Apo kōpēs eis to bēma

and must be drawn forth: their use, however, should be avoided unless a diligent preparation of the body has first taken place. We also use the same judgment for ligatures and frictions, provided they are vigorous.

L X I I I I.

In certain cases, venesection bloodletting is absolutely necessary, and the use of cupping vessels is in some way useless. For in those whose veins are ample and prominent, venesection is appropriate, as it is even if the blood is melancholic and thick. Where, however, it turns out to be thin, it will be easily drawn out by scarification.

L X V.

The time for venesection should not be long before the onset of the expected menstrual flow, where the cycle has already approached within three or four days, according to Galen in his book on the method of curing by venesection, chapter 18, which prescribes anticipating it.

L X V I.

Both fullness and the strength of the vital forces shall measure the quantity. Where something is not pressing, it will be safer to repeat the same venesection rather than to evacuate the whole at once, either in the same leg or in the other, as shall seem most advisable.

L X V I T.

For these same people, as in the preceding cases, on the days when you evacuate blood, an attenuating diet must be provided and prescribed so that everything promotes the natural flow of the menses.

L X V I I I.

If, due to excessive heat without a redundancy of hot humors, the menses are suppressed in women, so that...