igestion, so that by the concoctions of the old
there may arise an appetite for new. Nor does the cessation of thirst
after bathing spring from the different position of the passages, but
from a new supply of moisture received into the flesh, and conveyed
from thence to them also. And vomiting, by throwing off whatever is
disagreeable to Nature, puts her in a capacity of enjoying what is
most suitable for her. For thirst does not call for a superfluity of
moisture, but only for so much as sufficeth Nature; and therefore,
though a man had plenty of disagreeable and unnatural moisture, yet he
wants still, for that stops the course of the natural, which Nature is
desirous of, and hinders a due mixture and temperament, till it be cast
out and the pores receive what is most proper and convenient for them.
Moreover, a fever forces all the moisture downward; and the middle parts
being in combustion, it all retires thither, and there is shut up and
forcibly detained. And therefore it is usual with a great many to vomit,
by reason of the density of the inward parts squeezing out the moisture,
and likewise to thirst, by reason of the poor and dry state the rest of
the body is in. But after the violence of the distemper is once abated,
and the raging heat hath left the middle parts, the moisture begins to
disperse itself again; and according to its natural motion, by a speedy
conveyance into all the parts, it refreshes the entrails, softens and
makes tender the dry and parched flesh. Very often also it causes sweat,
and then the defect which occasioned thirst ceases; for the moisture
leaving that part of the body wherein it was forcibly detained, and
out of which it hardly made an escape, retires to the place where it is
wanted. For as it fares with a garden wherein there is a large well,--if
nobody draw thereof and water it, the herbs must needs wither and
die,--so it fares with a body; if all the moisture be contracted into
one part, it is no wonder if the rest be in want and dry, till it is
diffused again over the other limbs. Just so it happens to persons in a
fever, after the heat of the disease is over, and likewise to those
who go to sleep thirsty. For in these, sleep draws the moisture to the
middle parts, and equally distributes it amongst the rest, satisfying
them all. But, I pray, what kind of transfiguration of the passages
is this which causes hunger and thirst? For my part, I know no other
distinction of the pores but