Kitap 2
8
For what could a man possibly say about blood who had no use for innate heat ? What could he say about yellow or black bile, or phlegm? Well, of course, he might say that the bile could come directly from without, mingled with the food! Thus Erasistratus practically says so in the following words: It is of no value in practical medicine to find out whether fluid of this kind i.e.. bile. arises from the elaboration of food in the stomach-region, or whether it reaches the body because it is mixed with the food taken in from outside. But my very good Sir, you most certainly maintain also that this humour has to be evacuated from the animal, and that it causes great pain if it be not evacuated. How, then, if you suppose that no good comes from the bile, do you venture to say that an investigation into its origin is of no value in medicine?
