Book 2
Κεφ. θ. περὶ τῶν κατὰ τοὺς Νεφροὺς ὀξέων παθῶν.
9
νεφροὶ, τὴν μὲν τοῦ σώματος ἰδέην, οὐ κάρτα ἐπίκαιροι ἐς κίνδυνον, ἢν καί τι πάθωσι ὀξέως. ἀδενώδεες γὰρ τὴν φύσιν, ἐς δὲ ὄλεθρον εὐήθεες·It appears to me that all the translators have misunderstood the meaning of these words, ἐς δὲ ὄλεθρον εὐήθεες, which Henisch and Boerhaave translate, ad mortem vero inferendam bene habiles sunt: Wigan and Ermerins, — ægrum tamen facile interimunt. Moffat rather oddly, — well calculated for bearing an attack. Now the literal meaning of the words obviously is, they are innocent as regards death; which surely can imply nothing but that the affections of the kidneys are not naturally deadly. (See Liddel and Scott's Lexicon under the word.) In fact, whoever will read the context carefully must see that this meaning is the only one in accordance with it, and with what is said below, namely, that the majority of cases are not fatal. Ermerins, in this instance, vitiates the text by meddling with it, and substituting γὰρ for δὲ after ἐπίκαιρον. ἐπίκαιρον δὲ αὐτέων τὸ ἔργον, ἥ τε διάκρισις τῶν οὔρων ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος καὶ ἡ ἀπόκρισις.
