Galen's Commentaries on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates

This manner of speaking is either in very common use in every part of life, or was among the ancients, as Theophrastus shows in that book which he inscribed On the Hot and the Cold. For since corporeal substance receives contrary qualities in turn—heat, cold, moisture, and dryness—according to the receiving substance: when we call a body "hot," we say it is "much" or "little" hot, referring to the quantity of the substance. And this we do in two ways: in one way indeed in unmixed substances, but in another in mixed ones. In unmixed ones, for example, if two vessels held equally hot water contained in two unequal basins, we would say that the one which the larger basin possessed has more heat, and the other less. But in mixed ones, as if there were equal basins, but tempered with wine and water in unequal measure, we would say one of them contained more wine, and the other more water. To which mode it would also be very similar if we were to suppose two unequal basins were tempered in equal proportion. Sometimes, however, we refer the discourse not to the multitude of substance, but to the quality alone: we say that in some thing there is more heat, and in another less, just as if from two basins having precisely the same magnitude, we should say the hotter one has more heat, and the colder less. Yet we do not properly use the word "more" [plus] in this place, since it would be better to say either "more greatly" [magis], or "less," or "more intensely," or "more weakly," and similar terms which we are accustomed to assign to qualities. For "little" and "much" it is proper to preserve for the quantity of substance alone. But not only in this are such misuses of names made, but in many others which we employ in the speech of daily life, which occurs most of all in the medical art itself. For indeed all name diseases "great" or "small," although they are not substances: a great fever, a small fever, a great apoplexy, a small apoplexy. So also pleurisy, phrenitis, pneumonia, and likewise all other diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to attend to equivocations, and to consider what each word of the speaker always intends. For if he has uttered a name in one sense, and we, receiving it in another, refute the discourse, we do not refute him who spoke (if we wish to admit the truth), but rather we refute our own judgment. This is clearly what some do in this place, who strive to contradict Hippocrates. For transferring the name of "hot" to quality, they endeavor to show that this is more intense in those who stand in the vigor of their age. But Hippocrates, of course, refers that name in the present discourse not to this quality, but to the substance. For the substance of innate heat is airy and watery, as may be conjectured from the seed, which participates in very little earthy substance at all, but contains within itself a great deal of hot and moist air, just as we have shown in our commentaries On the Seed. And indeed, the other principle of our generation, namely the menstrual blood, is moist by nature. When, therefore, the body of an animal is made more earthy—and it is daily made so while it grows—then, although it may exist as very intensely hot and fiery, it nevertheless has very little substance of innate heat. Otherwise, we would say that those in a fever have the most innate heat, who possess not even more, nor an equal amount to before. For the substance of innate heat is well-tempered. But the fiery substance is adventitious. And those outflows of adventitious heat throughout the whole body are smoky, sooty, dry, and sharp; on the contrary, those of native heat are vaporous, pleasant, and well-tempered. And you can discern these things by touch. For the heat of the healthy is vaporous and most pleasant, and agreeable to the touch, showing nothing dismal, nothing harsh, nothing biting. But the heat of those who have a fever, and especially hectic fevers, or those which have their origin from the putrefaction of humors, is sharp and unpleasant, and biting, and corroding our touch. Its healthful quality in