BOOK II.
PREFACE.
Of the approach of a disorder there are many signs. In the explication of which, I shall, without hesitation, make use of the authority of the ancients, and more especially that of Hippocrates; as even the more modern physicians, although they have made alterations in the method of curing, nevertheless confess, that he has delivered the best prognostics from these signs. But before I speak of those antecedents, which give cause to apprehend distempers ensuing; it seems not improper to explain, what seasons of the year, what kinds of weather, what times of life, what constitutions are most safe from, or most obnoxious to dangers, and what kinds of disorders are most to be feared in each of these. Not but in any weather[(1)], men of all ages and all habits, fall into all kinds of distempers, and die of them too; but because some events are more frequent than others. And therefore it is useful for every person to know, against what, and when, he should be most upon his guard.
CHAP. I. OF THE DIFFERENT SEASONS, WEATHER, AGES, CONSTITUTIONS, AND THE DISEASES PECULIAR TO EACH.
The most healthful season then is the spring, next to that the winter, the summer is more dangerous than either, the autumn by far the most dangerous of all. With regard to the weather, that is best, which is equal, whether it be cold or hot: that, which varies most, is the worst. For this reason it is, that the autumn destroys the greatest number. For generally in the middle of the day it is hot, the nights, mornings, and evenings too, are cold: thus the body relaxed by the preceding summer, and by the frequent meridian heats of autumn, is exposed to sudden cold. But as this is most common in this season, so it is hurtful, whenever it happens. When the weather is equal, serene days are most healthful: rainy are better than those that are only misty or cloudy: and in winter those days are best, that have no wind at all; in summer, that have the westerly breezes. If the winds blow from any of the other quarters, the northerly are more salutary than the easterly or southerly. Nevertheless these sometimes differ according to the situation of countries. For generally in every place a wind, that comes from the inland parts, is healthful; one from the sea is sickly. And not only health is more certain in a good temperature of the weather, but even the more malignant distempers, which happen to come on then, are more mild and sooner removed. That air is the worst for a sick person, which has occasioned his distemper; insomuch that in such a case, a change for weather in it’s own nature worse is favourable.
The middle age is safest, because it is neither endangered by the heat of youth, nor the coldness of old age. Old age is more liable to chronical diseases, and youth to acute ones. The body most promising for health is the square, neither over slender, nor over fat. For a tall stature, as it is comely in youth, so it quickly wears out by age. A slender body is weak, a corpulent heavy.