Complete Works of Hippocrates

...with dropsy original: "ὑφύδρῳ" and a swollen spleen original: "σπληνώδει", suffering from white phlegm a cold, moist humor, if the belly is strongly disturbed, it is good. 8 If 24 erysipelas an acute febrile skin eruption that has been shed outward turns inward, it is bad. 9 But if that which has been shed inward turns outward, it is good. 10 For one seized by a strong flux of the bowels, if vomiting occurs, it is good. 11 For a woman vomiting blood, if her menses original: "καταμήνια" break through, it is good. 12 If one is seized by a flow, it is good for the flow to pass to the nose or to the mouth. 13 For a woman pressed by spasm convulsion from childbirth, if a fever arises, it is good. 14 And for those who have tetanus a condition of continuous muscular rigidity and spasm, if heat original: "πῦρ" arises, it is good. 15 And such things occur and have occurred through no wisdom of physicians, but by chance. 16 And when they happen successfully, they heal, and they harm in the same manner.

VII. Physicians achieve such good outcomes by chance in their therapy. 2 By giving a medicine to the dry, they purge well both upwards and downwards. 3 And by giving a medicine to a woman downwards, if she was not having her menses, bile or phlegm is purged, and the menses break through. 4 To one having a suppurated spleen, by giving a medicine downwards to purge bile and phlegm, they purged the pus downwards together with the splenic matter, and relieved the disease. 5 And by giving a medicine to one suffering from stones, they pushed the stone into the urethra original: "κρητῆρα" by the force of the medicine, so that it might be removed. 6 And to one having pus in an upper abdominal tumor, not knowing what he had, by giving an upward medicine that purges phlegm, he vomited the pus and became healthy. 7 And when one is over-purged by medicine upwards, they heal him...

24 num. 8 Erysipelas, if diffused outward, turns inward; it is bad. 9 If, however, it is diffused inward and turns outward, it is good. 10 For one seized by a strong flux of the bowels, if vomiting supervenes, it is good. 11 For a woman vomiting blood, if the menses erupt, it is good. 12 If she is beset by a flux, it is good for the flux to pass to the nostrils or the mouth. 13 For a woman pressed by convulsion after childbirth, if a fever supervenes, it is good. 14 And for one occupying a state of tetanus and convulsion, if a fiery heat original: "igneum ardorem" supervenes, it is good. 15 For such things happen and do not happen through no ignorance or science of physicians, but by their own accord 16 and through fortuitous chance; they are beneficial and harmful according to the same reasoning.

VII. Furthermore, physicians achieve such good things in therapy through fortuitous success. 2 Namely, if by giving a medicine that purges upwards, they purge properly both upwards and downwards. 3 And if to a woman they give a medicine that purges bile or phlegm downwards, the menses that were not otherwise erupting, erupt. 4 And if to one having a suppurated spleen they give a medicine that purges bile and phlegm downwards, and thus they purge the pus downwards from the spleen, and free the patient from the disease. 5 And if by exhibiting a medicine to one with stones, they push the stone into the urinary passage by the violence of the medicine, so that it may be cast out through the urine. 6 And if they give a medicine that purges phlegm upwards to one who has pus in a tumor in the upper ventricle, not knowing what he has, and he vomits the pus and becomes healthy. 7 And if they heal one who is over-purged by a medicine that purges upwards, when the bowels erupt of their own accord below...