Medicine and philosophy - Classical Homeopathy Online

The Methodism of Caelius Aurelianus 309vehement criticism. 50 This problem presents itself even more clearly whenwe get to a third category,(iii) passages in which Caelius refers to parts of the body, or processeswithin the body, of which he explicitly states that they are invisible,such as the following:(8) in quibusdam etiam sine sudore uires soluuntur et naturalis uigor disiectioneocculta, quam Graeci ϕ uocant, exstinguitur, cum omnis corporishabitudo laxior atque dimissa et friabilis fuerit facta. (Acut. 2.32.172)In some people their physical strength simply dissolves without sweating and theirnatural vigour is destroyed because of an invisible dissolution, which the Greekscall adēlos diaphorēsis, which happens when the whole normal state of the body hasbecome flabby and dissolved and fallen into decay.(9) at si omnes partes fuerint solutione laxatae, similiter haec omnibussunt adhibenda, in illis etiam, quae occulta diaphoresi contabescunt. differentiaetenim accidentium mutata uidetur, genus autem passionis idem manet. (Acut.2.37.217)But if all parts are relaxed because of a state of looseness, these [measures] have tobe applied similarly to all [parts of the body], also to those that decay as a result ofan invisible dissolution. For although there seems to have occurred a difference inconcomitant characteristics, the kind of the disease remains the same.(10) plena igitur de his [sc. uomicis] tradenda est ratio. haec enim sunt, quae inoccultis natae collectiones nuncupantur, ut in splanchnis ac membrana, quae lateracingit, uel in pulmone aut discrimine thoracis ac uentris, quod Graeci diaphragmauocant, item stomacho uel uentre, iecore, liene, intestinis, renibus, uesica autmictuali uia uel matrice aut peritoneo . . . usum chirurgiae non exigunt, siquidemsint occultis in locis et plurimis superpositis membris. (Chron. 5.10.91–2)We must give a full account of these [i.e. abscesses]. For these are the gatheringsthat are said to originate in invisible parts, for example in the intestines and inthe membrane that surrounds the sides or in the lung or in the membrane thatdivides the chest and the abdomen, which the Greeks call the diaphragm, and alsoin the oesophagus or the stomach, the liver, the spleen, the intestines, the kidneys,the bladder or urinary passage, or the uterus or the peritoneum . . . [These] do notrequire the use of surgical measures, as they are located in invisible places and havemany structures lying on top of them.(11) Interiorum uero eruptionum diuisuras urgente solutionis coenoteta[m] ipsammagis cogimur iudicare, siquidem prior oculis occurrat solutio ac deinde diuisuraratione atque intellectu mentis apprehendi uideatur.(Chron. 2.12.147, partly quotedbefore as no. 4)50 This question is ignored in discussions of Asclepiades’ influence on Methodism by Vallance (1990)131ff., and Frede (1987a) 272f.