Abhomeron Abynzohar & Colliget Auerroys (Medical Compendium)

...[due] to an abundance of tears; and having this, he cannot look at the air. Wherefore we say that phlebotomy contributes greatly; and purgation is likewise most useful. And place over the eye cotton moistened in lukewarm rose water, time after time; and let there be something of lily dissolved in the aforementioned water. And if you inject a collyrium of memitha into the nostrils, a great help will be seen from it.

Cap. XXX. Concerning the excessive subtlety and the grossness of the visual spirit.

Know that diseases and their symptoms arise in the particles of the members, and also in the substances sustaining those members themselves, just as happens in the visual spirit; for if it should be more subtle than is due, it will see only things close by and not from afar. And if it should be gross beyond what is due, it will see from afar and not close by. And the cure for each of these is to reduce each thing to its own nature and proper disposition, and not only the members, but also the sustaining substances themselves. And know that each of the aforementioned parts has its own proper symptoms, and I have not declared all of them, nor their particular cures, because this book of ours would be made too long. But I have written of the more manifest symptoms, in which many species of each of their kinds are contained. And I have set down their general cures, from which the cures of all the particulars existing under them can be understood.

Cap. XXXI. Concerning those things which fall from the outside into the eyes, or into the nostrils, or into the ears.

There remains for me now nothing to recount regarding those things which seem to pertain to the sensory members, except for those which happen to arrive from external sources, such as a thin straw, and small stones, and sand, and similar things. Wherefore, if you are diligent in the beginning of the aforementioned events, their cure will be easy; and if not, danger threatens. And that which falls into the eye is cured easily, provided that it is not sticky and has not remained stuck in the tunic for a long time. But if some seed or grain falls into the ear, such as wheat or a grain of barley or similar things, we judge that to be by no means light, for it attracts to itself the moisture existing there and thus it increases. Wherefore heating and fermentation are generated in that member, and thence rot, and thence grave symptoms follow, because of the nobility of the member and because of the proximity of that injury to the brain, which is the root of all senses; and an overheating occurs therein throughout the whole body, and sometimes they suffer obstructions and fevers disordered from other fevers. And all these things happen because of the sluggishness in extracting it at the beginning of its arrival. And water, also, when it falls into the ear and lingers there for a long time, causes great injury, although its substance is subtle. For when it lingers there for a long time, it is thickened, and afterwards it alters the natural complexion of the brain. But when water or wind has entered the ear, it produces pain. Wherefore you must be diligent in restoring its natural complexion, and in removing that which is unnatural in whatever way it shall seem to you to be suitable. But when something has fallen into the eye, it is easy to remove at the beginning, and this [is done] with tweezers or a probe, or with a tent or with thread; and the irritation which follows therefrom in the eye should be removed by applying egg white. But if that which has fallen into the eye has become fixed and confirmed therein or sticky, then the patient needs one of the aforementioned cures which are written in the cure for the scabel (pterygium). And the ungula (pterygium) when it occurs in the eyes is cured in the same way, namely: that he who is most expert in that cure or operation should cut it out. And to him into whose ear something has fallen anew, you should command his ear to be filled with lukewarm sesame oil, and afterwards make him sneeze by placing sternutatories in his nostrils, and it will come out immediately. But if that which fell has been there a long time, so that it has already received alteration, and you have attempted to extract it violently or to remove it, you will cause inflammation and swelling to occur therein, since that member exists in a state of maximum sensitivity; and you could easily provoke it to intolerable pain, so much so that it could lead to a defect or near to it. Wherefore with all solicitude you must intend to mitigate the pain of that aposteme, and

to begin with cephalic phlebotomy, and with the purgation of the patient; thus it will seem to be better suited to him. And afterwards, place in the patient’s ear rose oil with a third part of dill oil; and when you know that the aposteme is well digested, make him sneeze as we said above, and it will come out.

Cap. XXXII. Concerning animals entering the ear.

And know that when animals enter the ears, they have to cause the greatest labors and torments. Wherefore if the aforementioned animals are of a small body, such as fleas or things like them, then you should fill the ear with warm oil; and thus they will come out dead by suffocating. But if the animal is large, it is not then suitable to kill it, because the greatest injury results from that. But then you should fill his ear with the juice of peach leaves mixed with lukewarm water, for from that it is entirely driven away. And afterwards, you should endeavor to evacuate the water by placing dill oil therein, and by evacuating and drying it. And the aforementioned water is also evacuated by placing in the ear a grain of wheat which has been removed from all rot and perforation, tied in a piece of cloth, for it is proven that by violently drying it, it extracts the aforementioned water. And as it is said concerning the ears, so it is to be understood and operated upon in the nostrils.

Chapter XXXIII. Concerning leeches entering the nostrils.

And the reception of some animals from the outside through the nostrils seems very far from the truth, [yet] it is often found that while drinking water, a leech enters through the nostrils. Wherefore sneezing is proven to expel them; and if it should appear to the sight in the nostrils, you should extract it with tweezers. And those things which have the power to kill them are found to be very numerous, among which is the scraping of red wood, and the juice of horehound, and centaury dissolved with vinegar, and burnt carseclion, and many other things which I will recount in the diseases of the throat. And those things which are said here seem to me to be sufficient. And yet know that the smoke of horehound drawn through the mouth or through the nostrils has the power to kill them most strongly.

Chapter I. Concerning diseases of the anterior part of the brain.

This part is altered in heat, cold, dryness, and moisture. And we will now begin to determine first concerning the alteration made by heat. And he in whom this quality in the anterior part shall superabound speaks in a disordered manner, and corruption follows for him in the imaginative faculty, in that he imagines those things which do not exist in truth. And I indeed saw a man who imagined himself to see a friend of his wanting to kill him; and this corruption was in the imaginative faculty, which corruption or disease had indeed supervened for him from long and much riding through the heat of the sun. And without a doubt, the aforementioned heat was not evacuated by dryness. And at first, after the aforementioned riding through the sun, he suffered a fever, and because of it, the corruption of the imaginative faculty [occurred]. And when a great infusion of his head had been made from rose water and vinegar with the juice of gourd rind and sweet olive oil cooled in a well, he recovered immediately and returned to his former health. But if in the same part corruption of the imaginative faculty occurs from coldness, a very great impediment results, for the patient cannot in any way imagine anything that is of a subtle intellect. And if moisture is associated with coldness, a superfluous sound happens to the patient, and sometimes while sleeping he has his eyes open. And it can also happen to him that he is able to raise his eyelids only with difficulty. And in sleep, likewise, he is plunged most deeply. And sometimes a dissolution of catarrh follows therefrom with obstruction of the nostrils. Wherefore, if the said disease is from coldness alone, we say that an unction made from oil of ben or from...