Comets (according to famous philosophers) are clearshining, hot, dry fumes (which are called exhalationes) which are drawn by the excessive heat of the sun to the upper regions of the air, and then from being so near to the other element fire, and the air moving them, they kindle, and according as they are dense or rare they last without dissipating. These signs, or these comets, signify according to the same authors, misfortunes, such as war, strifes, famine, injury, plagues and death of princes and powerful people. Be it noted that it is by the form and colour of the comets that the things may be known which they signify, and in the case of eclipses by their colours. Accordingly, if the comet or the eclipse be dark, and as one might think greenish, it will be of the nature of Saturn, and so it signifies death, plague, great cold, frost and snow, dark air, storm, whirlwinds, earthquake, flood and famine. If it be reddish in colour, it will be of the nature of Jupiter, and so signifies death of kings and of a powerful man. The form of this comet is to be great, round, and like a human face as it were. If its colour be red and flaming, and a long tail to it, it will be of the nature of Mars, and if it is in the east, and its tail up over its head, that signifies in the west great famine, war, earthquake, damage to water, and destruction of cities and kingdoms. If its colour be very pale, and it be terrible to see and close
Because I think that there are many who would like to learn what is the cause of these canicular days, or what time they begin and end, we shall show briefly these three things. There are found, then, in the eighth sphere two constellations, i.e., two sets of stars, which are called Canis Minor and Canis Major, i.e., the lesser dog and the greater dog, and they are of the nature of Mars. But Canis Minor, in which are two stars according to Ptolemy, is of the nature of Mars and Mercury. Distinguished authors say
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The author Diaferes wrote that if it is in Aries the moon is on the day that Canicula begins (i.e., rises), there will be much water in the following year, little wheat, abundance of oil, but death of cattle. If it is in Taurus that the moon is on that day, the wheat will be scarce, there will be much rain, hail — a laborious and wretched year. If it is in Gemini that it is, bread, wine and fruit will be plentiful, but diseases will be so (also). If it is in Cancer, wheat and water will be scarce. If it is in Leo, wheat, wine and oil will be plentiful, fruit dear,
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The table on this page has been omitted.
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The table on this page has been omitted.
In order that this table may be clearly understood, it is necessary to find out the golden number of the year in which it is desired to find the new moon and full moon of every month, and let that be looked for in the table in the first column to the left-hand side, and opposite to that to the right hand, corresponding to the month in which it will be, will be found the new moon and full moon, i.e., the day and the hour in which it will appear and in which it will be full, bearing in mind that the letter M signifies Morning and the letter T Evening, and that Con. signifies new moon from the word conjunctio, so called because the sun and moon about that time are close together in the same sign. Let this be illustrated by an example, and I inquire when the hour of new moon will be in the month of May in this year 1694, and I say, according to the table, that it will be new on the 24th at 4 o'clock in the evening; for 4 is the golden number, and opposite that I find the 24th day and 4 hours of the month of May as is specified above it, &c., and I say that the moon before that was full on the 9th day and at 11 o'clock in the morning of the same month, and so on with the other months. And be it observed that this table serves for the whole world by substracting or adding the difference or distinction of midday of Valencia; accordingly, we shall set down that here for certain places and cities, so that the other countries may be the better compared with them, bearing in mind that, in the other table following, the letter B signifies subtraction and the letter C addition, and that this line ( — ) signifies half a quarter of an hour.
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It is necessary to observe four things in order to let blood, viz., the time, the age, the custom or the habit and the complexion of the person. In addition to this, Avicenna says that, as regards bleeding, heed should be paid to two occasions, viz., a necessary occasion and an optional occasion, i.e., when the blood is drawn to keep the health, (and the best time for that is warm weather, namely, after sunrise), and to digest the food; nevertheless, even for this
It is a common and customary rule with learned physicians not to give laxative medicine in the excessive heat of summer or in the great cold of winter, as Hippocrates says in quinto aphorismo, particula 4.: Sub cane et ante caneni molesta sunt pharmacia, et medicamentorum usxis difficilia. He also says in lib. de aere, aquis et locis, that it is not good in very changeable weather to give treatment such as cauteries, stretching arms, or any treatment at all, and further, not to do it in the time of the solstices and the equinoxes, and these times and this astrological judgment are so important that Hippocrates said in lib. epidemiae, Hujus modi medicus est qui astrologiam ignorat nemo, &c., i.e., that he is no physician who is ignorant of the science called astrology. The best time in the year, then, for a purge is the spring for people who are not in need of it. It is not good to take a purge, or further, to let blood, on the day of new moon, and likewise on the day before that and the day after it. It is not good, further, to take a purge when the moon is in a sign which is ruminant, namely, Aries, Taurus and Capricornus, because it does not keep it in the stomach without rejecting it; nevertheless, if it be thought good to (purge)
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Since we have shown the dangerous time for letting blood, it is proper here to show the time in which it is good to let it, so that it shall be profitable and wholesome. In the case of choleric jieople it is wholesome for them to let blood when the moon is in watery signs, namely, Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces — especially in the last 15 degrees of them. For phlegmatic people it is good when the moon is in the warm or fiery signs (with the exception of Leo), namely, Aries and Sagittarius. For melancholic people it is good when the moon is in the airy signs (with the exception of Gemini), namely, Libra and Aquarius. For sanguinary people, every hour and every sign in which the moon shall be is good, if the rules of medicine and astronomy are kept which we have given already.
If a sick man wishes to know what the end of his sickness is, let him look how many days have passed since the dog days in the country in which he is until the day his sickness seized him (inclusive), and from that let him subtract the number 36 as many times as it can be subtracted, and let him look up the remainder in the following table, and the letter which is opposite that number will show the end of the sickness, noting that this letter (M) signifies death, and this letter (V) that he will live and [recover from the sickness], and that this letter (L) signifies a long and laborious sickness, and that the number which has not a letter opposite it signifies that it is not known whether he will live or die: and let the careful reader give heed to this rule.
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The author Guido Aretino says to put the milk of a woman who has borne a son in the water of the sick person, and if they stick together it is a certain sign that he will recover from that sickness, but if the contrary happens it is a sign of death.
The author Bernardus Granullachs in sua Cronographia says to let a drop of the sick man's blood, shortly after drawing it, fall into a vessel in which there shall be very clean water, and if it sinks without spreading itself through the water it is a sign that he will recover, but if it spreads on the water and remains on the surface it is a sign of death.
It cannot be denied that the stars and other heavenly bodies work and cause great change in human and terrestrial bodies; and since the moon is the star and planet which does this most, from its being nearer to us and more changeable in itself than the other stars, for that reason Nicholas Florentinus says that, in order that the end of a natural sickness may be known, two things should be noted, i.e., an accurate knowledge of the day one took ill, or in which he felt himself dissatisfied about his sickness, and secondly, certain knowledge of the day of the first appearance of the moon in which he is: then let him consider the days that have passed from the new moon until the day he took sick, and let them be counted (inclusive), and let him look up that number in tbe following table, and opposite that number will be found out what will be the end of that sickness. But be it noted that, although the planets effect this change naturally in earthly bodies, God can prevent that, for He is almighty; and in order that this may be understood, I suppose that some one took ill on the sixth day of February, and that the new moon was on the 29th day of January: I count those days inclusive, i.e., putting three days of January with six days of February, and that makes nine days: I look up that number in the table, and I find opposite it a grievous but not mortal sickness. With this the whole table will be understood.
1. — If one takes ill on the day of new moon, he will be in danger until the 14th, 21st and 28th day, but after that it signifies health.
2. — Here, it signifies danger before the 14th day; after that he will be better.
3. — Here, a short but not troublesome sickness.
4. — Here, a very dangerous sickness until the twenty-first day, but if he recovers from that he will be well.
5. — Here, a troublesome but not mortal sickness.
6. — Here, it signifies that, unless he is well shortly, he will have a troublesome sickness, but on the fifth day of the moon he will be well.
7. — Here, he will be well shortly.
8. — Here, unless he be well in 12 or 14 days, he will be in danger.
9. — Here, a grievous but not mortal sickness.
10. — Here, danger before the 15th day.
11. — Here, death or life shortly.
12. — Here, unless he is well before the 15th day, he will die.
13. — Here, a very troublesome sickness until the 18th day, and if he recovers from that, he will be well.
14. — Here, he will be sick 15 days, but after that he will improve.
15. — Here, unless he is well by four days, he will be in danger of death, or as another author says, he will go to the door of death.
16. — Here, he will be sick until the 18th day, and if he recovers from that he will be well.
17. — Here, if he goes beyond the 18th day, he will be well.
18. — Here, unless he is well shortly, he will be a long time sick and in danger.
19. — Here, he will be well shortly, if he gets good regimen.
20. — Here, be will be in danger until the 6th or 7th day, and if he recovers from that, he will be well.
21. — Here, unless he dies within 10 days, he will be well with the new moon.
22. — Here, within 10 or 12 days he will be well.
23. — Here, he will be well the next month at latest.
24. — Here, unless he is well in 22 days, or by the new moon of the next month, he will be in danger.
25. — Here, unless he dies within six days, he will be well, nevertheless with difficulty.
26. — Here, a grievous dangerous sickness.
27. — Here, he will fall from that sickness into another sickness.
28. — Here, danger before the 21st day.
29. — Here, he will gradually get better slowly.
30. — Here, a troublesome sickness, but with good attendance he will be well shortly.
Every time things which are stolen, or lost, or go astray, cannot be discovered naturally by the virtues of the stars, and further, when a sickness is hurtful so that it is not known what its end may be, it is a good thing to put the matter before God and His saints; because God has given power to them to counteract natural working, and to