TIMAEU [39]
and phlegm. For all things go the wrong way, and having become
corrupted, first they taint the blood itself, and then ceasing to give
nourishment the body they are carried along the veins in all
directions, no longer preserving the order of their natural courses,
but at war with themselves, because they receive no good from one
another, and are hostile to the abiding constitution of the body,
which they corrupt and dissolve. The oldest part of the flesh which is
corrupted, being hard to decompose, from long burning grows black, and
from being everywhere corroded becomes bitter, and is injurious to
every part of the body which is still uncorrupted. Sometimes, when the
bitter element is refined away, the black part assumes an acidity
which takes the place of the bitterness; at other times the bitterness
being tinged with blood has a redder colour; and this, when mixed with
black, takes the hue of grass; and again, an auburn colour mingles
with the bitter matter when new flesh is decomposed by the fire
which surrounds the internal flame-to all which symptoms some
physician perhaps, or rather some philosopher, who had the power of
seeing in many dissimilar things one nature deserving of a name, has
assigned the common name of bile. But the other kinds of bile are
variously distinguished by their colours. As for serum, that sort
which is the watery part of blood is innocent, but that which is a
secretion of black and acid bile is malignant when mingled by the
power of heat with any salt substance, and is then called acid phlegm.
Again, the substance which is formed by the liquefaction of new and
tender flesh when air is present, if inflated and encased in liquid so
as to form bubbles, which separately are invisible owing to their
small size, but when collected are of a bulk which is visible, and
have a white colour arising out of the generation of foam-all this
decomposition of tender flesh when inter-mingled with air is termed by
us white phlegm. And the whey or sediment of newly-formed phlegm is
sweat and tears, and includes the various daily discharges by which
the body is purified. Now all these become causes of disease when
the blood is not replenished in a natural manner by food and drink but
gains bulk from opposite sources in violation of the laws of nature.
When the several parts of the flesh are separated by disease, if the
foundation remains, the power of the disorder is only half as great,
and there is still a prospect of an easy recovery; but when that which
binds the flesh to the bones is diseased, and no longer being
separated from the muscles and sinews, ceases to give nourishment to
the bone and to unite flesh and bone, and from being oily and smooth
and glutinous becomes rough and salt and dry, owing to bad regimen,
then all the substance thus corrupted crumbles away under the flesh
and the sinews, and separates from the bone, and the fleshy parts fall
away from their foundation and leave the sinews bare and full of
brine, and the flesh again gets into the circulation of the blood
and makes the previously-mentioned disorders still greater. And if
these bodily affections be severe, still worse are the prior
disorders; as when the bone itself, by reason of the density of the
flesh, does not obtain sufficient air, but becomes mouldy and hot
and gangrened and receives no nutriment, and the natural process is
inverted, and the bone crumbling passes into the food, and the food
into the flesh, and the flesh again falling into the blood makes all
maladies that may occur more virulent than those already mentioned.
But the worst case of all is when the marrow is diseased, either
from excess or defect; and this is the cause of the very greatest
and most fatal disorders, in which the whole course of the body is
reversed.
There is a third class of diseases which may be conceived of as
arising in three ways; for they are produced sometimes by wind, and
sometimes by phlegm, and sometimes by bile. When the
corrupted, first they taint the blood itself, and then ceasing to give
nourishment the body they are carried along the veins in all
directions, no longer preserving the order of their natural courses,
but at war with themselves, because they receive no good from one
another, and are hostile to the abiding constitution of the body,
which they corrupt and dissolve. The oldest part of the flesh which is
corrupted, being hard to decompose, from long burning grows black, and
from being everywhere corroded becomes bitter, and is injurious to
every part of the body which is still uncorrupted. Sometimes, when the
bitter element is refined away, the black part assumes an acidity
which takes the place of the bitterness; at other times the bitterness
being tinged with blood has a redder colour; and this, when mixed with
black, takes the hue of grass; and again, an auburn colour mingles
with the bitter matter when new flesh is decomposed by the fire
which surrounds the internal flame-to all which symptoms some
physician perhaps, or rather some philosopher, who had the power of
seeing in many dissimilar things one nature deserving of a name, has
assigned the common name of bile. But the other kinds of bile are
variously distinguished by their colours. As for serum, that sort
which is the watery part of blood is innocent, but that which is a
secretion of black and acid bile is malignant when mingled by the
power of heat with any salt substance, and is then called acid phlegm.
Again, the substance which is formed by the liquefaction of new and
tender flesh when air is present, if inflated and encased in liquid so
as to form bubbles, which separately are invisible owing to their
small size, but when collected are of a bulk which is visible, and
have a white colour arising out of the generation of foam-all this
decomposition of tender flesh when inter-mingled with air is termed by
us white phlegm. And the whey or sediment of newly-formed phlegm is
sweat and tears, and includes the various daily discharges by which
the body is purified. Now all these become causes of disease when
the blood is not replenished in a natural manner by food and drink but
gains bulk from opposite sources in violation of the laws of nature.
When the several parts of the flesh are separated by disease, if the
foundation remains, the power of the disorder is only half as great,
and there is still a prospect of an easy recovery; but when that which
binds the flesh to the bones is diseased, and no longer being
separated from the muscles and sinews, ceases to give nourishment to
the bone and to unite flesh and bone, and from being oily and smooth
and glutinous becomes rough and salt and dry, owing to bad regimen,
then all the substance thus corrupted crumbles away under the flesh
and the sinews, and separates from the bone, and the fleshy parts fall
away from their foundation and leave the sinews bare and full of
brine, and the flesh again gets into the circulation of the blood
and makes the previously-mentioned disorders still greater. And if
these bodily affections be severe, still worse are the prior
disorders; as when the bone itself, by reason of the density of the
flesh, does not obtain sufficient air, but becomes mouldy and hot
and gangrened and receives no nutriment, and the natural process is
inverted, and the bone crumbling passes into the food, and the food
into the flesh, and the flesh again falling into the blood makes all
maladies that may occur more virulent than those already mentioned.
But the worst case of all is when the marrow is diseased, either
from excess or defect; and this is the cause of the very greatest
and most fatal disorders, in which the whole course of the body is
reversed.
There is a third class of diseases which may be conceived of as
arising in three ways; for they are produced sometimes by wind, and
sometimes by phlegm, and sometimes by bile. When the