Book 1
16
This disease is difficult to cure, and is a very protracted illness; for it is engendered during a protracted space of time, and not from one infirmity of the body, nor in connection with only one viscus; for it is formed by the conversion of all into a vitiated state. Wherefore those diseases which are its offspring are incurable, as dropsy, phthisis, or wasting; for, indeed, the causes of cachexia are akin to those of wasting. The disease is a protracted and continuous dysentery, and the relapses of diseases in certain cases. Generally there is sufficient appetite, and plenty of food is taken; but the distribution thereof takes place in a crude and undigested condition, for the operation of digestion is not performed upon the food.
