Cassii iatrosophistae naturales et medicinales quaestiones LXXXIIII, circa hominis naturam & morbos aliquot

III. Why does itching arise while ulcers heal and inflammations cease? It must be said that at that time, that which is natural (humor and natural spirit) prevails: and by prevailing, it repels what is alien from the depths of the body. And so nature takes delight while that which is alien is separated.

IIII. For what reason do the dropsical feel thirsty, even though they abound with much humor? It must be said that the appetite for drink comes from the desire for natural humor, not for that which is contrary to nature. But that with which they abound is humor contrary to nature. And so they cease to feel thirsty when natural humor is supplied to them. Or because natural humor is not digested into the convenient passages, but is pushed out, they feel no less thirsty than if they had drunk nothing.

V. For what reason do we, if we are not thirsty, become thirsty when we enter baths: and vice-versa, when thirsty, we cease to feel thirst upon entering? Because thirst comes from dryness. Therefore, when we apply the bath to the body while we are thirsty, it draws humor through the passages of the skin, being endowed with a vital faculty, and thus the inner parts also become moistened, in which the thirst was most present. But those who enter the bath without thirst, in them the humor pre-existing in the body is consumed through sweats, as one that does not labor to attract and retain humidity.