Book First

Book First

SECT. I.—ON THE COMPLAINTS OF PREGNANT WOMEN, AND THEIR DIET.

Of the complaints which befal women in a pregnant state, the most troublesome are a redundance of crudities, continued vomiting, salivation, heartburn, and loathing of food; it will therefore be proper to give directions regarding them. The most suitable remedies are, exercise on foot, food not too sweet, wines which are yellow, fragrant, and about five years old, and moderate drink. All these things are proper for the cure of crudities and vomiting. For medicines, you may give the plant of knot-grass, boiled in water, for drink; and likewise dill, and the Pontic-root, called Rha, in the dialect of its native country. These things may be taken at a meal, or before it. Externally, the flowers of the wild vine, those of the wild or domestic pomegranate, the leaves of the alsanders (smyrnium), and the seed of the fennel, may be mixed together according to pleasure, along with dates and old wine, and applied to the præcordium in the form of a cataplasm. Heartburn may be alleviated by drinking warm water, by gentle exercise on foot, and by covering the hypochondrium with soft wool. In the case of those who have an aversion to food, whet their appetite with a variety of articles of a savory nature, and also give dry starch. This last is particularly serviceable to those who long to eat earth, as is the case in the complaint called Pica, which occurs most frequently about the third month after conception; because the fœtus being then weak, cannot consume all the aliment which is brought to the uterus, and hence various superfluities are collected in the stomach; and therefore they have a desire for complicated and improper articles, such as extinguished coals, Cimolian earth, and many more such things. On that account, the affection has got its appellation, either from the variety of colours which the bird Pica possesses, or from its being subject to this complaint. Labour and long journeys will also contribute to restore a desire for wholesome food. But she who has accustomed herself to live in an indolent manner, will not be able, when she proves with child, to bear exercise all at once. To those who loathe food, it may be of service to take acrid substances, and particularly mustard. For swellings of the feet, it may be proper to bind over them the herb anthyllis, soaked in vinegar; or to lay the leaves of a cabbage over them, and to anoint them with Cimolian earth mixed with vinegar, or with alum and vinegar. It is likewise of use to sprinkle the feet with a decoction of the Median apples, called citrons.

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COMMENTARY. We shall commence by giving a short account of ancient opinions on a curious subject not touched upon by our author,—we mean, on the influence of the imagination in pregnant women on the fœtus.

Hippocrates says, that when pregnant women long to eat coals and earth, the likeness of these things appears on the head of the child. (De Superfœt. c. 8.) Galen likewise believed in the influence of the imagination of pregnant women on the fœtus in utero. (Ad Pison.) Soranus also was a firm believer, and gives instances in women and in the inferior animals of the force of imagination at the time of impregnation. (lib. vii.) This belief was very ancient, for it appears to be countenanced by the Jewish historian. (See Genesis, xxx, 37-9.) Traces of this opinion may be found in Hesiod; and distinct allusion to it is made in the ‘Cynegetics’ of Oppian. (i, 327.) The story in the ‘Æthiopics’ of Heliodorus respecting Chariclea, the white daughter of the black king and queen of the Æthiopians, bespeaks the prevalence of the belief at the time when this celebrated romance was written. Andreas Laurentius gives an interesting statement of ancient and modern opinions on this subject. (De Mirab. Strum. Sanit.)

The bird pica is mentioned by name (κίττα) in the ‘Aves’ of Aristophanes. (See also Schol. in Aristoph. in Pac. 496, and Vesp. 348; Aristotle, Hist. An. vii, 4; and Pliny, Hist. Nat. x, 41.) Harduin concludes, from Pliny’s account of it, that it was the magpie. But we are rather inclined to follow Schneider in referring it to the jay, or corvus glandarius.

On the disease, see Galen (Hyg.; de Causis Sympt. i, 7); Aëtius (xvi, 10); Theophanes Nonnus (c. 213); Moschion (de Morb. Mulier. c. 27); Eros (apud Gynæcia), Alexander Aphrodisiensis (Problem. ii, 73); Pseudo-Dioscorides (Euporist. ii, 16); Soranus (viii); Leo (vi, 14); Rhases (Contin. xi); Avicenna (iii, 21, 2); Haly Abbas (Theor. vi, 17); Serapion (Tr. iii, 22); Alsaharavius (Pract. xxv, 2, 8.) It appears to be the malacia of Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxiii, 56, ed. Hard.)

Moschion defines the Pica to be an appetite for unusual food, which happens to pregnant women at some irregular period; being attended with a collection of depraved humours and nausea. It occurs, he says, most commonly in the second month, but sometimes earlier, and sometimes later. He recommends a restricted diet at first, then wine, dry astringent food, cataplasms of a repellent nature, and bodily motion.

Soranus treats of Pica in very similar terms to those of Moschion.

But the account of the disease given by Galen and Aëtius is the fullest. They derive the name either from the bird, as mentioned above, or from ivy (κίττος), because, as ivy entwines itself about various plants, so does this appetite in pregnant women fasten upon a variety of improper articles of food. It is attended with languor of the stomach, nausea, and loathing of food, bringing on vomiting of bile or phlegm, anxiety, and pains in the stomach. All these symptoms arise, they say, from a sanguineous plethora, brought on by a suppression of the menstrual discharge. They, therefore, recommend a restricted diet, and moderate exercise when the woman was accustomed to it. When the humour which infests the stomach is of an acid, acrid, or saltish nature, they direct draughts of tepid water, to encourage vomiting; they forbid all sweet things; and recommend an old sub-astringent wine. When there is a loathing of food, they advise us to tempt the appetite with a variety of savory things. To those who have a desire for eating earth, they particularly recommend starch. When the fluid which is vomited is of a thick and viscid nature, they recommend pickles, radishes, and oxymel, for an emetic. They also particularly direct astringent cataplasms and plasters to be applied to the præcordia.

As the practice of the other authorities is conducted upon similar principles, we shall mention them very succinctly. For the depraved appetite which longs for earth, Serapion recommends aromatic spices, such as cardamon, cubebs, and the like. For the continued vomiting, Alsaharavius directs plasters, containing the oil of spikenard, mastich, quinces, wormwood, and the like, or a vessel filled with hot water, to be applied over the stomach, pomegranate seeds to be held in the mouth; and that the patient should take gentle exercise, and abstain from all sweet things.

Alexander Aphrodisiensis accounts for the disease in much the same way as Galen and Aëtius. He says that, when the menstrual fluid is suppressed, a determination of it takes place to the stomach, until the fœtus becomes as large as to consume it.

Pliny strongly commends citrons for the cure of the disease.

For the œdematous swellings of the feet and legs, most of the other authorities concur with our author in recommending astringent applications. The anthyllis, mentioned by him, is supposed by Sprengel to have been the cressa cretica. (R. H. Hist. p. 164.)

We shall conclude our commentary on this Section with an outline of the directions given by Aspasia for the management of pregnant women. Women who have conceived are to be guarded from frights, sorrow, and all violent mental perturbation. They are to avoid gestation in carriages, severe exercise, inordinate breathing and blows about the loins; also the lifting of heavy loads, dancing, and sitting on hard seats. Likewise all acrid and flatulent food, strong clysters, and too much or too little food and drink are to be avoided. All discharges of blood, whether from the nose or hemorrhoids, are dangerous in the pregnant state. Moderate and wholesome food, gestation in a sedan, gentle walking, soft friction, and the exercise of spinning are proper. About the eighth month, which is the most critical period of pregnancy, the diet is to be more contracted, and the exercise increased. If the bowels are constipated owing to compression of the rectum, by the enlarged uterus, laxative food is to be given, such as ptisan and mallows. In the ninth month the regimen is to be of a relaxing nature, and for this purpose the tepid bath is to be frequently taken, for it has a great effect in rendering parturition easy. (Apud Aëtium, xvi, 12.)

Our author borrows part of this chapter from Oribasius, and abridges the rest from Galen and Aëtius.

SECT. II.—ON THE NURSE.

A nurse is to be chosen who is free from every complaint, and is neither very old nor very young. She ought not to be less than twenty-five nor more than thirty-five. Her chest should be large, as also her breasts, and her nipples neither contracted nor turned aside. The rest of her body should be neither very fat nor very spare. It is of great consequence to the child that his nurse should have brought forth but a short time before, and that her child had been a male rather than otherwise. She ought to avoid everything of a very desiccative nature, and likewise such as are saltish, acrid, sour, acid, bitter, very heating, or of an offensive smell: also, such as are strongly fragrant, condiments, and such like acrid substances. Let the nurse also abstain from venery. Let her work with her hands and shoulders, let her labour at the mill and the loom, and carry about the child in her arms. This may be done for three or four months.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 2.)

Aëtius gives somewhat fuller directions. He says, the nurse ought not to be younger than twenty, nor older than forty; should be free from disease, and have breasts neither too small nor too large; for when the breasts are too large, they contain more milk than the child can manage: and part being retained spoils, and proves injurious to the child, and even affects the health of the nurse; when too small, on the other hand, they do not contain a sufficient supply of milk. Large nipples, he remarks, hurt the gums, and impede deglutition; whereas, when too small, they cannot be got hold of. The nurse, he says, should be chaste, sober, cleanly, and cheerful. (iv, 4.)

The directions given by the other authorities, are very similar to our author’s. See, in particular, Rhases (ad Mansor. iv, 30); Avicenna (Cantic.); Averrhoes (in Cant. p. ii, tr. 1.) Avicenna says, the nurse ought to be from twenty-five to thirty-five years old. Averrhoes says, from twenty to thirty.

It appears to have been a general practice among the Romans, after they became luxurious and effeminate, for the ladies of noblemen to consign the care of their infants to wet nurses. Tacitus, in his elegant dialogue ‘de Oratoribus,’ inveighs against this practice. See also a spirited declamation on this subject, by the philosopher, Phavorinus, in the ‘Noctes Atticæ’ of Aulus Gellius. (xii, 1.)

SECT. III.—ON THE MILK OF THE NURSE.

The best milk is that which is moderate in thickness, quantity, colour, smell, and taste. It is a proper way to try the quality of the milk, by pouring a little of it upon the nail of the thumb and observing it in the sun; for, when upon turning the nail, it neither runs off too slowly nor too quickly, it is good milk. You may also try it thus: by pouring some milk into a glass vessel, and putting some runnet into it, then squeezing them together with your fingers, allow it to coagulate, and observe whether the cheesy part be less than the serous; for such milk is unsuitable, and also the opposite kind is of difficult digestion. The best kind is that which has a moderate proportion of each.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 3), and Aëtius (iv, 3.)

The method of trying the quality of the milk here recommended is mentioned by Aëtius, Barytus (ap. Geopon. xviii, 20), Dioscorides, Avicenna, Haly Abbas, and Alsaharavius. According to Avicenna, a child ought not to be allowed to take suck oftener than twice or thrice in the day. See, in particular, Haly Abbas (Pract. i, 21), and Alsaharavius (Pract. xxx, 3.)

SECT. IV.—HOW TO CORRECT THE BAD QUALITIES OF MILK.

The bad qualities of milk may be thus corrected. If it be too thick, the phlegm ought to be evacuated by vomits, the most proper of which are those of vinegar and honey. It is also proper to extenuate by labour before meals. Also the following substances are proper, namely: wild marjoram, hyssop, savoury, shepherd’s needle, thyme, the small radish, and old pickle with vinegar and honey. But if it be more acrid and thinner than natural, the nurse ought to be relieved from much labour, to be fed upon strong soups, and the flesh of swine, and to be allowed sodden must and sweet wine. If it be in too small quantity, she ought to get soups and a generous diet, with sweet wine for drink; and her breast and nipples should be rubbed. The cupping instrument, if applied, will also be of service. That medicines for the formation of milk, are possessed of some efficacy, I am well aware, and yet I do not recommend them in all cases, for they greatly waste the body. They are, the root and fruit of the fennel boiled in ptisan, the leaves of the cytisus in dark-coloured wine or ptisan, the sweet gith (melanthium), dill, the root and fruit of the carrot. They are to be first soaked with warm water, and then given. But when the milk is bad, whether it be thick, acrid, or of a strong smell, it is first to be sucked out and then the child is to be applied. For that which is acrid ought, on no account, to be given to the infant when hungry; but that which has an offensive smell may be corrected by fragrant wine and sweet food. Of coagulated milk in the breasts, we will treat in the Third Book.

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COMMENTARY. Aristotle forbids wet nurses to drink wine. It is the same thing, he adds, whether the nurse or the child drink it. (De Somno.)

Oribasius, Aëtius, and Avicenna give similar directions to our author’s. They all permit nurses to take a moderate allowance of animal food and wine. When the nurse has too little milk, Aëtius recommends her to drink ale (Zythus.) He also approves of sweet wine, gruels prepared with fennel, or green dill boiled with ptisan. When the milk is thin, he directs her to abstain from baths, and to take food of a nutritive quality, such as fine bread, the legs of swine, tender birds, the flesh of kids, and sweet wine. When the milk is thick, he recommends frequent baths, and an attenuant diet. When it is excessive, he directs her to diminish the quantity of the food, and to take what is less nutritive, and to make discutient applications to the breasts, such as a linen cloth dipped in vinegar, and to wash them frequently with warm salt water, or the decoction of myrtle.

Hippocrates forbids the nurse to take things of an acrid, saltish, acid, or crude nature. He recommends fennel, cytisus, parsley, and the hot bath as a general regimen to nurses. (De Mulieb.)

Haly Abbas gives similar directions. He properly recommends the nurse to abstain from taking things of a pungent, sour, and bitter nature. When the nurse’s milk is deficient, he recommends that she should get the milk of cows and goats, fennel, lettuce, parsley, and the like. (Pract. i, 21.)

SECT. V.—ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE INFANT.

The first food given to a new-born child should be honey, and afterwards milk, twice, or at most three times a day. When it appears disposed for it, and seems able to digest it, it may get some food, care being taken not to stuff it. If this should happen to be the case, it will become more sleepy and inactive, there will be swelling of the belly and flatulence, and its urine will be more watery than natural. When this is observed, it ought to get no more food until what it has got be consumed. The child may be brought up upon milk until it be two years old, after which, its diet may be changed to food from grain.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 5.)

Galen, in like manner, approves of the honey. He directs the body of a new-born child to be sprinkled with salt; and afterwards rubbed every day with oil. After the milk-diet is given up, the first food to be administered, he says, should be bread, and afterwards pulse and flesh. He forbids the use of wine, because the temperament of a child is hot and humid. He approves of the hot bath, but condemns the use of the cold for young children. (Hyg. pluries.)

Aëtius recommends the child to be brought up upon milk for twenty months. Moschion says, from eighteen months to two years will be sufficient. Avicenna, like our author, mentions two years. It is stated by Selden, that the Hebrew women gave suck to their children for two years. This practice is enjoined in the Koran. Aëtius is not so strict in regard to regimen as Galen; he allows us to vary the milk-diet, by giving occasionally soft eggs, mead, or sweet wine diluted with water. (iv, 28.)

Moschion, Averrhoes, and Avicenna approve of exercising the child in a cradle, and of lulling him with music. When the cord falls off, Avicenna advises that the part should be sprinkled with the powder of burnt lead.

Averrhoes disapproves of sprinkling the child’s body with salt, as recommended by Galen. (Collig. ii, 6.) He agrees with Galen, however, in condemning the use of wine. He directs exercise for the child every day; after exercise, friction, and after friction, the bath. He forbids the use of the cold bath, however, because it retards the growth. When the child does not sleep, Avicenna and Averrhoes recommend poppy in his food. (Cant. ii, 1.)

Haly Abbas directs us, when there is any malformation of the head, to reduce it to its proper shape, and bind it firm. Like Galen, he recommends that the body of a new-born child should be sprinkled with salt and powdered roses, to harden the skin. He directs us to give the child, for the first two days, sugar, triturated with the oil of sesame. He recommends the frequent use of the tepid bath. He properly directs the nurse not to expose the child’s eyes to the strong light of day, nor to allow him to sleep in a strong sun, for fear of injuring his eyes. When a child cries, it is the duty of the nurse, he says, to find out the cause, as a child never cries except when something hurts it. The most common causes, he adds, are, heat or cold, fleas or gnats, hunger or thirst, retention of urine or of the fæces. For retention of the urine, he recommends melon-seed with julep both to the child and the nurse; and when the child’s bowels are constipated, he directs the nurse to take laxative herbs, oil of olives, prunes, and so forth. It is clear, therefore, that he was aware that a child may be operated upon by medicines given to the nurse. (Pract. i, 20.)

The directions given by Alsaharavius are very similar. He remarks that violent crying may occasion a descent of the bowels.

Syrasis, one of the commentators on Avicenna, recommends the tepid bath for young children, and food after it. He directs the nurse to exercise the child before putting him into the bath.

From what we have stated, it will be seen that the ancient physicians did not approve of the cold regimen, absurdly proposed by certain modern philosophers as the most proper for infants.

According to Athenæus, the sons of Roman freemen were prohibited from drinking wine until they were thirty years old. (Deipnos, x, 23.) Plato enjoins complete abstinence from wine until the age of eighteen, and great moderation until thirty. (Leg. ii.)

SECT. VI.—ON THE ERUPTIONS WHICH HAPPEN TO CHILDREN.

Whatever eruptions appear upon the skin of a child, are to be encouraged, in the first place; but when the eruption is properly come out, it may be cured by putting the child into baths of myrtle, or lentisk, or roses, and then anointing with the oil of roses or lentisk, or with a cerate containing ceruse. And its body may be gently rubbed with nitre; but it will not bear hard friction. But a very good plan is for the nurse to be fed upon sweetish things. And the child’s diet ought to be attended to, so that it be neither too full nor too spare. If the child’s belly be constipated, a little honey may be put into its food; and if even then it do not obey, turpentine, to the size of a chick-pea, may be added. When the bowels are loose, millet, in particular, ought to be administered.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 6.) See also Aëtius (iv, 21.) The Exanthemata here referred to would appear, properly speaking, to be the strophuli of Dr. Willan, but the ancients used the term rather vaguely for several eruptive diseases. (See Book Fourth.) The Exanthemata are the “pustulæ parvæ” of Eros (apud Gynæcia, p. 59.) For the Arabians, see in particular Haly Abbas (Pract. i, 20); Avicenna (i, 3, 1); Alsaharavius (Tr. xxvi, 7 and 8.) Alsaharavius describes two cutaneous complaints of infancy by the names of Alseafa and Alkaba. The former he describes as consisting of pustules, which affect the heads of infants, and sometimes the face. They are attended, he says, with a constant itching, and occasion erosion. His treatment is to shave the head, and to apply to it first a leaf of blite (bletæ vel betæ?) and afterwards an ointment composed of spuma argenti, ceruse, and lye, with rose-oil and wax. The Alkaba is said to be of the same nature, only that the fluid which runs from the pustules resembles honey. This, therefore, must be the porrigo favosa. His remedies are, to wash the head frequently with a lotion made from marjoram, mint, or centaury; and then to apply an ointment composed of spuma argenti, ceruse, Armenian bole, sulphur, almonds, and quicksilver; and also liniments of rose-oil and vinegar, with the free use of the bath. As Dr. Willan remarks, he has described the strophuli by the name of pustulæ, (bothor.) (Tr. xxvi, 25.) He says of them: “Aliæ sunt albæ, aliæ rubeæ, aliæ nigræ, aliæ magnæ, aliæ parvæ et multæ et paucæ, aliæ fortis et acuti doloris, et mortiferæ,” &c. It appears, therefore, that he applies the term in a very lax signification.

Rhases describes the Exanthemata by the name of vesicæ. He prescribes, at the commencement, medicines for expelling the morbific superfluity from the inner parts, such as the decoction of dates or figs, with fennel water. When the eruption is fairly come out, he recommends baths medicated with roses, myrtles, and the like; after which, the child is to be rubbed with the oil of roses or of violets. (De Morbis Infant, c. 19.) We may mention that Lanfrancus, and the other medical authorities of that age, describe them by the name of saphati.

SECT. VII.—ON THE COUGH AND DEFLUXION OF INFANTS.

When the child is seized with cough or defluxion, recourse is to be had to a linctus of honey. It is first to be bathed copiously with warm water, even to its head, and plenty of honey given: then press its tongue gently with your finger, and it will vomit up much phlegm.

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COMMENTARY. See Oribasius (Synops. v, 7), and Aëtius (iv, 18.) Aëtius recommends various lohochs or linctus. One of them consists of pine-nuts, almonds, linseed, liquorice-juice, and honey.

Emetics and demulcents, such as gum arabic and liquorice, are the remedies recommended by Avicenna, (i, 3, 1.)

Haly Abbas approves of lohochs, containing almonds, honey, &c. (Pract. i, 20.) Alsaharavius recommends various demulcents, and an electuary containing poppy-seed, tragacanth, and the seeds of citrons, to be taken in a decoction of Sebesten plums. He also directs us to produce vomiting, by making the patient swallow copious draughts of honied water. (Tr. xxvi, 24.)

Rhases recommends nearly the same remedies. (De Morbis Infant, c. 18.)

This would appear to be the most proper place for giving from Aëtius some account of two affections of infancy, which our author has omitted to describe. He says, when children have been fed on improper food, or when, from any other cause, their stomachs become loaded with phlegm, they are troubled with snorting; and in that case he recommends a linctus of linseed, honey, &c.; or if the affection be obstinate, to make them vomit by pressing down the tongue with a finger smeared with oil. (iv, 7.)

When an infant has lost its voice, which, he says, arises commonly from constipation, he recommends the juice of cabbage, either by the mouth or in a lavement; or a suppository into the anus. (iv, 8.)

SECT. VIII.—ON PRURITUS.

If the child be troubled with pruritus, use fomentations, and anoint with plenty of refined oil, in which a little wax has been melted.

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COMMENTARY. See Galen (Hyg. v); Oribasius (Synops. v, 8); Avicenna (i, 3, 1); Haly Abbas (Pract. i, 20); Rhases (de Morb. Infant, c. 19); Alsaharavius (Pract. xxvi, 25.)

The account given by Oribasius is similar to our author’s. (Synops. v, 8.)

Alsaharavius properly recommends attention to correct the acrimony of the nurse’s milk; to wash the child with decoctions of roses, myrtle leaves, and the like; if the pustules are of a dry nature, to rub them with oil of sesame or of violets; and, if humid, with an ointment made of wax, litharge, and rose-oil.

Rhases directs the nurse to abstain from sweet and salt things, as they inflame the blood; and to put the child into a bath medicated with mallows, pearl-barley, fenugreek, gourds, &c.

Avicenna and Haly Abbas treat the complaint upon similar principles.

SECT. IX.—ON DENTITION.

Dentition commences about the seventh month. At that time inflammations of the gums, cheeks, and tendons are apt to occur; and sometimes convulsions. The child must then get nothing which requires mastication; and his gums should be rubbed frequently when in the bath with the finger, or soothed with the fat of fowls or the brain of a hare. When the teeth are just coming through, the neck, jaws, and head should be wrapped in soft wool, or they may be anointed with warm sweet oil, some of which ought to be poured into the pores of the ears. The child ought then to have a more generous quality of food, and be bathed in warm water. If he have diarrhœa, it is proper to bind his belly by epithemes, namely, such as are of an astringent nature, as cumin, dill, or parsley, sprinkled upon wool. It is proper to mix the seeds of roses, and, in short, to use hot desiccants. If the bowels are constipated, they may be gently roused to action by means of a suppository of honey, or the belly may be anointed with mint pounded in honey. But the best remedy for the convulsions of children, apparently, is to bathe them in water wherein turnsol (heliotropium) has been boiled. It will be of consequence also to use the oil of privet, of the iris, and the Sicyonian oil; and, in short, everything which is of a calefacient nature. But when the teeth have come through so as to bite the fingers, it may be proper that he keep in his mouth the root of the iris, shaven down and not quite dried. This also is of use to ulcers. Butter likewise rubbed in with honey will be of service. The flesh of an old pickle relieves pruritus of the gums.

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COMMENTARY. See, in particular, Oribasius (Synops. v, 9), and Aëtius (iv, 9.) Hippocrates and Aëtius recommend a jasper amulet. Hippocrates remarks that fevers, pruritus, looseness of the bowels, and convulsions are apt to come on at the time of dentition, if the child be plethoric, and his bowels constipated. (Aphoris, cum Comment. Galeni.) Aretæus makes the same statement. (Morb. acut. i, 6.)

Moschion directs the gums of the child to be rubbed, after the fifth month, with sweet oil, the fresh grease of a hen, the brain of a hare, and lastly with boiled honey. When inflammation supervenes afterwards, he recommends fumigations and cataplasms, and directs the food and drink of the nurse to be restricted. (c. 119.)

The directions given by Avicenna are similar to those of Moschion. (i, 3, 1.) Alsaharavius properly states that the best way to avoid difficult dentition is to guard against corruption of the food and drink, and to abstain from emetics, acids, figs, &c. To remove the painful symptoms attendant on dentition, he directs us to rub the gums with olive oil, honey in which aloes and gum arabic have been boiled, and the like; to wrap the head in soft wool, and to pour tepid water upon it. (Pract. xxxvi, 19.)

The treatment recommended by the other authorities is very similar. See, in particular, Rhases (Ad Mans. iii, 13.)

The only ancient authors who make mention of scarification of the gums as a remedy for painful dentition are, Marcellus Sideta (Medicina, ex Piscibus,) and Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxii, 26.) Both direct it to be done with the sting of the Pastinaca Marina.

SECT. X.—ON APHTHÆ.

Infants are liable to an ulcer of the mouth called aphtha. It is either whitish, reddish, or black, like an eschar. That which is black is of the worst kind and most fatal. The iris mixed with honey is of use, or you may blow in the dry powder if you please; also, the pounded leaves of roses, or the flowers of roses, and crocus—a small quantity of myrrh, galls, frankincense, or the bark of the frankincense tree: all these together, or separately, may be mixed with honey; and, in addition to these, may be joined honied water and the juice of the sweet pomegranate.

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COMMENTARY. Hippocrates mentions aphthæ among the diseases of dentition. (De Dent.) Theophilus, the commentator on Hippocrates, says, that aphthæ are occasioned by the tenderness of the parts, which cannot bear the bad qualities of the milk. According to Aretæus, the land of Egypt is particularly prolific of these ulcers, which are engendered by the impurities of the water and the quality of the vegetables that grow there. (Morb. Acut. i, 9.) The aphthæ appear to be the oscedo of Isidorus. (Orig. iv, 8.)

Our author copies from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 10.) See also Aëtius, (viii, 39.) Aëtius borrows his account from Galen, who is very full upon the treatment of aphthæ. He remarks that recent superficial ulcers are easily cured, but that such as spread and are of a gangrenous nature are very dangerous. He gives, at great length, directions for the composition of applications, suited to every modification of the complaint. When the pustules are red, he prescribes washes of a moderately astringent and cooling nature; if yellowish, the same, but somewhat more refrigerant; if whitish and pituitous, detergents are to be used; and, if black, the most powerful discutients. For simple cases of the aphthæ infantium, he merely recommends the flowers of roses with honied water. Most of his remedies are astringents. (De Med. sec. Loc. lib. vi.) In another work, he says that aphthæ are occasioned by the acrimony of the milk, and are to be cured by astringents. (Comment. in III Epidem.)

Pliny mentions that the lapis melititis was used as an application in cases of ulceration of the fauces. (Hist. Nat., xxxvi.) There is reason to believe that it was Borax, or borate of soda.

Avicenna recommends at first washes prepared from the vegetable acids, and afterwards astringents, such as galls, sumach, balaustine, &c. (i, 3, 1.) See also Haly Abbas (Pract. i, 20.)

Alsaharavius states that aphthæ commonly arise from the sharpness of the milk. His general treatment consists in regulating the diet of the nurse, and using washes principally of an astringent nature for the child’s mouth. When they are very painful, he adds to the washes the juice of lettuce, endive, and the like. When they are whitish, he recommends a powder consisting of myrtle, saffron, and sugar. (Tr. xxvi, 20.) Rhases’ treatment is quite similar. (De Morbis Infantium, c. 14.)

The author of the following work, which has been falsely ascribed to Dioscorides, recommends certain applications of a strongly escharotic nature, such as this: Of arsenic, p. i; of burnt paper, p. iii; or this, of sandarach and rose-oil equal parts. (Euporist. i, 82.)

Psellus enumerates two kinds of aphthæ, namely, the white and the red; the former, he says, is mild, the latter very dangerous. (Poëma Medicum.)

SECT. XI.—ON EXCORIATIONS OF THE THIGHS.

Excoriations of the thighs may be sprinkled with dried myrtle, cyperus, and roses.

* * * * *

COMMENTARY. See, in particular, Oribasius (Synops. v, 11); Aëtius (iv, 24); and Avicenna (i, 3, 1.) All recommend nearly the same astringent applications for the intertrigo of infants.

SECT. XII.—ON WATERY DISCHARGES FROM THE EARS.

Watery discharges from the ears may be dried up by applying to them wool with alum, or with wine and honey, or by an injection of old wine either alone or mixed with saffron.

* * * * *

COMMENTARY. Oribasius, Aëtius, Avicenna, and Haly Abbas recommend the same treatment, which would seem to be very proper. Alsaharavius recommends wool soaked in a solution of alum, and injections, consisting of solutions of nitre (soda) in vinegar. Rhases makes mention of nearly the same applications. (De Morb. Infant. c. 9.)

SECT. XIII.—ON SIRIASIS.

Siriasis is an inflammation of the parts about the brain and its membranes. A hollowness of the open of the head and eyes attend it, with paleness and dryness of the body. It is relieved by an application of the red of an egg with oil of roses to the open of the head, in the form of a compress, and frequently changed.

Another application for Siriasis. Place upon the open of the head, the leaves of that species of heliotropium called scorpiurus, the parings of a gourd, the membrane which envelopes the fleshy part of a ripe cucumber, the juice of the garden nightshade, with oil of roses.

* * * * *

COMMENTARY. See Oribasius (Synops. v, 13); Aëtius (iv, 13); Avicenna (i, 3, 1); Haly Abbas (Pract. i, 20); Alsaharavius (Pract. xxvi, 9); Rhases (de Morb. Infant. c. 5); Pseudo-Dioscorides (Euporist. i, 9); Alexander Aphrodisiensis (Problem i, 98); Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxii, 48.)

Aëtius and Avicenna agree in describing it as an inflammation and swelling of the brain and its membranes, so as to occasion a hollow at the bregma, and as being attended with ardent fever. The account given by the others is very similar. All recommend cooling and astringent applications to the part. According to Alexander Aphrodisiensis, children are most subject to this affection, especially in the summer season; for which he attempts to assign the reason. He describes it as an inflammation of the membranes of the brain. The author of the ‘Euporista’ recommends the juices of various cooling herbs, as local applications. Pliny represents the heat of it as excessive. He says, “Siriasesque infantium spongia frigida crebro liumefectata, rana inversa adalligata efficacissime sanet, quam aridam inveniri affirmant.” (l. c.)

Although somewhat out of place, we shall venture to introduce here some account of two diseases of infancy which are omitted by our author, but are briefly described by Aëtius and Rhases.

For prolapsus ani, Aëtius recommends various applications in the form of powder and fomentation; but states, that what he himself constantly made use of was tepid brine or salt water. (iv, 19.) See Rhases (de Morb. Inf. c. 21.)

Umbilical hernia, he says, may be occasioned by crying, a blow, or a fall. For this he recommends various astringent preparations from alum, galls, &c., applied on a linen compress to the navel. (iv, 20.) Rhases recommends similar applications, and also a compress with the gluten of hides to be bound over the navel. (De Morb. Infant. c. 22.) As far as we can recollect, Hippocrates and his commentators are the only ancient authorities that make mention of inflammation of the navel after the cord has dropped off. (Aphor. c. Comment. ed. Dietz, p. 374.)

SECT. XIV.—THE REGIMEN OF INFANCY, AND OF THE SUCCEEDING AGES UNTIL MANHOOD.

Infants and children when weaned from milk, are to be allowed to live merrily and without restraint; their food ought to be light, and their exercise gentle. After six or seven years of age, both boys and girls are to be consigned over to schoolmasters of a mild and benevolent disposition; as such persons will impart instruction to them in a cheerful manner, and without constraint; for relaxation of the mind contributes much to the growth of the body. Boys twelve years of age should go to teachers of grammar and geometry, and get their bodies hardened by gymnastic exercises. From fourteen to twenty-one, their proper employment will be the study of mathematics and initiation in philosophy. At the same time, however, it will be proper to use more exercise for strengthening the body, so that, exercising both mind and body, they may be prevented from indulging their carnal desires. They ought likewise to be restricted as to wine. To adults the fullest supply of nourishment, both as to body and mind, ought to be allowed; wherefore, they should use all kinds of gymnastic exercises, particularly such as each has been accustomed to, and food which is sufficient and nutritious. In the decline of life, both the bodily and mental supply ought to be abridged; and the gymnastic exercises diminished in proportion. The food also is to be gradually lessened as the habit begins to contract the frigidity of age.

* * * * *

COMMENTARY. These simple but judicious directions respecting the regimen of the different periods of life are taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 14); or from Aëtius (iv, 29.) Many of them are borrowed originally from Galen. (Hyg. i.)

Similar directions are given at great length by Haly Abbas. He positively prohibits children from taking wine. He insists that wine not only proves prejudicial to health, but also deteriorates the morals. (Pract. i, 22.) Alsaharavius agrees with him in proscribing wine to children. (Theor. xiii, 2.)

Avicenna makes very judicious observations on this subject, but the greater part of them are taken from Galen. He insists, with becoming earnestness, on the propriety of attending to the regulation of the passions of the child, as being conducive to his health as well as to his morals. As soon as the boy is roused from sleep he is to be bathed; then he is to be allowed to play for an hour; afterwards, he is to have something to eat, and then is to be allowed more play. Afterwards he is to be bathed; then he is to take food; and, if possible, he is to be prevented from drinking water immediately after a meal, as it has a tendency to make unconcocted chyle be distributed over the body. When six years old, he is to be consigned to the care of a teacher, but he is not to be compelled to remain constantly in school. Avicenna goes on to state that, at the age he has then reached, he is to be more sparingly bathed, and that his exercise is to be multiplied before eating. Like most of the ancient authorities, he forbids wine to a child. Thus, he adds, is the regimen of the child to be regulated until he reach the age of fourteen. (I, i, 4.)

Averrhoes gives very sensible directions on this subject. He forbids the use of wine and ales until manhood. (Collig. vi, 6.)

SECT. XV.—ON THE PREPARATORY FRICTION.

Before gymnastic exercises, the body ought to be rubbed moderately first with towels, and then with oil in the hollows of the naked hands, until it be properly warmed and softened, and its surface have contracted a florid blush, and become distended.

* * * * *

COMMENTARY. A more circumstantial account of the mode of preparing the body for gymnastic exercises is given by Oribasius. (Med. Collect. vi, 13.) It is taken, however, from Galen’s second book of ‘Hygiene.’ See a similar account in Aëtius (iii, 1), and Avicenna (i, 3, 2.) The object of it, according to Alexander Aphrodisiensis, was to soften the parts so that they might not be ruptured. (Prob. i, 119.) To rub the body with oil was a general practice of the ancients before strong exercises of every kind. Hence Horace characterizes an inactive person by his dread of oil, “Cur olivum Sanguine viperino cautius vitat?”—that is to say, as his commentator Acron explains it, “Cur vitat olivum, id est oleum, quo unctus tutius natet et luctetur?” The poet alludes to the practice in another place: “Ter uncti Transnanto Tiberim.” It appears from Martial that a composition of oil and wax, called ceroma, was sometimes used for this purpose:

“Vara nec injecto ceromate brachia tendis.”

(Epigr. vii, 32.)

According to Thucydides, the Lacedemonians were the first who rubbed their bodies with oil before wrestling. (i, 1.) Pliny mentions the use of oil before the gymnastic exercises as a luxury introduced by the Greeks. It appears from him that cheap aromatics were sometimes added to the oil. He further relates that some barbarous nations used butter instead of oil. (Hist. Nat. xi, 41.)

Athenæus mentions that Antiochus Epiphanes supplied the wrestlers at Daphne with oil of saffron, of marjoram, and the like. (Deipn. v.)

Lucian makes Solon say to Anacharsis, that oil produces the same effect upon the living body as upon leather, softening it, and rendering it stronger and less apt to break. (Anacharsis.)

The poets describe Venus as preparing herself for exercise by being rubbed with fragrant ointments, whereas Minerva disdained to use anything but common oil. See Callimachus (Lav. Pall.) and Sophocles (ap. Athen. Deipnos. xv, 35.)

The Roman emperors, and other luxurious persons, often made use of perfumed ointments instead of oil. See Suetonius (in Vita Caligulæ), Lampridius (in Vita Heliogabali.) It would appear that under the empire the people of Rome were supplied gratuitously with oil in their public baths. (Lamp. c. 24, and Burman, de V. R. c. iii.)

SECT. XVI.—ON EXERCISES.

Exercise is a violent motion. The limit to its violence should be a hurried respiration. Exercise renders the organs of the body hardy and fit for their functional actions. It makes the absorption of food stronger, and expedites its assimilation; and it improves nutrition by increasing heat. It also clears the pores of the skin, and evacuates superfluities by the strong movement of the lungs. Since, therefore, it contributes to distribution, care ought to be taken that neither the stomach nor bowels be loaded with crude and indigestible food or liquids; for there is a danger lest they should be carried to all parts of the body before they are properly digested. It is clear then that exercise ought to be taken before eating. The colour of the urine will point out the proper time for exercise. When it is watery, it indicates that the chyme absorbed from the stomach is still undigested. When it is of a deep yellow colour, and bilious, it shows that digestion had been long ago accomplished. When it is moderately pale, it indicates that digestion has just taken place; and this is the proper time for exercise, after having evacuated whatever excrementitious matters are collected in the bladder and bowels.

* * * * *

COMMENTARY. The remarks of our author on the effects of exercise are exceedingly pertinent and comprehensive. See, in like manner, Aëtius (iii, 2), and Oribasius (Med. Collect. vi, 11.) But Galen is the great authority on this subject, which he treats of very fully and philosophically, in the second book of his ‘Hygiene.’ He agrees entirely with Hippocrates, that the proper time for exercise is before a meal, because, the excrementitious superfluities being thereby evacuated, the body is in a fit condition for receiving a new supply. He explains, however, afterwards, that it is after the digestion and distribution of a preceding meal have been accomplished that exercise will be most proper.

According to Haly Abbas, exercise is useful for three purposes: 1. For rousing the innate or natural heat, whereby the processes of digestion and distribution are accelerated. 2. For opening the pores of the body, and evacuating its superfluities. 3. For strengthening and rousing the animal actions, by the friction it occasions. (Theor. v, 2.) Avicenna gives nearly the same statement of the good effects of exercise. Haly Abbas forbids exercise immediately after dinner. He adds, that exercise taken immediately after a meal makes the food descend to the intestines, where it is absorbed by the veins before it is properly concocted, and thereby the liver becomes loaded with crudities. (Pract. i, 3.)

Alsaharavius recommends exercise before a meal, but advises it not to be continued after one feels fatigued and languid. (Theor. ii, 2.) The same rule is distinctly laid down by Rhases. (Contin. xxxiii.)

It appears that, instead of taking exercise after food, the ancients were in the practice of indulging in a short sleep after their dinner or mid-day meal. See Plautus (Mostell. ac. iii, sc. 2, 1. 8), and the note of Meursius (Ed. Gronov.) Homer says that it is beneficial to old men to indulge in sleep after the bath and taking food. (Galen. Hyg. 1.)

Plutarch mentions that Cicero was cured of debility of the stomach by taking moderate exercises. (In vita Cicer.)

It was one of the extravagant opinions of Erasistratus, that exercise is not at all necessary for the health of the animal frame.

SECT. XVII.—ON THE KINDS OF EXERCISE.

The common effect of all kinds of exercise is to produce an increase of the natural heat of animals. But each species has something peculiar to it. Strong, that is to say, violent exercise gives vigour to the muscles and nerves: such are digging, and lifting a very heavy burden, while one remains in the same spot, or moves about; or lifting small weights and walking about as much as one can. Of this kind, is the exercise of scaling a rope, and many others of a like kind. The swift kinds of exercise are such as do not require strength and violence, namely, running, fighting with one’s shadow, wrestling with the extremities of the hands, the exercise with the leather bag, and that with the small Ball. This last is compounded of intension and velocity; and such exercises as are intense may become violent by adding velocity to them. Besides, some kinds of exercise bring the loins into action, and some the hands or legs; others the spine or the chest alone, or the lungs. And exercise ought to be carried on until the body becomes distended, and the skin of a florid hue; and until then, the motions ought to be strong, equable, and spirited, upon which you may see warm sweat, mixed with vapour, break out. It will then be time for you to stop, when any of the symptoms which I have mentioned have undergone a change, namely, when the bulk of the body becomes contracted, or when the florid colour of the skin declines. And, should any of the motions remit, it will then be time to stop immediately; or, if there should be any change in the quantity or quality of the perspiration; for if it should become smaller in quantity, or colder, we must desist, and, besmearing the body with oil, endeavour to restore it. It will then be proper to use the Restorative friction, as the masters of gymnastics are wont to practise.

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COMMENTARY. We shall now give a brief account of the ancient exercises, some of which are altogether omitted by our author.

The σκιομαχία is thus explained by Cornarius: “Porro σκιομαχίαν accipio umbratilem pugnam, quâ quis privatim domi aut sub umbra, non in propatulo se exercet, ac veluti præparat ad justam pugnam publicè faciendam.” (Notæ in Paul. Ægin. h. 1.) This account, however, does not agree with that of Oribasius, who describes it as a mock encounter at boxing and jumping with one’s own shadow. (Med. Collect. vi, 29.) It is thus described in the Latin translation of Avicenna: “Et ex eis est, insequi umbram suam, ut ipsam percutiat in capite, et manus ad invicem percutere.” (i, 3, 2, 2.) It is mentioned in this sense by Plato (de Legibus, vii), by Plutarch (Probl. Conviv. vii), and by Achilles Tatius (p. 115.) Juvenal probably alludes to this sport. (Sat. vi, 246.) We have therefore translated it, “fighting with one’s own shadow.”

The ἀκροχειρισμὸς is thus described by Scaliger: “Est autem ἀκροχειρίζειν luctæ pars, cum primoribus tantum digitis insertis roboris faciunt periculum.” (Poet. i, 22.) Suidas explains it thus: “A man taking hold of his antagonist’s fingers, strove to break them, and did not give over until he compelled him to yield.” The term occurs in Aristotle. (Eth. Nicom. iii, 1.) See also, Athenæus. (Deipnos. iv, 13.) It is called ἀκροχέιρισις by Hippocrates (De Diæta. ii, 42), who says it reduces the body.

The exercise with the κώρυκος, or leather bag, is described by Oribasius in the following manner: A bag filled with flour or sand was suspended from the top of the house, on a level with the navel; it was then pushed forwards with the hands to the extremity of the rope, and, as it recoiled, the person performing the exercise retreated backwards, so as to escape from it. (Med. Collect. vi, 33.) This exercise is mentioned by Hippocrates. (De Diæta, ii.) Cornarius and the translator of Hippocrates confound it with the follis of the Romans; but Mercurialis clearly shows that they were quite different. The follis was a leather ball, inflated with air; such is the description of it by Cælius Aurelianus: “Follis erat pila magna ex aluta confecta, soloque vento repleta.” Martial represents it as a becoming exercise for boys or old men:

“Ite procul juvenes, mitis mihi convenit ætas, Folle decet pueros ludere, folle senes.”

(Epigr. xiv, 45.)

They were different from the pila magna and parva; that is to say, the large and small ball. These balls were of different sizes, and were played with in various ways. They are minutely described by Oribasius. (Med. Collect. vi, 32.) See also Horace (Sat. ii, 2), and Martial (Epigr. iv, 15.) See a most learned and accurate account of all these sports in Mercurialis. (De Arte Gymnastica, ii, 4.) Galen has written a treatise on the exercise of the parva pila. To this class of exercises we may refer the pitching of a stone, which is mentioned by Avicenna.

Our author has neglected to make mention of the halteres in this place, but recommends the exercise for the cure of elephantiasis. (iv, 1.) It is described by Galen, who says, it can be made to exercise the spine transversely. (De Sanit. tuend. ii, 11.) The exercise with them is thus described by Potter: “The exercise of leaping they sometimes performed with weights upon their heads or shoulders, sometimes carrying them in their hands; these were called ἁλτῆρες, which, though now and then of different figures, yet, as Pausanias reports, were usually of an oval form, and made with holes, or else covered with thongs, through which the contenders put their fingers.” (Antiquities of Greece, c. 20.) Mercurialis describes them as masses or weights of different materials, and of such a size as that they could be held in the hands. Ropes, too, he adds, were often fastened to them, to hold with. (De Arte Gymnast. ii, 12.) The Pythagoreans were fond of this exercise. (Iamblichus de Vita Pythagoræ, c. 21.)

The funambulatio consisted merely in scaling ropes, which, as we may suppose, was done in various ways. See Mercurialis (iii, 5), and Baccius (de Thermis, viii, 7.)

The ἐκπλεθρίζειν, as Galen and Avicenna explain, consisted in running round the plethrum, or sixth part of the stadium, and always contracting the circle of one’s course, until one stopt in the middle. The πιτυλίζειν, as the same authors explain, consisted in walking upon one’s toes, and tossing one’s hands backwards and forwards.

The cricilasia appears to have been a large hoop, or circle, which was rolled on the ground. Even Mercurialis admits the obscurity of Oribasius’s description of it. (Med. Collect. vi, 26.)

The petaurum was a seat suspended by ropes, in which seat the person taking the exercise sat, and was tossed about by assistants. It is mentioned by Juvenal (Sat. xiv), and Martial (Epigr. xi, 22.)

Antyllus thus describes the effects of equitation on the human frame: “It strengthens the body, especially the stomach, more than any other mode of exercise; it clears the organs of the senses, and renders them more acute; but it is most inimical to the thorax.” Oribasius (Med. Collect. vi, 24), Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxviii, 4), and Aëtius agree with Antyllus as to the good effects of equitation on the stomach. Hippocrates and Cælius Aurelianus state that equitation is hurtful in disease of the hip-joint. All agree that riding on horseback is hurtful in diseases of the chest.

Of ἀιώρα, or gestation, there were various modes. That in a carriage was very ancient, and is often mentioned by the medical authors. It appears from Pliny (Hist. Nat. xvi, 42), that carriages were generally made of fir, and that the axles were of ilex, mountain ash, or elm. Sometimes, however, the whole chariot was adorned with gold and silver. (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxiv, 17.) They appear to have been often covered in with skins. (Plutarch, Prob. Roman.) They were generally drawn by horses or mules, sometimes by oxen, and occasionally by slaves. They were so constructed that a person could either sit or lie, according to pleasure. (Galen, Hyg.) At first, according to Pliny, they had only two wheels; the Phrygians, he says, added two more; and Hippocrates mentions that the Scythians introduced the use of six-wheeled carriages. The sedan and chair are often mentioned by the Latin poets, as well as by the medical writers. It is sufficient for our purpose to state that they were so constructed, that one could either sit or lie in them. They sometimes had windows, formed from the lapis specularis. (Juvenal, Sat. iv, 21.) Navigation, or sailing in ships and boats, is often mentioned by ancient authors as a remedial measure. It was practised on the sea or in rivers. According to Aëtius, gestation in general ventilates the natural heat, produces excitement, dispels collected humours, strengthens the frame, and rouses the actions when in an indolent state. (iii, 6.) Celsus has an interesting chapter on gestation. The following rule for the application of it is very judicious: “Gestatio quoque longis et jam inclinatis morbis aptissima est; utilisque est et iis corporibus quæ jam ex toto febre carent, sed adhuc exerceri per se non possunt; et iis quibus lentæ morborum reliquiæ remanent, neque aliter eliduntur.” Upon the whole, he holds it to be a doubtful practice in ardent fever, although sanctioned by the authority of Asclepiades Bithynus: at all events, he insists that gestation is improper when there is any local pain or swelling. After characterizing the different modes of gestation, he remarks respecting them: “Levia quidem genera exercitationis infirmis conveniunt: valentiora vero iis qui jam pluribus diebus febre liberati sunt; aut iis, qui gravium morborum initia sic sentiunt, ut adhuc febre vacent, quod et in tabe, et in stomachi vitiis, et cum aqua cutem subiit, et interdum in regio morbo fit; aut ubi quidam morbi, qualis comitialis, qualis insania est, sine febre, quamvis diu, manent.” (ii, 15.)

Galen eulogises hunting as being an excellent exercise to the body, and an agreeable recreation to the mind. He says, that by the mental excitement which it produces, many have been cured of dangerous diseases. (De parva Pila.) Rhases mentions, that during the prevalence of a certain pestilential epidemic, it was observed, that huntsmen were the only class of people who escaped its contagion. (Contin. iii.) The ancients have transmitted to us many elegant treatises, both in prose and in verse, on this delightful recreation. Those of Xenophon, Oppian, Gratius, and Nemesianus will be found particularly interesting. The younger Pliny attributes his recovery from a certain complaint, to the exercise of hunting. (Epist. v, 6.)

The occupation of fishing, according to Plato, produces neither mental nor bodily excitement. (In Sophista.) Galen and Avicenna briefly mention it as an exercise which may tend to the preservation of health; but neither of them appears to have attached much importance to it. The poet Oppian, however, in his ‘Halieutica’ has celebrated the pleasures and dangers of fishing, with all the enthusiasm of an Isaac Walton, or a Washington Irving.

Oribasius states that swimming tends to warm, strengthen, and attenuate the body. He says that swimming in the sea is particularly applicable in cases of dropsy, eruptive diseases of the skin, and elephantiasis. It is apt, however, he adds, to prove injurious to the head, and also to the nerves when too long continued. We have mentioned in the fifteenth Section, that the ancients got their bodies rubbed with oil before going into the water. Celsus gives nearly the same account of it, as a remedy for the cure of diseases, as Oribasius. Swimming may be said to have been the national exercise of the ancient Romans. Horace in particular makes frequent allusions to it as an invigorating and manly exercise. The Romans had artificial lakes or ponds connected with their baths, for the purpose of swimming. (Pliny, Epist. v, 6.)

Jumping and dancing, according to Oribasius, occasion a determination downwards, and hence, they may prove useful in cases of amenorrhœa. (Med. Collect. vi, 31.) It appears from a case related in a work attributed to Hippocrates, that jumping was had recourse to, to procure abortion. (De nat. Pueri.) The most eloquent encomiast of dancing is Lucian, who has written an ingenious treatise in praise of it. He contends that it is an excellent training, not only to the body, but also to the mind! He refers to Socrates and other sage philosophers who practised dancing. (De Saltatione.) The Pyrrhic dance of the ancients was particularly celebrated. It was performed by armed men. See Vossius (de Nat. Art. i,) and Athenæus (Deipn. xiv, 19, ed. Schweigh.)

On the Apotherapia or Restorative process, see Galen (Hyg. iii); Oribasius (Med. Collect. vi, 16); and Avicenna (i, 3, 2.) It consisted simply in rubbing the body softly and moderately with oil. According to Galen, the object of it was to relieve the feelings of lassitude, and prevent any bad effects from the exercise. Mercurialis states that, when applied after the bath, it was with the intention of preventing the humidity from being dissipated. Odoriferous ointments and powders were sometimes used instead of the oil. (De Arte gymnast. i; also Baccius de Thermis, 10.)

SECT. XVIII.—ON THE KINDS OF FRICTION.

Hard friction contracts, and soft relaxes; so that those persons that are relaxed should be rubbed hard, and those that are immoderately constricted, softly; and when, neither in the one state nor the other, it is clear that neither the one mode of friction nor the other should be had recourse to, but as much as possible either extreme ought to be avoided. For much and hard friction diminishes the bulk of the body, whilst, on the other hand, little and soft distends it. If the three different kinds of frictions as to quantity be joined to the same number as to quality, they will produce nine combinations, as is stated below. For one of the kinds, as to quantity, for example much, being complicated with the three differences as to quality, I mean the hard, the soft, and the moderate as to hardness, will produce three combinations; and, again, the little being joined to the other three will produce three more; and the moderate as to quality being complicated with the same three, will produce three more, as is shown below:

QUANTITY. QUALITY.

Much } { Hard. Much } and { Soft. Much } { Moderate.

Little } { Hard. Little } and { Soft. Little } { Moderate.

Moderate } { Hard. Moderate } and { Soft. Moderate } { Moderate.

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COMMENTARY. The brief but comprehensive rules of Hippocrates for the application of friction, are thus given in the language of Celsus: “Hippocrates dixit, frictione, si vehemens sit, durari corpus; si lenis, molliri; si multa, minui; si modica, impleri.” Celsus adds, that, according to circumstances, the body may be braced by it, if relaxed; may be softened, if indurated; may have its superfluities expelled, if loaded with plethora; and have nourishment attracted to it, if emaciated. He remarks, that it is mostly applicable in the decline of a disease. His other directions for the application of it are very apposite, (ii, 14.)

Pliny delivers the rules of Hippocrates in nearly the same words as Celsus. (Hist. Nat. xxviii, 14.)

Our author’s account of friction is taken from Oribasius (Med. Collect. vi), or from Aëtius (iii.) All, however, are indebted to Galen, who handles the subject most scientifically. (Hyg. ii.)

Similar directions are given by Avicenna (i, 3, 2), and by Haly Abbas (Theor. v, 12.) Averrhoes gives the sum of the directions laid down by Galen and the other authorities. Strong friction, he says, braces and hardens the body; weak, rarifies and softens; moderate, operates in an intermediate degree. Besides, he adds, hard friction diminishes obesity; moderate, on the other hand, tends to remove emaciation. (Collect. ii, 3.)

It was a general practice of the ancients to have recourse to friction in the morning and evening. Oribasius has many excellent observations on this practice. (l. c.)

SECT. XIX.—ON VOCIFERATION, OR THE EXERCISE OF THE VOICE.

In the exercise of the voice, regular and gentle modulation can contribute nothing to health, but the utterance of louder tones is beneficial, and is therefore to be practised. For, much air being inhaled thus by respiration expands the chest and stomach, and dilates and extends all the pores of the body. Wherefore, even in reading, it promotes the excretion of redundant humours, to those who read in a high tone, by inducing sweats; while in those who read with a moderate tone it promotes the insensible perspiration over the whole frame. For by attenuating the excrementitious matters which are hawked up, the saliva, mucus, and phlegm are discharged and consumed. And to those who stand in need of warming, on account of their frigidity, what mode of relief can be more proper than the action of respiration? Such persons ought therefore to read frequently, and, relaxing the whole body, so as to distend the windpipe and all the other passages of air, endeavour to utter the loudest sounds. And yet we must not have recourse to the exercise of the voice rashly, and without consideration, nor when the system is filled with depraved humours, or the stomach loaded with crudities, lest noxious vapours be thereby distributed over the whole body.

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COMMENTARY. These remarks of our author are very pertinent; But Oribasius has given a more comprehensive view of the subject, from the works of Antyllus. He thus describes the mode of performing vociferation: The bowels being evacuated, the person’s body is to be first rubbed, and then the inferior parts and the face are to be sponged with water. He is to begin talking, at first, in a moderate tone, while at the same time he walks about, and afterwards, straining his voice to a louder tone, he is to repeat certain verses. (Med. Collect. vi.)

Plutarch gives nearly the same account of it. He commends vociferation as giving strength to the internal parts, increasing the vital heat, purifying the veins, attenuating the blood, and dispelling the humours. He cautions, however, not to strain the voice to too great a pitch, lest it occasion rupture of any of the vessels. (De Sanit. tuendâ.)

Vociferation, according to Aëtius, is an exercise of the chest and the organs of speech, improving the vital heat; attenuating and strengthening the solid parts of the body. He recommends it for the cure of asthma, orthopnœa, phthisical and chronic pains of the chest, or apostemes when they burst; also, in tertian intermittents, and affections of the stomach attended with vomiting. It is unsuitable, he says, in complaints of the head. (iii, 5.)

Celsus recommends loud reading for curing weakness of the stomach. (i, 8.)

Galen scarcely takes any notice of vociferation, except that, in one place, he states that it exercises the chest and lungs. (De Sanit. tuendâ, ii, 11.)

Avicenna, in giving an account of vociferation, follows Aëtius. He says, that it exercises the parts about the mouth and chest; and hence, that it improves the complexion. He likewise cautions us not to prolong loud enunciation, lest it occasion a rupture of the vessels. He directs us to begin moderate, and then strain the voice gradually, and afterwards to allow it to sink by degrees, (i, 3, 2.)

SECT. XX.—ON LASSITUDE FROM EXERCISES.

That species of lassitude called the Ulcerose is occasioned by a collection of thin and pungent superfluities in the body. In the Tensive there is scarcely any superfluity in the system, but the state of the muscles and nerves is such that they appear to be stretched. The Inflammative, in which we feel as if the parts of the body were bruised or inflamed, happens when, being much heated, the muscles attract the surrounding superfluities. There is a fourth species, occasioned by an unnatural dryness of the muscles, in which the body, when stripped naked, appears squalid and constricted, and is averse to motion. The cure of the ulcerose species consists in dispelling the superfluities by much and soft friction with plenty of oil devoid of astringency. The indication of cure in the second or tensive species is relaxation, which may be accomplished by means of little and soft friction with oil heated in the sun; by quietude and rest, by tepid baths, and remaining for a considerable time in the warm water; for, if you repeat the bath two or three times in succession, you will confer so much the greater benefit. In the third species, or the inflammative, there are three indications of cure: the discharge of the superfluity, the relaxing of the constriction, and the cooling of the inflammatory state. Plenty of tepid oil, the softest friction, and remaining long in a bath of a moderate temperature, remove lassitudes of this description. Long-continued quietude is also proper, and repeated inunction. The treatment of the fourth differs in no respect, for the first day, from that of the third, except that the water ought to be hotter, so as to contract gently; and on the second, the restorative kind of exercise must be had recourse to; and when in the bath, let the person straightway leap into the cistern of cold water. All those affected with lassitude stand in need of wholesome food.

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COMMENTARY. There is a short treatise on this subject, among the minor works of Theophrastus. He states that, as the excess of motion in this case has produced a preternatural dryness of the body, the indication of cure is to humectate, that is to say, to dilute, by baths and drinks. The work contains many ingenious observations; but our limits do not admit of our giving a proper outline of it.

Our author copies from Oribasius (Synops. v, 15); see, also, Aëtius (iv, 55 et seq.) They all, however, are indebted to Galen. (De Sanit. tuend. iii, 7.) The ulcerose lassitude, he says, arises from a collection of excrementitious superfluities, which are produced by the melting of fat and muscle. In the second species, called the tensive, there is no collection of humours, but the muscular fibres are excessively stretched. The third species, or the inflammative, is characterized by a sensation, as if the parts affected were bruised or inflamed, and happens when the muscles, being excessively heated, attract the superfluities from the surrounding parts. From the pain being deep seated, it has been called ostalgia. He adds a fourth species, being a case somewhat different from all those we have been describing. It is the contrary state to that of the inflammative, the body appearing squalid and contracted. The first case, as it is connected with redundance of humours, is to be cured by discutients; and hence the proper remedy for it is much friction, with emollient oils wholly devoid of astringency. He also approves of the gentle exercise called the restorative. The second species, or the tensive, is to be cured by gentle friction, with emollient oils heated in the sun; by complete quietude, and the frequent repetition of the tepid bath. In particular, unction with oil is proper. The third species, as it is occasioned by violent motions, and is attended with excruciating pains, is to be cured by the gentlest friction, with the most emollient oils; by the most perfect rest, and the tepid bath. The fourth species, characterized by squalor and constriction of the skin, is to be treated by the hot bath, to warm and invigorate the skin, then by soft and slow motions and friction; and then again by the hot bath. But, he adds, the patient must straightway leave the cistern of the hot bath, and plunge into that of the cold, but not remain long in it. The diet, in all these cases, is to be restricted and cooling, especially in the Inflammative.

As all the subsequent authorities, whether Greek or Arabian, adopt the views of Galen, we need not enter into the detail of their plans of treatment. See Psellus (Opus Medicum); Avicenna (i, 3, 2); Rhases (Contin. xxxi); Alsaharavius (Pract. xxxi, 11); Averrhoes (Collig. vi, 8; Collect. ii, 15.) The bath, emollient friction, diluent food, and quietude are the remedies generally recommended by all the ancient authorities; and they are directed with a nice discrimination that cannot be too much admired. Syrasis, one of Avicenna’s expositors, gives the rules of treatment with great judgment.

Prosper Alpinus gives a fair account of the ancient doctrines on this subject. (Meth. Med. iv, 16, and de Præsag. Vita et Morte, ii, 21.)

SECT. XXI.—ON CONSTRICTION OF THE SKIN.

Constriction is occasioned either by obstruction or contraction of the pores. Obstruction is produced either by the quantity or thickness of crude and indigested humours, and contraction by such things as are cold or astringent, or desiccative. Upon stripping the body, the affection is at once recognized by the paleness, hardness, and contraction of the skin, and by the body’s being heated with difficulty during exercise. Calefacient remedies are the proper cure for this state of body, and therefore we must have recourse to the strongest exercise and the hottest baths, and the time of remaining in the cold bath must not be long, nor must the water be very cold. And when about to put on their clothes, let their bodies be anointed with a sweet and thin oil, of a moderately heating quality. Obstructions of the skin are also properly cured by the oil of dill, (more particularly if the dill had been green,) and by the oil of black poplars.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 16.) But a somewhat fuller account is given by Galen. (Hyg. iii, 10.) Like our author, he states, that this affection is occasioned, either by a collection of thick viscid humours in the body, or by contraction, that is to say, spasm of the cutaneous pores. It is generally brought on, he says, by exposure to cold, or going into an astringent bath. He gives very minute directions about the treatment, recommending hot baths, and friction with oils of a calefacient and attenuant nature. See also Aëtius (iv, 46); and Actuarius (Meth. Med. iii, 16.)

Avicenna treats of it in the same terms as Galen. (i, 3, 3, 15.)

SECT. XXII.—ON SPONTANEOUS LASSITUDE.

Since the Ulcerose lassitude is occasioned by the ill digestion of acrid superfluities, if the cacochymy be small, the restorative exercise will be sufficient; but if it be greater and deeper-seated, we must not permit such a one either to exercise or to take any motion whatever, but he must for one day remain without food, in a state of quietude and sleep; and then in the evening, when he has been rubbed with emollient unguents, and bathed in tepid water, we must give him wholesome food and some soup. And we must also not restrict him from wine, for nothing contributes so much to the digestion of half-digested humours as wine. Should the symptoms be removed by means of the aforesaid treatment, we may allow the man to return to his usual employments; but if on the following day they should still remain, we must bethink ourselves of a more potent remedy. If his strength be good, we must have recourse either to phlebotomy or purging, having first determined which of these remedies we shall try. If he be weak, we must not bleed, but may purge him moderately. If there be many crude humours in the system, we must neither bleed, nor purge, nor exercise, nor move at all, nor try the bath; but we must keep him in a state of perfect quietude, and give him food, drink, and medicines of attenuating and incisive qualities, without being of a manifestly heating nature. We may give vinegar and honey, and occasionally some ptisan or honied water. And since, in such persons, the lower belly is apt to become swelled and distended with wind, and whatever food is taken to be converted into flatulence, it will be better to give some pepper along with the food. It will be better, too, to use the composition called Diospoliticus, and that simple medicine which consists of three kinds of peppers. Oxymel is also most proper. Let them likewise use a drink made from honey, particularly when it begins to become acid; and such wines as are gently acid, and such articles of food as are attenuant without being heating, as capers, if taken with vinegar and honey, or vinegar and oil. When the Tensive species of lassitude takes place without exercise, it indicates that a plethora distends the solid parts of the body. If the fulness be occasioned by blood, it will be best to open a vein, or scarify the ankles. If the Inflammative lassitude be spontaneous, it will not endure a delay of a few hours, much less of two or three days, for it straightway induces a strong fever, unless one anticipate by letting blood. It will be best, if possible, to abstract blood twice in one day; for if care be taken that the first bleeding do not occasion swooning, it will be of less consequence whether or not it occur after the next. Those who are not bled will be fortunate indeed if they escape with the life.

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COMMENTARY. These judicious observations are taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 21.) See also Galen (de Sanit. tuendâ, iv); Aëtius (iv, 41); Avicenna (i, 3, 3, 16); Alsaharavius (Pract. xxxi, 2, 11); Rhases (Contin. xxxi); Averrhoes (Collig. vi, 14.)

All the authorities recommend nearly the same methods of treatment. Galen’s account of the subject is full, complete, and satisfactory, but so lengthy, that we cannot venture even upon an abstract of it. He gives proper directions for the physician to endeavour to find out the cause of the lassitude, and to remedy it accordingly. It is often connected, he says, with retention of the menstrual or hemorrhoidal evacuation, or the stoppage of some customary discharge. When attended with inflammatory symptoms, he is very urgent in recommending immediate venesection, without which, as he remarks, the patient cannot escape with his life, unless he is saved by a critical evacuation, such as bleeding from the nose, or profuse sweating.

When, in the inflammative lassitude, the head is affected, Aëtius directs us to open the cephalic vein; when the chest or back, the basilic; and when the whole body equally, the median. He recommends also cooling herbs, such as beet, mallows, lettuce, and the like, with ptisan and tepid water. He forbids the use of cold water. After the third day, if the patient is convalescent, he allows a thin weak wine, much diluted.

Averrhoes approves very much of Galen’s directions respecting the treatment, except that the peppers recommended by him had not been found to answer in his climate (Cordova). Instead of them, he directs cinnamon, amber, cassia lignea, and similar aromatics to be given.

Avicenna joins Galen in cautioning the physician to be guarded in allowing his patient to take much food, as the veins being emptied by the remedies applied for removing the lassitude, greedily absorb the chyle before it is properly concocted.

SECT. XXIII.—ON THE REGIMEN OF OLD PERSONS.

Old age is dry and cold; and its correctives are calefacients and diluents compounded with them. Friction is to be applied to the aged, but so as not to occasion lassitude. To such as are weak, some such course of diet as the following is to be prescribed: about the third hour, a small bit of bread with Attic honey; and afterwards, about the seventh hour, after having undergone friction, and taken exercise and baths suitable to old men, they must first get such things as are of a laxative nature, and afterwards fish or fowls; and then for supper, such things as are wholesome, and not apt to spoil in the stomach. I also do not forbid them to use wines prepared with honey, particularly such persons as are suspected of being threatened with the stone or gout, and in that case, a little parsley may be added. If phlegm be gendered in the stomach, we must of necessity apply such remedies as will remove it, and return immediately to a diluent diet: we must give them ripe figs in preference to every other kind of food, and if during the winter, dried figs, unless they complain of unpleasant symptoms in the right hypochondrium. When serous and pituitous recrements collect in the bodies of old men, we must promote the discharge of urine every day, and soften the belly, principally by giving oil before a diet. It is obvious, that all pot-herbs ought to be eaten before all other food, with oil, pickles, or olives and damascenes seasoned with salt. When the belly is bound, the herb mercury and the bastard saffron will relieve it. Turpentine also is proper in such cases. It may be given sometimes to the bulk of a Pontic walnut, and sometimes of two or three. Oil also in a clyster is most useful to those who are constipated.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is copied from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 18.) See also Aëtius. (iv, 30.) These directions are all borrowed from Galen (Hyg. v), who has treated of the subject with his characteristic elegance and good sense. The following is a brief exposition of his views of practice in such cases: “Old age is cold and dry, and is to be corrected by diluents and calefacients, such as hot baths of sweet waters, drinking wine, and taking such food as is moistening and calefacient.” He strenuously defends the practice of allowing old persons to take wine, and gives a circumstantial account of the Greek and Roman wines best adapted to them. In the case of old persons he approves of three meals in the day. He recommends the bath to be taken before dinner, which should consist of sea fish. He properly expresses his disapprobation of giving them aloetic pills to remove constipation of the bowels, and advises rather that they should be kept open with laxative herbs and oily clysters, in the manner stated by our author. Aëtius remarks, in like manner, that old men are much hurt by strong purgatives, which only increase the disposition to costiveness. All that is required in such cases, he remarks, is to lubricate the rectum with an injection of oil. The Arabians follow closely in the same strain. Alsaharavius recommends old persons to drink strong diuretic wines. He also approves of the tepid bath, and friction with emollient oils. He disapproves of much exercise and of taking aloetic pills, instead of which he directs oily clysters and laxative herbs. (Pract. xxvii, 10.) See more particularly Averrhoes’ Commentary on the Cantica of Avicenna (tr. i.) They agree that if an old man had been accustomed to be frequently bled, the practice is not to be wholly laid aside. Avicenna particularly approves of a milk-diet. He recommends old red wines, but forbids such as are new and sweet. (i, 3, 3.) Even Plato, the philosopher, permits old men to take a liberal allowance of wine, which he pronounces to be the restorative of youth, and the corrective of the austerity and despondency of old age. (leg. ii.) See also Athen. (Deip. x, 54, ed. Schweigh.)

According to Hippocrates, old men bear abstinence better than those of any other period of life. (Aphorism.) The reason of this assigned by his Commentators, Theophilus and Damascius, is, that their innate heat is lower than at any other age, and consequently requires less pabulum to support it. (Ed. Dietz. t. iv, 277.)

SECT. XXIV.—FOR A WRINKLED STATE OF THE BODY.

A wrinkled state of the body may be removed by the farina of bitter tares, mixed with white vine.

Another abstergent composition (smegma), to be frequently rubbed into the skin: fat figs bruised with bryony, and the burned powder of tares, the shells of the cuttle-fish (sepia), mixed with a small quantity of honey.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 20.)

SECT. XXV.—TO MAKE THE PERSPIRATION FRAGRANT.

The perspiration may be rendered fragrant by mixing the leaves of the cypress, pounded dry, and the bark of the pine in the same ointment. One ought also to remember in the morning, immediately after being dressed, to taste a small quantity of cassia or savin.

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COMMENTARY. This is copied from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 21.) See also Rhases (ad Mansor. v, 53.) Rhases recommends the heads of cardui for food, and the seeds of juniper or cassia lignea in the drink. His advice further is to rub the body with pastils of roses, and to drink aromatic wine.

SECT. XXVI.—TO WARM THE HABIT.

Since even the habit must be warmed, it will be proper to use a preparation of a heating nature when in the bath. Let it contain calamint, marjoram (sampsuchum), hyssop, bay berries, rosemary, the stone pyrites, salts, the burnt lees of wine, nitre, pumice-stone, each in proper proportion; also a small quantity of mustard, stavesacre, and the seeds of the thymelæa (granum cnidium). After the bath, use a warm restorative (Acopum), and drink a yellow old wine, having taken a sweet drink (propoma) from wine and honey, pepper, rue, and the like.

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COMMENTARY. All this Section is taken from Oribasius, excepting the part relating to the draught or Propoma. The nature of the Propoma will be explained in the Seventh Book. We may just mention that it was a sort of liqueur.

SECT. XXVII.—FOR PALENESS.

Paleness of the body is diminished by a merry course of life, and grateful food, by mixing together radishes, leeks, and the green chick-pea. The juice of the sweet pomegranate taken internally, restores the complexion. Oil, in which the root of the white vine (bryonia) has been long boiled, is likewise proper. This gives tone to the body. For detergent applications, form pastils of detergents, as farina, the bulb of the narcissus, and the root of the bryony. The root also of the bitter almond, if taken in abundance, will improve the colour, and likewise the fruit boiled in water and used for a bath.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Syn. v, 23.)

SECT. XXVIII.—ON LIVIDITY.

Livid spots are prevented from forming on old men, by rendering their skin thick and hardy, and by warming the habit. In order to dispel them, the black places should be rubbed in the bath with salts, and fomented with sponges steeped in a decoction of radish or wormwood.

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COMMENTARY. This is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 24.)

SECT. XXIX.—PRESERVATIVES OF THE TEETH.

The teeth will not decay if the following things be attended to: in the first place, to avoid indigestion, and frequent repetitions of emetics. Guard against such food as is hurtful to the teeth, as dried figs, honey boiled, so as to become very hard, dates which are difficult to rub down, and all glutinous substances; likewise such things as are difficult to break, and may thereby loosen the teeth; in like manner also, such substances as set the teeth on edge, and everything which is cold and putrid. The teeth also ought to be cleaned after supper.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is mostly taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 25.)

Rhases gives similar directions. He forbids emetics, and recommends attention to keeping the teeth clean. He praises the following dentifrice: Of hartshorn, of the seeds of tamarisk, of cyperus, of spikenard, of each ℥j, of the salt of gem ʒij, to be pulverised, and the teeth rubbed with it. (Ad Mansor. iv, 21.)

SECT. XXX.—FOR DULNESS OF HEARING.

Dulness of hearing may be prevented by clearing away the sordes from the meatus, and by occasionally introducing into the ear a piece of linen dipped in a calefacient ointment (dropax), pressing it down, and then drawing it out; for this completely clears the opening, and at the same time, stimulates the sense of hearing. Afterwards, the meatus is to be plugged up with a piece of wool of the size of a tare for a day; and, when it is taken out, the meatus is to be anointed with the oil of almonds, of spikenard, or of chamomile, with the fat of geese, or a small quantity of ox gall. Again, after a time, rubbing mustard and figs together, introduce the collyrium thus prepared, for two hours; and then take it out and pour in oil heated in the hollow of the root of the asphodel.

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COMMENTARY. This is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 23.)

Rhases particularly directs great care to avoid indigestion, which, without doubt, is occasionally the cause of indistinct hearing. He recommends some almond oil to be introduced into the meatus, and cautions against exposure to cold wind. (Ad Mansor. iii, 23.)

SECT. XXXI.—ON DIMNESS OF SIGHT.

In order to avoid dimness of sight, when they plunge into cold water, people ought to open their eyes wide, for thereby the strength of their eyes will be much improved. They ought also to be careful not to hurt them by reading. Let them also avoid wine that is thick and sweet, such articles of food as ascend upwards, whatever is of difficult digestion, and engenders crude and thick humours, the herb rocket, leeks, and everything whose pungency ascends upwards. Let them also avoid reclining long in a supine position, cold, winds blowing direct in the face, smoke and dust; and pour daily into the eyes an infusion prepared thus: for a month and a day, put green fennels into an earthen vessel smeared with pitch on the outside, and pour in rain water, and then taking out the fennels, keep the water laid up for use.

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COMMENTARY. This is copied from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 27.)

Rhases gives very copious and sensible directions on this subject, but many of them are the same as those given by our author. He forbids all gross and diffusible articles of food, and also thick wines. Although he cautions against reading books written in small characters, he recommends exercising the eyes by looking at large letters or pictures. He also recommends various collyria, containing antimony, tutty, calamine, camphor, and the like. (Ad Mansor. iv, 22.)

SECT. XXXII.—ON REPLETION.

Excess in diet is a very great error; for, even if the stomach should digest it properly, the veins, being over-filled, become affected, are distended and burst; they are obstructed, or filled up with vapours, and become much oppressed. In diseases nothing is worse than plethora of the veins; for, in fulness of the stomach, the offending matters may be evacuated either upwards or downwards, so that it is less pernicious than the other, and yet it is by no means desirable. But if there be too much food in the stomach, it must be immediately evacuated by vomiting, for there is a danger lest being digested it fill up the veins, more particularly if the person who is guilty of the excess be not attentive to the necessary evacuations. Let him vomit, then, before the food become spoiled; or, if there be any objection to vomiting, it will be of great consequence to bring about frequent discharges from the bowels; or otherwise, he should indulge much in sleep, and drink often of tepid water. When he has digested properly, and more especially if he has had evacuations by the bowels, let him have baths and fomentations, and let him drink moderately of watery draughts, and eat some pickle. But should he neither have alvine evacuations, nor digest readily, and if his whole body be heavy, averse to motion, and sleepy, and if his mind be oppressed with unusual sluggishness, these symptoms indicate plethora of the veins; and, when lassitude supervenes to these, it will be proper to enjoin quietude until digestion in the stomach be accomplished, and then to evacuate by labour.

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COMMENTARY. Our author, as usual, copies from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 28.)

Hippocrates describes accurately the bad effects of plethora, but at so great length that we cannot venture to give an outline of his practice. We may mention, however, that purging with hellebore, emetics, the warm bath, and venesection are his most powerful remedies. (De Diæta, iii, 16 et seq.)

Galen has also a treatise of considerable length on the same subject. Among the causes of plethora enumerated by him, we remark that he mentions the use of the warm bath after meals, whereby he holds that the system is overloaded with imperfectly concocted chyle. (De Plenitudine, and Meth. Med. ix, 5.) See also Rhases (ad Mansor. ii); Haly Abbas (Pract. i, 12); Alsaharavius (Pract. v, 4); Averrhoes (Comment. in Cant. Avicennæ); Avicenna (i, 2, 3.)

Alsaharavius says that plethora is marked by ruddiness of the body, heaviness, torpor, large veins, somnolency, a large face, and brawny limbs. It is usually accompanied, he adds, by impairment of the understanding, forgetfulness, heaviness of the head, weakness of sight, great pulsation of the arteries, and a disposition to epistaxis. He recommends a restricted diet, consisting of articles not very nutritious, exercise, the bath, along with friction, and medicines calculated to evacuate the prevailing humour, whether blood, phlegm, or bile.

Haly’s account is very like our author’s.

Rhases gives a good description of repletion, which, he says, is generally brought on by excess in eating and drinking, along with too much indulgence in sleep. Avicenna’s description is similar.

SECT. XXXIII.—ON INTOXICATION.

To those who are intoxicated, vomiting is an immediate relief. It will be proper that they drink freely of water and honied water, so that they may vomit freely, and remove the uneasy feelings. After vomiting, let them use the bath, along with plenteous unction, and afterwards rest for some time, well covered up, until they have slept off their debauch.

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COMMENTARY. These simple directions are extracted from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 33.) Hippocrates recommends an emetic after intoxication. (De Diæta, iii, 4.)

For the cure of intoxication Haly Abbas recommends the tepid bath, affusion of tepid water, and friction with oil. If headach prevail he directs cold rose oil to be poured on the head; or, if it is summer, cold water. After this the person is to be rubbed, and to take things of a cooling nature, such as prunes, tamarinds, and the like. (Pract. i, 8.)

Rhases recommends vinegar and water, or the like, for drink; the application of vinegar and oil of roses to the head, and camphor and water to the nose. He also approves of emetics, and of putting the person’s hands and feet into cold water. He says one ought to sleep long before going into the bath. (Ad Mansor. v, 71 and 77.)

The practice of taking an emetic after a debauch is often alluded to in the works of the classical authors. Thus it is mentioned by Aristophanes in his ‘Acharnenses.’ Suetonius, in the lives of Vitellius and Claudius, states that these Emperors were in the practice of procuring vomiting, in order to relieve themselves from the effects of excessive eating and drinking. See also Pliny (Hist. Nat. xiv, 28.) Athenæus, upon the authority of Mnestheus, the Athenian physician, recommends that a person who has drunk wine freely should not go to rest until he has vomited more or less. He advises afterwards either the affusion, or bath of hot water. (Deip. xi, 67.) It appears, from Pliny, that the celebrated Asclepiades of Bithynia condemned the use of emetics, which were so common in his time. (Hist. Nat. xxvi, 7.) See also Celsus. (i, 3.)

SECT. XXXIV.—ON WRONG DIGESTION OF THE FOOD.

It contributes much to the health of those whose food spoils in their stomachs, that the offending matters be discharged downwards; and when they are not so discharged naturally, this operation ought to be promoted by gentle laxatives. Persons may, with advantage, take, before eating, an emetic from the drinking of wine, or must. They ought also to be counselled not to take food of a strong or offensive smell, nor such as easily becomes spoiled; but, on the contrary, such as is wholesome. To such persons, evacuations of the bowels at proper intervals, by means of gentle laxatives, are highly expedient.

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COMMENTARY. See Oribasius (Euporist. i, 3, and Synops. v, 30.) This subject will be more fully treated of in the Third Book.

SECT. XXXV.—ON VENERY.

From sexual enjoyments, the following advantages may be derived: they relieve plethora, render the body lighter, promote its growth, and make it more masculine; they free the mind from the cares which beset it, and relieve it from ungovernable anger. Wherefore, the best possible remedy for melancholy is coition. Those also who are otherwise affected with mania it will restore to reason. It is also a powerful remedy for phlegmatic disorders, will restore the appetite to those who have lost it, and dispel continued libidinous dreams. The temperaments which are most adapted for venery are the hot and humid, and these bear it best. A dry and cooling diet, old age, and the season of autumn unfit for it. The diet, therefore, ought to be moistening and heating; and moderation as to labour and food ought to be observed. And as other kinds of labour are useful so also are the venereal, when taken in moderation; for they incite to the act, and, by the habit, procure some alleviation. But nothing is so much required as abundance of food, which also ought to be of a nutritious nature. Of fishes, the best are polypi, (which are otherwise supposed to incite,) and all the class called mollusca; of pot-herbs, the all-good (horminum), hedge-mustard (erysimum), rocket (irio), and turnip. And the following are as medicines: of pulse, beans, chick-peas, Sicilian peas, kidney-beans and peas, which fill the body with vapours and abundance of food. Rue, as it concocts and dispels flatulence, blunts the venereal appetite. But I greatly approve of grapes, which supply the body with moisture, and fill the blood with flatus, which rouses to venery. He who is about to proceed to the act ought to guard against repletion, indigestion, lassitude, precursory vomits and purges, and, in like manner, an acute diarrhœa; for a chronic one is dried up by venery. And strong desires I do not approve of, but think that they ought to be contended against, especially by those who have any distemper. The most proper season for enjoyment is after gymnastic exercises, baths, and a moderate repast; for food contributes to the strength, and diminishes the chills which succeed it. The proper time, as I said before, is after eating, and before sleep, for the lassitude is relieved by sleep. This too is the fittest time for procreation on many accounts, and because that the woman falling asleep is the more likely to retain the semen.

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COMMENTARY. The contents of this Section are mostly taken from a fuller account of this subject, given in an extract from the works of Ruffus, preserved by Oribasius. (Med. Col. vi, 38.) See also Aëtius (iii, 18); Galen (Ars Medica, de Sanit. tuend. iii, 11); Avicenna (Cant.); Averrhoes (Comment. in Cantica, and Collig. vi, 7); Rhases (ad Mansor. iv, 17); Haly Abbas (Pract. i, 10, 13); Alsaharavius (Theor. x.)

The conclusion at which Galen arrives with regard to venereal exercises is that they have a tendency to render the body drier, colder, and weaker, and that these bad effects are to be counteracted by things of a bracing, heating, and strengthening nature.

Averrhoes says, venery, in a word, induces the following evils: dryness of the body, effeminacy, imbecility, exhaustion, and at the same time prostration; therefore, the friction which is had recourse to after it, ought to remove the inconveniences occasioned by it. This should be much and rough friction, and be performed with oil.

According to Avicenna, excessive indulgence breaks down the powers of the constitution, and superinduces either a cold intemperament or hectic fever. Abstinence, on the other hand, by those who had been in the habit of indulgence, is said to bring on heaviness of the head and diseases of the joints and testicles. In this case, he recommends rue, and various other articles, which were supposed by the ancients to be possessed of anti-aphrodisiacal properties. Cicuta, according to Pliny, produces this effect.

Alsaharavius forbids coition when the body is either reduced by abstinence or overloaded with too much food and drink. The proper season for it, he says, is after sleep, when digestion is accomplished, and towards morning. It is prejudicial, he says, in very hot seasons, and to persons of a dry intemperament. Rhases, like our author, says that moderate indulgence removes plethora, lightens the mind, and cures sorrow.

According to Haly Abbas, the most proper time for enjoyment is after digestion, and when the food has descended into the stomach. If performed before sleep, he says, there is most chance of impregnation. Abstinence, when one had become habituated to the act, he says, weakens the natural heat, hurts the breast, stomach, and liver, induces coldness of the body, and renders it dry, sluggish, and enervated. Excess, on the other hand, brings on premature old age and consumption.

It will be remarked that our author and Alsaharavius differ in opinion as to the best season for partaking of the δωῤ ἐρατὰ χρυσῆς Αφροδίτῆς.

See a learned disquisition on this and other similar matters in the ‘Symposiacon’ of Plutarch. Pliny says of it “medetur et lumborum dolori, oculorum hebetationi, mente captis, ac melancholicis.” (H. N. xxviii, 16.)

SECT. XXXVI.—ON IMPOTENCE.

In cases of impotence, it may be proper to rub the parts frequently with an ointment containing a small part of the root of the narcissus, or the seed of the thymelæa, or pellitory, or stavesacre, or the seed of the nettle, or of anise. Let them also before their meals take a drink with pepper, or satyrium, or rocket, or bastard saffron, or all together. Before food, let him also eat the small red bulbi roasted, with salt and oil, or a little of the squill dried in the sun. They may also use the compound preparations elsewhere described, and often indulge in obscene reading.

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COMMENTARY. Athenæus mentions that it was a practice with some to put sponges into beds, as incentives to venery. He states, upon the authority of Theophrastus, that certain medicines are possessed of aphrodisiacal properties, to an almost incredible degree. (Deipnos, i, 15.) He says the immoderate use of wine often induces impotence; and relates that it had this effect upon Alexander the Great. (Deipnos, x, 45.) Hippocrates mentions that many of the Scythians were affected with impotence, by being constantly on horseback. (De Aer, &c. vi, 22.) See Coray’s Note, and Littré’s Hippocrates, (t. iv, p. 9.) It would appear that many of the ancient athletæ, rendered themselves impotent by self-denial and immoderate exercise. (Galen. de Loc. affect, vi, versus finem.)

The ancients held, that most of the testacea are aphrodisiacal. See Plautus (Casina, ac. ii, sc. 8, l. 59,) and the note of Lambinus (Ed. Gronov.); also Petronius Arbiter (Satyricon.)

The rocket (eruca) was particularly celebrated as an aphrodisiacal herb. See Pliny (H. N. xix, 8), and Juvenal (Sat. ix, 134.); Columella (in Hort.); Galen (de Fac. Alim. lib. ii.) Ovid calls it herba salax. (Remed. Amor. 799.)

On this subject, see Rhases (ad Mansor. v, 62, Contin. xxiv); Avicenna (iii, 20, 1); Alsaharavius (Pract. xxii, 11.) Rhases gives a long list of articles which were supposed to be possessed of aphrodisiacal properties, such as nettle-seed, elecampane, rape-seed, mint, rocket, cresses, cubebs, &c. Avicenna’s account, however, is the fullest. He directs the parts to be rubbed with liniments, containing stavesacre, pellitory, squills, myrrh, assafœtida, and the like.

SECT. XXXVII.—ON INORDINATE VENERY.

Since by too much indulgence the body becomes flabby, cold, dried, and weak, it must be supplied with such things as will brace, warm, humectate, and strengthen it. To those who indulge themselves immoderately, warm clothing is suitable, also rest and sufficient sleep until the body remits from its tension, and they recover from their atony.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is partly taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 35.) A similar account is given by Rhases. (Ad Mansor. v, 67.) Inordinate venery, he says, occasions premature old age, dries the body, and brings on frigidity. (Contin. c. xxiv.) See, in like manner, Avicenna (iii, 20, l, 36.) To restore the body when debilitated by excessive enjoyment, he recommends a calefacient and diluent regimen, nutritious food, baths, aromatics, and everything that can exhilarate.

SECT. XXXVIII.—ON REDUNDANCE OF SEMEN.

Some persons collect much semen of a warm nature, and then proceeding to coition and discharging it, render the body weak, and the stomach languid, and so become emaciated and dried: or, if they abstain from venery, they are seized with heaviness of the head, and become feverish; after which they have libidinous dreams, and the same thing takes place. They must therefore avoid those things which engender semen, and take such kinds of food and medicines as consume it. After the bath they ought to have their loins rubbed with the oil of roses, or that of apples, or of unripe olives; and it is better to make them thick by mixing a little wax with them, and the juice of some cooling herb, such as the house-leek, nightshade, the navelwort, or fleawort. In summer these may be used, but at other seasons, salt and the juice of the lettuce and linseed boiled in water, for it also furnishes a cooling juice. And a plate of lead applied to the loins will prevent libidinous dreams; and herbs of a cooling nature, as rue and the tender tops of the chaste tree, if strewed under one in bed, will have the same effect. For this purpose, also, the seed of the chaste tree and of rue may be eaten. Care, however, must be taken that the loins be not too much cooled, lest the kidneys be hurt.

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COMMENTARY. This Section, is taken, with a very few slight alterations, from Galen. (De Sanitate tuendâ, vi, 14.) The same treatment is recommended by Avicenna (iii, 20, l, 35); and by Rhases (ad Mansor. v, 67.) Alsaharavius recommends bleeding, and various cooling and astringent remedies, both internally and externally. (Pract. xxii, 9.)

Hippocrates says that the strychnos cures impure dreams. (De Diæta, ii.) Serapion states that the lettuce possesses “virtus contraria spermati.” (De Simpl. ex Plantis.)

We may remark here, once for all, that by the juice (χυλὸς) of herbs, the Greek medical authors generally mean the decoction. Thus, according to Dr. Coray, by χυλὸς τῶν ἐρεβίνθων, Hippocrates understood ἀφέψημα τ. ε. (Xenocrat. de Alim. ex Aquat. p. 219.) In like manner, by “the juice of ptisan,” was meant strained ptisan, as Hippocrates himself has distinctly stated in his treatise on ‘Regimen in Acute Diseases.’

SECT. XXXIX.—ON PERSONS INJURED BY COLD.

Those who are much congealed ought to be laid in a warm place, and rubbed with the oil of privet, or of the iris. Afterwards, when moderately heated, they should get pepper, or myrrh, with sweet fragrant old wine, or Cyrenaic juice in wine or vinegar, or pellitory or castor with vinegar, and be given food of a heating nature.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 36.)

Rhases directs us to lay a person congealed with cold in a warm apartment, and to rub with hot hands the whole of his body, with the exception of the head, which is to be warmed with hot cloths. Persons having warm bodies are then to lie down in bed beside him; and he is to take a draught containing assafœtida, myrrh, pepper, and strong wine. When the respiration is fairly restored, he is to take some nourishing food and wine; and is then to be covered up with many blankets, and left to sleep. When he awakes, he is to be put into a hot bath, and after remaining for a long time in it, he is to be strongly rubbed when he leaves it with calefacient oil, such as the oil of lilies or narcissus, to which costus, castor, musk, and spurge have been added. (Ad Mansor. vi, 5.)

Let the reader remark the similarity of the ancient practice in the cases of persons who have been exposed to great cold, and of those who have been poisoned with opium. (See Book Fifth, 43.) Galen remarks, that the effects of opium, and of the exposure of the body to extreme cold, are very like. (Comment. in Epidem. Hippocrat.)

In the 4th book of Xenophon’s ‘Anabasis,’ there is an interesting description of the effects resulting from the exposure of the Grecian army to extreme cold, and the means which they took to preserve themselves from being injured by it. The historian relates that they rubbed themselves before the fire with an ointment composed of swines’ seam, and oils of sesame, of bitter almonds, and of turpentine. The Carthaginian soldiers of Hannibal, in like manner, when exposed to great cold among the mountains of Italy, rubbed their bodies with oil as a protection from its effects, and with great success, if we may believe Florus the historian: he says, “tunc callidissimi hostes frigidum et nivalem nacti diem, quam se ignibus prius, oleoque fovissent, (horribile dictu!) homines a meridie, et sole venientes, nostra nos hieme vicerunt.” (Hist. Rom. ii, 6.) It is worthy of remark, by the way, that Baron Larrey, in his account of the retreat of the French army from Moscow, states that the inhabitants of southern climates endured the cold better than those of the north. The fact that the Carthaginian soldiers rubbed their bodies with oil on the occasion we have mentioned is stated also by Polybius (Hist. iii, 72), and by Livy (Hist. Roman, xxi, 55.)

Quintus Curtius relates that the soldiers of Alexander the Great rubbed their bodies with the juice of sesame, instead of oil, when exposed to intense cold while crossing the Bactrian mountains. (vii, 15.)

Pliny, with his usual terseness, thus states the powers of oil in protecting the body both from cold and heat: “Oleo natura tepefacere corpus, et contra algores munire; eidemque fervores capitis refrigerare.” (Hist. Nat. xv, 6.)

SECT. XL.—FOR PERSONS SCORCHED BY THE SUN.

Persons who have been scorched by the sun should be laid in an airy place, and have their face, hands, and legs bathed with cold water. If thirsty, they may drink cold water, if in the practice so to do; this, however, ought to be done considerately, and not much at a time. Let them also take some food of easy distribution, rather of a fluid than of a solid nature.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 37.)

When a person has suffered from exposure to great heat, Rhases recommends rest, the tepid bath, and fruits and food of a cooling and moistening nature. When there is headach, he directs the head to be anointed with oil of roses and vinegar. (Ad Mansor. vi, i.)

Averrhoes recommends a person who has suffered from exposure to the sun to be put into a tepid bath, and rubbed afterwards with refrigerant oils. (Collect. iii, 9.)

SECT. XLI.—ON COLLECTIONS OF PHLEGM IN THE STOMACH.

If you should meet with a person who loathes any wholesome food which is offered him, who abstains from food, or, if compelled to take it, becomes sick, who longs after only such things as are acrid, and has no pleasure even in them, but has his belly swelled up with flatulence, is seized with nausea, and enjoys only a short respite by eructations, and on whose stomach everything spoils and becomes acid,—know for certain that the remedies which will afford him relief are such as will clear the stomach of phlegm. I have known one of those so affected, after taking an emetic, consisting of radishes out of oxymel, bring up an incredible quantity of very thick phlegm, by which he has been straightway completely restored to health.

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COMMENTARY. This chapter is taken from Oribasius, who, in his turn, is indebted to Galen.

A similar account is given by Rhases. (Contin. xi, 1.) He recommends emetics. (Ad Mansor. iv, 16.)

SECT. XLII.—HOW TO PRODUCE EASY VOMITING.

Since to those who vomit with difficulty many disagreeable consequences are apt to happen, it will be proper to explain by what methods one may be made to vomit readily; for this operation evacuates phlegm and lightens the head, and prevents a person who may have eaten immoderately from suffering indigestion, and one who has taken too much wine from being hurt thereby. Let the substances which are taken be neither sour nor dry, but part of a sweetish and liquid nature, and part acrid. Among these the radish is deserving of praise, and also the rocket, and old pickle, green marjoram, and a small quantity of onion and leek. Vomiting is likewise promoted by ptisans of pulse containing some honey; by soup of bruised beans and the fat of flesh; but one must not only take the juice, but swallow whole lumps of it; and one must not spend much time upon mastication; but these things ought to be soft from boiling. It is clear, also, that it is the sweetish kinds of wine which ought to be preferred, for such are aptest to swim upon the stomach; and tepid drink ought to be used. It is proper also to eat almonds dipped in honey, also sweet cakes, and the moistened seed of the pompion and cucumber pounded with honey. The root likewise of the cucumber rubbed with honey has some effect. Those who wish to use more powerful medicines, mix some wine with a decoction of the bulb of the narcissus. Vomiting is also produced by the ointment of iris, if one will smear one’s fingers in it and tickle one’s throat. It is also to be attended to in vomiting not to intermit after vomiting is once begun; and to bathe the face and wash the mouth with sour wine or water, for this is beneficial to the teeth, and relieves the head.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is abridged from Oribasius. (Med. Collect. viii, 21.) The opinions of Galen, Diocles, and Archigenes, on this subject, may likewise be learned from Oribasius. Galen recommends vomiting for collections of yellow bile, and when the stomach is loaded with viscid matters, but forbids it when the stomach is weak. The opinions of Celsus are very similar: “Vomitus ut in secunda quoque valetudine sæpe necessarius biliosis est, sic etiam in iis morbis quos bilis concitavit. Vomitus utilior est hieme quam æstate; nam tum est pituitæ plus, et capitis gravitas major subest. Inutilis est gracilibus et imbecillum stomachum habentibus: utilis est plenis et biliosis omnibus si vel nimium se replerunt, vel parum concoxerunt.” The directions given by Celsus for producing vomiting are very simple: “Qui vomere post cibum volet, si ex facili facit, aquam tantum tepidam antè debet assumere: si difficiliùs, aquæ, vel salis, vel mellis paulum adjicere. At qui mane vomiturus est, antè bibere mulsum, vel hyssopum, aut esse radiculam debet, deinde aquam tepidam (ut supra scriptum est) bibere.” Galen commends the bulb of the narcissus as an emetic. He forbids those who have contracted chests to take emetics frequently. (De Purgantibus Medicinis.)

Aëtius gives an interesting account of this subject in an extract from the works of Ruffus. He forbids vomiting when the eyes are affected, or when hæmoptysis is apprehended. He commends it for the cure of arthritic diseases, dropsy, and jaundice. One of his simplest emetics consists of the decoction of radishes, with the strained infusion of dried figs. He mentions the oil of privet as a most effectual emetic. (iii, 19.)

Avicenna’s information on this subject is very ample; but, upon the whole, his directions are mostly the same as our author’s. He properly states that the too frequent repetition of emetics hurts the stomach, is prejudicial to the chest, the sight, the teeth, in chronic pains of the head, unless arising from sympathy with the stomach: and in epilepsy, when the cause of it is seated in the head, (i, 4.) According to Avicenna and Averrhoes, the proper season for emetics is the summer. (Cant. I. 1.)

Rhases says that much vomiting hurts the liver, breast, eyes, and lungs, occasioning hæmoptysis. He directs the person to bind a compress on the forehead before taking an emetic; and to wash the mouth and face with hydromel after its operation. He adds that persons who have long necks, prominent chests, and who are lean, ought to abstain altogether from emetics. (Ad Mansor. iv, 16.)

Haly Abbas forbids emetics in chronic complaints of the head and chest, especially if the person be threatened with phthisis. He says that the repetition of them weakens the stomach, and may induce hæmoptysis. (Pract. i, 12, 13.) Alsaharavius delivers exactly the same detail of the cases in which emetics prove hurtful or beneficial. (Theor. x, 2.)

Serapion gives a full account of these gentle emetics. (De Antidotis, c. 36.)

On the simpler methods which the ancients had recourse to in order to produce vomiting, see Prosper Alpinus. (Med. Meth. iii, 10.)

We would here remark that the predilection of the ancients for vomits has appeared very extraordinary to some of our modern writers on dietetics, the more especially as it was supposed that the ancients made use of violent emetics, as for example, the white hellebore, in such cases. It is certain, however, that the ancients were acquainted with gentler means of unloading the stomach on ordinary occasions, and that they seldom made use of such medicines as the hellebore, except in cases of disease; and, as we shall see afterwards, were well aware of the danger of giving strong emetics unseasonably.

SECT. XLIII.—ON LAXATIVES AND DIURETICS TO THOSE IN HEALTH.

Some of the ancients thought it sufficient for health that the bowels and urine should be evacuated once a day freely and fully, according to the quantity of food and drink which had been taken; and when the evacuations were agreeable to this rule, they were satisfied, or, if otherwise, they assisted them by taking, in order to increase the urinary discharge, shepherd’s needle, parsley, asparagus, Macedonian parsley, anise, calamint, marjoram, wormwood, the roots of couch-grass and of golden thistle, tree-medic, and of maiden-hair; all these being boiled in water, so that the decoction might be drunk with wine. For these things purify the blood by the mine, and are of no small efficacy. Alvine discharges are to be assisted by giving turpentine to the quantity of an olive when going to rest, or, when it is wished to purge more effectually, by adding a little rhubarb. Soft eggs, of pot-herbs the beet and mallows, and the soup of shell-fish are also laxative, and these probably will be sufficient. But if more powerful remedies be required, the herb mercury, boiled in water with salt, may be eaten, or the decoction drunk; and, in like manner, the leaves of the elder tree (sambucus), or the root of the oak-fern (polypodium) to the amount of two drachms, may be sprinkled upon pickle, or swallowed in a ptisan; or milk-whey, with salt; or honey, to the amount of three or four heminæ; or the broth of an old cock, by itself or with two drachms of bastard saffron, or aloes, to the amount of about three chick-peas, may be taken at supper-time. But the best remedy is dodder of thyme, taken in wine after a moderate supper. But he that wishes to purge more strongly must take, in the morning, a drachm of this medicine infused in vinegar and honey, if in the spring season.

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COMMENTARY. Oribasius treats fully of purgatives towards the end of the 8th book of ‘Med. Collect.’ He gives a list of gentle laxatives. (Euporist. i, 45.)

Hippocrates frequently recommends gentle purgatives for the preservation of the health. Of this class, the herb mercury appears to have been his favourite.

Galen has given two distinct treatises on purgatives, and the cases in which they are applicable. He dissuades those who are in good health from taking them, but says that they may often be used so as to prevent the recurrence of diseases. Hence, he says, that he had often prevented gout and rheumatism from relapsing, by the seasonable administration of purgatives. He forbids purgatives when the hypochondria are distended with flatulence.

Aëtius gives a very lengthy account of the preparation of purgative medicines, which will be noticed more properly in the Seventh Book. He states that all medicines of a cutting or penetrative nature are diuretic. He mentions plantain, fennel, parsley, seseli, anise, valerian, bitter almonds, &c. (iii.)

Celsus gives the following list of gentle diuretics: “Urinam movent quæcunque in horto nascentia boni odoris sunt, ut apium, ruta, anethum, ocimum, mentha, hyssopum, anisum, coriandrum, nasturtium, eruca, feniculum: præter hæc, asparagus, capparis, nepeta, thymum, saturcia, lapsana, pastinaca, magisque agrestis, radicula, siser, cepa; ex venatione, maximè lepus; vinum tenue, piper et rotundum et longum, sinapi, absinthium, nuclei pinei.” He also gives a long list of laxative articles, such as cabbage, mallows, sorrel, gourds, cherries, all ripe apples, green figs, cockles, oysters, muscles, milk, crude honey, and all fatty and salty substances. (ii, 29.) Horace makes mention of the laxative properties of oysters, cockles, dock, and white wine—

“Si dura morabitur alvus Mitulus et viles pellent obstantia conchæ, Et lapathi brevis herba; sed albo non sine Coo.”

(Sat. ii, 4.)

Avicenna gives very minute directions respecting the use of purgatives. He very properly recommends us when a purgative medicine has been taken, and instead of operating, has occasioned heat, vertigo, and headach, to administer an injection. (i, 4.)

Haly Abbas treats of these medicines in pretty much the same terms as our author. He remarks that obstruction of the bowels leads to colic, flatulence, difficult respiration, and vertigo. Retention of urine, he says, leads to ulcers in the bladder. He states that diuretics are useful in diseases of the joints and spine, dropsy, and various complaints, but are apt to render the body dry. (Pract. i, 12.) Diuretic medicines, he remarks in another place, are of a hot and sharp nature, so that they heat the kidneys, and thereby increase their attractive power. (ii, 27.)

Alsaharavius cautions against the indiscriminate use of purgatives, which, he says, in a dry temperament disposes to phthisis, and to dropsy when the stomach is weak. When a purgative medicine has induced hypercatharsis, he prescribes astringent powders, containing sumach, pomegranate, and the like. (Theor. x. 1.)

Rhases gives some very sensible observations on the use and abuse of purgatives. He says that persons who lead an indolent life, are of a gross habit, and live freely, are most benefited by them. To those of a dry temperament, on the other hand, they prove prejudicial, by predisposing to hectic fever. He recommends fat food and the warm bath before taking a purgative. (Ad. Mansor. iv, 15.)

See a full account of these laxative medicines, in Serapion (De Antidotis.)

SECT. XLIV.—ON CLYSTERS.

In constipation of the bowels, when the stomach is naturally weak, and cannot bear purgatives, recourse must be had to clysters. When phlegm is contained in the intestines, the clyster may be composed of the decoctions of dried figs, and of beet, nitre, the root of the wild cucumber, honey, and the oil of chamomile or dill. But when the complaint proceeds from dryness they may be composed of those of marsh-mallows, fenugreek, chamomile, oil, and a small quantity of honey. And sometimes oil alone, injected to the amount of half a hemina, will produce the desired effect; but even this must not be repeated constantly, lest nature, becoming accustomed to these things, should forget to perform the evacuation spontaneously.

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COMMENTARY. Hippocrates frequently recommends the administration of clysters. Herodotus mentions that the ancient Egyptians had recourse to clysters at stated periods every month. (ii, 77.)

Oribasius has treated of the composition of clysters, and the cases in which they are to be applied so fully in the eighth book of his ‘Medica Collectanea,’ that he may be said to have exhausted the subject. It appears, from his account, that the ancients used a syringe for throwing up injections. A large clyster, he says, amounts to three heminæ, a small one to one hemina, and a moderate one to two heminæ (two pints). (Synops. i, 19.)

Celsus, after some very appropriate observations on the cases which are benefited by clysters, concludes with the following directions for the composition of them: Plain water may be injected, if the case be slight; or honied water, if stronger means be required; if emollients be indicated, the decoction of mallows, of fenugreek, or ptisan may be used; or if astringents be proper, vervain. Acrid clysters may be formed of sea-water, or with the addition of some salt, and their strength may be increased by boiling. Such a clyster may be rendered still more acrid by the addition of oil, nitre, or honey. He remarks that the more acrid a clyster is, the greater will be its purgative effect, but the more difficult will it be to bear. He says it ought to be neither hot nor cold. After the injection has been thrown up, he recommends the person to remain quiet, and to resist the first desire to go to stool. (ii, 12.)

Aëtius treats of clysters very fully. He prefaces his account of the mode of administering them, with a correct detail of the evils arising from constipation, which, he justly remarks, is the precursor of most of the ills which break out in the human frame. (iii, 159.)

See a long list of prescriptions for clysters in Serapion. (De Antidotis, tr. vii, 26.) Rhases and Avicenna give a full account of the nature of clysters, but supply no additional information on the subject.

SECT. XLV.—ON SUPPOSITORIES.

We often use suppositories for the discharge of scybalæ, or when injections are not properly evacuated. Suppositories are formed of roasted salt, honey, and nitre; or thyme may be mixed with boiled honey. They are also formed of turpentine rosin, and nitre, and sometimes with a moderate quantity of the seeds of the thymelæa (granum cnidium); but it irritates the parts, which, therefore, ought to be rubbed with oil. Pellitory and pepper are also added, and are particularly fitted for paralytics, and for the relief of flatulence from cold. Centaury is also mixed with pitch and cerate, and is very applicable for paralysis of the genital organs. For infants a lump of salt is applied. Figs also are mixed up with nitre.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is entirely taken from Oribasius. (Synops. i, 20.) See a fuller account in his ‘Med. Collect.’ (viii, 39), and Aëtius (iii, 160.) Aëtius, after mentioning the composition of certain suppositories similar to those of our author, speaks also of using for this purpose, figs mixed with nitre (soda?) and grapes deprived of their stones, with the addition of nitre and cumin.

Actuarius states that it is when the obstruction is seated in the rectum that suppositories are particularly applicable. (Meth. Med. iii, 5.)

See also Avicenna (iii, 20, 1), and Rhases (Contin. xxiv.)

The use of suppositories in the practice of medicine might be traced back to the earliest times. Mention of them occurs frequently in the works of Hippocrates.

SECT. XLVI.—ON MEDICINES WHICH EVACUATE PHLEGM FROM THE HEAD, MASTICATORIES, ERRHINES AND LINIMENTS TO THE NOSE.

We evacuate humours fixed in the head, with the saliva, by mixing some pepper with mastich, if a small discharge only be required; or, if a greater evacuation be wanted, by giving directions to chew pellitory or stavesacre. The root of every species of anemone, when chewed, also excites the secretion of saliva, and the rind of the root of cappers. Serous superfluities may be thus evacuated; but, for thicker phlegm, we must gargle with mustard in vinegar and honey, or with sodden wine, having marjoram and hyssop boiled in it. I also mix this with the gargle formed of mustard in vinegar and honey. When we want to clear the brain of mucus, we must stimulate it by means of acrid substances, of which kind some are sternutatories. The juice of either pimpernel, of the anemones, and of beet purge by the nose. The juice also of the leaves of the wild cucumber may be applied to the nostrils, either alone or with the decoction or juice of the beet. But sneezing is not at all applicable for crude humours contained in the chest, lungs, and head. The following ointment may be rubbed into the mouth: Anoint the roof of the mouth and uvula with a soap containing the juice of the beet. The same application may be used as an errhine. I have also often used the following composition, which is easily prepared: Macerate gith in strong vinegar for a day, then next day rub it with the vinegar, and pour it into the nose. Sometimes the gith may be rubbed with old oil; and I apply it in this manner. Archigenes used it in the same manner for obstruction of the nostrils. Crito used the former cure, along with vinegar, for jaundice.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. i, 21.)

Hippocrates makes frequent mention of the caput-purgia, or medicines which purge the head. On the composition of these medicines, see in particular Aëtius (iii, 140-1); Nonnus (Epit. 17); and Serapion (de Antidotis, vii, 31.) They contain such articles as these: pepper, nitre, white hellebore, spurge, gith, pellitory, mastich, turpentine, mustard, chalcitis, alum, and the like. The errhines were used principally in obstructions of the nose, and when the sense of smell was impaired. The apophlegmatismi were supposed to prove useful in chronic affections of the head, impairment of the senses of smell and sight, and also when the tongue and throat were affected.

Prosper Alpinus gives a full account of the errhines, masticatories, and cough medicines of the ancients. (Med. Meth. iii, 11.) He makes the caput-purgia to be the same as the errhines, and the apophlegmatismi the same as the masticatories of the moderns.

SECT. XLVII.—ON EMMENAGOGUES.

All diuretics promote also the flow of the menses, such as the decoction of the root of the cabbage, the root of the peach, rue, marigold, dittany, and the seed of rocket. The same effect may be produced by certain substances when applied to the mouth of the womb, as suppositories, such as rue rubbed with honey, or the juice of leeks, or finely-powdered germander, or myrrh, triturated in wine, or the rennet of a hare.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. i, 22.) A fuller list of the medicinal articles which were supposed by the ancients to promote the menstrual discharge is given by Aëtius. (iii, 153-4.) It contains cassia, myrrh, thyme, centaury, wormwood, nettle, elaterium, black hellebore, turpentine-rosin, cumin, sage, and the like. All these were used in injections and suppositories. The following were given by the mouth, and were held to be likewise diuretic: hedge-mustard, rue, marjoram, southernwood, sagapene, galbanum, spikenard, the herb mercury, savin, iris, birthwort, &c. See Albengnefit (Libellus.)

Dioscorides is censured by Dr. Cullen as being too credulous in assigning emmenagogue properties to a variety of articles in the Materia Medica. Perhaps, however, there is some foundation for the doctrine of the ancients, that all hot diuretic medicines are in so far emmenagogue. Prosper Alpinus maintains this opinion, but remarks that the action of the emmenagogues is more uncertain than that of the diuretics, and must be assisted by warm baths, pessaries, and fomentations. We shall have occasion to treat more fully of these medicines in the Third Book.

SECT. XLVIII.—ON SUDORIFICS.

The following medicines are sudorifics: The dried powder of chamomile, sprinkled upon oil, and rubbed briskly upon the skin, seseli, pellitory, the seed of the rosemary, anise; and in like manner, when sprinkled upon oil; nitre toasted, and not very fine, with oil; the flower of salt mixed with oil; Cyrenaic juice diluted with water, which may be rubbed into the body, and taken in a draught, to the amount of a chick-pea. Calamint, in like manner, when drunk with honied water, and rubbed externally with oil.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is mostly copied from Oribasius. (Synops. i, 23.) Aëtius enumerates a good many more medicines of this class. Of these some are to be taken by the mouth, as cumin, bay berries, Cyrenaic juice, castor, and lovage; some are to be rubbed into the skin, as nitre with common oil, the oil of dill, of chamomile, of bays, and of radishes; and some are to be used in fumigations, as pennyroyal, the seed of balsam, and so forth. He recommends these medicines in jaundice, and for coldness and constriction of the skin. (iii, 157.)

Celsus treats of the methods for producing free perspiration with more than his usual minuteness. Sweating, he says, may be produced either by dry heat or by baths. The modes of applying dry heat, which he mentions, are by heated sand, the laconicum or sweating apartment of the ancient bath (see Sect. LI), the clibanus or moveable furnace, and the vapour-baths of Baiæ. To these he adds strong exercise. He also treats minutely of the application of baths and fomentations for the cure of diseases, (ii, 17.) Consult Stobæus (100.)

Haly Abbas directs us to restore the perspiration, when stopped, by exercise, friction, baths, and the affusion of hot water over the body. He further recommends friction with the oil of violets, and such things as are mentioned by our author. (Pract. i, 12.)

Rhases recommends internally, castor, opoponax, or opium mixed with honey, and given in tepid water. Externally, he recommends friction, with the oil of chamomile, of pellitory, or the like. (Contin. 31.) Mesue mentions fumigations with calamint, cinquefoil, carpobalsam, and bdellium. Albengnefit recommends the same, and also friction with calefacient oils, and the internal administration of cumin, calamint, and the like.

The ancients, as Prosper Alpinus remarks, seem to have trusted more in external than in internal means for producing free perspiration. They were aware that when the system is greatly over-heated, a draught of cold water, by reducing the temperature of the body, may prove sudorific. This fact is distinctly stated by Galen; and, in accordance with this principle, Rhases prescribes cold water in the hot stage of the smallpox, to facilitate the eruption of the pustules.

On the sudatoria or vapour-baths of the ancients, see Baccius (de Thermis, iv), and Sect. LI, below. Horace thus alludes to the vapour-baths at Baiæ:

“Sane myrteta relinqui, Dictaque cessantem nervis elidere morbum Sulphura contemni vicus gemit.”

(Epist. i, 15.)

Upon which Sanadon remarks: “By sulphura, the poet means the stoves, where sulphureous vapours exhaling from the earth cause a dry heat, which provokes sweat.”

Among the artificial means used by the ancients for procuring perspiration, we may here mention the sand-bath, as it was called, which consisted in rolling the body in sand heated by the sun. (Cælius Aurel. Tard. Pass, iii, 4; Avicenna, i, 2, 2, 20.)

Strong friction in the sun was also used as a means for producing perspiration. See, in particular, Avicenna (i, 2, 2, 20.)

SECT. XLIX.—ON AIRS.

The best kind of air is that which is perfectly pure, such as that which is not defiled with the exhalation from lakes or marshes, nor from any pit which emits pestilential vapours. That also which is impregnated with the exhalations from a canal conveying the impurities of a city is deleterious, and indeed every kind which is loaded with vapours is not good; as also that which is contained within any hollow place, shut up on all sides by high mountains, and not admitting of ventilation. Those, therefore, which are thus deleterious, prove hurtful to all ages and temperaments, whereas the best kinds agree with all. But their differences as to quality—I mean heat, coldness, dryness, and humidity—have not the same effect upon all. Those of a proper temperament are benefited by temperate air, whereas those labouring under an intemperament derive benefit from the opposite kind.

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COMMENTARY. The first part of this Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. i, 24.) The remaining part will be found in the ‘Med. Collect.’ (ix, 1), where the subject is treated of at great length. See, also, Aëtius (iii, 162.) All these authors, however, are much indebted to Galen. (De Sanitate tuendâ, i.) According to Galen, the moon produces changes in the atmosphere, whereby she occasions putrefaction of dead bodies, impairs the colour, and hurts the head of living persons. (De Diebus Criticis, iii.) On the supposed causes why the moon occasions putrefaction, see Plutarch (Synops. iii.)

Antyllus says that there are many differences of airs: some arising from the season of the year; some from the changes of the moon; and some from the hour of the day or night; some from thickness or tenuity, motion or rest, or from the admixture of terrene exhalations. The sun, he adds, warms the body; but the moon rather humectates, and, therefore, she moistens the brain, and occasions the putrefaction of the flesh; renders the bodies of those who sleep in the open air more humid and obtuse; and, for the same cause, she induces epilepsy and heaviness of the head. Cold air, he says, produces plumpness, good nutrition, and the formation of fat; it promotes the growth of the body, and hence, the inhabitants of northern climates are remarked to possess this character. It is unsuitable, however, to all acute disorders; and is also improper for certain chronic diseases, such as consumption, cachexy, paralysis, apoplexy, and rheumatism. Warm air consumes the body, attenuating and wasting the system, but it is preferable to cold air for imparting vigour and agility; it tries the powers, is useful in affections of the nerves and chest, but not in those of other parts. Thick air has no other good property, except that it prevents the powers from being dissipated. Thin air is most conducive to health. The air of high situations is said by him to be more salubrious to all persons, except those labouring under diaphoresis or syncope, and the aged. The atmosphere of places near the sea, he remarks, is milder than that of inland parts. Places in the neighbourhood of marshes are at all times unhealthy; but, in summer, their atmosphere is pestilent. Those by a river side are cold and changeable. See more fully Stobæus. (Sermo xcix.)

Hippocrates gives many interesting observations on the effect of climate, and the state of the atmosphere, in influencing the health; but they are delivered so much in detail, that my limits do not admit of my entering into an exposition of them. (De Aëre Aquis, Locis.) The account there given of the effects of stagnant water when used as drink is particularly deserving of attention. He says it produces diseases of the spleen, dropsies, and the like. See Coray’s edition of this treatise.

Haly Abbas gives a very elaborate disquisition on this subject. He describes minutely the characters of salubrious airs, and the changes produced upon them by the seasons of the year, the state of the winds, the nature of countries, and the stars, that is to say, the sun and dog-star. (Theor. v.) See also Rhases (Contin. xxxiii); Avicenna (i, 2, 2.)

SECT. L.—ON WATERS.

It is necessary also to be skilled in the good and bad properties of waters, for of all things water is of most use in every mode of regimen. It is necessary to know that the best water is wholly devoid of quality, as regards taste and smell, is most pleasant to drink and pure to the sight; and when it passes through the præcordia quickly one cannot find a better drink. But such as remains long there, and proves pungent to the stomach, which it swells up with wind and loads, is to be reckoned pernicious. Such waters are neither soon heated nor cooled, and those things which are boiled in them are slowly and improperly boiled. It is better therefore to prove such water by trial, which he who wishes may do by attending to the following characters: Those which run to the north, and from the sun, pass slowly through the stomach, and are indigestible; they are slowly heated and cooled. Those which are strained through any passage or soil to the east are soon cooled and soon heated, and are to be supposed to be very good. Those also are good which are colder in summer and warmer in winter. Some judge of waters by weight, counting that the best which is lightest. This, if joined to the circumstances already mentioned, may be deserving of consideration, but is not of itself a sufficient criterion of goodness. Rain water, as Hippocrates remarks, is the lightest, the sweetest, the most limpid, and the thinnest, because that which is lightest and thinnest is attracted by the sun, who draws such particles to him, not only from all other waters, but also from the sea, and from bodies. Hence also it is the most prone to putrefaction, as being composed of many different qualities. Let no one suppose that the water which is most prone to putrefaction is the worst, for susceptibility of change is rather a good than a bad property; so that if it has the other characteristics of the best water, and is prone to putrefaction, it is to be reckoned the finest possible. When beginning to turn it proves the cause of hoarseness, coughs, and roughness of speech, to those who drink it. Of rain waters that which falls in summer and during thunder is preferable to that which falls in stormy weather. That from ice and snow is the worst, for during congelation the finest particles of the water are squeezed out. But waters which contain impurities, have a fetid smell, or any bad quality, may be so improved by boiling as to be fit to be drunk; or, by mixing them with wine, adding the astringent to that which is sweeter, and the others to the more austere. Some kinds of water it may be expedient to strain, such as the marshy, saltish, and bituminous. Those which are very cold are to be drunk after food, and not in great quantity. Some also have discovered certain articles of food and drink for correcting the bad properties of waters. Thus some beforehand drink of the decoction of chick-peas, or eat them; others, wild carrots boiled with some small fish, and fennel in like manner; whilst others again eat beet and gourds beforehand with salts and diluted wine.

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COMMENTARY. Our author has given an outline of Hippocrates’ opinions on this subject, and for fuller information, we must refer to his work quoted in the preceding Section.

The characters of the different kinds of water, are thus given by Celsus with his usual terseness: “Aqua levissima pluvialis est: deinde fontana; tum ex flumine, tum ex puteo; post hæc ex nive, aut glacie; gravior his ex lacu; gravissima ex palude.” (ii, 18.) Their characters are somewhat differently given by Athenæus. Thus, he states, that water from snow or ice is lighter and better than rain water; otherwise his remarks on the qualities of waters are very interesting. He recommends a moderate draught of water at the commencement of a feast, in order that the veins, being in so far filled by it, may not greedily absorb the chyle before it is properly concocted. (Deipnos, ii, and Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxi, 21.)

Our author’s account is abridged from Galen and Oribasius (Collect. Med. x), or rather is copied entire from ‘Euporist.’ (i, 14.) Aëtius gives a fuller account extracted from Ruffus (iii, 165.)

Haly Abbas treats of this subject at great length. His characters of the different kinds of water agree very well with those given by our author. He states that rain water is the purest, and snow water the most impure. Haly Abbas condemns the indulgence in a copious draught after a meal. The reasons he assigns for its proving injurious are, that it prevents the surface of the stomach from coming into proper contact with the food, and also that it reduces the natural temperature of the stomach. He recommends a person, if thirst be urgent, to allay it by drinking a small quantity slowly. (Theor. v, 29.)

Alsaharavius advocates similar views. He also forbids drink during the night, as the sensation of thirst may be fallacious; and at all events, he says, it is only increased by indulgence. (Theor. xiii, 1, and xii, 2.)

Rhases, in like manner, states that a draught of water immediately after eating impairs digestion, but is proper after digestion has taken place. (Contin. xxxiii.) Rhases, in another place, states that ice is prejudicial to the health, especially of old persons, by congealing the stomach and hurting the nerves. He admits, however, of the use of water cooled in snow, but recommends its effects to be counteracted by a moderate allowance of wine. Water which has been drawn from a very deep well he directs to boil before using it. (xxxvii, i, 70.)

In an anonymous treatise on diet lately published by Ideler, the drinking of cold water immediately after a meal is strongly condemned, as being hurtful to the digestion. (Phys. et Med. Græc. Minor. vol. ii, p. 197.)

The following are the principal beverages of the Greeks and Romans: Wine diluted with water; Mulsum, or a composition of honey and wine, resembling the modern clary; Hydromel, or honied water; Zythi, or various kinds of ales; the Spathites, a wine prepared from palms, mentioned by our author (iii, 39); the Sicera, or cider, prepared from apples; Perry, prepared from pears; Posca or oxycrate, a mixture of vinegar and water; the Cyceon, a mixture of wine, honey, flour, and water, according to Hesychius; the Dodra of the Romans, very like the cyceon; Ptisan, prepared from polenta; Barley-water, mentioned by Hippocrates (de Morb. Acut.) and well described by the Arabians; the Lora, a small table-wine prepared from the husks of grapes.

SECT. LI.—ON BATHS.

I think well of the cold bath, and yet I do not say that it is proper for those who use no restriction as to diet, but only to those who live correctly, and take exercise and food seasonably. It may answer with most people very well, when they want to get much cooled, to swim in water during the season of summer, provided they are young and brawny, and have been previously heated by friction. They ought to attend, however, that they be not in a state of lassitude from venery, or any other cause, nor suffering from indigestion, nor after vomiting nor after evacuation of the bowels, nor when in want of sleep. It may be attended with danger, if used at random. But the warm bath is the safest and best, relieving lassitude, dispelling plethora, warming, soothing, softening, removing flatulence wherever it fixes, producing sleep and inducing plumpness. It is expedient for all, man and woman, young and old, rich and poor.

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COMMENTARY. We think ourselves called upon in the first place to give some account of the Thermæ, or Public Baths, of the ancients, as an acquaintance with their construction and many matters relating to them is indispensably necessary in order to understand the subject now in hand. We need scarcely mention that the Romans surpassed any nation that has ever existed in the magnificence of their public baths. An ancient Therma consisted of four distinct apartments for as many different purposes: 1, Tepidaria; 2, Laconicum; 3, Calidaria; 4, Frigidaria. The 1st, or Tepidaria, called also Apodyterium, derived its former name from its being filled with tepid air, and the latter from its being the place in which the bathers undressed. The 2d, or Laconicum, called also Sudatorium, was an apartment filled either with heated air or steam, that is to say, it was, according to different usages, an air-bath or a vapour-bath. The 3d, or Calidaria, was a cistern for containing warm water. The 4th, or Frigidaria, was a cistern for cold water. The mode in which the ancients went through the process of bathing was as follows. First they went into the Tepidaria, where they left their clothes, and proceeded to the Laconicum, and there they were carefully scrubbed with the flour of beans, soda, &c., and then went into the hot bath, where they remained for some time, and coming out of it, they took a plunge into the cold-water bath, and then returned to the Tepidaria, where they underwent the Restorative friction, that is to say, were rubbed with oils or ointments, and sprinkled with fragrant powders, and then they resumed their clothes. That the order in which the ancients took the different baths was that which we have described may be inferred from the construction of those now remaining, from a passage in Galen’s works (t. iv, p. 146, ed. Basil), and from Stephanus (Comment. p. 259, t. i, ed. Dietz.) See also Auctores de Balniis pluries, Baccius de Thermis pluries, and Robertellus Lacon. explic. Pisanæ urbis. In the public baths the ancients always made use of common water. The ordinary hour for the bath was about two o’clock in the afternoon, but no one was restricted to any hour from the dawn to sunset. Galen approves of taking the bath in the morning, provided one had supped sparingly. (De Sanit. tuendâ, vi.) All agreed in condemning the use of the bath after a full meal. (Persius, Sat. iii; Juvenal, Sat. i, 143; Horat. Epist. vi, 61; Avicenna, Libel, &c). The ancients had also various other modes of practising the bath in private, some of which we shall briefly notice. The Clibanus, mentioned by Celsus (ii, 17), was probably a portable stove. The Pensiles Balneæ were small baths suspended by ropes from the ceiling of the house, in which luxurious persons were rocked. (Pliny, xxvi, 3.) Hip-baths, either of plain water, or water medicated with herbs, or of oil and water, are repeatedly mentioned by all the medical authors, and are particularly described by Aëtius and Avicenna. The douche or dashing with water is recommended by Aëtius, in ardent fever, ophthalmy, &c.; but he directs that it should not be carried far. Sprinkling with plain water, or the decoctions of emollient herbs, is recommended when the patients are so weak that they cannot bear the bath.

Hippocrates thus explains his views as to the effects produced by baths: The bath of sweet waters humectates and cools, for it imparts moisture to the body. The salt bath is calefacient and desiccative; for, being naturally hot, it attracts moisture from the body. When the body is fasting the hot bath is attenuant and refrigerant; for by its heat it attracts the moisture from the body, and when the flesh is deprived of moisture the body is cooled. Put after a meal it heats and humectates, by expanding to a greater bulk whatever predominates in the body. The cold baths produce the contrary effects; for when the body is fasting they impart heat and moisture to it, and after a meal they abstract moisture, and being cold they fill it with dryness. Unction with oil is calefacient, moistening and emollient. (De Diæta, ii, 36.) In another place he states that the warm bath, in moderation, softens and enlarges the body; but when taken immoderately it humectates dry bodies, and dries humid bodies. (De Affectionibus, c. 47.)

Celsus gives some ingenious reflections on the effects of the bath, especially in fever. He thus states the purposes for which it is applied: “Fere adhibetur, ubi summam cutem relaxari, evocarique corruptum humorem, et habitum corporis mutari expedit.” He recommends friction with oil before going into the bath. (ii, 17.)

Our author copies from Oribasius (Euporist. i, 16.) See a fuller account in Med. Collect. (x, 6); Galen (de Sanitate tuendâ); Aëtius (iii, 169); and Avicenna (i, 3, 2.) Galen particularly recommends the cold bath to persons in the prime of life, and during the summer season. Before going into the bath they are to get well rubbed first with rough towels and then with oil. He recommends them to plunge into the water at once, and not descend gradually. After coming out of the water he directs them to get rubbed with oil, until the skin is warmed. Agathinus forbids infants to be bathed in cold water, but recommends the warm bath for them. (Oribasius, Med. Collect. x, 7.)

Galen and Aëtius direct the bath of oil to be formed by adding the fifth part of heated oil to a bath of water. They recommend it in protracted fevers attended with chills, convulsions, retention of urine, and to relieve lassitude, and nervous pains. The learned Bernard remarks that it must have been the expense with which it is attended that has led to the disuse of the bath of oil. (Ad Nonni Epitom.) Avicenna and his expositor, Gentilis Fulginas, particularly recommend it for retention of urine. Mengus Faventinas pronounces it to be highly anodyne. (Auctores de Balneis.)

Psellus says that the warm bath relaxes, softens, and induces sleep, occasioning plumpness of the body. (Opus Medicum.)

Actuarius forbids the use of the bath to those whose systems are loaded with superfluities and bad humours. (De Diæta, xi.) Averrhoes lays down the same prohibition. (Coll. ii, 4.)

The proper time for the bath, according to Haly Abbas, is after exercise, and before eating. If used before exercise, it proves injurious, by occasioning the distribution of any superfluities which may be remaining indigested in the body, and determining them to improper parts. If used immediately after a meal, he says, it proves hurtful, by promoting the absorption of unconcocted chyle, and sending humours to the head. But if used after exercise, and before a meal, it moistens the body, strengthens the vital heat, promotes digestion, opens the pores, mitigates pain, and dispels flatulence. He adds, a short continuance in the bath, warms and moistens the body, but a long warms and dries it. (Theor. v, 13.) In another place he says that the proper time for the bath is after exercise, yet not immediately, nor until the powers of the system are in some degree recruited; but the body is to be first rubbed with oil, and then the bath is to be taken. (Pract. i, 5.)

The uses of the bath, according to Alsaharavius, are, to moisten the body, open the pores, dispel flatulence, remove repletion, procure sleep, relieve pains, fluxes of the bowels and lassitude, to restore lean bodies to plumpness and obesity, if used after a full diet, to soften contracted limbs, moisten dry bodies, and dry humid. The evil effects of it when misapplied, are prostration of the vital powers, syncope, and determining the humours to weak parts. (Theor. xi, 1.)

Asclepiades, of Bithynia, was a distinguished advocate for the use of the bath. See Pliny (H. N. xxxvi, 3); Celsus (ii, 6); Apuleius (Florid. 4.)

SECT. LII.—ON THE NATURAL BATHS.

Of Natural baths, some are nitrous, some saline, some aluminous, some sulphureous, some bituminous, some copperish, some ferruginous, and some compounded of these. Of all the Natural waters the power is, upon the whole, desiccant and calefacient; and they are peculiarly fitted for those of a humid and cold habit. The nitrous and saltish are beneficial to the head, to defluxions of the chest, to a watery stomach, to dropsies, to swellings after diseases, and to collections of phlegm. The aluminous are fitted for spitting of blood, vomiting from the stomach, immoderate menstrual discharges of women, and repeated miscarriages. The sulphureous are soothing and warming to the nerves, and relieve lassitude, but weaken and upset the stomach. The bituminous occasion fulness of the head, and hurt the senses, but occasion a steady degree of heat, and soothe when persevered in. The copperish are peculiarly adapted for the mouth, tonsils, uvula, and eyes. The ferruginous are useful to the stomach and spleen. The descent into the water ought to be without precipitation, in order that its impression may sink deep into the body when in a relaxed state.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. i, 29.) A fuller account is given in the Med. Collect. (x, 3 et seq.) See further, Aëtius (iii, 167); Haly Abbas (Theor. v, 13); Rhases (Contin. xxxvii); Avicenna (ii, 2, 15.)

Hippocrates briefly mentions thermal springs of iron, copper, silver, gold, sulphur, alum, bitumen, and nitre. He speaks unfavorably of all such waters, as being hard and heating. (De Aër, &c. 35.) The ancient nitre or natron, it is now well known, was a native carbonate of soda. The alum, mentioned by Hippocrates and the other writers on the thermal springs, cannot have been the alum of modern commerce, since it is very rarely to be detected in mineral waters, but it must have been the alumen plumosum, or hair alum, which Klaproth found to consist principally of the sulphate of magnesia and iron.

By far the most interesting account which has been transmitted to us of the thermal springs of the ancients is that given by Pliny in the 31st book of his ‘Natural History.’ He more especially commends the medicinal waters near Baiæ, consisting of all the kinds mentioned by Hippocrates and our author, namely, sulphureous, bituminous, saline, &c. Some of them, he says, prove medicinal by their vapour. He speaks of their good effects in diseases of the nerves and joints, and mentions generally of them that they open the bowels. Pliny’s account of the virtues of medicinal springs in different parts of the world is curious, but mixed up and disfigured with his usual traits of credulity and love of the marvellous.

The tepid springs of Albula, in the vicinity of Rome, are briefly mentioned by Pliny (l. c.); Vitruvius (viii, 3); and Pausanias (Messeniaco.) Among the natural springs of the Romans the Fons Aponus, or Bagni d’Abano, near Padua, is particularly celebrated. Claudian’s poem in praise of its medicinal waters is well known. He calls it

“Publica morborum requies, commune medentûm Auxilium, præsens numen.”

Joannes de Dondis has given an elaborate disquisition on the hot springs of Padua, but it is not by any means so satisfactory as could be desired.

This would be the proper place to give some account of the ancient Temples of Health, most of which, there is reason to believe, were connected with medicinal springs. But our information respecting them is so scanty, that we can scarcely venture to touch upon the subject at all. We would refer, however, to what Pausanias says of the warm saline springs in the neighbourhood of the Asclepieion at Cenchreæ in Corinthiaca (ii, 2, 4), and of the springs near the temple of Æsculapius at Corone (iv, 34); and of the wells near the temple of Æsculapius at Pergamos (viii. 25.)

SECT. LIII.—ON THE REGIMEN FITTING TO THE DIFFERENT SEASONS.

It is proper to regulate the diet with a view to the season. In winter to take more fatigue, and eat more than usual, if the state of the weather be northerly; but if it be southerly, to take the same fatigue, but to use less food and drink. In fine, to make the body dry in the wet season, and warmer in the cold, to eat also warm fleshes and acrid pot-herbs, and drink more wine than usual. In the beginning of spring some may evacuate by emetics, and others by laxatives, and another may get a vein opened, according as habit or inclination directs. Rest is suitable to the season of summer, and also a diminution of labour and food; the food also ought to be more cooling and the drink abundant; and, in short, everything ought to be done which can contribute to cooling and dilution. In autumn, as it is a changeable, unsettled, and unhealthy season, the diet ought to be particularly attended to, that it be not too refrigerant; moderation as to venery and cold drink ought to be observed; and the cold breezes of morning and the heat of noon attentively guarded against. Too much fruit ought likewise not to be taken, being hurtful not only by the quantity, but also by the quality of the chyle which it supplies, and by engendering flatulence. Nay, even the best kinds of autumnal fruits, figs and grapes, engender flatulence, unless taken before any other food, for otherwise they spoil the other food; but if taken then, they neither are flatulent, nor spoil the other articles of food. When the air is cold the body must be warmed accordingly, and everything done, as in the commencement of winter. It may also be expedient, after the autumnal solstice, to have recourse to one of the afore-mentioned evacuations, lest any excrementitious particles being shut up in the system should prove hurtful during the winter.

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COMMENTARY. This is copied from Oribasius. (Euporist. i, 10.)

It is one of the aphorisms of Hippocrates that those who require bloodletting or medicine, should be bled or take medicine in the spring. (Aphor. sect. vi.) Galen, Rhases, Haly Abbas, and in short all the ancient authorities agree with him respecting this rule of practice. According to Alsaharavius, the pulse is stronger and fuller in spring than at any other season. (Theor. vii, 2.)

Hippocrates and Galen lay it down as a general rule that the fullest diet is most proper in winter, and the sparest in summer. (Aphor. i, 18.)

Rhases lays down very suitable directions for the regimen that is most proper during every season of the year, but they are scarcely at all different from our author’s. As we have mentioned, he recommends depletion in spring before the heat set in. In summer, he approves of cooling acid fruits with cold water for drink. In autumn he directs abstaining from cold baths, and the use of a restricted regimen. In winter, he recommends a full proportion of calefacients, such as pepper, cumin, mustard, and rocket. (Ad Mansor. iv, 26.) Winter, he says in another work, favours the formation of flesh and blood, braces the body, and strengthens the powers. Spring fills the system with humours. Summer dissolves the humours, and weakens the internal powers. Autumn engenders bad humours, bile, and blood. (Contin. xxxiv.)

Haly Abbas recommends purging or bleeding in spring, to evacuate the superfluities formed and shut up in the system during winter. In summer, the regimen is to be cooling and diluent; little exercise is to be taken; the cold bath is to be used, swimming in cold water is to be practised: for food, chickens, fish caught among rocks, grapes, apples, and the summer fruits will be proper; but wine is either not to be drunk at all, or much diluted with water and cooled in snow; and venery is to be avoided. In autumn, the regimen is to be cooling and desiccative, the exercise moderate, the cold bath is to be avoided, but the tepid is to be taken, and much fruit is to be avoided. In winter, the regimen is to be heating and desiccative, and wine is to be taken moderately. The wine, he adds, ought to be strong and heating, to counteract the cold of winter; but much must not be taken, because it will dilute and humectate the body which stands in need of desiccation. Wine, too, he says, possesses little nourishment, whereas the system requires much support in winter. He recommends the flesh of quadrupeds and fowls for food. (Pract. i.) See, in like manner, Avicenna (i, 3, 5); Alsaharavius (Theor. ix, 2.)

The poet Hesiod recommends a full diet in winter. (Opera et Dies, l. 558.)

Maximus Planudes, in a Declamation on winter, affirms that at this season the heat, being confined within the body, operates more strongly in performing the vital functions than at any other season. This season, he says, is favorable to all classes of men except doctors; but they are sick at heart to see that no other persons are sick, and, bewailing their own misery, undergo the thirst of Tantalus amidst the rains of winter! See Boissonade (Anecd. Græca, vol. ii.)

Among the works of the ‘Physici et Medici Græci Minores,’ published a few years ago by Ideler, there are several small treatises, one by Hierophilus Sophistes, in prose, one by Theodorus Prodromus in iambic verse, and two others, anonymous, in which the regimen adapted to every month of the year is carefully laid down, but the rules are too minute to admit of being given here. We may mention, however, that they generally recommend pork, with peppers, and pure wine, as the best course of diet in winter.

SECT. LIV.—OF THE REGIMEN OF PERSONS ACTIVELY EMPLOYED.

He who spends his time in business ought to consider whether, in the former period of life, he had been in the habit of taking exercise, or whether, though not taking exercise, he bears that habit well, and escapes from diseases by having free perspiration. Such a state of body is not to be suddenly changed to another habit, neither the mode of those who have long been in ill health. But if constantly ill and plethoric, the indication of cure ought to be by a healthful regimen, to supply moderate nourishment; or, if cacochymy was the cause, the indication will be to supply proper juices. Those who suffer from fulness are to be directed when they go into the bath to use friction, and to take some exercise, or, if they have already done so, to increase it a little, but to detract from their food, and use less nutritious kinds than formerly; but if from collections of bad humours, one indication of cure is not sufficient, because there is more than one kind of bad humours; for some have a collection of cold and pituitous, some of hot and bilious, and others of the melancholic. Every one, therefore, ought to avoid those articles of food and drink which are apt to engender that sort of humour which is collected. And in all these cases the common remedy is purging of the belly.

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COMMENTARY. This is taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 29), who extracts it from the ‘Commentaries’ of Galen. See also Rhases (Cont. xxxiii.) Galen and Rhases remark that persons who lead an active life, such as ploughmen and labourers, digest gross food more readily than any others; but that, their bodies being wasted by excessive fatigue, the vessels take up the chyle before it is properly concocted, and carry it over the system. Hence, such persons seldom attain to an old age, as their bodies get loaded with improper juices.

SECT. LV.—ON THE REGIMEN OF TRAVELLERS.

In performing a journey, one will bear the fatigue best if anointed with oil, and by not making too violent efforts; and by having the body about the loins and to the hollow of the ribs, bound round, in summer, with a swath of a soft consistence, six or seven fingers broad, and in length not less than five cubits. A staff also is useful in a journey; for in going down a declivity it serves as a pole to support the body from falling forwards, and by leaning upon it in ascending acclivities it will greatly assist in raising the body. When a traveller stops on a journey he should get his body anointed, take some food adapted for the summer, and a moderate quantity of drink. After dinner he ought to rest awhile before proceeding. But if compelled to go on, and oppressed with thirst, water, having some polenta sprinkled upon it, with a moderate quantity of salt, will be of service to him. He should be careful of heat and of the sun, and have his body covered so as not to be exposed to the sun, lest, during the journey, his limbs become dry and stiff. With these precautions, he will be less liable to lassitude, and all its accompanying evils. In winter, when it is cold, before setting out he ought to evacuate, get his body rubbed with oil, and take plenty of the winter articles of food, and a little drink. He should also get not only his loins, but likewise his spine and chest, properly bound with a longer swath. When he stops, as sufficient coolness will be produced by the relaxation, it will be better that he neither anoint, nor take food or drink, nor any other refreshment, if he mean to remain there. But after long journeys, or excessive fatigue of any kind, even if a person do not complain of lassitude, it will be proper to treat him like those who do, for thereby there will be less danger of any bad consequences.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 31), who admits that he borrows, in his turn, from Diocles. The directions are, upon the whole, very judicious and proper.

Galen forbids travellers who have been exposed to great cold to take heating things immediately after a journey. (Meth. Med.)

Avicenna, Averrhoes, and Haly Abbas direct a traveller to get bled before entering upon a journey; and, in certain cases, this might be a very proper practice to prevent the blood from being inflamed by violent exercise, but, on the other hand, unless judiciously applied, it might bring on such debility as would render the traveller unable to undergo the necessary fatigue. They recommend him to hold in his mouth a small ball of the trochisk of camphor. The Arabians, it is to be recollected, maintained that the action of camphor is frigorific. Instead of the draught mentioned by our author, Avicenna recommends vinegar and water. He recommends little food, but of good nourishment; and forbids pot-herbs and fruit. With regard to the treatment of the feet, they are to be rubbed until they become warm, and then anointed with hot fragrant oils. When the feet have suffered from cold, some, he says, put them into cold water, and are thereby relieved, in like manner as congealed fruits are sometimes restored. When the water for drink is bad, he advises to get it distilled.

Haly Abbas gives very minute directions for the conduct of travellers. Like our author, he advises them to gird the body with a swath or band, and to use a staff. He forbids them to begin a journey either fasting, or in a state of repletion with food. Exposure to the sun, he says, is apt to occasion hectic fevers, headach, consumption, and dryness of the body. He directs them to have the head covered. When hurt by exposure to heat, he advises cold water, or any other thing of a cooling nature to be poured over the head. After exposure to cold, he recommends the hot bath. (Pract. i, 31.)

Rhases remarks that he had known all persons who had been exposed to great heat during a journey suffer from attacks of fever, except those of a humid and phlegmatic temperament. He forbids much food before setting out on a journey, and even approves of getting bled and purged, if the undertaking be severe. He recommends, if convenient, a bath at the close of the day; then the traveller is to eat and go to sleep. He and all the authorities quoted by him direct the body to be rubbed with oil before and after a journey. To preserve the eyes from the effects of snow and dust, he recommends them to be exposed to the vapours produced by pouring wine on a heated stone, or to those of chamomile, dill, or marjoram. To protect the feet, he directs them to be wrapped in cloths smeared with calefacient oils. When very hot, he cautions against swallowing much cold water at once, but recommends some cool liquid to be held in the mouth, and cold water to be poured on the hands and feet. He recommends travellers to chew pickled onions. During the prevalence of extreme cold he approves of drinking some hot wine before setting out on a journey. When the journey is over, he directs the traveller to go into a comfortable apartment, but not to approach the fire, nor enter the bath, nor allow himself to sleep during the space of an hour. After this he may go into the bath, and undergo friction until his body become ruddy, and then he may go to sleep on a soft bed; by which regimen he may be preserved from fever, if such be the will of God. (Cont. xxxiv, Ad Mansor. vi, 3 and 4.)

SECT. LVI.—OF THE REGIMEN OF PERSONS ON BOARD SHIP.

With regard to the vomitings which occur to people at sea, it is neither easy nor expedient to contend with those which happen first; for, upon the whole, they are generally beneficial. After vomiting, one ought not to partake of much nor of ordinary food, but either lentils, dried and boiled with a small quantity of pennyroyal, or bread pounded in a weak and fragrant wine. One ought also to use but little drink, and that containing a weak watery wine, or vinegar with honey. The lentils ought to be first boiled, and then when they become soft, to be triturated, and afterwards dried and put into an earthen vessel. When severe vomiting lasts for a long time, one should resolutely abstain from all kinds of food, and take only a little drink, which ought to be vinegar and honey with water, containing thyme infused in it, or pennyroyal water with some fine polenta, or some fragrant weak wine with fine polenta also. In order to overcome the disagreeable stench on board ships, one may smell to quinces, thyme, or pennyroyal. One ought also to look as seldom as possible upon the sea, until one has been accustomed to live in a ship. One must likewise attend, that the water which is drunk be not muddy, ill-smelled, or saltish.

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COMMENTARY. This Section likewise is taken from Oribasius (Synop. v, 33), who copies from Diocles. Similar directions are given by Rhases, Avicenna, and Haly Abbas. Haly remarks that persons on board of a ship are often infested with lice, which are engendered by want of cleanliness. For them he recommends mercury killed, with oil, the long bithwort, &c. (Pract. i, 31.) Avicenna says that, by wearing wool smeared with oil and mercury, the lice will be killed. (Cant. p. ii.)

When the vomiting is unusually severe and protracted, Rhases recommends it to be treated with anti-bilious remedies. (Ad Mansor. vi, 14, Contin. 34.)

SECT. LVII.—ON THE MEANS OF DIMINISHING OBESITY.

When the body gets to an immoderate degree of obesity, it will be necessary to melt it down and reduce it. It was mentioned formerly that the warm temperament renders the body lean, and therefore it ought to be superinduced, if possible, upon that of fat people, in order to reduce them to the proper state. You have also learned that active exercise, an attenuant regimen, medicines of the same class, and mental anxiety, bring on the dry temperament, and thereby render the body lean. What an attenuant diet consists of is perfectly obvious; but the more powerful medicines, such as the seed of rue, particularly the wild, with its tops, the round birthwort (aristolochia rotunda), the small centaury, gentian, poley, and the stronger diuretic medicines, as Macedonian parsley: all such medicines, either alone, or together, attenuate the humours, and evacuate the body. The salts also from burned vipers and the theriac attenuate the body. The body may also be reduced and attenuated, by having an oil rubbed into it, containing the root of the wild cucumber, marshmallows, gentian, and the root of the all-heal and birthwort, or the poley and centaury. One ought not to take food immediately after the bath, but should first sleep for a little time. And it will be better if the water of the bath possess diaphoretic properties, and, more particularly, if we can have recourse to a natural one, such as that in Mitylene. If it cannot be procured, the flower of salt may be mixed with sea water. Thin white wines ought to be used. Dry rubbing with thick towels is calculated to reduce the fat. A smaller quantity of food ought to be given in proportion to the exercise taken. Insolation also is of use for obesity. Fat persons ought not to take a fragrant draught before a meal; and it will be best if they eat only once in the day. The body ought to be rubbed with nitre (soda), and the rougher salts. A large quantity of nitre in the bath is attenuant, but a small quantity only stimulates to nourishment. The following mixture is attenuant: Of pepper and Macedonian parsley, two parts, of asarabacca and anise, one half. This acts well, both as a diuretic and a cathartic.

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COMMENTARY. This is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. v, 40.) Aëtius uses nearly the same words. (iv, 32.) Celsus recommends the tepid salt-water bath, hard exercise, food of an acid or austere kind, and restricted sleep. (i, 3.)

Galen gives an interesting account of the manner in which he cured a person of obesity in a very short space of time. He says, “I first made him take quick exercise, and afterwards wiped off the sweat with a linen cloth. I then rubbed his body with the volatile ointments called acopa, and after this friction I led him to the bath. I did not then give him food at once, but directed him either to rest, or to follow any occupation he was inclined for, and then repeated the bath; after which I gave him as much food, not of a very nourishing description, as he was disposed to take.” (De Sanit. tuendâ, vi, 8.)

Avicenna recommends hard exercise and frequent baths, and vinegar to drink. (i, 3, 4.) Rhases recommends fat persons to abstain from animal food, wine, milk, and all sweet things; to live upon pot-herbs, and such things as are saltish and sour; to take purgatives and diuretics, to use much hard exercise, and to remain long in the bath. (Ad Mansor. v, 61.) In another work he treats of this subject at great length. He recommends acids, and especially vinegar. In short, he agrees with Galen, that all things of a bitter, sour, and attenuant nature reduce obesity; and also that saltish things which have the property of opening the bowels do the same. Nothing, he says, tends more to reduce corpulency than frequent baths and hard friction. (Contin. iv.)

The directions given by Haly Abbas are to the same effect as those of Rhases, that is to say, he recommends fat persons to take hard exercise, to remain long in the bath, to use friction with oil of dill and the like, to live upon articles of food not too nutritious, not to indulge in protracted sleep, and to have frequent recourse to laxative and purgative medicines. (Pract. i, 16.)

Some remarkable cases of obesity are related by Athenæus. (Deipnos, xii, 12.)

The practice of the Methodists is described in a very circumstantial manner by Cælius Aurelianus. (Tard. Pass. v, 9.) They very properly condemned bleeding and purging, and depended principally upon strong exercise, hot baths, insolation, the sand-bath, hard friction, and a restricted diet.

SECT. LVIII.—HOW TO RECRUIT THOSE WHO ARE EMACIATED.

When we wish to recruit those who are reduced in flesh, we must give them thick wine and food containing thick juices, and prescribe slow exercise and moderate friction,—in a word, every thing contrary to the method we have been just describing. It may also be of use to be pitched for three or four days. If a person go into the bath with an empty stomach, he ought beforehand to get his body rubbed with linen cloths until it become ruddy, and afterwards, by hard but not frequent friction, the skin may be rendered thick and hard. Those who are pale, and not properly nourished, ought to be roused to anger and mental emotions.

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COMMENTARY. This is either copied from Oribasius (Synops. v, 41), or from Aëtius (iv, 58.) The process of pitching the body is thus described by Aëtius: “Dried pitch is melted in a moderate quantity of oil, and, while still warm, is to be rubbed into the skin (the part having been previously shaved), and before it cools completely it is to be torn away. The plaster is to be again heated at the fire, and spread upon the skin; and before it becomes cold it is to be torn away. This process is to be frequently repeated.” (iii, 180.) See Celsus (i, 3.)

Galen, in his Commentary on the second Aphorism of Hippocrates, expresses himself strongly on the danger of using precipitation in recruiting a person that has been emaciated. He evidently writes from ample experience, acquired in training the Athletæ. Hippocrates and his commentator repeat this rule the “ne quid nimis” in another place. See Galen (Op. t. v, 251, ed. Basil.)

Haly Abbas recommends moderate exercise, a short continuance in the bath, friction with emollient oils, much sleep, two or three meals every day, food consisting of fat meat, bread, almonds, &c. He also approves of pitching. (Pract. i, 16.)

Avicenna recommends pitching, the bath soon after taking food, soft friction, and the rest of the treatment recommended by Paulus. (i, 3, 4.)

Rhases treats of the same at great length. He approves of protracted sleep; of food consisting of fat meat, wheat, and pulse; after food, of the bath, friction with oil, and the affusion of tepid water over the body; and also of red, thick, and sweet wines. (Ad Mansor. v, 60.) In another work he delivers the opinions of preceding authorities, accompanied with his own remarks. He agrees with Galen, that emaciation generally depends upon the state of the liver. They recommend nutritive articles of food, such as boiled and roasted flesh, and the bath, without friction, after a meal. Both speak favorably of pitching. They also approve particularly of sulphureous and bituminous baths. With regard to the bath, they explain, in another place, that it is proper in these cases only after the food is digested; for, if taken too soon after, it loads the body with unconcocted chyle; and that, if had recourse to at other times, it rather induces emaciation. Rhases again repeats that many of the legumina are very nutritive. He states that the wine should be particularly thick. (Contin. xiv.) Galen further says, that emaciated persons are to be recruited by thick wines, food consisting of thick juices, short exercises, and moderate friction. (Meth. Med. xiv, 16.) In another place he gives a very striking description of the bad effects of inanition. (De Venesect. adv. Erasistrat.) We would further direct attention to the description given by Hippocrates of a febrile state of the system, attended with delirium, which is sometimes brought on by too restricted a regimen in disease. (De Diæta morb. acut. § 11.)

On the treatment of convalescents, consult Celsus (iv, 25); Galen (Hyg.); and particularly Rhases (Contin. xxxiv). We shall give Celsus’ directions in his own words: “Ex quocunque autem morbo quis convalescit, si tarde confirmatur, vigilare primâ luce debet; nihilominus in lecto conquiescere: circa tertiam horam leniter unctis manibus corpus permulcere: deinde delectationis causa, quantum juvat, ambulare, circumcisa omni negotiosa actione: tum gestari diu: multa frictione uti: loca, cœlum, cibos sæpe mutare: ubi triduo quatriduove vinum bibit, uno aut etiam altero die interponere aquam. Per hæc enim fiet, ne in vitia tabem inferentia incidat, et ut mature vires suas recipiat. Cum vero ex toto convaluerit, periculosè vitæ genus subito mutabit, et inordinatè aget. Paulatim ergo debebit, omissis his legibus, eo transire, ut arbitrio suo vivat.” Galen and Rhases particularly recommend to convalescents to drink white astringent wines diluted with water. Both enjoin a restricted diet at first, gentle exercise, and the bath in moderation. Haly Abbas cautions against premature friction and exercise, but recommends the tepid bath, and gentle unction with oils. (Pract. i, 25.) Syrasis recommends the warm bath, moderate friction with rough towels, and unction with a little oil. (Auctores de Balneis, p. 334.)

SECT. LIX.—HOW TO REMEDY EMACIATED PARTS OF THE BODY.

When emaciation takes place in any part of the body, it is commonly occasioned by long-protracted rest, or by bandaging for fractures. We must, therefore, stimulate their vital powers, and attract the blood to them, by using moderate friction, suitable exercise, and by the affusion of warm water upon them in moderate quantity. This must be done until the part becomes red and swells, and we must desist before it subsides. We must also use pitching, as formerly described. When there is a sense of cold in the part, it ought to be rubbed with linen cloths, or some calefacient medicine. For this purpose, I have sometimes used the thapsia, rubbing it in either with honey or cerate.

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COMMENTARY. This is taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 42), or Aëtius (iv, 34). See also Galen (de Sanit. tuendâ, v); Rhases (Contin. xiii); Haly Abbas (Pract. i, 16); Avicenna (i, 3, 4.) All recommend water to be poured on the part, and then it is to be rubbed with towels and hot stimulant oils, so as to produce a redness and glow in it. Most of them also approve of the pitch plaster.

SECT. LX.—THE DIAGNOSIS OF THE BEST TEMPERAMENT.

That man is in the best temperament of body when it is in a medium between all extremes, of leanness and obesity, of softness and hardness, of heat and cold, of moisture and dryness; and, in a word, who has all the natural and vital energies in a faultless state. His hair, also, should be neither thick nor thin, and in colour neither black nor white. When a boy, his locks should be rather tawny than black, but, when an adult, the contrariwise.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is copied from Oribasius (Synops. v, 43), or Aëtius (iv, 53). See also Galen (de Temperam., de Opt. Corp. Constit., de Sanit. tuendâ, v, and Ars Med.) In the last mentioned, which was long the most celebrated of all his admired works, he has treated of the temperaments very systematically. Whatever Oribasius, Paulus, or any subsequent author, whether Greek or Arabian, have delivered on this subject is altogether derived from the works of Galen.

None of the Arabians has treated of the temperaments so learnedly as Haly Abbas. (Theor. i.) See also Averrhoes (Collig. vi); Alsaharavius (Theor. vi); Avicenna (Cant.)

SECT. LXI.—DIAGNOSIS OF THE TEMPERAMENTS.

Those bodies which are of a hotter temperament than the moderate will have their teeth earlier than usual, and will grow in like manner. They feel warmer to the touch, and have less fat; they are of a ruddy colour, have their hair black and moderately thick, and their veins are large. But if such a one be also fat and brawny, and have large veins, he is fat from habit and not from nature. The following are the marks of a cold temperament: Such bodies appear cold to the touch, are without hair, and are fat; their complexion, like their hair, being tawny. But when the coldness is great, they are pale, leaden-coloured, and have small veins; and if lean, this does not proceed from nature, but habit. The dry is harder and more slender than the temperate—the hardness, indeed, being inseparable from the dry temperament; but leanness not only follows the congenital temperaments, but also those which are acquired by long habit. It is a mark of hardness when the body is rendered unapt for motion, dry and parched, by drying applications. The humid, in all other respects, is like the temperate, but is softer and fatter, and the softness is inseparable from it; but the grossness not only follows the connate temperament, but also that acquired by long habit. It is peculiar to the humid temperament that the body is oppressed by things of a moist nature. The warm and dry temperament is extremely shaggy, having the hair of the head in early age of rapid growth, black, and thick; but, in after-life, baldness follows. The veins are large, as are likewise the arteries, which beat strongly. The whole body is firm, well articulated, muscular, and without obesity; and the skin is hard and dark. When the temperament is cold and humid, the chest is narrow, and, like the rest of the body, without hairs; the skin is soft and white, and its hairs somewhat tawny, especially in youth; and such persons do not get bald when they grow old; they are timid, spiritless, and inactive; their veins are invisible; they are gross and fat; their muscles and legs are feeble, and their joints ill-formed; and they are bandy-legged. But should the humidity and coldness increase, the colour of their skin and hair becomes tawny, or, if they increase still more, pale. The hot and humid temperament is softer and more fleshy than the best temperament, and, when it increases much, is subject to putrid disorders; but, if it be only a little more humid and much hotter than the moderate, the bodies of such persons are only a little more soft and fleshy than the moderate, but they are much more hairy and hotter to the touch. But if the cold and the dry grow equally together, such persons have naturally their bodies hard, slender, and white, with fine muscles, small joints, and little hair; and they are cold to the touch. Although slender, fat is mixed with their flesh. The colour of their hair is correspondent to the degree of constitutional coldness. As to disposition of mind, they are spiritless, timid, and desponding. To say all in a word, with regard to the compound temperaments, they are always to be distinguished by the marks of the prevailing quality.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 44), who borrows from Galen (Ars Med. c. 15.) See also all the authorities referred to in the preceding chapter.

The ancients, it will be perceived, connected the passions and desires of the mind with the temperaments; and, to establish the alliance between them, Galen wrote a treatise, wherein he has handled the subject very ingeniously, and has delivered many profound views of the animal economy. Galen’s work, to which we allude, is entitled, ‘Quod Animi Mores Corporis Temperamenta sequuntur.’

SECT. LXII.—ON THE FORM OF THE HEAD.

A small head is the peculiar mark of a faulty configuration of the brain, but a large is not necessarily a good one; for if occasioned by the strength of the vital powers of the part fabricating an abundant and proper material, it is a good sign; but if occasioned by the quantity of matter alone, it is not good. We must judge of heads then from their shape, and from the processes which arise from them: from their shape, if well formed, for that is always a good sign; and from the processes of the brain, if they be in their proper state, and if the nervous parts be all properly nourished, have their suitable tone, and if the sight be acute. Sharp heads are defective in the protuberance of the front or hind-head, or else it is unnaturally increased. Now, in most cases we shall find that these last, like the large, are faulty, and yet some of them, though rarely, are good, the formative principle being strong.

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COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 45); Aëtius (iv, 63); or direct from Galen (Ars Med. c. 6.)

Psellus, like our author, remarks, that a small head, by contracting and binding, as it were, the brain, is necessarily a bad formation; whilst a large head, if it arises from excess of the natural powers, is good; but if it is occasioned by a collection of superfluous matter, the contrary. We would refer, in this place, to the curious account of the Macrocephali given by Hippocrates in his treatise ‘On Airs,’ &c. (§ 14), and to the interesting remarks in the same by M. Littré (t. iv, p. xi.)

SECT. LXIII.—THE MARKS OF THE TEMPERAMENT OF THE BRAIN.

A brain of the proper temperament has its vital energies and excretions moderate, and is not liable to be affected by any externals. Such persons, when infants, have the hair of their head somewhat tawny—when boys, yellowish—and when adults, a bright yellow; being also intermediate between the curly and the straight, and they do not readily fall out. When the temperament is hotter than moderate, all the parts about the head are hotter and redder, the veins in their eyes are perceptible, their hair is grown at birth; and if much hotter, it is black, strong, and curly; but if not much, it is yellowish at first, and then grows black, and in more advanced life such persons become bald; their excretions are small when they enjoy good health; their head becomes filled and oppressed by heating food, drink, and odours, or by any external casualties. Such temperaments are satisfied with little sleep, and even that is generally not profound. The following are the marks of a brain which is colder than proper: The excretions are excessive; the hairs are straight, yellow, and durable; and it is hurt readily by cold things. Such persons are constantly seized with catarrhs and defluxions, the veins of their eyes are not visible, and they are much given to drowsiness. The following are the marks of a brain which is drier than natural: In the excretions nothing redundant, the senses acute, not being given to drowsiness, the hair strong and soon formed, rather curly, and soon falling out. In the more humid temperament, the hairs are straight, do not readily drop out; the senses are muddy, and the excretions redundant, sleep long and profound. In the compound of the hot and dry, the excretions of the head are small, the senses acute, there is a disposition to watchfulness, and baldness. Their hair at first is formed quickly and abundantly, is of a black colour, hot to the touch, and they are ruddy until manhood. But if moisture be joined to heat, and they are not immoderate, the colour and heat are good, and the veins of the eyes large. The excretions are plenteous and moderately concocted. The hair is straight and yellowish, and does not readily drop out. The head is easily filled and oppressed by heating and moistening things. But should an increase of humidity and heat take place, the head becomes diseased, and easily affected by heating and diluent things. Such persons cannot endure long watchfulness, but their sleep is disturbed by fantastical dreams, their sight is dim, and their senses not distinct. The cold and dry temperaments of the brain conjoined together render the head cold and pale, the veins of their eyes do not appear, and they are readily hurt by cold things: wherefore, their health is precarious. Their senses in youth are distinct and faultless, but as they advance in life soon decay. In a word, as far as regards the head, they experience a premature old age; their hair after birth is of slow growth, stunted, and tawny. The humid and cold temperaments of the brain render those affected with them prone to lethargy and drowsiness; their senses are bad; they abound with recrementitious humours; are easily affected with cold and fulness of the head; and are liable to catarrhs and defluxions; but such persons do not readily become bald.

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COMMENTARY. This is taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 46), who abridges Galen. (Ars Med.)

As our author’s description of the temperaments is sufficiently intelligible, and the others, whether Greeks or Arabians, deliver exactly the same views of the subject, without any material improvement, we consider it unnecessary to multiply references to, and extracts from them, on the present occasion; and, therefore, instead of crowding our pages with superfluous repetitions, we shall give in this, and the five following Sections, a brief exposition of the physiological doctrines of the ancients, with regard to the principal organs of the human body:

The ancients divided the powers or faculties of the human body into the Natural, the Vital, and the Animal. The brain they held to be the seat of the animal powers—that is to say, they considered it to be the organ from which sensation and motion are derived, and these, they maintained, are the powers by which animals are distinguished from vegetables. This doctrine is fully explained by Galen, in his work, ‘De Facultatibus Naturalibus,’ and by several of the Arabian authors, among whom we will venture to mention Haly Abbas, as being particularly worthy of being consulted on this subject. The brain, then, was accounted the seat of the five external senses, and of muscular motion, which also was reckoned as one of the senses by Hippocrates. (De Insomniis, c. 1.) Galen and his followers decidedly taught that the nerves of the senses are distinct from those which impart the power of motion, that the former derive their origin from the anterior part of the brain or cerebrum, and the latter from the posterior, called by the Greeks encephalis (under this term they comprehended the cerebellum, tuber annulare, and medulla oblongata of modern anatomists), or from its process, the spinal cord. They maintained that the nerves of the finer senses are formed of matter too soft to be the vehicles of muscular motion; whereas, on the other hand, the nerves of motion are too hard to be susceptible of fine sensibility. See Galen (de Usu Partium, ix; de Administ. Anat. vii); Haly Abbas (Theor. iv); Averrhoes (Collig. iii, 33); Avenzoar (ii, 7); and Rhases (Contin. i.)

The ancients were also of opinion that the brain is the coldest viscus in the animal frame, being in this respect the antagonist of the heart, the heat of which they supposed that it counteracts. See Aristot. (De Part. Anim. ii, 7); and Pliny (Hist. Nat. xi, 49.) There appears to be some foundation for this opinion, since, as is remarked by Haly Abbas, those parts of the body which are vascular, and contain much blood, are naturally hot; whereas such as contain little blood are comparatively cold. Of this latter class are the brain, nerves, and fat. (Theor. i.)

The later Greek authorities, as, for example, Theophilus Protospatharius and Nemesius, adopt a division of the brain as regards its connexion with mind, to which Galen and his immediate followers appear to have been strangers. According to it, Fantasy is connected with the anterior part of the brain; Cogitation, or the discursus mentis, with the middle; and Memory with the posterior. See, in particular, Theophilus (p. 184, ed. Greenhill.) This hypothesis was received by all the Arabian writers on medicine. See, for example, Averrhoes (Collig. ii, 20.) It was evidently an approach to the arrangement adopted by the phrenologists of the present day, who maintain that intellect is seated in the anterior part of the brain; the moral feelings in the middle; and the animal appetites in the posterior.

SECT. LXIV.—THE MARKS OF THE TEMPERAMENTS OF THE STOMACH.

The marks of a preternatural dryness of the stomach are, that those affected with it are liable to thirst, but little drink satisfies them; and they feel heavy with much drink, as the superfluity occasions gurgling in the stomach, or floats upon it; of those of a more humid, that they are not addicted to thirst, and bear readily much liquids, and rejoice in humid food. A stomach preternaturally hot has a better digestion than appetite, particularly with regard to those things which are hard and difficult to digest; it delights in much food and drink; neither is it hurt by the moderate use of cold things. A preternaturally cold stomach has a good appetite but not a good digestion, in particular with regard to such things as are of difficult digestion, and are of a cold nature, which therefore are apt to turn acid in it. And it delights indeed in cold things, but is readily hurt by the immoderate use of them. The intemperaments proceeding from disease differ from the congenital in this, that they long for opposite things, and not always alike. If the stomach then digests properly, it is of a moderate temperament; and if it does not it is of a bad; but if its eructations are fetid, its heat is inordinate and inflammatory; but if acid, the contrary. And in those who digest properly things of difficult digestion, the heat of the stomach is inordinate, and weak in those who cannot digest those things, but digest fishes. It must also be observed, whether or not the symptom is occasioned by any humour flowing from another part; for in pituitous constitutions acid eructations are apt to occur; but in the bilious, fetid airs and other disagreeable qualities are apt to prevail. The common symptom of them all is nausea. If the depraved humours swim within the cavity of the stomach, they float on the surface, and are discharged by vomiting; but if they are contained in the substance of it within its coats, they annoy it with vain attempts to vomit.

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COMMENTARY. We shall now state briefly the opinions of the ancients with regard to the functional office of the stomach.

Actuarius says, “I am of opinion, that there are four species of concoction which are performed in different parts of the body: the first in the stomach; the second in the vena ramalis (vena portæ?), meseraic veins, and concave part of the liver; the third in the convex part of the liver and veins proceeding from it; and the fourth, consisting of fabrication or assimilation, which takes place in the extreme parts of the body.” (De Urinis.) The various modes of change or concoction which the food undergoes in the body, are minutely described by Macrobius. (Saturnal. vii.) In another place, Actuarius says, “Digestion is performed by moderate heat and moisture.” (De Spiritu Animali, p. ii, s. 1.) Alsaharavius in like manner states, that the digestive faculty depends partly on the heat, and partly on the humidity of the stomach. (Pract. tr. xvi, c. 1.) It is impossible not to see that the gastric juice is alluded to in these passages. It is particularly stated of Asclepiades, that he held digestion to be the solution of the food. See C. Aurelianus. (Morb. Acut. i, 14.) And that the ancients were aware that the stomach secretes a fluid possessed of solvent properties, is put beyond a doubt, by the following extract from the works of Haly Abbas. Speaking of the changes which the food undergoes in the mouth and stomach, he says: “Immutantur cibi in ore, retinenturque, et flegmati admiscetur quod digestum est, calorque ei datur. Quod autem flegma hoc hujusmodi sit, signum nobis est quod impetigines et sarpedones curat, quædam maturat ulcera, scorpiones necat. Hac ergo de causa et in ore cibus immutatur. Sic et stomachus ipsum immutat: ejus etenim circum amplectitur substantia, quasque habet imprimit qualitates, immutaturque ipsius naturali calore cibus: Sed et quoniam cibus ipse in eo flegmati admiscetur humido.” (Theor. iv, 3.) The whole bearing of this passage, but more especially the last clause, puts it beyond a doubt that the process of digestion was supposed to be performed, in a certain measure, by the solvent powers of a fluid secreted in the stomach. And the ingenious Alexander Aphrodisiensis, in like manner, treating of the digestion of mustard, pepper, and other acrid substances, says decidedly, that their acrimony is dissolved in the copious fluid of the stomach. (Probl. i, 30.) See also Macrobius (Saturnal. vii, 8.) He calls the fluid ventralis humor, which may be literally translated, “gastric juice.” Part of the process was, no doubt, supposed to be performed indirectly by heat; and deservedly, for even Spallanzani was compelled to admit, that the comparative temperature of animals exerts a considerable influence on their digestive powers. Hence, as was stated by Averrhoes, and as is confirmed by Cuvier, Birds, which are the warmest class of animals, likewise digest the fastest. At all events, the ancients were well aware, that digestion is not a mechanical, but a vital process, being performed by the principle of life. “Digestion,” says Averrhoes, “is performed by concoction, and the concoction is influenced by heat, not that the first mover in the operation is heat, but the nutritive soul; because the operations of heat are indeterminate, and not directed to any manifest end.” (Collig. v, 3.) In the ‘Averroeana’ or ‘Letters from Averrhoes to Metrodorus,’ (which, whether genuine or not, contain a curious and interesting exposition of the Great Commentator’s opinions on various subjects, and at all events must be of considerable antiquity,) the doctrine of a gastric menstruum is discussed with singular ability. Metrodorus states, that “he found, by the writings of the physicians and philosophers of these times, that they make the menstruum, as they call it, whereby both appetite is provoked, and food in the stomach is digested, to be a certain juice or humour in the stomach,” &c. Averrhoes denies that this menstruum acts by its acidity alone.

SECT. LXV.—DIAGNOSIS OF THE TEMPERAMENTS OF THE LUNGS.

Not only does the stomach render us thirsty and otherwise, and excite a desire of warm and cold drink, but also the thoracic viscera, namely, the heart and lungs, and likewise the liver. And drinking does not straightway allay the desire, but a small quantity of cold drink will rather allay the thirst than a great quantity of warm. Persons so affected are refreshed by inhaling cold air, which has no effect in alleviating the thirst of the stomach. Thus, also, those who are contrariwise affected, suffer sensibly from breathing cold air; this is the strongest mark of coldness of the lungs; but they also hawk up phlegm, and expectorate it with coughing. Dryness of the lungs is marked by freedom from excrementitious discharges and from phlegm; and humidity, by being excrementitious, and rendering the voice dull and hoarse; and the recrementitious discharge is also very great when they attempt to speak in a louder or sharper tone.

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COMMENTARY. The ancients were of opinion, that the lungs are an accessory organ, made to administer to the heart. “It is the heart,” says Aretæus, “which imparts to the lungs the desire of drawing in cold air.” And in like manner, Theophilus holds that the other organs of respiration were made for the sake of the heart, in order that its innate heat may be cooled, increased, and nourished. (De Fabrica Hominis, p. 89, ed. Greenhill.) The physiologists differed respecting the uses of respiration. Thus, according to Galen, the famous Asclepiades held that it is for the generation of the soul itself, breath and life being thus considered to be identical; Philistion, Diocles, and Aristotle, for the ventilation of the innate heat; Hippocrates for its nutrition and refrigeration; and Erasistratus for the filling of the arteries with spirits. All these opinions are discussed and commented upon by Galen, who determines the purposes of respiration to be twofold: first, to preserve the animal heat; and second, to evacuate the fuliginous portion of the blood. He was aware of the analogy between respiration and combustion, and comes to the conclusion that they are processes of a similar nature: he accordingly compares the lungs to a lamp, the heart to its wick, the blood to the oil, and the animal heat to the flame. (Galen, de usu Respir.) Aristotle gives the name of pneuma to the vital heat of animals, and ascribes the source and maintenance of it to the double functions of respiration and digestion. (De Pneumate.) See further, Third Book, s. 27.

The following extract from Alexander Aphrodisiensis will explain the opinions entertained by physicians and savans of a later age: “Wherefore there is a natural tepidity, the same I mean as the innate heat, whence springs the origin of the animal, its nature; for it is congenital with the animal, and therefore is called natural, being in the main the instrument of the soul’s powers.” (De Feb. viii.)

The following extract from Haly will show that the opinions of the Arabians on this subject did not differ from those of their Grecian masters, and more especially of Galen: “Respiration is necessary, for the sake of the heart, which is the fountain, and, as it were, the focus of vital heat, whence it is diffused over the rest of the body. It requires some aerial substance to ventilate the heat and ebullition of the heart, and in order to evacuate the fuliginous vapours which are found in it.” (Theor. iii.)

SECT. LXVI.—THE MARKS OF THE TEMPERAMENTS OF THE HEART.

These are the marks of an unusually warm heart: largeness of respiration, quickness and density of pulse, boldness and maniacal ferocity, the chest is covered with hair, particularly the breast, and usually the parts of the hypochondriac regions adjoining to it; and the whole body is hot, unless the liver powerfully antagonise. And capacity of chest is also a mark of heat, unless the brain in that case antagonise. But an unusually cold heart has the pulse smaller than moderate, and such persons are timid and spiritless, more especially if there be no hairs on the breast. Dryness of the heart renders the pulse hard, and the passions ungovernable, fierce, and difficult to quell; and, for the most part, the whole body is drier than usual, unless the parts about the liver antagonise. These are the marks of a more humid temperament: a soft pulse, a disposition easily roused to anger, and easily pacified, and the whole body more humid than common, unless antagonised by the parts about the liver. When the temperament is both hotter and drier, the pulse is large, hard, and quick and dense; and the respirations large, quick, and dense. And of all others such persons have the most hair upon the breast and præcordia; they are prone to action, given to anger, fierce and tyrannical in their dispositions; for they are both passionate and implacable. But, if humidity prevails with heat, such persons are less covered with hair than the afore-mentioned; they are prompt to action, their disposition is not fierce, but only prone to anger; their pulse is large, soft, quick, and dense. But when the temperament is more humid and cold than common, the pulse is soft, the disposition spiritless, timid and sluggish; they have no hair on the breast, and neither indulge in lasting resentment, nor are prone to anger. A cold and dry heart renders the pulse harder and small. Of all others, such persons are least given to anger, but when provoked they retain their resentment. They are also particularly distinguished by having no hair on the breast.

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COMMENTARY. In the ancient system of physiology, the heart was considered as the seat of the Vital powers, its office being the preservation of the innate heat of the body. The philosopher, Aristotle, had pointed out the connexion between heat and vitality, and had taught that the heart, as being the centre of heat, is the prime organ in the animal frame. Hence, as his commentator, Averrhoes, remarks, it is the primum movens et ultimum moriens. Galen, however, maintained with Hippocrates, that the animal frame is a circle, having neither beginning nor end, and that, consequently, it has no prime organ. He taught that the brain does not, properly speaking, derive its powers from the heart, nor the heart from the brain; but that these organs are mutually dependent upon one another, the heart being indebted to the brain for supplying the parts concerned in respiration with muscular energy, and the brain being indebted to the heart for its vital heat, without which it could not continue to be the vehicle of sensibility and motion. (De Placitis Hippocrat. et Platon. pluries.) We have mentioned in the preceding Section, that the ancient physiologists looked upon respiration as being a process similar to combustion. See Galen (de Usu Respirationis), Alexander Aphrodisiensis (Probl. i, 16.)

The heart, then, was supposed to convey heat to all parts of the body, by means of the animal spirits incorporated with the blood in the arteries. Respecting the contents of the arteries, two hypotheses divided the ancient schools of medicine. The first was that of the celebrated Erasistratus, who maintained, that the arteries do not contain a fluid, but merely certain airs or vapours. The other hypothesis was that of Galen, who keenly attacked this, as he did most of the tenets of Erasistratus, and endeavoured to prove, by experiment, observation, and reasoning, that the contents of the arteries is blood, mixed, indeed, with a certain proportion of heat and airs, but in every respect a fluid, little different from that contained in the veins. It was also part of his system, that the right cavity of the heart attracts blood from the liver, and conveys it to the left, from which it is diffused all over the body by the arteries. He taught that, at every systole of the arteries, a certain portion of their contents is discharged at their extremities, namely, by the exhalents and secretory vessels; and that at every diastole a corresponding supply is attracted from the heart. He decidedly inculcates, in opposition to Asclepiades, that it is the expansion or diastole of the artery which occasions the influx of the blood, and not the influx of the blood which occasions the expansion of the artery; or, in other words, that the systole is the function of the heart, and the diastole its return to its natural state. (De Diff. Puls. iv, 10.) Though he demonstrated the anastomosis of arteries and veins, he nowhere hints his belief, that the contents of the former pass into the latter, to be conveyed back to the heart, and from it to be again diffused over the body. In a word, his system appears to have been nearly, or altogether, the same as that which was afterwards taught by the unfortunate Servetus.

It is clear, therefore, that Galen had made a very near approach to the Harveian theory of the circulation; indeed, Harvey himself candidly admits this. It will be perceived, from what we have stated, that the grand point of difference between Galen and Harvey, and that upon which the theory of the latter mainly rests, is the question whether or not at every systole of the left ventricle more blood be thrown out than is expended on exhalation, secretion, and nutrition. Upon this point Galen held the negative, Harvey, as we all know, the affirmative.

In proof of the opinions which we have attributed to Galen, we refer the reader to ‘An Natura Sanguinis sit in Arteriis;’ ‘Administ. Anatom.’ (vii, 15); ‘de Usu Partium,’ (vi and vii, 7, 8, 9); ‘de Placitis Hippocr. et Plat.’ (i, 5.)

See also Averrhoes (Colliget. ii, 8, ii, 9; Collect. i, 9; in Cant. Avic. i, 1); Avicenna (iii, xi, 1); Actuarius (de Spiritu Animali, i, 6; de Causis Urinarum, ii, 2); Nemesius (de Natura Hominis, 24.)

With regard to the passages collected by the ingenious M. Dutens and others, from the works of Hippocrates, Plato, Nemesius, Pollux, and Theodoret, to prove that the ancients were acquainted with the circulation of the blood, as taught by Harvey, we shall only remark, that, after having attentively considered them, we cannot but draw the conclusion, that some of these authors must have had, at least, an obscure idea of this doctrine, although, in general, these passages may be understood to refer merely to the lesser circulation and the movement of the blood from the centre to the extremities, as maintained by Galen. See Dutens (Origine des Découvertes attribuées aux Modernes, p. 157); Drelincurtius (de Lienosis Epimetris); and Littré (Introduction aux Œuvres d’Hippocrate.) The last of these writers, whose minute acquaintance with the earlier works on medicine entitles his opinion to every consideration, after a searching investigation into the state of anatomical knowledge in the days of Hippocrates and his immediate successors, comes to the conclusion, that the germ of the theory of the circulation is, beyond doubt, to be found in the Hippocratic treatises. (T. i, 223.)

SECT. LXVII.—DIAGNOSIS OF THE TEMPERAMENTS OF THE LIVER.

The marks of a hot liver are, largeness of the veins, redundance of yellow bile, and, in manhood, of black; the blood hotter than natural, and by means of it the whole body, unless the parts about the heart antagonise; and thick hairs upon the hypochondriac regions, and over the stomach. Those of a cold are, smallness of the veins, much phlegm, cold blood; the whole habit of the body colder than common, unless warmed by the heart; no hair on the hypochondriac regions, nor over the stomach. Those of a dry are, thick and scanty blood, and the veins and the habit of the whole body drier. Those of a humid are, the blood abundant and liquid, the veins softer, as also the whole body, unless the heart antagonise. The marks of a temperament at once hot and dry are, the hairs very thick on the hypochondrium, the blood at the same time thicker and more scanty, a redundance of bitter bile, and in manhood, of black, largeness and hardness of the veins, and the whole body hot and dry. The heat proceeding from the heart may indeed overcome the coldness proceeding from the liver, in like manner as the coldness may the heat; but it is not possible for the dryness to be changed to the contrary state by the humidity of the heart. It is obvious that, when the temperaments of those two prime organs combine together, the whole body is affected accordingly. The humid and hot liver, less than the hot and dry, renders the hypochondrium shaggy; but the blood is abundant, the veins large, and the whole habit humid and hot, unless the heart antagonise. But, should it be preternaturally changed as to both these qualities, persons so affected will be readily seized with putrid diseases and disorders from bad humours; and more particularly if the humidity be much increased, and the heat but little, they will be liable to cacochymies. In the humid and cold, the hypochondrium is free from hairs, but the blood is pituitous, the veins contracted, and the whole body in like manner, unless changed by the heart to the opposite state. The cold and dry renders the blood scanty, the veins of the body contracted, and the body colder; and the hypochondrium is without hair, unless the heart overcome this state.

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COMMENTARY. According to the views of the ancient physiologists, the liver is the seat of the Natural powers, being the grand organ of sanguification, and the blood being the pabulum which nourishes the whole body. That the liver performs an important part in the fabrication of the blood seems probable from all the veins of the stomach and upper portion of the intestines passing to the liver, whereby it is to be supposed, that a considerable proportion of the nutritive juices will be conveyed to it; and from this viscus being proportionally large in the fœtus when it is much required to form blood, and cannot be supposed necessary for any other purpose. The ancients taught that the liver, by its attractive power, attracts the chyle from the stomach; that, by its retentive, it retains the same until the alterative convert it into blood; and that then the expulsive separates the superfluities of the blood, namely, the bile, and conveys them to the gall-bladder. See Galen (T. ii, 285, ed. Basil), and Avicenna (iii, 4, 1.)

Aristotle held that the spleen is part of the hepatic system. (De Partibus Animal. iii, 7.) His commentator, Averrhoes, in like manner, considers the spleen as a second liver. (Collect. i, 9.) Their reasoning, on this point, appears to me exceedingly acute and conclusive.

The following extract from Actuarius contains a clear exposition of ancient opinions on the subject we are treating of: “When the food in the stomach is changed and digested, the meseraic veins, which derive their origin from the liver, by their vein called ramalis, suck the stomach and intestines; and having emulged, as it were, the purer part, (namely, the food converted into chyle,) and having drawn it as if through a strainer, they convey it to the concave part of the liver, and deliver it over to the sanguificatory power. Here, then, if nothing impede it, when it is changed into blood, whatever is subtile and acrid is received by the gall-bladder, which is placed at the convex part of the liver, and attracts the bile; but whatever the blood possesses of a terrene and melancholic humour is attracted to the spleen, by some natural faculty, whereby every part attracts whatever suits its nature. Thirdly, the serous humour remains. It is attracted by the kidneys.” (De Urinis, § 4.)

SECT. LXVIII.—DIAGNOSIS OF THE TEMPERAMENTS OF THE TESTICLES.

Of the temperaments of the testicles, the hot is lustful, apt to generate, particularly males, and at an early age has the genital parts covered with thick hairs, which extend to the surrounding part. The cold is the reverse. In the humid, the semen is copious and watery. In the dry, it is scanty and thick. A temperament which is moderately hot and dry has very thick semen, is most prolific, and rouses the person to early indulgence. Such persons have, at a very early period, thick hairs on their genital organs, and on the surrounding parts, as high up as the navel, and as low down as the middle of the thighs. Such a temperament is prone to venery, but is soon satiated, and readily hurt if compelled. When humidity combines with heat, such persons have thick hair, and much semen; yet they have not greater desires than others, but they can bear much venery without injury; and if both the moist and the hot combine properly together, they cannot safely abstain from venery. Those whose testicles are of the humid and cold temperament have no hair on the neighbouring parts; they are slow in beginning to copulate, and not much prone to the exertion. Their semen is watery, thin, without strength, and fit only for begetting females. The dry and the cold temperament together, resembles the former in every other respect, except that the semen is thicker, and altogether scanty.

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COMMENTARY. The testicles were described by the ancient anatomists as being bodies composed of white glandular flesh, and surrounded by coats which they knew to be processes of the peritoneum. The semen they considered as a white frothy fluid, elaborated from the blood, by passing through the convolutions of the spermatic vessels. Aristotle held it to be a superfluity collected from all parts of the system. His theory of generation is similar to that of Buffon. For the hypothesis of the Epicureans, see Lucretius (de R. N. iv.) They taught that the fœtus is the joint production of the male semen, and something analogous secreted by the ovaria of the female.

Galen has very ingenious ideas respecting the first organization of the fœtus, which he ascribes to a certain power in the semen, like that which Blumenbach calls a nisus formativus. (De Form. Fœtus.)

SECT. LXIX.—ON THE PARTS THAT ARE OMITTED.

Each of our members has its own proper temperament and faculty; but it is not necessary for us to describe the characters of all, since they are unlimited, and we propose to give only a brief system of instruction. Having treated of those which principally affect the whole body, of the others we shall merely direct them to be judged of in the same way, forming an opinion of the temperaments from their excretions, their other energies and symptoms. It is now time to treat of the cure of the intemperaments of the whole body.

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COMMENTARY. On these consult Galen (de Temperamentis); Haly Abbas (Theor. iii); Avicenna (i, 1, 3.) We may mention that, generally speaking, all those parts which possess much blood were supposed to be of a hot temperament, and those which have little of a cold.

SECT. LXX.—THE CORRECTION OF HOT INTEMPERAMENTS OF THE BODY.

Since, in the hot intemperaments, the bile exceeds in quantity, if it pass downward, little, it is obvious, need be done; but, if carried upwards to the stomach, it ought to be evacuated by vomiting, by taking tepid water after exercise, and before food. It will be better that the exercise taken be not swift nor hard; but, on the contrary, rather slow and gentle. Some of those who are very hot do not at all require gymnastic exercises, but walking and the bath are sufficient for them. These delight, also in baths after a meal. But those who have heat combined with dryness, require a diluent regimen by means of succulent food, baths, and abstinence from much and hard exercise; so that in the season of summer they ought to bathe early, and after a meal a second time. Cold drink is of service to them. Venery is most inimical to dry temperaments. Such ought also to abstain from exertions producing lassitude, exposure to the sun, and to avoid cares and watchfulness. Those who are naturally humid are apt in infancy to be seized with rheumatic and plethoric complaints, and also with putrid. They stand in need of more exercise, of a proper digestion in the stomach, and of secretions by urine. Wherefore such persons are much benefited by taking before diet the bath two or three times, particularly the natural hot ones. They ought also to promote the secretions by means of exercises, and the bath, and by procuring the alvine and urinary discharges before taking food. And nothing hinders them to use masticatories and cathartics, as also a wholesome diet, and wine of a diuretic quality.

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COMMENTARY. See, in like manner, Galen (de Sanitate tuenda, vi); Oribasius (Synops. v, 51); Aëtius (iv, 9); Actuarius (de Diæta, c. 12.) Of the Arabians, Haly Abbas is the author who has delivered the treatment of the temperaments in the fullest manner. (Pract. i, 15.)

It is to be remarked that the condition of the body named the hot intemperament by the ancients is the same as that now generally called a bilious habit. Accordingly, Galen directs the physician to attend whether any pain or sense of weight be felt in the region of the liver, as, in that case, he judges it unsafe to take the bath after a meal, and recommends him rather to give deobstruents, and to proscribe food of a thick viscid nature. He particularly recommends an attenuant diet, and medicines of the same description, namely, wormwood, anise, bitter almonds, &c. His views of practice, in short, appear to have been very judicious.

SECT. LXXI.—THE CORRECTION OF THE COLD INTEMPERAMENTS OF THE BODY.

Of cold intemperaments there are three varieties, the worst of which is the dry; for such persons are from the first in that state which time brings upon old men. They ought, therefore, to use whatever is diluting and warming, such as moderate exercise, humid and warm food, the heating wines, and much sleep. Care should be taken by us, that all the excrementitious matters collected in the body be evacuated every day. Venery hurts all those who are affected with dryness, and more especially if joined to coldness, and is innocuous to the hot and humid alone. The cold and humid temperaments are bad, and are very subject to rheumatic affections. They are relieved by abstinence from the bath, by frequent and light exercises, and the use of moderately heating unguents. Those that are naturally colder, but are well regulated as to dryness and humidity of temperament, ought to stimulate and increase their heat, but to choose the medium between a humid and dry diet.

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COMMENTARY. See the authorities referred to in the preceding Section. All, in a word, copy from Galen. (l. c.)

SECT. LXXII.—THE CURE OF THE DRY INTEMPERAMENTS, OF THE STOMACH FOR EXAMPLE; THEN OF THE OTHER INTEMPERAMENTS.

A dry intemperament may either be occasioned by the parts of uniform texture being drier than natural, in their solid parts, which is incurable; or by the natural moisture from which these parts derive their nourishment being lost. It is contained in all parts of an animal, being diffused through them in the form of dew, and can only be supplied by means of the food. The former variety is utterly incurable; and even the latter is of all states of the body the most intractable. But when the dryness is seated in the small veins and arteries, the cure may be attempted by filling each of the parts of uniform texture with their proper juices by a humid diet. A tepid bath is therefore beneficial, and the patient ought to remain long in the water. Immediately after the bath, let him take the milk of an ass newly drawn, to which a little warm honey has been added. Afterwards he ought to rest until he take a second bath. He ought then to be moderately rubbed with oil, if the milk appears to be digested, which may be judged of from his eructations and the distension of his belly. The proper interval between the first and second bath may be four or five hours at the equinox, if he be to bathe a third time, but, if not, it may be greater. And he ought to be rubbed with oil before putting on his clothes after every bathing. If, therefore, the milk agreed with him, we may give it to him after the second time, or, if not, we may give, instead, a ptisan properly boiled, or alica made into a ptisan; he is then to rest until the third bathing, or otherwise until supper. His bread ought to be carefully prepared, baked in an oven, and of a fine quality; and as a seasoner, he may eat those fishes which are caught among rocks, or the hake in a white soup. In a word, his food ought to be of easy digestion and nutritious, not oily and excrementitious. His drink should be wine that is weak, white, clear, bearing little water, and having some astringency. Such is the mode of cure for the greatest degree of dryness; but the moderate does not require the same restriction as to diet, which may therefore be more generous. Let us suppose a dryness like the former, but mixed with a moderate coldness; and in this case, we must substitute certain calefacient articles; and, with regard to those mentioned above, we must add more honey to the milk, and give wine that is not so watery. We must also not only use things which are naturally heating, but which are so from their acquired qualities. And the body is to be rubbed frequently with the ointment of nard and mastich. When much coldness is joined to the dryness, know in the first place, that the complaint is difficult and intractable, but use the same remedies, and also by itself honey that has been boiled and scummed, along with very old wine. The best possible remedy in such cases is that which is much used by pitchers; and we must likewise rub the belly with it, and tear it away while it is yet warm. Such persons are also relieved by having a child of a full habit sleeping with them, so as to touch their belly. Let us next suppose that a moderate heat is joined to dryness. In this case, our first care ought to be, not to taste honey, and to use wine which is not aged, food which is tepid and milky, and to rub the belly with the oil of unripe olives, or with that of apples. But to cool such persons much is not devoid of danger, as their state is feverish when the heat prevails. Let us next suppose that a hot intemperament prevails, and that humidity is joined to it. Such an intemperament is to be cured by drinking cold water. The use of astringent food is also proper; namely, such things as are austere, without being heating. But when the humid intemperament alone prevails, such articles of food as are desiccant, without heating or cooling much are beneficial, and also abstinence from the common drinks. When the humid intemperament is joined with the cold, the best remedies are all acrid things, and they ought to be mixed with such things as are astringent, without being decidedly refrigerant. The drink should be in small quantity, and consist of some of the strongly heating wines. These are the modes of curing intemperaments proceeding from qualities. But since a humour contained within the cavity of the stomach, or being absorbed within its coats, often occasions intemperaments, it will be proper to treat also of these affections. If the former state occur at once, it may be easily removed by emetics; but if it be a defluxion, the parts it comes from will require very attentive consideration, and the cure will follow, of course; for it is to be applied entirely to the affected part; and of the other parts, we need only take care that they be not thereby affected. The cure is to be performed by astringents, and such things as will bring the whole body to its proper habit. Depraved humours in the coats of the stomach are to be evacuated by moderately cathartic medicines, such as aloes, and the powder prepared from it, called Picra. When a viscid phlegm is contained in the stomach, such persons ought first to take those things which will cut it, and then it may be purged off, or evacuated by vomiting with radishes. When the humour is neither viscid nor thick, a vomit from ptisan, or that from honied water, may be sufficient. The juice of wormwood with honied water may also be drunk. In like manner, intemperaments in other parts may be cured, by finding out the evacuation suited to the humours; or, if the part has no sensible discharge, the prevailing matters and humours may be evacuated in the form of vapour; and in like manner, if it proceed from flatulence.

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COMMENTARY. Galen supplies all the matter of this Section. (l. c.)

The modern ideas respecting the temperaments, appear to be founded upon the descriptions given by the Arabians of the symptoms which characterize the prevalence of the four humours, as they were called, namely, blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm, in the body. In proof of this, we subjoin Rhases’ brief description of them: “De complexione autem infirmi scias, quod si fuerit albi coloris admixti rubedini, et si fuerit bonæ carnis, subtilis cutis, et quando locum fricaveris, rubescit statim, significatur quod materia est sanguinea. Et si corpus fuerit pingue, et albi coloris non mixti rubedini, et corpus nudum pilis, venis strictis, carne molli, occultarum juncturarum, gracilium ossium, et generaliter talis dispositio qualis est in corporibus mulierum, significatur quod materia est phlegmatica. Et si fuerit macrum, citrini coloris, pilosum, et cum crassis venis, et manifestis juncturis, ostendit quod materia est cholerica. Et si fuerit niger color, durities corporis, pilositas, asperitas cutis, significatur quod materia est melancholica.” (De Affect. Junct. 2.)

It is to be understood, however, that Galen’s system of the temperaments was not based, as has been often erroneously represented, upon any hypothesis respecting the humours.

SECT. LXXIII.—ON THE POWERS OF THE ARTICLES OF FOOD.

Since an account of the properties of food is a part of the doctrine of Hygiene, we shall add that to the preceding, having premised only a few remarks before delivering the particular rules on this head; for nothing is more indispensably necessary than to be well acquainted with the properties of food. Things of an attenuating power open the pores, and clear away the viscid humours which are impacted in them, and cut and attenuate the thick; but when persevered in as articles of food, they beget serous and bilious superfluities, or, if still longer continued, they render the blood melancholic. One ought therefore to abstain from the continued use of them, and in particular those who are of a bilious temperament; for they only suit with those who have collections of phlegm, and of crude, viscid, and thick humours. Those of incrassating powers are sufficiently nutritious, and, if properly digested in the stomach and liver, they form good blood, but occasion obstructions of the spleen and liver. Of these some have only thick juices, as the dried lentil, but some viscid, as the mallows; and in some they are both thick and viscid, as the testaceous fishes. An attenuating diet is safer than an incrassating for the preservation of health, but yet, as it supplies little nourishment, it does not impart tone or strength to the body. One ought, therefore, to take some moderately nutritious food, when experiencing the effects of a deficient diet. They may do so with the least danger who are given to exercises and can take as much rest as they please. But all those who cannot take exercise before food ought to avoid such things as are incrassating; and those who are of an indolent habit ought by no means to take such food. For complete inactivity is one of the greatest evils for the preservation of health, whereas moderate exercise is particularly good. Those articles of food which are intermediate between the incrassating and the attenuating are the best of all, producing blood of a proper consistency. Such a diet, then, agrees with our bodies, but that which produces a bad chyme ought to be shunned. It is better also to avoid variety of food, more particularly if it consist of contrary qualities; for such things, when taken together, do not digest properly.

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COMMENTARY. The ancient writers on Dietetics are, Hippocrates (de Diæta, de Affectionibus, et alibi); Celsus (ii); Dioscorides (Mat. Med. ii); Galen (de Facult. Alim., et de Probis Pravisque Aliment. Suc.); Xenocrates (de Aliment, ex aquat.); Oribasius (Med. Collect. i et seq.); Aëtius (ii); Simeon Seth (de Alimentis); Actuarius (de Spiritu Animali, p. ii); Anonymus (Tract, ap. Ermerins Anecdota Græca); Marcellus (Sideta de Piscibus); Psellus (Carmen de Re Medica); Rhases (ad Mansor. iii, Cont. xxxiii); Avicenna (Cantic. p. ii); Averrhoes (Comment. de Cantic); Haly Abbas (Theor. v, 15); Athenæus (Deipnos. passim); Plutarch (de Sanitate tuenda, Symposiacon); Macrobius (Saturnal. vii); Cælius Apicius (de Opsoniis); Geoponica (xii); Horace and Martial (pluries.)

Of all the ancient writers on Dietetics, Galen is beyond dispute the best. In the two treatises mentioned above, he has treated of everything connected with this subject so fully and so correctly, as to leave little to be supplied even at the present day. All the subsequent authorities in general are his servile copyists, with the exception of Averrhoes, who commonly differs from him only by deviating into error.

The ancient philosophers were at great pains to explain why a regular supply of food is necessary to the existence of animals. On this subject, Timæus Locrus, Plato, and Aristotle have philosophized with great acuteness and ingenuity. No one, however, has given a plainer account of the matter than the poet Lucretius in the following verses:

“Illud item non est mirandum, corporis ipsa Quod natura cibum quærit quoiusque animantis; Quippe etenim fluere, atque recedere corpora rebus Multa modis multis docui, sed plurima debent Ex animalibus iis, quæ sunt exercita motu; Multaque per sudorem ex alto pressa feruntur, Multa per os exhalantur, quam languida anhelant: His igitur rebus rarescit corpus; et omnis Subruitur natura dolor quam consequitur rem. Propterea capitur cibus, ut suffulceat artus, Et recreat vires interdatus, atque patentem Per membra ac venas ut amorem obturet edendi.”

(De Rerum Nat. iv, 856.)

The explanation given by one of Rhases’ authorities is to the same effect. He says: “Since our bodies are in a continual state of waste from the surrounding atmosphere, and the innate heat which is within, it behoved them to have nourishment to supply the part which is melted down; and, as all the food which is taken is not assimilated, it was necessary that there should be passages for the discharge of the superfluities.”

Hippocrates, Aristotle, Galen, and Musonius (ap. Stobæi Sentent. 18) remark that the stomach is to animals what the earth is to vegetables.

Our author’s general remarks on the properties of food are condensed from Galen’s work. (De Prob. p. Al. suc.) Horace agrees with Galen and our author in condemning the mixture of various articles of food. (Satir. ii, 2.) The arguments for and against this practice are very ingeniously stated by Macrobius. (Saturn. vii, 5, 6.) It appears that Asclepiades maintained the opinion that a multifarious diet is most easily digested. (Celsus, iii, 6.)

The ancients had the following meals during a day corresponding to those now in use: breakfast, jentaculum, ἀκράτισμα; dinner, or rather lunch, prandium, ἄριστον; soirée, merenda, ἑσπέρισμα; supper, cœna, δεῖπνον. To these may be added the commissatio, κῶμος, which was a sort of jollification after the great meal or supper. See Athenæus (lib. i); Jo. Bruyer (de Re Cibar. iii, i); Lambinus (in Plut. Truculent, ac. i, sc. 7, l. 16); Potter (Arch. Græc. iv, 16.) The common hour of breakfast was about 7 o’clock a.m., of dinner about 3 p.m.; and of supper about 8 p.m. The practice, however, of taking so many meals appears to have been disapproved of by the physicians and savans: for we find Actuarius discussing the question whether it be proper to eat twice or only once in the day; and Galen decidedly recommends people not to take food in general oftener than twice. Cicero even forbids to take two full meals in a day. (Tuscul. Quæst. v.) Hippocrates speaks with disapprobation of the practice of eating a full dinner. (De Vet. Med.) Suetonius makes it a reproach to Domitian that he dined fully. (In Domit.) Haly Abbas enters into a full examination of the question with regard to the number of meals. Some, he says, eat only once in the day, some twice, and others three times. He advises those persons who are actively employed not to dine, because, if obliged to take exercise immediately afterwards, the body will be loaded with half concocted chyle. Upon the whole he prefers supper to dinner. (Pract. i, 13.) Alsaharavius considers one meal in the day not sufficient for persons of a gross habit of body. He advises persons not to change even a bad regimen too suddenly. Rhases remarks, that to take another supply of food before a preceding meal is digested, will prove highly prejudicial to the health.

From the views of domestic life given in the Greek novels we are inclined to think that the supper was the only meal which all the members of a family of the better class partook of together. See in particular Achilles Tatius (pluries.) The breakfast and dinner were light meals, consisting of bread or cheese dipped in wine. (Apul. Metam. and Martial Epigr.)

The ancient physicians attached great importance to the proper regulation of the diet. Galen seriously admonishes his readers not to eat thoughtlessly, like brute beasts, but to consider attentively what kinds of food and drink they find from experience to be prejudicial to them. (De Sanit. tuenda, vi, 13.)

According to Athenæus, a good physician ought to be a good cook. (Deipnos. vii.) Upon the authority of Daphnus, the Ephesian physician, he decides that night is the most proper time for taking the supper or principal meal, because, says he, the moon promotes putrescency, and digestion is a species of putrefaction. (vii, 2.)

The processes which food undergoes in the body from its first introduction to its complete assimilation are stated in a very scientific manner by Macrobius. In the first place, he says, it is dissolved in the stomach, as much of it at least as is digestible, and that which is not soluble passes down to the intestine, while the chyme, or portion which has been dissolved, passes to the liver, there to undergo the second process of digestion, namely, sanguification, or conversion into blood. It then passes into the arteries or veins, where it undergoes its third species of digestion, namely, purification, by having its recrementitious particles sent off in the form of bile and urine. It is then conveyed to the different parts of the body where the fourth process of digestion is accomplished, namely, assimilation, by which it is converted into the different substances of which the body is composed. (Saturnal. vii, 4.)

SECT. LXXIV.—ON POT-HERBS.

The lettuce is manifestly refrigerant and moistening; it is therefore soporific, and, compared with other pot-herbs, nutritious, forming blood of a very good quality. The endive is refrigerant and moistening, but less so than the lettuce. The mallows cool but not obviously: they rather moisten and thereby loosen the belly; and this they do by means of the viscid juice which they contain. The beet is detergent, and thereby softens the belly; but when eaten in great quantity it occasions pain of the stomach: it removes obstructions of the liver and spleen. The cabbage, when twice boiled before it is eaten, binds the belly, but when only once boiled for a short time, it rather loosens, if eaten with oil, sauce, or salts; as its juice, still more than the dried lentil, is of a purgative quality; and in particular the sea-cabbage is laxative of the belly, being manifestly saltish and bitter. The sea-purslane tree, possessing stronger saline qualities, loosens the belly, and agrees better with the stomach than the cabbage, from having a moderate astringency; it is also fitted for forming milk and semen. The blite and orache (atriplex hortensis) and such like are succulent and laxative, but not nutritious. All the thorny tribe, such as the cardoons, the atractylis, and such like are stomachic, except the cinara, for, being hard, it forms bad chyme; and, therefore, it is best to take it boiled with oil, fish-sauce, and coriander. The parsley, the horse-parsley (smyrnium olusatrum), the water parsnip, and the allsander, are diuretic; but the allsander is aromatic, and more acrid, diuretic, and emmenagogue, whereas the parsley and horse-parsley are sweeter, and, therefore, agree better with the stomach. The rocket (brassica eruca) is hot, and forms semen; and, therefore, rouses to venery and occasions headachs. The cress, basil (ocimum), and mustard are hot and acrid, particularly the cress; but all are of difficult digestion, injure the stomach, and supply unwholesome juices. But the nettle is attenuant, laxative, and of little nourishment. The toothpick-fennel is like the shepherd’s needle, possessing astringent and bitter qualities in no small degree; it is beneficial to the stomach, so that those who have lost their appetite may eat it with advantage in vinegar; but it supplies little nourishment to the body. All the wild pot-herbs, as they are called, contain very bad juices. Capers, however, whet the appetite, remove obstructions of the liver and spleen, and evacuate phlegm. They are to be used with vinegar and honey, or with vinegar and oil, before taking any other food.

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COMMENTARY. Athenæus remarks that the use of pot-herbs, as articles of food, appears to have been very ancient, since several of them are mentioned by Homer. (Deipnos, i, 29.) Diphilus says, “all pot-herbs in general contain little nutriment, are attenuant, engender bad juices, swim in the stomach, and are of difficult digestion.” (Deipnos, ii, 28.) Actuarius states, that pot-herbs in general form a thin and watery blood, compared with that from thicker articles of food.

The ancients ate their pot-herbs with much oil, and generally a liberal allowance of hot spices. See Apicius (iii.) A sauce from pickled fish, vinegar, or old wine, was often added to the preparation. The poet Juvenal makes mention of a miser who ate his cabbage with the oil from lamps. (Sat. v, 87.) Celsus remarks of such things, “Quodcunque ex olio garove estur olus alienum stomacho est.”

We now select from the dietetical writers a few remarks on the most important articles of this class.

Galen strongly recommends the lettuce as a cooling, moistening, and soporific herb. He relates that he cured himself of morbid insomnolency by eating liberally of lettuces. The soporific property of lettuces is mentioned by Dioscorides, Pliny, Athenæus, Rhases, Haly Abbas, Simeon Seth, and most of the other authorities. It is even said by Simeon Seth and Florentinus (Geopon. xvii, 13), that the juice of it when rubbed upon the forehead induces sleep. We need scarcely remark, that the lettuce was lately restored to its place in the Materia Medica as a soporific. Martial directs the lettuce to be eaten at the beginning of a feast (xi, ep. 53); Athenæus at the end.

Athenæus mentions that mallows are praised by the poet Hesiod. (Op. et Dies. i.) He adds, “Diphilus relates that mallows have good juices, smooth the trachea, are easily evacuated, and prove moderately nutritious.” Damogeron says that when eaten with fish sauce and oil, they loosen the belly. (Geopon. l. c.) Galen and Aëtius state that they lubricate the intestines more than lettuce, but are not so refrigerant. In a word, mallows were in great repute with the ancients, as being inferior to none of the oleracea. Horace calls them “gravi malvæ salubres corpori.” (Epod. ii.) The poet Martial mentions them as being laxative. (x.) Different species of mallows were probably used by the ancients for food, but more especially the Malva rotundifolia L.

Galen states that the juice of the beet is thinner and more detergent than those of the lettuce and mallows. He says that, when twice boiled it becomes astringent. Apicius recommends boiled beet to be eaten with mustard, a moderate proportion of oil, and vinegar. Beet-root, according to Actuarius and Simeon Seth, is difficult to digest, flatulent, and laxative. Dioscorides and Diphilus, however, state that beet contains better juices, and is more nutritious than cabbage. Athen. (Deipn. ix.) Galen recommends its pickled roots as deobstruent in infarction of the liver and spleen. (De Alim. Facult. ii.)

The wild succory and the endive or garden succory were much used by the ancients as pot-herbs. Galen briefly states, that in properties they resemble lettuces, but are less delicious. According to Simeon Seth, they are slightly cooling and moistening. The endive, he says, when boiled with vinegar is astringent. Rhases praises it as a deobstruent in affections of the liver. Apicius directs it to be dressed with fish-sauce and oil. Its boiled roots were also prepared as a pickle.

The brassicæ, or cabbages, were great favorites of the elder Cato. (De Re Rust.) Horace states correctly, that such as grow in the country are better than those which are raised about towns. (Sat. ii, 4.) According to Galen, their juices are laxative, but their solid parts astringent. Brocoli, says Rhases, when not pickled are not heating, and being flatulent they engender semen: those that are pickled are more heating, occasion thirst, supply bad nutriment, and inflame the blood. Is brocoli an Italian word, or an Arabian, formed from caulis with a prefix?

The halimus, according to Sprengel, is the atriplex halimus L., called by Miller the sea purslane; but by others it is referred to the salicornia fruticosa L. Dioscorides says that its leaves when boiled are used for food. (i, 120.)

Rhases and Haly Abbas state that spinach is laxative and wholesome. The Greeks and Romans appear to have been unacquainted with it.

The atractylis is supposed by Sprengel to be the carlina lanata L. a woolly carline thistle. Dioscorides and Pliny recommend it as an antidote against poisons; but it seems to have been little used as a pot-herb.

The nettle (either the urtica dioica or pillulifera) is mentioned as a pot-herb by Theophrastus (H. P. vii, 7), and most of the medical authorities. Psellus calls it laxative.

The scandix, or shepherd’s needle, was in little repute as an article of food; and hence Aristophanes makes it a subject of reproach to Euripides, that his mother sold not good pot-herbs, but scandix. (Achar. act. ii, sc. 4; Pliny, H. N. xxii, 38.)

Galen says that the gingidium is eaten in Syria, like the scandix in his country. It has been supposed, by Bruyer and others, to be the chærophyllum or chervil; but, according to Ludovicus Nonnius, this is a mistake. We are inclined to refer it to the daucus gingidium L., or pick tooth.

Galen, Aëtius, and Simeon Seth speak of the cinara as an unwholesome pot-herb. It may be eaten, however, Galen says, with oil, fish-sauce, and wine and coriander. Many of the authorities have referred it to the artichoke, but it seems to be now settled that no ancient writer has noticed it, with the exception of Columella, who has given a very striking description of it. (x, 237.) We cannot decide positively what the cinara was.

Dioscorides says, that the scolymus is eaten like asparagus. (iii, 16.) It is the scolymus Hispanicus, or Spanish cordoons.

The hipposelinum appears to have been the smyrnium olusatrum. See Harduin’s note on Pliny (H. N. xix, 48), and Sprengel (ad Dioscor. iii, 71.) Dioscorides says it is used as a pot-herb, like parsley, its root being eaten boiled or raw, and its stalk and leaves boiled, either alone or with fish. It is not to be confounded with the smyrnium of the ancients, which is the smyrnium perfoliatum. Dioscorides says that the latter, when pickled, is used as a pot-herb, and is astringent.

Galen says that the blite and orache are watery pot-herbs, and almost insipid. Seth, and the other authorities who notice it, agree that the latter is cooling and laxative. The blite is still much used as a pot-herb in Spain and Italy. It is the blitum capitatum.

Xenophon mentions that the ancient Persians lived very much upon cresses, using them as a seasoner to their food. (Cyroped. i, 2.) According to Aëtius and Simeon Seth, they are calefacient and desiccative. Seth calls them aphrodisiacal. On the aphrodisiacal powers of the cresses and rocket, see Section xxxvi.

The sion was probably the sium nodiflorum, procumbent water-parsnip. It was used as a substitute for the cress.

Dioscorides says that the root of the dracunculus, or dragon-herb, is sometimes eaten as a pot-herb, both when boiled and raw. He mentions that the inhabitants of the Balearian Isles mix its root with honey, and use it at their banquets in place of cakes. (ii, 16.) Simeon Seth notices it by the name of tarchon, being a corruption from Tarragona. He calls it flatulent and unwholesome, and says that its leaves only are to be used along with mint and parsley. Galen and Rhases likewise mention it as an article of food. The aron was a plant nearly allied to it, but one which it is difficult to determine accurately.

Mustard, as Hippocrates remarks, is of a hot and purgative nature. Seth says that it promotes the digestion and distribution of the food. Rhases forbids it to be eaten, except along with thick articles of food.

Pliny mentions the ocymum or basil in very unfavorable terms.

The dock, rumex L., is sometimes mentioned as a pot-herb, but does not appear to have been much in use. Horace alludes to its laxative properties. Galen says some women affected with pica and bizarre children eat the oxylapathum (rumex acutus L.) raw, but that it is still less nutritious than the lapathum.

Capers, says Aëtius and Seth, consist of different qualities, as bitterness, which renders them detergent, purgative, and penetrative; acrimony, which makes them calefacient, discutient, and attenuant; and sourness, which renders them astringent. Serapion says that, when pickled with vinegar, they strengthen the stomach and whet the appetite. When pickled with salt, he says, they are bad for the stomach. Galen recommends pickled capers in obstruction of the liver and spleen.

The buglossum, or borage, is frequently mentioned as a herb which, when eaten, imparts gladness to the soul. Ludovicus Nonnius informs us that the Belgians still fancy that it possesses this property, and look upon it as the Homeric nepenthes.

We have had occasion to mention in another place that the ancients were fully persuaded of the aphrodisiacal properties of the eruca, or rocket.

The strychnos has been generally supposed to be some species of solanum. It is mentioned as a pot-herb by Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Galen, but was in little repute. Several other plants are mentioned as pot-herbs by the dietetical writers, such as fennel, anise, dill, hyssop, and wild thyme, but they are of little importance.

SECT. LXXV.—ON ASPARAGI OR YOUNG SHOOTS.

Blites, lettuces, orachs, mallows, and beets have the plant juicy, but the shoot dry. The turnip, mustard, radish, cress, pellitory, cabbage, and other hot things, have the plant of a dry, but the shoot of a juicy nature. The shoots of the bushy shrubs, both the marsh and garden, and that of the bryony, are stomachic and diuretic, but of little nourishment, yet when digested they are more nutritious than those of pot-herbs. Such also are the shoots of the ground-bay.

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COMMENTARY. See Suidas (in Voce); Galen (de Alim. Facult.); Humelbergius ad Apul. (de Med. Hist. 84.) Our author’s account of the Asparagi is abridged from Galen. He remarks that the young shoots of the cabbage, called cymæ, are particularly tender. Apicius directs them to be prepared with cumin, salt, old wine, and oil; to which pepper, borage, and the like may be added.

On the Asparagi, see Athenæus. (Deipnos. ii.)

The plant now commonly known by the name of asparagus is said by Simeon Seth to be so nutritious that it deserves to hold an intermediate place between pot-herbs and flesh. He remarks, that it is diuretic, and imparts its smell to the urine. The wild asparagus is called corruda by Cato, Columella, and Pliny.

SECT. LXXVI.—ON HERBS HAVING ESCULENT ROOTS.

The bunias or turnip, when eaten after being twice boiled, is nutritious, no less so than other herbs, but when frequently taken it engenders thick juices. The bulbi are astringent and detergent, whet the appetite, strengthen the stomach, and evacuate the viscid humours contained in the chest. When twice boiled, they are more nourishing, but less expectorant, having lost their bitter principle. They are productive of semen, and aphrodisiacal when liberally used, and occasion flatulence and griping. When eaten with fish-sauce and oil, they are very sweet, do not create flatulence, are nutritious and digestible. The garden and wild carrot and the caraway have roots which are less nutritious than turnip, but hot, decidedly aromatic, and diuretic. But when used too freely, they supply bad juices, and become of difficult digestion, like other roots. Some call the wild carrot daucus; it is evidently more diuretic than the other. The radish is of an attenuant and heating nature; but may be eaten before other food along with vinegar and fish-sauce, to loosen the bowels, but by no means after a meal. The onion, garlic, leek, and dog-leek (ampeloprason), being of an acrid nature, warm the body, attenuate and cut the thick humours contained in it; when twice boiled, they give little nourishment, but when unboiled they do not nourish at all. The garlic is more deobstruent and diaphoretic than the others; and the dog-leek, being wild, is drier than the common leek. Regarding pot-herbs in general, the raw, when eaten, furnish worse juices than the boiled, as they have more excrementitious juice. But those which are prepared for pickles with brine or vinegar and salt are stomachic, and whet the appetite, and discuss crude humours; but are of difficult digestion, and supply bad juices when too freely taken.

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COMMENTARY. Galen thus delivers the general character of these substances: The roots of pot-herbs which are acrid, such as those of onions, leeks, garlic, radish, and carrot, contain bad juices; but those of turnips, rapes, and caraways hold an intermediate place between things of good and of bad juices.

It is well known that the Romans had two kinds of herbs with esculent roots, called the napus and rapum, and that they are generally admitted to have been two species of the turnip. See Columella (de R. Rust. ii, 10); Pliny (H. N. xviii, 13) and the note of Harduin; Sprengel (R. H. H. t. i.) The term bunias occurs first in Nicander; and that it was synonymous with the gongylis is declared by Galen and our author; and, further, that it was the brassica napobrassica L., or wild navew, is admitted by all the late authorities on classical botany, with the exception of Dierbach, who most unaccountably contends that it is the B. oleracea. Galen says that unless well boiled it is indigestible, flatulent, and bad for the stomach. Seth assigns it the same qualities as our author. All account it diuretic and aphrodisiacal. Apicius directs the rapa and napi to be eaten with cumin, rue, vinegar, oil, &c. (iii, 13.) Cato the Censor was very fond of turnips, and used to prepare them with his own hands. It appears from Athenæus that the ancients frequently ate their turnips roasted. They also ate turnips prepared as a pickle with vinegar and mustard at the commencement of a feast, as whetters. (Deipnos. iv, 11.) According to Diphilus, in this state they are more attenuant than in their natural state. (Deipnos. ix, 8.)

It is not well ascertained what the esculent bulbi of the ancients were. Harduin conjectures that they were a delicious kind of onions. Matthiolus and Nonnius are wholly undecided. Sprengel inclines, with Dalecampius and Sibthorp, to think that they were a species of muscari, or musk hyacinth. The account given of them by Serapion, who calls them capæ sine tunicis, agrees better with the conjecture of Harduin. Eustathius likewise says that the bulbus was a wild onion. (Ad Iliad. xiii, 589.) Columella, Varro, Apicius, and Martial call them aphrodisiacal.

The staphylinus was probably the carrot, or daucus carota, but we are inclined to think that it also comprehended the parsnip. See Athen. (Deip. ix, 2.) Apicius, among other methods of dressing it, directs it to be done with salt, pure oil, and vinegar.

The sisarum was probably the garden parsnip, pastinaca sativa L.

The carus seems indisputably to have been the carum carui L. Dioscorides says that its boiled root may be eaten like the carrot. Seth praises it as being carminative, diuretic, and astringent. Apicius mentions it frequently along with spices and other aromatics.

The characters of the onion, garlic, and leek are taken from Galen. Celsus calls them calefacient, and ranks them with things having unwholesome juices. Actuarius prefers the leek to the onion and garlic. The latter is warmly eulogised by Galen, as being the rustic’s theriac. Horace had not so much favour for it. (Epod. iii.) Galen calls the ampeloprason the same as the wild leek. (De Fac. Simp. vi.) Dioscorides describes two species of the porrum, namely, the capitatum and sectivum.

The asphodel (asphodelus ramosus) is mentioned as an article of food by the poet Hesiod. Galen, however, speaks of its being eaten only in times of scarcity.

Galen directs radishes to be eaten before dinner, as a laxative. He justly expresses his surprise at the practice of certain physicians, and other persons of his time, who ate radish after dinner to promote digestion. The wild radish was called armoracia by the Romans, as we are informed by Dioscorides.

SECT. LXXVII.—ON TRUFFLES AND MUSHROOMS.

The truffle (tuber) forms chyme devoid of qualities, but cold and thick. The mushrooms called mycetæ, being of a cold nature, form phlegm and bad chyme. Of these, the boleti are devoid of qualities, and are safer than the others when boiled properly. The amanitæ are of the second order. The other mushrooms ought not to be tasted, for many of them are mortal poisons; and even the boleti, when eaten without being properly boiled, have often proved dangerous.

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COMMENTARY. Diphilus says “Fungi are grateful to the stomach, laxative, and nutritious, but of difficult digestion, and flatulent.” (Athen. Deipnos. ii, 19.) He adds, “the nature of truffles is, that they are difficult to digest, supply good juices, and are laxative; but some of them, like the fungi, occasion suffocation.” (Ibid. 51.) Galen says that they contain cold, viscid, and thick juices. Serapion says that they engender gross humours. According to Avicenna they are apt to super-induce apoplexy and paralysis. Simeon Seth says that truffles occasion crude and depraved humours. He directs them to be steeped in water for some hours before boiling them; and prepared with pepper, marjoram, salt, and rue, to correct their bad properties. Rhases, in like manner, recommends us to eat truffle boiled in water, with salt, marjoram, oil, and assafœtida. He also recommends wine, honied water, or the theriac after mushrooms. Apicius directs fungi to be eaten with pepper, oil, salt, &c. Horace points out the best kind of fungi.

“Pratensibus optima fungis Natura est: aliis male creditur.”

(Sat. ii, 4.)

The poets make frequent mention of mushrooms as a delicacy at the tables of gourmands. See in particular Juvenal (Sat. v, 145.)

Apicius directs us to preserve truffles, by laying them in a vessel along with alternate layers of sawdust, and then covering up the mouth of the vessel with parget. On the mode of raising them, see ‘Geopon.’ (xii, 41.) In the days of Juvenal, the Roman gourmands appear to have attached more importance to the truffles than the corn which they were supplied with from Africa:

“Tibi habe frumentum, Alledius inquit, O Lybie; disjunge boves dum tubera mittas.”

(Sat. v, 116.)

Ludovicus Nonnius confesses himself unable to determine what species of mushroom the amanitæ of our author were. Seth makes no distinction between them and the mycetæ. See further Athen. (Deip. ii, 7, ed. Schweig.)

SECT. LXXVIII.—ON THE FRUMENTACEOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD.

Of the frumentacea, the chondrus is nutritious, and forms viscid chyme; but a watery preparation is unwholesome, because, as it thickens quickly, it remains raw and unconcocted; but the juice of it is better when it is properly boiled whole, like a ptisan. The alica, in other respects, resembles the chondrus, only that it binds the bowels more. Wheat, when boiled and eaten, is of difficult digestion and flatulent; but if digested it proves a very strong food. When made into bread, its indigestible and flatulent properties are removed by the leaven and salt which are added. The most nutritious of all the kinds of bread is that made from siligo; next, that from the similago; and, third, that which is composed of the entire grain. Coarse bread is less nutritious, but more laxative than the other kinds. Starch gives little nourishment, like washed bread. Barley is of a cold nature and detergent: when boiled like a ptisan it humectates; but when toasted, as in polenta, it dries. Polenta in summer, drunk with water before the bath, quenches thirst. Barley-bread is dry and of little nourishment. The pudding (maza) is of more difficult digestion, and more flatulent than barley-bread, and when it receives a little honey is laxative. Oats are heating and of little nourishment. Millet and panic are cold and dry, contain little nourishment, and bind the bowels. But the millet is in every respect superior to the panic. Rice is of difficult digestion, contains little nourishment, and binds the bowels. A ptisan is prepared, by adding one part of it to fifteen parts of water, then mixing a moderate quantity of oil, and after it swells up, some vinegar. When properly boiled, a small quantity of salt is to be thrown in, and sometimes leeks or dill may be added. Oats and chondrus may be prepared in like manner as a ptisan.

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COMMENTARY. On the cerealia consult in particular Theophrastus (H. P. iii); Dioscorides (ii); Galen (de Aliment. i); Pliny (H. N. xviii); Serapion (de Simpl.); and of the modern authorities see, in particular, Harduin (Notæ in Plin. l. c.); Paucton (Metrologie); Dickson (Husbandry of the Ancients); Sprengel (R. H. H. and Notæ in Diascor. l. c.); Ludovicus Nonnius (de Re Cibaria, i); and J. Bruyerinus Campegius (de Re Cibaria.)

Among the cerealia, wheat, as Galen states, deservedly holds the first place, being in most general use and containing the most nutriment within a small bulk. He remarks, that it is the most glutinous of all the articles of this class.

Haly Abbas likewise states that wheat is the most nutritious of all articles of food. Pliny asserts the same thing of it. He calls the siligo the deliciæ tritici. Galen explains the siligo and similago in much the same terms as our author. The third species, or the autopyrus, he says, consists of all the parts of the grain, the bran not being excluded. Actuarius, on the other hand, says that the bran only is rejected. Is not the text of the latter corrupt? Bran, Galen adds, is detergent, and contains little nourishment. Modern commentators have been greatly puzzled to determine what the siligo, similago, and autopyrus of the ancients were. It appears impossible to reconcile all the different descriptions of them given by ancient writers, and therefore we cannot but suspect that some of them must have written from an imperfect acquaintance with the subject. Upon the whole, we are inclined to think that we shall not be far from the truth if we set them down as varieties of flour or bread, as regards quality, corresponding in a great measure, to the kinds of bread now distinguished by the names of the white, the wheaten, and the household. At all events the autopyrus is certainly analogous to the last. The furfuraceus, or panis cibarius of Celsus, was made solely from bran.

Theophrastus mentions that the lightest wheat imported to Greece in his time was the Pontic. It is curious to remark that Odessa wheat still retains its ancient character. The heaviest, he says, was the Sicilian, which, however, was lighter than the Bœotian. Pliny says that the lightest wheat brought to the Roman market was the Gallic, and then that imported from the Chersonese. The first in excellence, he adds, are the Bœotian, the Sicilian, and next to these the African.

Galen gives an interesting account of bread. The best kinds, he says, are such as contain plenty of leaven, have been properly pounded, and exposed to a moderate heat in the oven. When exposed to too strong a heat, he properly remarks that a crust is burned on the outside, while the inside is left raw or improperly concocted. Unleavened bread he wholly condemns. Celsus appears to have had a better opinion of it, for he ranks it first among those substances which do not spoil on the stomach. Of bread, in general, he correctly remarks, “Siquidem plus alimenti est in pane quam in ullo alio.” Pliny and Galen describe a soft spongy kind of bread, which would seem to have resembled that which we call buns. Pliny adds, that some nations prepare their bread with butter. He mentions a kind of bread called artolagani, which, according to Dr. Arbuthnot, answered to our cakes. Seth gives an interesting account of bread, but it is mostly extracted from Galen. Haly Abbas says, that the best kind of bread is that which is made from wheaten flour and salt, and is fermented, and heated in an oven to such a degree as not to burn the outer crust. Rhases disapproves entirely of unleavened bread. Serapion states that old bread is astringent. Avenzoar prefers newly-made bread, provided it has been cooled. Hippocrates condemns the eating of bread before it has been properly cooled. (De Diæt. i.) He mentions only two kinds of bread, the fine and the coarse—autopyrus. (De Vet. Med. 14.) According to Actuarius, the lightest kinds of wheat form the best bread for indolent persons, but persons actively employed require the weightiest kinds. Unleavened bread, he says, is very indigestible. Bread prepared with oil, he adds, is very nutritious, but requires a strong stomach to digest it. See an interesting account of the various kinds of bread in Athenæus (Deipnos. ii, 26.) He makes the remark that the worst kind is the most laxative. Among the kinds of bread described by ancient authors may be noticed the oxylipus mentioned by Galen (Meth. Med. viii, 5), which, as Manardus remarks, was prepared with vinegar. Another kind, called νάστος, was fermented with honey, dried grapes, &c. See Tzetzes (ad Lycoph. Casan. 640.) It is to be borne in mind that the ancients generally used leaven to ferment their bread. Pliny, however, mentions that the Gauls and Spaniards were in the practice of using yeast. (H. N. xviii, 7.)

The zea, typha, and olyra of the Greeks, and the far and adoreum of the Romans, were all varieties of spelt, a species of grain bearing some resemblance to wheat; in short, it was the triticum spelta L. Actuarius calls it a light, and not very nutritious grain. The chondrus was prepared from spelt, by first separating the husks, and then breaking it down into granules. The alica was the same as the chondrus, with only the addition of a small quantity of chalk; and, indeed, almost all the writers on Dietetics, except our author, use them as synonymous terms. A more complicated method of preparing them is described by Pliny, and in the ‘Geoponics’ (iii, 7) Sprengel says that chondrus is what is called perlgraupen by the Germans. It was therefore nearly the same as the pearl-barley of this country, only that it was prepared from the grain called spelt, triticum spelta, and not from common barley. Galen, like our author, explains that a gruel, or decoction from it, is unwholesome, as it thickens before it is properly concocted.

Starch, according to Galen and Oribasius, is lubricant, and not calefacient like bread. They say that it is not very nutritious. Serapion gives the same account of it.

Galen, Rhases, Haly Abbas, and, in fact, all the authorities, agree that barley is of a colder nature, and less nutritious than wheat. Polenta was prepared by first steeping the grain in water, and afterwards drying it at the fire, and grinding it down to meal. It was therefore a sort of malt. Galen, like our author, remarks that barley-meal sprinkled on wine and water, or water alone, makes an excellent beverage. Actuarius recommends barley-water as a diluent drink in fevers. Ptisan of barley was thus prepared: Barley was boiled until it swelled; it was then dried in the sun, and afterwards pounded and freed of its husk, and again pounded but not ground. This flour was boiled with fifteen parts of water, to which a small quantity of oil, and, when it swelled, some vinegar were added. Salt also was often added to it. It was either used as thus prepared, or it was strained, when it got the name of the juice of ptisan. (Hippocrates de Regim. in acut.; see Galen’s treatise de Ptisana.) A long-lived race of people in Chaldea are said to have subsisted principally upon barley-bread. See Lucian (Macrobii). Galen states that it is very deficient in nutritive properties. (De Re Alim. i, 10.) According to Athenæus barley-bread was among the worst kinds of it.

Galen says of oats that they are the food of horses and not of men. Aëtius and Simeon Seth call them refrigerant.

Galen, Dioscorides, Simeon Seth, and Serapion agree that rice is astringent, and recommend it for ulcers of the intestines. Galen reckons the bread prepared from it next in quality to that from wheat. Simeon Seth calls it nutritious. Celsus ranks it with things of a weak nature.

Galen and Serapion say that millet and panic being devoid of oily matter are desiccative, and therefore useful in defluxions of the belly. Simeon Seth says that the millet is of difficult digestion, and not nutritious. Rhases directs panic to be eaten with fresh milk, butter, and sugar. Pliny mentions a sweet species of bread prepared from millet. Galen says that it is not possessed of much nourishment. He says it was only used for bread in times of scarcity. The panic was merely a variety of the millet, i. e. of the panicum Italicum. It was looked upon as inferior to the common millet.

The maza, as Zeunius explains it, consisted of the flour of toasted barley pounded with some liquor, such as water, oil, milk, oxycrate, oxymel, or honied water. Galen calls it flatulent and unwholesome food. Hesiod recommends the maza, or cake prepared with milk, as an article of food during the heat of the dog-days. (Opera et Dies, 588.) In the Prytoneum or House of Refuge, at Athens, persons were fed on it. (Athen. Deipnos. iv.)

The bellaria, called also placentæ, liba, and crustulæ, by the Romans, and by the Greeks πέμματα, ἴτρια, and πλάκουντες, were cakes of various kinds, prepared with flour, water, oil, honey, and sometimes fruits. See Athenæus (Deipnos. xiv.) They were served up towards the conclusion of a banquet, as appears evident from Matron’s Parody, (in Athenæus iv. 5.) The obelius panis, mentioned by him in the 3d book, is supposed by Ludovicus Nonnius to have been a species of pastry. According to Schweighäuser the French oublie is derived from it. (Ad Athen. iii, 76.)

The bucellatum, mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus and Ælius Spartianus, was a species of bread used by the Roman soldiers, and appears to have resembled our ship-biscuit. (See Not. Gronovii, in Amm. Marcell. xvii, 8.) This kind of bread was called δίπυρος by the Greeks (see Hesychius), that is to say, bis coctus, and hence the English biscuit.

SECT. LXXIX.—ON PULSE.

Of pulse, the lentil forms a bad chyme and melancholic humours; but especially it, when twice boiled, binds the bowels; yet its soup, when drunk with oil and sauce, is rather laxative. But savory or pennyroyal ought to be added to it because it is flatulent. The common bean is light, flatulent, and detergent; but the Egyptian bean is much more succulent and excrementitious than ours. The pea is spongy, but not so flatulent. The chick-peas are flatulent and detergent, promote the formation of semen, are aphrodisiacal, and lithontriptic; when toasted, they part with their flatulence, but are of difficult digestion. Lupines are difficult to digest and evacuate, and produce a crude chyme. The fenugreek warms and loosens the bowels when taken before a meal. Tares and fasels, having been previously macerated in water so as to shoot out roots, are laxative of the bowels when taken before a meal with sauce; and are more nutritious than the fenugreek. But the fasels called dolichi, when eaten green with their husks, are more excrementitious.

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COMMENTARY. Hippocrates, Rhases, and other of the ancient authors agree, that pulse, in general, are nutritious. All held that they are flatulent, excrementitious, and aphrodisiacal. According to Plutarch it was on account of their aphrodisiacal qualities that the Egyptian priests forbade the use of them. Some assign this as the reason why Pythagoras “ventri indulsit non omne legumen.” Apollonius Dyscolus says that he did so because they are flatulent, difficult to digest, and occasion disturbed dreams. (Hist. Mirab. 46.) This seems the most likely reason; but Plutarch, Iamblichus, and Porphyry think they see more recondite meanings in the Pythagorean interdiction. Actuarius remarks that all kinds of pulse are to be eaten in their green juicy state. In an ancient proverb, preserved by Athenæus, it is said that “figs are to be eaten after fish, and pulse after flesh.”

Galen speaks of lentils in much the same terms as Paulus. He particularly disapproves of the practice, which he says was common in his time, of eating them with sodden wine. Rhases says that they are of a cold, desiccative, and excrementitious nature. Actuarius calls them the worst of the legumina. Athenæus mentions that the Egyptians lived much upon lentils. (iv.) Martial, in like manner, speaks of them as an Egyptian food.

All the commentators are puzzled to determine what the ancient faba was. We are inclined to think, with Dickson, that Theophrastus’s description of it applies best to our small bean. The Egyptian bean, according to Sprengel, was the nelumbium speciosum. Galen mentions that beans were much used by the gladiators, for giving them flesh, but adds that it was not firm or compact. Actuarius states that they are nutritious, but dissuades from using them freely, because of their flatulence. According to Celsus, both beans and lentils are stronger food than peas. Seth agrees with Galen, that the flesh formed from them is flabby and soft. Galen directs beans to be fried or boiled with onions, whereby they will be rendered less flatulent. (De Alim. Facult. i.)

It is probable that the faseolus was the kidney-bean, or phaseolus communis L. Harduin calls it feverole in French. Rhases says that fasels are flatulent, and fatten the body. Pliny remarks that they are eaten with their husks. He alludes, we suppose, to the variety of them called Dolichi. Galen says that they are more laxative and nutritious, but not so flatulent as peas. Oribasius says that they hold an intermediate place between those substances which give much and those which afford little nourishment. Actuarius says they are the worst kind of beans, and that being heating and excrementitious they are apt to disorder the bowels. Tares, as Galen and Oribasius mention, were sometimes used for food during a famine.

All the authorities give peas much the same characters as Paulus does. Galen mentions the method of steeping chiches in water, and getting them to germinate before using them for food. Are the bons vivans of the present day acquainted with this method of making peas tender and soft? The ancients were also in the practice of preparing these seeds for sowing in much the same manner. (Geopon. ii, 36.) See also Pliny (xviii, 13.) We are inclined to think that Virgil alludes to this practice (Georg. i, 193); but Dr. Hunter has put a different interpretation on this passage. The species of pea which grows plentifully in Sicily, and is called pisum ochrys, is said to hold a middle place as to quality.

Rhases remarks that lupines, being bitter, are not properly articles of food, but medicines. They possess, he adds, little nutriment. Galen says that they are indigestible, and therefore apt to engender crude humours. When eaten, he directs them to be well sweetened.

Galen mentions that some took fenugreek, with fish-sauce, to open the belly. He says it may be eaten with vinegar, wine, fish-sauce, or oil. Some, he adds, use them as a condiment to bread. Rhases gives similar directions for using fenugreek.

Galen likewise makes mention of the lathyrus and aracus, two varieties of the chichling vetch. He says they resemble in properties the fasels. The common vetch was scarcely an article of food.

The sesame, that is to say, the sesamum orientale, or oily grain, as Galen remarks, is of an oily nature, and consequently heavy on the stomach.

Galen speaks of linseed as having been used for food by peasants in Asia, but adds, that it is not eaten by more refined persons.

SECT. LXXX.—ON THE SUMMER FRUITS.

The gourd is of a cold and humid nature, loosens the bowels, and gives little nourishment. The pompion is altogether a fruit of bad juices, cold, humid and emetic; and, when not properly digested, it occasions cholera. The seed of it is diuretic, breaks down stones in the kidneys, and is altogether very detergent. The squash has all the properties of the pompion in an inferior degree. The cucumber is of a less cold and humid nature than the pompion, but is more diuretic; it is difficult to digest, and its chyme is bad even when digested. Upon the whole, all this class of fruits are of a cold and humid nature, supply little nourishment, and that of a bad quality.

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COMMENTARY. Galen explains that the Fructus Horæi are those fruits which grow up about the middle of the dog-days. He says that they all contain unwholesome juices, which, if they spoil in the bowels, are apt to become deleterious poisons. Mnesitheus says that all these fruits supply little nourishment, but that what they give is of a humid nature, and does not disagree with the body. (Athenæus, ii.)

The gourd (κολοκύνθη), according to Galen, is the most innocent of this class of fruits; and yet, when it spoils in the stomach, it engenders bad juices. Diphilus, as quoted by Athenæus, says of it that it supplies little nourishment, is apt to spoil, dilutes the system, is readily discharged, contains good juices, and is more savoury when taken with water and vinegar, but more wholesome when pickled. Apicius gives many receipts for cooking gourds. By one of these we are directed to eat them boiled, with pickle, oil, and wine. Most of the other receipts contain a liberal allowance of spices and aromatics. Simeon Seth calls them digestible and wholesome, but not nutritious.

The pompion (πέπων), according to Galen, is juicy, detergent, diuretic, and laxative. Seth recommends persons of a pituitous habit of body to drink old wine with it, but such as are bilious to eat acid food. He remarks that it is apt to excite nausea. Actuarius says that, when digested, pompions form a thin watery blood. Apicius directs us to eat them and melons with pepper, pennyroyal, honey, or raisin wine, pickle, and vinegar; to which assafœtida may be added. Hippocrates calls them laxative and diuretic, but flatulent.

Galen says of the melopepon, or squash, that its juices are not so unwholesome, nor so diuretic, nor so laxative, as those of the pompion. He adds that, although far from delicious, it is not so nauseous as the pompion. On the melopepon, see Harduin’s notes on Pliny (H. N. xviii, 5.) Perhaps some of the authorities may have meant the melon by the melopepon.

Galen says that some persons, from idiosyncrasy, readily digest the cucumber (σἴκυος); but he insists that it is impossible that good blood can be formed from it, and therefore he warns against the frequent use of all such fruits. Actuarius says that it forms a crude chyme, and is of a cold, humid, and indigestible nature. Celsus says that its nutritive powers are feeble. Avicenna says that its juices are bad, and prone to putrefaction.

Melons are said by Averrhoes to be of a cold nature, juicy, detergent, and diuretic.

Owing to the lax signification in which the names of the summer fruits are often applied by the Greek and Roman writers, we have felt considerable difficulty in distinguishing the articles treated of in this chapter. This confusion is of very ancient date, for one of the Deipnosophists of Athenæus complains of the difficulty he found in comprehending the proper application of these terms, from their having been differently used by the authors who had treated of them. (ix, 14.) We have been obliged for once to abandon the guidance of Sprengel, but have done so with the greatest hesitation, and not until we had compared the descriptions of all the Greek, Latin, and Arabian authorities. Schneider points out the confusion about the use of these terms, but does not sufficiently clear it up in his Index to Theophrastus. Ludovicus Nonnius may likewise be consulted with advantage. He supposes that the pepones of the ancients were our melons; and he is also inclined to believe that the melopepon was a species of the same. (De Re Cibaria, i, 16.) For want of a better term, we have ventured to translate it the squash, although we are uncertain whether the Greeks were acquainted with this fruit, now so common in the East and in America.

SECT. LXXXI.—ON THE FRUIT OF TREES.

The fig and the grape hold the principal place among the autumnal fruits; for their juices are of a less bad quality, and they are more nutritious than the others.—Of these, the figs have the better juices and the more nutritious; they are laxative, diuretic, and evacuate the kidneys, and particularly the very ripe. In like manner also the dried; but they are flatulent, and form blood which is not good; wherefore, when liberally used, they engender lice. When grapes are not evacuated, neither are they digested, but form a crude chyme; but if evacuated their effects are more moderate. Dried grapes are warmer than the others, more stomachic, and more nutritious, but not so laxative. The mulberry is of a moistening nature, cools moderately, and loosens the belly when taken first, neither does it disagree with the stomach, but is little nutritious.—Of cherries, the sweeter kinds loosen the belly, but are bad for the stomach; those which possess astringency are not so bad for the stomach, but do not evacuate the belly. The same rule will apply to the grape, the mulberry, and many other fruits; for astringents in general, when eaten or drunk at the beginning before any other food, bind the belly; but they who have their bowels constipated from atony, and have taken beforehand some articles of food of a laxative nature, such as pot-herbs, fishes, or the like, will find that astringents taken afterwards will, by strengthening the bowels, evacuate downwards. The fruit of the pine called strobilus has good juices and thick, is nutritious, but not of easy digestion. The juices of the peach are of a bad quality, turn acid, and soon spoil; and, therefore, ought to be taken first, that they may readily pass downwards, and not spoil by remaining in the belly. The fruits called apricots are superior to the peaches, for they neither turn acid nor spoil so soon, and they are sweet. Of apples, the sweet are more heating, and easier assimilated than the others, especially when roasted or boiled; the acid are colder and more calculated to cut the humours in the stomach; the austere strengthen the stomach and bind the belly, more especially quinces. Of pears, the large and ripe are more nutritious than these; but the pomegranates are cooling, and contain little nourishment. The medlars and services are more astringent and fitted for a loose belly. Dates are stomachic, unless very fatty they bind the belly, form thick and viscid chyme, and occasion headachs. Of olives, the over-ripe (drupæ) injure the stomach, and form a fatty chyme; those that are pickled and hung (halmades et colymbades), when eaten beforehand, whet the appetite, and loosen the belly, more especially if prepared with vinegar, or vinegar and honey. Of nuts, those called royal (walnuts) are less nutritious than the filbert, and more stomachic. The green walnuts are more juicy and laxative; and, if you will strip off the inner membrane of dried ones which have been macerated in water, they will become like the green. Almonds have incisive and attenuating powers, and, therefore, they evacuate the intestines and chest, and more especially such as are bitter; and, in like manner, the pistacs, which are also more calculated for removing obstructions of the liver. Damascenes loosen the belly when eaten before food, either raw or boiled in honied water. The jujubes are of difficult digestion, injurious to the stomach, and give little nourishment. Carobs are of difficult digestion, bind the belly, and produce bad chyme. Sycamores are decidedly of a cooling and a moistening nature. Of the citron, the outer part is acrid and indigestible, but that part which is as it were its flesh, is nutritious, and yet it is hard to digest. The inner part, whether acid or watery, is moderately cooling. Acorns are nutritious, no less so than corn, but of difficult digestion, contain thick juices, and are slowly evacuated. Chesnuts are in every respect superior to them.

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COMMENTARY. It may be proper, in the first place, to discuss briefly the question respecting the proper time for eating fruit. Galen, Rhases, and Simeon Seth direct to eat fruit at the beginning of a regular meal. It appears, however, to have been customary with the ancients, as it is in Britain at the present day, to eat all manner of fruits at the mensa secunda, or dessert, as we learn from many passages of Athenæus and Macrobius. Horace was fond of concluding his banquets with fruit. He speaks of finishing a frugal repast with hung grapes, nuts, and figs (Sat. ii, 2); and in another place he says:

“Ille salubres Æstates peraget, qui nigris prandia moris Finiet ante gravem quæ legerit arbore solem.”

(Sat. ii, 4.)

We may mention, by the way, that Galen, on the other hand, positively forbids to eat mulberries after other food, and that it appears to have been the general rule in ages long after the time of Galen to eat figs and grapes at the beginning of a meal. (Anonym. de Diæta, ed. Ideler, t. ii, 198.) But what Celsus says respecting the proper time for eating fruit is very much to the purpose: “Secunda mensa bono stomacho nihil nocet, in imbecillo coascescit. Si quis itaque hoc parum valet, palmulas pomaque et similia primo cibo assumit.” (i, 2.) Ludovicus Nonnius, a great modern authority in dietetics, recommends us to eat the summer fruits, and cherries, strawberries, plums, peaches, and the like, at the beginning; but apples, pears, nuts, chesnuts, and the like, at the conclusion of a meal; that is to say, at the dessert.

The fig was a great favorite with the ancients. Galen states that it is decidedly nutritious, but that the flesh formed from it is not firm and compact, like that from pork and bread, but soft and spongy, like that from beans. He says that figs increase the urinary and alvine discharges. Averrhoes says that they are of a hot and humid temperament, and that they loosen the belly and strengthen the stomach. See, in particular, Athenæus (Deipnos. iii); Macrobius (Satur. iii, 20); and Haly Abbas. Haly says that the fig is the most digestible, nutritious, and wholesome fruit of this class. Galen speaks doubtfully of dried figs.

Pliny devotes a whole book to the consideration of the grape and its productions. Galen says that, like figs, grapes are nutritious, but that the flesh formed from them is deficient in firmness and durability. He remarks that their stones pass through the bowels wholly unchanged. Simeon Seth states that the grape consists of four different substances, namely, the membrane which surrounds it, the fleshy part, the juice, and the stones. Of these, he says, the outer coat and the stones ought to be rejected, because they are indigestible. Plutarch and Macrobius exert their ingenuity to explain how it happens that must, or the fresh juice of the grape, does not intoxicate like wine. The “pensilis uva,” or hung grape, is mentioned by Horace as an article of the dessert. (ii, 2.)

Galen gives mulberries the same character as our author does. Aëtius says that the proper occasion for them is when the stomach is hot and dry. According to Athenæus, the Siphnian Diphilus said that they possess moderately wholesome juices, and that they afford little nourishment, but are savoury, and of easy evacuation. Haly Abbas recommends them cooled in snow for heat of the stomach.

According to Pliny, cherries were first imported to Italy from Pontus, by the famous Lucullus, and in his (Pliny’s) time they had become naturalized even in Britain. This story, however, is not very probable, as they had been described more than a century before by Theophrastus; and further, Athenæus mentions that they had been noticed long before Lucullus by the Siphnian Diphilus. He speaks favorably of them as an article of food. Servius, the commentator on Virgil, states that there were wild cherries in Italy before the days of Lucullus. Simeon Seth says that they are of a cold and humid nature, and open the bowels. They are useful, he adds, when the stomach and constitution are hot and dry.

Galen states that the fruit of the pine contains thick and wholesome juices, but that they are not easily digested. The Siphnian Diphilus, as quoted by Athenæus, says that the strobili are very nutritious, smooth asperities of the trachea, and purge the breast. Mnesitheus, as quoted by the same author, says that they fatten the body, and do not impair the digestion. (Deipnos. ii.) Celsus holds them to be stomachic.

Our author’s remarks on the persica are taken from Galen. Seth calls them rhodacina, a term which is generally applied to them by the Byzantine writers, and also by Alexander Trallian. Seth says that they are cooling, diluent, and laxative, but difficult to digest. If not the same as the modern peach (which the commentators suspect), the persica was evidently a fruit nearly allied to it.

It is highly probable, but not quite certain, that the præcocia, duracina, and armeniaca, were varieties of the apricot. Galen does not use the second of these terms, and mentions, that many held the first and the last to be exactly the same fruit; and he, himself, in another place, forgets the distinction which he had endeavoured to establish between them. Simeon Seth describes them by the name of βερίκοκκα, which appears to be a corruption of the Latin præcocia. See Geopon. (x, 73, and the note of Needham); Harduin (Notes on Pliny); J. Bruyer (de Re Cibaria, xi, 13); C. Avantius (Notæ in Cœnam); Baptist. (Fier. p. 6); Ludovicus Nonnius; and Sprengel (Dioscor. i, 165.) Seth says that they are fruits which soon spoil, and form bad blood.

Mala was used by the ancients as a generic term, comprehending many species of fruit. See an interesting account of them in Pliny (xxiii, 5); Macrobius (Saturn, iii, 19); and Athenæus (Deipnos. iii), where Diphilus thus states their general characters as articles of food: “Green and unripe apples are unwholesome and unsavoury, swim in the stomach, form bile, and occasion diseases. Of the ripe, such as are sweet are more wholesome and more laxative from having no astringency; the acid are more unwholesome and constipating, but such as have also a certain degree of sweetness become more delicious, and are at the same time stomachic from having some astringency.” The ancients appear to have been well acquainted with the methods of making cider, perry, and the like. See Macrobius (Sat. vii, 6), and Pliny (H. N. xiv, 19.) The Arabian authors in general speak rather unfavorably of apples.

Cornels, or the fruit of the cornus mascula, were in little request as articles of food, and yet Pliny mentions that they were sought after in his time.

The cydonia or quinces were in great repute, not only as articles of food, but as medicines. When unripe they are very astringent and contain much acid, and hence they were used in such cases as those in which the mineral acids are now generally administered. (Pliny, H. N. xxxiii, 6.) They appear to be the “cana mala” of Virgil. Columella and Pliny describe three varieties, namely, the chrysomala, struthea, and mustea. These have not been satisfactorily determined. Some modern commentators have taken “the golden apples” of Theocritus and Virgil for oranges, but it is much more probable that they were a species of quince. No ancient author has noticed the orange.

Pears, according to Simeon Seth, are of a cold and desiccative nature. They are compounded, he says, of astringency, sweetness, and sometimes of acidity; and some have a moderate degree of heating and desiccative properties. Averrhoes gives exactly the same account of them. Of pomegranates, he says, that some are sweet and some are acid; that all of them moisten, but that the sweet are of a more hot and humid nature. Homer enumerates the pomegranate among the fruits which were suspended over the head of Tantalus to tempt his appetite. (Odyss. xi, 588.) We may suppose, therefore, that the poet held it to be a most delicious fruit. Dioscorides says that the sweet pomegranates are stomachic; but that they are prejudicial when there is fever.

Galen, who gives medlars and services much the same characters as our author, recommends them only in very small quantities. Aëtius and Seth say that ripe medlars are somewhat heating, but that the unripe are cold, astringent, and constipating. Actuarius calls them excellent astringent medicines, but bad articles of food. Dioscorides describes two species of medlars, the aronia, and setanium. The first species is called azarollo by the Italians, and the other is the common species of medlar.

See an interesting account of dates, or the fruit of the palm-tree, in the ‘Hierobotanicon’ of Olaus Celsius. The date, according to Galen, is a fruit possessing a variety of characters, but having always a certain degree of sweetness and astringency. He says, it is indigestible and apt to occasion headachs. Simeon Seth says that dates form an impure blood; and Ruffus, as quoted by him, affirms that they prove injurious to the bladder. Serapion, Rhases, and Mesue agree that the date is a cold, astringent fruit. Herodotus, Xenophon, and Athenæus make mention of a wine prepared from dates. Erotian says that a species of bread is made from dates, flour, and water. (Lexicon Hippocratis.)

The olive, as Pliny remarks, consists of four parts, the kernel, the oil, the flesh, and the lees. The drupæ, mentioned by our author, were the olives quite ripe and ready to fall from the tree. The colymbades and halmades were olives pickled with salt, &c. See Harduin (ad Plin. H. N. xv, 3.) The Siphnian Diphilus, as quoted by Athenæus, says of them that they supply little nourishment, occasion headachs; that the black injure the stomach, and bring on heaviness of the head; and that the pickled prove more stomachic and astringent of the belly, Galen mentions that olives were often eaten with bread before dinner in order to open the belly. Simeon Seth says that ripe olives are moderately hot, but that the unripe are cold, desiccative, and astringent. Serapion, in like manner, says that unripe olives are astringent. Plutarch mentions a pickled olive as a whetter of the appetite. (Sym. vi.) The ancients marked strongly their estimation of the olive when they set it down as being the emblem of peace, and sacred to the Goddess of Wisdom.

The Siphnian Diphilus, as quoted by Athenæus, states that walnuts occasion headach, and swim on the stomach; but such as are tender and white contain better juices, and are more wholesome; and that such as have been toasted in a furnace afford little nourishment. (Deipnos. ii.) It appears, from Macrobius, whose account of them is very interesting, that they were eaten at the dessert. He states decidedly that the royal nut of the Greeks was the juglans or walnut. (Sat. iii, 18.) Simeon Seth says that, when taken before other food, they are apt to prove laxative or emetic. Averrhoes says the like of them. He adds that filberts are not so apt to produce this effect. According to Rhases, they are apt to prove injurious to the stomach and liver.

The Siphnian Diphilus says that almonds are attenuant, diuretic, purgative, and afford little nourishment; that the green contain bad juices, and are possessed of stronger medicinal properties; but that the dried are more flatulent, and apter to swim on the stomach. He adds that such as are tender, full, and are whitened, contain milky juices which are more wholesome. Simeon Seth says that bitter almonds are hotter, more attenuant, and more incisive than the ripe. He adds that filberts are the most nutritious of the nuts but difficult to digest.

The pistachio nut has been long very celebrated in the East and in Sicily. See Celsus (Hierobotanicon), and Brydone (Tour through Sicily.) Galen says that it possesses a certain degree of bitterness and astringency, and that it proves useful in obstructions of the liver, but that it affords little nourishment. He adds that it is neither beneficial nor injurious to the stomach. Simeon Seth remarks that the moderns looked upon pistacs as stomachic. Averrhoes speaks highly of them. Rhases says they are of a hotter nature than almonds. Avicenna also says of them that they are of a heating nature. Theophrastus describes the pistachio tree as a species of turpentine, and it is now acknowledged as such.

Galen states that the best damascenes are such as are large, spongy, and astringent. He adds that taken with sweet wine they tend to open the bowels. Oribasius says that they afford little nourishment, but may be useful for moistening and cooling the stomach. Martial calls them laxative. It appears certain from Isidorus, that the coccymela and myxæ were the same as the pruna or plums. The principal variety is the prunus insiticia, or bullace plum.

Galen says of jujubes, that they suit best with the intemperaments of women and children; but that they give little nourishment. Haly Abbas states that they are cold and humid, of slow digestion, and apt to form phlegm. They are the serica of Galen, who, however, also applies the other term (zizypha) to them. (De Alim. ii, 38.)

Abu’l-fadli, as quoted by Olaus Celsius, says of the siliquæ or carobs, that they are sweet astringent fruit. Horace speaks of them as being an inferior kind of fruit. “Vivit siliquis et pane secundo.” (Ep. ii, 1.) And so, also, Juvenal (Sat. xi, 59), and Persius (iii, 55.) Galen says of them that they are woody and consequently indigestible. Aëtius says that they are of a dry and very desiccative nature, but possess some sweetness. Pliny mentions that a sort of wine was prepared from carobs.

Galen says that the sycamores hold an intermediate place between mulberries and figs. He says, further, that they are sweetish, and of a diluent and cooling nature. Dioscorides and Serapion speak unfavorably of them as being articles of food which are only used in times of famine.

The citron, or “felix malum” of Virgil (Georg. ii, 126), was greatly esteemed by the ancients. Galen calls it fragrant, aromatic, and pleasant to the taste as well as the smell. From Theophrastus downwards, it is much celebrated as an antidote to poisons. See some curious information respecting it in Athenæus (Deipnos. iii), and Macrobius (Sat. iii, 19.) Simeon Seth says that if taken in moderation it is beneficial to the stomach, but that in large quantity it proves indigestible. Serapion recommends after eating citrons to take of anise, mastich, and wine. No Greek or Latin author has noticed the lemon. Avicenna, we believe, is the first author who mentions it.

Galen says, in general, of the wild kinds of fruit, that they supply little nourishment, and that they are injurious to the stomach. The acorns, he says further, are the best of this class, being no less nutritious than the cerealia; he adds, that in ancient times men lived upon acorns; and that the Arcadians continued this practice after the cerealia were used in all the other parts of Greece. Simeon Seth says that, although nutritious, they are difficult to digest and form crude humours: and hence he recommends to abstain from them. It is well ascertained that it was the acorns of the quercus ilex which the ancients used for food.

Galen’s opinion of chesnuts agrees with the account given by our author of them. Simeon Seth says that they are very nutritious, but are hard to digest and evacuate from the body; and that they are flatulent and astringent. Haly Abbas describes them as a proper article of food. At the present day, whole nations of mankind live upon chesnuts. The opinion of Mnisitheus regarding them, as quoted by Athenæus, appears to be very judicious; he says they are difficult to digest and flatulent, but sufficiently nutritious if digested.

The strawberries, or fraga, are mentioned by Virgil (Ec. iii), and Ovid (Metam. i); but they are wholly unnoticed by the Greek writers.

We consider ourselves here called upon not to pass over unnoticed the fruit of the lotus tree, which is so celebrated in ancient poetry, and is also mentioned by the historians and writers on science. It is now well ascertained that the lotus-bread is produced by various trees in the country surrounding the great desert of Africa. The most celebrated of these trees, or rather shrubs, is the celtis australis. Rennel and Park agree that its fruit is very wholesome. On the lotus, see further, Eustathius (in Odyss. p. 337, ed. Rom.); Dionys. (Geograph.); Schweigh (ad Athen. Deipnos. xiv, 65.)

SECT. LXXXII.—ON ANIMALS; AND, FIRST, OF FOWLS.

The nourishment derived from fowls is less than that from beasts, and more especially swine, but they are of easier digestion, particularly the partridge, godwit, pigeon, hen, and pheasant. That from thrushes, blackbirds, and small sparrows (among which are those called pyrgitæ) is harder; and still more so the turtle, wood-pigeon, and duck. But the peacock is still more indigestible, harder, and more stringy. The flesh of geese and ostriches is excrementitious, and more indigestible than any of the afore-mentioned; except their wings, which are not less wholesome than the same parts in other animals. The flesh of the crane is stringy and hard. In general, the young are more juicy, digestible, and nutritious than the aged, and are more readily evacuated by the belly. The boiled are superior to the roasted and fricasseed; and those that live on dry and mountainous places are more digestible and less excrementitious than those which live in marshy places.

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COMMENTARY. Hippocrates states that fowls in general are drier than quadrupeds. The driest, he adds, are, first, the wood-pigeon, then the common pigeon, and, thirdly, the partridge, cock, and turtle. The most humid or juicy, he says, are geese. Those which live on seeds are drier than the others. The flesh of ducks, and of all fowls which live in marshes, or in water, is of a more humid nature. (De Diæta, ii, 17.) In another place, he calls the flesh of fowls one of the lightest kinds of food. (De Affect. 46.)

Their general characters are thus stated by Celsus: “Ex iis avibus, quæ in media specie sunt, valentiores eæ, quæ pedibus, quam quæ volatu magis nituntur: et ex iis, quæ volatu fidunt, firmiores quæ grandiores aves, quam quæ minutæ sunt; ut ficedula et turdus. Atque eæ quoque quæ in aqua degunt leviorem cibum præstant, quam quæ natandi scientiam non habent.” The character here given of water fowls has drawn upon the author the animadversions of Dr. Cullen. But rather than suspect Celsus of such a mistake, we are inclined to believe that the text must be corrupt, and that we ought to read leniorem instead of leviorem. We are confirmed in this conjecture from all the other authorities, as for example, Hippocrates, Galen, Aëtius, Rhases, and Haly Abbas, having stated that the flesh of water fowls is more excrementitious than that of land fowls.

Our author takes his account of fowls from Galen, or perhaps direct from Oribasius. Actuarius states that fowls are much lighter, but not so nutritious as quadrupeds; that they are drier, more fibrous, and form thinner blood; and that water fowls are the more juicy and fleshy.

Having thus stated the general characters of fowls as articles of food, we shall now briefly notice a few of those which were in most esteem with the bons vivans of antiquity.

The partridge was accounted a rare delicacy at the tables of luxurious Romans. See Martial (xiii, 65.) Simeon Seth says that it is easily digested, but ought not to be eaten the day it is killed. According to Rhases, it contains thick juices, is astringent, but very nutritious. Psellus calls it savoury, nutritious, and digestible. Apicius directs it to be dressed with pepper, lovage, mint, the seed of rue, pickle, wine, and oil. As at the present day it was eaten at the dessert. (Deip. xiv, 73.) Athenæus describes distinctly two species of the partridge, which seem clearly referrible to the tetrao perdix and tetrao rufus. The latter, or red-legged partridge, is still the common species in Italy.

Galen ranks the pigeon next to the partridge in excellence. The Arabians, however, and, in imitation of them, Simeon Seth, calls the flesh of the pigeon heating and excrementitious.

The attagen Ionicus has been celebrated by the muses of Horace and Martial. Porphyron, one of the ancient commentators on Horace, calls it “avis Asiatica inter noblissimas habita.” Harduin, who is deservedly reckoned a high authority in these matters, supposes it to have been the gelinotte du bois, or wood-hen. Altogether we incline to the opinion that it was the scolopax ægocephala, or godwit, a water-bird still much esteemed by the epicures of the East. We further think that the scolopax rasticula, or woodcock, is the scolopax of the ancients. It is well described by the poet Nemesitanius. Athenæus quotes Aristophanes as calling the attagen a most delicious bird. Galen, Aëtius, and Oribasius speak of it in the same terms as Paulus. Apicius directs us to dress it like the partridge.

Galen says of the starling that its flesh is allied to that of the attagen. (Diæta. iv.) It is also mentioned as an article of food by Athenæus. (ii, 24.)

Persius speaks of the thrush as being a much-esteemed delicacy. (Sat. vi.) Horace also says that there is nothing better than a fat thrush. (Epist. i, 15.) See Aristoph. (Nubes); Athenæus (Deipn. ii.) It is worthy of remark that, although the thrush be by no means a delicate morsel in the north of Europe, it is very delicious in Italy and Spain. It feeds on juniper berries, grapes, and the like. The receipts of Apicius for dressing thrushes, and other small birds, contain spices, aromatics, honey, wine, pickle, and oil. Averrhoes says that their flesh is drier, more aromatic, but grosser than that of pigeons. The Romans bestowed great pains upon feeding thrushes, as we can learn from Varro and Columella. The species commonly used by them for food was the fieldfare, or turdus pilaris. They also ate blackbirds. Galen speaks favorably of sparrows. Other small birds, as the lark and the siskin (spinus), are noticed by Athenæus as being sometimes eaten. Galen recommends the lark in colic affections. In general, however, the small birds were reckoned indigestible. It is related of the gourmand Clodius Æsopus that, wishing to make a great display of prodigality at a feast, he caused song birds to be served up at it in place of beccafichi. See Valerius Maximus (ix, s), and Pliny (H. N. x, 71.) Even the nightingale was sacrificed to this monstrous taste. (Horat. Sat. ii, 3, 245.)

Martial intimates that when he could get a fat turtle to dine upon he was indifferent about other delicacies. According to Averrhoes, it is of a hot nature, and has a wonderful effect in sharpening the understanding. Apicius directs us to dress it like the partridge. Galen states that the turtle, partridge, and all fowls which are of a dry nature, should be suspended for a day before they are eaten.

Galen mentions that the flesh of pheasants resembles that of domestic hens, but is more nutritious and savoury. Simeon Seth says that it is wholesome, easily digested, and forms good blood. Averrhoes prefers it to all other fowls. The tetrao, which is mentioned by Pliny and Athenæus, is generally supposed to be the bustard; but Bellonius and Ludovicus Nonnius take it for the fasiano negro of the Italians, or the wood pheasant.

Galen and our author have omitted to take notice of quails. Simeon Seth says that their flesh is heating, coarse, indigestible, and unwholesome. Rhases, however, says of the quail, that in lightness it is second only to the starling; that it is not very excrementitious, nor accounted very heating. Averrhoes says that it is of a moderate temperament, but somewhat heating; that it is delicate, forms good chyme, and is excellent food for persons in good health, and for convalescents. Lucretius and Galen mention that the quail can live upon hellebore.

Q. Hortensius is “damned to everlasting fame,” for having first presented the peacock at his table. (Varro, de Agricult. iii; Macrobius, Satur. iii, 13; Pliny, H. N. x, 20; Ælianus, H. A. v, 25; Tertulianus, de Pallio.) It came afterwards to be thought an exquisite delicacy, although Horace had declared of it that, were it not for its price, it would not be thought superior to the common domestic fowl. (Sat. ii, 2.) Simeon Seth, like Galen and our author, says that its flesh is indigestible and excrementitious. Apicius directs us to dress it like the thrush. The poet Juvenal asserts that sudden deaths are occasioned by the indigestion arising from eating peacocks, (Sat. i.) It appears, from Varro and Pliny, that the Romans reared them in great numbers for the table.

The ostrich is often mentioned by the ancient authors as an article of food, although, as Galen says, it be excrementitious and indigestible; and hence, most probably, it is proscribed in Scripture. Agatharcides makes mention of a savage race of people, who were called Ostrich-eaters, (Ap. Photium.) The “afra avis,” mentioned by Horace, is said by his commentator, Acron, to have been the ostrich. Porphyrion, however, rather supposes it to be the gallina numidica, or guinea-hen. It was the same as the meleagris, which Schneider (ad Ælian. N. A. iv, 42), and Schweighäuser (ad Athen. xiv, 20), agree in referring to the pintada, or guinea-hen. Apicius directs us to dress it with pepper, lovage, thyme or savory, honey, mustard, vinegar, pickle, and oil. Rhases says that its flesh is very coarse.

The otis was the otis tarda, or bustard. Xenophon, who gives a graphic description of the mode of hunting it in Persia, says that its flesh is most delicious. Galen and Simeon Seth say that its flesh is intermediate between the goose and the crane. Apicius gives very complicated receipts for dressing it. It is the tetrax of Nemesianus.

The flesh of the domestic fowls, says Simeon Seth, is of easy digestion, and contains good juices, especially the flesh of those which are beginning to lay eggs. Chickens, he adds, are of easy digestion, and form blood of moderate consistence, neither very thin nor too thick: they are excellent food for persons who do not take strong exercise. It appears from Martial that the Romans were fond of capons. (xiii.) Both Aristotle and Pliny mention that cocks were converted into capons by means of a heated iron.

The ficedula, called συκαλὶς by Aristotle, was much sought after by the Romans. It was the beccafigo of the modern Italians, who are still very fond of it. Its flesh being fat, it was dressed with much pepper, as we learn from Martial and Petronius Arbiter.

Galen and Simeon Seth agree that the flesh of geese is indigestible and excrementitious, and nearly allied to the ostrich. It would appear, from Odyss. xix, 536, that tame geese were reared for food in the heroic ages.

According to Martial, the breast and neck are the only parts of the duck which are fit to be eaten. (Xenia.)

Athenæus mentions that the swan was sometimes brought to the table. (Deipnos. ix.) Its flesh is very hard.

The crane and the stork were not regular articles of food, but Horace mentions that the latter had been used as such for the first time in his days (Sat. ii, 2, 49); and Athenæus enumerates the former among the viands at a banquet. Psellua calls the crane nutritious, but difficult of digestion.

The tongue of the flamingo (Phœnicopterus ruber) was reckoned an exquisite delicacy by the Roman epicures. See Martial (xiii, 71); Juvenal (Sat. ii); Philostratus (in vit. Apoll.) The favorite delicacy of Heliogabalus was the tongue of the flamingo. (Aug. Hist.)

The present is as good an occasion as we shall most probably find, of saying something regarding the use of the locust, or gryllus migratorius, as an article of food. Every person will think of John the Baptist, who lived on locusts and wild honey, in the desert of Arabia. Agatharcides gives a very curious account of the Acridophagi or locust-eaters. He describes them as being of a very slender make, and extremely swarthy. He says they did not live beyond forty, being cut off by a sort of tick (ricinus) which formed in their bodies. (Apud Photium.)

SECT. LXXXIII.—ON EGGS.

The eggs of hens and pheasants are the best of all; those of geese and ostriches not good: of all animals, fresh eggs are superior to the old. Those that are moderately boiled are most nutritive; those that are slightly boiled pass downwards most easily, and smooth asperities in the throat. All the other kinds are difficult to digest and evacuate, and contain thick juices, except those that are said to be suffocated. These are prepared by beating up raw eggs, sauce, wine, and oil, and coagulating to a middling consistence in a double vessel. In this state they are of easy digestion, and supply good juices. But of all others the fried are the worst.

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COMMENTARY. Our author, Oribasius, and Aëtius copy their account of eggs from Galen.

Hippocrates says that they are nutritious, strengthening, and flatulent. See also Celsus (ii, 18.)

See a curious account of the medicinal properties of eggs in Pliny. (H. N. xxix. 3.)

Rhases recommends to eat eggs in a soft state, with pepper and marjoram. (Cont. xxxiii.) He says that the best eggs are those of the hen and partridge, and next to them those of the duck. Those of geese, he says, should not be eaten. (Ad Mansor. iii, 13.)

The ancients preserved their eggs in the flour of beans, chaff, or bran. (Pliny, H. N. x, 61; Columella, viii, 6; Varro, De Re Rustica, iii, 9.) Pliny mentions that, if an egg be macerated in vinegar, it will become so soft that it may be drawn through a ring without breaking. Harduin says that he had verified the truth of this fact by experiment.

Horace affirms that eggs of an oblong shape are the best:

“Longa quibus facies ovis erit, illa memento Ut succi melioris et ut magis alma rotundis Ponere.”

(Sat. ii, 4.)

We have here adopted the emendation of Bentley. The commentator Acron, however, read alba, but took it in the same sense as alma.

The ancients used to begin their banquets with eggs, and hence the expression “ab ovo ad malum;” that is to say, from beginning to end of a banquet.

Galen and Simeon Seth agree that eggs which are boiled hard, or which have been roasted in ashes until they are hard, become indigestible, and supply heavy nourishment to the body; but such as have been fried they more especially condemn. When boiled to such a consistence as that the white was just beginning to coagulate, they were called tremula. When so soft that the albumen was not all coagulated, they were called sorbilia. In both these states they are much approved of by Galen, Seth, and all the authorities. Galen especially commends the eggs of the hen and of the pheasant. Those of the goose and ostrich, he says, are inferior.

SECT. LXXXIV.—ON BEASTS.

Among quadrupeds, swine’s flesh is more nourishing than any other food, because it is most nearly allied to the human in taste and smell, as some have declared who have tasted human flesh by mistake. But the nourishment derived from it is viscid and imperspirable. That from sheep is excrementitious, and supplies bad juices. That from goats is acrid, and has bad juices. But the worst of all is the flesh of the buck-goat as to the quality of its juices and to digestion. That of oxen forms melancholic humours; that of hares has thick juices, but less so than that of sheep and oxen. That of roes is hard and of difficult digestion. In general, the flesh of young beasts is more humid, more tender, and more digestible than that of the aged; of gelded animals than of those having testicles; and of the well-fed than of the lean.

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COMMENTARY. Athenæus remarks that the flesh of beasts, especially oxen, formed the principal part of men’s food in the heroic ages, as appears from Homer. From one passage in the Iliad (xxiv, 263), and another in the Odyssey (ix, 220), it may be reasonably conjectured that they also lived upon lambs and kids. (Deipn. i, 19.) We may add, that Sophocles represents Philoctetes as living, while in Lemnos, upon the birds which he killed with his fatal bow. It is generally supposed that Pythagoras interdicted his disciples entirely from the flesh of animals; but the truth of the matter seems to be, that he recommended a spare use of it, and allowed to eat such animals only as were used for sacrifices. See Iamblichus and Porphyrius (De Vitâ Pythagoræ.) Plutarch, in two treatises, discusses the propriety of eating flesh.

Hippocrates states the particular characters of the different kinds of flesh very correctly. He remarks that the flesh of wild animals is lighter than that of domesticated.

According to Aristotle, the flesh of beasts which have been reared upon marsh pasture is less wholesome than that of beasts brought up on higher grounds. (Hist. An. viii, 12.)

The general remarks of Celsus may best be given in his own words: “Quadrupes omne animal, si lactens est, minus alimenti præstat. Omne etiam ferum animal domestico levius; et quodcunque humido cœlo, quam quod sicco natum est. Deinde eadem omnia pinguia, quam macra; recentia quam salsa; nova quam vetusta, plus alimenti habent. Tum res eadem magis alit jurulenta, quam assa; magis assa, quam elixa.”

Galen remarks that the fleshy parts of quadrupeds form the best blood. When boiled, he says, it supplies the body with more juicy, and when roasted, with drier food. The temperament of domesticated animals, he adds, is more humid or juicy than that of wild, owing to the dampness of the atmosphere in which they live, and their inactivity. For wild animals among the mountains being exposed to privations and fatigue, their flesh is drier, contains no fat, and is less disposed to putrefaction than the flesh of domesticated animals. He states that of all animals, whether fowls or beasts, the flesh of such as are growing is better than those which are past their utmost growth; that such as are at their growth hold an intermediate character; but that the flesh of such as are very young or old is bad, because, in the latter case, it is hard, dry, and fibrous, whence it is difficult to digest, and not nutritious; while, on the other hand, the bodies of very young animals, being mucous (gelatinous?), watery, and therefore excrementitious, readily pass through the bowels undigested.

Actuarius states that animals which lead an indolent life are more humid and excrementitious; whereas such as are much exercised are drier and lighter. Upon the whole, he adds, the more the colour of flesh declines from white, the farther is it removed from wholesomeness; it is also to be known that wild animals are hotter and drier than domesticated.

Haly Abbas says that the flesh of all animals is heating and humid, forms much blood, and is nutritious. Avicenna remarks that flesh strengthens the body, and is readily converted into blood. According to Rhases, flesh is the most nutritious of all aliments, and disposes most to plethora; hence, those who live much upon it require frequent venesection, especially if at the same time given to drinking wine.

Of all kinds of animal food, pork was almost universally esteemed by the ancients as the best. Hippocrates repeatedly speaks of it as being most wholesome and nutritious, and Galen says the same of it in the strongest language. He states that the athletæ, if for one day presented with the same bulk of any other article of food, immediately experienced a diminution of strength; and if the change of diet was persisted in for several successive days, that they fell off in flesh. He adds that he had been credibly informed by persons who had been compelled, under extraordinary circumstances, to taste human flesh, that pork bears a near resemblance to it. Celsus praises it for its lightness: “Inter domesticas vero quadrupedes, levissima suilla est.” Aëtius, Oribasius, and, in a word, all the Greek authorities subsequent to Galen, deliver exactly the same character of it as he. See, in particular, Simeon Seth. He says, that the flesh of swine a year old is the best, and that very young pigs are not to be eaten, as being too humid and excrementitious. He adds that the flesh of wild boars furnish the best food, being neither so excrementitious nor so viscid as that of tame swine. Martial declares his fondness for young pigs fed upon milk. The Arabian authors display (as might be expected) their religious prejudices against the flesh of swine. Avicenna merely remarks of it that the Christians, and those who imitate them, say that the flesh of the wild boar is the best of all. Averrhoes refers to the opinion of Avicenna. Rhases, who has treated of Dietetics in three distinct works, has nowhere, so far as we can discover, recommended pork as an article of food. Haly Abbas, however, speaks favorably of it; he, it would appear, being a Magian. Various receipts for dressing pork are given by Apicius. As a sauce for the flesh of the wild boar, he recommends a composition of honey, pickle, sodden wine, and raisin wine. The wild boar is mentioned as a favorite delicacy of the Roman epicures by Juvenal and other writers of that age. Cato, the Censor, gives very sensible directions for the preparation of ham. (De Re Rusticâ, 162.) It will be perceived that our author states that pork is imperspirable. Sanctorius confirms the truth of this statement. Both Cicero and Porphyry quote the saying of Chrysippus, that a soul or living principle was given to swine, as a sort of salt, to preserve their flesh from putrefaction for the use of man.

Mutton was no great favorite with the ancients. Galen, Aëtius, Oribasius, and Simeon Seth agree with our author, that it is inferior to pork, as being more excrementitious, and containing worse juices. Averrhoes, however, accuses Galen of being prejudiced against the flesh of wethers and lambs, which, he affirms, are inferior only to kids in excellence; he even speaks favorably of the flesh of rams. (Collect. v, 32.) Rhases ranks mutton as second only to kid. Seth says that the best mutton is that of a sheep a year old. Apicius gives full directions for cooking mutton and lamb. (viii.)

All the ancient authorities speak of goats’ flesh in much the same terms as our author; namely, as being acrid, and containing unwholesome juices. Hippocrates says it has all the bad qualities of beef. That of buck-goats is said by Galen to be particularly bad; and, next to it, those of rams and of bulls. Of kid, he speaks favorably, as being next in excellence to pork; then he ranks veal. But lamb, he says, is humid, gelatinous, and mucous. Rhases and Averrhoes rank kid first, and then lamb. The poet Hesiod recommends kid as a delicious article of food during the heat of summer. (Op. et Dies, i, 590.) According to Athenæus, kid imparts more firm and substantial nourishment to the body than any other kind of flesh, not even excepting pork and lamb. (ix, 66.)

The Arabians mention the gazelle (antelope dorcas) as being nearly allied but superior to the goat. Simeon Seth says that the flesh of the dorcas is better than that of any other wild animal, and that it is allied to the human body.

Hippocrates calls beef a strong, astringent, and indigestible article of food. Celsus ranks it among the articles which are not apt to spoil in the stomach. Oribasius says, that it is more than moderately nutritious, but imperspirable, and forms thick blood. Like Galen and our author, he says that it proves injurious to those who are subject to collections of black bile. Seth says that it is difficult of digestion and distribution, but when digested, sufficiently nutritious. Rhases says, that it supplies much nourishment of a gross nature, and forms thick blood. Averrhoes says that the flesh of heifers is good, not being so viscid, cold, and dry as the flesh of oxen. The sauces recommended by Apicius for the flesh of oxen and heifers contain various spices, and aromatics with vinegar, pickle, and oil.

The glis is mentioned as a favorite delicacy of the Romans by Varro, Pliny, Martial, Galen, and Ammianus Marcellinus. We learn from Varro that it was regularly reared for the table. (R. R. iii, 15.) It is the glis esculentus or rellmouse.

All the authorities agree that the flesh of the stag or roe is difficult to digest. Hence Rhases forbids it, except after hard exercise. Simeon Seth adds that, as in summer, stags frequently eat poisonous serpents, it may be dangerous to take of their flesh at that season. Celsus appears to have had a more favorable opinion of venison than most of the ancient authorities, for he ranks “omnis venatio” among the things which agree best with the stomach. Seth says that hare is sufficiently nutritious, if properly digested, but that it disagrees with persons of a dry temperament, and is apt to form melancholic humours. The poet Martial also praises it extravagantly. Apicius gives many complicated receipts for dressing hares. Pliny remarks that there never is any fat on hares. (Hist. Nat. xi, 85.) Hippocrates says that their flesh is dry and astringent. Horace frequently praises the shoulder of the hare. (Sat. ii, 4, 44.) In our days, the loins are preferred. The cuniculus, or rabbit, was greatly esteemed in Spain, but does not appear to have been much used by the Greeks or Romans.

Galen says the ass was eaten in times of scarcity, but was not a regular article of food. Xenophon, however, mentions, in the 1st book of the ‘Anabasis,’ that the flesh of the wild asses caught in the Syrian desert was most delicious. Martial also speaks of the wild ass as being tender. (Epigr. xiii, 97.)

SECT. LXXXV.—ON THE PARTS OF ANIMALS.

The extremities are tendinous, without fat and without flesh; and are therefore viscid, contain little nourishment, and are laxative of the belly, except those of birds owing to their great dryness. The snout and ears are gristly and indigestible. The tongue is spongy, full of blood, and gives little nourishment. The glands are sweet and friable; and those of the breast are sweeter than the others, and, in particular, those of swine which are giving milk. These are no less nutritious than the flesh. The kidneys and testicles are strong-smelled and indigestible, but those of cocks fed upon grain are sweet, and supply a good nourishment to the body; whereas those of bulls, buck-goats, and rams are indigestible, and contain bad juices. The brain produces phlegm, thick and bad chyme, is difficult to evacuate and digest, injurious to the stomach, and occasions nausea; but when properly digested it is sufficiently nutritious. The marrow is oily and sweeter than the brain, but in other respects resembles it. Fat and suet contain little nourishment, and are hurtful to the stomach. The heart and liver contain thick juices, are difficult to digest and evacuate. But the liver of swine is better. The spleen contains bad juices, and occasions melancholic humours. The lungs are more digestible as being spongy, but contain less nourishment and form phlegm. The stomach, womb, and intestines are hard, indigestible, and form phlegm. In general, the nourishment from wild animals is drier and less excrementitious than that from tame. All blood is of difficult digestion, especially the thick and melancholic, as is that of oxen; but that of hares is esteemed very delicious, and many are in the practice of boiling it with the liver, and some with the other viscera. Some eat also that of young swine; and even Homer was aware that the blood of goats is eaten by certain people.

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COMMENTARY. Since our author has stated very distinctly the characters of the parts of animals (having abridged the fuller account of Galen), it will serve no purpose for us to enlarge upon every one of these articles; and, therefore, we shall be content with making a few cursory remarks. For further information, see Galen (de Alim. Facult. and de Euchym.); Oribasius (Med. Coll. v); Aëtius (ii); Rhases (ad Mansor. iii, 11); Haly Abbas (Theor. v, 22); Serapion (de Simpl. ex Animal.)

Galen remarks that, as some rendered the liver of swine sweet, by feeding them upon dried figs, so he knew some persons who were in the practice of preparing the livers of geese in like manner, by feeding them upon milk, by which means they were rendered not only delicious, but also very nutritious, wholesome, digestible, and not difficult to evacuate. Oribasius and Haly Abbas speak of it in much the same terms; but Haly adds that much of it ought not to be eaten at once, as it is slowly digested. Athenæus speaks of it as a delicacy in great request at Rome. (Deipnos. ix, 32). The liver of a white goose fed upon fatty figs is one of the delicacies mentioned by Horace as having been presented at the supper of Nasidienus. (Sat. ii, 8.) See also Juvenal (v, 114), and Persius (vi, 7.) If we may believe Martial, the liver, in these cases, sometimes grew to such a size as to surpass the body of the animal. (Epigr. xiii, 58.) We are informed by Pliny, that it was disputed to whom the culinary art was indebted for the discovery of this exquisite delicacy. (H. N. x, 21.)

Galen states that all fat and suet are of an oily nature, and that they ought rather to be used as condiments than as articles of food. Serapion gives the most circumstantial account of the qualities of these animal oils.

The vulva or womb of a sow was esteemed an exquisite delicacy by the Romans. There were three kinds of it—that is to say, it was taken in three different states of the animal. The first, called ejectitia, was procured by forcing the animal to part with its young. The second, or porcaria, was the womb of the animal, taken after it had littered. The third, called sterilis, was the womb of a sow that had never been with young. This last is ranked by Celsus among those things which are useful to the stomach. See Plutarch (de Esu Carnium); Pliny (Hist. Nat. xi, 37.) Simeon Seth, however, condemns it as indigestible. (See Not. Bogdani.)

SECT. LXXXVI.—ON MILK.

Milk, when digested, is nutritive, but is injurious to the gums and teeth; and, therefore, after taking it, one ought to rinse one’s mouth, first with honied water, and then with an astringent wine. It also produces headach, occasions flatulence of the stomach, and hypochondria, and engenders stones in the kidneys. The more watery kind contains less nourishment, but is more laxative, while, on the other hand, the thick is more nutritive, and moves the belly less. That of the goat is of a middling consistence, as that of the sheep is thicker; and it, immediately after the ewe has brought forth lambs, is thinner, but it afterwards becomes thicker and worse.

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COMMENTARY. It appears, from Homer, that the milk of various animals was used for food in the heroic ages of Greece. His commentator, Eustathius, remarks that it is very nutritious, and, in proof of this, relates the case of one Philinus, who used no other food or drink. (Ad Iliad. xiii, 6.)

Hippocrates, who often makes mention of milk as a medicine, and as an article of food, states that it sometimes occasions the formation of stones in the bladder (de Aer., Aquis et Locis, 24); and this opinion was adopted by all the ancient authorities on medicine. Milk, he says, is bad for those who are subject to headach, for those in fever, or who have flatulency of the bowels, with rumbling or thirst; also for those who are bilious and have bloody discharges from the bowels. He recommends it in consumption, and during convalescence from protracted fevers. (Aph. v, 64.)

According to Galen, the thickest milk of all, and the fattest, is that of cows; the most liquid and least fat is that of the camel; and after it that of the mare, and then of the ass; the milk of goats is of a middle consistence, and that of sheep thicker than it. It is clear, he adds, that thick milk contains more cheese, and liquid more whey. Liquid milk, therefore, is more laxative than thick; and, on the contrary, thick milk is more nutritious than liquid. He mentions that whey, either alone or with a certain mixture of salt, may often be used as an excellent laxative medicine. He states that if a goat or any other animal eat of scammony or spurge, her milk will be rendered purgative. He says that milk is most beneficial in complaints of the chest, but most injurious in diseases of the head and hypochondrium. He, and all the ancient authorities after him, state that milk is apt to hurt the teeth.

Celsus calls milk a wholesome and nutritious article of food; but says that it is apt to disagree with the stomach, and to prove flatulent. The learned Varro says of milk: “Est omnium rerum quas cibi causa capimus liquentium maxime alibile, et id ovillum, inde caprinum.” (De R. R. ii, 11.)

Aristotle arranges the milk of the camel, the mare, and the ass, in the same order, with respect to consistence, as Galen. (H. A. iv, 20.) Pliny, evidently having in view this passage of Aristotle, says that the milk of camels is the thinnest, then that of the mare, and that the milk of asses is the thickest. This is going further than he was justified by his authority. He remarks that the milk of cows gives the most cheese. (Hist. Nat. xi, 41.)

Dioscorides calls milk nutritious, laxative and flatulent. His account of its properties is interesting. (ii, 74.)

All the Greek authorities subsequent to Galen evidently copy from him. Seth says that the longer milk is kept the worse it becomes. When properly digested, he adds, it moistens the body, induces soundness thereof, and is useful in complaints of the chest.

According to Haly Abbas, the milk of cows is the thickest of all, and the most nutritious; that of camels the thinnest, and the least nutritious; goat’s milk is intermediate between them; the milk of sheep, intermediate between that of cows and goats; and the milk of asses, between that of goats and of camels. (Theor. v, 26.) Rhases enumerates them in a considerably different order; he says that the milk of cows is the thickest, and that of asses the thinnest, while that of goats is intermediate. (Ad Mansor. iii, 15.) Averrhoes calls the milk of asses and of goats the best. See also Serapion (ex Animalibus, 457); and Avicenna (ii, 2, 434.)

The following remarks of Macrobius seem to us very acute and pertinent; and, if well founded, they ought to operate as a powerful consideration to every healthy mother to suckle her own offspring: “Quamobrem non frustra creditum est, sicut valeat ad fingendas corporis et animi similitudines vis et natura seminis, non secus ad eandem rem lactis quoque ingenia et proprietates valere. Neque in hominibus id solum, sed in pecudibus quoque animadversum. Nam si ovium lacte hædi, aut caprarum agni forsitan alantur: constat ferme in his lanam duriorem, in illis pilum gigni teneriorem.” (Saturn. v, 11.)

The Galactophagi, a Scythian nation who lived principally upon mare’s milk, are made mention of by Homer (Iliad, xiii), and by Stobæus (Sermo, v.) Eustathius says that they made much use of a preparation from milk, called oxygala. (Ad Iliad, u. s.)

Aristotle calls butter the fat of milk, which has concreted to the consistence of oil. (Hist. Animal.) Hecatæus, in Athenæus, calls it the oil of milk. (Deipnos. x.) Dioscorides says that it is used for condiments instead of oil, and in confectionary instead of suet.

SECT. LXXXVII.—ON THE DRINKING OF MILK.

He who drinks milk ought to abstain from all other food until it be digested, and pass downwards. It is best therefore to drink it in the morning, newly milked, and to take no food after it, nor any hard exercise, because this would make it turn acid. But it is better to walk about gently, and rest between, without sleeping. After doing this, the first part will be evacuated, and then one may drink another part, and when it is evacuated another may be taken. At first, therefore, it purges properly, not indeed from the general system, but what was contained in the belly. Afterwards it enters the veins, and nourishes excellently, and is no longer evacuated. In bilious defluxions, and colliquative diarrhœas, the milk should be given boiled. Boil it at first gently, and for a short time, so that none of it may run over, and that part of it may be consumed. Afterwards it may be boiled more and more, taking care not to burn it, nor convert it into cheese. This will be best guarded against by boiling it softly, and clearing away what is separated by the agitation. It may be agitated with a smooth and slender reed; and, if it froth at the lips, this may be cleared away with a sponge, for often the part there spoils all the rest. The milk then, as is said, ought to be boiled until it become thicker and sweeter than the raw. And the thin and serous part may be dissipated by putting heated pebbles into the milk. This is beneficial in defluxions of the belly, and particularly in bilious ones.

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COMMENTARY. This account of the process of administering milk is taken from Oribasius, who, in his turn, is indebted to Ruffus. Avicenna, in like manner, copies from Ruffus. There is not in any other ancient author so full a description of the process of boiling milk. On the ancient modes of preparing milk for various purposes, and their uses, see ‘Geopon.’ (xviii), and Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxviii, 38.) Pliny mentions that some cure gout in the hands and feet by milk. Simeon Seth joins our author, or rather Ruffus, in recommending boiled milk in dysentery. He likewise praises its effects in phthisis and dry coughs.

The method of preparing milk for use by putting heated stones into it, is mentioned by Dioscorides, Pliny, and others. Serapion recommends heated iron. See the following Section. Galen was aware that milk coagulates in the stomach before it is digested. (De Al. Fac. iii, 15.)

SECT. LXXXVIII.—ON CURDS AND WHEY.

By powerful boiling at a strong fire without smoke, the serous part of the milk is separated from the caseous, and is then strained through a sieve or piece of rag carefully, and to the serous part is added a moderate quantity of honey, or of vinegar and honey, or salts; and it is given to evacuate the bowels in the quantity of two sextarii to adults, and to younger persons not less than a sextarius. And milk thickened by ignited pebbles or iron may be given with advantage for dysenteries and alvine discharges.

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COMMENTARY. The method of preparing the schiston is thus described by Pliny: “Medici speciem unam addidere lactis generibus, quod schiston appellavere. Id fit hoc modo: fictili novo fervet caprinum maxime, ramisque ficulneis recentibus miscetur, additis totidem cyathis mulsi, quot sint heminæ lactis. Cum fervet, ne circumfundatur, præstat cyathus argenteus cum frigida aqua demissus ita ne quid infundat: ablatum deinde igni refrigeratione dividitur et discedit serum a lacte.” (Hist. Nat. xxviii, 33.) The same process is briefly described by Dioscorides (ii, 77.) Pliny recommends the whey thus prepared for epilepsy, melancholy, paralysis, leprosy, elephantiasis, and arthritis. This preparation of milk is often noticed by the ancient authors on medicine. It evidently consisted of the whey of the milk, separated from the cheese by a peculiar process.

The melca was a preparation from milk, and is mentioned by our author in the Fourth Book § 27. It also appears to have been a sort of curds and whey, or du lait caillé of the French, prepared by pouring hot vinegar upon milk. The process is minutely described in the Geoponics (xviii.)

The oxygal, or lac acidum, consisted of the caseous part of the milk, separated from the whey by a very complicated process, which is fully described by Columella. (xii, 8.) It is said by Galen to possess very refrigerant properties.

The aphrogala, or spuma lactis, appears to have been milk reduced to a state of foam by violent agitation.

SECT. LXXXIX.—ON CHEESE.

All cheese is acrid, occasions thirst, is difficult to digest, forms bad chyme, and engenders stones. That is best which is new, spongy, soft, sweet, and has a moderate share of salt. The opposite kind is the worst.

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COMMENTARY. Hippocrates calls cheese flatulent and indigestible. Celsus also calls it flatulent, and ranks old cheese among the unwholesome articles of food. He speaks favorably, however, of soft new-made cheese. Dioscorides, in like manner, says that new-made cheese without salt is nutritious, good for the stomach, of easy distribution, forms flesh, and is moderately laxative. Old cheese, he adds, is constipating. Pliny describes the kinds in most repute when he lived. (Hist. Nat. xi, 97.) He says that salted cheese wastes the body, but that soft is nutritious, (xxviii, 34.) Varro, in like manner, says that soft and recent cheese is nourishing, and not astringent, but that the old and dry is the contrary. (De R. R. ii, 11.) The spongy cheese prepared from the first milk of a goat was reckoned very delicious. It was called colostrum. (Martial, Epigr. xiii, 33.)

Galen’s account of the nature and properties of cheese is so ample that our limits will not admit of doing justice to it in our brief abstract. (De Alim. iii, 17.) He remarks that milk, when it is converted into cheese, loses its watery part, and acquires heating properties, whence it becomes more apt to excite thirst, more indigestible, and unwholesome. He speaks most favorably of new-made cheese, and mentions that there was a kind much used by rich Romans, called Vatusicus, which was peculiarly excellent. As to consistence, the best cheese, he remarks, should be intermediate between the glutinous and the friable, and it ought to possess no distinct quality as to taste, unless, perhaps, a certain degree of sweetness. Aëtius, Oribasius, and Simeon Seth evidently adopt the views of Galen. Seth says that new cheese is laxative, and old astringent.

The Arabians deliver the same characters of cheese as their Grecian masters. Avicenna, Averrhoes, and Haly Abbas speak favorably of new cheese, as being of a cold and humid nature.

Hippocrates mentions a species of cheese prepared by the Scythians, from mares’ milk, and called by them hippace. (De Aer.) The same is noticed by Theophrastus (Hist. Pl. ix), and by Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxv, 44.) Cheese variously prepared and served up was esteemed a great delicacy by the gourmands. See Athenæus (ix, 14.) It was taken towards the conclusion of a feast. (Id. xv, 22.)

SECT. XC.—ON FISHES.

That all fishes are of a colder and more humid temperament is obvious. Those that are found among rocks are the best of all, being of easy digestion, furnishing good juices, and being moderately moistening when their flesh is not hard. Of those that do not abide among rocks, those that abide in the sea are much better than those that dwell among mud, or where rivers meet the sea. But still worse are those which are found in marshes and stagnant parts of the sea. In particular, the mullet (capito) being a sea fish, is moderately sweet, not very indigestible, and furnishes good chyme; but the blood formed from it is thin and weak. So it is also with the bass (lupus). The surmullet, as being a sea fish, is harder than the others, friable, digestible, nutritive, sweet, and free of fat.

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COMMENTARY. Ancient authors make mention of whole nations of mankind that subsisted entirely upon fish. For an account of the Ichthyophagi, see Herodotus (iii, 20); Pliny (xi); Strabo (Geogr. xv); Diodorus Siculus (iv, 15); Ptolemæus (Geogr. iv); Arrianus (in Indicis); Solinus (Polyhistor, lxv); Philostratus (in Vita Apollonii, iii.) The description given of them by Diodorus is the most circumstantial and interesting. He says that the simplicity of their diet preserved them free from diseases, but that they were short-lived. A very interesting, and seemingly a very authentic account of the fish-eaters on the borders of the Red Sea is also given by Agatharcides. (Ap. Photium.) Pliny states that fish was used by his countrymen as food from the building of the city. (Hist. Nat. xxxii, 10.) Eustathius says that, in the heroic ages, it was seldom used but in cases of want. (Ad Iliad. v, 487.) It would appear that fish was generally high priced in Greece. See Athen. (vi, 12, ed. Schweigh.) In the luxurious days of the Romans, the rage for fishes esteemed as rare was excessive. See Horace, Juvenal, and Martial (pluries.)

Hippocrates thus details the dietetical qualities of fish. Speaking generally, then, he says fishes are light food, both when boiled and roasted, by themselves or with other things. They differ from one another as follows: Those which live in lakes, the fat, and river fishes, are heavier; of sea fish, such as are found near the shore are lighter, and those which are well boiled are lighter than such as are roasted. The stronger kind, therefore, are to be given when our object is to recruit, but the lighter when we wish to attenuate or reduce. (De Affect. 46.)

Celsus ranks fish among those things which hold an intermediate place between articles of a strong and of a weak nature. He thus distinguishes them from one another: “Levior piscis inter saxa editus, quam in arenâ, levior in arenâ, quam in limo: quo fit ut ex stagno, vel lacu, vel flumine eadem genera graviora sint: leviorque, qui in alto, quam qui in vado vixit.”

Plutarch states that fish is much more easily digested than flesh. (Sympos. iv.)

For a full, interesting, and judicious account of the qualities of fishes as articles of food, see Athenæus (Deipnos. viii.) We can only afford room to mention his opinion of their more general properties. He says, then, upon the authority of the Siphnian Diphilus, that of sea fishes those that live among rocks are of easy digestion, contain good juices, are detergent, light, and afford little nourishment; and that those which inhabit the depths of the sea are difficult to digest, very nutritious, and of difficult assimilation.

Galen states that fishes which live in marshes, lakes, and muddy rivers, are the worst as articles of food, because they are little exercised in swimming, and have impure food. Such fishes as live in the depths of the sea, he says, are almost free from fault as aliment, for they are more wholesome and delicious than any of the others. He mentions, as the characteristics of good fish, that they have no offensive taste or smell, have little fat, and can be kept for a considerable time without becoming putrid, especially if put in ice. He says that fish is the best possible food to persons of indolent habits, old men, and invalids, but that it does not answer so well with persons who take strong exercise.

Of fishes, as aliments, there is an excellent account in a Fragment of Xenocrates, published a few years ago, with interesting notes, by the learned Dr. Coray, of Paris. He says that roasted fishes are most nutritious, but are of difficult evacuation; that the boiled are less nutritious, but are readily evacuated; that sea fishes are savoury, agree with the stomach, are of easy distribution, form proper blood, impart a good colour, and clear the bowels. Such as live in rivers and lakes, he adds, are bad for the stomach, form thick juices, and are of difficult evacuation. The characters of the different fishes are afterwards stated by him very fully. He says that the parts next to the tail, as being most exercised, are most wholesome.

Oribasius’s account of fishes is mostly taken from Xenocrates. Aëtius is full and correct on this subject. He says that the best fishes are those which live in a sea of pure water, especially if it be agitated by winds, and if its shores be sandy, and not clayey.

Actuarius says, that of fishes which live at the sea-shore, and among the rocks, the larger supply much nourishment, of a thick nature; and the smaller, little nourishment, of a pure nature. He says, further, that sea fishes in general, being preferable to those which live in fresh waters, differ however from one another in several respects; that such as live in the open sea are more exercised, and enjoy purer food, than the others, and hence their flesh is firmer and purer, and they are more nutritious, and form thick blood; that such as live in canals and marshes are bad and unwholesome; and that those which live among rocks in pure waters have better flesh, and, being light and digestible, form thin and pure blood.

Simeon copies freely from Galen and our author. Upon the whole, he says, the blood which fishes form is thinner than that from land animals. Fish, he says, is the most proper food of invalids and convalescents.

Alexander Aphrodisiensis discusses the question why rock fishes are peculiarly excellent, and decides that it is because the water about rocks is constantly in motion, which keeps the fishes there in perpetual exercise. (Prob. ii, 82.) He would appear to have had in view Galen, (de Facult. Alim. iii, 20.) Considering that rock fishes are particularly commended by all the authorities on dietetics, both Greek and Arabian, it has justly excited the wonder of Joannes Bruyerinus Campegius and Ludovicus Nonnius, two very learned writers on the Res Alimentaria of the ancients, that Celsus should rank the “pisces saxatiles” among the “res mali succi.” (ii. 21.) This appears the more remarkable, as he had previously (18) classed “omnes sexatiles” among the “res leviores,” and had said again of them, “levior piscis inter saxa editus, quam in arena.” Taking all this into consideration, we cannot hesitate in coming to the conclusion that in the passage first quoted the text must be in fault. We beg to offer, as a conjectural emendation, “fluviatiles.” Galen, Xenocrates, Psellus, Seth, and other authorities, agree in condemning river fishes, with the exception of those that run up from the sea. We may further mention, as tending to confirm this conjecture, that the same character of river fishes is given by the great Italian authority on dietetics, Domenico Romoli. (See Singulare Dottrina, &c. vii, 50.)

Rhases states that sea and river fishes are the best, especially such as have rough scales, are not mucilaginous, and are naturally of a white colour. Those, he adds, which are of a black or red colour should be abstained from. He says that all fish remains long in the stomach undigested. It is now generally admitted that it is less digestible than the tender flesh of quadrupeds.

Avicenna delivers the general characters of fishes in the same terms as Galen. He says that the best are those the flesh of which is neither too hard and dry; nor, on the other hand, too mucilaginous; and which are neither very large nor very small. Averrhoes repeats this account of them. Haly Abbas, in like manner, abridges Galen. He says that fresh fish is of a cold and humid nature, and engenders phlegm.

The ancients ate their fish either roasted, boiled, fried, or in soups. Invalids were recommended to take them boiled. The fried were believed to suit only with persons of a strong constitution.

We shall now offer a few remarks upon the fishes which were in most request at the tables of the ancients.

The labrax, or lupus, has been taken for the pike. But Aristotle, Oppian, and Cassidorus describe it as being a cunning fish, which does not accord with the character of the pike. Bochart concludes that it is the fish called λαύρακι, by the modern Greeks; varolo, by the Italians; and bar, by the French. It seems indisputable that it was the bass, i. e. labrax lupus Cuvier. Icesius, as quoted by Athenæus, says of it, that it contains good juices, but is not very nutritious, nor readily evacuated, but is the most delicious of all fishes. Archestratus calls it “the offspring of the gods.” All the authorities, in a word, speak highly of it. Lupi caught in the Tiber were esteemed the best. See Horace (Sat. ii, 2,) and Macrobius (Saturn. iii, 16.) There were two species, the lanatus and the varius, of which the former was in most esteem.

The pike is unquestionably the “lucius” of Ausonius (Mosella); but it seems doubtful whether it be noticed by the Greek writers. The hepatus would seem to be a congener. Galen says its flesh is intermediate between the soft and the hard.

The barb (cyprinus barbus L.) is not described by the Greeks, but is mentioned by the Latin poet Ausonius (l. c.) who says of it that it is the only fish which is improved by age.

The rhombus was esteemed a remarkable delicacy. The classical reader will recollect the ludicrous importance attached to the capture of one by the flatterers of Domitian, as described in the 4th Satire of Juvenal. It is frequently made honorable mention of by Horace and Martial. According to Harduin and Nonnius, it was the turbot, yet not the common turbot of this country (pleuronectus maximus), but the species called carrelet in French (P. rhombus L.) Athenæus calls it sweet and nutritious. Celsus ranks it among “res boni succi.” According to Athenæus, it is the same as the ψήττα of Aristotle. It is, we suppose, the ψίσσα of Alexander (ii, 6.) It is the ψίσιον of Seth (V. Notæ Bogdani). He calls it wholesome and of easy digestion.

The cephalus was a species of the mullet, as is stated by Harduin (ad Plinii Hist. Nat. ix, 26); Schneider (ad Æliani Nat. Anim. i, 12); and Ludovicus Nonnius. It is the mugil cephalus L. Oppian describes the fishing of it in the most striking manner. Galen remarks that the flesh of it differs much in quality, according to the nature of the place in which it is found. Athenæus ranks it among the fishes which are sweet and nutritious. Simeon Seth and Aëtius say that the river mullet is bad for the stomach, indigestible, and apt to form phlegm. It appears from Anaxilas, as quoted by Athenæus, that its head was in most repute. Archestratus says that it is best in the winter season.

The trigla, or mullus, as Nonnius, Harduin, Schneider, and Coray state, was the surmullet, or mullus barbatus L. It is mentioned as a rare delicacy of great price by Horace (Sat. ii, 2); Juvenal (Sat. iv, 15); Martial (Xenia, 74); and Macrobius (Saturnal. iii, 16.) Athenæus says of it, “Diocles writes that the flesh of the mullus is hard.” (vii, 21.) Its liver prepared with oil and wine is said by Galen to have been esteemed as a peculiar delicacy.

We need not say how much the murene was sought after by all the lovers of good eating in ancient Rome. Pliny, Martial, and Macrobius inform us that those from Sicily were in most esteem; and Brydone takes notice of the peculiar excellence of the Sicilian murenes at the time when he performed his tour through that island. According to Icesius, it is as nutritious as the eel. (Athen. vii.) He mentions that the murene was called “the Helen of suppers;” and hence, no doubt, Linnæus has named the fish muræna Helena. It was held in much esteem, he says, before spawning. (Ibid.) Apicius gives various receipts for the dressing of it. Pepper, wine, vinegar, and oil are ingredients in almost every one of them. The murene which was served up at the supper of Nasidienus had a sauce or soup formed of such things. (Horace, Sat. ii, 8.) It is related of Vedius Pollio, that he fed his murenes with the bodies of condemned slaves. (Plin. Hist. Nat. ix, 23, and Tertullian, De Pallio.) L. Crassus, the orator, put on mourning clothes for the death of a murene. (Macrobius, Sat. iii, 15.) The muræna ophis is mentioned by Galen as having the same character as its congener.

The ancients were acquainted with several species of mackerel (scomber scomber), which Xenocrates represents as nutritious, but unpalatable and flatulent.

The anguilla, or common eel, and the congrus, or conger-eel, were despised by the Roman gourmands, but were greatly esteemed by the Greeks. Icesius says that eels are the best of fishes. See Athen. (l. c.)

It is supposed, by most of the classical commentators, that the accipenser was the sturgeon, but this is not quite agreed.—See this point fully discussed by Rondelet, Gesner, and Willoughby. The celebrated Artedi, and the writer of the article on Ichthyology in the ‘Encycl. Method.’ are quite decided in the affirmative. We need have little difficulty, then, in determining it to be the accipenser sturio. To our minds there can be no doubt but that it is the fish described by Constantine Porphyrogenita, under the name of βερζήτικον. (De Admin. Imp. 42.) Both in the days of the Romans, and under the Greek empire, the sturgeon was commonly procured from the Pontus or Black Sea. Its popularity appears to have been great in the days of Horace, but it had fallen into disrepute in the time of Pliny. It seems, however, to have retrieved its character afterwards; for one of the authorities quoted by Athenæus says that it was presented at the Roman banquets, crowned with garlands, and accompanied with the playing of pipes. See also Macrobius (Sat. iii, 16.) Martial speaks of it as a much-esteemed delicacy at the imperial table. The elops and the galeus rhodius were fishes nearly allied to the sturgeon. See Pliny and Athenæus.

The isinglass fish (accipenser huso), although described by Herodotus (Hist. iv, 53), Strabo (Geogr.), and Ælian (xiv, 23), is not noticed by the dietetical writers, unless we suppose it the fish alluded to by Athenæus (vii, 21), where see the notes of Coray and Schweighäuser.

Martial mentions the gobius, or gudgeon, as being the first of the viands presented at the banquets of the Venetians. (Xenia, Ep. 83.) Juvenal speaks of it as being a fish of little value, or, at least, low priced. (Sat. xi, 37.) It is, in fact, as Galen states, a very small fish; but he represents it as being delicious, digestible, and wholesome, especially when caught on a stony or rocky shore. Seth gives the same account of it. Diphilus, as quoted by Athenæus, says, that when its flesh is white the gudgeon is tender, wholesome, and digestible.

The perch, according to the same authority, bears a close resemblance to the gudgeon. Ausonius calls it the deliciæ mensarum. Galen calls it a delicious fish, which is not only of easy digestion but most wholesome. He adds that it, and other fishes of the same description, form blood of a middling consistence, that is to say, neither very watery nor too thick. Both the perca fluviatilis and the P. marina are described by Aristotle, Galen, Athenæus, and the other writers on dietetics.

The umber (sciæna umbra), a fish resembling the perch, but of great size, was in much esteem as a pickle, which was called saperda, and brought from Pontus. See Athen. (iii, 31), and Persius (Sat.)

The merle (labrus merula) is mentioned among the rock fishes by Galen. Diocles in Athenæus says it is of easy digestion and highly nutritive. The iülis, called donzella by the Italians, a fish of the same genus, is mentioned by Galen and Xenocrates as having soft flesh.

The fish called serran in French (serranus anthius Cuv.), and its congener the labrus hepatus L. are briefly noticed by the dietetical authorities as wholesome fishes.

On the salmon the Greek authors are entirely silent. It is briefly noticed by Pliny (H. N. ix, 32); but the first and only satisfactory account of it which is to be found in any Latin classic is contained in the Mosella of Ausonius. We shall give an extract from the lines in which it is first described:

“Teque inter species geminas, neutrumque et utrumque, Qui necdum Salmo, nec jam Salar, ambiguusque Amborum medio Fario intercepte sub ævo.”

Here we find marked the three progressive stages in the growth of the fish. The salar is the sea-trout, the fario is what in the north of Scotland is called the grilse, and the salmo is the full-grown salmon. Of the salmon he says:

“Tu loricato squamosus pectore, frontem Lubricus, et dubiæ facturus fercula cænæ, Tempora longarum fers incorrupte morarum, Præsignis maculis capitis: cui prodiga nutat Alvus, opimatoque fluens abdomine venter.”

The sea-trout is well described in the following line:

“Purpureisque Salar stellatus tergora guttis.”

Nonnius considers the salmon to be the anchorago of Cassiodorus. (De Esu Piscium, 31.) Gesner holds the same opinion. (De Aquat.)

Ludovicus Nonnius confesses his inability to determine what the scarus was. It would seem to have been the fish now called labrus scarus L., a small fish, according to Bellonius, being seldom more than a fathom long. Xenocrates praises it as being very savoury and of easy digestion, but of difficult distribution and evacuation. For a curious account of it, see Macrobius (Sat. iii, 16.) The sargus nearly resembles the scarus, but is more astringent and nutritious. It is the sparus sargus L., and, according to Rondelet, is called sargo by the Italians. The melanurus (sparus m.) is very like to it in shape and qualities.

The aurata, called by Bruyer and Nonnius in French brame de mer; and by Ainsworth and Artedi, gilt-head in English, (namely, the sparus aurata L.) is said by Celsus and Mnesitheus as quoted by Athenæus, to be a fish of difficult digestion but very nutritious. Xenocrates says that its flesh is firm, white, of easy distribution, and nutritious.

The passer, called platessa by Ausonius, is supposed by Artedi and Nonnius to have been the plaice (pleuronectes platessa.) It is mentioned by Horace among the delicacies at the supper of Nasidienus. The solea or sole, called lingualaca by Festus and Varro, was nearly allied to it. It is the P. solea. Diphilus says that both are very savoury and nutritious.

The lamprey (petromyzon lampetra L.) is the mustella of Ausonius, the exormiston of Cassiodorus, the γαλάξιας of Galen, the ἐχένηις of Oppian, and the βδέλλα of Strabo. See Bruyer, Nonnius, and Rondelet. It was reckoned unwholesome.

The capros, or carp, is called by Archestratus “The flower of nectar.” (Athenæus Deipnos. vii.) It is the cyprinus carpio L.

The hake (gadus merluccius) is generally supposed to be the gadus of Athenæus (vii); the asellus of Ovid, Varro, and Pliny; and oniscus of Marcellus Sideta. It was reckoned wholesome. The ancients do not appear to have been acquainted with the gadus eglofinus, or haddock.

According to Willoughby, the Latin poet Ausonius is the only ancient author who has noticed the tench or cyprinus tinca. We are inclined, however, to think that it is the ψύλων of Aristotle (H. A. vi, 14), and the γναφεὺς of Athenæus (vii.) See Casaubon (l. c.), and Rondelet (de Piscibus.)

We may mention here, although somewhat out of place, that neither the Greeks nor Romans would appear to have used the frog as an article of food.

SECT. XCI.—ON THE TESTACEA, OR SHELL-FISH.

The testacea in general form a saltish and crude chyme; but of them the oysters have the softest flesh, and are most laxative. The chemæ, purpuræ, solenes, spondyli, buccinæ, cochleæ, and such like, are hard. And those covered with a soft shell (crustacea) such as the astaci, paguri, crabs, common lobsters, and those called squillæ, are of difficult digestion, nutritious, and bind the belly when often boiled in sweet water. The juices of all the testacea are laxative, and therefore from the land snails, although their flesh be hard, indigestible, nutritious, and contains bad juices, some make a sauce, with oil and pickle, which they use for opening the belly. The sea urchins (echini) are moderately cooling, contain little nourishment, and are diuretic.

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COMMENTARY. Coray correctly states in his ‘Notes on the Fragment of Xenocrates,’ that, in the ancient classification of animals, the ὀστρακώδη or ὀστρακόδερμα, were divided into the σκληρόστρακα, or testacea, comprehending oysters, muscles, &c.; and the μαλακόστρακα, or crustacea, comprehending the crabs, paguri, &c. But, as he remarks afterwards, the σκληρόστρακα were often called by the generic term, ὀστρακόδερμα. The ancient division of the lower classes of animals is derived from Aristotle’s ‘History of Animals’ (iv), and with some slight modifications it is the same as the classification adopted by Baron Cuvier. Pliny thus distinguishes the mollusca, crustacea, and testacea: “Piscium quidam sanguine carent, de quibus dicemus. Sunt autem tria genera: in primis quæ mollia appellantur (mollusca?): deinde contecta crustis tenuibus (crustacea?): postremo testis conclusa duris (testacea?). Mollia sunt, loligo, sepia, polypus, et cetera ejus generis,” &c. In another place, however, he introduces confusion by applying the term mollia to the crustacea. This mistake probably originated in the resemblance between the Greek terms μαλάκια and μαλακόστρακα. (Hist. Nat. ix.)

We may mention further, that, in Oppian’s delightful poem on ‘Fishing,’ the crustacea are described at book i, l. 259, the testacea at l. 283, and the mollusca at l. 638. On the terms used by Ælian, see ‘De Nat. Animal.’ (ix, 6, ed. Schneider.) Athenæus gives a long disquisition on these animals in the third book of the ‘Deipnosophistæ.’

Of the testacea described by the ancient writers on dietetics, we are inclined to refer the chema to the genus chema of modern naturalists, comprehending several species of the cockle: the purpura to the helix ianthina or purple fish, in particular: the solen to the genus solen or bag-fish: the spondylus to the genus spondylus or prickly oyster: the buccina to the buccinum harpa: the cochlea to the helix pomatia or edible snail: the astacus to the astacus fluviatilis or crawfish: the pagurus to the cancer pagurus or common crab: and the cancer to some variety of the same: the locusta to more than one species of the locusta or lobster; the squilla to the crangon vulgaris Cuv. or shrimp: and the leo marinus indefinitely to the genus cancer. We think it but right, however, to confess that our own acquaintance with this department of natural history is not so extensive as to warrant us in speaking authoritatively on these matters.

We shall now briefly notice the ancient opinions on their dietetical qualities. From Athenæus, we can only find room for the following extract: “Regarding the testacea (ὀστρακόδερμα) the Siphnian Diphilus writes thus: ‘Of the testacea, the squilla, astacus, locusta aquatica, cancer, and leo marinus, are of the same genus, but differ from one another: the leo is larger than the astacus; the locusta is more fleshy than the cancer; and the cancer, or crab, is heavy and indigestible.’ Mnesitheus, the Athenian, in his work on ‘Dietetics,’ says, that the locusta, cancer, squilla, and the like, are all of difficult digestion, and yet they are much easier digested than other fishes.”

Galen’s account of them is interesting, and our author’s is abridged from it. In general, he remarks, those which have hard flesh are most nutritious, but indigestible. They all contain saltish juices which are of a laxative nature. He says of the crustacea that they have all firm flesh, and are, therefore, difficult to digest, but nutritious. Aëtius and Oribasius copy from him without the slightest alteration of any consequence.

Frequent mention of the squilla occurs in the works of Horace, Juvenal, and Martial, as a favorite article of food. A poet in Athenæus says it should be prepared with fig leaves.

According to Dioscorides and Alexander, the echinus is stomachic and diuretic. Ælian, in like manner, calls it a restorative to a weak stomach. (N. A. xiii.)

Actuarius says that the crustacea hold an intermediate place between the fishes and mollusca; that they are, therefore, not so digestible as the mollusca, and form purer and thinner blood; that the testacea, as they get no exercise, are less proper; and that all form a thin and watery blood.

We need scarcely remark, that the Romans esteemed the cochlea, i. e. limaçon, or white snail, as an exquisite delicacy.

Simeon Seth’s account is entirely borrowed from Galen.

The receipts of Apicius for dressing the locusta and carabus contain pepper, cumin, rue, mint, vinegar, wine, and oil.

It appears from the following lines of Juvenal that British oysters were greatly esteemed by the Roman gourmands:

“Circæis nata forent, an Lucrinum ad saxum, Rutupinove edita fundo Ostrea callebat primo deprendere morsu.”

(Sat. iv.)

Rochester is supposed to be the ancient Rutupinum. Seneca represents them as whetters and not food. “Ostrea non cibi, sed oblectamenta sunt, ad edendum saturos cogentia.” The poet Matron, as quoted by Athenæus, calls them “the truffles of the sea.” Athenæus says that oysters caught in the sea adjacent to a lake or river are the best. Xenocrates remarks that sea oysters are small and saltish.

It does not appear that the ancients often used the sea tortoise or turtle fish as an article of food, and yet it is clear from Athenæus (viii, 17), that it was sometimes eaten. See Schweigh. (l. c.) Zenobius says that the flesh of the tortoise, if eaten in small quantities, is apt to produce tormina, and that if eaten largely, it purges. (Cent. iv, 32.) See also Actuarius (iv.) It is to be kept in view that the Mediterranean turtle is generally unwholesome, and the ancients in general could have little acquaintance with any other species. Ælian, however, makes mention of the Indian turtle. (N. A. xvi, 14.) See further Gesner (de Aquat. 1141.) The chelonopliagi, or turtle-eaters, are noticed by Strabo (xvi); Solinus (xvii); and Pliny (Hist. Nat. vii, 28.)

SECT. XCII.—ON THE MOLLUSCA.

The mollusca, such as polypi, sepiæ, and loligines, are hard and indigestible, and particularly the polypi. Their juices are saltish, but when digested they furnish considerable nourishment to the body.

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COMMENTARY. Galen remarks that the mollusca, or mollia, have no scales, nor any rough testaceous skin, but a soft one, like that of men. Their flesh, he says, is hard, indigestible, and contains a small proportion of saltish juices; but, if digested, it affords no little nourishment to the body. The sepia, or cuttle-fish, was anciently, and is at present, much used in Rome as an article of food. Pliny states that it is laxative. He adds that it is taken in food, boiled with oil, salt, and barley-meal. Simeon Seth says of it, that it is difficult to digest, but that, if digested, it affords considerable nourishment to the body, and engenders crude humours; on which account, it ought to be taken with acrid condiments, and an old thin wine drunk afterwards. Mnesitheus, as quoted by Athenæus, says that the flesh of the mollusca is indigestible and aphrodisiacal.

Apicius directs us to dress them in much the same way as recommended by Seth; that is to say, he recommends us to add to them spices, hot aromatics, wine, vinegar, and the like.

The sepia of the ancients was indisputably the sepia officinalis L. or cuttle-fish; the loligo probably the loligo parva of Rondelet, Angl. calamary. The term polypus is vaguely applied, and may comprehend several species of hydra.

SECT. XCIII.—ON THE CARTILAGINOUS FISHES.

Of the cartilaginous fishes, the torpedo and pastinaca have soft and sweet flesh, which passes readily downwards, is easily digested, and proves nutritive. The flairs (raiæ), skates (leviraiæ), monk fish (squatina), and the like, are harder and difficult to digest, and more nutritious. In general, those animals which have hard flesh are difficult to digest, and contain much nourishment. When properly digested, they furnish much and substantial nourishment.

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COMMENTARY. For an account of the σελάχη, or cartilaginea, see Aristotle (H. A. v); Pliny (H. N. ix, 40); Oppian (Halieut, i); Ælian (N. A. xi, 37.)

Galen says that they are called σελάχη from σέλας ἔχειν, because their flesh had a shining appearance at night. He states that they are moderately nutritious. He remarks, that the parts about the tail of such fishes are more fleshy than the middle.

According to Athenæus, the cartilaginous fishes in general are flatulent, fleshy, of difficult digestion, and, if eaten in great quantity, blunt the sight. (Deipnos. viii.)

Dr. Coray says that the French call the Ῥίνη ange or angelot, the Βάτος raie bouclée or cavellade, the Λειόβατος raie miralet, the Νάρκη torpille or raie torpille, and the Τρυγὼν pastinaque. Harduin gives them nearly the same French names. We are inclined to refer the ῥίνη to the squalus squatina L. monk or angel-fish: the βατὶς and λειόβατὶς to the raia batis and raia varia, two species of skate; the νάρκη to the raia torpedo or cramp-fish; and the τρυγὼν to the raia pastinaca L. or fire-flair.

SECT. XCIV.—ON THE CETACEA, OR LARGE FISHES.

The cetacea, such as the whales, seals, balance-fish, dolphin, and great tunnies, have hard and indigestible flesh, containing thick juices. When pickled, they are more moderately so. And of the other fishes, those which are most humid and excrementitious are most fitted for pickling; but there is the same difference in pickles as in the fishes from which they are formed.

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COMMENTARY. Under the class cetacea (κῆτος), the ancient naturalists ranked all the large fishes, such as the whale, the dolphin, the shark, &c. Aristotle was aware that the class called plagiuri by Artedi, comprehending the whale, the dolphin, &c. are viviparous, and have lungs like quadrupeds, instead of gills like fishes. The balæna of the Greeks was a species of physeter, or cachelot.

Galen states that the flesh of all the cetacea in its recent state is excrementitious, but when pickled becomes more attenuate, and easier converted into blood. He gives them, in short, the same characters as our author does.

For a full account of the pickled fishes of the ancients, we refer to the Fragment of Xenocrates, and the third book of Athenæus. We shall give the general character of them as delivered by the latter, upon the authority of the Siphnian Diphilus. He says that the pickles prepared from sea, lake, and river fishes afford little nourishment, contain few juices, are of a heating nature, are good for the belly, and whet the appetite. The old, he adds, are better and more acrid. Of all the pickled fishes, the most celebrated was the one brought from the Pontus, called saperda. According to Athenæus, it was prepared from the umber (sciæna umbra L.) See also Galen (de Alim. Facult. iii, 41.) Hippocrates says they are desiccant, attenuant, and for the most part laxative. (De Diæta.) Diphilus says they are whetters and laxatives; and hence Galen directs them to be taken at the commencement of a meal, and particularly recommends them for old men. Rhases speaks more unfavorably of them.

It may be proper in this place to give some account of the isitia, or isicia of the ancients. With regard to the etymology of the word, then, it is derived by Macrobius ab insectione. They consisted of minced meat, either flesh or fish, boiled or roasted, and seasoned with pepper, cumin, lovage, and the like. Apicius gives receipts for preparing several dishes of this kind, from the loligo, sepia, locusta, and swine’s liver. The last mentioned was inclosed in the omentum, or cowl, and must therefore have resembled the dish now called a haggis. Lampridius says that the emperor Heliogabalus was the first who prepared isicia from fishes, oysters, lobsters, squillæ, and the like. If this statement be true, the works of Apicius which we possess cannot be genuine. Isicia from shell-fish, the sepia, loligo, &c. are very favorably spoken of by Alexander Trallian (xi.) On the Isicia, see further Ludovicus Nonnius (de Piscium Esu, xxxviii), and Lambecius (ad Apic.)

SECT. XCV.—ON THE PROPERTIES OF WINE.

He who has taken the subject of health into consideration ought also to be acquainted with the powers of wine. Wine in general is nutritious, but that which is red and thick is more particularly so; but its juices are not good. The sweet also is nutritious, but not stomachic. The astringent is stomachic, but is distributed with difficulty to the parts of the body, and nourishes less. The white nourishes less still. Wine of a yellow colour is the best of all. That which is old is more heating and desiccant than the new. Such, in the main, are the properties of wine. But wine in general resuscitates the natural heat within us, and therefore it improves digestion, and forms good blood. And being of a penetrating nature, it diffuses the nourishment all over the body, and therefore it recruits those who are emaciated by disease, for it gives them an appetite for food. It attenuates phlegm, clears away the bile by urine, and imparts a good colour. To the soul also it communicates gladness and pleasure, and improves the strength. Such are the good effects of the moderate use of wine. But its immoderate use produces just the reverse; wherefore, those who are drunk become changed, are delirious, and disposed to heavy sleep. On that account, such an immoderate use of wine ought to be avoided; but at greater intervals it may be drank liberally, for it promotes the discharges by urine and perspiration. But it is better in such cases to vomit, by taking, beforehand, of honied water, so that one may not be injured by it. When one has drunk largely, it is not proper to take much of any other food; but while drinking, one should eat boiled cabbage, and taste some sweetmeat, particularly almonds. These things relieve headach, and are not difficult to vomit. It is also very proper to take the infusion of wormwood before drinking, for of all things it is the best preservative from surfeit. If one experience any painful effects from wine, one should drink cold water, and the next day again the infusion of wormwood; and by using exercise, friction, the bath, and restricted food, in this way get restored to health.

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COMMENTARY. The opinions of the ancients on this interesting subject may be best learned by consulting Hippocrates (de Diæta, ii, 22, et alibi); Celsus (ii); Pliny (H. N. xiv and xxxiii, 22, 26); Dioscorides (v); Galen (de Sanit. tuend. v, 5, and de Alim. Facult. iii); Oribasius (Med. Col. v, and Euporist. i, 12); Aëtius (i); Athenæus (Deipnos. i); Macrobius (Saturnal.); Actuarius (de Diæta, 8); Simeon Seth (de Alimentis); Serapion (de Simplicibus, &c.); Haly Abbas (Theor. 30, and Pract. i, 8); Avicenna (i, 3, 2); Rhases (ad Mansor. iii, 5, and Continen. xxxvii); Alsaharavius (Theor. xiii, 2.) Stobæus gives an interesting collection of the opinions of the philosophers and poets. (Sermo xviii.)

For an ample account of the ancient and modern wines, the reader is particularly referred to the late ingenious and classical publication of Dr. Henderson. See also Barry (on Ancient Wines), and Canonherius (de Admirandis Vini Virtutibus.)

From the works of Moses and Homer, we learn that the art of converting the innocent juice of the grape into wine must have been a very early invention. Eustathius informs us that, in very ancient times, the wines were all of a dark colour; and hence Homer applies to the sea the epithet of wine-coloured, ὄινοπα πόντον. (Comment, in Iliad. I.) Achilles Tatius makes the same remark regarding the ancient wine, (ii, 67, ed. Salmasius.) However, in the time of Hippocrates, they had wines of all colours, as well as characters. He thus describes their general properties: Black and austere wines are of a drying nature, and are not laxative, nor diuretic, nor sialogogue. It is their heat that renders them desiccative, by consuming the humidity of the body. The soft dark wines are of a more moistening nature, and are more flatulent and laxative. The sweet dark wines are of a more moistening nature, but they are heating and flatulent by imparting humidity. The white austere wines are heating, but are rather diuretic than laxative. The new are more laxative than the old, as being a nearer approach to the fresh juice of the grape, and they are nutritious; and the fragrant wines than those of the same age which have no bouquet, because they are better concocted; and the thick than the thin. But thin sweet wines are more diuretic, laxative, and moistening, and form weak blood.

Celsus ranks the “vinum dulce vel lene” among the “res boni succi.” Sharp austere wine he places among the things which are most suitable for the stomach.

Dioscorides delivers very judiciously the different characters of wines. He concludes with remarking that, although habitual intoxication be prejudicial to the health, a moderate indulgence in wine for some days, especially after drinking water, is beneficial, by proving an alterative to the system, purging the secretions, and promoting the insensible perspiration.

From Pliny’s excellent statement of the medicinal and dietetical properties of wine, we select the following remarks: “Vino aluntur vires, sanguis, colorque hominum. Vino modico nervi juvantur, copiosiore læduntur, sic et oculi. Stomachus recreatur; appetentia ciborum invitatur; tristitia et cura hebetatur; urina et algor expellitur; somnus conciliatur. Præterea vomitiones sistit. Vetus coposiore aqua miscetur, magisque urinam expellit; minus siti resistit. Dulce minus inebriat sed stomacho innatat; austerum facilius concoquitur. Stomacho minus utile est pingue, nigrum, sed corpora magis alit. Tenue et austerum minus alit, magis stomachum nutrit.”

The information supplied by Galen on this subject is most ample, but in too diffuse a shape to suit our narrow limits. Upon the whole, he states, thin wines are diuretic, but supply little nourishment, whereas the thick are proportionally nutritious. He says that the Falernian, especially the sweeter kind, is one of the most wholesome wines. Athenæus gives an interesting account of the Falernian, upon the authority of Galen. He says it is fit to be drank after it is ten years old, and from fifteen to twenty; but that, when older, it occasions headach and affects the nerves. He describes two kinds of it, the sweet and the austere. The latter, he adds, is of a tawny colour, that is to say, a colour intermediate between the white and black. Dr. Henderson concludes, that the modern Madeira is a near approach to the ancient Falernian. Brasavolus and C. Avantius compare it to a wine known in modern Rome by the name of greco di soma. Galen gives very minute directions for forcing this wine, or giving it premature age by heat. (De Antid. i, and de Simpl. iv.) Vitruvius, for this purpose, gives directions for building the wine-cellar close to the kitchen. (vi.) Athenæus says, that wine digests the food, and, being of a subtle nature, promotes the distribution of it. We learn from him that the ancients sometimes used their wines cooled with ice. (Deipnos. iii, 99.) He thus describes the different characters of the wines used in his time; that is to say, about the middle of the second century, P. C. Of wines, some are white, some tawny, and some dark coloured. The white is in nature the thinnest, diuretic, and heating, and being digestible it inflames the head, for it is a wine that has a tendency upwards. A dark-coloured wine, which is not of a sweet nature, is very nutritious and astringent. Sweet wines, whether of a white or tawny colour, are very nutritious; for they lubricate the passage, and thickening the humours, prove less troublesome to the head. The nature of sweet wines is to remain for a time in the præcordia, and to prove expectorant, as Diocles and Praxagoras tell. Mnesitheus the Athenian says dark-coloured wine is very nutritious, the white very diuretic and very subtle, and the tawny dry, and of all wines the one that most promotes the digestion of food. Wines carefully prepared with salt water are not of an intoxicating nature, they loosen the belly, occasion pains of the stomach, and produce flatulence, but promote digestion. Such are the Myndian and the Halicarnassian. The Coan is well prepared with salt water; the Rhodian has a less proportion of it; the Cnidian engenders blood, is nutritious, and laxative, but when drunk in large quantities it upsets the stomach; the Lesbian has less astringency and is more diuretic; the Chian is a most delicious wine, and especially the kind called Ariusian; but there are three varieties of it, the austere, the sweet, and the intermediate.—Of the Italian wines, the most delicious are the Alban and the Falernian. The Adrian is a diffusible, diaphoretic, and safe wine. (i, 25.) According to Galen, the cæcuban, so frequently mentioned by Horace, was not any one sort of wine, but a general name applied to all generous and old wines. (De Succ. bon. 2.) Old wine was much sought after: Galen says everything is impaired by age but wine. (De Antidot.) The Falernian was reckoned best from ten to twenty: the Surrentine was not thought good until twenty-five. (Athen. i.)

According to Actuarius, the thick wines are most nourishing and form the thickest blood, but are apt to occasion visceral obstructions; while, on the other hand, the thin wines are more stomachic and less nourishing. The sweet are the contrary; but the white are less hot than the others; the gold-coloured are more hot; and then the red.

Wine, says Simeon Seth, is not only nutritious, but promotes in a great degree the distribution of the food over the body, rousing, and at the same time increasing the vital heat, and with it the urinary and other secretions. It suits best, he says, with persons of a cold and dry temperament; and, therefore, it is most proper for old men. He adds that the immoderate use of wine dissolves the vital tone, depresses the natural heat, and occasions apoplexy, epilepsy, and tumours of the body. Macrobius attempts to trace a resemblance between the effects of habitual intoxication and those resulting from exposure to extreme cold. “Quæcunque nimium algentibus, eadem contingunt ebriis. Fiunt enim tremuli, pallidi, graves; et saltu tumultuantis spiritus artus suos et membra quatiuntur. Idem corporis torpor ambobus, eadem linguæ titubatio. Multis etiam morbus ille quem παράλυσιν Græci vocant sic nimio vino, et multo algore contingit.” In like manner, a modern writer, Andreas Baccius, maintains that some wines are of a cold nature.

Haly Abbas gives nearly the same characters of wine as Seth. His account of all the wines, natural and artificial, used in his time, is most ample.

Alsaharavius forbids wine to be taken when the stomach is quite empty, or after a full meal. When taken seasonably, he says it improves the appetite, increases the vital heat, nourishes the body, and clears the senses.

Avicenna, with his usual judgment and industry, collects all the information of preceding authors, to which he adds his own opinions. He remarks that the immoderate use of wine induces disease of the liver and brain, and debilitates the nerves.

Wine, says Rhases, warms the stomach and liver, and dispels flatulence, promotes digestion, provokes the urinary and alvine discharges, and gladdens the mind.

Serapion copies mostly from Galen in delivering the general characters of wine. He disapproves of wine made with salt water. For an account of it, see Pliny and Athenæus, (l. c.)

The ancients were scarcely more agreed respecting the intoxicating properties of wine than they were as to the powers of the cabbage in counteracting them. Old Cato the Censor, who was in the practice “of warming his virtue with wine,” describes the following method of cooling it: “Si voles in convivio multum bibere cænareque, ante cæenam esto crudam brassicam quantum voles ex aceto, et item ubi cænaveris comesto aliqua V. folia, reddent te quasi nihil ederis, biberisque, bibesque quantum voles.” (De R. R. 156.) See a long dissertation on this property of the cabbage in Athenæus (Deipnos. i, ad finem); also Pliny (Hist. Nat. xx, 34); Pseudo-Dioscorides (Euporist. i, 24); Nonnius (14); Simeon Seth (in voce Brassica); Geopon. (xii, 17); Avicenna, Rhases, and Serapion give the same character of it. Plutarch affirms that almonds also are a preservative from intoxication. (Quæst. vi.)

Before quitting this subject, we must notice certain peculiar modes of preparing wine. The mustum was wine newly made, or the fresh juice of the grape. The protropum was the juice which runs from grapes without pressing. The mulsum was a preparation of wine and honey. Dioscorides recommends two parts of wine to one of honey; but there does not appear to have been any fixed proportion. The sapa, called by the Greeks hepsema and siræum, according to Pliny, is must boiled to a third; and the defrutum the same reduced to a half. They are now called robs, a term borrowed from the Arabians. The carenum, according to Isidorus, is must reduced to two thirds. The passum was a sweet wine prepared from grapes which had been much dried in the sun. The passum creticum, which is much praised by Pliny and Athenæus, and is often mentioned by our author, the learned Andreas Baccius and Nonnius believe to have resembled the modern malmsey. We have already mentioned a peculiar species of wine prepared with salt water. The ancients also gave artificial qualities to wine by adding rosin, pitch, and other substances to the casks in which it was deposited. See ‘Geoponica’ (vii.) Dioscorides gives receipts for preparing a great variety of vinous tinctures. These were used only for medicinal purposes. (Mat. Med. v.)

It is scarcely necessary for us to remark that the ancients generally drank their wines diluted either with hot or cold water. Hence the poet Juvenal says: “Quando vocatus adest calidæ gelidæque minister.” (Sat. v, 63.) According to Pliny, Staphylus first introduced this practice (H. N. viii, 56); but Athenæus refers it to Melampus (ii.) It would appear, however, from some passages in the ‘Ecclesiazusæ’ of Aristophanes, and from Eustathius’s Commentary on Homer (Iliad, ix, 203), that the ancients often drank their wines undiluted. It was customary, during the time of dinner, to drink off a cup of pure wine to “the good deity.” See Athenæus (xv, 17), with the learned note of Schweighäuser. The wine and water were commonly mixed together according to certain fixed proportions, such as one part of wine and two of water, or two of wine and three of water, or equal parts of both. (Eustathius in Odyss. vii.) In winter it was the rule to drink equal parts of wine and hot water; but in summer two parts of water were added to one of wine. (Anonymus de Diæta ap. Phys. et Med. Min. ed. Ideler, p. 197.) It would appear that it was a common practice to drink wine with other hot things in the morning during the cold months of winter. (Hierophilus de Nutr. Meth. ed. Ideler.)

SECT. XCVI.—ON HONEY AND HYDROMEL OR HONIED WATER.

Boiled honey is rather nutritious than laxative; but when unboiled the contrary. It agrees with cold and humid temperaments, but in the warm it is converted into bile. Honied water does not agree well with those who are affected with bitter bile, being converted into bile. In such constitutions the honied water ought to be very weak; but it is not proper for those whose bowels are easily affected. The honied water may be prepared by adding eight parts of water to the honey, and thus boiling it until it cease from frothing. It is expedient also to clear away the scum as soon as formed.

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COMMENTARY. Honey, says Hippocrates, when eaten with other food, is nutritious, and improves the colour; but, when taken alone, it rather attenuates than recruits. Actuarius says that scummed honey, when taken with other food, is nutritious and laxative. Democritus said, that health was best promoted by lubricating the inside with honey, and the outside with oil. Honey and bread formed the favorite food of the Pythagoreans. Athenæus (Deipnos. ii, 7.) See also Oribasius (Synops. iv, 38); Haly Abbas (v, 27); Simeon Seth (in voce Mel.)

Galen gives the following account of the phenomenon of a honey shower: “I have sometimes known in the season of summer a great quantity of honey to be found upon the leaves of trees, shrubs, and certain herbs, so that the country people said, jesting, ‘Jupiter has rained honey.’ A cold night, as for summer, had preceded (for it happened in summer); but the temperature of the former day had been hot and dry. It was thought, therefore, by those who were skilled in nature, that an exhalation from the earth and waters, finely attenuated and concocted by the heat of the sun, had been condensed and collected by the cold of the succeeding night. This phenomenon occurs rarely with us; but it takes place frequently in Mount Lebanon every summer.” (De Alim. Facult.) See also Fragmentum Theophrasti (de Melle, ed. Heinsius.) Ernestus Faber states that the honey here described is the manna of cedars. (De Manna Ebræorum, 12.)

A wine prepared from honey and aromatics is much commended by an intelligent writer on dietetics as possessing more heat and dryness than any other species of wine, and improving the appetite and colour. (Anonym. Tract. de Cibis ap. Ermerins Anecdota Græca, p. 237.)

Our author has given one method of preparing the hydromel, or honied water. Different modes are described by other authors. Thus, Mesue recommends seven parts of water to one of honey. It appears from Hippocrates, however, that it was taken more or less diluted. Pliny and Dioscorides make mention of hydromel prepared by mixing two parts of water with one of honey. This seems to have been the strongest hydromel. A species of hydromel carefully prepared, and kept for a considerable time, was esteemed a delicious beverage. Ludovicus Nonnius compares it to the mead used by certain nations of the north. They prepare it with hops and yeast, so that it is made to emulate the nature of wine. The Greeks and Romans did not make use either of hops or yeast.

In imitation of Galen, who, under the head of honey (de Simpl.), treats also of sugar, we shall give a brief account of the latter in this place. The saccharum, then, which is mentioned by Theophrastus (Frag. l. c.), Dioscorides (ii, 104), Galen (l. c.), Strabo (Geogr. xv), Pliny (H. N. xii, 17), and other ancient authors, was a natural concretion forming on various reeds, but more especially upon the bamboo cane (bambusa arundinacea.) The bamboo is noticed by Herodotus (Hist. iii, 98), and by Ctesias (Photii Lex.) Moses Chorenensis, a writer of the fifth century (Geogr. Armen.), is the first who makes mention of sugar procured from the cane by boiling.

SECT. XCVII.—ON SLEEP.

It remains, after having treated of everything connected with diet, to say something of sleep, which is generally taken after every other thing. Sleep, then, may be briefly defined to be a relaxation of the vital powers, occasioned by a suitable moisture irrigating the brain. When properly taken it may produce many good effects. It digests the food, concocts the humours, soothes pain, alleviates lassitude, and relaxes that which is contracted. It is also calculated to produce oblivion of mental sufferings, and to rectify the distracted powers of reason. The most suitable season for sleep is after a meal. But that during the day does not agree with all, because the time spent in sleep is not sufficient for the complete digestion of the food; and, when the digestion is interrupted unseasonably, those who rise from sleep at noon are often troubled with acidity and flatulence, and sometimes even with a gurgling noise in their bowels, unless from habit or sufficient rest these bad effects be obviated. The best season for sleep is the night, for the humidity and drowsy stillness of night contribute to perfect digestion. Wherefore after these nocturnal slumbers we feel the most desire for evacuation. The proper limit to sleep should be the complete digestion of the food, as may be ascertained by the eructations, and by tapping over the stomach; after which it may be not unuseful to awake in order to evacuate the excrementitious remains of the digestion.

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COMMENTARY. The philosophy of sleep is ingeniously treated of by Hippocrates (de Insomniis), and by Aristotle (in his treatise de Somno et Vigilia.) Aristotle states that digestion goes on best during sleep. Pliny’s definition of sleep seems to be taken from Hippocrates: “Est autem somnus nihil aliud quam animi in medium sese recessus.” (H. N. x, 97.) Alexander Aphrodisiensis, in like manner, says, “Know that, during the day, the natural principle is less occupied with its own peculiar operations, I mean the digestion of the food, the changes of the chyle, sanguification, distribution, assimilation, and the like, the mind being engaged in its other energies, namely, the five senses, fantasy, reasoning, and memory; but during night, on the other hand, nature operates more, and the mind less.” (Problem i, 118.) See also particularly Oribasius (Med. Coll. vi, 4); Actuarius (de Diæta, 11); Avicenna (i, 3, 3); Rhases (ad Mansor. iv, 3); Haly Abbas (Theor. v, 35); Alsaharavius (Theor. xi, 3); Averrhoes (Collect. i, 21.) Averrhoes defines sleep to be the recession of the sensorial powers from their organs to the internal parts; and hence, he remarks, those who sleep with their eyes open do not perceive the objects nearest to them. The vital heat being then collected internally, he adds, the powers of the digestive faculty are increased. Rhases agrees with Galen that moderate sleep forms good blood; but that too much corrupts the juices, that is to say, impairs digestion. Haly Abbas remarks that, during sleep, the animal powers are suspended, while the vital and natural continue unaffected; and, therefore, the mind or principle of life being then disengaged, as it were, from one of its offices, is the abler to perform the others aright. Hence, he adds, digestion is best performed during sleep. Alsaharavius approves of taking rest after a meal, but recommends an hour to elapse before going to sleep.

The reader will find in Stentzel’s little treatise, entitled ‘Διατριβὴ περι τοῦ ὕπνου,’ an interesting exposition of the opinions of the ancient philosophers and physicians on this subject. There is an ingenious disquisition on the nature of sleep in the commentary of Stephanus on the Prognostics of Hippocrates. In reference to Aristotle’s division of causes, he decides that the efficient cause of sleep is the rest of the particular senses, and of the general sensorium: the material, a humidity which is carried to the roots of the nerves, and prevents the exit of the vital spirit; the formal or organic, the brain, in which the humidity is collected; and the final, or end which sleep serves, the recreation of the powers. (Dietz, T. i, 142.)

SECT. XCVIII.—ON WATCHFULNESS.

The cure of watchfulness in disease, whether proceeding from pain, fever, or some acute symptom, will be treated of under the head of Fevers. But we shall now treat of the watchfulness of those in health. If their watchfulness proceed from sorrow, care, or any mental emotions, we must endeavour if possible to remove the offending cause, and then to divert the attention by agreeable sounds. For this purpose, some seek after the gentle noise of waters, by which they are soothed and lulled to rest. After proper digestion, they should use baths, especially in the evening, and a moistening diet, such as lettuces and the like. They may also mix the green leaves of the black poppy with condiments, and eat fish of easy digestion. They should also use plenty of wine which is light and not old. When about to go to bed, their heads should be anointed with rose oil, or with oil in which the heads of poppies or mandrake have been boiled. And the oil of dill not too old is soporific. I have known rest succeeding suddenly to fatigue produce this effect. Moderate coition will sometimes do the same. Others easily procure rest by having their head and feet cooled. But if their watchfulness be occasioned by their stomachs being oppressed by the quantity or bad quality of the food (and I have known this happen, in like manner as in others it arises from an unseasonable abstinence or diminution of their accustomed food), this ought to be inquired into and the cause removed.

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COMMENTARY. We have mentioned, in the 74th Section, that Galen cured himself of watchfulness by eating freely of lettuces. See further Oribasius (Med. Collect, vi); Averrhoes (Collectan. ii, 5); Alsaharavius (Theor. xi, 3); Rhases (Contin. xxxi, Aphorism, iii.) Indigestion, as regards both food and drink, is stated by Hippocrates as one of the common effects of protracted insomnolency. (De Diæt. in Morb. Acut. 13.) According to Damascius, the commentator on Hippocrates, the causes of insomnolency are, heat of the brain, an intemperament alone, or the prevalence of a bilious humour. (Ed. Dietz. T. ii, 298.)

Rhases recommends lettuces, the tepid bath, the affusion of tepid water on the head, and diluted wine. He also recommends mandragora and opium, which, he says, Galen states will produce soporific effects, not only when taken internally, but when rubbed on the forehead, and applied to the nostrils. He particularly approves of the following liniment: Pound the bark of mandragora, the seed of black henbane, and opium, with the juice of lettuce, and rub into the temples. He further mentions, that having fallen into a state of insomnolency from too much application to study, he cured himself by eating lettuces and using the oil of the water lily externally. (Aph. u. s.)

SECT. XCIX.—ON SOMNOLENCY.

If, on the other hand, the sleep be profound and heavy, we must abstain from frequent baths and cooling unguents; we must use masticatories, and upon the whole change the regimen for one of a hotter, drier, and less nutritive character, because the affection is occasioned by a cold and humid matter irrigating the brain.

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COMMENTARY. See the Commentary on the Sections on Lethargy and Carus in Book Third.

SECT. C.—THE EPISTLE OF DIOCLES ON THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH.—DIOCLES TO KING ANTIGONUS.

Since of all kings you are the most skilled in the arts, and have lived very long, and are skilled in all philosophy, and have attained the highest rank in mathematics, I, supposing that the science which treats of all things that relate to health is a branch of philosophy becoming a king and befitting to you, have written you this account of the origin of diseases, of the symptoms which precede them, and of the modes by which they may be alleviated. For neither does a storm gather in the heavens but it is preceded by certain signs which seamen and men of much skill attend to, nor does any disease attack the human frame without having some precursory symptom. If, then, you will only be persuaded by what we say regarding them, you may attain a correct acquaintance with these things. We divide the human body into four parts: the head, the chest, the belly, and the bladder.—When a disease is about to fix in the head, it is usually announced beforehand by vertigo, pain in the head, heaviness in the eyebrows, noise in the ears, and throbbing of the temples; the eyes water in the morning, attended with dimness of sight; the sense of smell is lost, and the gums become swelled. When any such symptoms occur, the head ought to be purged, not indeed with any strong medicine, but taking the tops of hyssop and sweet marjoram, pound them and boil them in a pot with half a hemina of must or rob, rinse the mouth with this in the morning before eating, and evacuate the humours by gargling. There is no gentler remedy than this for affections of the head. Mustard in warm honied water also answers the purpose very well. Take a mouthful of this in the morning before eating, gargle and evacuate the humours. The head also should be warmed by covering it in such a manner as that the phlegm may be readily discharged. Those who neglect these symptoms are apt to be seized with the following disorders: Inflammations of the eyes, cataracts, pain of the ears as if from a fracture, strumous affections of the neck, sphacelus of the brain, catarrh, quinsy, running ulcers called achores, caries, enlargement of the uvula, defluxion of the hairs, ulceration of the head, pain in the teeth.—When some disease is about to fall upon the chest, it is usually announced by some of the following symptoms: There are profuse sweats over the whole body, and particularly about the chest, the tongue is rough, expectoration saltish, bitter, or bilious, pains suddenly seizing the sides or shoulder-blades, frequent yawning, watchfulness, oppressed respiration, thirst after sleep, despondency of mind, coldness of the breast and arms, trembling of the hands. These symptoms may be relieved in the following manner: Procure vomiting after a moderate meal without medicine. Vomiting also when the stomach is empty will answer well; to produce which first swallow some small radishes, cresses, rocket, mustard, and purslain, and then by drinking warm water procure vomiting. Upon those who neglect these symptoms the following diseases are apt to supervene: Pleurisy, peripneumony, melancholy, acute fevers, frensy, lethargy, ardent fever attended with hiccough.—When any disease is about to attack the bowels, some of the following symptoms announce its approach: In the first place, the belly is griped and disordered, the food and drink seem bitter, heaviness of the knees, inability to bend the loins, pains over the whole body unexpectedly occurring, numbness of the legs, slight fever; when any of these occur, it will be proper to loosen the belly by a suitable diet without medicine. There are many articles of this description which one may use with safety, such as beets boiled in honied water, boiled garlic, mallows, dock, the herb mercury, honied cakes; for all these things are laxative of the bowels. Or, if any of these symptoms increase, mix bastard saffron with all these decoctions, for thereby they will be rendered sweeter and less dangerous. The smooth cabbage boiled in a large quantity of water is also beneficial; this decoction with honey and salt may be drank to the amount of about four heminæ, or the water of chick-peas or tares boiled may be drank in the same manner. Those who neglect the afore-mentioned symptoms are apt to be seized with the following affections: Diarrhœa, dysentery, lientery, ileus, ischiatic disease, tertian fever, gout, apoplexy, hemorrhoids, rheumatism.—When any disease is about to seize the bladder, the following symptoms are its usual precursors: A sense of repletion after taking even a small quantity of food, flatulence, eructation, paleness of the whole body, deep sleep, urine pale and passed with difficulty, swellings about the privy parts. When any of these symptoms appear, their safest cure will be by aromatic diuretics. Thus the roots of fennel and parsley may be infused in white fragrant wine, and drunk every day when the stomach is empty in the morning to the amount of two cyathi, with water in which carrot, myrtle, or elecampane has been macerated (you may use any of these you please, for all are useful); and the infusion of chick-peas in water may be drank in like manner. On those who neglect these symptoms the following diseases are apt to supervene: Dropsy, enlargement of the spleen, pain of the liver, calculus, inflammation of the kidneys, strangury, distension of the belly. Regarding all these symptoms it may be remarked that children ought to be treated with gentler remedies, and adults with more active.—I have now to give you an account of the seasons of the year in which each of these complaints occur, and what things ought to be taken and avoided. I begin with the winter solstice.—Of the winter solstice: This season disposes men to catarrhs and defluxions, until the vernal equinox. It will be proper then to take such things as are of a heating nature, drink wine little diluted, or drink pure wine, or of the decoction of marjoram, and indulge in venery. From the winter solstice to the vernal equinox are ninety days.—Of the vernal equinox: This season increases phlegm in men, and the sweetish humours in the blood until the rising of the pleiades. Use therefore juicy and acrid things, take labour, and indulge in venery. To the rising of the pleiades are forty-six days.—Of the rising of the pleiades: This season increases the bitter bile, and bitter humours in men, until the summer solstice. Use therefore all sweet things, laxatives of the belly, and indulge but sparingly in venery. To the summer solstice are forty-five days.—Of the summer solstice: This season increases the formation of black bile in men, until the autumnal equinox. Use therefore cold water, and everything that is fragrant; and do not indulge in venery, or do so more sparingly than is generally directed regarding these matters. To the autumnal equinox are ninety-three days.—Of the autumnal equinox: This season increases phlegm and thin rheums in men until the setting of the pleiades. Use therefore remedies for removing rheums, have recourse to acrid and succulent things, take no vomits, and abstain from labour and venery. To the setting of the pleiades are forty-five days.—Of the setting of the pleiades: This season increases phlegm in men until the winter solstice. Take therefore all sour things, drink as much as is agreeable of a weak wine, use fat things, and labour strenuously. To the winter solstice are forty-five days.

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COMMENTARY. This Diocles was an ancient physician of great eminence. Galen often mentions him along with his idol, Hippocrates, as the greatest of medical authorities. Cælius Aurelianus frequently quotes his opinions in respectful terms, although belonging to a different sect from his own. Pliny says that he was next to Hippocrates in fame as in time. Octavius Horatianus calls him the younger Hippocrates. Athenæus mentions a work of his on Poisons, and another on Cookery.

Le Clerc questions the authenticity of this epistle, but seems to have had no other grounds for his scepticism than the general suspicion which has attached to all the Epistolæ Græcanicæ since the memorable controversy between the Honorable Mr. Boyle and Dr. Bentley on the authenticity of the Epistles of Phalaris. It is published in the ‘Bibliotheca Græca’ of Albertus Fabricius, who appears to have been satisfied as to its genuineness. Mr. Moir, the author of ‘Outlines of the Ancient History of Medicine,’ condemns it as apocryphal, upon the authority of Schulze. (p. 76.) All we shall say on this point is, that the evidence against the authority of this Epistle appears to us to be very inconclusive.

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