er of
the air to the body, is obstructed by rheums and its passages are not
free, some of them not acting, while through others too much air enters,
then the parts which are unrefreshed by air corrode, while in other
parts the excess of air forcing its way through the veins distorts them
and decomposing the body is enclosed in the midst of it and occupies the
midriff; thus numberless painful diseases are produced, accompanied by
copious sweats. And oftentimes when the flesh is dissolved in the body,
wind, generated within and unable to escape, is the source of quite as
much pain as the air coming in from without; but the greatest pain is
felt when the wind gets about the sinews and the veins of the shoulders,
and swells them up, and so twists back the great tendons and the sinews
which are connected with them. These disorders are called tetanus and
opisthotonus, by reason of the tension which accompanies them. The
cure of them is difficult; relief is in most cases given by fever
supervening. The white phlegm, though dangerous when detained within by
reason of the air-bubbles, yet if it can communicate with the outside
air, is less severe, and only discolours the body, generating leprous
eruptions and similar diseases. When it is mingled with black bile and
dispersed about the courses of the head, which are the divinest part
of us, the attack if coming on in sleep, is not so severe; but when
assailing those who are awake it is hard to be got rid of, and being an
affection of a sacred part, is most justly called sacred. An acid and
salt phlegm, again, is the source of all those diseases which take the
form of catarrh, but they have many names because the places into which
they flow are manifold.

Inflammations of the body come from burnings and inflamings, and all of
them originate in bile. When bile finds a means of discharge, it boils
up and sends forth all sorts of tumours; but when imprisoned within, it
generates many inflammatory diseases, above all when mingled with pure
blood; since it then displaces the fibres which are scattered about in
the blood and are designed to maintain the balance of rare and dense,
in order that the blood may not be so liquefied by heat as to exude
from the pores of the body, nor again become too dense and thus find
a difficulty in circulating through the veins. The fibres are so
constituted as to maintain this balance; and if any one brings them
all together when the blood is dead and in