Abhomeron Abynzohar & Colliget Auerroys (Medical Compendium)

The care of nard is optimal and perfect, because it heats in a temperate manner; and it is necessary that you do not forget at all those things which we have previously stated, namely that the principal members of necessity require in their medications those things which are subtle and astringent. And although every illness entirely demands the medication proper to them, nonetheless you ought not to desist from the application of astringent and subtle medicines for the preservation of the natural virtues of the member itself. And medicines which are also aromatic have a great power to strengthen the principal members, wherefore they require them above others in all their needs. But if humidity is associated with coldness, we say that oil of spike with a small quantity of oil of roses is sufficient for it.

Chapter II. Concerning the diseases of the middle part of the brain.

And you should know that the middle part of the brain is truly the brain, and that which exists there is strictly the natural brain. And any of the aforementioned types of bad complexion can also happen to it. But the symptoms which follow from these are very much stronger than those of the others, because if an intense heat happens to it alone, the faculty of thought is then most strongly disturbed, and it is found to be unstable in all its thoughts, and all things seem common to it; and it will persist thus until you have placed there that which has the power to remove the bad quality. But you should know that this middle part of the brain can least of all sustain the virtues of strong medicines, just as the anterior can, and even far less than the posterior, because the suture of the cranium which lies in the direct path of this part is much rarer and less conjoined or sealed than the other sutures. And since it is so, the virtues of medicines can pass through this suture to the brain more easily than through the other sutures of the other cells. And because with this the brain which exists in this middle part is also more humid and soft, therefore its bad quality is dissolved and removed more quickly and easily. And since this part is the mine, the root, and the fountain of the other cells, therefore it is to be medicated with greater diligence and with total temperance, abstaining from all that is opposed to strong medicines, and especially from those things which exceed too much in their qualities, and most of all in coldness, because this part can sustain coldness less than all other cells.

Chapter III. Concerning the bad complexion in the middle cell of the interior brain.

Tardiness with rarity occurs to the faculty of thought from a cold bad complexion, and its thinking is rendered entirely unstable; and afterwards it returns to the first thought with all difficulty and slowness. And the cure for this is to heat this part temperately, although this part can sustain heat better than coldness when it occurs as a necessity. And if humidity has superabounded with coldness, although it rarely happens, then oil of balchaon (that is, of fetid chamomile) or oil of citron peel will be sufficient for you in the cure, or an epithem made from fresh citron peels, or from mace crushed and mixed with sweet water. And if dryness with coldness is present, the intellect is sometimes disturbed and sometimes not, and it operates in an unordered way. And generally, we say that the cure for the dryness of members, when you are to cure it with moist things without the opposition of astringents, I fear that you will induce in it a relaxation of the whole body; wherefore we say that those things which we have mentioned before suffice in its cure, knowing that the brain can least of all sustain those things which are in excess of cold, as we have mentioned, and especially the middle cell.

Chapter IV. Concerning the affections which occur in the posterior part of the brain.

Know that this part can better and more easily sustain the virtues and powers of medicines than the other parts of the brain itself. And the reason for this is that the bones which exist in this part are much harder and denser than the bones of the other parts of the brain, and the parts of this part itself are also found to be far denser and more corpulent and harder than the other parts of the brain; and because of this, the virtues

of medicines cannot penetrate within through that part except with difficulty. And the cure of the excess of qualities in this part is done as we said in the aforesaid, but you can operate more securely in this than in the others, since you know that this part can more easily sustain the virtues of medicines than the other parts of the brain. But this part differs from the others to such an extent that if this part is superfluously chilled, there occurs to the infirm a difficulty of memory. And if the chilling in the same part should be done to the limit, the infirm will be deprived of memory entirely; but it is possible to recover the said memory by heating this part with plasters, and anointings, and foods convenient to it. And the brain of a hare is proven to have the greatest property in the strengthening and restoration of memory. And an anointing made from castoreum or from its oil, and similarly to scent it, is most powerful to recover memory. And memory is appropriated to this posterior part, just as the cogitative faculty is to the middle, and the imaginative is judged to belong to the anterior.

Chapter V. Concerning diseases and all their symptoms proceeding from the obstruction or corruption of the complexion of the entire brain.

These diseases and symptoms can indeed arrive with a vice of the humors, and without a vice of the humors; and in whatever way it happens, there follows the same corruption or obstruction in the governing virtue of the entire body. And among these diseases is apoplexy, whether the corruption of the complexion is from the substance of the brain itself, or whether it has come to pass from other members that are well-disposed to it. And it is already known and understood that apoplexy is a spasm. A spasm is an attraction of the nerves toward their root. And when this action is voluntary, then it is natural; and when it exists involuntarily, it must proceed from many and diverse causes, namely: either from a superfluous dryness coming to the members, as is seen evidently in salted meat, because it contracts from that very dryness, and in hides which are most strongly shriveled from the same. And a spasm can also happen from humidity, namely from a humid humor departing from its nature, when a gross vapor arises and is resolved from that same [humor], and that vapor is made from an aqueous substance, and from that same [substance] the aforementioned vapor is made; wherefore the member is so filled that the brain cannot sustain the aforementioned humor as before. As is seen in jars, for when wine is boiled in them, they cannot sustain the wine as they did before the boiling, because before the boiling the parts are joined together, and in boiling they are converted into sharpness and vaporosity, wherefore they require more room, whence the bladder is contracted and swells, to such an extent that it is seen not to be able to sustain it. Whence, from all the stated species, a spasm is made, and from them the members are contracted. And thus a spasm in the body or in the substance of the nerves which proceed from the brain; wherefore the spasm is to such an extent, in as much as an infusion is found to have been made in them. And if it is found that it was made in the root of all the nerves, then a universal spasm follows in the whole body. But a spasm proceeding from dryness is made from fasting or from superfluous abstinence, and from labor or exercise, and from superfluous vigils and excessive coitus, and from any superfluous evacuation that dries out, and from an intense and superfluous quality. Wherefore, if it were only from a dominating dryness, we judge the cure of it to be difficult, yet it can be done, although with difficulty and gradually and after a length of time. And you should know that humidity is an equivocal name, because there is some humidity whose power and substance is humid, and there is some humidity found which, although it is actually humid, is nonetheless potentially dry, such as bile and vinegar, because both are potentially dry, yet they are found to be humid and fluid in their substance and actuality. Wherefore I say that a spasm is made or can be made from any actual humidity, whether its complexion and power be dry or humid, because when some humidity is infused into the substance of a nerve, whether that be potentially dry and actually humid, or humid in act and power, the nerve is contracted and gathered and thickened, just as it is to be seen in external things, because when humidities are infused into them, they increase in thickness and decrease in length; and in such a way a spasm is made. And a spasm is also made from the puncture of a nerve, because a spirit is generated there on account of the great sensitivity of the nerve itself, and on account of its habit of receiving the spirit and injury; an attraction is also made even up to the root.