[539] Galen gives the following illustration of what is meant by a disease of a peculiarly dry nature. In pneumonia, pleurisy, and in all the affections about the lungs and trachea, the disease is held to be of a dry nature when there is no expectoration from the parts affected; and in any complaints about the liver, the mesentery, the stomach, the small or great intestines, or spleen, when the belly is either entirely constipated, or when the discharges brought away by artificial means are dry and scybalous; and diseases of the arteries and veins are known to be dry by the dryness of the tongue, and the parched appearance of the whole body. In the same manner external ulcers are accounted dry when there is no discharge from them. And ophthalmies are held to be dry when there is no discharge from the eyes or nose. And, in short, all diseases are recognized as being dry which are not attended with any discharge.
[540] It is curious to remark that a double charge was founded against our author on the ground of his treatment of febrile cases, as here laid down. The followers of Thessalus held that he gorged his patients with too much food, whereas Erasistratus and his followers held that he starved them. Galen, on the other hand, contends that the practice of Hippocrates is the juste milieu between these two extremes. (Opera, tom. v., p. 47; ed. Basil.)
[541] This sentence shows that Hippocrates understood thoroughly the proper treatment of pleurisy. When the disease did not yield to fomentations, but the pain continued, either a vein was opened or the bowels moved; for without first using these means, it was reckoned fatal practice to administer ptisan. Galen relates that it was also considered an unsafe practice to give opium, mandragora, or hyoscyamus for the purpose of alleviating the pain, instead of having recourse to venesection or purging for the removal of it. This is a practical remark well deserving of the most serious consideration.
[542] How briefly, and yet how graphically, our author has described the termination of pleurisy! It is singular that no succeeding author has written so learnedly of râles in affections of the breast as Hippocrates, down at least to the time of Laennec, who repeatedly acknowledges his obligations to our author.
[543] I need scarcely remark that the seasonable administration of drink, and especially of water, is one of the most important points connected with the treatment of febrile diseases. This is so much the case that, as Galen remarks in his Commentary on this passage, fevers may often be extinguished at once by a large quantity of water given in due season. This subject is fully treated of by him in his Methodus Medendi.
[544] The professional reader will not fail to remark, what is pointed out in strong language by Galen, how judiciously our author commences with the most gentle means, and gradually rises to the most powerful and dangerous; namely, bleeding and the administration of drastic purgatives. One cannot help being further struck with the rich supply of information which he has on the simple subject of fomentations.
[545] By livid (πέλιον) is here meant the colour intermediate between red and black. See Galen, h. 1.
[546] Probably the Helleborus niger. See Paulus Ægineta, Vol. III., p. 108.
[547] The Euphorbia peplus. See Ibid., Vol. III., p. 294.
[548] Probably the Seseli tortuosum. See Ibid., Vol. III., p. 330; and Dierbach, Arzn. der Hipp. p. 186.