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OF ARETÆUS, THE CAPPADOCIAN, ON THE CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF CHRONIC DISEASE
BOOK I.
CHAPTER IX.
[p. 353]
CHAPTER IX.
ON DYSENTERY.
OF the intestines, the upper being thin and bilious (χολώδεα)
as far as the cœcum, have got the Greek name χολώδες. From
these proceed the lower, which are thick and fleshy, as far as
the commencement of the Rectum.
Wherefore ulcers form in all of them; and the varieties of
these ulcers constitute Dysentery: on this account, these diseases
are complex. For some of them erode the intestines
superficially, producing only excoriation; and these are innocuous;
but they are far more innocent if the affections be low
down. Or if the ulcers be yet a little deeper, they are no
longer of a mild character. But ulcers which are deep and
have not stopped spreading, but are of a phagedænic, painful,
spreading, and gangrenous character, are of a fatal nature; for
the small veins get corroded in the course of their spreading,
and there is an oozing of blood in the ulcers. Another larger
species of ulcers: thick edges, rough, unequal, callous, as we
would call a knot in wood: these are difficult to cure, for they
do not readily cicatrise, and the cicatrices are easily dissolved.
The causes of dysentery are manifold; but the principal are,
indigestion, continued cold, the administration of acrid things,
such as myttôtos,
A sort of condiment, containing
garlic and other acrid things.
See Pollux, Onomast. vi.
onions by themselves, garlic, food of old
and acrid flesh, by which dyspepsia is produced; also unaccustomed
liquids, cyceon,
A thick soup prepared from
various substances, that is to say,
cheese, wine, etc. It is mentioned
both in the Iliad and Odyssey.
or zythus
On the composition of the ancient
zythi, or Ales, see Appendix
to the Edinburgh Greek
Lexicon, in voce, ζύθος.
(ale), or any similar
beverage produced in any country as a substitute for wine to
