Aristotle's Problems

...is a certain redundant and extraneous thing, whereas bile is a certain thing related and procreated from what is related.

Why do those who are purged from below become more slender than those purged from above? Is it because the path that has an easy flow is natural, while the upper path is against nature? For this reason, it is certain that one is moved less by a smaller force of medicine, and more according to nature than against nature. Or is it because redundancies purged from below are useful and are discharged and expelled in a manner suited to the body, whereas those above are extraneous? In the former case, there are more remnants of nourishment not yet dried out, which still contain nourishment; but in the latter, bile and phlegm admit no nourishment. Therefore, since the lower purgation carries away nourishment, it rightly weakens the body; but the upper purgation does so either not at all or to a lesser degree. Hellebore shows this: for it purges from above and immediately strengthens the body, as if nothing had been taken away by the upper purgation.

Why do the black and hairless become more slender than the white or the hairy? Is it because those who are hairless are more redundant than the hairy? Indeed, the nature of women shows this, which is moist and hairless. Furthermore, black people are colder than white people; yet the cold is close to the moist, for heat causes dryness. Moreover, they become slender as their bodies melt away, even when the superfluity has not been removed.

Why is it that those purging black bile and much phlegm do not become slender, but if they purge yellow bile, even in much smaller amounts, they become slender and lean? Surely it is because many are accustomed to purging black bile very easily, because it is a certain dreg-like substance and is even secluded from the body; for this reason, it also turns black, and thus no strength is taken away from the purged body. Phlegm, moreover, is a redundancy; hence, the more one removes of it, the more he relieves the body, as if a burden had been cast off. But yellow bile comes from the consistency of ill-compacted flesh; indeed, it is close at hand, nor had it been previously separated and set apart. Therefore, it makes no difference whether you remove much bile or much flesh and blood. When this happens, it is necessary to become slender, for to that extent wasting occurs, insofar as blood and flesh are, so to speak, drained away; but one or the other will be the limit of the other, because it had been separated and set apart.

Why do those who are overturned and those who are immoderately full suffer from hiccups? Is it because they become cold in both ways? For overturning makes one cold by snatching away the internal heat; and if more food is ingested than one can bear, it consumes the heat by its peculiar wasting. A hiccup occurs when the breath is drawn back inward because moisture has been cooled in the respiratory region.

Why are children and old men especially seized by a flux of the belly, though they consume different foods? Is it because children do not undergo this on account of food, but because their bodies are moist and dense, so that superfluities flow inward and moisten the bellies because of the density of the flesh? Old men, however, have cold bodies and bellies. Therefore, children suffer this because of the moisture and density of their bodies, but old men because of coldness. In children, their superfluities breathe outward; but in old men, they suffer because they have firm bodies, and the heat exhales from them as it expires. Thus, they do not suffer the same thing for the same reason. Furthermore, in children, the cause is also food of a certain quantity and quality; for many things are offered to them, both sweet and of various kinds. Indeed, infants are nourished entirely on milk, which is difficult to digest; but when they have grown a little, they eat various and sweet foods, their nurses and mothers indulging and coaxing them. Such things are certainly removed from them with difficulty.

Why does much drink sometimes, and little drink at other times, inhibit a flux of the belly? Is it because the latter, being little, naturally dries it out, while the former, because of its abundance, passes away in the mixture and follows the moisture out of the belly itself? For both are not accustomed to be cast down equally; but when the belly is cast down, the mixture becomes more parched. Indeed, much drink causes an evacuation from the belly into a large mixture.

Why do those who drink and are filled with food have moist bellies rather than hard ones? And for what reason do they die from a flux of the belly more than those who have taken little food? Yet it should be that those who are very full would rather discharge the food and thus have their bellies dried out. Surely it is because a great repletion of food does not consist in taking in much; for superfluity hardens when, having been thrust into the belly, it scarcely descends. This happens because the body does not immediately receive it, nor does it digest the food and secrete what is useful from it. For this reason, it remains a long time in the lower belly, as it does not descend in a mass. For they are burned up more at the same time; bellies which are certainly not nourished do not return in a very hard state what they have received, but rapidly receive what is useful from things thrust down and retained. This may be conjectured from the fact that dry bellies are stronger than those which are more corpulent.

Why do sweet and salty juices have the greatest power of purging? Is it because they are least suited for digestion? Those things which cannot be digested are the same as those that are heavy. Because they cannot be restrained by the heat that is innate to us, they seek to break out below; for that is an eruption. Or is it because other juices, except oil, are easily flowing and easily wasting? Oil is indeed difficult to digest, for it easily putrefies, but because of its lightness, it floats on top; for this reason, it is not secretive. But a salty juice is heavy and dense; things of this kind are especially carried downward and putrefy the least.