Signs of a disturbed nature

There are ten categories of signs by which the state of nature is recognized. One of them is the sense of touch. The method of information here is that the doctor observes whether the tangible integument feels the same as that of a healthy person in a temperate country with temperate air. If they are the same, this indicates a balanced nature, and if the toucher, having a healthy nature, experiences some sensation while touching the skin of the person being examined and finds it cold, or hot, or soft beyond natural or denser and tougher than natural, and there is no reason for this that depends on air, bathing in water or any other factor that increases the softness or roughness of the skin, then the nature of the subject is not balanced.

Sometimes the state of the body's nature can be determined by the condition of the fingernails in terms of softness, hardness and dryness, unless the condition of the nails is due to some extraneous cause. However, the judgment of softness and hardness depends on the preliminary establishment of the correctness of the signs indicating the balance of nature in relation to heat and cold. If this is not so, then it is possible that heat, by dissolving, softens what is hard to the touch and hard more than it should be in balance, and seems to be soft and moist by nature, while cold, by freezing and compacting, is more than it should be. makes something soft feel hard and feel dry. These are snow and fat: snow because it hardens and freezes, and fat because of its density. Most people of a cold nature have a soft body, although such people are thin, because their juices are very immature.

The second category is the characteristics given by meat and fat. Red meat, when there is a lot of it, indicates moisture and warmth of nature; The meat is also dense. If there is little meat and no abundant fat, this indicates dryness and warmth. Fat and lard always indicate coldness, and the meat can be flabby. If, at the same time, there is a narrowness of blood vessels and a paucity of blood, and a person becomes weak from starvation due to the thickening of the innate blood prepared for the needs of nourishing the organs, this indicates that such a nature is innate and natural; if there are no secondary signs, then this means that such a nature is acquired.

The scarcity of fat and lard indicates the warmth of nature, for the matter of fat and lard is the fatness of the blood, and their agent is cold; therefore there is little fat in the liver and a lot in the intestines.

The reason that there is a lot of fat in the heart - more than in the liver - is matter, and not nature and form, and also because nature takes care of such matter.

The solidification of fat and lard in the body is large or small depending on the smallness or abundance of heat; a fleshy body without abundant lard and fat - this body is hot and moist; if there is a lot of red meat with a small amount of lard and fat, this indicates excessive moisture, and if there is too much fat and lard, then the cold and moisture are excessive and the body is cold and wet.

The most fragile body is cold and dry by nature, then comes hot and dry, then dry, balanced in terms of warmth and moisture, then hot, balanced in terms of moisture and dryness.

The third category is the characteristics given by hair; they are taken according to the following indicators: the speed of growth and its slowness, the abundance and scarcity of hair, its fineness and coarseness, smoothness and curlyness. Hair color is one of the main indicators; As for the conclusion on the speed, slowness or complete absence of growth, then slowly growing hair or not growing at all, if there are absolutely no signs indicating that there is no blood in the body, indicate a high moisture content of the nature;

if the hair grows quickly, then it means that the body is not so wet, but rather dry, but its warmth and coldness are inferred from other signs that we mentioned. However, if heat and dryness combine, the hair grows very quickly and is thick and coarse. The point here is that the abundance of hair indicates warmth, and coarseness indicates an abundance of the smoky principle, as happens in young men, but not in children, for in children the principle of steam, not smoke, predominates in matter, and opposite principles give rise to opposite consequences .

As for judging by appearance, curly hair indicates warmth and dryness, and sometimes indicates tortuosity of passages and pores. In this case, curliness does not change due to a change in nature, but for the first two reasons it changes. The smoothness of the hair indicates the opposite.

As for hair color, black indicates hotness of nature, light brown indicates coldness, light and red indicates balance, and white indicates either moisture and coldness, as with gray hair, or severe dryness, as happens in plants that dry out and they turn white if you peel off their blackness, that is, their greenery. For people, this command occurs only at the end of drying diseases.

The cause of gray hair, according to Aristotle, is the transition of the color of the hair into the color of mucus, and according to Galen, it is the result of mold, to which the nutrient heading to the hair is necessarily exposed when it is cold or moves slowly through the pores. If you think about these two statements, it turns out that they are actually close to each other. After all, the reason for the white color of mucus and the reason for the whiteness of what grows mold is the same, and it is more or less natural. In addition, the location of the country and the air have an influence on the hair that must be taken into account. One cannot expect that a Negro will be blond, in order to conclude from this that his nature is balanced, or that a Slav will have black hair, allowing one to conclude that his nature is hot, as befits black-haired people.

Age also affects hair. In this, young men are similar to southerners, children are similar to northerners, and middle-aged people are similar to inhabitants of average climates. The abundance of hair in children indicates that their nature, when they grow up, will turn into black-billed, and in an old man, hairiness indicates that he is already black-billed.

The fourth category is characteristics derived from body color. Whiteness indicates a lack of blood and a small amount of it in the presence of coldness, for if there were warmth and bile juice in the blood, the body would undoubtedly turn yellow.

Red color indicates an abundance of blood and its warmth, while yellowness and light color indicate great warmth of nature. However, yellowness rather indicates an abundance of bile, and a light color indicates an excess of blood in general or bile blood in particular. Sometimes yellowness indicates a lack of blood, even if there is no excess bile in the body, as happens in the body of convalescents.

Pale indicates a strong coldness of nature, due to which the amount of blood decreases, and this small amount thickens and turns into black bile, and the color of the skin changes. The dark red color of the skin indicates a hot nature, and the color of the eggplant indicates coldness and dryness, for this color accompanies the spilling of pure black bile. A plaster complexion indicates pure coldness and sliminess of nature, lead is proof of its coldness and dampness with some excess of black bile, for it is a white color with a slight greenish tint. White follows the color of mucus or wet nature, and green follows the color of blood that has thickened to black bile, which mixes with mucus and turns it green. Ivory color indicates a mucous cold nature and a slight degree of bile.

In most cases, the complexion changes from the liver to yellow and white, from the spleen - to yellow and black, and with kidney disease - to yellow and green, but this does not always happen, and these signs sometimes alternate. The conclusion from the color of the tongue about the nature of the resting and pulsating vessels of the body is of great force; The conclusion about the nature of the brain based on eye color is also convincing.

Sometimes, with the same disease, the color of any two organs is different, for example, with jaundice, the tongue sometimes turns white, and the skin of the face turns black due to the great causticity of bile.

The fifth category is signs drawn from the composition of organs. The consequence of a hot nature is a wide chest and large limbs, which are perfect in size - not narrower and not shorter than they should be, as well as the width of the veins, clearly visible under the skin, the power and strength of the pulse, the power of the muscles that are located close to the joints. This is explained by the fact that all initial actions and all forms of combinations of particles are carried out thanks to the warmth and coldness of nature, and cold and warmth are followed by something opposite to them, for natural forces, due to the absence of warmth and coldness of nature, cannot complete the acts of creation and creation. A consequence of a dry nature is flaky skin; at the same time, the joints and cartilages of the larynx and nose protrude; the nose is straight.

The sixth category is signs drawn from the speed of reaction of organs to a particular influence. Thus, if the organs quickly and easily heat up, it means that his nature is hot, for the transition to what is homogeneous is easier than the transition to the opposite. If the organ cools down quickly, then for the same reason the situation is the other way around. And if someone says: “This should not be the case, but the other way around, for we firmly know that a thing experiences the influence only of something opposite to it, but not similar, and the reasoning that you just cited requires that the influence the similar was stronger,” then the answer to this will be this: a similar principle that does not have an effect is something whose quality is the same in appearance and nature with the quality of another thing similar to it. But the warmer is not similar to the colder; on the contrary, two warm things, one of which is warmer, are different. That thing which is not warmer is cold in comparison with something warmer and is affected by it because it is cold in comparison with it and not warm.

It is also exposed to the influence of that which is colder than it, and to the influence of that which is generally cold, but one of these two things influencing it enhances its quality and contributes to the manifestation of that which is stronger in it, while the other reduces its quality; therefore, it is easier for her to move into something that increases her quality and helps what is stronger in her.

However, there is also another phenomenon here that relates to a thing that has a common quality with the first thing, but is inferior to it in this quality. For example, a thing of a hot nature by nature quickly accepts the influence of the hot, for the hot destroys the effect of its opposite principle, namely cold, which prevents the hot nature from doing what the latter seeks to do, that is, heat more strongly. When both hot things meet and the obstacle disappears, they help each other in heating, and the consequence of this mutual help is a perfect effort of both qualities. And when external heat tries to destroy balance, the innate internal heat offers the strongest resistance. Even against hot poisons nothing can resist and nothing spoils their substance except innate warmth.

Innate warmth is an instrument of nature that eliminates the harm of heat coming from outside. It moves the pneuma to repel it, repels its vapor, dissolves it and burns its matter, and also reflects the harm of cold coming from without, acting on it as an opposite quality.

Coldness does not have this property. Coldness fights the hot principle coming from outside and hinders it only as its opposite and does not fight the cold coming from outside. Innate warmth is precisely the principle that protects innate fluids and does not allow extraneous heat to take possession of them.

When the innate warmth is strong, then the nature is able, through it, to dispose of liquids, bringing them to maturity, digesting them and maintaining them in a healthy state. Liquids move along the path to which it directs them, and do not have the opportunity to move as indicated by extraneous heat, and therefore do not rot.

If the innate heat is weak, then nature does not influence the liquids due to the weakness of the instrument that mediates between it and the liquids. The fluids stand still, and foreign heat meets them, without being diverted aside, takes possession of them, gains complete power over them and causes them to move in an unusual manner, resulting in putrefaction.

Innate warmth is an instrument for all forces, and coldness is incompatible with it and brings benefit only in a secondary way. That is why they say “innate warmth”, but do not say “innate coldness”, and coldness is not attributed in the essence of the body the meaning that is attributed to warmth.

The seventh category of signs is the state of sleep and wakefulness. Balance in this respect indicates a balanced nature, especially in the brain; excess sleep indicates humidity and coldness; excessive wakefulness speaks of a dry and warm nature.

The eighth category is signs gleaned from actions. When actions happen naturally all the time and are complete and perfect, this indicates a balanced nature. When they change, deviating to the side, and turn into excessive movements, this indicates the ardor of nature. If the actions are fast, this also indicates ardor, for example, the speed of body growth, the speed of hair growth, the rapid growth of teeth. If the movements are sluggish or weak, lazy and slow, this indicates a cold nature; however, their weakness, lethargy and impotence also come from a hot nature, but at the same time, along with weakness, deviations from the natural path are always observed.

Due to the ardor of nature, sometimes many natural functions of the body also cease or decrease; thus, _/ for example, due to a hot nature, sleep often disappears or decreases. Therefore, some natural states, such as, say, sleep, are enhanced by cold, but these states are not natural in the absolute sense and are such only under certain conditions and causes. Sleep, for example, is not an absolute necessity in life, in a healthy state; it is needed only because the pneuma is distracted from the tasks occupying it due to fatigue or because the pneuma needs to concentrate on digesting food and cannot do both tasks at once.

Therefore, sleep is needed only because of some weakness and represents a violation of what should be and what is natural. If this violation can be called natural because it is necessary, then what is natural is called necessary synonymously.

The signs of this category most reliably indicate only a balanced nature in the case when the actions are balanced and complete. As for their indications of hotness, coldness, dryness and humidity, these are approximate indications.

Among the strong actions that indicate ardor are a strong and distinct voice, rapidity and coherence of speech, anger, rapidity of movements and blinking, although all this does not occur due to any general cause, but due to a particular cause related to the organ of action.

The ninth category is the category of the body's ejection of excess and the quality of what is expelled. If the eruption proceeds as expected, and what is erupted - feces, urine, sweat, etc. - is hot, has a strong smell and color, if it should have it, and everything that should be boiled and fried can be boiled and fried, then, This means that all this is hot by nature, and that which is opposite to it is cold.

Signs of the tenth category are drawn from the state of mental forces in relation to their action and ability to be affected. So, for example, strong rage, irritability, intelligence, intelligence, courage, impudence, a good opinion of people, hope for good, severity, cheerfulness, masculine qualities, a small tendency to laziness, little impressionability indicate ardor, and the opposite qualities indicate coldness nature The stability of anger, goodwill, ideas and strength of memory, as well as other moods and impressions, indicates a dry nature, and if external influences quickly pass, this indicates moisture.

This also includes dreams and daydreams. A person in whose nature hotness predominates sees in a dream that he is roasting in the fire or the sun, and the one in whom cold predominates sees that he is freezing or immersed in cold water. As they say, a person in whom any of the juices predominates sees in a dream something that is akin to his juice.

All or most of what we have mentioned belongs to the field of characteristics that arise during the initial structure of man. As for side, secondary natures, a hot nature is indicated by a disturbing inflammation in the body, the suffering of a person with such a nature from fevers, a rapid loss of strength when moving due to the stimulation of internal warmth, excessive thirst, burning in the mouth of the stomach and bitterness in the mouth; Such a person’s pulse is rather weak, very fast and frequent. When taken, hot substances cause him harm; he recovers from cold, but in the summer he feels unwell.

Signs of an unnaturally cold nature are a low ability to digest food, little thirst, relaxed joints, and a frequency of mucous fevers. Catarrh and the use of cooling substances are harmful to a person with such a nature; he gets better from eating hot foods and feels bad in winter.

Signs of unnatural humidity in nature correspond to signs of coldness. In this case, there is a loose build, leakage of saliva and nasal mucus, “weakness of nature,” poor digestion, deterioration of health from eating wet things, a tendency to sleep a lot and swelling of the eyelids.

As for the signs of unnatural dryness, these are dry skin, insomnia, frequent weight loss, deterioration of health from eating something that contains dryness, poor health in the fall and improvement from wet food; the body of such a person immediately absorbs hot water and liquid oil, and he is very eager for them.