BOOK I.

...prostrates the patient, one must help first and diligently, The symptom must be addressed while the disease is sometimes passed over. sometimes even passing over the disease itself. For although the symptom original: "symptoma". In Galenic medicine, a symptom is a secondary effect or functional impairment resulting from a disease. vanishes immediately once the disease is removed, as it no longer has a place in the body to remain, if it is too severe and hostile, it must be eased immediately. This is done so its violence or destruction does not kill the patient. In such cases, the method original: "methodus". This refers to the systematic therapeutic procedure established by the physician. itself must be inverted. This is indeed a healing of the symptom. It is performed not because of the symptoms themselves, but because of the cause of the weakened strength or some new affliction original: "affectus". A general term for any state of being affected by disease or change in the body's natural state.. For sleeplessness, agonizing pain, every excessive evacuation, the suppression of things that should be expelled, and blocked perspiration both weaken the strength and generate diseases. Therefore, when any symptom is urgent, as long as we trust in the robustness of the patient's strength, the method must be maintained. One should not focus on a single symptom against the prescriptions of the art merely for the sake of the patient's comfort. But if the strength is now failing, the symptom must be met immediately. The disease is omitted for a time. By every means, the strength must be supported and restored, so that the patient can resist the disease and endure the entire duration of the cure. All things must be tempered in this way. The person suffering should not be tortured more cruelly by the severity of their evils. Furthermore, the conditions that seemed to have healed should not break out again due to delicate and soft medicine. Thus far it has been sufficiently explained by what reasoning the remedy for each affliction is sought, whether it is simple or compound, one or many, and in what order these things are to be applied consistently and methodically. Now the quantity of the remedy must be designated.

CHAPTER VII. How the quantity of the remedy should be defined.

To defeat a disease, remedies must be applied and opposed in a somewhat equal manner. Just as there were three things from which the art of healing was constituted: the kind of remedy, the quantity, and the method of use: so there are three things from which it is necessary to know those: the species of the affliction, its magnitude, and the condition of the body part where it resides. From the species of the affliction, the kind of remedy becomes known. From its magnitude, the quantity of the remedy is determined. From the condition of the part, the way and method of use must be investigated. What indicates the magnitude of the disease. Specific signs, which are called demonstrative signs original: "signa demonstratiua". These are diagnostic indicators that point directly to the nature of the current ailment., show the species of the affliction. However, the force and onset of the signs and symptoms indicate the magnitude. This is also shown by the departure from the previous and natural state, and from the state that existed before the disease. This is discovered from the nature of the sufferer, from their age, and from their habits. By nature, I mean not only the innate temperament, but also the disposition of the organs...