Hippocrates, Vol. IV (Loeb Classical Library)

First we have seven chapters treating of the four humours, which end with the relation between these humours and the four seasons. The eighth chapter ¹ deals with the relation between the seasons and diseases. The ninth chapter ² begins with the cure of diseases by their opposites. After three sentences a complete break occurs, and a fresh start is made, beginning with "Diseases arise..."; and the rest of the chapter, about 50 lines, is concerned with a classification of diseases into (1) those arising from regimen and (2) those caused by the atmosphere. Incidentally it may be noted that the first part of this section is paraphrased in Menon’s Iatrica VII. 15 and attributed to Hippocrates. The tenth chapter briefly postulates a relationship between the virulence of a disease and the “strength” of the part in which it arises. Then comes the famous passage dealing with the veins, which Aristotle in Historia Animalium III. 3 attributes to Polybus. The twelfth chapter deals with the cause, in the case of patients of thirty-five years or more, of “pus” in sputa, urine, or stools. The thirteenth chapter contains two unconnected remarks, the first to the effect that knowing the cause of a disease enables the physician to forecast better its history, the second insisting upon the necessity of the patient’s co-operation in effecting a cure. The fourteenth...

¹ There is an unfulfilled promise in "I will speak again of the cycle of the days," which Fredrich would delete as an interpolation. original: "τὴν δὲ περίοδον αὖτις φράσω τῶν ἡμερέων"
² This chapter has two references to passages that are not extant, "as I have stated elsewhere," and "as I have said long ago." original: "ὥσπερ μοι πέφρασται καὶ ἑτέρωθι" and "ὥσπερ μοι καὶ πάλαι εἴρηται" If Nature of Man consists of sections taken from works now lost, these cross-references are easily explained.