Kitap 2
8
Dropsy is the least alarming when it has commenced without being preceded by any disease; next when it has supervened upon a long illness, certainly if the viscera are sound, if the breathing is easy, if there is no pain, if the body is not hot, and the extremities are wasted uniformly, if the abdomen is soft, if there is no cough, no thirst, if the tongue is not much parched even after sleep; if there is desire for food, if the bowels are moved by medicaments, if the motions when spontaneous are soft and formed, if the size of the abdomen are reduced; if the urine is altered both by a change of the wine and of certain medicinal draughts; if there is no lassitude and the disorder is easily borne: a patient who presents all these signs is thoroughly safe, and that case is hopeful which exhibits the greater number of them.
8
Joint-disorders, too, such as foot and hand aches, if they attack young people and have not induced callosities, can be resolved; for the most part they are removed by dysenteries and fluid motions, whatever the sort.
8
Epileptic fits again are not difficult to bring to an end, when they have commenced before puberty, and whenever the sensation of the coming fit begins in some one part of the body. It is best for it to begin from the hands or feet, next from the flanks, worst of all from the head.
