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THynges agaynste Nature be .iii. in number: the firste is the cause which goeth before the disease.
The seconde is the disease it selfe, by whome the action is first hurt.
The third is the accidentes fo∣lowyng the disease.
This same parte of phisicke, which inquireth of the causes and the accidētes of diseases, is called of the Grekes, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, soundeth nothing elles but the mouyng of any thing that is affected: wherfore he hath hys substance no lenger, then he is in mouing, altering, or changing: and so he differeth from affection taken specially, the which is no∣thynge elles but an alteration re∣mayning in a thing that hath suf∣fered: by this meanes, the disease and the cause, with the accidente, which be affections of oure body, as pale, and euyll culour, be called affections, and yet the same acci∣dentes be called also passiōs. The reste which be the faultes of sum action, as ouer much inanition, or retentiō, be alonly called passions
& not affections: because they be not thinges permanent, but is on∣ly, and remayne so long as they be in growing. Here it is to be noted, that a thyng may suffer .ii. manner of wayes: firste whan it suffereth of it selfe, as if the guttes suffer payne, of anye sharpe, or bytynge humors conteyned within them, which may be called theyr owne passion. Secondarily, whan a thynge suffereth not of it selfe but of another, as whā the head suffe∣reth payne by reason of euyll va∣powres, cummynge from the sto∣macke, which is called a passiō by consent of other: ye shall finde this matter disputed more at large in Gallenes firste boke of places af∣fected.
THe cause of ye disease, is an affectiō against nature, going before the disease, and stir∣ring it vp: which of it selfe, & firste, hurteth no action: but accidentally, that is to say, by other. And secōdarily, as by healp of the disease cummynge betwixt, as shall be shewed more playnly hereafter. There be .ii. manner of causes of diseases: one is externall so called, because it is outwardly receiued, and was not before with in the body: as colde, and such o∣ther. The tother, is called inter∣nall, which is within the body, as humors putrified within the bo∣dy, & growen out of temper. Gallē speaketh of no mo causes of dis∣eases then these .ii. Yet Auicen wt
other of the same layer, affirme that ther is an other cause, which ioyneth euer with the disease: and the takyng away of it, is as they say the curynge of the sicknes: as yf rotten, or putrifyed humors, kindell a feuer, thē by theyr saying so soone as the putrified matter is takē away, ye feuer must cease of necessitie: howbeit it is for ye most part sene that ye feuer remayneth after the putrifactiō is clene gone. wherfore it is euident, that Aui∣cen, and all that be of hys opinion is foule deceyued therin: howbeit I thinke this to be ye thing, which deceyueth them. They define sycknesse as it were the actiō hurt alredye, and not that that hurteth
the actiō first, so that they call that the sicknesse, which Gallen calleth but the accidente of the sicknesse: & I coulde take Auicennes parte in this matter, sauinge that he agre∣eth with Gallen in the defining of sicknesse, forgettyng hym selfe to be in contrary tales: wherfore I wolde counsel all yonge studentes in phisicke, to lerne the causes of sickenesse of Gallē, or elles of such as folowe hym, as Aetius, & Pau∣lus Aegineta. Howebeit there is none to be compared with Gallen because he hath wrytten of them in suche a good ordar, as neuer a∣ny other hath wryt the lyke, and this I dare affirme that euerye wel lerned man, can do no lesse thē confesse the same.
A Disease, is an vn∣naturall affectiō of the body, by which the action is fyrste hurt, therfore it dif∣fereth frō the cause in that ye the cause neuer hurteth anye action of hym selfe, but by meanes of the disease. Of diseases ther be .3. chefe & principal kindes: one is in those partes of the bodye that is called of ye latins similares, such be ye bones, senewes, vaynes, with all other simple, & sparma∣ticke partes: another is in the in∣strumentes, as in the heade, eyes, handes, and feet: the thirde consi∣steth in them both. That disease yt happeneth in ye sparmatick partes, is such a distemperature ether of heat, coulde, drynesse, or moysture, that it hurteth summe action, for
a man may be distempered in sum part and yet be hole, and not sicke: but whan the distemperature gro∣weth so much, that it hurteth any action of the body, then it may be called a disease of the sparmatike partes. Wherefore who so is of this sort distempered, is sicke: and he that is distempered and hath no action hurt, may not be called sicke, but intemperat. For of them that be hole, yf sum shoulde not be temperat and sum intemperat, one of these .ii. muste nedes be true, e∣ther all men alwayes to be sicke, or elles all men to haue one dist∣emperature, which bothe be very false. The same distemperature which before I called a disease of ye sparmaticke & symple partes, is deuided in to .ii. Egall, & not egal: it is called an egall distēperature, whan all partes of the body, are
distempered alike, as in the feuer hectica, which is a cōsūptiō, wher∣in al partes of ye body, be like hote: and the contrary vnto this, is the distemperature, which is not egal as in that kynde of dropsy, that falleth in to the legges, and feete, and in all kynde of feuers, excepte the before named hectica. Of vne∣quall distemperature there is also ii. kyndes. The .i. is the only alte∣ration of the qualitie, as the bur∣nynge of the fire, or of the sunne. The .ii. is, besyde the qualitie, the fluxe of sum humor, as in yt kynde of swellynge, yt is called phlegmon, Besyde this of distemperatures, one is simple, and an other is com∣pound: it is called simple whan on qualitie, as heat, or colde, exce∣deth alone: and compound, whan many excede together, as hot and moyste, colde and drye, excedynge
to gether, in one member. The to∣ther kinde of disease which only is in the instrumentes, may be called the euyll constitution, or composi∣ciō of them. But there be .ii. kindes of instrumentall diseases, for sum be simple: and they be .iiii. in num∣ber, one is to be sene in the vncum∣ly comformation, another in the number of partes, the thirde in the quantitie of eche part: and the .iiii. in the composition. The disease of conformation happeneth of the vncumly figure, as whan summe part is holowe from the natiuitie, or elles after by casualtie, which shoulde not, and also sum other part rough that shoulde haue ben smothe: of number, whan there be ether to many, or to fewe partes: of quantitie whan they be ether to big, or to litel: of cōposicion whan
they be put in wronge places, or whā they that shoulde agre toge∣ther, doe not. The thirde kynde of disease, is common as well to the simple and sparmatick partes, as to the instrumentall: and it is the deuision of that that is hole, and of one pece, which diuision yf it be in the riynges or byndynges it is called anulsiō: in the fleshe, a byle: in the bone, a broken creuise: in the senowes, a conuulsion, or crampe. These diseases sumtyme be com∣pounde, whiche is whan they be ioyned to other. Hitherto I haue brefly declared the .iii. first kindes of sicknessis, of the which sum be verye quicke, and sum be dull, or slow: Such as be very quick, wil be at the worste, in .iiii. dayes, or soone after. Of such as be quicke and sharpe, there be .ii. sortes, for
sum wyll be at the worste, in .14. dayes, and sum not vnder .40. All other diseases, which passe .40. dayes before thei be at ye worst, be called dul or slowe. But as quick, and shorte diseases, haue theyr begynnynge of bloude and chollar, which be hote hu∣mors, so slowe & dull haue theyr dissea∣ses, beginnyng of colde hu∣mors, as of flewm & melancholy. Let this generall, and brefe declaration of diseases, at this tyme suffice.
THis worde accidente is takē .2. maner of wayes: generally and specially, generally, it signyfyeth any thing contrary to nature: spe∣cially, all thinges agaynst nature, excepte the causes of diseases, and diseases them selfes.
Therfore it is nothynge elles but an vnnaturall affection of the bo∣dy, which foloweth the disease, as the shadowe foloweth the body. The accidentes specially taken, be deuided in to .iii. partes. For sum be the fautes & errors of actions, sum affections of oure body, other sum folow them both, ether by o∣uer much excretion, or retention of excrementes & other like such thynges. Of the error in actions, there be .ii. differences: animall, & natural. The faultes, or errors,
of the animall actions, be yet de∣uided in to .iii. for ether they be faultes of ye sences, as of hearing, seinge, tastyng, smellyng, felynge, or els of mouinge, or finally of the principall actions, as of ymagi∣ning, thinkinge and remembring. These be all the animall actions, of the which eche one may be hurt iii. manner of wayes: firste if the action be vtterly extincte, as yf a man see nothyng at all: secōdari∣ly, yf it be not vtterly abolished, & takē away but decayed sumthing or not parfit, as whan a man seeth but euen scantly as they do, which the ignorant call sand blynde. Thirdly whā it is depraued, and wronge wrasted, as whan a man of force, seeth thinges which he did not beholde with hys common sense, as they do which loke a gog∣gell:
And as it is euident, that all these fautes happen in the sight, so they happen also in eche one of the other before named sensis.
There be thus many as folowe naturall actions, appeticion, con∣coction, digestion, pulsatiō, attrac∣cion, alteration, retention, expulsi∣on. Of the which eche may erre .iii. manner of wayes, as is sayed be∣fore in the actions animall: and the fautes or errors of the same, be accidentes folowyng diseases. There be besyde these .iiii. manner of accidentes, which be affections of oure bodies: as vnnaturall cul∣lers, ether in ye hole body, or elles in sumpart of it: Fylthy sauors al∣so ether of ye mouthe, nose, or eares and obsurde and vnnaturall sapo∣res, belonging to the taste: and be∣side these, hardnes, drines, & rough¦nes
of the skynne.
As for the vnnaturall inanitions, or detentions from whense so euer they cum, they be contayned vnder one of these .iii. differencis: For ey∣ther they be vnnaturall ī their hole substance, as that fluxe of bloude that is called commonly the emor∣roydes: or elles they are in theyre qualitie, as sumtyme it chaunseth in wemens flowres: or finally in their quantitie, they be founde vn∣naturall, as the great abundance or lacke and scarsnes eyther of the vryne or sweat. The whiche euery one, is handeled to the vttermoste in Gallē, where he entreateth of ye causes, of accidentes.