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OF ARETÆUS, THE CAPPADOCIAN, ON THE CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE DISEASE
BOOK II.
[p. 275]
CHAPTER VI. ON ILEUS
AN inflammation takes place in the intestines, creating a
deadly pain, for many die of intense tormina; but there is
also formed a cold dull flatus (pneuma), which cannot readily
pass either upwards or downwards, but remains, for the most
part rolled up in the small convolutions of the upper intestines,
and hence the disease has got the appellation of Ileus (or
Volvulus). But if in addition to the tormina, there be compression
and softening of the intestines, and the abdomen
protrude greatly, it is called Chordapsus, from the Greek
word ἕψησις, which signifies softening, and χορδὴ, which is
a name for the intestines; and hence the Mesentery, which
contains all the nerves, vessels, and membranes that support
the intestines, was called ἐπιχορδὶς by the ancients.
Both
Petit and Ermerins have
animadverted on this singular derivation
of the term χορδαψός.
As Petit remarks, the true derivation
is no doubt from ἅπτεσθαι, and
χορδή. The Greeks, it is well
known, were very fanciful etymologists,
of which we have striking
proofs in the Cratylus of
Plato.
The cause of Ileus is a continued corruption of much
multifarious and unaccustomed food, and repeated acts of indigestion,
especially of articles which are apt to excite Ileus,
as the ink of the cuttle-fish. And the same effects may be
expected from a blow, or cold, or the drinking of cold water
largely and greedily in a state of sweating; and in those cases,
in which the gut has descended into the scrotum with fæces,
and has not been replaced into the belly, or has been restored
to its place with violence, in such cases it is customary for the
