Abhomeron Abynzohar & Colliget Auerroys (Medical Compendium)

you will see the forms of stones swimming within. And if you strain them through a fine cloth, you will be able to find no trace or sign of them on the piece of cloth. And if you place the said urine back into the urinal, and it remains there for some time, you will truly see them again like pus. And regarding this, I would willingly add [more] if my intellect were sufficient. But if there is a bad complexion in the brain, it does not become mania simply from dryness alone, but only a disturbance of the intellect and bad and very evil thoughts. And there also occurs a disturbance of the intellect from the diminution of the proper substance of the brain, as happens to those who use sleep excessively. But this appears to be of the judgment of divine providence. And if anyone should say, in response, that in old men the intellect is diminished because of the diminution of their brains, therefore children, by this reasoning, ought to have a more perfect and much better intellect than other ages, since they have brains that are proportionally fuller, and it is not so. I answer that, just as in old men the intellect is diminished and destroyed because of the paucity of the substance of the brain itself, so in infants or children their intellect is hindered and destroyed because of the great admixture that occurs in the substance of their brains from the humidities prepared for the application and nutrition of the substance of the brains themselves, due to the exuberance of their nourishment. And in this time, or age, natural humidity increases, and also superfluities, and because of this their sleep is prolonged; and also the superfluities that exit from their nostrils and from their bodies are in great quantity. Wherefore I tell you summarily that a child, as long as he is in this state, will not be able to have a perfect intellect until he is complete; for just as their limbs are not complete in measure and quantity, so their intellect is not complete until they come to a perfect age. But when a disturbance of the intellect happens to old men because of the diminution of the substance of the brain, then the cure is impossible. Nevertheless, manage them by giving them sweet almonds to eat with well-fermented bread and sugar, for these increase the substance of the brain; and also a raisin is useful to them, because it fattens the liver. And this defect which occurs in the brain occurs in the anterior part, and because of this, the imaginative [faculty] alone is found to be destroyed for the most part in old men, and sometimes the cogitative [faculty] is also destroyed for them, when the brain that exists in the middle cell is consumed, and also the memorial [faculty] when the substance of the brain itself, which is located in the posterior cell, is diminished. Wherefore, to restore this humidity, give them almonds with sugar as I have said, and anoint the head with oil of sweet almonds, to which has been mixed a tenth part of mastic oil, because principal members do not support medicines in which there are not things that have the power to strengthen, even if the accident of the sickness does not require them; for you ought to intend to strengthen and fortify that part in which the sickness is found. But of these three parts of the brain, the posterior ought to be dried out more quickly, reasonably speaking, because of its nature and complexion, compared to the others. But because air cannot easily reach it, because of the thickness and solidity of the bone containing it, and because it is entirely closed without any opening or porosity, it therefore receives less desiccation. But the anterior part of the brain, because the bone containing it is open and porous, and air can quickly reach it through breathing, it therefore dries out more quickly, and also more quickly than the brain that is found to be in the middle cell, because air cannot reach it so quickly nor so easily. And because the bone containing it is likewise blunt, solid, and without porosity, just like the bone of the posterior part of the brain, it is therefore found to be far from dryness. And when the dryness of the brain supervenes in this anterior part, or in all the other parts together, the cure will be very difficult for young men, and also for others who are in a greater age, although it is possible, but for the decrepit it is entirely impossible.

principal? members do not support medicines in which there are not those things which have the power to strengthen.

you should intend in the cure of this part or of all parts with the aforementioned medicines. But note that when the bone of the cranium, or where the bone itself, is dense, solid, and without porosity, then you should use stronger medicines, because they can penetrate with difficulty and weight. But where you find the cranium to be porous and not so solid, the medicines can penetrate inside more quickly. Wherefore you need lighter and weaker medicines.

¶ Chapter XVII. That which is about the humidity that arises in the cell of the anterior brain and around the brain.

Know that the subtle humidity which arises in the cell of the anterior brain and around it is of immense stench; and from that, the intellect is disturbed, and the infirm person cannot sustain his head, and he does not speak except with great difficulty; and when he is questioned about anything, he responds slowly and sluggishly and with disturbance, and for the most part, he is not understood, and he is without intellect. And in my time I saw a certain man to whom this sickness happened, and no medicine could help him, and he died of it. And this sickness happens many times to sheep, and that sheep which has this sickness is called by shepherds matronia. And the cure for this sickness is to cauterize the head; and without doubt, surgeons err greatly by cauterizing everyone in the head to whom a disturbance of the intellect happens, and a maximum harm follows from it; for if the cause of the sickness is heat and dryness, or heat alone, or dryness alone, or if the cause is from the diminution of the substance of the brain, consider what can happen from it. But in this sickness, without doubt, cauterization is a more useful cure than others, because it dries up the horrible humidity and extracts it to the exterior parts. And if you place in his nostrils the juice of the dog rose, which in Arabic is called secaicanahamaz, it helps much. And also other medicines which are accustomed by physicians to be injected into the nostrils, causing the head to be purged, such as the water of sicle and the water of wild cucumber, and the like. And by continuing these medicines and rectifying his regimen, he can be liberated, and that harmful humidity will be dried up, and he will be freed, God willing.

¶ Chapter XVIII. That which is about the scothomia which in Arabic is called abscedar.

It happens sometimes to a man that, while standing and sitting, it appears to him that everything is spinning around until he falls. And this sickness arises from subtle and sharp choleric vapors ascending upwards through the arteries to the brain, filling it, and an evil motion happens to the vital spirit. And the aforesaid vapors ascend upwards because of the amplitude of the arteries, which exist as such from birth. Wherefore it helps for the aforesaid [condition] to cut the arteries that are behind the ears. But if the said vapors ascend through the arteries of the rete or retina, miraculously little help follows from it. And if the said sickness arrives from the amplitude of other arteries, then the incision of the aforementioned artery helps. And the physician ought to cool the complexion of this [patient] with a tempered cooling, namely by giving him boiled lettuces to eat, and to drink barley water with verjuice, unless the stomach has immense sensitivity; and you will also make him drink barley water and cold water with rose water. And he should abstain from all fruits, except for the kernels of watermelon and citron seeds, which you should exhibit to him after you have known that the said vapors were generated from choleric humors. But that which proceeds from the stomach to the brain can arise from one humor, or from several from which vapors are generated that ascend to the brain. And the cure for this is quite easy, namely by purging the stomach with water infused with yellow myrobalans, and scammony, and violets. And it also helps