The seven books of Paulus Ægineta, volume 2 (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 2 (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
Aëtius professes to derive his account of the dracunculus from Leonides.
He says, like our author, that it is formed most commonly in the legs and
muscular parts of the arms in India and Ethiopia, and that the generation
of it is not dissimilar to that of intestinal worms. He adds, that in
process of time suppuration takes place at the end of the worm, when an
opening is made in the flesh, and the head of the dracunculus protrudes.
If dragged out considerable disturbance is produced, especially if the
worm should be broken, for what remains occasions the most excruciating
pains. He directs us, therefore, to put a ligature round the arm, and to
tighten it every day so that the dracunculus may come forth by degrees
without breaking. The part is to be washed with honied water, with oil
in which wormwood or southernwood has been boiled, or with some such
anthelminthic decoction; but all acrid things are to be avoided for fear
of inflammation. He recommends us to forward suppuration by means of
maturative cataplasms, and the other means mentioned by our author.
Pollux calls the dracunculus a piece of _corrupted nerve_ which sometimes
comes from the sores of Ethiopians, but seldom troubles other people.
Actuarius, like our author, mentions that the dracunculi occur most
commonly in the region above Egypt, being generally formed in the
muscular parts, and that in process of time the part becomes livid and
suppurates. They are killed, he adds, by bitter and acrid things.
Avicenna comprehends in his account whatever information could be gleaned
from preceding writers. He says the dracunculus is called _vena medine_,
from Medine, the name of the country where it is most prevalent. It
occasions a blister in the part which bursts, when a red and somewhat
blackish substance protrudes and gradually increases in length. He
directs us to correct the habit which gives rise to it by baths, humid
food, and the like. His treatment is similar to that of Aëtius and our
author, namely, binding a ligature round the arm, fastening a piece of
lead to the worm, using fomentations of warm water, and the like.
Haly Abbas mentions the vena as being a worm which forms principally in
the legs of the inhabitants of warm countries, such as India, Egypt,
Ethiopia, and Lybia.
Avenzoar says that the complaint most commonly attacks negroes, being
formed by gross humours, for dispelling which he recommends internally
various sharp and acrid medicines, such as squills, nettles, colocynth,
&c. He further directs a piece of lead to be bound firmly over the worm
so that it may be made to crawl out gradually, which, however, he says,
will not be accomplished in less time than a year.
Alsaharavius states the danger of breaking the worm (vena). He recommends
the same treatment as Avicenna. The conclusion of his chapter on the
dracunculus decides him to be the same person as Albucasis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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