We say: medicines have general actions, specific actions and actions similar to general ones. General actions are, for example, warming, cooling, attraction, repulsion, ulceration, healing, and the like. Particular actions are, for example, usefulness for cancer, usefulness for kidney disease, usefulness for jaundice, and the like. Actions similar to the general ones are, for example, relaxation, increased loss of urine and menstruation, and the like. All these actions, although they are particular, since they relate to individual organs and individual tools, are still similar to general ones, because they manifest themselves in things, the benefits and harms of which are of a general nature, and their effect on the body, at the same time, is not collateral. . Here we will mention only actions that are general and similar to general ones.
As for general actions, they can be primary and secondary. There are four primary actions, namely: cooling, warming, moistening and drying. And as for the secondary ones, some of them are the same effects, but they appear exactly to a certain extent or relatively, in the sense of a limit of increase or decrease such are the powers of burning, causing putrefaction, hardening and compaction. All these are different degrees of the same warming and cooling, but they manifest themselves to a certain extent and relatively.
Other actions also belong to the secondary ones, but they come from those mentioned: such as, for example, the ability to cause numbness, close wounds, stretch, make juices slide, open blockages, glue, and the like.
As for actions similar to general ones, these are laxative, diuretic and diaphoretic actions.
Before talking about the actions of drugs, let's talk about the properties inherent in drugs as such, and say: among the properties inherent in drugs as such are the four known basic properties, as well as odors and colors, but some are other properties, of which the known the following: rarefaction, density, viscosity, ability to crumble, hardening, fluidity, sliminess, oiliness, ability to absorb, lightness and heaviness.
A rarefied medicine is one that tends to be divided into tiny particles in the body by our natural force. Examples include saffron and Chinese cinnamon. All actions of such a medicine, even drying ones, are most useful although it does not burn, it dries just like anything hot.
By dense we mean a medicine that does not have these properties. Examples include pumpkin and gypsum.
By viscous is meant any medicine, the property of which, in fact or in ability, which becomes an action under the influence of the innate warmth of the body, is susceptible to stretching when suspended and does not burst if it is stretched. When the ends of a viscous medicine stick to two bodies that are moving away from each other, it can move along with these bodies without breaking, like honey, for example.
A crumbling medicine is one that, under light pressure, crumbles into small particles and at the same time is dry and hard, such as a good sabur.
The property of a frozen medicine is such that its particles in any position tend to spread wider, but in fact it retains an unchanged position and shape under the influence
some very cold factor. Such, for example, is wax. Generally speaking, this is a medicine that tends to flow, but in fact it is not flowing.
Flowable medicine does not retain its shape and position when placed on something solid. On the contrary, its upper particles move towards the lower ones in all possible directions, just as happens with all liquids.
The property of a mucous medicine is such that if it is soaked in water or in some watery substance, particles are separated from it and mixed with this moisture, and the substance that arises after mixing turns out to be somewhat viscous. These are, for example, flea plantain and marshmallow. The slimy seeds loosen, causing slipping. If you fry them, the sliminess becomes sticky and hardens.
An oily medicine contains in its substance a certain amount of oil such as, for example, seeds.
Absorbent medicine - there is a medicine that is actually dry, earthy. Its property is that when water or flowing liquids come into contact with it, they go deep into it and imperceptibly penetrate into the pores, becoming invisible. An example is quicklime.
As for light and heavy medicines, the matter is clear with them.
As for the effects of drugs, the most famous ones should be listed based on the conditions mentioned above, and then accompanied by definitions and an explanation of their names.
One category, they say: warming medicine dissolving cleansing driving out the winds giving roughness opening relaxing tension promoting ripening aids digestion tearing off resolving winds pulling burning causing redness causing itching ulcerative corrosive burning crushing causing rot cauterizing ripping off the skin, and a total of twenty-two actions.
Other category: cooling strengthening distracting thickening impeding maturation causing numbness, and a total of six actions.
Another category: moisturizing swelling washing contaminating ulcers causing slip smoothing, and a total of six actions.
Another category: drying squeezing astringent clogging adhesive healing building meat closing wounds, and a total of eight actions.
And here is another type of properties of drugs corresponding to their actions: deadly I teryak badzahr as well as a laxative diuretic diaphoretic.
There are forty actions in total, which we have selected from all the properties related to medicines.
And then we will describe each of these actions with its definition.
Thinner - there is a medicine that has the property of thinning thick juice with its moderate warmth. Example: hyssop, thyme, chamomile.
A dissolving or dissolving medicine is one that is capable of separating juices, subjecting them to evaporation, and moving their particles one after another from the place where they lingered, until the prolonged action of the medicine destroys with its heat what can be destroyed. Example: beaver stream.
A cleansing medicine is one that displaces viscous and congealed moisture from the mouths of the pores on the surface of the organ and removes it from there, such as water sweetened with honey. Every cleansing medicine, with its cleansing properties, has a softening effect on nature, even if this medicine does not have a laxative effect. Everything bitter, for example, is cleansing.
A roughening drug is one that makes the surface of an organ uneven, raising some particles and lowering others, either by the strength of its astringent property and density, as stated above, or by the force of the causticity and volatility of a substance that strips away the juices and disturbs the evenness, or by cleansing the surface, rough in its core and smooth in its secondary properties. For when the medicine cleanses an organ, solid in composition, with a rough surface, uneven in relation to the arrangement of particles, from the viscous moisture that has flowed onto it and created an extraneous smooth surface, then the main roughness appears and is exposed. An example of such medicines is sweet clover. Their effect is most often manifested in giving roughness to bones and cartilage, less often - in relation to the skin.
The property of the opening medicine is that it moves outward the matter that has entered the cavity of the passages so that the ducts remain open. This effect is stronger than cleansing. Such, for example, is the fruit of celery, which produces similar effects because it is rarefied and dissolving, or because it is rarefied and tearing away - the meaning of the word “tearing off” you will still learn - or because it is rarefied and washing - the meaning of the word “washing” "will also become known to you in the future.
Every caustic medicine is an opener, every rarefied bitter medicine also opens, and every rarefied fluid medicine opens if it is lukewarm or balanced. Any rarefied sour medicine opens.
A relaxant is a medicine whose property, with its warmth and moisture, is to soften organs with dense pores, causing the pores to become wider and the outpouring of excess from them to occur more easily. Such are, for example, medicinal dressings made from dill and flaxseed.
The ripening medicine has the property of imparting ripeness to the juice, because it warms moderately and has an astringent force. This astringent force holds the juice until it ripens, so that the juice does not dissolve abruptly and the wet in it is not separated from the dry, which would mean combustion.
A digestive medicine is one that has the property of helping food to be digested. You already know about him from the previous one.
The medicine that drives out the winds has the property, with its warmth and drying power, to transform the dense composition of the winds into a rare and airy one, so that they erupt from where they accumulated. Example: rue seeds.
A tear-off is a medicine whose property is to penetrate, due to its rarefaction, into the gap between the surface of an organ and the viscous juice adhering to it and free the organ from it. Therefore, the medicine, separating the particles of the organ, forms separate surfaces for them, and this facilitates the separation of the juices from the place to which they adhere. Example: mustard and shikanjubin. The tearing away is always the opposite of the viscous and sticking, just as the dissolving is the opposite of the thick, and the rarefied is the opposite of the dense, and after each type of medicine comes what is mentioned next to it.
The tearing agent does not necessarily have any effect on the composition of the juice it acts only on its connection with the organ, for it often divides the juice into parts, and each of them retains its original composition.
A drawing medicine is one whose property is to move liquids to the place where it is applied, which is achieved due to its rarefaction and hotness. Example: beaver stream. And a strongly drawing medicine - and one that draws from the depths and therefore is very useful for inflammation of the sciatic nerve and for deep pain in the joints, if after cleansing you make a medicinal bandage out of it. With the help of such medicines, thorns and arrowheads are removed from the places where they are stuck.
Burning is a medicine that is characterized by volatility and the property of strongly penetrating. It causes numerous discontinuities, minor, closely spaced and varying in magnitude each of them is not felt separately, but is felt in general, as a single pain. Example: medicinal dressings made from mustard and vinegar or vinegar itself.
The medicine that causes redness tends to warm the organ with which it comes into contact so much that it strongly attracts blood to it Having reached the surface of the organ, the blood turns it red. Examples of such medicine are mustard, fig and mint.
Medicines that cause redness produce an effect close to cauterization.
An itching medicine tends to draw burning, irritating juices to the pores by drawing out and warming, but it is not capable of leading to ulceration. The action of such a medicine is often facilitated by hard, fluff-like spines that are almost imperceptible. Example: buttercup.
An ulcerative is a medicine whose property is to destroy and dissolve fluids that connect skin particles, and attract bad matter to itself, so that an ulcer is formed. Example: anacardium.
Burning is a medicine that tends to dissolve rarefied juices in the organs, while their ash substance is preserved. This is, for example, furbiyun.
A corrosive medicine is one that dissolves and ulcerates so much that the substance of the meat is reduced. Such, for example, is the verdigris.
Crushing is a medicine that, when it encounters petrified juice, crushes its particles and crushes them in the same way as pebbles are crushed. Such are, for example, the “Jewish stone” and other medicines.
A medicine causes decay, which tends to spoil the nature of the organ, the nature of the pneuma heading to the organ, and the nature of the moisture of this organ by dissolving, so that the nature can no longer be useful for this organ. At the same time, the medicine that causes putrefaction does not burn and corrode the organ and does not absorb the moisture in it. On the contrary, spoiled moisture remains in the organ, and it is affected by extraneous heat, which causes rotting. An example of this is zarnih and tapsia.
Cauterizing is a medicine that corrodes the meat and burns the skin, drying it out, giving it hardness and turning it into a kind of shield, so that the substance of the skin clogs the passages through which the juice flows, if it is on its surface. This hardening is called a “dry wound.”
Cauterizing agents are used to stop bleeding from arteries and in some similar cases. Example: vitriol and kalkatar.
A skin peeler is a medicine that tends to cleanse so much that it removes the spoiled skin particles. Such are, for example, bush, aristolochia and everything that is useful for bahak, bruises and the like.
Cooling is known.
Strengthening is a medicine that tends to balance the composition and nature of an organ so that the organ is not exposed to excess flowing towards it and damage. This is due either to the special property of the medicine, as for example in seal clay and teriyak, or to the balance of its nature, due to which it cools what is hotter and warms what is colder, as Galen believes regarding rose oil.
A distraction medicine is the opposite of a withdrawal medicine. This is a medicine that, due to its coldness, tends to cause coldness in the organ, thicken it and narrow the pores in it it reduces the attractive heat, causes the solidification or condensation of what flows into the organ, and prevents it from reaching the organ, and prevents the organ from receiving it into itself. For example, nightshade acts against tumors.
Condensation is the opposite of rarefaction. This is a medicine that tends to give density to the composition of a liquid, either by causing it to solidify, or by thickening, or by mixing it.
Preventing ripening is the opposite of promoting digestion and causing ripening. This is a medicine whose property is to destroy with its coldness the effect of innate heat, as well as extraneous heat, in food and juices, so that the food remains undigested and unripe.
Numbing is a cold medicine that cools the organ so much that it makes the substance of the pneuma, which carries the driving and sensing force to it, cold and thick in nature, and thanks to this the mental forces do not use the pneuma. It also changes the nature of the organ, which no longer perceives the actions of mental forces. These are, for example, opium, henbane, lettuce, black poppy, mandrake and similar substances.
Moisturizing - known.
A swelling is a medicine whose substance contains thick foreign moisture, which, when innate heat acts on it, does not quickly dissolve, but turns into winds such as, for example, beans. All substances that cause bloating cause headaches and are harmful to the eyes. However, among nutrients and medicines there are those in which the moisture from the first digestion is converted into winds they swell in the stomach, and resorption of the bloating occurs in the stomach and intestines. But there are also medicines and nutrients in which excess moisture, that is, swelling matter, is not affected at all in the stomach until it reaches the vessels, or is exposed in the stomach not entirely, but only partially, and that matter that is exposed influence in the vessels remains in the same state.
Some medicines are completely exposed to the action in the stomach and turn into winds, but the winds are not completely absorbed, but penetrate into the vessels and their airy principle remains there. And in general, any medicine that has excess moisture, extraneous to what it is mixed with, carries with it swelling, such as ginger and indau seeds. Any medicine that dilates blood vessels causes an erection.
A cleanser is any medicine that tends to cleanse, not through its own active force, but through a force that is affected, aided by movement. By force under influence I mean humidity, and by movement I mean flow, for a rarefied liquid, flowing through the mouths of vessels, softens the excess with its moisture, and carries it away with the force of the flow. Such, for example, are barley water, pure water, and the like.
An ulcer contaminant is a moist medicine which, when mixed with the liquid discharge from the ulcers, increases the amount of discharge and prevents drying and healing.
Inducing gliding is a medicine that wets the surface of a body, coming into contact with the duct where this body is trapped, and frees the duct from it. The particles of the retained body acquire the ability to flow, becoming soft due to mixing with the medicine, and are moved from their place either under the influence of natural gravity or pushed by the expelling force. An example of such a medicine is plums with their laxative effect.
A smoothing agent is a viscous medicine that tends to spread evenly over the surface of a rough organ, smoothing it so that its surface becomes smooth on the outside and the roughness is covered. Or such a medicine delivers liquid to the organ, which spreads in the above manner.
A drying agent is a medicine that destroys liquids with its absorbent and thinning properties.
An astringent is a medicine that causes increased movement of particles in an organ to move closer to each other, so that the substance in this place becomes denser and the ducts become clogged.
A squeeze is a medicine that binds and binds the particles so strongly that it causes the liquid moisture contained in the spaces between them to shrink and be released.
A blocker is a dry medicine that is retained in the ducts due to its density and dryness or sealing properties and causes a blockage in them.
An adhesive is a dry medicine containing a little viscous moisture, through which it sticks to the mouths of blood vessels, clogs them and thereby retains fluids. Any viscous, slippery body, when fire acts on it, becomes gluing, clogging and locking.
A healing medicine is one that dries and compacts the moisture present between two adjacent surfaces of a wound, so that the moisture becomes sticky and viscous, and the surfaces of the wound adhere tightly to one another. These are, for example, dragon's blood and sabur.
Build-up meat is a medicine that tends to turn the blood flowing to the wound into meat, balancing its nature and coagulating it by drying it out.
A constrictor is a drying medicine that dries the surface of the wound and forms a scab on it, protecting the wound from damage until natural skin grows back. This is a viscous medicine, balanced in relation to both actions, which dries without burning.
A medicine that is deadly is one that takes the properties of nature to the extreme and destroys it, such as furbiyun and opium.
Poison is a medicine that destroys nature not only because it is the opposite of it, but also because of its special properties, like, for example, aconite.
As for badzahr and teryak, this is any medicine that tends to keep the pneuma strong and healthy so that it can protect itself from the harm caused by poison. The name teryak is more applicable to drugs prepared artificially, and the name badzahr is more applicable to simple drugs that exist in nature. It seems that among those obtained artificially, herbal medicines can rightfully be called teriyak, and mineral ones - badzachrome. It also appears that there is not much difference between the two.
As for laxatives, diuretics and diaphoretics, they are known.
Any medicine that combines a laxative effect with an astringent, as is the case in Colchicum, is useful for pain in the joints, for the laxative property hastens to draw out the matter, and the astringent hastens to narrow the ducts through which it flows. Therefore, matter does not return to the joints and new matter does not follow it.
Any dissolving medicine, which at the same time is slightly astringent, is balanced and useful for relaxations and spasms of the joints and for mucous tumors.
Both binding and dissolving help with drying, and when binding and dissolving combine, the drying becomes stronger.
The actions of laxatives and diuretics mostly interfere with each other, because a diuretic most often dries out feces, and a laxative reduces the amount of urine. Medicines that combine a warming property and a cooling property are useful for hot tumors, when they rise to the end of their development, since these drugs, by binding, distract, and by warming, they dissolve.
Medicines that combine the qualities of teryak with coldness are extremely useful for thinness. The same medicines in which the qualities of teriyak are combined with warmth are more useful than others for coldness of heart nature.
As for the distributive power, it combines every nature only with what is appropriate for it. Thus, it does not allow the resorption force to be near the matter pouring out to any organ, or the cooling force to be near the matter that is pouring out from the organ. For this power is an inspiring means, submissive to the creator, great is he!