine, and cold things for the fever, such as an infusion of barley, so the same cure should not be given for the accidental ailment and for the fever. Then the same man says that, if a flux comes from the fever, styptic things must be given for the flux, and purgative things for the fever, so a similar cure is not to be given for accidental ailment and fever. Then Avicenna says in the fourth book in the chapter on putrid fever these words: ‘Causa febris ... ’ i.e. the cause of the fever is increased by the consumption of food, and Galenus says in the commentary on Aphorisms, when the unfavourable ailments are dispersing the strength and weakening it, food should be given then, and especially in the status, so the same cure is not to be used for cause and fever. Then Galenus says in the sixth book of De ingenio sanitatis these words: ‘In cura ... ’ i.e. in illness of the stomach the same cure serves for cause and illness, and it is not so for other illnesses such as fever and the like, so the one cure does not serve for fever and cause. This is opposed in the book Techne according to Galenus who says the cause of the fever and the fever itself are identical, and every cure which serves for the cause is suitable for the fever, so the one cure should be given for cause and fever. Then it seems the one cure serves for the cause and for the fever itself, for Aristotle says these words: ‘Unum quoque ... ’ i.e. the property of every cold thing is to transmute and thicken, and Galenus says in the commentary of the second section of Aphorisms: ‘Omnis digestio ... ’, {TCD 1299 page and line 29a1} i.e. every digestive proceeds to coagulation, and every coagulation goes to coldness, so that the one cure fits fever and cause. Then Galenus says that phlebotomy is suitable in fever for it evacuates the cause and cools the body, and every thing that cools the body is suitable for fever, and everything by which proper evacuation is made is suitable for the cause of the fever, so, since phlebotomy does those things in
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fever and in the cause of the fever, it should be done in each of them, so the same cure should be used for fever and cause. Then Avicenna says in the fourth book that syrup of vinegar and vinegar itself are suitable in fever and in the cause of the fever for they digest and transmute and nourish, and everything that does this is suitable in fever and in the cause, so the one cure should be used for the fever and for the cause. Then he says in De ingenio sanitatis These words: ‘Omne quod ... ’, i.e. everything which expels the cause expels the effect of the cause, so everything which expels the cause expels the effect of the cause i.e. the fever, so the one cure serves for each of them. Then it seems that the same cure serves for the cause and for the accidental ailment, for he says the fever is the matter of the accidental ailment and everything by which the fever is cured cures the accidental ailment, so the one cure serves for cause and accidental ailment. Then Galenus says in the book de Accidente et Morbo that the accidental ailment follows the disease as the shadow follows the body, so the accidental ailment is cured by everything that cures the disease. We answer this and say that the cure in respect to the fever is understood in two ways i.e. directly and indirectly; directly when the fever is expelled by cold, moist things as Hippocrates said ‘Humidi dicte etc. ’; indirectly i.e. when true tertian is cured by rhubarb which is hot and dry, for when reddish bile which is the matter of tertian is evacuated, tertian is then cured. Understand that the accidental ailments of fever are classed in two ways, i.e. the ailment which accompanies the fever, and the ailment which comes after the fever; the ailment which accompanies the fever such as redness of the checks in peripneumonia, and the darkness and blackness of the tongue in causon and in true tertian, and we say that when these attacks are cured the accidental ailments are cured; and the ailments that come after the fevers, such as syncope and abdominal flux and colic, passion (?) and insomnia, light-headedness and the like, we say that these ailments are not cured by the cure of the fever. And we say that cure is divided in three ways, i.e. in general, specially, and by
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number. In general, such as everything cured by its opposite, as Galenus says in the second Techne: ‘Omnis cura ... ’, i.e. every illness being cured by its contrary in equal degrees. Specially, further divided into four (recte three) parts, i.e. its quality and its quantity and its substance. Its quality, such as heat and moisture, cold and dryness, heat and dryness, cold and moisture. Quantity, such as fullness and emptiness. Its substance, such as thickening and attenuation and cutting and cleaning and the like. From the number, indeed, such as the illness in the fourth degree which should be given a contrary cure corresponding to that degree.