Heart diseases

The heart as such is subject to all kinds of diseases, for example, all kinds of disorders of nature. Disorders of nature sometimes occur in the presence of matter, and sometimes between his body and the bag. There is often fluid in this place, and it is known that when there is a lot of it, it puts pressure on the heart and prevents it from expanding. Tumors and blockages sometimes form in the heart, and sometimes certain positional diseases also arise, such as when it is suffocated by moisture squeezing it, which prevents it from expanding and kills the patient, or the disintegration of the whole, occurring either in itself or in its membrane.

When a disorder of nature is firmly established in the heart, it cannot be treated, and if it is not firmly established, it cannot be easily treated. A hot tumor in the heart kills immediately; a cold tumor, hard or friable, only rarely and infrequently arises in the heart itself and most often forms in the heart sac. If it happens that it arises in the very heart, then it does not kill as quickly as a hot tumor, but it still “kills.” A hard tumor that forms in the heart sac from thick juice sometimes gives the patient time, as does a non-solid tumor that arises from thin watery juice and forms blisters and pus. This is the case with the tumor in the monkey's heart sac, which Galen talks about. This monkey fell ill and lived for some time, and when they opened it up after death, they found out what had happened to it during life and why it was losing weight and weakening. Since the heart itself cannot tolerate even swelling, how could it tolerate the accumulation of pus and suppuration?

When pimple-like ulcers arise in this organ, which can be tolerated, they are said to still kill after a strong flow of black blood from the nose. Sometimes blockages occur in the vessels of the heart, which impair the functioning of the heart. As for the disintegration of the whole, the heart tolerates it even worse than a tumor. When the disintegration of a single thing occurs in the body of the heart and penetrates into the cavities, it kills immediately; if he does not penetrate there, then sometimes the patient’s death is delayed until the next day.

Sometimes diseases arise in the heart in association with diseases of its membrane or in association with the brain, pleura, lungs, liver, intestines and other viscera, especially the stomach, and sometimes illness occurs in association with other organs and with the whole body in general, as happens with fevers, which can be verified by the nature of attacks and crises. Complicity of the heart with other organs sometimes occurs due to the cessation of their functions, such as, for example, complicity in liver disease, when the liver is too weak to send nutrition to the heart, or in brain disease, when the brain weakens and the respiratory muscle becomes too weak to breathe, and sometimes it is caused by what comes to the heart from other organs. As for the brain, when, for example, black gall juice multiplies in it, which penetrates the substance of the brain and passes along the paths of the arteries to the heart, this causes interruptions in it, a weakening of its strength and melancholy and arouses bad thoughts and worries. Or, for example, wet juice enters the heart from the brain along the same routes and gives rise to laziness, lethargy and a drop in vigor. As for the liver, it often sends bad blood, hot, cold or thick, to the heart.

Sometimes heart disease occurs through complicity in suffering due to proximity, when it suffers, for example, due to a hot or cold tumor, in particular due to a tumor in the surrounding membrane or in general in the insides. Or the heart experiences suffering due to suffering at the mouth of the stomach or the stomach itself from viscous or burning juice or worms and “pumpkin seeds”, as well as from burning vomiting, which causes heart failure.

Sometimes the disease occurs in association with pain, which intensifies and reaches the heart; then it often kills. Sometimes, finally, this happens due to the movement of matter, for example, with sore throat, pleurisy or pneumonia; the disease deflects matter towards the heart, suffocates it and kills the patient. Varieties of complicity in illness that arise between the heart and its sac do not necessarily lead the patient to death, but if a tumor forms in the heart, even if it is not hot, it kills. Sometimes twitching begins at the very mouth of the stomach, which is mistaken for twitching of the heart.