De causis curatricibus Theses Progymnasticae

then gradually it diffuses itself as if in little bladders, soon it is formed into certain parts and members; afterwards, by attracting blood and spirits through the veins of the womb, it grows, is amplified, and is perfected until it emerges into the absolute species and figure of the animal; and finally, the bonds and barriers by which it was constrained being broken, hurrying toward a greater abundance of its own growth and perfection, and itself contriving a way and exit for itself, it is brought into the light.

XV.
Nor indeed do these actions languish or cease then, but they flourish even afterward in both the prosperous and adverse constitution of man.

XVI.
For since the body is constantly flowing and dissipating through various motions and agitations, and therefore requires constant repair and restoration of lost substances (just like other living things), it desires food and drink, embraces them, retains them, digests them, concocts them, and distributes the nourishment drawn from these to each part, assimilating and uniting it; but it removes the excrements and feces of these digestions, which would be harmful if retained, with wondrous artifice through convenient ways and exits.

XVII.
It also turns away from any other unpleasant, foreign, and bothersome things, whether born from intrinsic or extrinsic causes beyond and against Nature, by the perception not so much of animal as of natural sense, and expels and purges them with motions and paths that are both manifest and occult.

XVIII.
For if anything inheres against Nature: for example, in the brain or parts connected to it, it expels that very thing by sneezing or catarrh; in the lungs and trachea, by coughing, clearing the throat, and spitting; in the stomach and venter, by hiccuping and vomiting; and it does this with such prudence that it hardly emits anything useful.

XIX.
But just as, while it has things according to Nature (embracing what is convenient for it, and removing and clearing away what is foreign), it protects its health and safety, so also, if it is afflicted by diseases against its Nature, it is not at all wanting to itself, nor does it desert itself or forget itself, as if cowardly yielding to an enemy and permitting it command and power over itself.

XX.
Moreover, it never acts more effectively, and like a Palm tree resisting against a weight, it rises with greater strength than ever before; it most fiercely invades and opposes the enemy which is against it, and finally (provided it is not overcome by power and lacks its own strength) puts it to rout.

XXI.
Therefore, it overcomes very many diseases and restores itself to its pristine state of health. Truly, it alters, cooks, attenuates, cleanses, cuts, discusses, shakes out, and evacuates extraneous, depraved, and vicious humors (from which the greater part of affections against Nature flows). Whence we very frequently see that harmful materials, through ways even unknown to skilled physicians and in places clearly impermeable to art, are expelled from the body in a way that is somehow miraculous, through flows of blood from the nose, hemorrhoids, menses, diarrhea, dysentery, flows of urine, sweats, and abscesses; and hence the solutions of many very serious diseases follow; wounds and many ulcers also heal, fractures are consolidated, and many other similar things occur, and these happen as if spontaneously and by an autonomous motion, and with no external aid approaching.