It requires only a little study of this early medieval author to
understand why Cornelius, at the time of the Renaissance, was ready to
declare: "Believe me, that whoever is deeply desirous of studying things
medical, if he would have the whole of Galen abbreviated and the whole of
Orbiasius extended, and the whole of Paulus (of Ægina) amplified; if he
would have all the special remedies of the old physicians, as well in
pharmacy as in surgery, boiled down to a summa for all affections, he will
find it in Aëtius."
Alexander of Tralles was, as we have said, the brother of the architect of
Santa Sophia of Constantinople, and his writings on medical and surgical
subjects are worthy of such a relationship. His principal work is a
treatise on the "Pathology and Therapeutics of Internal Diseases" in
twelve books, the first eleven books of which were evidently material
gathered for lectures or teaching purposes. He treats of cough as a
symptom due to hot or cold, dry or wet, dyscrasias. Opium preparations
judiciously used he thought the best remedies, though he recommended also
the breathing in of steam impregnated with various ethereal resins.
He outlines a very interesting because thoroughly modern treatment of
consumption. He recommends an abundance of milk with a hearty nutritious
diet, as digestible as possible. A good auxiliary to this treatment in his
opinion was change of air, a sea voyage, and a stay at a watering-place.
Ass's and mare's milk are much better for these patients than cow's and
goat's milk. We realize now that there is not enough difference in the
composition of these various milks to make their special prescription of
physical importance, but it is probable that the suggestive influence of
the taking of an unusual milk had a very favourable effect upon patients,
and this effect was renewed with every drink taken, so that much good was
ultimately accomplished. For hæmoptysis, especially when it was acute and
due, as Alexander felt, to the rupture of a bloodvessel in the lungs, he
recommended the opening of a vein at the elbow or the ankle--in order to
divert the blood from the place of rupture to the healthy parts of the
circulation. He insisted, however, that the patients must in addition
rest, as well as take acid and astringent drinks, while cold compresses
should be placed upon the chest [our ice-bags], and that they should take
only a liquid diet, at most lukewarm, or, better, if agreeable to them,
cold. When the bleeding stopped, he declared a milk cure [blood-maker]
very useful for the restoration of these patients to their former
strength.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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