On conclusions drawn from mental actions associated with sensation, reasoning and movement

We say: these actions are already known to suffer such damage as cessation, weakness and disorder. An example of this is sensation. Let's start with sight. Damage to vision is expressed either in its loss or weakening, or its effect is upset and changed in comparison with the natural state. Then the person imagines something that does not exist outside, for example, ghosts, flies, flames, smoke, etc. If these damages do not relate to the eye itself, then based on them a conclusion is made about damage to the brain. Sometimes ghosts can serve as a sign due to their coloring. Let a person ask: How can white ghosts indicate the predominance of mucus when the mucus is cold, and you associate the visual disturbance with warmth? We answer: This refers to nature and does not refer to the opposition of matter to the force of health, perfect in relation to innate heat.

As for hearing, for example, it either weakens and only a close and loud sound is heard, or the hearing is upset and something that does not exist outside is heard, for example, a noise similar to the murmur of water, the blows of a hammer, the sound of drums, to the rustling of tree leaves or the howl of the wind and the like. All this indicates the presence of a dry nature in the middle region of the brain, or winds and vapors that linger in the brain or rise there, or indicate something else that serves as a sign. Or the hearing completely disappears. Weakness and loss of hearing occurs from great coldness of nature, and if what is heard is heard as if from afar, then this is due to the humidity of nature.

And the sense of smell, when damaged, disappears or weakens or is upset and senses fetid or non-fetid odors that do not exist outside. This indicates, in most cases, a juice locked up in the anterior part of the brain which produces this effect, unless it is a lesion relating to the nasal cartilage.

With regard to taste and touch, the situation is the same, but their deviation from the natural state indicates in most cases some special disorder in nearby areas and only very rarely - the complicity of the brain; it occurs, in particular, when the damage is general, for example, when the whole body goes numb.

Sensation sometimes participates in the manifestation of a type of weakness or strength, indicating a certain permanent state of the brain, that is, clouding and clarity of perceptions. However, not every weakness is accompanied by clouding; sometimes weakness occurs even with clarity of perception. For example, a person sees a close, dimly lit object well and clearly, and also sees small things, but if they are further away or illuminated more strongly, he cannot see them. Therefore, cloudiness and clarity exist simultaneously in weakness. Clarity necessarily occurs in the presence of force, but cloudiness always indicates matter, and clarity always indicates dryness. Such cloudiness sometimes suddenly becomes stronger and dizziness occurs from it, which indicates the presence of vaporous matter in the vessels of the brain and in the retina.

The judgment about the conclusions regarding such injuries is as follows: the damage manifested in the form of disorder, in most cases, depends on the hot and dry nature; when it manifests itself in insufficiency and weakness, then in most cases it depends on coldness, unless it is accompanied by a sharp manifestation of deterioration of nature and loss of strength; in this case, it often happens from warmth. But still, warmth, compared to cold, favors strength. As long as the nature does not suffer very much and deteriorate from the cold, it does not lead to a decrease in strength. Therefore, in such cases, one should not rely on this sign and it is better to wait for the other already mentioned signs of each of these two natures. The loss of sensation sometimes indicates a strengthening of the reasons that caused its weakening, if it is due to a reason inherent in the brain, and did not occur as a result of damage to the organs-instruments - rotting, rupture or blockage, and generally not from the inability of the organs-instruments themselves to perform their actions well or what some other cause in the sensory organ itself. Some sense organs are very close to the brain and damage to them is only in rare cases not shared with the brain. Take hearing and smell, for example. Most of their damage, which does not stop from cleansing and balancing the nature, comes from the brain. Also, if other sense organs experience suffering with their characteristic sensations, this indicates damage to them from warmth or dryness, which has not yet reached such a degree as to cause a decrease in strength. Hearing and then smell most often indicate that such a disorder of nature has occurred in the brain.

As for the action of reason, the strength of reason and consideration testifies to the strength of the nature of the entire brain, and their weakness indicates the presence of some damage in it, which remains hidden until it is clarified what other actions are damaged. These include corruption and damage to the power of imagination and representation: if these forces are great, they help to draw a conclusion about the healthy state of the front part of the brain. These powers are great only if a person is able to remember well the images and qualities of perceived things, for example, figures, drawings, taste, voices, melodies, etc. There are people whose strength in this respect is perfect; Thus, a good geometer takes one look at a drawn figure, and its image and letters are imprinted on his soul; he solves the problem to the end, and he does not need to look at the figure again. Some people are like this with regard to tunes, others - with regard to taste and the like. This area also includes good pulse detection; truly this requires a strong imagination, thanks to which the powers of tangible things are imprinted on the soul. If the power of imagination is damaged, then when its action ceases completely, the image of the perceived object is not preserved in the imagination after the connection between it and the perceiving force, which allows it to be perceived, ceases. Damage to the power of imagination is also expressed in the fact that it either weakens, or becomes insufficient, or deviates from the natural state, and a person imagines something that does not exist. Weakness, change and cessation of the power of imagination  in most cases indicates excessive cold, dryness or dampness in the front part of the brain. Cold is a cause essentially, and the last two qualities are incidental, for they attract cold.

Changes and disturbances in action indicate excessive warmth. All that has been said is true in most cases and corresponds to what has been said about the powers of sensation. Sometimes such a disease occurs in people with a sound mind, so that they can clearly distinguish between good and bad and talk to people quite sensibly, but it seems to them that there are people near them who are not really there, and they hear the sounds of drums and the like. As Galen relates, the physician Herophilus had such a disease. Damage to the functioning of the mind includes damage to the power of thinking and imagination. This can be either a loss of strength, and then it is called loss of reason, or a weakening of it, and then it is called dementia; the source of these two conditions is the coldness, dryness or dampness of the nature of the front part of the brain; this happens in most cases, in accordance with what has already been said. Or a change and disorder in the action of force occurs, so that a person thinks of something that does not exist, and he considers what is wrong to be correct; this is called insanity and indicates the presence of a tumor or yellow gall hot dry matter; in the latter case it will be brutal madness, and such madness is accompanied by embitterment. Insanity also indicates the presence of black bile matter, and then it will be melancholy; insanity with it is accompanied by suspicion and fruitless thoughts. The tendency of such a madman to cowardice is more indicative of the coldness of nature, and the tendency to insolence and anger indicates rather warmth. There are other differences between these diseases that should be taken into account, which we will outline later. Such diseases sometimes occur with the complicity of another organ, and this is recognized by particular signs that we will describe later. But in general, when thoughts are in constant motion, confused and changing, then there is excessive warmth. Sometimes confusion of thoughts also occurs in diseases with cold matter, when the matter is not without heat. Such, for example, is the stupefaction of consciousness during litharguss.

This also includes damage to the memory power, which is expressed either in its weakening or in its loss. As Galen relates, a pestilence once arose in the country of the Ethiopians, the cause of which was the numerous corpses left behind after a fierce battle. Pestilence passed into the country of the Greeks, and therefore they developed such forgetfulness that a person forgot his own name and the name of his father. In most cases, memory weakness occurs due to damage in the back of the brain from cold or wet or dry conditions. Sometimes the memory is upset, and the person then remembers something that actually never happened to him; this indicates a hot disorder of nature, with or without matter. Dry matter more often causes this disorder. All this takes place when the warmth of nature has not become excessive and strength has not diminished.

To summarize, we will say that the cessation of the mentioned brain actions can be caused by the predominance of cold in the substance of the brain - and then the cold takes possession of the brain for many days - or in its cavities. Sometimes the disease occurs from cold and moisture, and sometimes it is brought on by dryness. The same is true with weakening brain activity. As for their change, it occurs either due to a tumor, or because of the yellow-billed or black-billed nature, or because of pure warmth. Conclusions on the quality of dreams are related to what should be added here. If someone often sees yellow and hot things in a dream, this indicates the predominance of yellow bile; Also indicative is the frequent appearance in a dream of things corresponding to one or another nature, and there is no need to list them. Confused dreams indicate warmth and dryness and therefore foreshadow hot diseases of the brain. Scary dreams and those that you don’t remember in most cases indicate cold and humidity.