Medicine and philosophy - Classical Homeopathy Online

Galen on qualified experience 287In the rest of the chapter, Galen further lists a number of thatare relevant to the question of the powers of foodstuffs, such as:the amount of time spent on the preparation of the substance, as well asthe manner of preparation, which may influence its power; 25the particular condition (both natural and acquired) of the bowels andthe stomach, which determines which constituents of the substanceare activated in the process of digestion; 26season, geographical area, age, sex, way of life (the list of factors familiarfrom the Hippocratic Corpus), each of which may influence the actualoutcome of an empirical test; 27variations in the intensity of the substance’s effect; 28degrees of mixture with other substances, which may significantly influencethe substance’s power; 29different parts of the body, which may react differently to one and thesame substance. 30The general thrust of the argument is that the actual effect a substancemay produce not only depends on the ‘mixture’ () of the substance,but also on the mixture of the body; 31 variations on either side bring complicationswith them. When testing the substance’s power, and when prescribingthe substance in particular cases, it is the task of the dietician totake all those variations into account.On the matter of ‘mixtures’ (), On Mixtures book 3 presents amore systematic discussion of the to be taken into account whendescribing the effects of a particular foodstuff or drug. After explaining anumber of notions that are very fundamental to the study of pharmacology,such as and (to which I shall turn later), Galen enumeratesa long list of factors which determine the possible effects of a foodstuff ordrug:some drugs immediately bring about warmth when brought into contactwith a human body, but others have to be cut into smaller pieces beforeactually bringing about the effect; 3225 1.1.12–15 (CMG v4, 2, pp.205.23–206.28 Helmreich, 6.460–2 K.).26 1.1.16–17 (CMG v4, 2, p.207.1–18 Helmreich, 6.462 K.).27 1.1.30–2 (CMG v4, 2, p.211.9–30 Helmreich, 6.470–1 K.). Cf. De simpl. med. fac. 3.12 (11.570 K.).28 1.1.26–8 (CMG v4, 2, pp.208.8–209.3 Helmreich, 6.468–70 K.). Cf. De simpl. med. fac. 1.27(11.428–9). Harig (1974), 117ff.29 1.1.40–1 (CMG v4, 2, p.214.4–22 Helmreich, 6.475–6 K.).30 1.1.42–3 (CMG v4, 2, p.214.2–9 Helmreich, 6.477 K.).31 1.1.34 (CMG v4, 2, p.212.12–13 Helmreich, 6.472 K.).32 De temper. 3.1 (p. 89.15ff. Helmreich, 1.651ff. K.); cf. De simpl. med. fac. 1.11 (11.400 K.).