THE METHOD OF HEALING.

Let us suppose that someone is troubled by a distressing distillation Known as catarrh or rheum, this refers to the flow of excess fluids from the head to other parts of the body. of the brain. This arose from an excessive production of wastes. This waste, in turn, comes from a cold and damp imbalance The Latin intemperies refers to a disruption in the body's natural balance of heat, cold, moisture, and dryness. of the brain. Such a state might be produced by eating cooling foods or by an encounter with freezing air. It is clear that at the very beginning, the cold imbalance of the brain must be corrected. This is done by changing the diet and using other remedies. Soon after, all the accumulated waste must be removed. Only then will the distillation caused by this waste finally cease. By this reasoning, the cure of every simple affliction should proceed according to the order of its causes. In connected or consequential cases, all afflictions should be uprooted one by one in the order they arose.

The first affliction must be removed at the very start. For example, consider if that frequent distillation eventually falls into the stomach original: "ventriculum". In this context, it refers to the primary digestive cavity.. If nausea arises because of this fault, or if the appetite is lost and digestion is hindered, the nausea cannot be removed. Nor can the appetite or digestion be restored unless the stomach is purged. However, it cannot be fully purged unless the distillation is first stopped. And this distillation cannot be stopped unless the brain is emptied and the cold imbalance causing it is removed. Therefore, unless something more urgent demands attention, the cold imbalance of the brain must be corrected first. Then, whatever waste has been generated must be purged. If any waste happens to be produced afterward, it should be diverted through the natural channels into the nostrils. When the distillation has been purged and diverted by these means, the stomach must be completely purged until nothing remains. Then the symptoms that were troublesome to the patient will vanish.

This is surely the true and precise method of healing. It must be entered upon by following the series of causes and afflictions. By "afflictions," I mean things contrary to nature which reside in the body parts themselves or in their contents: that is, either diseases or their internal causes. Each of these faults must be attacked with its opposite. Symptoms usually appear interspersed among these, but they do not have their own specific cure. No remedy is directly opposed to them, because they vanish as soon as the afflictions are removed. Reversing the method and order not only fails to help the cure, but often doubles the disease. When a part of the disease is taken away while the cause remains, the patient might feel slightly relieved at first. However, the disease soon returns with the same ferocity, or even greater. For example, when a gathered fluid is treated with hot reme-