De causis curatricibus Theses Progymnasticae

was neither useful nor necessary for them; so far is it from being the case that they should be argued for diminution or error on that account.

LXIX.
Rightly, therefore, did Galen say in On the Dogmas of Hippocrates and Plato, chapter 16: "But it was more convenient for the physician to institute his doctrine about the instruments of the body, and for the philosopher to do so about the faculties of the Soul." Thus, indeed, Hippocrates and Plato also seem to have discussed—the former more on the instruments of the body, the latter on the faculties of the Soul.

LXX.
Rightly, too, did the same author say in his book On the Substance of Natural Faculties: "To know what the substance of the Soul is, is not necessary either for the curing of diseases or for the preservation of health." Likewise: "I judge that for physicians, a knowledge of the substance of the Soul is superfluous." For it is enough for those treating the medical art with reason to know that, as long as the natural temperament of the brain itself and the spirit contained within its confines is preserved inviolate, the animal can live. If, however, the spirit contained within the confines is either utterly corrupted or has receded too far from its natural temperament, death necessarily follows. Acquiescing in this, the physician always consults for their good temperature and permanence.

LXXI.
Therefore, both the philosophers and the physicians established the truth regarding the intrinsic cause of the body's actions; nor do their opinions clash with one another, but they differ somewhat only in the progression of their consideration, while the latter look only to the proximate causes and instruments through sense, and the former look even to the more remote principal efficients through reason. Nor is Galen to be said to be inconsistent with himself, since it is manifest that he spoke philosophically in one place and medically in another.

LXXII.
Since all these things undoubtedly stand as they are: with the approval of best reason, the attestation of certain experience, and the support of learned authority, we establish the intrinsic cause of the conservative motions that appear in the body (as also of the rest, namely, the intellectual and sensitive, whose explanation is not of this place); and we affirm with the physicians who philosophize more in the Peripatetic than the Platonic way that this power is the vegetative force of that one substantial Form (that is, the Soul), commonly called Nature, with spirit, heat, and temperament as the ministers and principal instruments.

LXXIII.
NOR, however, while this is established and ratified, do I deny that there are sometimes extrinsic principles or efficient causes of such effects, nor do I abolish the use of the remedies of the Medical Art; but I say that these also claim their own place for themselves in the curing of diseases.

LXXIV.
For actions and motions in all things constantly maintain their tone, vigor, and integrity as long as those from which they proceed have not suffered any harm or hindrance.