Minor Greek Physicists and Physicians

more than they might thicken. 4. Furthermore, if they were thickened due to the cold they encountered, they would be thinned by the warmth of the surroundings. 5. Yet, one can see very thin urines even in winter, even if we are not overcome by the external cold, and very thick ones in summer, with no heat dissolving them there. 6. Then what might the solemn "overseers" of urine say when they see a urine thin now, but thickened the next day, even though the environment has been the same in both cases? 7. And how could they prognosticate what the change signifies, or upon what causes it has occurred? It seems to me they would often err, having fallen away from the truth. 8. And by what signs in the urines could they know the abundance of humors, or thickness, or the beginning of digestion, having nothing to judge in thick urines at all? Furthermore, in attempting to construct their own argument, they place the urinal amis urinal vessel into some warm waters and show how, having interacted with it for a short while, it becomes thinned; they fail to understand that technical heat that is, external, artificial heat is no less capable of dissolving the urine, if it has any thickness, than natural heat. But this is not a sufficient defense for them, especially when two urinals interact with the same air, yet one thickens while the other appears just as it was. 9. Furthermore, what cause could one give, if it were not that which we will state now in the proper places? 10. For if they blame the coldness of the environment, I fear they will be caught in error, as the other urinal remains thin. Perhaps for them, their own lack of education suffices, and the stated point will seem a sufficient refutation; but we, holding to the following, shall speak. 11. Since, therefore, it has been demonstrated that some urines remain thick, others thin, and those that are moderate, and we have subdivided these as much as possible, it would now be appropriate to speak about the difference of the substances that subside in the urine.

Chap. 11. On the difference of the colors of the substances that subside.

1. Of those that naturally subside, being white and smooth and furthermore moderate in consistency and moving to the bottom, the third digestion In Galenic medicine, the third digestion occurs in the liver/veins, producing the final humors. is fulfilled by nature. 2. Whenever these exceed or fall short of these natural characteristics, it indicates that health has also been perverted. 3. One must speak as follows regarding the colors that can appear in these, and then subsequently about the rest according to the argument belonging to them. 4. Regarding the substances that subside, some colors are moderate and by nature whitish; others fall away from such a moderate subsided substance, some of which are intensified in whiteness, others appear already pale and yellowish; others even progress and become colored, appearing bilious and like vetch, reddish and red, and in addition to these, bloody, dusky, greyish, and indeed black. 5. These are the natural colors of subsided substances, and from these one must also consider those not mentioned, which are nevertheless included, as we have already stated in the section on the difference of the colors of the humor. But the discourse on the difference of the colors of the subsided substances is, to speak briefly, such; now we shall speak about the consistency.

original Greek: "οὖρον" (urine), "λεπτότατα" (thinnest), "παχύτατα" (thickest), "ἀμίς" (urinal), "χυμῶν" (humors), "πέψεως" (digestion), "παρυφισταμένων" (subsided substances)