But in this latter case, again, whilst the eliminative faculty5 is evident, the attractive faculty is not so obvious to most people. It is, however, the cervix which Hippocrates blames for inertia6 of the uterus when he says:—“Its orifice has no power of attracting semen.”
Erasistratus, however, and Asclepiades reached such heights of wisdom that they deprived not merely the stomach and the womb of this faculty but also the bladder by the liver, and the kidneys as well. I have, however, pointed7 out in the first book that it is impossible to assign any other cause for the secretion8 of urine or bile.
Now, when we find that the uterus, the stomach and the bladder by the liver carry out attraction and expulsion through one and the same duct, we need no longer feel surprised that Nature should also frequently discharge waste-substances into the stomach through the veins9. Still less need we be astonished if a certain amount of the food should, during long fasts, be drawn10 back from the liver into the stomach through the same veins by which it was yielded up to the liver during absorption of nutriment. To disbelieve such things would of course be like refusing to believe that purgative11 drugs draw their appropriate humours from all over the body by the same stomata through which absorption previously12 takes place, and to look for separate stomata for absorption and purgation respectively. As a matter of fact one and the same stoma subserves two distinct faculties13, and these exercise their pull at different times in opposite directions — first it subserves the pull of the liver and, during catharsis, that of the drug. What is there surprising, then, in the fact that the veins situated14 between the liver and the region of the stomach18 fulfil a double service or purpose? Thus, when there is abundance of nutriment contained in the food-canal, it is carried up to the liver by the veins mentioned; and when the canal is empty and in need of nutriment, this is again attracted from the liver by the same veins.
For everything appears to attract from and to go shares with everything else, and, as the most divine Hippocrates has said, there would seem to be a consensus15 in the movements of fluids and vapours. Thus the stronger draws and the weaker is evacuated16.
Now, one part is weaker or stronger than another either absolutely, by nature, and in all cases, or else it becomes so in such and such a particular instance. Thus, by nature and in all men alike, the heart is stronger than the liver at attracting what is serviceable to it and rejecting what is not so; similarly the liver is stronger than the intestines17 and stomach, and the arteries19 than the veins. In each of us personally, however, liver has stronger drawing power at one time, and the stomach at another. For when there is much nutriment contained in the alimentary20 canal and the appetite and craving21 of the liver is violent, then the viscus exerts far the strongest traction2. Again, when the liver is full and distended22 and the stomach empty and in need, then the force of the traction shifts to the latter.
Suppose we had some food in our hands and were snatching it from one another; if we were equally in want, the stronger would be likely to prevail, but if he had satisfied his appetite, and was holding what was over carelessly, or was anxious to share it with somebody, and if the weaker was excessively desirous of it, there would be nothing to prevent the latter from getting it all. In a similar manner the stomach easily attracts nutriment from the liver when it [the stomach] has a sufficiently23 strong craving for it, and the appetite of the viscus is satisfied. And sometimes the surplusage of nutriment in the liver is a reason why the animal is not hungry; for when the stomach has better and more available food it requires nothing from extraneous24 sources, but if ever it is in need and is at a loss how to supply the need, it becomes filled with waste-matters; these are certain biliary, phlegmatic25 [mucous] and serous fluids, and are the only substances that the liver yields in response to the traction of the stomach, on the occasions when the latter too is in want of nutriment.
Now, just as the parts draw food from each other, so also they sometimes deposit their excess substances in each other, and just as the stronger prevailed when the two were exercising traction, so it is also when they are depositing; this is the cause of the so-called fluxions, for every part has a definite inborn26 tension, by virtue27 of which it expels its superfluities, and, therefore, when one of these parts — owing, of course, to some special condition — becomes weaker, there will necessarily be a confluence28 into it of the superfluities from all the other parts. The strongest part deposits its surplus matter in all the parts near it; these again in other parts which are weaker; these next into yet others; and this goes on for a long time, until the superfluity, being driven from one part into another, comes to rest in one of the weakest of all; it cannot flow from this into another part, because none of the stronger ones will receive it, while the affected29 part is unable to drive it away.
When, however, we come to deal again with the origin and cure of disease, it will be possible to find there also abundant proofs of all that we have correctly indicated in this book. For the present, however, let us resume again the task that lay before us, i.e. to show that there is nothing surprising in nutriment coming from the liver to the intestines and stomach by way of the very veins through which it had previously been yielded up from these organs into the liver. And in many people who have suddenly and completely given up active exercise, or who have had a limb cut off, there occurs at certain periods an evacuation of blood by way of the intestines — as Hippocrates has also pointed out somewhere. This causes no further trouble but sharply purges30 the whole body and evacuates31 the plethoras; the passage of the superfluities is effected, of course, through the same veins by which absorption took place.
Frequently also in disease Nature purges the animal through these same veins — although in this case the discharge is not sanguineous, but corresponds to the humour which is at fault. Thus in cholera32 the entire body is evacuated by way of the veins leading to the intestines and stomach.
To imagine that matter of different kinds is carried in one direction only would characterise a man who was entirely33 ignorant of all the natural faculties, and particularly of the eliminative faculty, which is the opposite of the attractive. For opposite movements of matter, active and passive, must necessarily follow opposite faculties; that is to say, every part, after it has attracted its special nutrient34 juice and has retained and taken the benefit of it hastens to get rid of all the surplusage as quickly and effectively as possible, and this it does in accordance with the mechanical tendency of this surplus matter.
Hence the stomach clears away by vomiting35 those superfluities which come to the surface of its contents, whilst the sediment36 it clears away by diarrhoea. And when the animal becomes sick, this means that the stomach is striving to be evacuated by vomiting. And the expulsive faculty has in it so violent and forcible an element that in cases of ileus [volvulus], when the lower exit is completely closed, vomiting of faeces occurs; yet such surplus matter could not be emitted from the mouth without having first traversed the whole of the small intestine18, the jejunum, the pylorus, the stomach, and the oesophagus. What is there to wonder at, then, if something should also be transferred from the extreme skin-surface and so reach the intestines and stomach? This also was pointed out to us by Hippocrates, who maintained that not merely pneuma or excess-matter, but actual nutriment is brought down from the outer surface to the original place from which it was taken up. For the slightest mechanical movements determine this expulsive faculty, which apparently37 acts through the transverse fibres, and which is very rapidly transmitted from the source of motion to the opposite extremities38. It is, therefore, neither unlikely nor impossible that, when the part adjoining the skin becomes suddenly oppressed by an unwonted cold, it should at once be weakened and should find that the liquid previously deposited beside it without discomfort39 had now become more of a burden than a source of nutrition, and should therefore strive to put it away. Finally, seeing that the passage outwards40 was shut off by the condensation41 [of tissue], it would turn to the remaining exit and would thus forcibly expel all the waste-matter at once into the adjacent part; this would do the same to the part following it; and the process would not cease until the transference finally terminated at the inner of the veins.
Now, movements like these come to an end fairly soon, but those resulting from internal irritants (e.g., in the administration of purgative drugs or in cholera) become much stronger and more lasting42; they persist as long as the condition of things about the mouths of the veins continues, that is, so long as these continue to attract what is adjacent. For this condition causes evacuation of the contiguous part, and that again of the part next to it, and this never stops until the extreme surface is reached; thus, as each part keeps passing on matter to its neighbour, the original affection very quickly arrives at the extreme termination. Now this is also the case in ileus; the inflamed43 intestine is unable to support either the weight or the acridity44 of the waste substances and so does its best to excrete them, in fact to drive them as far away as possible. And, being prevented from effecting an expulsion downwards45 when the severest part of the inflammation is there, it expels the matter into the adjoining part of the intestines situated above. Thus the tendency of the eliminative faculty is step by step upwards46, until the superfluities reach the mouth.
Now this will be also spoken of at greater length in my treatise47 on disease. For the present, however, I think I have shown clearly that there is a universal conveyance48 or transference from one thing into another, and that, as Hippocrates used to say, there exists in everything a consensus in the movement of air and fluids. And I do not think that anyone, however slow his intellect, will now be at a loss to understand any of these points — how, for instance, the stomach or intestines get nourished, or in what manner anything makes its way inwards from the outer surface of the body. Seeing that all parts have the faculty of attracting what is suitable or well-disposed and of eliminating what is troublesome or irritating, it is not surprising that opposite movements should occur in them consecutively49 — as may be clearly seen in the case of the heart, in the various arteries, in the thorax, and lungs. In all these the active movements of the organs and therewith the passive movements of [their contained] matters may be seen taking place almost every second in opposite directions. Now, you are not astonished when the trachea-artery50 alternately draws air into the lungs and gives it out, and when the nostrils51 and the whole mouth act similarly; nor do you think it strange or paradoxical that the air is dismissed through the very channel by which it was admitted just before. Do you, then, feel a difficulty in the case of the veins which pass down from the liver into the stomach and intestines, and do you think it strange that nutriment should at once be yielded up to the liver and drawn back from it into the stomach by the same veins? You must define what you mean by this expression “at once.” If you mean “at the same time” this is not what we ourselves say; for just as we take in a breath at one moment and give it out again at another, so at one time the liver draws nutriment from the stomach, and at another the stomach from the liver. But if your expression “at once” means that in one and the same animal a single organ subserves the transport of matter in opposite directions, and if it is this which disturbs you, consider inspiration and expiration52. For of course these also take place through the same organs, albeit they differ in their manner of movement, and in the way in which the matter is conveyed through them.
Now the lungs, the thorax, the arteries rough and smooth, the heart, the mouth, and the nostrils reverse their movements at very short intervals53 and change the direction of the matters they contain. On the other hand, the veins which pass down the from the liver to the intestines and stomach reverse the direction not at such short intervals, but sometimes once in many days.
The whole matter, in fact, is as follows:— Each of the organs draws into itself the nutriment alongside it, and devours54 all the useful fluid in it, until it is thoroughly55 satisfied; this nutriment, as I have already shown, it stores up in itself, afterwards making it adhere and then assimilating it — that is, it becomes nourished by it. For it has been demonstrated with sufficient clearness already that there is something which necessarily precedes actual nutrition, namely adhesion, and that before this again comes presentation. Thus as in the case of the animals themselves the end of eating is that the stomach should be filled, similarly in the case of each of the parts, the end of presentation is the filling of this part with its appropriate liquid. Since, therefore, every part has, like the stomach, a craving to be nourished, it too envelops56 its nutriment and clasps it all round as the stomach does. And this [action of the stomach], as has been already said, is necessarily followed by the digestion57 of the food, although it is not to make it suitable for the other parts that the stomach contracts upon it; if it did so, it would no longer be a physiological58 organ, but an animal possessing reason and intelligence, with the power of choosing the better [of two alternatives].
But while the stomach contracts for the reason that the whole body possesses a power of attracting and of utilising appropriate qualities, as has already been explained, it also happens that, in this process, the food undergoes alteration59; further, when filled and saturated60 with the fluid pabulum from the food, it thereafter looks on the food as a burden; thus it at once gets of the excess — that is to say, drives it gets downwards — itself turning to another task, namely that of causing adhesion. And during this time, while the nutriment is passing along the whole length of the intestine, it is caught up by the vessels61 which pass into the intestine; as we shall shortly demonstrate, most of it is seized by the veins, but a little also by the arteries; at this stage also it becomes presented to the coats of the intestines.
Now imagine the whole economy of nutrition divided into three periods. Suppose that in the first period the nutriment remains62 in the stomach and is digested and presented to the stomach until satiety63 is reached, also that some of it is taken up from the stomach to the liver.
During the second period it passes along the intestines and becomes presented both to them and to the liver — again until the stage of satiety — while a small part of it is carried all over the body. During this period, also imagine that what was presented to the stomach in the first period becomes now adherent64 to it.
During the third period the stomach has reached the stage of receiving nourishment65; it now entirely assimilates everything that had become adherent to it: at the same time in the intestines and liver there takes place adhesion of what had been before presented, while dispersal [anadosis] is taking place to all parts of the body, as also presentation. Now, if the animal takes food immediately after these [three stages] then, during the time that the stomach is again digesting and getting the benefit of this by presenting all the useful part of it to its own coats, the intestines will be engaged in final assimilation of the juices which have adhered to them, and so also will the liver: while in the various parts of the body there will be taking place adhesion of the portions of nutriment presented. And if the stomach is forced to remain without food during this time, it will draw its nutriment the from the veins in the mesentery and liver; for it will not do so from the actual body of the liver (by body of the liver I mean first and foremost its flesh proper, and after this all the vessels contained in it), for it is irrational66 to suppose that one part would draw away from another part the juice already contained in it, especially when adhesion and final assimilation of that juice were already taking place; the juice, however, that is in the cavity of the veins will be abstracted by the part which is stronger and more in need.
It is in this way, therefore, that the stomach, when it is in need of nourishment and the animal has nothing to eat, seizes it from the veins in the liver. Also in the case of the spleen we have shown in a former passage how it draws all material from the liver that tends to be thick, and by working it up converts it into more useful matter. There is nothing surprising, therefore, if, in the present instance also, some of this should be drawn from the spleen into such organs as communicate with it by veins, e.g. the omentum, mesentery, small intestine, colon67, and the stomach itself. Nor is it surprising that the spleen should disgorge its surplus matters into the stomach at one time, while at another time it should draw some of its appropriate nutriment from the stomach.
For, as has already been said, speaking generally, everything has the power at different times of attracting from and of adding to everything else. What happens is just as if you might imagine a number of animals helping68 themselves at will to a plentiful69 common stock of food; some will naturally be eating when others have stopped, some will be on the point of stopping when others are beginning, some eating together, and others in succession. Yes, by Zeus! and one will often be plundering70 another, if he be in need while the other has an abundant supply ready to hand. Thus it is in no way surprising that matter should make its way back from the outer surface of the body to the interior, or should be carried from the liver and spleen into the stomach by the same vessels by which it was carried in the reverse direction.
In the case of the arteries this is clear enough, as also in the case of heart, thorax, and lungs; for, since all of these dilate71 and contract alternately, it must needs be that matter is subsequently discharged back into the parts from which it was previously drawn. Now Nature foresaw this necessity, and provided the cardiac openings of the vessels with membranous72 attachments73, to prevent their contents from being carried backwards74. How and in what manner this takes place will be stated in my work “On the Use of Parts,” where among other things I show that it is impossible for the openings of the vessels to be closed so accurately75 that nothing at all can run back. Thus it is inevitable76 that the reflux into the venous artery (as will also be made clear in the work mentioned) should be much greater than through the other openings. But what it is important for our present purpose to recognise is that every thing possessing a large and appreciable77 cavity must, when it dilates78, abstract matter from all its neighbours, and, when it contracts, must squeeze matter back into them. This should all be clear from what has already been said in this treatise and from what Erasistratus and I myself have demonstrated elsewhere respecting the tendency of a vacuum to become refilled.
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1
ascertaining
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
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traction
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| n.牵引；附着摩擦力 | |
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nausea
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| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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albeit
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| conj.即使；纵使；虽然 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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inertia
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| adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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secretion
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| n.分泌 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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purgative
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| n.泻药；adj.通便的 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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consensus
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| n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识 | |
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evacuated
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| 撤退者的 | |
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intestines
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| n.肠( intestine的名词复数 ) | |
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intestine
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| adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠 | |
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arteries
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| n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道 | |
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alimentary
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| adj.饮食的，营养的 | |
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craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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distended
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| v.（使）膨胀，肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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extraneous
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| adj.体外的；外来的；外部的 | |
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phlegmatic
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| adj.冷静的，冷淡的，冷漠的，无活力的 | |
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inborn
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| adj.天生的，生来的，先天的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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confluence
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| n.汇合，聚集 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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purges
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| 清除异己( purge的名词复数 )； 整肃（行动）； 清洗； 泻药 | |
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evacuates
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| 撤离，疏散( evacuate的第三人称单数 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空 | |
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cholera
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| n.霍乱 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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nutrient
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| adj.营养的，滋养的；n.营养物，营养品 | |
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vomiting
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| 吐 | |
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sediment
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| n.沉淀，沉渣，沉积(物) | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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outwards
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| adj.外面的，公开的，向外的；adv.向外；n.外形 | |
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condensation
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| n.压缩，浓缩；凝结的水珠 | |
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lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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acridity
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| n.辛辣，狠毒；苛性；极苦 | |
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downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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48
conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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49
consecutively
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| adv.连续地 | |
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artery
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| n.干线，要道；动脉 | |
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51
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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52
expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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53
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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54
devours
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| 吞没( devour的第三人称单数 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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55
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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envelops
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的第三人称单数 ) | |
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digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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62
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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satiety
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| n.饱和；(市场的)充分供应 | |
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adherent
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| n.信徒，追随者，拥护者 | |
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nourishment
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| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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colon
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| n.冒号，结肠，直肠 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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71
dilate
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| vt.使膨胀，使扩大 | |
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membranous
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| adj.膜的，膜状的 | |
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73
attachments
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| n.（用电子邮件发送的）附件( attachment的名词复数 )；附着；连接；附属物 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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dilates
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| v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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