Kitap 2
1
The symptoms are very great and very easy to see, to touch, and to hear; in Ascites, for example, to see the tumidity of the abdomen, and the swelling about the feet; the face, the arms, and other parts are slender, but the scrotum and and prepuce swell, and the whole member becomes crooked, from the inequality of the swelling:—To touch—by strongly applying the hand and compressing the lower belly; for the fluid will pass to other parts. But when the patient turns to this side or that, the fluid, in the change of posture, occasions swelling and fluctuation, the sound of which may be heard. But if you press the finger firmly on any part, it becomes hollow, and remains so for a considerable time. These are the appearances of Ascites.
1
Tympanites may be recognised, not only from the sight of the swelling, but also by the sound which is heard on percussion. For if you tap with the hand, the abdomen sounds; neither does the flatus (pneuma) shift its place with the changes of posture; for the flatus, even although that which contains it should be turned upwards and downwards, remains always equally the same; but should the flatus (pneuma) be converted into vapour and water (for Ascites may supervene on Tympanites), it shifts its form, indeed, the one half running in a fluid state, if the conversion be incomplete.
