Problemata Aristotelis

whatever humor has been collected during the humid spring rests cooled in our bodies. But if this does not happen, boys, who are by their very nature humid and hot, become intensely inflamed by this state, because they have not been sufficiently cooled. And if it persists through the summer, they will certainly be seized by it in the autumn, when the humor has fermented beyond measure. Indeed, if the waste products do not immediately perish—that is, those arising around the lungs and the windpipe—they first settle above, specifically because our bodies are exposed to the warmth of the air. From this, eye inflammations also customarily follow after fevers in the heavy summer. Therefore, if the humor of the waste products does not perish immediately in the upper parts, as has been said, they will descend while raw to the belly, and thus will create difficulty of the intestines. But if, due to the excessive quantity of it, the humor cannot be excreted, quartan fevers will arise in those who were able to escape death, even if that intestinal trouble has completely quieted down. For that which has settled from the raw humor clings firmly and stably, in a manner similar to black bile.

Why, if the summer and autumn have had rains and southern winds, is a harsh winter accustomed to follow? Is it because the winter receives bodies that are overly humid, and a great change also occurs? For it is not gradually, but suddenly, that one comes from moderate heat to the bitterness of cold, since the autumn also remained warm. Therefore, for those who have a dense body, it is necessary that acute diseases distress them. For in these cases, humid waste products collect more in the upper parts, since the upper parts are receptive to humors of this kind, while the lower parts are ill-suited for them. And for this reason, those who are of such a body texture do not admit many waste products into themselves. Therefore, when the humor that has grown in the upper parts of the body begins to cool, it happens that the aforementioned troubles arise, just as it happens to those who are wine-drunk when they become chilled.