Abhomeron Abynzohar & Colliget Auerroys (Medical Compendium)

a sign for the wise concerning the suspension of wine?

water lily and psyllium for local application with camphor dissolved in rose water: and feed him with the crumb of well-fermented bread boiled in water with a small quantity of vinegar, or with barley water with a little vinegar. And act in this way until all the symptoms are removed. And even after their removal, you shall not feed him with coarser things suddenly, but little by little. And if the aforementioned abscess should be from phlegm—although this is rarely met with because of the hardness and firmness of the aforementioned membrane impeding penetration—it will be from subtle phlegm for the greater part. Begin, therefore, in the cure of these with phlebotomy, for by it the relief of the heart is quickly manifested. And afterward, you will purge them with an infusion of the seeds of safflower, colocynth, and nettle, to which you shall mix a little water in which mastic has stood until it has changed color; and also with squinanti and squinanti syrup, as will seem profitable to you. And let the abstinence be as it is done in other laxatives, and make them abstain from coarse foods. And let it suffice for them to receive honey-water, thin in the ultimate thinness, or squinzabi syrup made from pure honey. And if you wish to offer them bread, you will give the crumb of well-fermented bread washed with hot water, to which you will add some of the squinzabi syrup made from honey; and let the final quantity of bread be three drachms. CS If it should happen from yellow bile: I say that it is cured by subtle yellow bile, since coarse bile is very difficult to penetrate there because of the hardness and thickness of the membrane; wherefore it is also useful to bleed these. And you will purge them with epithymum and senna, but we prohibit hellebore entirely. And you ought to add to your medicines some of the juice of apples if you have it; and if not, you must use the syrup of the same. And you will not feed them with coarse foods nor with those of much nourishment until all their symptoms are removed, just as we have said above. And we say that their most laudable food is peeled almonds, and if you need to offer them bread, you will give it to them in a small quantity.

abscesses are not generated from one simple humor, as is known. 28. 3. vol. 8

And know that an abscess is not generated in the aforementioned membrane, nor in any other place, from one simple humor to which another humor is not also admixed, but the deviation occurs from the greater one. For example: when we say that it is from yellow bile, do not understand that it is from pure yellow bile, but mixed with other humors; but we name it from that which prevails over the other humors in quantity, power, and nature. And know

signs of a choleric abscess

that the signs of a choleric abscess are these: acuteness of fever and its strength, and a multitude of thirst, and a disturbance of the senses, and that the sick person speaks vain and disordered things, and that he tires himself with much restlessness and tossing from side to side; and sometimes he will sit in bed and will have an abundance of wakefulness with much pain of the head and redness of the whiteness of the eyes; and he is without fear. And very often he shouts and exclaims at his attendants without cause, and his pulse is beastly. And the signs of an excess of

signs of a sanguine [abscess]

blood you will recognize by the turning of the whiteness of the eyes into redness, and he will seem to have the same in the eyelids; and thirst, but less than in yellow bile; and a disturbance of the senses; and delirium is commonly present, just as

signs of a phlegmatic [abscess]

in colic, but the agitation from side to side and the sitting and the movement are less than what is found in the aforementioned. The heaviness, indeed, and the wakefulness are said to be equal. But the symptoms of flatus are these: heaviness of the head which is not similar to pain; an imperceptible thirst; and a multitude of sleep with much groaning and heaviness in the same; thus it is accustomed to happen to the drunkard. And he is not awakened from sleep lightly, but with heaviness of the head; the fever is quiet and slow, and his pulse is soft without hardness. And I have already told you that it is impossible for an abscess of the brain to be made from one simple humor, but from two or more mixed. Wherefore the symptoms will appear according to the dominance of the offending humor. And to write this distinctly and sealed by the quantity of each mixture would be impossible; but the physician ought to be wise in this and recognize these things by himself for the sake of his own learning and experience, and he should do what seems best to him; and this is judged as sufficient for him. CS And know that when the aforementioned bad symptoms have come upon the sick person, the abscess will be in the hard membrane or in the membrane more noble than it, namely the pia mater. And everyone ought to know and provide if the aforementioned symptoms supervene, namely from the fumes or vapors resolved from some humors existing in the stomach and ascending to the head. If this is so, the symptoms will appear according to the nature and quality of that humor from which the resolution occurs; but if the aforementioned symptoms are from the stomach, it is known that they recede and come according to the ascent and descent of the fever.

because of the pia mater, the abscess

CS And if it is from the abscess of the membranes of the brain, they remain firm as long as the abscess exists. And it is possible, however, that an abscess may be generated in the pia mater, and it is a subtle membrane surrounding the body of the brain. Which, if it is so,

it is necessary for the physician to bleed the sick person from the cephalic vein of the right arm, drawing a large quantity of blood. And thus it will be possible that the sick person might be freed entirely, or that he might expel the matter to a less noble part in degree, namely to the hard membrane. And if it happens thus, it will be a sign of the strength of the vital powers and of the deliverance of the sick person. And we say the contrary if the humor making the abscess is expelled from the hard membrane to the pia or if it is diverted, which is a sign of the weakness of the sick person and of his death, unless God wills to deliver him. But the symptoms arising from an abscess of the pia mater are stronger and faster and more signifying of death than those arising from any humor, when compared with all other abscesses occurring in other membranes of the brain; and phlebotomy is the general cure for all, with abstinence from all coarse foods and those of much nourishment, keeping him in a subtle regimen in the utmost subtlety. And if the time is summer and the sick person is young and robust, tamarind water is sufficient for him by way of food and nourishment until the strong symptoms cease and subside and the abscess is alleviated.

Chapter VI. Which is about abscesses of the brain.

Ornamental drop cap 'I' featuring a robed scholar holding a book or scroll.
To the brain itself, there can also happen a dispersal or spreading of one humor or several in its folds, whence an abscess is created in its own substance. And the symptoms of this abscess are stronger and more grave and faster-killing. And the cure of this is phlebotomy

And because of the presence then, these are the remedies

and a subtle diet; but I doubt that it will fail because of the subtlety of the symptoms before you can proceed to the cure. And the symptoms of this abscess are a defect of voluntary motion, and a loss of the faculties for the greater part, and a relaxation of the whole body, and he dies from the defect of the muscles of the chest. And to speak briefly, after the abscess is confirmed, he dies completely, and for this reason, I do not prolong the discourse in its cure. And it happens thus, that an abscess similarly happens in the rete of the brain, which rete is found to be in the anterior part of the brain and is the maker of vision, and is called by physicians the wonderful rete and is named the mother of the brain. And the recognition of this abscess is very difficult, whose symptoms are so inseparable and certain as shadows and cloudiness exist in the time of rain. And these are, namely: redness of the whiteness of the eyes, and thickness of the eyelids themselves with difficulty of their motion, and strength of the fever, although some flatus may be mixed with this. CS Its cure is to bleed the cephalic vein with much extraction of blood. And afterward it seems to me that it should also be drawn from the pulsatile vein which is found in the hand, in a small quantity, namely not less than one drachm and not more than one and a half drachms. And regulate him lightly and subtly. And tamarind infusion water is sufficient for him, offering it successively one time after another. And if with this the body is softened, the cure exists as laudable. And make him smell myrrh and sandalwood and roses and Armenian bole finely dissolved in water. And when the symptoms have receded or have been much alleviated, you shall feed him with the marrow of melons or of Saracen cucumbers until all the aforementioned symptoms have been taken away. Afterward, you shall give him barley water. And later, those being removed, you shall give him the barley itself boiled in the same arrangement that is ordered by physicians. And when you are certified of his deliverance, you will offer him bread washed with water, or bread baked in the oven with the seeds of peeled Saracen cucumbers, or with pears. And when he is very well recovered, you shall always offer him prunes before food.

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Fourth Treatise concerning the diseases of the ears, containing five chapters.

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Chapter I. Which is about abscesses of the ears.

Ornamental drop cap 'I' featuring a seated woman looking toward a landscape.
Begin his cure from cephalic phlebotomy,
since it removes it entirely when it begins
to happen. And regulate him with a subtle
regimen, and distill into the ear every day
some rose oil and dill oil, equal parts, and let it
be tepid; and feed him with barley water, or
the crumb of bread washed with the marrow
of melons or Saracen cucumbers and verjuice, or with water and squinzabin syrup, until the acuteness of the disease and the symptoms are removed. But if such an abscess is not removed, but turns to pus, its cure is then easy. And if the pain is made strong, and you fear death...