The seven books of Paulus Ægineta, volume 1 (of 3) : $b translated from the Greek: with a commentary embracing a complete view of the knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians on all subjects connected with medicine and surgeryPaulus, Aegineta
History
The seven books of Paulus Ægineta, volume 1 (of 3) : $b translated from the Greek: with a commentary embracing a complete view of the knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians on all subjects connected with medicine and surgery
Paulus, Aegineta
Medicine; Medicine, Arab; Medicine, Greek and Roman
condemns, as overheating and weakening. He very much commends figs for
promoting the eruption. He afterwards gives very minute directions about
the treatment of particular parts, such as the eyes, the throat, and the
nose. For the eyes, he recommends various astringent lotions or collyria,
such as galls and rose-water, sumach, pomegranate rind, &c. The care of
the throat he justly holds to be a very important consideration, and
recommends bleeding when there is acute pain, and gargling with cold
water, or with astringent decoctions, such as those of acid pomegranates,
sumach, and the juice of mulberries. When the pustules on the limbs are
large, he directs us to open them; and when there is great pain in the
soles, he recommends them to be rubbed with warm oil, or the feet to be
put into hot water. When the pustules seem to stand in need of ripening,
he directs the body to be fomented with the steam arising from a hot
decoction of chamomile, violets, and the like; and, when too humid, the
patient is to be laid on pounded roses, rice-meal, or millet seed. For
removing the scabs and eschars, he recommends us to rub them with the
warm oil of sesame, or oil of pistaches; but the larger are to be cut
off carefully without any application of oil. For removing the specks
on the eye he recommends many stimulant collyria, containing antimony,
verdigris, sal ammoniac, tutty, camphor, &c. For removing cicatrices
or marks on other parts of the body, he mentions various applications,
containing litharge, bastard spurge, &c. When the belly is loose, either
in smallpox or measles, which, as he remarks, is commonly the case on the
decline of the fever, he recommends abstinence from all laxative things,
and commends barley-gruel, to which the meal of pomegranate seeds may be
added; or, if the looseness increase, gum arabic, &c. may be added to the
drink. He adds, that it sometimes happens that the bowels require to be
opened, and he directs this to be done by means of myrobalans, prunes,
and the like. When in measles there is much appearance of vitiated
bile, he directs the discharge of it to be promoted. He points out the
difference between distinct and confluent smallpox; and remarks that the
latter is far more dangerous than the other. He also correctly states
that when, in measles or smallpox, the eruption is suddenly determined
inwardly, it is a fatal symptom. He all along inculcates that measles and
smallpox are nearly allied to each other.
Georgius, one of the authorities quoted in his ‘Continens,’ says that
measles arise from blood mixed with much bile, and smallpox from
gross blood mixed with much humidity. He states that the danger is
proportionate to the pain in the throat and difficulty of breathing. The
elder Serapion, as quoted by him in the same work, directs, if it is the
winter season, the wood of tamarisk, &c. to be burned beside the patient.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account