On Regimen In Acute Diseases   

the matters descend to the lower part of the bowels, and then they are
to be evacuated by a clyster. But if the ardent fever (causus)
supervene when the bowels are empty, should you still judge it
proper to administer purgative medicine, it ought not be done during
the first three days, nor earlier than the fourth. When you give the
medicine, use the ptisan, observing the paroxysms of the fevers, so as
not to give it when the fever is setting in, but when it is ceasing,
or on the decline, and as far as possible from the commencement.
When the feet are cold, give neither drink nor ptisan, nor anything
else of the kind, but reckon it an important rule to refrain until
they become warm, and then you may administer them with advantage. For
the most part, coldness of the feet is a symptom of a paroxysm of
the fever coming on; and if at such a season you apply those things,
you will commit the greatest possible mistake, for you will augment
the disease in no small degree. But when the fever ceases, the feet,
on the contrary, become hotter than the rest of the body; for when the
heat leaves the feet, it is kindled up in the breast, and sends its
flame up to the head. And when all the heat rushes upwards, and is
exhaled at the head, it is not to be wondered at that the feet
become cold, being devoid of flesh, and tendinous; and besides, they
contract cold, owing to their distance from the hotter parts of the
body, an accumulation of heat having taken place in the chest: and
again, in like manner, when the fever is resolved and dissipated,
the heat descends to the feet, and, at the same time, the head and
chest become cold. Wherefore one should attend to this; that when
the feet are cold, the bowels are necessarily hot, and filled with
nauseous matters; the hypochondrium distended: there is jactitation of
the body, owing to the internal disturbance; and aberration of the
intellect, and pains; the patient is agitated, and wishes to vomit,
and if he vomits bad matters he is pained; but when the heat
descends to the feet, and the urine passes freely, he is every way
lightened, even although he does not sweat; at this season, then,
the ptisan ought to be given; it would be death to give it before.
8. When the bowels are loose during the whole course of fevers, in
this case we are most especially to warm the feet, and see that they
are properly treated with cerates, and wrapped in shawls, so that they
may not become colder than the rest of the body; but when they are
hot, no fomentation must be made to them, but care is to be taken that
they do not become cold; and very little drink is to be used, either
cold water or hydromel. In those cases of fever where the bowels are
loose, and the mind is disordered, the greater number of patients pick
the wool from their blankets, scratch their noses, answer briefly when
questions are put to them, but, when left to themselves, utter nothing
that is rational. Such attacks appear to me to be connected with black
bile. When in these cases there is a colliquative diarrhoea, I am of
opinion that we ought to give the colder and thicker ptisans, and that
the drinks ought to be binding, of a vinous nature, and rather
astringent. In cases of fever attended from the first with vertigo,
throbbing of the head, and thin urine, you may expect the fever to
be exacerbated at the crisis; neither need it excite wonder,
although there be delirium. When, at the commencement, the urine is
cloudy or thick, it is proper to purge gently, provided this be
otherwise proper; but when the urine at first is thin, do not purge
such patients, but, if thought necessary, give a clyster; such
patients should be thus treated; they should be kept in a quiet state,
have unguents applied to them, and be covered up properly with
clothes, and they should use for drink a watery hydromel, and the
juice of ptisan as a draught in the evening; clear out the bowels at
first with a clyster, but give no purgative medicines to them, for, if
you move the bowels strongly, the urine is not concocted, but the
fever remains long, without sweats and without a crisis. Do not give
draughts when the time of the crisis is at hand, if there be
agitation, but only when the fever abates and is alleviated. It is
proper to be guarded at the crises of other fevers, and to withhold