^Trr^  m~r
■K  *
|*3%(|&**'£j*{
i ^^H***^^H

■^,    'vft
***********************


w^*" „*>Y,
K> ,
M * 
ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY
       FOUNDED 1836
WASHINGTON, D.C 
 
 
^*CQJLCa.ii<-</,
 
/ 
THE
     APHORISMS

                   >  OF

          HIPPOCRATES,
          » v«
   FROM THE LATIN VERSION ©F VERHOOFD,
                   WITH A
MTERAL TRANSLATION ON THE OPPOSITE PAG}^
                     AND
        EXPLANATORY  NOTES,
<j")ui rcvcra vult proficere, Hippocratem sibi excmplo proponft
                                Plotarci*.
THE  WORK INTENDED AS A BOOK OF REFERENCE
          TO THE MEDICAL STUDENT.
          BY ELIAS MARKS, M. D.W
     Member of the Physico.Medical Society of JNew-Y^ritf    '} ^'% .-,




PlONTBI) AND SOLD BY COLLINS & CO. NO. 1 83/ BEAR'- s "
                   STREET.                     ^
                    .........                       '%
                    1818. 
              DISTRICT OF  NEW-YORK, ss.
  BE IT REMEMBERED,  That on  the twenty-fourth day  ol
December, in the forty-second year of  the  Independence of the
United States of America,  Collins & Co. of the said  district,  have
deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they
Claim as proprietors, in the words and figures following, to wit:
  " The Aphorisms of Hippocrates, from the  Latin version  of
Verhoofd, with a  literal translation on the opposite page, and ex-
planatory notes.
  " 'O h <r^oKoitro>i AXaSaSf, 5  t Ifl"sraxg«Tnv •jfa^aSayua. <xu iva.i.
  « Qui revera vult proficere, Hippocratem sibi exemplo proponet.
                                              Plutarch.
  « The work intended as a book of reference to the medical stu-
dent.  By Elias Marks, M. D. Member of the Physico-Medical
Society  of New-York."
  In conformity to  the  act of the  Congress  of the United States,,
entitled " An act for the encouragement of learning by securing the
copies of maps, charts and books, to the  authors and proprietors of
such  copies,  during the time therein mentioned," and also an act,
entitled "An act, supplementary to an  act, entitled an act for the
encouragement of  learning,  by securing the copies of maps,  chart.6
and books, to the authors and proprietors  of such copies, during the
time therein mentioned,  and extending the benefits thereof  to the
 Arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other priDts."
                                      JAMES DILL,
                   Clerk of  the Southern District of New-York. 
  [Submitted to the Physico* Medical Society
of New-York, and published at the request of
that Association, pursuant to their Resolution^
dated December,  1817.] 
.*.•          » 
                 TO
   STEPHEN ELLIOT, ESQUIRE,
 PRESIDENT OP THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL
               SOCIETY,
     OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH-CAROLINA,
                AS A
        TRIBUTE OF RESPECT
                FOR
HIS MTERARY AND  SCIENTIFIC TALENTS,
        BY HIS OBEDIENT SERVANT,
                     THE AUTHOR. 
 
APHORISMS
OP
HIPPOCRATES. 
 
PREFACE.
  ^he  only translations which I have seen
of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates,  is that of
M. Pariset,  printed  in  1816;*  and the
English translation of C. I. Sprengell,  done
in 1708.  The reader, by  reverting  to the
French version, will  perceive much of para-
phrase,  and  some tournures de phrase, by
no  means  correspondent with  the  original
text of the author,  which I have frequently
subjoined  in the margin.  Were  it not for
these objections,  this attempt  would be, in
a measure, supererogatory.  I have preferred
the version  of  Verhoofd, as adopted by Pa-
riset, not only on account of  the elegance
of its latinity,  but  from its  being  next to
Heurnius,  the most literal of many which
I have had recourse  to.  That of the learn-
ed Villebrune, of 1779, however correct in
the original text,  is  too diffuse and  free in
* Aphorisma D'Hippocrates L atin-Frsmcais, 
X
PREFACE.
its latin version,  to  be again transfused into
the still more copious English:  and  there
was some danger, lest in recurring to a para-
phrastic, instead  of a literal translation, that
not only the spirit, but some  of the original
matter might  be lost.

   The  Leyden edition of Johannes  Heur-
nius, *  possesses, perhaps, the most  close
and literal translation of any I have yet seen,
and is in its  style, so analagous  to that of
Verhoofd,  that the  reader,  by  comparing
them, will be irresistibly led to the inference,
that the latter  is no  more than a  revision of
the former.   But what the various commen-
tators  have   differed  most  upon, is  the
genuineness of some portions of  this work.
While  some  condemn  the  seventh   and
eighth sections as  altogether spurious,  and
as differing in style  from the terse,  Ionic
dialect of the  original; others view them as
genuine in the main, but as containing many
interpolations and alterations.  Among these,
Villebrune has given, as genuine, six sections,
and the  greatest part of the  seventh  (down
to Aphor. 66,) observing at the conclusion,—

  " Hipp. Coi Aphor. Grsece etLatine. Lug. Batav. 16*7. 
PREFACE.               XI
" Reliquos ut absurdos, inutilesve, cum Me-
letio,  Philotheo, Arabibus,  pluribus Grseci
neglexi."

  But although Villebrune has arrayed  on
his side some stout oppositionists, yet there
are others, equally strong, who  maintain the
integrity  of the  work  handed down to us.
Amidst so many contradictory, and yet re-
spectable  authorities,  the  Medical  Tyro
stands bewildered, and like  the devout Mus-
sulman,  knows not wherein consists the ve-
ritable part.  Besides, this " ratio sufficiens"
of  Villebrune, might be  equally  extended
to  many  Aphorisms  throughout the work;
and the gleaner of absurdities might derive
as fine a harvest from the works of the Coan
 Sage, as  from any of  the ancients extant,
not excepting the divine Plato, or the critical
Aristotle.   No one will seriously attempt to
 defend, although he  may palliate  the errors,
 imperfections and absurdities of Hippocrates;
 —they were incident to the age in which  he
 lived, when  the influx  of  scientific  light
 which beams on the present day, was yet in
 the antipodes. 
XII
PREFACE.
   I obtained the English translation of C. I,
Sprengell,*  after  I had  nearly  completed
my  labours,  and,  in adverting  to  it, was
more than  ever  convinced  of  the neces-
sity of a more correct, literal,  and  elegant
translation; in attempting which,  it is left
for others to decide, how far I  have sue
oeeded.
* In the Library of the New-York Hospital. 
           STRICTURES
                ON THE
LIFE  AND   WRITINGS
                 OF
        HIPPOCRATES,
   Hippocrates,  distinguished by the titles
of Father of Medicine and  Prince of Phy-
sicians, was  born in the island  of Cos,  in
the first year of the 80th Olympiade, and
460  years  before the  Christian  era.   Of
his history, like that of most men of science,
very little seems to be perfectly known ; and
indeed  the  whole of it is  so involved  in
doubt, so interwoven with intentional  fraud
and anachronism, that it is only by collating
the testimony of the  many authors who have
spoken  of him, that the critical Biographer
is  enabled  to arrive at  any thing like the
truth. *  He  was   cotemporary  with the
greatest men of  Greece,—Socrates,  Hero-
dotus, Thucydides, Democritus* and others;
and was of the family of the Asclepiades, being
himself the eighteenth lineal  descendant from
J-Esculapius,  and the seventeenth from Po-
          • See Cyclopaedia Bdin. Art. Hipp.
                   2 
Xiv       LIFE  AND WHITINGS
dalirius,  the latter of whom, with Machaon,
accompanied the allied  Greeks  against the
Trojans.*   By his mother's side he  also
claimed lieneage with the Heraclidae.  From
TEsculapius downwards, the family of the As-
clepiades  were devoted to the cultivation  of
medicine, and,  like the Levites of the Jews,
were unwilling that the inheritance of their
fathers should depart from their house.   It
was thus, that the learning and science of the
age were successively tranmitted  from one
generation to another, and were as tenaciously
guarded from the votarist of wisdom, as were
the Apples of the Hesperides, or the Fleece of
Colchis, from the adventurous heroism of the
times.   The  art of printing, which, in after
ages, gave so wide a range to observation and
facts, which established as it were a commu-
nion of knowledge, and transmitted to a suc-
ceeding age the labours of that which had pre-
ceeded, was then  unknown.   Consequently
there  was a monopoly  of  ideas as  there was
of power, although in the present enlightened
age, they are the most opposite principles in
the elements of civil and political govern*
ment.
                 * Illrade, B. II. 
OF  HIPPOCRATES.
XV
  We may then easily conceive how a fami-
ly like the  Asclepiades,  directing all their
energies to  the  cultivation of a  particular
science, and  making all their  learning and
observation  contributive to its advancement,.
should, with each succeeding generation, find
new truths developed, and  a  new  series of
facts  to act upon.   Yet it does not detract
from the glory of Hippocrates, that his were
the materials of  a long line of ancestry—that
the tide of knowledge which he poured in up-
on the world, should  have been the  contri-
butions  of  successive  auxiliary  streams,
which, falling into one channel, had rolled on-
ward through a space of five centuries.  How-
ever gigantic be the manhood of Science, its
infancy is not always the infancy of a Hercu-
les ; however potent be its final energies, it
is, in its origin, for the most part,  feeble, and
in its progress to  maturity, tedious, slow,
and interrupted.   In tracing the gradual ad-
vance of any art, how small a proportion does
each individual contribution bear to the grand
result;—how great the difference between the
rough-hewn, mishapen Hermes of the Egyp-
tian, and the breathing, speaking, animated
Marble of the Greek  !  The poet and  ora- 
XVI       LITE  AND WRITINGS

tor may start up  a giant, but Science, like
the mythological world of the ancients,  has
had its  origin from an Egg-shell.
   Although the sacred mantle of the Ascle-
piades descended upon the shoulders of Hip-
pocrates, yet he possessed too enlarged  and
philanthropic a  mind to aim at confining the
mass of knowledge bequeathed by his ances-
tors solely to his own family.  With the em-
pirical practice of his predecessors he combi-
ned the gymnastic medicine of  Herodicus,
under whose brother, Gorgias,  he is said to
have studied philosophy and eloquence.  He
was, however, both in his practice and wri-
tings, a true eclectic, admitting or rejecting
what preceding ages had offered to his notice,
only as they accorded  or differed with his
own observation and experience.  The ab-
stract theories of Sectarian  philosophy were
carefully seperated from what he considered
the rational principles of practice.
   " Hippocrates  Cous primus  quidem, ex
omnibus memorise dignis, ab studio sapientias
disciplinam  hanc   (philosopham) separavitj.
vir et arte et facundia insignis.*
• Celsius. 
            OF  HIPPOCRATES.        XVLl

   Like the philosophers of that age, he ad-
ded to the  traditionary knowledge he had re-
received, the instruction which travel, obser-
vation,  and an intercourse with the most en-
lightened men of his time  afforded.   Deriv-
ing new accession of facts from the various
countries   which he  visited,  he made the
tour of Greece and Asia Minor, and took up
his abode in Larissa, the capital of Thessalyj,
Most of the stories, so highly interesting, ref-
lated of him by Soranus and others, -are di%
carded by  the critics ; such as  his discover-
ing, by his art, that  the illness  of the young
Perdiccas was owing to the love he bore to
Phila,  the  mistress  of his  father, king  of
Macedon;  and his visits  to the philosopher
Democritus, of Abdera, at the  solicitation of
the Abderites,  whom  they  deemed insane,
but whom  Hippocrates pronounced the wi-
sest and most  sane man of Abdera.   The
supposed  letter of the Abderites to Hippo-
crates, on this occasion, is still  extant.   The
Gure of the  young Perdiccas,  is, however, by
most writers,  ascribed to another physician
(Erasistratus,)  and his visit  to Democritus
appears to  be altogether a fictitious drama,
wrought up by some writer who flourished.
                     2* 
Xviii      LIFE AND  WRITINGS

long after him.  The account given by Ae-
tius, of the part he took in the dreadful plague
which visited Athens in the time of Pericles,
has met  a refutation from the judicious Le
Clerc*   Plutarch ascribes the actions there-
in related of Hippocrates, to one Acron of
Agrigentum;  and Dr. A ckerman thinks that
these fictitious  circumstances  were  conjured
up long after the death of Hippocrates by the
Dogmatic Sect who regarded him  as  their
founder.   .
   But the fame of Hippocrates does not con-
sist in a few interesting incidents, heightened
by classical feeling,  and rendered prominent
by classical  association ;—it  rests  upon  a
more stable and imperishable base;  on the
vast accession he made to the science which
he professed, and on his endeavours to form a
complete system of medicine,  founded upon
observation and rational deduction.   After a
life spent in the most useful labours, and de-
voted to the purposes of humanity,  he died
at Larissa, in Thessaly, at  the advanced age
of one hundred  and  nine. - The  epithet, di-
vine,  was affixed to his name ;  statues and.
* Vide. Cyclopxd. Edin. Art. Hipp.. 
            OF  HIPPOCRATES.         xix

temples were erected to his memory ; and in-
cense was offered up on altars dedicated to
his divinity.
   It is by comparing the medical knowledge
of Hippocrates,  with what it was previous to
his time, that we shall be enabled to form an
estimate of the services which he has render-
ed the science, of which he has been consid-
ered  the founder.   The limits of a work,
like the present, will not permit our entering
upon a critical analysis  of the  peculiar doc-
trines of Hippocrates, or a  general detail of
the subjects upon  which he  has written.-
We merely purpose to  advert to a few of the
leading  principles   upon which his gene-
ral doctrines  rest,  as they serve to illustrate
some of his pathological observations, in  the
following work.
   He supposes a principle,  '* 4>f«<?, which per-
vades the material creation, and which serves
as the  motive  power of  elementary matter*
This principle is the cause  of animal life  and
motion, and through it, the blood and spirits
receive heat, life, and sensation. It will be per-
ceived, that the " nature," a'Pws ofHippocra-

  * Vide " Omnia Opera Fecsi>." e.t Cyclop'xdi Edin. Att, Hipp, 
XX         LIFE AND WRITINGS
tes,  is the " Archeus"—the  "Vital  princi-
ple,"—-the  " Sensorial  Power,"—"  The
Excitability,"—and  the " Vis  Medicatrix
Natural"  of succeeding writers.   The Dog-
matic  Sect,   who  claimed  Hippocrates  as
their founder,* paid the  greatest deference
to his '* <*5t/5'5, and viewed her  as the vis con-
servatrix  in all derangements of  the  animal
economy.   Their  practice  was,  therefore,
passive, not  operative.  The symptoms  of
disease were  so many preservative efforts of
the vis medicatrix to  throw off the morbific
matter, after  being duly   concocted.   We
may trace the spirit  of this  erroneous doc-
trine, through sucessive ages, down • to our
own time.  It was maintained and defended
by the  illustrious Sydenham, though  very
little influencing his practice, and forms, at
this day, the basis of the Theory of the French
School.   Its tendency  in Medicine, like the
doctrine of predestination in Ethics,  goes to
paralize every intellectual effort;  and its  a-
doptionby the most scientific nation in Europe
&an only be ascribed  to that classical mania
which measures every species of  excellence
• See this claim refuted, Cyclopxd : Edin. Art. Medicine. 
OF HIPPOCRATES.          Xxi
by a Greek and Roman scale. But it does not
appear, in recurring  to the writings of Hip-
pocrates,  that  he  gave the same  indefinite
scope to  the curative agency cf \ature in
diseases, as was deputed to her by his reput-
ed followers, who, like true  sectarians, dis-
regarding the spirit,  adhered religiously to
the literal body.
   The anatomical knowledge of Hippocrates
was necessarily circumscribed by the age in
which he lived, when a material theology,
combined with  the grossest superstition,  for-
bade a recourse to dissections ; and when the
superficial knowledge which the student ob-
tained of the structure of the human  body,
was derived from comparative anatomy,  and
the  opportunities   which  accident  afford-
ed.   To  this may be ascribed  most  of his
physiological and pathological errors ; and if,
to this, we add<rhe extreme deficiency of the
age, in the auxiliary sciences of  medicine, so
far from wondering at the errors  which we
encounter in his writings, we shall be lost in
admiration, at  the sagacity  and almost in-
tuitive  wisdom  which  he  evinces  in  his
knowledge of the nature  and seat of diseases.
   We shall not advert to the many  singular 
XX11       LIFE AND WRITINGS

and ridiculous notions, which, like spurious
veins  of earth amidst the metallic splendour
of the mine,  may be  found  interspersed
among the  writings of Hippocrates.   Long
after him, when the anatomical labours of
Erasistratus and Herophilus threw  a con-
siderable light on the structure of the human
body, most of these errors  and absurdities
were maintained and defended ;  and we have
only to turn over the pages of Aristotle and
of Plato,  to observe these anomalies of ge-
nius,  modified  into form,  and extended into
system.  The curative plan of Hippocrates
was extremely simple.   He  depended much
on the resources of nature, but not to the ex-
tent afterwards adopted by his followers ; and
recommends a reliance upon her, in prefer-
ence to a dependance on a rash and uncertain
remedy.   The most simple plan of treatment
was sometimes alternated with the use of the
most  violent  and  active  medicines,  such
as  Hellebore,  Elaterium, Colycinth,  and
Scammony. Avoiding indecision on the one
hand, and a rash precipitancy on the other, he
appears to have been prompt, yet judicious i
decisive,  and  yet calm. 
            OF HIPPOCRATES.        Xxiil

  But it is chiefly in matters of fact and ob-
servation, that the greatness of Hippocrates
consists.   The  technical language  of our
own times, is, in a measure,  drawn from  his
writings.    He  first divided  diseases  into
epidemic, endemic, and sporadic, according to
the present acceptations of these terms ; and
these diseases he again divides into acute and
chronic.  The duration of an acute disease was
distinguished by the beginning, height, decline^
and termination.   In the third stage of the
disease,  decoction took place ; and the crisis
was placed between this  and the  last stage.
As he observed the crisis to supervene, for
the most part, on particular  days, he  institu-
ted  his dies  critici, and thence deduced his
prognostica symptomata.  Besides devoting
his pen to the various  departments of medi-
cal knowledge, he paid much attention, in the
education  of his pupils,  to  what may  be
called ethical medicine.   His ideas of the
dignity  of his  profession, were as fully ex-
emplified  in his life,  as  they are elegantly
given in his writings :
   " Decet etiam moribus honestis elegantem
esse.  Et cum talem  se  praestiterit, crga 
 XX1V     LIFE  AND WHITINGS

omnes insuper et  gravis et  humanus esto,
Promptitudo enim  et facilitas  medendi cf.
fuse oblata, ab asgris contemnitur :  quamvis
alioqui summa;  benignitatis  officium illud
sit."*
  Indefatigable  and successful in  his  re-
searches, he greatly enlarged the empire of
medicine.  His  pathology  and principles of
cure are,  with a few exceptions and modifi-
cations, those of our own times.  Yet how
few who pronounce his name with reverence
and respect, have ever  consulted his oracles.
Satisfied with  doing homage to his wisdom,
they have dispensed with its precepts.  When
the Goths, in the recesses of their forests, had
tasted, for the first time, the vintage of Italy,
they eagerly marched forward in  quest of
the land which had  produced it: how much
less  ardour does the student evince, who is
satisfied with receiving at secondary and ter-
nary sources, that wisdom which may be ob-
tained at the fountain-head, pure and unadul-
terated.
  The  name of Hippocrates  has  become
* Do Medico, Hipp. 
            OF HIPPOCRATES.         XXV

identified with the  science  which  he pro-
fessed.   His was the ambition which seeks
the aggrandizement  of self in encompassing
the happiness of others; his the wished for
glory, whose throne is cotemporary  grati-
tude, and whose crown—the blessings of af-
ter ages.  His object was to enlarge the do-
mains of Medicine  by multiplying her re-
sources, and by exciting an emulation among
her votaries.  Before his time, Medicine was
the art of priests and of jugglers : he rescued
her from the degrading thraldom into which
she had fallen, and raised her to the dignity
of a Science.  Greece listened with reverence
to his precepts—his sentences were  heard
amidst the groves  of the Academus and the
assemblages  of the  Porch, and Philosophy
herself was proud to enlist beneath the ban-
ners he had elevated.

  Independent of the  advantages  to be de-
rived from the study of the ancient Authors,
there is connected with the enthusiasm which
urges us on to the  pursuit,  a spirit-stirring
curiosity, which prompts us to seek for the
sources  of those streams of knowledge, that,
in our own times, dispense their blessings to
                     3 
XXVi     LIFE AND WRITINGS, &C.

mankind.  Added to  this,  the energy and
vigour  which  characterize  their attempts,
may serve to impart a nerve to our own ex-
ertions, and furnish examples to incite us on
to similar undertakings.  However ample be
the forces of genius, they need some rallying
point to impart to them confidence, and some
authority to marshal their numbers, and give
direction to their efforts.  The memories of
Hippocrates, Aristotle, Galileo,  Harvey, Ba-
con,  Newton, Franklin and Fulton, would
live in the gratitude of after-ages,  were even
their  individual contributions  lost  to pos-
terity.  Each,  as  it were, gave a fulcrum to
the human mind, and  enlarged the sphere of
its exertions.   Their  very names will serve
as watch-words to animate  the timid votary
of Science onward,  and to nerve him up for
the encounter; and their memories,like signal-
fires, blazing from afar, and streaming through
the lapse of ages, will, in the darkest night of
the human intellect,  serve to assemble the
few scattered  partisans of wisdom, and bid
 them hope! 
 
IUPPOCRATIS
                SECTIO I.
   1.  Vita brevis, ars  longa,  occasio proe-
ceps,* experientia fallax, judicium  difficile.
Oportet autem non modo se ipsum exhibere
quae oportet facientem, sed etiam segrum,  et
pra?sentes, et externa.

   2.  In  perturbationibus  alvi, et vomitibus
Sponte evenientibus, siquidem qualia oportet
purgari,  purgentur, confert, et facile ferunt;
sin minas, contra.   Sic  et  vasorum  eva-
cuatio, siquidem qualem fieri decet, fiat,  con-
fert,  et  facile  ferunt; sin  minus,  contra.
Respicere igitur oportet,  et  regionem,  et
tempestatem, et setatem, et morbos, in qui-
bus convenit, aut non.
  * Villebrune, in his version of 1779, has rendered Katpis i%v<
momentum urgent; but most translators agree with Verhoofd. 
       THE


        OF
HIPPOCRATES.
               SECTION I.
  1. Life is  short, art long, occasion brief,
experience fallacious, judgment difficult.  It
is requisite that the Physician exhibit what
is essential, and that the patient, attendants,
and all which surrounds him, concur therein.

  2. In diarrhcea &nd spontaneous vomiting,
if the matter voided be of a nature that ought
to be expelled, let the patient be purged, for
in this case, the  evacuations are beneficial
and are easily  supported;  but  if the effect
be otherwise, the contrary is indicated.  The
same rule  obtains  in  vascular depletion;
when it is judiciously  had  recourse to, it
is beneficial  and is  easily supported; but if
it be otherwise, the contrary is indicated.
We ought, therefore, to bear in mind the
tlimate, the season,  the age and the disease,
and thence infer whether these things be be-
neficial or otherwise.
                     3* 
30       HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  3.  In exercitantibus  boni habitus ad sum-
mum  progressi,  periculosi,  si in  extremo     '
fuerint.* Non enim possunt in eodem ma-
nere, neque quiescere.  Cum vero non qui-
escant, neque ultra possint  in melius profi-
cere, reliquum est igitur ut in deterius.  Ho-
rum igitur causa, bonum habitum haud cunc-
tanter solvere confert, quo  rursus renutri-
tionis principium sumat corpus.  Neque con-
sidentias ad extremum ducendae ; periculo-
sum enim:  sed  qualis  natura  fuerit ejus
qui perferet, eo usque ducendae.   Sic et eva-
cuationes ad extremum ducentes, periculosae;
et rursiis refectiones,  cum extremes fuerint,.
periculosae.

   4.  Tenuis  et  exquisitus victus,  et  in
iongis morbis semper, et in acutis,  ubi non
convenit, periculosus.  Et  rursus, ad  ex-
tremum tenuitatis progressus victus, difficilis.
Nam et repletiones ad extremum  progressse,
difficiles sunt.

  * Sensum hujus loci recte dat Celsus lib. i. " Scdut hujus generis
ezercitatioues cibique necessarii sint,  sic athletici supervacui, cl
 Ac ne his quidem athletarnm exemplo, immodicus esse labor debet,
 c.i.  Implet autem corpus modiea exercitatio." VlUebram.  Nota:
 Griticz.                                         % 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    31

  3. In those having an  excess of health,
violent exercise is dangerous; for in such con-
stitutions an equilibrium of health cannot be
maintained.  And  as their temperament of
health is neither stationary nor progressive, it
must, of necessity, have a rotrograde tendency.
For these reasons, therefore, we should speedily
set about reducing this extreme  of health, in
order that the body may take upon itself a new
principle  of nutrition.   Neither should  this
reduction  be carried too  far, for we should
be  guided by the  strength and constitution
of  the patient.   Thus the extremes of reple-
tion and depletion  are equally to be avoided,
as both are attended with danger.

   4. In protracted illness, a severe and thin
regimen  is  always dangerous,  and it is
equally so in acute maladies, where it accords
not with the constitution of the patient.  And
again,—an attenuated regimen carried too far
is  as  difficult to  support, as an  excess of
 tepletion. 
32
HIPPOCRATIS  APHORISMI.
   5.  In tenui  victu delinquunt  aegri;  ob
id magis laeduntur.   Omne enim delictum,
quod committitur, multo majus fit in tenui,
quam  in paulo pleniore victu.*   Propterea
etiam sanis  periculosus  est valde  tenuis, ct
constitutus,  et  exquisitus victus, quia de-
licta gravius ferunt.   Ob hoc  igitur tenuis
et exfjuisitus victus periculosus magis, quam
paulo pienior.

   6.  Ad extremos morbos, extrema remedia
exquisite optima.

   7. Ubi igitur peracutus est  morbus,  sta-
tim extremos habet  labores, et extreme te-
nuissimo victu  uti necesse est.   Ubi  vero
non, sed pleniorem victum exhibere licet,
fantum a tenui recedendum,  quantum mor-
bus remissior extremis fuerit.

   8. Cum morbus in vigore fuerit, tunc vel
fenuissimo victu uti necesse est.

   9. Considerare oportet etiam rsegrotantem,

  '■ Hie carpit et monet auctor medicos aui ttmj.'om., qui gravitcr,
'•■' pjurimum, errebant in tenui or! dixw pracscr:L.i da.   V i-rbrime; 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    33

  5. The sick frequently err in the adoption
of a spare diet.  They are therein the more
injured.   In the choice of  regimen,  more
evil  results from  abstraction  than from  a
small excess.   A  thin,  frugal,  and  over-
exact regimen  accords not even  with the
man in  health, who  grievously supports the
privation.  Hence, in general, the superiority
of a due  refection  over that which  is de-
ficient.
  6. The greater the evil—the more vigo-
rous the remedy.

  7.  In  acute  diseases the most  violent
symptoms supervene: the severest regimen
is, therefore, to be observed.  But if these
symptoms be wanting,  a more generous diet
is to be permitted ;  only we are to have re-
course to it, in proportion to the  subsidence
of the malady.
  8. When the disease attains most vigour—
then it is, that  the  severest regimen is re-
quired.
  9. In the prescribing of regimen, we are
to consider, whether it be sufficient to sup-
port the  patient until the disease  attain its
height; whether before this period, the patient
• 
34      HIPPOCRATIfl APHORISMI.

num  ad morbi vigorem  victu  sufficiat, et
an prius ille deficiat, et victu non  sufficere
possit, vel morbus  prius deficiat, et  obtun-
datur.
  10. Quibus igitur statim vigor adest,  sta-
tion tenuiter  alendi.   Quibus vero in  pos-
terum vigor, his ad illud, et paulo ante illud
tempus,  subtrahendum.  Antea vero  ubc-
rius alendum, ut sufficiat aegcr.
   II.   In exacerbationibus  cibum  subtra-
here oportet:  exhibere  enim, noxium  est.
Et qusecunque per  circuitus exacerbantur,
in exacerbationibus subtrahere oportet.**

   12.   Exacerbationes  autem  et constitu-
tiones   indicabunt morbi, et anni tempora,
et periodorum  collata inter  se  incrementa,
sive quotidie,  sive  alternis  diebus,  sive
longiore fiant tempore.   Quin etiam et per
ea, quae  mox apparent,  eadem  indicantur,
velut in pleuriticis  sputum,  si statim circa

  • Aph.  u. dcsumitur e lib. D't&t. Acut. p. 68,69.  "Binee sunt
partes hujus aph.  Prior de morbis cum febre, Iongis vel acutis;.
posterior de morbis periodicis cum vel sine fubre.  V'tllcbinnc,
% 
       APHORISMS OF  HITPOCRATES.    38

may sink from an inability to support the regi-
men ;  or,  whether the malady will, thereby,
be previously broken and overcome.

   10.  In those  diseases  which  quickly ar-
rive at their climax, a thin regimen should
immediately  be adopted.   In those  which
attain  it at a somewhat later period, we should
at, or.before that period, subtract from  their
diet:  but until then, sufficient  nourishment
should  be allowed,  that  the  strength of the
patient may be supported.
   11. During the exacerbations,  food  is to
 be suspended:  to administer it  at that time
 would be injurious.    When  the returns are
 periodical, the  diet is to  be withdrawn on
 the" coming on of the paroxysms.
    12.  The nature  of diseases, with  their
 paroxysms, are ascertained by regarding the
 time of the year—the comparative succession
 of  periods;—observing  also,   whether the
 exacerbations occur each day, or on alternate
 days, or  at greater intervals.** The  same
 result is  obtained  by attending  to present
   *  The following distich comprehends the general heads from
 which indicationb are taken :
        '* Ars, actas, regio, cemplexio, virtus,
        " Moset symptoma, rtpleiio, ttmptis ct usus." 
*36       HIPPOCRATIS  APHORISMI.

 initia subappareat, morbum brevem ;  si vero
 posterius,  longum futuruin denunciat.   Et
 urinae, et alvi  excrementa, et sudores, cum
 apparent, vel judicatu  faciles,  vel difficiles,
 vel breves, vel longos fore morbos indicant.
   13. Senes facillime  jejunium ferunt; sc-
cundo  aetate  consistentes  minimc adoles-
centes,  omnium   minime  pueri;   ex  his
autem, qui inter ipsos sunt alacriores.**

   14. Quae crescunt, plurimum habent ca-
lidi  innati;  piurimo  igitur  egent alimento;
sin minus, corpus consumitur.  Senibus au-
tem paucus calor; propterea paucis fomiti-
bus  indigent,  a  multis  enim  extinguitur.
Idcirco  etiam febres senibus  non  similiter
acutze.  Frigidum enim est corpus.

   15. Ventres hyeme  et vere natura  sunt
  * The ancients distinguish six different 9tages of existence.
       JEtzs pueritix, childhood ; to the jth year.
       ----adolescentiee, youth ; to the ajth year.
       -----juventutis; from the ajth to the 35th year.
       —— virilis, manhood ; from the 35th to the 50th year.
       —— senectutis, old age; from the 50th to the 60th year
       ■    crcpita, decrepitude; ending in death. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.     37

symptoms ;  as in pleurisy, if the flow of  sa-
liva take place at the  commencement, the
duration of the disease will  be short; if at
a later period—it will  be  more  extended.
The alvine,  urinary, and cutaneous excre-
tions, serve to indicate whether the disease
will be mild or severe, short or protracted.

   13.  Old men bear abstinence best; next,
those who have  attained their climacteric;
adolescence,  less ; and infancy, least;—but
of all  these, the vivacious support it most
easily.

   14.  The growing body has most of innate
heat,  and,  therefore, requires most aliment;
otherwise the constitution suffers.   Old men
have less heat, and, therefore, need less food.
An over quantity would injure them. It, there-
fore, foliows,that fevers have not that acute ten-
dency with the aged which they have with the
youthful;  with the former the body is  cold.
   15.  In winter  and in spring the stomach
is necessarily warmer,  and  the sleep more
extended.  In those seasons,   therefore,  a
more generous diet is to be permitted; for
the augmentation of innate  heat demands a
                    4 
38      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

callidissimi, et  somni  longissimi. ^  In his
igitur  temporibus  copiosiora cibaria exhi-
benda sunt; innatum enim calorem majorem
habent;  ideoque  -copiosiore indigent  ali-
mento.  Indicio sunt aetates et Athlete.
   16.  Victus  humidus, cum febricitantibus
omnibus, turn maxime pueris,  et alliis tali
victu uti consuetis, confert.

   17.  Animadvertendi  sunt etiam  quibus
semel, aut bis, et quibus plura vel pauciora,
et per partes exhibenda.  Concedendum au-
tem aliquid et consuetudini, et tempestati,
et regioni, et setati.

   18. ^Estate et autumno  cibos difficillime,
 ferunt.:  hyeme facillime; deinde vere.

   19. Quibus per circuitus exacerbantur,
 nihil dato,  neque cogito, sed de appositione
 detrahito ante judicationes.

   20. Quse judicantur, et judicata sunt per-
 fecte, ea neque moveto, neque  medicamen-
 tis,  neque  aliis  irritamentis  innovato,  sed
 sinito.
   21. Quse  ducere oportet,  quo  maxime 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    39

more plentiful aliment.   This is  observable
in youth, and in the habits of the Athletse*
   16. A moist aliment accords well with fe-
brile  constitutions—remarkably  well  with
children—and with all those to whom use has
made it essential.
   17. Note well  the constitution,  wherein
food is {daily) required either once, or twice
—in greater or lebs quantities, or by a gra-
duated allowance.  But we  are to take into
consideration  habit,  season,  country,  and
age.
   18. In summer and autumn,  digestion is
difficult;  in winter, vigorous ; in spring, in*
different.
   19.  In those diseases wherein  the exacer-
bations are periodical, neither give nor force
any thing, but let the food be withdrawn be*
fore  the coming on of the paroxysm.
   20.  When the paroxysm is well ascertain-
ed, do not disturb it  either by medicines  or
any new  irritation : leave it to itself.

  21.  That which is excrementitious, should 
40       HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.
vergant, eo ducenda, per convenientia loca..

  22.  Concocta purgare et movere oportet,
non  cruda;  neque in  principiis,  nisi tur-
geant;  plurima vero non turgent.
  23.  Quae  prodeunt  non  copi^i sunt sesti-
manda,  sed si prodeant  qualia  oportet,  et
facile  ferat.  Et ubi  ad  animi  deiiquium
ducere oportet, id etiam faciendum, si teger
sufficiat.

  24.  In acutis  affectionibus raro,  et per
initia,  purgantibus utendum,  idque diligenti
prius adhibita cautione faciendum.

  25.  Si,  qualia purgari oportet, purgentur,
confert,  et  facile ferunt;  si  vero  contraria,
difficulter.*
 * Hie e secundo desumtus, nee hue male adductus, etsi non ab
Hippocratc, ut puto.  Vilkbrum. 
APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    $1
be drawn off at the point to  which it most
tends, by the most convenient outlets.
  22. Purgatives should be administered af-
ter  the  food on the  stomach is concocted,
not  while  it is yet  crude;  neither should
they  be  given at the   commencement of
disease,  lest turgescence ensue ;  though the
latter rarely occurs.
  23. Depletion is not to be estimated by
its  copiousness, but by its being judiciously
used, and easily supported.  When it is ne-
cessary to  extend it ad deiiquium animi, let
it be done, but previously consult the re-
sources of the patient.
   24. In acute affections,  and especially at
their commencement, purgatives ought rarely
to be used, and when permitted, are  to be
administered with care.
   25. If the matter voided  be of a nature
 that ought  to be expelled, let the  patient be
 purged, for then, the evacuations are benefi-
 cial, and are easily supported ; but it the effect
 be otherwise, the contrary is indicated. (Vide
 Aphor.  2. Sect. 1.)
                    4* 
12      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISM!.
SECTIO II.
   1.  Quo in morbo somnus laborem  facit,,
iethale;  si  vero  somnus  juvet,  non est
lethale.                     -.>;..
   2.  Ubi somnus delerium sedat, bonum.

   3.  Somnus, vigilia,  utraque modum ex-
cedentia, malum.
   4.  Non satietas,  non fames, neque aliud
quicquam bonum  est, quod  supra  naturae
modum fuerit.
   5.  Lassitudines sponte obortae morbos de-
nuntiant.
   6.  Quicumque aliqua  corporis  parte do-
lentes dolorem fere non  sentiunt,  iis mens
aegrotat.
   7-  Attenuata longo tempore corpora lente
reficere oportet; quae vero  brevi, celeriter.


   8.  Si  a  morbo  quis cibum capiens non.
i'oboretur, copiosiore alimento corpus uti sig- 
APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    43
SECTION II.
  1. In  disease, a laborious  sleep presages
great danger;  but if the slumber be refresh-
ing, it is favourable.
  2. When sleep  sooths  delerium,  it  be-
tokens well.
  3.  Excessive sleep, or wakefulness,  are
alike injurious
  4. Neither  hunger nor satiety, nor  any
excess which oversteps  the bounds of nature
can be beneficial.
  5. Spontaneous  lassitude  foreshows  dis-
ease.
  6. Whosoever  hath  pain in any  part of
his  body, without  being sensible  thereof, is
diseased in mind.
  7. Where the waste of the body has been
gradual, k  should be  gradually  restored;
where  it is  rapid, our applications should be
prompt.
  8. If the  convalescent acquire not strength
kom the food he takes, it shows that the body 
44      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

nificat.   Si  vero cibum  non capienti  istud
eveniat, evacuatione indigere sciendum est.


  9. Corpora, ubi quis purgare voluerit, fa-
cile fluentia reddere oportet.
  10.  Impura corpora quo magis nutriveris,
eo magis laedes.
  11.  Facilius est  potu repleri quam  cibo.

  12.  Quae  in  morbis  post  crisim  relin-
quuntur, recidivas facere solent.

  13.  Quibus crisis fit,  iis nox ante exacer-
bationem gravis est;  sequens vero levior
plerumque.
  14.  In alvi profluviis  dejectionem muta-
tiones juvant, nisi in prava mutentur.

  15.  Ubi  fauces  aegrotant,  aut  tubercula
in corpore exoriuntur,  excretiones inspicere
oportet; si enim biliosae fuerint, corpus una
cegrotat;  si  vero  similes  sanis fiant, corpus
nutrire tutum est.

  16.  Ubi fames, non oportet laborare.
  17.  Ubi  cibus prseter  naturam copiosior 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   45

needs a more plentiful supply.   But if the
same effect arise from an inability to partake
of food, it sufficiently evinces the necessity
of purgatives.
   9. When it becomes  necessary to purge,
the evacuations ought to be loose and free.
   10.  Impure constitutions, when most nou-
rished, are most injured.
   11.  Liquids  replete  more  easily  than
solids.
   12.  The matter remaining in the body af-
ter the crisis is past, often produces a re-s
lapse.
   13.  The night preceding that in which the
crisis takes place, is distressing;  that which
follows, is more comfortable.
   14.  In alvine fluxes, a  change in the de-
jections,  unless they  assume a vicious ap-
pearance, is beneficial.
   15.  When the fauces  are  affected,  and
tubercles  arise therein, we  ought to examine
the excretions ;  when they are of a bilious na-
ture, the entire body is affected ;  but if  they
be as  in  health, we  may safely impart nou-
rishment
   16.  During hunger, labour is injurious.
   17. Excess  of  food  produces   disease,. 
46      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.
ingressus fuerit, id morbum creat.   Ostendit
autem sanatio.
  18. Eorum  quae  confertim  et celcriter
nutriunt, celeres etiam fiunt egestiones.

  19.  Morborum  acutorum  non  omnino
tutas sunt pra^dictiones, neque mortis, neque
sanitatis.
  20. Quibus, dum sunt juvenes, alvi sunt
humid e,  iis senescentibus siccanlur;  qui-
bus  vero,  dum  sunt  juvenes,  alvi  siccie
sunt, his senescentibus humectantur.

  21. Famem vini potio solvit.

  22. A repletione quicumque  fiunt morbi,
evacuatione sanantur;  et quicumque ab eva-
cuatione,  repletione;  sicque aliorum  con-
trarietas.

  23. Acuti morbi in  quatuordecim diebus
judicantur.

  24. Septimorum quartus  est index.  Al-
terius septimana? octavusest initium.  Notan-
dus  vero undecimus;  is  enim est quartus
alterius septimanie.   Notandus rursum de-
cimus septimus:  hie  enim quartus est qui- 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    47

and, at the same time,  points  out the re-
medy.
   18.  Those  aliments which quickly  and
agregately nourish, are soonest egested.

   19.  In acute diseases,  predictions of death
or recovery are not always unerring.

   20.  Those whose dejections, in youth, are
humid, have with  them more of siccity in
age ;  but if, on the contrary, the dejections
have  a siccity in  youth,  they  acquire hu-
midity with age.
   21. A potion of wine  allays hunger.

   22. The sickness which  arises from re-
pletion,  is cured  by evacuation; and that
which arises from evacuation,  by repletion.
Thus  opposites are  counteractive of   each
other.
   23. Acute maladies determine themselves
within fourteen days.

   24. The fourth  day  is the index of the
seventh; the  eighth,  that of the fourteenth.
The  eleventh  is to be  noted,  as being the
fourth day of the  second week.  We are,
again, to  notice the  seventeenth: it is the 
48      KIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

dem  a decimo-quarto;  septimus  vero  ab
undecimo.*

  25.  Quartanae  aestivae  plerumque  fiunt
breves ; autumnales vero  longae, et maxime
quae prope hyemem incidunt.

  26.  Febrem convulsioni supervenire me-
lius est, qu^m convulsionem febri.
  27.  His quae non secundum rationem  le-
vant, credere  non oportet;   neque  timere
valde quae pr3eter rationem prava fiunt.  Ho-
rum enim multa  inconstantia sunt, nee ad-
modum permanere, neque durare solent.

  28.  Eorum qui non omnind leviter febri-
citant, permanere et  nihil remittere corpus,
aut  etiam magis quam  pro ratione colli-
quefieri, malum est.  Illud enim morbi longi-
tudinem significat, hoc vero infirmitatem.


  29.  Incipientibus morbis,  si quid moven-
dum videatur,  move; vigentibus vero, qui-
escere melius est.  f
  * " The Ancients put too much confidence in Pythagorick num-
bers, whereas, the Physician ought not to number  the days, but
observe the exacerbations themselves."  Cels. Lib. iii. c. v.
  f Et hoc etiam intelligendum de motu e loco ad locum.  Fille. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.     49

fourth day,  beginning with the  fourteenth,
and  the  seventh day,  beginning  with the
eleventh.
  25. Summer quartans are,  for  the most
part,  short:  those  of  autumn,  long;  espe-
cially when  they  manifest  themselves  at the
commencement of winter.
  26. It  is  much  better  that convulsions
precede than that they should succeed fever.
  27. We  should  distrust an  apparent  fa-
vourable change which cannot be accounted
for;  neither ought we despair in those which,
without  any  reasonable   cause,  are  unfa-
vourable ; for most of these  transitions are
uncertain, transient, and variable.
  28. In fevers of a  serious aspect, where
the body remains stationary without suffer-
ing any emaciation,—and also, in those where
the waste is extreme,—the appearances are,
alike, unfavourable.  The  former indicates a
protracted illness—the latter an extreme de-
bility.
  29. In the commencement of illness,  if
motion be allowable, the patient may use  it;
but in the height of the disorder,  rest is es-
sential.
                     5 
50      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  30. Circa principia et fines  omnia  sunt
debiliora ; circa vigores vero, vehementiora.

  31. A morbo belle comedenti nihil  pro-
ficere corpus, malum est.

  32. Ut plurimiim  omnes male  habentes,
circa initia quidem  bene  comedentes,  et
nihil  proficientes, ad  finem rursus  cibura
non  appetunt; qui verd  circa  initia  cibos
fastidiunt,  postea,  autem  bene  appetunt,
melius liberantur.

  33. In omni morbo, mente valere, et bene
se habere ad ea quae offerunter,  bonum est;
contrarium vero,  malum.

  34. In morbis  minus periclitantur ii quo-
rum naturae,  et aetati, et habitui, et tempori
magis cognatus fuerit morbus,  quam ii qui-
bus horum nulli similis fuerit.

  35. In omnibus morbis, partes  quae  sunt
ad umbilicum et  imum ventrem, crassitudi-
nem habere melius est;  valde autem tenues
et  eliquatas   esse,  pravum.   Periculosum
vero illud est etiam ad infernas purgationes. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    51

  30. At the commencement and termina-
tion of disease,  all is debility—at its height,
all is vigour.
  31. If  the convalescent gain not strength,
notwithstanding that he eats well—it shows
unfavourably.
  32. Almost all that suffer from indisposi-
tion, who have at  first  a good,  but an un-
profitable appetite,  become,  in the end, dis-
gusted  with food ;  those, who, at the  com-
mencement of  illness, loathe their  victuals,
afterwards regain a relish  for  it,  and  re-
establish their health soonest.
  33. In all diseases, if the patient evince a
sane mind, and be well disposed  to all which
is offered, it is favourable; the contrary is
unfavourable.
  34. If  the disease be peculiar to the age,
constitution and habits  of the patient, and
also  to  the  season  in which  it occurs, it is
less dangerous than that wherein  the circum-
stances  are different.
  35. In all diseases in which the umbilical
and hypogastric regions maintain their usual
plumpness, it is favourable; but if  they  be-
come flaccid and emaciated, it is otherwise ;
the latter  is the more  dangerous when ac-
companied with diarrhoea. 
52      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  36. Qui sana habent corpora,  pharmacis
purgati  cito ex  solvuntur, ut et  qui pravo
utuntur cibo.
  37.  Qui  bene  valent  corpore,  purgatu
sunt difficiles.
  38. Paulo deterior et potus et  cibus, ju-
cundior autem, eligendus  potius quam me-
liores quidem, sed ingratiores.

  39. Senes ut plurimum quidem juvenibus
minus asgrotant; quicumque vero  ipsis mor-
bi fiunt diuturni,  plerumque commoriuntur,

  40. Raucedines et gravedines in  valde
senibus non  coquuntur.

  41. Qui saepe et vehementer, citra mani-
festam causam,  animo  linquuntur,  ex im-
proviso  moriuntur.
  42. Solvere apoplexiam, vehementem qui-
dem, impossibile :  debiiem vero, non facile.

  43. Ex strangulatis et dissolutis,  necddm
mortuis, ii non se recolligunt, quibus spuma
circa os fuerit. 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    53

  36.  They whose constitutions are healthy,
are  as speedily broken down by purgatives,
as those who use an unwholesome diet.
  37.  With  those who enjoy bodily health,
purgatives do not easily operate.
  38.  Those aliments which  are  grateful,
although somewhat objectionable, are to be
preferred to  those which are  more whole-
some, yet less grateful.
  39. The aged  are, for the most part, less
disposed to fall into disease than the young;
but, with them, protracted diseases  generally
prove fatal.
  40. Catarrh and  coryza, in  those who
are  much advanced  in age, do not  attain
concoction.
  41. Those who frequently and suddenly,
without  any apparent  cause,  fall  into as-
phyxia, are  suddenly taken off.
  42. In violent fits  of apoplexy, relief  is
impossible ;  in those of a lighter nature,
difficult.
  43. Those who are suffocated, and those
who have all the appearances of dissolution,
without  being really dead,  are never  resus-
citated, wl  a they have a froth surrounding
the mouth.
                  5* 
54      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  44.  Qui natura valde crassi  sunt,  magis
subito moriuntur, quam qui graciles.

  45.  Epilepticis pueris, mutationes,  max-
ime aetatis, et regionum, et vitae, liberationem
faciunt.
  46.  Duobus doloribus simul obortis, non
in eodem  loco,  vehementior  obscurat al-
terum.
  47.  Circa puris  generationes,  dolores  et
febres magis accidunt, quam ipso facto.

  48.  In omni corporis motu, quando dolere
coeperit, interquiescere, statim  lassitudinem
curat.
  49.  Qui  solitos  labores ferre  consueve-
runt, etiamsi debiles fuerint aut senes, in-
suetis robustis  licet et  juvenibus, facilius
ferunt.
  50. A longo  tempore consueta, etiamsi
fuerint deteriora, insuetis mimis  turbare so-
lent;  oportet  egitur  etiam  ad  insolita  se
vertere. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.     55

  4>4<. Those who are, by nature, very cor-
pulent,  expire  more  suddenly  than  those
who have a spare habit.
  45. Epilepsy in  children  is removed by
changes ;* especially by those of age, climate,
and mode of living.
  46.  Two painful sensations arising  at the
same time,  though  not  in the same  place,
the greater obscures the less.
   47.  When  pus  is  about forming,  there
is greater  pain than when suppuration is
complete.
   48.  If pain ensue from bodily motion, in-
termit ;  rest is the only cure.

   49. The aged,  and even the weak, who
are  inured  to  labour,  bear it  more  easily
than the young and robust who are  not ha-
bituated to it.
   50.  Long  accustomed and even vicious
habits are  less hurtful, than those which are
in themselves preferable, but to which we
 are  unaccustomed ; we ought, therefore, gra-
 dually  to adopt the latter. ■
   * This translation is literal, and, we believe, conveys the exact
 sense of the original; vide A<p. po~. TM. /S. The French Trans-
 lator renders it somewhat  different. ru%ai$dm-roi ^aAXov, " plus
 rxposes aux morts." 
56      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  51. Multum  et  derepente vacuare,  aut
replere,  aut calefacere,  aut  frigefacere,  aut
alio quocunque modo corpus movere, peri-
culosum est:  Omne siquidem multum  na-
turae  inimicum.   Quod  vero paulatim  fit
tutum est; turn alias, turn si quis ex  altero
ad alterum transeat.

  52. Omnia secundum  rationem facienti,
et non secundum rationem evenientibus, non
ad aliud transeundum, manente eo quod ab
initio visum est.
  53. Quicunque alvos  habent  humidas,
dum quidem juvenes sunt, melius liberantur
his qui siccas habent.  Ad senectutem vero,
pejus liberantur: siccantur  enim ut  pluri-
mum alvi senescentibus.
  54. Procero corpore  juventutem quidem
degere,  liberale est, hec deforme: insenescere
vero, incommodum, et parvis deterius. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    57

  51.  Evacuation,  repletion,  refrigeration
and calefaction—these or any other corres-
pondent  modifications of  body, when ex-
cessive, or too suddenly accomplished, are
dangerous,—nature being  ever opposed  to
extremes.  That which  is  gradually done,
is safely done, whether  we  pass  from one
extreme to another, or otherwise.
  52.  Every thing which is judicious being
done, without success, we are not, therefore,
to recede from our  plan, while we still en-
tertain the same views as we did at first.
   53.  Those  who have humid  dejections,
when young, are sooner released from illness
than those  with  whom  they are  arid ; old
men do  not fare so well, because the alvine
excretions in age are  generally dry.
   54.  An  erect  body  accords  well  with
youth, and is both proper and graceful; but
it is inconvement in  age,  and becomes  it
less than a more humble carriage. 
58       HIPPOCRATIS APHORISM!.
SECTIO III.*
   1. Mutationes  anni  temporum   maxime
pariunt morbos ;  et in ipsis temporibus mu-
tationes magna? turn frigoris  turn caloris,  et
csetera pro ratione eodem modo.


   2. Naturarum  alie quidem  ad  aestatem,
ali3e  vero  ad hyemem  bene aut male  con-
stitutae sunt.
                                          «

   3. Morborum  alii ad alios bene  aut male
se  habent;  et atates quaedam  ad  tempora,
et regiones, et victus.


   4.  In temporibus, quando  eadem die modo


  * In this section the author treats of the seasons, their peculiar
modifications as affecting the constitutions of health and disease,
and as predisposing to peculiar maladies.  That we may the better
understand his division oi the year, we shall here subjoin a transla-
tion from Riegerus. (Vide Galen. Aph. 15. Sect. 3.)  " The
ancient Hippocratic Physicians distinguished four seasons: I. Spring}
commencing from the equinox and  extending to the rising of
the Pleiades, i. e. the last of April, which  space does not compre-
hend two months. 2. Summer, commencing from  the rising of
the Pleiades, and which  consisted of  two parts, the first called 
APHORISMS OF  HIPPOCRATES.     59
SECTION III.
   1.  The  mutations  of seasons are  greatly
productive  of  diseases;  and  those  great
changes  of heat and  cold which  occur at
their stated periods, act,  from similar  rea-
sons, in the same manner.
   2.  There  are  some  constitutions which
summer  either  improves  or  injures,  and
others  again  on  which  winter  produces si-
milar effects.
   3.  Some diseases accord better with  some
constitutions  than others ; and this also  ob-
tains with certain ages,  as  connected  with
season, climate, and aliment.
   4.  In the various seasons, if cold and heat,

u£a extending to the rising  of  Arcturus; the latter, wxo^m, from
the rising to the setting of Arcturus; so  that the summer con-
sisted in all of four months; i. e. from the  latter end of April to
the beginning of September. Autumn commenced with the setting
of Arcturus, and is finished with the falling of the Pleiades, which
time comprehends  September and  October.  Here Winter  com-
menced,  which consisted of more than four months, and was
divided into  three  parts; i. from the first of November to the
winter solstice; a. comprehended the winter solstice; 3. ex-
tended to the vernal equinox." 
 60      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

 calor,  modo frigus fit,  autumnales morbos
 exspectare oportet.

   5.  Austri auditum gravantes,  caliginosi,
 caput  gravantes, segnes, dissolventes.  Cum
 hie dominatum tenuerit, talia in  morbis pa-
 tkintur.   Si vero acquilonium fuerit, tusses,
 fauces asperae, alvi durae, urinae difficultates,
 horrores, dolores costarum, pectorum.  Cum
 sic  invaluerit,  talia  in morbis exspectare
 oportet.


   6.  Quando aestas veri similis est, sudores
 in febribus multos exspectare oportet.

   7.  In  siccitatibus febres ac\it?e fiunt.  Et
 si quidem annus majore ex parte talis fuerit,
 qualem  fecit constitutionem, ut  plurimum
 tales etiam morbos exspectare oportet.

   8. In   constantibus temporibus,  si tern-
 pestiva tempestive reddantur,  constantes et
judicatu   faciles fuint  morbi: in inconstan-
 tibus autem, inconstantes,  et judicatu difn-
 ciles. 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.     61

 frequently alternate with  each other in the
 same  day,  we  must  look  forward to  au-
 tumnal diseases.
   5. The south wind produces  thickness of
 hearing, dimness of sight, heaviness of head,
 and is, on the whole, oppressive and relax-
 ing ; such are the effects in  sickness, during
 the  prevalence  of such winds.  That from
 the north, brings with it coughs, sore throats,
 dysury,  constipation,  shiverings, and  pains
 of the side  and breast:  these are the symp-
 toms which take place in sickness when this
 wind holds dominion,
   6. When  summer  takes  upon  itself the
 character of spring,  we  are  to expect much
 perspiration in fevers.
   7. In  long  droughts,  fevers  assume an
 acute type; and if the year be, for the greater
 part, dry, it is so  very apt to bring about
 such a febrile character, that we are, in ge-
 neral, to  expect it.
  8. Where the seasons are  constant  and
regular, diseases assume an  uniform aspect,
and  are  easily ascertained;  but where the
seasons are  irregular,  the diseases  are  also
irregular, and are with difficulty understood*
                     6 
62      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  9. In autumno morbi acutissimi, et max-
ime  exitiales: ver  autem saluberrimum, et
minime lethale.
  10.  Autumnus tabidis malus.
  11.  Quod  ad  anni   tempora,   siquidem
hyems  sicca et  aquilonia fuerit, ver autem
pluviosum et australe, aestate necesse est fe-
bres acutas oriri,  et ophthalmias,  et dysen-
terias,  maxime  autem  mulieribus, et  viris
natura humidis.


  12.  Si  vero hyems australis et  pluviosa,
et placida fuerit, ver autem  siccum et aqui-
lonium, mulieres quidem, quibus  partus in
ver incidit,  ex  quuvis occasione abortiunt:
quae vero pepererint, infirm6s et  morbosos
pariunt pueros,  ita ut vel statim pereant, vel
tenues et valetudinarii vivant.  Caeteris vero
mortalibus  dysenteriae et ophthalmiae siccae
oriuntur;  senioribus autem  catarrhi brevi
perimentes.


   13.  Si vero aestas sicca,  et aquilonia fiat,
autumnus autem pluviosus et australis,  ca-
pitis dolores ad hyemem fiunt, et tusses, et 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    63

  9. In autumn, diseases are most acute, and
are extremely fatal; the spring is, in general,
very healthy and  diseases are then less  fatal.
  10. Autumn is injurious to phthisis.
  11. As it respects the seasons,—if a dry
winter,  attended with northern winds, be fol-
lowed  by a wet spring, and a prevalence of
southern winds,  it must necessarily follow,
that the summer will produce acute fevers,
ophthalmia, and  dysentery, and  these, more
especially,  with  women, and  men of  a  lax
fibre.
  12.  If  the  winter be  austral and rainy,
but otherwise calm,  and the spring dry and
boreal,  women who  expect to bring forth in
the  spring,  miscarry  from  the  slightest
causes; and even  those  who go their  full
time, bring forth weak and sickly children,
who either  immediately perish or linger on,
through life,  infirm and  emaciated.   Other
maladies resulting from  this  disposition of
the  seasons, are  those  of ophthalmia and
dry dysentery ;—the aged generally dying of
violent  catarrhs.
  13.  But  if, indeed,  the summer  be dry
and boreal,  and the autumn wet and austral,
there arise, in winter,  cephalalgia,  cough> 
64      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

raucedines, et gravedines;  nonnullis  etiam
et tabes.
   14. Si  vero  aquilonius  et  sine  pluviis
fuerit autumnus, iis quidem  qui natura sunt
humidi, et mulieribus, commodus erit; re-
liquis vero ophthalmias  erunt  sicca?, et fe-
bres  acutae, et diuturnae gravedines; qui-
busdam vero et melancholiae.

   15. Ex anni vero constitutionibus, in uni-
■/ersum quidem siccitates pluviosis sunt sa-
lubriores, et minus lethales.

   16. Morbi autem in pluviosis quidem ple-
rumque  fiunt,  et  febres   longae,  et  alvi
fluxiones, et putredines, et epileptici, et apo-
plectici et anginae: in siccitatibus vero ta-
bidi,  ophthalmiae,  arthritides, urinye stillici-
dia, et dysenteriae.
  17. Quotidianae autem constitutiones, aqui-
lonise quidem  corpora compingunt,  et  ro-
busta, et facile mobilia, et bene colorata, et
melius  audientia  faciunt, alvos  etiam sic-
cant,  et oculos  mordent; et dolorem circa
thoracem,  si  quis praeexistat,  majorem fa-
ciunt.  Austrinae  vero corpora dissolvunt,
humectant, et auditus graves, et capitis gra- 
APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    65
hoarseness, and coryza;  and also some cases
of phthisis.
   14.  If  the  autumn  be  dry and  boreal,
those who are by nature of a humid consti-
tution, as also women, will generally enjoy
good health;  those of  different  constitu-
tions will be  afflicted with  dry ophthalmia,
acute  fevers, and obstinate coryzas;  and
some will be affected with melancholia.
   15.  As it regards the general constitution
of the year,—droughts are, for the most part,
more healthy, and are less attended with dis-
ease, than excessive rains.
   16.  The  diseases which attend ■on  exces-
sive rains, are, for the most part, protract-
ed fever, diarrhoea,  putrefaction, epilepsy,
apoplexy and  angina;  those  which arise
from long  droughts, are tabes,  ophthalmia,
gout, dysuria and dysentery.
   17. Next, as to the quotidian constitution
of the atmosphere,—we observe that northern
winds serve to  brace the body, rendering it
strong, agile and florid, and giving great faci-
lity of hearing, —although, at the same time,
it produces constipation of the bowels, and in-
flammation'of the eyes ;  and, where a predis-
 position to pectoral disease exists, it tends
                   6* 
66      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

vitates faciunt,  et vertigines  in  oculis, el
corporibus motum difficilem,  et alvos  hu-
mectant.
   18.  Secundum tempora autem,  vere qui-
dem, et prima aestate, pueri, et his aetate
proximi,  optime degunt,  et maxime sani
sunt.  iEstate vero, et parte qufidam au-
tumni,  series.  Reliquo  sed autumno, et
hyeme, qui mcdii sunt aetate.


   19. Morbi autem quilibet fiunt quidem
in  quibus libet anni  temporibus; nonnulli
vero in quibusdam ipsorum potius et fiunt,
et exacerbantur.
   20.  Vere quidem, insaniae, et melancho-
liae, et epilepsiae, et sanguinis fluxiones,  et
anginas, et gravedines, et raucedines, et tusses,
et leprae, et impetigines, et vitiligines, et pus-
tulae ulcerosae plurimae, et tubercula, et ar-
ticulorum dolores.
   21. ^Estate vero, et horum  nonnulla,  et
febres  continuae, et  ardentes,  et  tertianae
plurimae, et  quartanae,  et vomitus, et alvi 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.     67

to aggravate it.   Southern  winds, on the
other hand,  produce  lassitude  and humi-
dity of  body,  render  the  hearing thick,
the  head heavy,  and  impart dizziness of
sight, sluggishness of  body, and  laxity of
bowels.
   18.  In the  succession of  seasons—the
spring and  beginning  of summer are ge-
nerally favourable to children, and  those ap-
proximating to youth, who then enjoy excel-
lent health.  The  summer and early part of
autumn agree well with the aged ;  but with
those of a middle age,  the winter and  latter
part of autumn appear to suit best.
   19.  Although  diseases occur  at various
periods of the year, yet there are peculiar
diseases, which appear,  and seem most to pre-
vail, at peculiar seasons.
   20.  The  spring is  frequently  attended
with mania, melancholia, epilepsy, hemor-
rhage,   angina,   defluxions of  the  head,
hoarseness, cough, leprosy, cutaneous  affec-
tions,  white leprosy,* ulcerative  pustules,
 tubercles, and arthritic pains.
   21. The  summer,  besides many  of the
above affections,  is attended with continued
   * We have here followed Coxe's definition of Vitiligo. Vide
 Med. Diet. 
68      HIPPOCRATIS  APHORISMI.

fluxus, et ophthalmiae, et aurium dolores, et
oris exulcerationes,  et  pudendorum  putre-
dines, et sudamina.*


   22. Autumno autem, et ex aestivis multa,
et febres quartanae, et erraticae,  et lienes, et
hydropes,  et tabes, et   urinae stillicidia, et
lienteriae, et dysenterice,  et coxae dolores, et
anginae, et asthmata, et volvuli, et epilepsiae,
et insani e, et melancholiae.
   23.  Hyeme vero,  plturitides, peripneu-
moniae, lethargi,  gravedines, raucedines, tus-
ses,  dolores  pectOrum,  et laterlim,  et lum-
borum, et capitis  dolores,  vertigines, apo-
plexiae.
   24.  In aetatibus autem talia eveniunt. Par-
vis quidem  et recens natis pueris  aphthae,
vomitus, tusses,  vigiliaa,  pavores,  umbilici
inflammationes, aurium humiditates.

   25. Ad dentitionem vero accedentibus gin-
givarum pruritus,  febres, convulsiones, alvi
profluvia;  et maxime  ubi caninos  dentes
* Sudamina, hydroa.  Vide Coxe's Med. Die:. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.     69

and  inflammatory fevers,  frequent  tertians
and   quartans,  alvine  fluxes,  spontaneous
vomitings,  ophthalmia,  otalgia,  ulcerations
of the mouth, putrid affections of the geni-
tals, and miliary eruptions.
  22. Autumn,  with  many of the diseases
of summer, has, also,  quartan  and  erratic
fevers, spleen, dropsy, tabes, strangury, lien-
tery, dysentery, sciatica, angina, asthma, iliac
passion, epilepsy, insania and melancholia.

  23. In  winter there  arise  pleurisy, pe-
ripneumony,  lethargy,  catarrh,  hoarseness,
cough, pains of the breast,  side,  loins  and
head, vertigo and apopk xy.

  24.* The  following  diseases  obtain  with
different ages :  with early infancy,—aphthae,
vomiting,  cough, watchfulness, terrors, um-
bilical inflammation,  and humidity  of the
ears.
  25. At  the commencement  of dentition,
there arise irritation of the gums,  fevers,
convulsions and diarrhoea;—these,  more es-
pecially, take place on the appearance of  the

  * This, and  the seven following Aphorisms,  treat of  the va-
rious  diseases to which the  several periods of life are peculiarly
predisposed, 
70      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.
producunt,  et iis qui inter pueros sunt eras-
sissimi, et qui alvos duras habent.

  26.  lis autem qui aetate sunt majores, ton-
sillcP  inflammatae,  verticuli  in  oceipitio in-
trorsiim extrusiones,  asthmata,  calculorum
generationes,  lumbrici  rotundi, ascarides,
verrucae pens'les,  satyriasmi. (stranguria',)
strumas, et caetera tubercula, maxime  vero
supm dicta.
  27.  JEtate vero  adhuc provectioribus, et
jam  ad pubertatem progressis,  horum  qui-
dem multa, et febres  diuturnae, et ex nari-
bus sanguinis fluxiones.

  28.  Plurimae quidem affectiones  in pueris
judicantur,  aliae  in  quadraginta diebus, al-
iae in septem mensibus, aim  in septtm annis,
aliae ipsis ad pubertal*, m accedentibus.  Quae
vero  in  pueris  permanserint, neque  solutae
fuerint circa pubertatem, aut in loeminis circa
menstruorum eruptiones, did perseverare so-
lvit.


  29. Juvenibus autem, sanguinis spuitiones,
tabes, febres aciuae, epilepsiae, et caeteri mor-
bi, maxime vero supra nominati. 
APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    71
canine teeth,  and are  aggravated in those
children who are of a gross constitution, and,
also, in those of a constipated habit.
  26.  A more advanced age is attended with
tonsillary inflammation, exostosis within the
occipital vertebra, asthma, calculus,  lum-
brici,  ascarides,  pensile  worts,   satyriasis,
strangury,   scrophula,  and  other tumours,
specified, for the most part, above.

   27. Still advancing  onward, until we ar-
rive at puberty, we observe that with most
of the above diseases,  are joined  protracted
fevers, and nasal hemorrhages.  (Vide note,
p. 69.)
   28. Most of the diseases of children mani-
fest themselves  within forty days ; others in
seven months:  the former determine them-
selves in seven  years ;  the latter frequently
extend to  puberty.   But those which con-
tinue  during childhood,  and which do not
arrive  at  a crisis with  puberty,  or (in  fe-
males)  with  the first  appearance  of the
menses, are apt to assume a permanent and
 chronic character.
   29.  Those who have attained puberty, are
 subject to sanguineous expectorations, tabes,
 acute fevers, epilepsies, and many other af-
 fections, but more particularly the above. 
 72      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

   30.  Ultra hanc aetatem  vero progrcssis,
 asthmata, pleuritides, peripneumoniae, lethar-
 gi, phrenitides, febres ardentes, alvi  proflu-
 via diuturna, cholerae, dysenteriae, lienteriae,
 haemorrhoides.
   31. Senibus autem, spirandi difficultates,
 catarrhi  tussiculosi, stranguriae, dysuriae, ar-
 ticulorum  dolores,  nephritides,  vertigines,
 apoplexiae,  mali corporis  habitus,  pruritus
totius corporis, vigiliae, alvi,  et oculorum,
et narium  humiditates, visus  habetudines,
glaucedines, auditus gravitates. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.     to

  30. As  we  proceed onward  (till we ar-
rive at the climacteric point)—asthma, pleu-
risy, peripneumony, lethargy,  phrenitis, ar-
dent fever,  chronic  diarrhoea,  cholera,  dy-
sentery, lientery and haemorrhoides.
  31. Age brings with it dyspnoea, catarrhal
affections,  strangury, dysury, painful articu-
lation  (of  the joints)',  likewise, nephritis,
vertigo, apoplexy, cachexy ; as also, itch, af-
fecting the  whole body, watchfulness, humi-
dity of  stomach,  eyes and nose, dimness of
sight, cataract, and diffiulty of hearing.*

             * See note, Sect. i. Apor. 13.
7 
74      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.
SECTIO IV.
  1. Prsegnantes purgandae, si materia tur-
geat, quadrimestres, et usque ad septimum
mensem:  hae vero minus.   Juniores autem,
et seniores foetus, caute vitare oportet.


  2. In purgationibus talia e corpore  sunt
ducenda,  qualia etiam  sponte  prodeuntia
utilia sunt:  contrario autem modo prodeun-
tia, sistenda.

  3. Si quidem qualia purgari  oportet, pur-
gentur, confert, et facile ferunt:  contraria
vero, difficulter.
  4. Purgandum, aestate quidem, magis su-
periores ventres ; hyeme vero, inferiores.

   5. Sub cane, et ante canem, difficiles sunt
purgationes.

   6. Graciles, et facile vomentes, sursiun
purgandi, vitantes hyemem. 
APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    75
SECTION IV.
   1.  If there be much turgescence in preg-
nant women, they may be purged from the
fourth to the seventh month ; though seldom
extending to the  latter  period.  We should
carefully avoid injuring the  very young,  or
the more advanced foetus.
   2.  In purgations—such matter is to  be
eliminated  from  the  body,  whose  sponta-
neous expulsion  appears  to  be beneficial:
but if the  latter  produce a  contrary effect,
we are not to have recourse to it.
   3.  Vide Aphor. 25. Sect. 1.


   4. In summer, we should prefer evacuating
the stomach upwards;   in  winter, down-
wards.
   5.  Preceding and  during  the  canicular
period,  purgatives  are with  difficulty   sup-
ported.
   6.  When the delicate easily bear vomiting,
they may have  recourse to it;  but they are
to avoid it in winter. 
76      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  7. Difficulter, autem vomentes, et medio-
criter carnosi, deorsum, vitantes aestatem.


  8.  Tabidi  vero,  vitantes  (purgationesj
sursum.
  9. Melancholicos  autem,  uberius  deor-
sum purgabis.  Eadem ratione, contraria ad-
hibens.

  10. Purgandum in valde  acutis, si tur-
geat materia, eadem die :  morari enim in ta-
libus malum est.

  11. Quibus tormina, et circa umbilicum
dolores, et lumborum dolor, qui neque pur-
gante,  neque  aliter  soivitur,  in hydropem
siccum firmatur.

  12. Quibus alvi sunt lientericae, eos hyeme
sursum purgare, malum.

  13. Ad elleboros, qui non  facile sursum 
       APHORISMS OF  HIPPOCRATES.     77

  7.  But  with those  with whom  vomiting
does not well agree, and who are inclined to
fulness of habit,  it is, particularly, to  be
avoided during the winter  season.
  8.  Those suffering from phthisis should
avoid vomits.
  9.  The  melancholic should be copiously
evacuated  downwards;  and, from  the  same
principle of reasoning, those  of a  contrary
temperament should be differently treated.
   10.  In  very acute affections, attended with
turgescence,  purgatives are immediately to
be  used:  to  procrastinate  here,  is  dan-
gerous.
   11.  Those  who are tormented with severe
gripings,  pains about the  umbilicus, and in
the region of the loins, and who are neither
relieved by purgatives,  or any other means,
usually fall into tympanites.*
   12.  It is dangerous to vomit those whose
evacuations are lienteric,  especially in win-
ter.
   13.  Those  who are not easily vomited by

  :  The Latin version, both of Verhoofd and Villebrune, literally
follows the original; but we  are disposed, here, to regard the
spirit rather than the letter of the Author.  We have, therefore,
rendered tii^uita, type*—tympanites
                       7* 
78     HIPPOCRATIS  APHORISM!.

purgantur,  iis ante potionem corpora prae-
humectanda, copiosiore alimento, et quiete.

  14. Ubi biberit quis  elleborum,  ad mo-
tiones quidem corporum magis ducito:  ad
somnos  vero,  et quietem, minus.   Declarat
autem  etiam navigatio,  quod motus turbat
corpora.
  15. Quand j vis magis ducere elleborum,
moveto corpus:  quando  verd cessare, som-
num facito, et non moveto.

  16. Elleborus periculosus est  sanas car-
nes habentibus :  convillsionem enim inducit.

  17. Non febricitanti  appetitus dejectus, et
oris ventriculi  morsus,  et tenebricosa ver-
tigo,  et  os  amarescens, sursum  purgante
opus esse,  indicat.


   18.  Supra septum  transversum  dolores,
qui purgatione egent, sursum purgante opus
esse indicant; qui vero infra, deorsum.

   19.  Qui in  purgantium potionibus  non 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    70

hellebore, should, previous to taking it, re-
fresh the system by rest and a more copious
aliment.
   14.  Motion  of body  favours  the  action
of hellebore ; rest  and sleep render  it less
active.   The effect of sailing is an instance
of the influence of motion on the body.

   15.  When  it becomes necessary to assist
the  action  of  hellebore—have  recourse  to
motion :  when we wish to lessen it, endeavour
to promote quiet and sleep.
   16.  To  those who are  sound of  body,
hellebore is dangerous, and has a tendency
to induce convulsions.
   17.  Want of  appetite,  uneasy sensation
of the upper orifice of the stomach, attended
with vertigo and obscure vision, and bitter-
ness of mouth ;  all  these symptoms existing,
without  the presence of fever,  indicate the
necessity of vomiting.
   18.  If there  be  pain  immediately above
or below the diaphragm, wherein evacuation
is essential; the  former  demands vomiting,
the latter, purging.
   19. Those who  during  the  operation of 
 80      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

 sitiunt, dim purgantur,  non cessant, prius-
 quam sitiverint.
   20. Non  febricitantibus si fiat tormen, et
 genum gravitas, et lumborum dolor, deorsum
 purgante opus esse indicat.

   21.  Dejectiones  nigrae,   qualis   sanguis
 niger, sponte prodeuntes, et cum  febre, et
 sine febre,  pessimae ;  et, quanto colores de-
jectionum plures fuerint pejores, eo deterius :
 cum  purgante  vero, melius; et quantd co-
lores  plures  non mali sunt.
   22. Morbis quibus vis  incipientibus,  si
bilis  atra,  vel sursum,  vel  deorsum pro-
dierit, lethale.
   23. Quibus cumque ex morbis acutis, aut
ex diuturnis, aut  ex  vulneribus,  aut  aliter
quocumqrfe modo extenuatis, bilis  atra,  vel
qualiscumque sanguis niger  prodierit, pos-
tridie moriuntur.
   24. liysenteria, si ab atra bile inceperit,
lethale.*
  * Dejectio nigra velut sanguis, et cum febre et sine febre, mala
est: malse item  omnes variorum colorum; et  abunde bile satu-
rate, pravte,  Coaca Pranot: Aph. 17. Cap. xxviil. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.     81

purgatives have no thirst, ought to be purged
until thirst be induced.
  20.  Pain in the lower region of the ab-
domen, with  griping, and aching  of  the
knees, unattended  with  fever, indicate  the
necessity of purgatives.
  21.  Dark coloured dejections,  resembling
black  blood,  coming on  spontaneously,  ei-
ther with, or without fever,  is  very  unfa-
vourable ;  and, the more so, if the colour of
these dejections  become,  with their  conti-
nuance, still more depraved :  but if the eva-
cuations assume a more  favourable  com-
plexion, or,  if their dark colour be the ef-
fect of purgatives, less evil is to be  appre-
hended.
  22.  At the commencement of all diseases,
of whatever nature  they may be, the purging
or vomiting of atrabilious matter is fatal.
  23.  In those  wasted by acute or chronic
diseases,  by wounds or any  other received
injury, the  evacuation of atrabilious matter,
or of a matter resembling dark blood,  is fol-
lowed, on the succeeding day, by death.
  24.  Dysentery,  proceeding from atrabili-
ous matter, is fatal. 
82      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISM!.

  25.  Sanguis surs1 m quidem, qualiscum-
que sit, malum :  deorsum vero,  bonum, ni-
ger subtus secedens.

  26.  Si a  dysenteria detento velut carun-
culae cecesserint, lethale est.

  27.  Quibus per  febres sanguinis copia
undecumque  eruperit,  his in  refectionibus
alvi humectantur.

  28.  Quibus biliosae sunt  egestiones,  sur-
ditate  superveniente,  cessant :  et,  quibus
surditas est, biiiosis supervenientibus, cessat.


  29.  Quibus per febres sexta die  rigores
fuint, difficulter judicantur.

  30.  Quibus exacerbationes  fiunt,  qui-
cumque   hora  dimiserit  febris,  postridie
eadem hora  si corripuerit,  difficulter judi-
cantur.
  31.  Lassatis per febres  ad  articulos, ct
circa maxillas maxime, abscessus fiunt. 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.     Q3

   25. The  expectoration  of  blood,  how
 small  soever in quantity, is injurious: but
 the evacuation of black blood downwards is
 (frequently) advantageous.
   26. If, during dysentery,  there come  away
 by evacuation,  substances resembling  small
 pieces of flesh, the disease will prove fatal.
   27. A profuse haemorrhage taking  place
 in fevers,* from whatsoever part, is generally
 followed,  during recovery,  by  a  humid
 stomach.
   28. With those whose dejections  are  bi-
 lious,  if deafness supervene, a  cessation of
 the former will take place: and  with those
 who are deaf,  a coming on of bilious  eva-
 cuation generally  removes it.
   29. In fevers,  where rigors take place on
 the sixth day,  the result is not  easily de-
 termined.
   30.  Where  fevers,  attended  with   pa-
 roxysms, go off at a certain hour, and return
 the following day, at the same hour, it is dif-
 ficult to determine the crisis.
   31.  Fevers,  attended  with  lassitude, in-
 dicate a deposition of matter about the joints.;
 and  more  especially  near the  maxillary ar-
 ticulation.
  * The observations from the 47th to the 73d Aphor. for the
most part, treat of pyrexial symptoms. 
84      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  32. Quibus ex morbo resurgentibus aliquid
dolet, ibi abscessus fiunt.

  33. Sed et, si quid doluerit ante morbum,
ibi se figit morbus.

  34. Si a  febre detento,  tumore in fauci-
bus non existente, suffocatio ex improviso su-
perveniat, lethale.
  35. Si a  febre detento collum derepent£
inversum fuerit, et vix deglutire possit, tu-
more non existente, lethale.


  36. Sudores febricitantibus si incesserint,
boni sunt die tertia, et quinta, et septima, et
nona, et undecima, et quarta decima, et sep-
tima decima, et vigesima prima, et vigesima
septima,  et trigesima  prima, et trigesima
quarta.   Hi enim sudores morbum judicant.
Qui  vero  ita non fuint, laborem  significant,
ct morbi longitudinem et recidivas.

  37. Sudores frigidi, cum  acuta,  quidem
febre evenientes, mortem ; cum mitiore vero,
morbi longitudinem significant. 
APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    85
  32. If in those recovering from indisposi-
tion, there occur any local pain, it foreshows
the formation of an abscess.
  33. But, if local pain immediately precede
disease, it foreshows a determination  of the
disease to that part.
   34. When suffocation suddenly comes on
in fever, without any tumour being present,
it immediately proves fatal.
   35.  When, in consequence of fever, such
an inversion of the action of the oesophagus
takes place,  that, notwithstanding the absence
of tumour,  deglutition can scarcely be per-
formed, it is fatal.
   36.  Perspiration, in  fever, is favourable,
when it comes out on the third, fifth, seventh,.
ninth,   eleventh,   fourteenth,  seventeenth,
twenty-first, twenty-seventh, thirty-first  and
thirty-fourth day ;  for these several periodi-
cal sweats are indicative of the disease.  But
if they do not occur  in  this order,  it fore-
shows a tedious and.protracted disease, at-
tended with many relapses.
   37.  Cold sweats coming on with acute fe-
ver, announce a  speedy  dissolution; when
they exist but in a slight degree, they foretel
protracted illness.
                     8 
86      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  38. Et qua corporis parte inest sudor,  ibi
morbum esse indicat.

  39. Et qua corporis parte inest calor, aut
frigus, ibi morbus est.
  40. Et ubi in toto corpore mutationes, et
si corpus  perfrigeretur,  aut rursus calefiat,
aut color alius ex alio fiat,  morbi longitudi-
nem significat.
  41. Sudor multus a somno, citra causam
manifestam factus, corpus uberiore alimento
uti  significat.   Si vero cibum non capienti
hoc fiat, evacuatione  indigere significat.

  42.  Sudor multus, frgidus  aut calidus,
semper fluens, frigidus quidem majorem, ca-
lidus vero minorem morbum significat.
  43. Febres quaecumque non intermitten-
tes  tertia die  vehementiores fiunt, magis
periculosae : quocumque autem  modo inter-
mittant, quod sine periculo siut significat.

  44. Quibus febres longae, his tubercula ad
articulos,  aut dolores fiunt.
  45. Quibus tubercula ad  articulos, aut
dolores et febribus iongis  fiunt, hi pluribus
utuntur cibis. 
I
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    87

  38.   From whatsoever part of the body
sweat breaks forth, it foreshows a determina-
tion of the disease to that part.
  39. In  whatever part of the body heat or
cold arises,—there the disease seats itself.
  40. Where there  occur alternate  changes
of cold and  heat, and the complexion under-
goes various changes of colour, we may pre-
dict extended illness.
  41. Profuse sweats, during sleep,  without
any manifest local affection, may arise from a
too plentiful diet ; but if it take  place, not-
withstanding the observance of a frugal  regi-
men, it shows the necessity of evacuations.
  42. Profuse  sweats,  either cold  or hot,
continually  present,—the former denotes  a
greater, the latter, a less disease.
  43. Continued fevers, that increase in vio-
lence on  the third  day are, in consequence,
the more dangerous; but if they, in any way,
assume  an  intermittent form,  the  danger
entirelv ceases.
   44. Protracted fevers bring with them tu-
 mours  and pains of the joints.
   45.  Those  who,  from  extended fevers,
 have tum >urs or pains of the joints, are in-
 clined to excess in their food. 
88      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  46.  Si rigor incidat febri non intermittent!,
debiii jam existente aegro, lethale.
  47.  Exscreationes in  febribus non inter-
mittentibus  lividse, et cruenta?, et graveolen-
tes, et biliosae, omnes malae sunt.   At probe
secedentes,  bona?.   Lt eadem ratio est quod
ad  alvi egtstiones, et quod  ad  urinas.   Si
vero nihil ex conducentibus  excernatur  per
haec loca,  malum.

  48.  In  non  intermittentibus  febribus, si
externa quidem frigida sint. interna vero uran-
tur, et sitim habeant, lethale.
  49.  In lebre non intermittente, si labium,
aut supercilium, aut oculus, ai<t nasus perver-
tatur, si non vidtat, si  non auoiat,  corpore
jam debiii existente, quicquid horum fiat, in
propinquo mors est.

  50.  Ubi  in  febre non intermittente diffi-
cultas spirandi et delirium fit, lethale.

  51.  In  febribus, abscessus qui  non  sol-
vuntur  ad primas judicationes, morbi longi-
tudinem significat.

  52.  Quicumque in febribus, aut in caete- 
      APHORISMS OF  HIPPOCRATES.    89

  46. Rigors coming  on, in those enfeebled
by long continued fever, prove fatal.
  47. Livid, bloody, foetid and bilious stools,
coming on in continued fevers, are alike un-
favourable ;  but a timely appearance of them
is beneficial.  The same observation may be
applied to the alvine and urinary discharges ;
but if the matter offending be  not thrown out
along with the excretions—these excretions
are injurious.
  48. In continued fevers,  if  the external
parts  be  cold,  and the  internal hot,  with
much thirst, the disease will prove fatal.
  49. In continued fever,  if the lip,  the eye
and eyebrow, and  nose, become distorted—
if the sight and  hearing fail—if debility pre-
vail over the whole system ;—all and each of
these  symptoms foretel the near approach  of
death.
  50. In continued fever, delirium, accom-
panied with difficulty  of  breathing, proves
fatal.
  51. In fever,  where abscesses have  not
been  dispersed, during  the  primary stages
of the disease, they foreshow extended ill-
ness.
  52.  When, in fever, or in any in other af-
                      8* 
90     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

ris infirmitatibus, ex proposito lachrymantur,
nihil inconveniens :  qui vero non ex propo-
sito, magis inconveniens.
  53. Quibus in febre ad dentes viscosa cir-
cumnascuntur,  his febris  fiunt  vehemen-
tiores.
  54. Quibus diu tusses siccae, paulum irri-
tantes, in febribus ardentibus, non admodum
siticulosi sunt.
  55. In  bubonibus  febres,  omnes  malae^
praeter ephemeras.
  56. Febricitanti sudor superveniens, febre
non remittente, malum.   Prolongatur enim
morbus, et copiosiorem humiditatem indicat.
  57. A convulsione aut  tetano detento, fe-
bris superveniens solvit morbum.
  58. A febre ardente detento, rigore super-
veniente, solutio (fit).
  59. Tertiana exquisita in septem ad sum-
mum circuitibus  judicatur.
  60. Quibus in febre aures obsurduerint,
his sanguis e naribus effluens, aut alvus ex-
turbata, morbum solvit. 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.     91

fection, the patient sheds tears voluntarily, it
is not unfavourable; but  if they flow  invo-
luntarily, it is somewhat alarming.
  53.  When,  during fever,  sordes  collect
around the  teeth, it denotes the violence of
the disease.
  54.  Those who, in ardent fevers, are trou-
bled for a  long  time with dry cough,  and
somewhat of irritation,  have not much  thirst.
  55.  Buboes arising in fever are always dan-
gerous, except in ephemera.
  56.  Perspiration coming on in fever, with-
out a remission of the disorder taking  place,
is an unfavourable circumstance ; for in that
case, it denotes a too copious humidity of the
system, and foreshows  a prolongation of  the
disease.
   57.  If in convulsion  or tetanus, fever  su-
pervene, the disease goes off.
   58.  When  rigors come on in ardent fever,
they prove critical.
   59.  Severe tertians determine themselves,
at farthest, in  seven paroxysms.
   60.  When  deafness  comes on in fever, it
is generally removed by nasal haemorrhage,
or diarrhoea. 
92      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  61. Febricitanti, nisi in diebus imparibus
dimiserit febris, reverti solet.
  62. Quibus in febre morbus regius super-
venit ante septimum diem, malum est.
  63. Quibus in  febribus  quotidie rigores
fiunt, quotidiij febres solvuntur.
  64. Quibus in febre septima, aut non a, aut
undecima, aut quarta  decima  morbus re-
gius supervenit,  bonum est:  nisi  dextrum
hypochondrium durum  sit;  alioqui, non bo-
num.
  65. In febribus  circa ventrem arstus vehe-
mens, et oris ventriculi  dolor, malum.

  66. In  febribus  acutis convulsiones, et
circa viscera dolores vehementes, malum.
  67. In  febribus, ex  somnis pavores, aut
convulsi n^c,  \\ alum.
  68. In febribus spiritus offendens, malum :
convulsionem enim significat.
  69. Quibus urinae crassae, grumosae, pau-
eae, non sine febre,  copia ex his succedens      \
tenui, juvat.   Tales autem  iis maxime pro-
deunt, quibus ab initio morbi, aut brevi post;
subsidentiam continent. 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    93

  61.  Unless  fever depart  on an irregular
day, it is apt to return.*
  62. If,  in fever, jaundice supervene  be-
fore the seventh day—it is unfavourable.
  63. Those fevers which have daily rigors,
have daily remissions.
  64. Jaundice supervening, in fever, on the
seventh, ninth, eleventh and fourteenth day—
is favourable: but  if  the right  hypochon-
drium be indurated, it is not so.

  65. If,  in fever, a violent heat arise  about
the stomach and upper orifice of the stomach?
it is unfavourable.
  66.  Convulsions and violent pains of the
viscera, in acute fever, are unfavourable.
  67.  If, in fever,  the  sleep be disturbed by
convulsion or terror, it denotes danger.
  68.  An interrupted respiration in fever  is
unfavourable—it precedes convulsion.
  69.  When,  with  existing  fever, a  thick,
grumy, scant urine, is followed by a thin and
copious discharge—it is beneficial; but  it is
the more so, when, at the commencement of
disease, or a little time after, the urine depo-
sits a sediment.  •
* See Aphor. 24. Section II. 
94     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

   70.  Quibus autem in febre urinae contur-
batae, qualia jumentorum, his capitis dolores,
aut adsunt, aut aderunt.

   71.  Quibus morbi septima die judicantur,
iis nubeculam rubram urina die quarta con-
tinet, et caetera secundum rationem.

   72.  Quibus urinae pellucidae, albae, malae.
Maxime autem in phreneticis observatur.

   73.  Quibus  hypochondria  elevata  sunt
murmurantia, dolore  lumborum  superve-
niente, his alvi humectantur : nisi flatus eru-
perint, aut urinae copia prodierit.   /// febri-
bus auttm f'cec.
   74.  Quibus spes est abscessum fore ad ar-
ticulos, eos abscessu  liberat urina multa;  et
crassa, etalba reddita, qualis in febribus cum
lassitudine quarta  die quibusdam fieri inci-
pit.   Si ver" etiam ex  naribus  sanguis eru-
perit, brevi admodum solvit.


   75.  Si  quis  sanguinem,  aut pus mingat,
renum, aut vesicae exulcerationem significat. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    95

  70. When, in fever, the urine has a tur-
bid appearance, such as is wont to take place
in labouring animals, it  denotes either  pre-
sent, or approaching  pains of the head.
  71. When the disease  determines itself on
the seventh day, the  urine contains a red ne-
bulous matter, and assumes other character-
istic appearances.
  72. When the urine assumes a white pel-
lucid appearance, it is unfavourable, for  such
is a distinguished character of phrenitis.
   73.  When distention of the hypochondria,
attended  with  borborygmus, takes place,  if
pain of the loins supervene, diarrhoea follows ;
unless there be a discharge of wind, or copi-
ous issue of urine.    Thus much of fever.*
   74.  Where  there is any expectation of ab-
scess being about to take place in the joints,
it is  prevented by  a plentiful emission  of
urine, of a th^ck, white consistence, such  as
is voided in the fourth day of fevers attended
with  lassitude.  But if  there  be  combined
with this, a haemorrhage from  the  nose, the
relief is still more sudden.
   75. A micturition of  blood or pus de-
notes ulceration of the kidneys or bladder.
• E'f «rpgw»"V/ § TMTfr. 
96      HIPPOCRATIS  APHORISMI.

  76.  Quibus in urina crassa existente  ca-
runculae parvae, aut veluti pili una exeunt,
his  de  renibus excernuntur.

  77.  Quibus in urina crassa existente fur-
furacea simul minguntur,  iis vesica  scabie
laborat.
  78.  Qui sponte  sanguinem mingunt,  his
a renibus  venae ruptiontm significat.
  79.  Quibus in urina  arenosa  subsident,
illis vesica calc.ulo laborat.
  80.  Si  quis sanguinem mingat, et grumos,
et urinae stiilicidium habeat,  et dolor incidat
ad imum ventrem, et perinaeum, partes circa
vesicam laborant.
  81.  Si  quis sanguinem et pus  mingat, et
squamas,  et odor gravis sit, vesicae  exulcera-
tionem significat.

  82.  Quibus in urinaria fistula tuberculum
nascitur, his, suppurato eo et perrupto, solu-
tio fit.
  83.  Mictio noctu multa  contingens, par-
vam alvi dejectionem significat. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    97

  76.  When a thick urine is  voided with
small caruncles, resembling short pieces of
hair,  the  excretion  proceeds from the kid-
neys.
  77.  A micturition of thick urine, together
with a furfuraceous matter, shows an ulcera-
tion of the bladder.
  78.  A  spontaneous micturition  of blood,
shows the rupture of a renal vein.
  79.  A sandy deposit in the urine proceedt^
from a calculus in the bladder.
  80.  If a micturition of blood and grumous
matter, be connected with strangury and pain
in the hypograstrium and perinaeum, it indi-
cates an affection about the bladder.
  81.  If there be a micturition of blood, pus
an  squamae, accompanied with a disagreea-
ble odour, it denotes  an ulceration of the blad-
der.
  82.  If a tubercle,  arising  in the urethra2
suppurate and break, the disorder ceases.

  83. A copious emission of urine, during
the  night, is  indicative of a less copious al^
vine dejection.
9 
98      HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.


              SECTIO V.
  1. Convulsio ab elleboro lethale.

  2.  Vulneri convulsio  superveniens,  le-
thale.
  3. Sanguine multo effuso, convulsio, aut
singultus superveniens, malum.
  4. Purgationi  immodicae convulsio, aut
singultus superveniens, malum.
  5. Si quis ebrius ex improviso mutus fiat,
convulsus moritur,  nisi febris  corripuerit,
aut ubi ad  horam  qua crapulae solvuntur,
pervenit, locutus fuerit.
  6. Qui a tetano corripiuntur, in quatuor
diebus pereunt; si vero hos effugerint, sani
fiunt.
  7. Quibus epilepsiae ante pubertatem con-
tingunt, mutationem  habent.  Quibus vero
accidunt  viginti   quinque annos natis, his
plerumque commoriuntur.

  8. Qui pleuritici  facti,  non  repurguntur*
Superne in quatuordecim diebus, is in sup-
purationem convertitur. 
APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    99


        SECTION  V.
  1. Convulsion, arising from hellebore, is
fatal.
  2. Convulsion, arising from a wound, is
fatal.
  3. Convulsion, or hiccough, proceeding
from haemorrhage, is dangerous.
  4. Convulsion,  or hiccough, proceeding
from immoderate catharsis, is dangerous.
  5. If aphonia come on suddenly from ine-
briation—death ensues,—unless fever super-
vene, or the speech  return, on the intoxica-
tion going off.
  6. Those  who  are seized with  tetanus,
expire within four days ; but if they survive
the fourth day, they  generally recover.
  7. Those who are attacked with epilepsy
before  the age  of puberty, have a chance of
cure ;  but when the  disorder comes on after
the twenty-fifth year, it ceases only with
life.
  8. In pleuritic affections, if expectoration
come not on  in fourteen days, suppuration
commences. 
LOO     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  9. Tabes maxime fit aetatibus ab anno oc-
tavo decimo usque ad quintum trigesimum.

  10. Quibus anginam effugientibus ad pul-
monem vertitur, m septem diebus uioriuntur.
Si vero hos effugerint, suppurati fiunt.

 * 11. A tabe vexatis, si sputum quod ex-
tussiunt, prunis superfusum,  graviter oleat,
et capilii de capite defluant, lethale,

  12. Quibus  tabe laborantibus capilii dc
capite defluunt, hi  alvi fluxu  superveniente,
moriuntur.
  13. Qui sanguinem spumosum ex spuunt,
his ex pulmone talis rejectio fit.
  14. A tabe detento alvi profluvium super-
 veniens, lethale.
   15. Qui ex pleuritide suppurati  fiunt,  si
intra quadraginta dies,  ex quo ruptio fuerit
facta, repurgentur  superne,   liberantur :  si
vero minus, ad tabem transeunt.

   16.  Calidum,  eo frequenter utentibus, has
affert noxas:  carnis  effeminationem, ner-
vorum  impotentiam, mentis torporem, san-
guinis eruptiones, animi deliquia :  haec qui-
bus mors. 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   101

  9. Phthisis manifests itself, for the most
part, from the eighteenth to the thirty-fifth
year.
  10.  When  angina translates itself to the
lungs,  the patient dies  in  seven days;  if
he  escape this  period,  suppuration  com-
mences.
  11.  In phthisis, if the matter expectorated,
when  thrown upon live  coals,  emit a foetid
odour; and if the hair fall  from the  head,
the disease is  fatal.
   12.  In phthisis, if the hair fall from the
head,  and diarrhoea ensue—the  disease  is
fatal.
   13.  The expectoration of a spumous blood
proceeds from the lungs.
   14.  In phthisis, diarrhoea proves fatal.

 .  15.  When empyema  comes on in pleu-
risy y—if5 after the abscess  breaks, the mat-
ter be expectorated within  forty days,  the
disorder ceases : but, if it happen otherwise,
the disease assumes the character of phthisis.
   16.  Excels of  heat induces debility  of
the muscular fibre, impotence of nerve, tor-
por of  mind, haemorrhage, fainting, and,
lastly, death.
                      9# 
102    HIPPOCRATIS  APHORISMI.
   17.  Frigidum  autem,  convulsiones,  te-
tanos,  nigrores, et rigores febriles.
   18.  Frigidum  inimicum  ossibus,  denti-
bus, nervis,  cerebro,  spinali medullae:  ca-
lidum  vero utile.
   19.  Quae  perfrigerata  sunt,  excalefacere
oportet, praeterquam quae  sanguinem pro-
fundunt, aut sunt  profusura.

   20.  Ulceribus  frigidum quidem mordax,
cutem obdurat, dolorem non suppurantem
facit, nigrores, rigores febriles, convulsiones,
et tetanos.
   21.  Est vero, ubi in tetano  sine  ulcere,
juveni bene carnoso,  aestate  media, frigidae
multae  affusio caloris  revocationem facit;
calor autem haec solvit.

   22.  Calidum suppuratorium,  non in omni
ulcere, maximum signum ad securitatem ;
cutem emollit,  attenuat,  dolores  sedat,  ri-
gores,  convulsiones,  tetanos  mitigat:  capi-
tis vero gravitatem solvit: plurimum autem
confert ossium fracturis : maxime vero.de-
nudatis:  ex  his  quidem maxime,  qui in
capite  ulcera habent: et quae a frigore mo-
riuntur, aut ulcerantur :  et herpetibus exe« 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   103

  17. Excess  of cold induces  convulsion,
tetanus,  petechia, and febrile rigors.
  18. Cold is prejudicial to the bones, teeth,
nerves, brain, and spinal marrow :  heat, on
the contrary, is beneficial to them.
  19. Those parts which have suffered from
cold,  ought  to  be warmed,—except when
haemorrhage takes place,  or is about to  take
place.
  20. Cold proves corrosive to ulcers, tends
to harden  the skin,  causes  pain  by  sup-
pressing suppuration, and induces  petechias,
febrile rigors, convulsions and tetanus.
  21.  When tetanus  takes  place,  without
previous ulcer, in the  middle of  summer, in
those of full habits,—cold  affusion serves to
recall the absent heat,  and,  thereby, termi-
nate the disease.
  22.  In most  wounds (with  few excep-
tions) heat,* by favouring suppuration, tends
greatly  to  their  cure:  it softens  and at-
tenuates the skin, subdues pain,  mitigates
rigors, convulsions and tetanus, and relieves
the  attendant  heaviness  of head:  it  is,
for the  most  part, beneficial in fractures,
particularly those in which the  bone is de-
nuded,  and is,  furthermore,  greatly  ser-
  * T« $sg/*»»—however, CalUa Aqua ought, here, to be understood^ 
104     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.
dentibus, sedi, pudendo, utero, vesicae. His
oalidum  quidem  amicum  et decretorium:
frigidum ver j inimicum et occidens.
  23.  In his autem frigido uti oportet unde
sanguis erumpit,  aut erupturus  est:  non
super ipsa, sed circa haec unde infiuit.   Et
quaecumque inflammationes, aut flammei ar-
dores ad rubrum et sanguineum colorem ver-
gentes  novo sanguine,  super ipsos:  nam
inveteratos nigrefacit: erysipelas etiam non
exulceratum (juvat): quoniam exulceratum
lsedit.
24. Frigida  velut  nix,  glacies;  pectori 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   105

 viceable in wounds of  the head :  it, also,
 does good when applied to parts  ulcerated
 or mortified by cold; and, also, to that  spe-
 cies of ulcerative tetter affecting the anus,
 pudendum,  womb and bladder;—with all
 these, therefore, heat *  is beneficial and ju-
 dicious in its  application;  whereas cold  is
 highly prejudicial and even atal.
   23. In those instances where  haemorrhage
 takes place,  or is about to take  place, the
 application of* cold f  is necessary, not ac-
 tually to  the  h ; morrhage  itself, but  to the
 parts  circumjacent.   But   wheresoever in-
 flammation exists, or when, from a new ac-
 cumulati  ( uoi  blood,  the parts  affected, ac-
 quire  a preternatural  heat, and assume  a
 flame-coiourcd  appearance, the  application
 of cold is to be made  immediately  to the
part itself; otherwise, by a long continuance
 of the inflammation,  discolouration of the
 parts  will take  place.   In erysipelas, unat-
 tended with  ulceration,  cold applications are
 beneficial, but  when  ulceration  is  present,
 they are injurious.
  24.  Cold applications, such as  snow  and
* See note, p. 103.     f Aqua frigida. 
106     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.
inimica, tusses movent, sanguinis eruptiones
ac catarrhos inducunt.
  25.  Tumores autem in articulis et dolores
absque ulcere, et podagricos, et convulsiones;
horum plurima frigida multa affusa,  et  levat
et attenuat, et dolorem solvit.   Torpor  enim
modicus doloris solvendi vim habet.


  26.  Aqua, quae  cito calefiat, et cito re-
frigeratur, levissima.
  27. Quibus autem bibendi appetentiae noc-
tu,  iis  valde sitientibus,  si  obdormierint,
bonum.
  28.  Suffitus  aromatum muliebria  ducit,*
saepius autem et ad alia utiiis esset, nisi ca-
pitis gravitates induceret.

  29.  Pr egnantes purgandae,  si turgeat ma-
teria, quadrimestres,  et us«jue ad  septimum
mensem: hoe vero minus.   Junioresautem,
et seniores foetus, caute vitare oportet.
  30.  Munerem in  utero gerentem ab acuto
aliquo  morbo corripi, lethale.
   * Villebrune understands here " aromatum suppoiiterum." 
      APHORISMS OF  HIPPOCRATES.   107

ice, are injurious,  to the breast,  producing
cough, catarrh, and haemorrhage.
  25.  Tumours, and pains of the joints, un*
attended  with ulcer;  also,  convulsive and
podagrical affections, are,  for the most party
benefitted by frequent cold affusions, which
have a tendency to mitigate and throw off the
eomplaint :  for a moderate degree of torpor
has the effect  of subduing pain *
  26.  T: at  water is lightest which is  soon-
est heated and cooled.
  27.  With those who need much drink du-
ring the night,—if sieep succeed  great thirst3
it is a favourable symptom.
  28.  Aromatic  fumigations bring On the
menstrual flux :  they are, also, serviceable in
other instances ;  but we should  discontinue
them where they induce heaviness of head.f
  29.  See Aphor.  1.  Sect, iv.
   30.  With pregnant women, acute diseases
generally prove fatal.     »
  • From the inference here drawn, it will appear that Hippo-
crates considered cold, in every stage, as a sedative.
  f We have our doubts, whether his suggestion (so often ridiculed)
be, indeed, riditulius. 
108     HIPPOCRA11S APHORISMI.

  31.  Mulier  in  utero gerens  secta vena
abortit, et magis, si major fuerit foetus.

  32.  Mulieri  sanguinem evomenti,  men-
struis erumpentibus, solutio fit.

  33.   Mulieri,  menstruis deficientibus,  e
naribus sanguinem fluere,  bonum.

  34.  Mulieri in utero gerenti, si alvus mul-
tiim fluxerit, periculum ne abortiat.

   35.  Mulieri  ab uterina passione vexatae,
aut difficulter parienti,  sternutatio superve-
niens, bonum.
   36. M4 Ueri menses decolores,  neque se-
cundum eadem semper prodeuntes, purga-
tione opus esse significant.
'   37.  Mulieri  in utero gerenti si mammae
ex improviso graciles fiant, abortit.
   38.  Muhen in utero  gerenti,  si  altera
mamma gracilis fiat, gemellos gestanti, alter.
 utrum abortit,  tt  si quidem dextra gracilis
 fiat, raarem: si vero sinistra, feminam. 
     APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    109

  31.  With pregnant  women, venesection
produces abortion ;  especially if gestation be
far advanced.
  32.  When vomiting  of blood takes place,
in women, it ceases on the appearance of the
menses.
  33.  When a deficiency takes place in the
menstrual discharge, nasal haemorrhage is be-
neficial.
  34.  When diarrhoea comes on,  in  preg*
nant women, there is some danger of abor.
tion.
  35. In hysterical affections, or difficult par*
turition, sternutation is beneficial.

  36.  Discoloured and irregular menses in*
dicate the necessity  of purgatives.

  37.  A sudden subsidence of the breasts,
during pregnancy, is folk wed by abortion.
  38. Li\ pregnancy, where twins are present,,
a subsidence oi  either breast foreshows the
death of one of them; a male foetus—if it be
the right breast, and a  female,  if it  be the
left.
10 
110     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISM!.

  39. Si mulier quae nee praegnans est nee
peperit, lac habeat, ei menstrua  defecerunt.


  40. Mulieribus quibus in  mammas san-
guis convertitur, insaniam significat.

  41. Mulierem si velis cognoscere an praeg-
nans sit,ubidormitura est (inccenatae) aquam
mulsam bibendam dato, et si quidem tormen
habeat circa ventrem, praegnans est: si vero
minus, praegnans non est.
  42.  Mulier pra'gnans, si quidem  marem
gestat, bene colorata est: si  vero feminam,
male colorata.
  43.  Si  mulieri praegnanti  erysipelas   in
Utero fiat, lethale.
  44.  Quae praeter naturam tenues existentes
In utero gerunt, abortiunt, priusquam cras-
sescant.
  45.  Quae vero mediocriter corpus haben*
tes  abortiunt bimestres et  trimestres ; sine
causa  manifesta, his uteri  acetabula  muco 
       APHORISMS OF  HIPPOCRATES.    Ill

   39. A secretion of milk, in the breasts of
those who are not pregnant, and have never
had offspring, proceeds from a suppression o
the menstrual discharge.
   40. A secretion of blood (instead of milk)
in the breasts (of puerperal women,) is follow-
ed by mania.
   41. In order to  ascertain whether a  wo-
man be pregnant or not, administer h} dromel,
on her retiring supperless to bed :— if it pro-
duce  griping,  she is pregnant—otherwise,
not.*
   42. In pregnancy—a fine  complexion in-
dicates a male, and the contrary—a  female
foetus.
   43. An erysipelatous affection of the  ute-
rus, during pregnancy, proves fatal.
   44. Women who,  during pregnancy,  be-
come  exceedingly thin, miscarry until  they
begin to grow fat.
   45.  When women of  a tolerable full ha-
bit of body,  miscarry, without any manifest
cause, about the second or third month of

  • The philosopher, the extent of whose belief was in a direct ratio
with his doubts (" credo, quod impossibile est") must have been a
staunch sectarian !—As we profess no particular professional crcedj
we leave this Aphorism as" un morceau" for the critic. 
112     HIPP0CRAT1S APHORISMI.

plena sunt, et non possunt  continere foetum,
prae gravitate, sed abrumpuntur.
   46. Quae praeter naturam crassae existentes
 non coucj iunt  in  utero,  his  omentum  os
 uteri comprimit,  et, priusquam attenuentur,
 praegnantes non fiunt.

   47. Si uterus coxi incumbens suppuratus
 fuerit, necesse est, ut pure prof uso, ciania in
 saniem collique scant.*


   48.  'Foetus,  mares  quidem in dextris, fe-
 minae  vero in sinistris magis.
   49.  Ut  secundae  excidant,  sternutatorio
 indito, nares et os apprehendere oportet.


   50.  Mulieri menstrua  si  velis  cohibere,
 cucurbitam quam max imam  ad  mammas ap-
 pone.

  * In the latter part of this Aphorism we have preferred the
Latin version of Villebrune, which the original text seems to war
rant. 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   113

pregnancy, it denotes a too copious mucosi-
tv in the pelvis of the uterus ;  the womb,
therefore, becomes incapable of retaining the
foetus,  which latter detaches itself by its own
Weight.
  46.  Women excessively corpulent do not
conceive, on  account of the omentum  com-
pressing the mouth  of the uterus;  they,
therefore,  cannot become pregnant until the
system be reduced.
  47.  (In prolapso uteri,) where the womb
rests upon the ischia, should  suppuration
commence,  the pus  soon degenerates into
sanies, and  the parts adjoining are melted
down.
   48. The male foetus inclines to the right—
the female,—r-td the left side.
   49.  In order to hasten the rejection of the
secundine, a sternutatory is to be  adminis-
tered,  at the same time the mouth  and nose
are to be closed.
   50.  To restrain the menstrual discharge,
a large cupping-glass is to be applied to the
fereasts.
10** 
114     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  51. Quae in  utero gerunt, harum os uteri
clausum est.
  52. Mulieri  in  utero gerenti  si  multum
lactis ex mammis fluxerit, infirm um loetum
significat.   Si vero solidae fuerint  mammae,
saniorem foetum sTgnificat.

  53. Quae perditurae sunt foetus, his  mam-
mae  graciles  fiunt.   Si  vero  rurs's  durae
fiant, dolor erit, aut in mammis, aut in coxis,
aut in oculis, aut in genibus, et non perdunt.

  54. Quibus  os  uteri durum est, his ne-
cesse est os uteri clausum esse.
  55. Quaecumque in utero gerentes a febri-
bus corripiuntur, et vehementer attenuantur,
absque   manifesta  occasione,  difficulter et
periculose  pariunt, aut  abortientes  pericli-
tantur.

  56. Si fluxui muliebri convulsio et animi
deiiquium superveniat, malum.
  57. Mensibus copiosioribus prodeuntibus,
morbi contingunt: non prodeuntibus, ab ute-
ro fiunt morbi.

  58. Recto intestino  inflammato, et utero 
      APHOBISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    115

  51  During  gestation,  the mouth  of the
womb is closed.
  52. If a great flow of milk from the breasts
take place  during gestation, it denotes the
weakness of the  foetus ; but  if the breasts
maintain their firmness, it is indicative of a
healthy child.
  53.  A subsidence of the breasts is follow-
ed  by abortion ; but,  if  they  resume  their
usual firmness and become  painful,  accom-
panied  also with pains  in the hips, eyes and
knees, the result will be favourable.
   54.   When the mouth of the uterus is hard
to the touch, it is necessarily closed.
   55.  Those who, during  pregnancy,  are
 seized  with fever, attended  with great waste
 of  body, and that, too, without any manifest
 cause,  have a difficult and dangerous partu-
 rition,  or an abortion,  followed by alarming
 consequences.
    56.  If,  in menorrhagia,  convulsion  and
 fainting supervene, the case  is alarming.
    57.  A too copious menstrual discharge in-
  duces (general)  disease; a suppression, on
 the other hand, causes a  (local) affection of
 the uterus.
    58.  Inflammation of the rectum and ute- 
116     HIPPOeRATIS APHORISMT.
inflammato, et renibus  suppuratis,   urinae
stillicidium supervenit : hepati autem  inflam-
mato, singultus supervenit.
  59. Mulier,  si  in  ventre  non  concipiat,
velis autem scire an conceptura sit, vestibuy
circumtectam  subter  suffito; et si  quidem
procedere  tibi  videatur  odor per corpus ad
nares et ad os, scito hanc, non propter se ip-
sum, infoecundam esse.


  60. Si mulieri in utero gerenti purgationes
prodeant, foetum sanum esse impossibile.

  61. Si mulieri purgationes non prodeant,
neque horrore, neque febre superveniente,
cibi  autem fastidia  ipsi accidant; hanc  in
utero gerere putato.

  62. Quae frigidos  ac densos uteros ha-
bent, non concipiunt; et quae  praehumidos
habent uteros, non concipiunt; extinguitur
enim ipsis  genitura:  et quae siccos magis et
adurentes : alimenti enim inopia semen eor-
rumpitur.  Quae vero ex utrisque tempera-
mentum habent moderatum,  haa ipsae pro-
liferoe fiunt. 
        APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   117

  rus, and suppuration of the kidneys, are suc-
  ceeded by strangury ;  but  inflammation  of
  the ii\vr i- followed by  hiccough.
     59. In  order to ascertain whether a wo-
  man, who  has not conceived, be capable  of
  conception, let  her be  completely enveloped
  in her garment, and fumigated from beneath ;
  if the odour, pervading  the body, be percep-
  tible at  the nose  and  mouth, it is an evi-
  dence that her non-conception proceeds from
  no impotence on her part.*
     60. If  the menstrual discharge occur du-
  ring pregnancy,  it is  a sure  indication  of
  an unhealthy foetus.
     61. If there  happen  a suppression of the
  menses, unaccompanied with horrors and fe-
_ ver,  but attended w*ith loathing  of  food, we
  may conclude   that  conception has taken
  place.
    62. Conception does  not take place where
  the uterus is cold,  dense  or humid,—for
  here, the  generative fire is extinguished; —
  neither dots it  take  place where the  uterus
  has too much  of heat or  siccity,—for here,
  the seed  is destroyed for  want  of  due ali-
  ment :  those  only  who are  removed from
        * Vide note accompanying Aphor. 41. p. m. 
118    HIPPOCRATIS  APHORISM!.
  63.  Similiter autem  etiam in  masculis.
Aut enim propter corporis raritatem spiritus
extra fertur adeo et semen non emittat : aut
propter densitatem  humidum non  pervadit
foras ;  aut propter frigiditatem non incalescit,
ut ad hunc locum congregetur:  aut propter
caliditatem hoc idem contingit.
  64.  Lac  dare  capite dolentibus, malum.
J.Ialum vero  etiam febricitantibus, et  qui-
bus  hypochondria  elevata sunt, murmuran-
tia, et siticulosis.  Malum autem et quibus
dejectiones  biliosae, et iis qui in  acutis sunt
febribus : et quibus  copiosi  sanguinis facta
est egestio.   Convenit vero tabidis non ad-
modum  valde febricitantibus  (lac) dare, et
in febribus  Iongis et  languidis, nullo ex su-
pradictis signis praesente; et praeter rationem
quidem extenuatis. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    119

cither extreme,  and who are possessed of a
moderate temperament, are prolific.
  63. The  same  circumstances equally ob-
tain with males ;—sometimes,  from the per-
meability of  the body,  the  subtile spirit
escapes outward, in so much,  that no emis*
sion  of semen  takes  place (in  coitu); or
from  the  impervious  nature   (of the  ex-
creting  organ) the fluid  cannot escape  ex-
ternally : impotence may also  arise from a
frigidity of  the  parts,  whereby they cannot
be  excited  to  emission  (during coition);
excessive heat  may also produce the same
effect.
  64.  Milk is  injurious  to  those who  are
afflicted with  headach, fever, and distention
of the  hypochondrium, attended  with bor-
borygmus,—also, where  great thirst exists ;
it is,  furthermore,  injurious in bilious  de*
jections and acute fevers,  and  where much
blood is voided in egestion : it is, however,
beneficial in phthisis, when little fever is pre*
sent,—also,  in  slow protracted  fevers,  at*
tended  with  great  emaciation ; in the ad*
ministration of  it, we are, therefore, to ob-
serve, that none of  the foregoing symptoms
be present. 
120     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

   65.  Quibus tumores in ulccribus apparent,
ii non  valde  convelluntur, neque insaniunt.
His autem derepente  disparentibus, quibus
in postica quidem parte fuerint, convulsiones
fiunt  et  tetani: quibus  vero in antica,  in-
saniae, aut luteris dolores acuti,  aut suppu-
ratio, aut dysenteria, si rubicundi fuerint tu-
mores.

   66.  Si magnis et pravis existentibus vul-
neribus,  tumores non  appareant, ingens ma-
lum.
   67.  Laxi   tumores,  boni;  crudi  vero,
mali.

   68.  Postica capitis  parte dolenti,  recta in
fronte vena secta juvat.
   69.  Rigores incipiunt, mulieribus quidem,
ex lumbis magis,  et per dorsum ad caput;
viris autem  postica magis parte, quam  an-
tica corporis, velut ex cubitis ac femoribus,
Sed et  cutis viris rara  est.  Hoc  quidem
pilus indicat.
70. A quartanis correpti, a convulsione 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   121

   65. Tumefaction supervening in  wounds,
 prevents both spasm  and delirium; but  in
 wounds of the back, if the tumefaction sud-
 denly disappear,  tetanus  and  convulsions
 follow:  wounds  received on  the  fore-part
 of the booy aie  attended with delirium,  or
 acute pains of the side ; also with suppura-
 tion, or  dysentery,—and this more especially
 if the tumefaction be very red.
   66.  If  in large  and  bad  conditioned
 wounds, tumefaction does not take place, th£
 danger is considerable.
   67. Tumours  which  have a soft feel arc
 beneficial ; those which are hard and callous
 are unfavourable.
   68. Pain in the back part of the  head,  is
 relieved by opening the frontal vein.
   69. Rigors commence differently with men
 and women ;—with the latter,  they bq-gin  at
 the loins, and extend along the v ertebrae to the
 head ; with the former, they originate rather
 at the posterior than the anterior part of the
 body,—for instance, at the back of the  fore-
 arm and thigh.  The cutis of men is thinnest,
 as is evident from the hairs inserted in it.*
   70. Quartans  are  never  attended  with
  • We cannot  perceive  what connection the latter part of this
- Aphorism has with the former.
                     11 
122    HIPPOCRATIS  APHORISMI.

non  admodum corripiuntur;  si vero prius
corripiuntur,et postea quartana supervenent,
liberantur.
  71.  Quibus cutis obtenditur arida ac dura,
ii sine  sudore  moriuntur; quibus  vero  laxa
ac rara, ii cum sudore moriuntur,


   72.  Icterici non admodum  flatulenti sunt.
K* 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   123

convulsions;  on  the contrary,  the latter
disappear, on the coming on of the former.
  71.  When the cuticle appears  tense,  dry
and hard,—death occurs without perspira-
tion taking place ;  but when, on the contrary,
it is lax and thin, dissolution is  accompanied
with sweat.
  72.  The icterical are never flatulent, 
124     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.
SECTIO VI.
  1.  Diuturnus   intestinorum   laevitatibus
ructus- acidus superveniens, qui  prius  non
fuit, signum bonum.
  2.  Quibus nares natura humidiores, et
genitura humidior, imperfectius  sani  sunt:
quibus vero contraria, perfectius.

  3. In Iongis dysenteriis appetitus  prostra-
tus, malum:  et cum febre pejus.


  4. Ulcera circum-glabra, maligna.

  5. Dolores et in lateribus et in pectoribus,
et in caeteris  (partibus), si multum differant,
considerandum. 
APHORISMS OF  HIPPOCRATES.    125
SECTION VI.
   1.  Acid eructations supervening,  for the
first time, in long protracted lientery, is a fa-
vourable symptom.*
   2.  A preternatural humidity  of the nos-
trils and of the seminal liquor, is indicative
of imperfect health; but when  the contrary
is the case, the indication is favourable.
   3.  A total loss of appetite,  in long conti-
nued dysentery,  is  unfavourable; but  the
danger  is great, when it is accompanied by
fever.
   4.  Ulcers which  have a smooth circumfe-
rence, are of a malignant nature.
   5.  Pains of the side, breast, and of other
parts, often varying, demand attentive obser-
vation.

  * " For it denotes, (observes Van Swieten, in his commentary up-
on this Aphorism), that the contractile force of the stomach and in-
testines is in some measure returned, whereby the ingested'aliments
may he retained, at least, so long in the stomach as to degenerate into
a spontaneous corruption.''
                      11* 
126     HIPP0CRAT1S APHORISMI.

   6.  Renum et vesicae dolores difficulter sa
rantur in senibus.
   7.  Dolores qui  in ventre fuint,  elati qui
dem, leviores : non elati vero vehementiores.


   8.  Hydropicis ulcera in corpore  orta non
facile sanantur.
   9.  Efflorescentiae latae non admodum pru-
riginosae.
   10. Caput laboranti, et circum circa do-
lenti, pus, aut aqua, aut sanguis effluens per
nares, aut per os, aut per  aures,  solvit  mor-
bum.
   11. Melancholicis, et nephriticis, haemor-
dioides supervenientes, bonum.
   12. Ab haemorrhoidibus sanato diuturnis,
nisi una servata fuerit,  periculum est ne hy-
drops superveniat, aut tabes.
   13. A singultu  detento, sternutationes su-
pervenientes, sol vunt singultum.
   14. Ab  hydrope  detento  si aqua secun-
dum  venas in alvum fluxerit, solutio fit.

   15. A  diuturno  alvi  profluvio  detent^
sponte superveniens vomitus,  alvi profluvi*
um solvit. 
     . APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    127

  6. Pains  of the kidneys and bladder, in
old men, are of difficult cure.
  7. When distention  accompanies pain of
the belly, the  latter is, by no means, severe ;
but if there be no distention present, the pain
is greater.
  8. In dropsical patients, ulcers are of dif-
ficult cure.
  9. Large exanthematae are never prurigi-
nous.
  10.  Pains of the head and  neighbouring
parts are relieved by an efflux of pus, or wa-
ter,  or blood, from the nostrils, mouth, or
ears.
   11. In  melancholia  and  nephritis, the
coming on of the haemorrhoides is beneficial.
   12.  In long continued haemorrhoids, a to-
tal cure  is frequently followed by dropsy or
phthisis.
  13.  Sternutation removes hiccough.

   14. In dropsy, if the water pass off into the
mtestines, by  means of the veins, the disease
ceases.
   15.  Long continued diarrhoea  is arrested
by  spontaneous vomiting. 
128     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  16.  A pleuritide.auta peripneumonia de-
tento, alvi profluvium superveniens, malum.
  17.  Ophthalmia laborantem alvi profluvio
corrissi, bonum.
  18.Cui persectaest vesica, aut cerebrum,
aut cor, aut  septum transversum, aut ali-
quod ex intestinis tenuibus, aut ventriculus,
aut hepar, lethale.
  19.  Ubi dissectum fuerit os, aut cartilago^
autnervus, aut genee pars tenuis, aut praepu-
tium, neque augetur, neque coalescit.


  20.  Si in ventrem  sanguis effusus fuerit
praeter naturam, necesse est suppuran.

  21.  Insanientibus si  varices, aut haemor-
rhoides supervenerint, insaniae solutio fit.
   22.  Qu « ruptiones  ex  dorso ad cubitos
descendunt, venae sectio solvit.*

   23. Si metus et tristitia multo tempore per-
 severant, melancholicum hoc ipsum.
  * In the text used by Villebrune we have i aXynfteir*, fej dolores,*
 which we have given in the translation. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   129

   16.  Diarrhoea supervening in pleurisy,  or
peripneumonia, is unfavourable.
   17.  Diarrhoea supervening in  ophthalmia,
is beneficial.
   18.  A  lesion of the bladder, brain, heart,
diaphragm, stomach, liver, or  any of the
small intestines, proves fatal.

   19.  When  an entire section takes place of
a bone, cartilage, or  nerve; or  of the  pre-
puce, or thin portion of the cheek, no after-
growth or  adhesion of the parts can  take
place.
   20.  If an effusion of blood take place with-
in the abdomen, suppuration necessarily fol-
lows.
   21. When varices or haemorrhoids super-
vene in mania, the disorder ceases.
   22.  Sudden  pains,  extending from the
back to the fore-arm, are relieved by venesec*
tion.
   23.  Fear, attended with an  obstinate de*
pression of spirits, indicates a  disposition  to
melancholia. 
130     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  24.  Si ex intestinis tenuibus  aliquod dis-
sectum fuerit, non coalescit.
  25.  Erysipelas foris  quidem  intro  verti,
non bonum, hit is vero forus, bonum.

  26.  Quibus in febre ardente tremores fiunt,
delirium solvit.
  27.  Qui suppurati aut hydropici uruntur,
aut secantur, hi, pure, aut aqua acervatim ef-
fluente, omniuo moriuntur.
  28.  Eunuehi non laborant podagia, neque
calvi fiunt.
  29.  M.liernon laborat podagia, nisi men-
ses ipsi defecerint.
  30.  Puer non laborat podagra ante veneris
usum.
  31.  Oculorum  dolores  meri  potus,  aut
balneum, aut fomentum, aut venae sectio, aut
purgatio solvit.
  32.  Balbi ab alvi  profluvio maxime cor-
ripiuntur longo.
  33. Acidum ructantes non admodum pleu-
ritici fiunt.
  34.  Qui calvi sunt, his varices magni non
fiunt.   Quibus ver , dum  sunt  calvi, super-
Veniunt varices, hi rursus capinati fiunt. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   131

  24. A lesion of the small intestines is ne-
ver followed by a re-union of parts.
  25. Erysipelas, when  it recedes inward-
ly, is injurious ; but its re-appearance exter-
nally is beneficial.
  26. Tremors supervening in ardent fevers,
go off on the coming on of delirium.
  27. In dropsy or empyema, the evacuation
by cautery or incision, of a great quantity of
water or pus, is always followed by death.
  28. Eunuchs never  suffer  from podagri-
cal affections,  or become bald.
  29. Women are  exempt  from podagrical
affections, until the  cessation of the menses.
  30. Gout does not appear  in adolescence,
previous to venery.
  31. Pains of the eyes are relieved by pure
wine, bathing, fomentation,  venesection and x
purging.
  32. Stammerers are much subject to  chro-
nic diarrhoea.
  33. Those who have  acid eructations are
never subject to pleuritic affections.
  34. Those  who are bald are  not affected
with severe varices :  but if the latter become
considerable, the hair again makes its appear-
ance. 
132     HIPPOGRATIS APHORISM!.

  35.  Hydropicis tussis  superveniens,  ma-
lum.
  36.  Urinae  difficultatem  venae sectio sol-
vit :  secandce vero internee.*

  37.  Ab angina detento, tumorem fieri in
cDllo, bonum : foras enim vertitur.

  38.  Quibus  occulti cancri fiunt, eos non
curare melius est.  Curati enim citd pareunt
Non curati vero longius tempus perdurant


  39.  Convulsio fit, aut a. repletione,  aut ab
cvaeuatione.   Sic quidem etiam singultus.

  40.  Quibus  ad  hypochondrium  dolores
fiunt, absque inflammatione, his febris super-
veniens solvit dolorem.
  41.  Quibus suppuratum quid in corpore
existens nullum sui  signum prodit, his prop.

  • i. e.Secare autem oportet  intenas veoas, raj ire*.  Sic Villebrune.,
Fashis, ct Heurniu?. 
       APHORISMS  OF HIPPOCRATES.   133

   35. Cough supervening in dropsy is unfa-
vourable.
   36. Dysury is relieved by blood-letting—
but  it is the artery which ought to be open-
ed.*
   37. A tumour arising on the neck in angi-
na is favourable, as it denotes a derivation of
the disease externally.
   38. Occult cancers should not be molest-
ed ;   in  attempting to discuss them, they
quickly become fatal: when unmolested, they
remain in a scirrhous state for a  length  of
time.
   39. Convulsion may arise from repletion
or evacuation ; hiccough may proceed  from
the same causes.
   40. Pains in the hypochondrium, unattend-
ed with inflammation, are relieved by fever.

   41. When  an  abscess exists in  any part
of the body, without any signs of  suppura-
tion  being  present,  the  latter  circumstance

  • Hippocrates must, here, allude to the operation of arteriotomy,
as frequently practiced by the aneients, who were not aware of the
dangerous consequences, for the most part, resulting from it.  Ar-
icriotomyisnow scarcely ever performed in any other, but the tem-
poral artery.
                    12 
134     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.
ter crassitudinem puris, aut loci, signum non
exhibet.

  42. In ictericis hepar durum fieri, malum.

  43. Qui lienosi a  dysenteria corripiuntur,
his longa  superveniente dysenteria, hydrops
supervenit, aut intestinorum laevitas, et pe-
reunt.
  44. Quibus ex  urinae  stillicidio volvulus
supervenit,  in septem  diebus  pereunt,  nisi
febre superveniente urina abunde fluxerit.
  45. Ulcera quaecumque  annua fiunt, aut
longius tempus occupant, necesse est os abs-
cedere, et cicatrices cavas fieri.

   46.  Qui gibbi ex asthmate, aut tussi fiunt,
ante pubertatem, pereunt.

   47. Quibus venae sectio, aut purgatio con-
 ducit, his vere convenit venam secare, aut
 purgationem facere. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    135

may arise  from the inspissated state of the
pus, or the thickness of the superincumbent
part.
  42.  The induration of the liver,  in jaun-
dice, is unfavourable.
  43.  Long continued  dysentery,  superve-
ning  in affections  of the spleen,  induces
either  dropsy  or  lientery, and consequent
death.
  44. When volvulus arises from strangury,
the patient dies in  seven days, unless  fever
and a copious flow of urine supervene.*
  45. When ulcers have continued one year,
or longer,  it  becomes necessary to denude
the bone lying beneath,—thus forming, as it
were, a depressed cicatrix.
  46. Those  who,  before  puberty, become
gibbous from  cough or asthma, generally pe-
rish.
  47. Those  with  whom venesection  or
purgatives  agree,  should have recourse to
them in the spring.

  * " An iliac passion, and that of a  fatal tendency, has followed,
upon symptoms which have indicated the disease in the bladder or
kidneys.  Galen seems to have a doubt about this; but I have once
met with it, though  it must be confessed that the case is very rare
and uncommon."  Van Swietcn, Com. abridged, p. 344. 
136     HIPP0CRAT1S APHORISMI.

  48. Lienosis dysenteria superveniens, bo-
num.
  49. Qui podagrici  morbi  fiunt,  hi sedatu
inflammatione,  in  quadraginta diebus dece-
dunt.
  50. Quibus  percipum fuerit cerebrum,
his  necesse est febrem, et bilis vomitum su-
pcrvenire.
  51. Quibus  sanis dolores  derepente  fiunt
in capite,  et statim muti fiunt, ac stertunt, in
septem diebus pereunt, nisi febris apprehen-
derit.
  52. Considerare vero etiam oportet oculo-
rum subtus apparentia in somnis.  Si enim al-
bi quid,  palpebris commissis, subtus appa-
reat, idque non ex alvi profluvio sit, aut ex
potione purgante, pravum  signum, et valde
lethale.


  53.  Deliria, cum risu quidem accidentia,
securiora  : cum studio vero,  periculosiora.

   54.  In acutis affectionibus quae cum febre
sunt, luctuosae respirationes malae.
   55.  Podagrici morbi, vere  et autumno mo-
ventur ut plurimum. 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   137

   48.  Dysentery supervening in affections of
the spleen, is beneficial.
   49.  Those  attacked with  the  gout,  are
entirely freed of it in forty days after the sub-
sidence of the inflammation.
   50.  A lesion of the brain is necessarily
followed by fever and bilious vomiting.

   51.  If sudden pains  of the head come on
during perfect health, attended  with imme-
diate aphonia  and stertor, the patient dies in
seven days, unless fever supervene.
   52.  It is particularly necessary, in disease,
to observe the appearance of the eyes during
sleep;  if the  eyelids be imperfectly closed,
so that some of the white is observable (the
patient not being, then, under the operation
of purgatives, or existing diarrhoea) the symp-
tom is  very  unfavourable, and  frequently
.fatal.
   53.  Delirium, accompanied with laughter,
is less dangerous, than that accompanied with
a severe expression of countenance.
   54.  In acute diseases,  attended with fe-
Ver, painful respiration is unfavourable.
   55.  Podagrical affections come on, for the
most part, in spring and autumn.
                    12* 
138    HIPI'OCRATIS  APHORISMI.

  56. Morbis melancholicis ad haec periculo-
si sunt humorum decubitus, aut corporis sid
erationem, aut convulsionem,  aut insaniam,
aut caecitatem significant.
  57.  Apoplectici   autem  fiunt  maxime,
aetate ab anno quadragesimo usque ad sexa-
gesimum.
  58.  Si omentum  exciderit,  necesse  est
putrefied.
  59. Quibus a. diuturno coxendicis morbo
vexatis coxa excidit, et rursus  incidit,  his
mucus innascitur.

  60. Quibus a diuturno coxendicis morbo
vexatis  coxa excidit,  his crus  tabescit,  et
claudicant, nisi usti fuerint, 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   139

  56. In melancholick* affections, the trans-
lation  of the humours to various parts, has
a tendency to produce the following diseases:
apoplexy,  mania, convulsion, and blindness.
  57.  Apoplexy is most  prevalent from the
fortieth to the sixtieth year.

  58.  In omental hernia, the part protruded,
necessarily mortifies.
  59.  In long continued sciatica, where the
motion of the joint of the thigh  has been in-
terrupted,  if the mucus be  again secreted,
the articulation is restored.
  60.  In long continued sciatica, where the
head of the  femur has  been displaced, the
parts below  become emaciated, and lameness
ensues, unless the actual cautery be used.
  ■* The  word  melancholick is used here, as referring to a cause, and
as its etymological sense imports, is synonymous with atrabilious. 
140     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.
SECTIO VII.
  1. In morbis acutis, [extremarum partium
frigus, malum.
  2. Ex osse aegrotante caro livida, malum.

  3. A vomitu  singultus,  et occuli  rubri,
malum.
  4. A sudore horror, non bonum.

  5. Ab insania dysenteria, aut hydrops, aut
extasis, bonum.*
  6. In  morbo diuturno, appetitus  prostra-
tus, et meracae dejectiones, malum.

  7. A multo potu rigor, et delirium, ma-
lum.
  8. A tumoris intus ruptione,  exsolutio,
vomitus, et animi deiiquium  fit.

     • Ratio hujus patet in Aph. 56. Sect. vi.  Villebrune 
ATHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   141
SECTION VII.
  1. In acute diseases,  coldness of the ex-
tremities is unfavourable.
  2. Lividity of the  flesh,  arising from an
unhealthy bone, is unfavourable.
  3. Hiccough, and redness of eyes, arising
from vomiting, are unfavourable.
  4. A sensation of horror, succeeding per-
spiration,  is unfavourable.
  5.  Dysentery,  dropsy, or exstasis,  fol-
lowing insania, are beneficial.*
  6. Long illness, attended with a prostration
of appetite and unassimilated dejections, is
dangerous.
  7. Rigors and deliriums, proceeding from
excess of drink, are dangerous.
  8. The rupture of an internal tumour is
followed by lassitude, vomiting, and deiiquium
anmi.
* See Aph. 56, Sec. VL 
142    HIPPOCRATIS  APHORISMI.

  9.  A  sanguis  fluxu  delirium, aut etiam
convulsio, malum.
  10. Ab ileo vomitus, aut singultus,  aut
convulsio, aut delirium, malum.

  11. A pleuritide peripneumonia, malum.

  12. A peripneumonia phrenitis, malum.

  13. Ab ardoribus vehementibus convul-
sio, aut tetanus, malum.
  14. A plaga in caput, stupor aut delirium,
malum.

  15.  A  sanguinis  sputo,  puris sputum,
malum.
  16. A puris sputo,  tabes, et fluxus, ma-
lum.  Postquam vero sputum retinetur, mo-
riuntur.

  17. Ab hepatis inflammatione singultus,
malum.
  18. A vigilia convulsio, aut delirium, ma-
 um.
  19. Ab ossis dedunatione erysipelas (ma-
 um.) 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   143

  9. When delirium, or convulsions, pro-
ceed from haemorrhage, it is dangerous.
  10. Vomiting,  singultus,  convulsion,  or
delirium,  arising from iliac passion, is dan-
gerous.
  11. Peripneumonia, arising from pleurisy,
—dangerous.
  12. Phrenitis, arising from peripneumonia,
—dangerous.
  13. Convulsion,  or tetanus,  proceeding
from excessive heat,—dangerous.
  14. When a blow on the head causes stu-
por or delirium, the symptoms  are unfavour-
able.
  15.  A spitting of  blood, followed  by a
purulent expectoration, is unfavourable.
  16. Tabes and colliquative diarrhoea, aris-
ing from purulent expectoration, are  unfa-
vourable ;  if  the expectoration {suddenly)
stops, the patient dies.
  17- Singultus, proceeding from hepatitis,
—dangerous.
  18. Convulsion, or delirium, arising from
vigilancy, is dangerous.
  19. Erysipelas, caused by a denudation of
bone,—dangerous. 
 144     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

   20. Ab erysipelate putredo, aut suppuratio
 (malum.)
   21. A forti  pulsu  in  ulceribus, sanguinis
 eruptio.
   22. A dolore diuturno partium circa ven-
 trem, suppuratio (malum.)
   23. A meraca dejectione dysenteria.

   24.  Ab osse perscisso delirium,  si in va-
 cuum penetravit.
   25.  A purgantis  potione,  convulsio,  le-
 thale.
   26. A dolore vehementi partium circa ven-
 trem, extremarum frigus, malum.

   27. Mulieri in utero gerenti, tenesmus su-
 perveniens, abortire facit.
   28.   Quodcumque os, aut cartilago,  aut
 nervus  in  corpore  dissectus  fuerit, neque
 augetur, neque coalescit.
   29.  Si a leucophlegmatia  detento vehe-
mens diarrhoea  superveniat, morbum solvit.
   30. Quibus  spumosae  egestiones  in alvi
 profluviis, his de capite pituita defluit.
31. Quibus febricitantibus, in urinis subsi- 
missing pages 145-146 
 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.  147

   20. Sphacelus, or suppuration, arising from
erysipelas,—dangerous.
   21.  In ulcers, a  strong  pulsation of the
part, foreshows haemorrhage.*
   22. Suppuration surpervening in long con
tinued pain of the abdomen, is unfavourable.
   23. A dejection of unconcocted  matter is
followed by dysentery.
   24. Wounds, which extend into the hol-
low of the bone, are followed by delirium.
   25. Convulsion arising from purgatives,
proves fatal.
   26. Coldness of the extremities,  proceed-
ing from severe pains about the abdomen, is
dangerous.
   27. Tenesmus, during pregnancy, produces
abortion.
   28. The lesion of  a bone,  cartilage or
nerve,  is never followed  by a growth, or re
union of parts.
   29. If a severe diarrhoea supervene  in leu-
cophlegmasia, the latter affection ceases.
   30. Diarrhoea, attended with an evacuation
of spumous matter, foreshows a defluxion of
the head.
   3 1. In fevers, a subsidence in the urine of
           * .    from existing aneurism.
                    13 
 148     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

 dentiae  fiunt crassiori farinae similes, longam
 infirmitatem significant.
   32.   Quibus  autem biliosae subsidentiae,
 ab initio vero tenues, acutum morbum signi-
 ficat.
   33.  Quibus autem urinae divulsae fiunt, iis
 vehemens est in corpore turbatio.

   34. Quibus vero in urinis bullae superstant,
 renum affectiones  significant, et longam fore
 invaletudinem.
   35.  Quibus autem pingue est et confertum
 quod supernatat, his affectiones nephriticas,
 et acutas significat.
   36. Quibus vero, nephriticis existentibus,
 praedicta signa accidunt, et dolores circa mus-
 culos spinales fiant, si quidem ad loca exteri-
 ora fuint, abscessum exspecta  futurum ex-
 trorsiim ; si vero  dolores fiunt magis ad in-
 terna loca, etiam abscessum magis introrsum
 fore expecta.
   37. Qui  sanguihem vomunt,  si quidem
 sine febre,  salutare : si vero cum febre, ma-
lum.  Curandum  autem  refrigerantibus, et
 astringentibus. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   149

a thick farinaceous substance, indicates  a
long continuance of the disease.
  32.  A limpid  urine, having a bilious de-
posit, is indicative of an acute affection.

  33.  When the urine has a troubled, cloud-
ed appearance, it  denotes great commotion in
the system.
  34.  The presence of bubbles on the sur-
face of the urine, indicates an affection of the
kidneys, and extended illness.
  35.  But if the supernatant substance be of
a thick, oily consistence, it shows a nephri-
tic, and, also, an  acute affection.
  36.  In  nephritic affections, accompanied
with  the  above  symptoms,  together with
pains  about  the muscles of the  spine—if
the pains  be external, we are to expect the
appearance  of an  external abscess;  but if
they be situated internally, the abscess will
determine itself inwardly.
  37.  Vomiting  of blood, without existing
fever, is not dangerous;  but if fever be pre-
sent, it is injurious : the cure consists in re-
frigerants and astringents. 
150     HIPPOeRATIS APHORISMI.

  38. Distillationes in ventrem  supermini,
in viginti diebus suppurantur.

  39. Si quis sanguinem et grumos mingat,
et stranguriam  habeat, et dolor incidat ad
perinaeum,  et  imum ventrem. et  pectinem,
partes circa vesicam laborare ; i-nificat.
  40. Si lingua  ex improviso impotens fiat,
aut aliqua corporis pars siderata, melancho-
licum hoc ipsum fit.
  41. Si senioribus nimium purgatis, singul-
tus superveniat,  non bonum.
  42. Si febris,  quae non est a bile,  detine-
at, aqua multa  et calida  in caput affusa, fe-
bris solutio fit.
   43. Mulier ambidextra non fit.
   44. Qui suppurati uruntur, aut secantur,
 ■ii quidem purum eftluat  pus et album, eva-
 dunt : si  vero subcruentum, et ccenosum, ac
 graveolens, pereunt.

   45. Qui ad hepar suppuratum uruntur, aut
 secantur, si quidem purum effluat pus  et al-
 bum,  superstites evadunt:  ipsis enim pus 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.  151

  38.  An extravasation  in the cavity of the
thorax, is  followed within twenty days  by
suppuration.
  39.  See Aphor. 80. Sect. iv.
  40.  A sudden paralysis of the organs of
speech, or of any part of the body, is fre-
quently the effect of a melancholick affection.*
  41.  Singultus arising in old men from hy-
percatharsis, is an unfavourable symptom.
  42.  Fevers, not  proceeding from bile, are
cured by an affusion of warm water on the
Jiead.
  43.  Women are  never ambidextrous.
  44.  In opening an abscess, either by inci-
sion or actual  cautery, if the matter issue
pure and white, the patient recovers ; but if
it be of a bloody, foetid and offensive nature,
the disease proves fatal.
  45.  In  opening  an  abscess of the  liver
either  by incision  or  actual  cautery, if the
matter issue pure and white, the patient reco-
vers : for we are to recollect  that the  pus is
enclosed in a sac ; but, if the matter which
              * Sec Aphor. j6. Sfest. \'-.
                   13* 
«52     HIPP0CRAT1S APHORISMI.

est  in tunica : si vero effluat  velut amurca,
pereunt.
  46. In doloribus oculorum,  postquam me.
rum bibendum dederis,  et multa calida la-
veris, venam secto.
  47. Hydropicum si tussis habeat,  despc-
ratus est.
  48. Urinae stillicidium, et urinae difficul-
tatem vini potus, et  venae sectio solvit;  se-
candae vero internae  (venae.)
  49. Ab  angina detento tumor et rubor in
pectore superveniens, bonum:  foras enim
vertitur morbus.
  50. Quibus cerebrum sphacelo fuerit af-
fectum, in  tribus diebus pereunt;  si  vero
hos cffugerint, sani fuint.
  51.  Sternutatio fit ex capite,  percalefacto
cerebro, aut  perhumectato, quod est in ca-
pite, vacuo.   Aer enim  qui intus est supra
modum  foras effunditur.     Strepit  autem;
quia per augustum ipsi est transitus. 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    X53

flows out, resemble inspissated oil, the patient
dies.
  46. In pains of the eyes, after having pre-
scribed the use of good wine, and of frequent
warm collyria, we are to bleed.
  47. When cough  takes  place  in dropsy
the case is desperate.
  48. Dysury and strangury are relieved by
wine and venesection;  but we are  to open an
internal vein.
   49.  In angina, the appearance of redness
and tumour on the breast is favourable ; they
denote an external derivation of the disease.
   50. Sphacelation of the  brain proves fatal
within three  days;—if the patient  escape this
period, the disorder ceases.
   51. Sternutation proceeds either from ca-
lefaction or  humidity of the brain; for the
superflu us  air within the cavity of the head
is thereby effused; and the noise  it  makes
in issuing, arises from the  narrowness of the
passage.*
  » While we smile, here, we should recollect that there are many
physiological hypotheses which arc equally rational  with this fanci-
ful supposition of the Coan Sage. This Aphorism is conformable
to the peculiar doctrine of the ancients, who made the head a mere re-
urvoir, as it were,  of all the humours, distributed to various part, of
the body. 
154    "HIPPOCRATXS ArilORlSMI.
  52. Quibus hepar circumcirca dolet, his
febris superveniens, dolorem solvit.
  53. Quibus sanguinem de  venis auferrc
•Conducit, his vere venam secare oportet.
  54. Quibus inter septum transversum et
ventrem pituita excluditur, et dolorem exhi-
bet, in  neutrum ventrem  habens transitum,
ilis per  venas in vesicam pituita versa, mor-
•bisolutio fit.

  55. Quibus hepar aqua repletum ad omen-
tum emperit,  his venter aqua  impletur, et
moriuntur.
  56. Anxietatem, oscitationem, horrorem,
vinum par pari aqua potum solvit.

   57.  Quibus in urinaria fistula tuberculum
fit, his suppurato eo et perrupto, soivitur dolor.
   58. Quibus cerebrum eoncussum fuerit
ab  aliqua causa, necesse est eos statim mutos
fieri.
   59. Corporibus  humidas carnes haberiti-
 bus, famem inducere oportet:  fames enim
 siccat corpora. 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    155

   52. Pain, about the region of  the liver,
ceases on the supervening of fever.
   53. When bleeding is beneficial, it should
be performed in the spring.
   54. When a  serous  collection,  attended
with pain, takes place between the diaphragm
and abdomen,  without its having an  issue in
either cavity,—if the  fluid be drawn out  of-
the body by means of the veins, the disorder
ceases.
   55. In dropsy of the liver, if  the water
discharge itself through  the  omentum, into
the abdomen, the disease proves fatal.
   56. Anxiety,  oscitation  and horrors, are
relieved  by potations of wine and  water,  in
equal quantities.
   57. See Aphor. 82. Sect. iv.

   58. A concussion of the brain, from what-
soever cause,  is  followed by an immediate
deprivation of speech.
   59. When too much moisture abounds in
the body,  we ought to have recourse to ab-
stinence, which has a tendency to dry up the
humours.*
  • Abstinence (by which we understand a spare diet,) was employ-
ed as one of the most potent means in the curative system of the an- 
156     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  60. Ubi in toto  corpore  mutationes,  et
corpus  perfrigeratur, et rursus calefit, aut
color alius ex alio  permutatur, longitudinem
morbi significat.
  61. Sudor multus, calidus, aut  frigidus,
semper fluens, humidi redundantiam adessc
significat.  Educere igitur oportet,  robusto
quidem, superne:  debiii vero, inferne.


  62. Febres non  intermittens, si per terti-
nm diem  vehementiores fiant,  periculosae.
Quocumque autem modo intermittant, signi-
ficat periculi esse expertes.
  63. Quibus febres longae sunt, his aut tu-
bercula, aut ad articulos dolores fiunt.
  64. Quibus tubercula diutina, aut ad arti-
culos dolores ex febribus fiunt, hi cibis utun-
tur copiosioribus.
  65. Si quis febricitante cibum det, conva-
lescenti quidem, robur ; aegrotanti vero, mor-
bus fit. 
    APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   157

60. See Aphor. 40. Sect. iv.
   61. Excessive perspiration, cold or  hot;
continually going on, is indicative of a redun-
dant  moisture within :  we ought, therefore,
to evacuate it from the system, either by vo-
miting,  if the patient be strong, or by purga-
tion, if he be weak.
   62. See Aphor. 43. Sect. iv.
   63.  See Aphor. 44. Sect. iv.

   64.  See Aphor.  45. Sect. iv.



   65.  That nourishment which is beneficial
 in the convalescent stage of fever, would be
 highly  injurious  during the  prevalence  of
 the disease.

 dents.  In modern practice, Sydenham rigidly prescribed it in Sync*
 cha, and with the greatest success. Dr. Cheyne ascribes most of the
 diseases of his day to the non-observance of it; and Dr. E. Miller, Of
 New-York, in his Original Observations, observes " that the ap.
 proach of a  febrile attack is often prevented by a timely recourse to
abstinence." 
158     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.
  66.  Per  vesicam  prodeuntia  inspicere
oportet, an sint qualia sanis prodeunt.  Quae
igitur minime his similia, e6 morbosiora; sa-
nis vero similia, minime morbosa.


  67. Et quibus egestiones, si stare permis-
eris, et non moveris, subsident veluti ramen-
ta;  et si pauca fuerint, parvus fit  morbus :
si vero multa, magnus; his confert alvum in-
ferne purgari.  Si autem non purgata alvo
sorbitiones dederis, quanto plures dederis, eo
magis laedes.


  68. Quae cruda deorsum secedunt, ab atra
sunt bile: si  plUra, major;  si pauciora, mi-
nor est morbus.

  69. Exscreationes, in  febribus non inter-
mittentibus, lividae, et cruentae,  et biliosae,
et graveolentes, omnes malae sunt.  At rite
secedentes,  bonae.   Sic etiam per alvum, 
        APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   159

   66.  We should attend to the  urinary dis-
 charge, in order to ascertain, whether it  be
 conformable  to what takes place in health:
 in proportion as it departs from the health*
 state, is the severity of the disease, and vice
 versa.
   67.  If, on suffering the urine to remain,
 without disturbing it, we observe a deposit
 resembling saw-dust, the greater or less quan-
 tity of this deposit is indicative of the  seve-
 rity  or mildness  of the disease; in either
 case, it is necessary to have recourse to pur-
 gatives ; in proportion as we neglect these, for
 a nutritive regimen, will be the augmentation
 of the disease.
   68.  Crude  dejections proceed  from  an
 atrabilious matter in the system,  and in pro-
 portion as a greater or less quantity is pre-
 sent, will be the severity of the disease.
   69. In continued fever, the expectoration
 of a  livid,  bloody,  bilious  or  foetid mat-
 ter, is alike unfavourable  ; but, if the expec-
 toration be good, and in  due season, it is fa-
 vourable : the same may be said of the alvine
and  urinary discharges: furthermore, any
excrementitious matter remaining in the sys-
                    14 
160    HIPPOCRATIS  APHORISMI.

et vesicam, et ubicunque quid secedens res-
titerit non purgatum, malum.
   70.  Corpora  oportet, ubi  quis purgare
vult, facile fluentia reddere.  Et si  quidem
velit efficere facile fluentia sursum,  alvum
sistere : si vero deorsum,  humectare.


   71.  Somnus, vigilia, utraque modum ex-
cedentia, morbus.
   72.  In  non  intermittentibus  febribus, si
externa quidem  sint frigida,  interna  vero
urantur, et sitim habeant, lethale.
   73.  In febre non intermittente, si labium,
aut nasus, aut oculus,  aut supercilium dis-
torqueatur, si non videat, si non audiat, jam
debilis existens ;  quicquid horum fit, lethale.
   74.  Leucophlegmasiae hydrops supervenit.
   75.  Ab alvi  profluvio dysenteria.
   76.  A dysenteria intestinorum laevitas (su-
pervenit).
   77.  A sphacelo abscessus ossis.

   78.  A  sanguinis vomitu tabes, et puris
purgatio sursum. 
      APHORISMS OF  HIPPOCRATES.   161

 tern, and not coming away with the evacua-
 tions, proves injurious.
   70. When the system requires purging, it
 is necessary previously to prepare the body,
 by a laxative regimen.    On the contrary, if
 we intend  to vOmit, the body is to be forti-
fied; but  purging  requires a  preparatory
 emollient course.*
   71. See Aphor. 3. Sect. ii.

   72. See Aphor. 48. Sect.  iv.
73. See Aphor. 49. Sect. iv.
  74. In leucophlegmasia, dropsy supervenes.
  75.  Diarrhoea induces dysentery.
  76.  Dysentery is often  followed by lien-
tery.
  77.  Sphacelus produces  exfoliation of the
bone.
  78.  Vomiting of blood is followed by tabes
and purulent expectoration.

 * This  is conformable to the French practice, and is expressed by
the term rafraichir. 
162     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  79. Qualia etiam in his qua? per vesicam,
et in his  quae  per  alvum fiunt egestionibus,
etin his quae per carnes, et sicubi alia natu-
rae via corpus exeat: si parum, parvus mor-
bus fit:  si  multum,  magnus:  si admodum
multum, hoc ipsum lethale.
             SECTIO VIII.

  1. Qui supra quadraginta annos phreneti-
ci fiunt,  non admodum  sanantur.   Minas-
enim periclitantur, quorum naturae, et astati,
morbus similis fuerit.
  2. Quibus in infirmitatibus occuli ex pro-
posito  lacrymantur, bonum.  Quibus  vero
•/me causa, malum.

  3. Quibus, in febribus quartanis existenti-
bus, sanguis ex naribus fluxerit, malum.

  4. Sudores in diebus criticis  oborientes,
vehementes et veloces, periculosi^ et qui ex-
peUuntur ex fronte, velut guttae, et aquae sa- 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.    163

   79. It is essential to attend to the urinary,
 alvine and cutaneous excretions, in order to
 ascertain whether it be by these or any other
 outlet of nature,  that  the body  gradually
 wastes itself: if the^emaciation be small, so
 is the disease ;  if much,  the  disease is more
 alarming; but if extremely great, the disease
 proves fatal.



             SECTION VIIL

   1. Phrenitis,  occurring after the fortieth
 year, is incurable. The danger is less, in pro-
 portion as the disease accords  with the con-
 stitution and age of the patient.
   2. With those labouring under  disease—
 tears, either as they flow voluntarily or  invo-
 luntarily, give  a favourable or unfavourable
 indication.
   3.  In  those suffering under quartan fever,
—haemorrhage from the nose  is an unfavour-
able symptom.
   4.  Sudden and violent  sweats which break
forth on  critical  days, are  dangerous; as also
those which come  out  on the forehead "in
                    14* 
 164     HIPP0CRAT1S APHORISMI.

 lientes, et frigidi valde, ac multi: necesse
 enim est talem sudorem prodire cum violen-
 tia, et laboris excessu, et expressione diutur-
  A
 na.
   5.  Ex morbo diuturno alvi defluxus, ma-
 lum.
   6.  Quae medicamenta non  sanant, ea fer-
 rum sanat.   Quae ferrum non sanat, ea ig-
 nis sanat.   Quae vero ignis non sanat, ea  in-
 sanabilia existimare oportet.

   7.  Tabes maxime fiunt ab anno octavo de-
cimo, usque ad quintum ettricesimum.

   8. Qua? secundum naturam ad tabem dis-
posita sunt, omnia quidem vehementia; qua?
dam vero etiam lethalia.   Secundum autem.
si  quidem in eo tempore aagrotet, cum tem-
pus ipsum una cum morbo  impugnat, velut
cum febre  ardente asstas, cum hydrope hy-
ems.   Natura enim longe superior est: lieni
vero plus affert timoris. 
         APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   165

  large salient drops ; likewise those which are
  cold and abundant,—for such excretions are
  the effect of long, repeated, and violent,  inter-
  nal action.
     5. Diarrhoea, supervening in long continu-
  ed illness, is dangerous.
     6.  That which medicine does not effect,
  the  knife  frequently  effects;  and what the
  knife does not effect,  actual cautery often ef-
  fects ;—but when all  these fail, the disease is
  incurable.
     7.  The greatest predisposition to phthisis
  exists from the eighteenth to the thirty-fifth
  year.
     8.  Where a predisposition to phthisis ex-
  ists,  the symptoms are greatly  aggravated.
• and generally end fatally ; the danger becomes
  greater when  the disease continues  beyond
  its proper  period.  The season of the year
  has a considerable influence over the disease.
  in the same manner as  summer tends to ag-
  gravate  ardent fever, and winter, the symp-
  toms of dropsy :  natural agents having gener-
  ally most influence.* If the spleen supervene,
  the disease becomes more alarming.
    •' The dogmatic sect, among whom may be numbered the illus-
  trious Cclsus, founded much of their curative sysUm on the amplifica-
  tion of this position. 
  166   HIPPOCRATIS APII0RISMI.

   9. Lingua nigra atque cruenta, si quid ho-
 rum signorum abest, non valde malum : mor-
 bum enim minorem declarat.

   10. Haec igitur in  febribus  acutis notare
 oportet, quando quis moriturus  sit, et quando
 evasurus.

   11. Testis dexter frigidus et  convulsus,
.lethale.

   12. Ungues nigri et digiti manuum et pe-
dum frigidi, contracti, vel remissi, mortem in
propinquo esse ostendunt.
   13. Labia livida,  aut etiam resoluta, et in-
versa, et frigida, lethalia.
   14. Aures frigidae,  pellucida?,  contract^1,  •
females sunt.
   15. Et tenebricosa  vertigine laborans, et
lucem aversans, et somno ac ardore multo de-
fSntus, desperatus.
   16. Et qui in rabiem actus fuerit intrepide,
et non agnoscit, et neque audit,  neque intel-
ligit, jam moribundus est.
a 
      APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.   167

   9.  If the tongue  be neither black nor flo-
rid, the  indications are by no means unfa-
vourable ;  for the absence of these symptoms
shows the mildness of the disease.
   10. The  following  are what  we  should
particularly notice in acute fevers, in order to
infer  either a favourable or unfavourable re-
sult :
   11. Wrhen the right testicle  is  cold  and
spasmodically affected, the disease proves fa-
tal.
   12. Blackness of the nails, coldness, con-
traction, or relaxation of the fingers and toes,
—foreshow the near approach of death,
   13. Lividity, coldness, paralysis, or inver-
 sion of the lips,—fatal.*
   14. The ears, cold, contracted and trans-
parent,—fatal.
   15. The patient falling into vertigo, attend-
ed with an  obscurity of vision, an aversion
to light, and comatose sleep,—fatal.
   16. Delirium, attended with transports of
 rage, in which the patient has neither a sense
of hearing nor  seeing; nor a consciousness
of what takes place about him—are symp-
toms of approaching dissolution.
• ViJe Coacffi Prjenotiones, Cap. v. Aph. 5. 
168     HIPPOCRATIS APHORISMI.

  17. Morituris signa haec magis fiunt  ma^
nifesta, et ventres attoluntur, atque inflantur.

  18. Terminus  vero mortis est, si anima-
calor supra umbilicum ad locum septo trans-
verso superiorem ascenderit, et omne humi-
dum fuerit combustum.  Postquam pulmo
et corhumorem amiserint, calore in mortife-
ris locis coacervato,  caloris  spiritus confer-
tim  exhalat,  unde totum in  toto constitit.
Rursus partim  quidem per  carnes,  partim
vero per spiracula in capite, unde vivere di-
cimus, relinquens anima corporis tabernacu-
lum, et frigidum, et mortate simulacrum, una
cum bile, et sanguine, et pituita,  et carne,
deditione tradit.
FINIS. 
       APHORISMS OF HIPPOCRATES.  169

    17.  To  these  premonitory symptoms  of
 death,  succeed an elevation and  turgescence
 of the  abdomen.
    18.  The closing scene  at length arrives,
 when the  heat of the soul, placed near the
 umbilicus, ascends above the diaphragm, and
 the humours  of the body are entirely dissi-
 pated.    It is  then, that the lungs and pulse
 lose their humidity—that the heat locally con-
 centrates itself previous to its final extinction,
 and that the spirit of heat, of which all things
 consist, leaves its tenement forever.   Lastly,
 the soul, partly by the pores of the skin, part-
 ly by the orifices of the head,  which have
 served  the  various purposes of life, leaves its
 earthly tabernacle and abandons the  cold and
. inanimate image of man—now wholly made %
 up of bile, of blood, of serum, and of flesh.
FINIS. 
   'i





i 
 iv z
 270
HU7aE
 /d/8 
-v- -
«*.- .*r&t*

*  .,-:
• .  sy



i  ">.
^'-4-t*
«
%*4^