Kitap 1
4
It is necessary to regulate the diet, in respect to everything that is to be done either by others or by the patient himself. Now nothing must be omitted, nor anything unnecessarily done; and more especially we must administer everything which will do the slightest good, or even that will do no harm; for many unseemly sights, sounds, and tastes, and multitudes of smells, are tests of the disease. Everything, therefore, is to be particularly attended to. Much sleep induces fatness, torpor, and mistiness of the senses, but moderate sleep is good. An evacuation of the bowels, especially of flatulence and phlegm, is very good after sleep. Promenades long, straight, without tortuosities, in a well ventilated place, under trees of myrtle and laurel, or among acrid and fragrant herbs, such as calamint, penny-royal, thyme, and mint; so much the better if wild and indigenous, but if not, among cultivated; in these places, prolonged gestation, which also should be straight. It is a good thing to take journeys, but not by a river side, so that he may not gaze upon the stream (for the current of a river occasions vertigo), nor where he may see anything turned round, such as a rolling-top, for he is too weak to preserve the animal spirits (pneuma) steady, which are, therefore, whirled about in a circle, and this circular motion is provocative of vertigo and of epilepsy. After the gestation, a gentle walk, then rest so as to induce tranquillity of the agitation created by the gestation. After these, the exercises of the arms, their extremities being rubbed with a towel made of raw flax. Not much oil to be used in the inunction. The friction to be protracted, and harder than usual for condensation, since most of them are bloated and fat: the head to be rubbed in the middle of the process, while the patient stands erect. The exercises of the neck and shoulders, chironomy, and the others mentioned by me under the treatment of Vertigo, with sufficient fulness of detail; only the exercises should be sharper, so as to induce sweat and heat, for all these attenuate. During the whole of his life he should cultivate a keen temper without irascibility.
