The Complete Works of Galen, Vol. 11

BOOK 1

...even if such a person does not make mistakes in his healing, he will treat those patients known to him better than others. As for those he does not know, he will treat them as closely as possible to those he already understands. For if someone first distinguishes the difference in ages, then the differences in temperaments temperaments: the specific mixture of the four qualities—hot, cold, wet, and dry—that determines a person's physical and mental health, powers, and other human attributes, such as color, heat, physical build, the movement of the pulse, habits, daily occupations, and the character of the soul; and if he adds to these the difference between male and female, as well as the variations in regions, seasons of the year, and other conditions of the air that surrounds us, as they ought to be distinguished, he will come very close to understanding the specific nature of the sick person.

However, some of these matters have been analyzed in my books On Pulses, and others in the books On Temperaments original: "περὶ σφυγμῶν" (On Pulses) and "περὶ κράσεων" (On Temperaments). These were foundational texts where Galen established his theories on physiology and diagnosis.. Likewise, all those things that are contrary to nature original: "παρὰ φύσιν" (para physin), including all the differences found among species and genera, have been defined by us in the work On Affections.

But for now, our entire discussion will focus on those patients whose nature we knew exactly before they fell ill. Along with them, we will also consider all the other patients whose nature we had not previously perceived. Since it is not difficult...