Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/40

 GRJiiEK BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE mehstitution is), relative to meat and drink, . land what he is relative to the rest of his mode Ipf life, and what results follow for the indi- vidual from particular things^ and all this not merely in general terms, as e.g., ' cheese is un- wholesome food, for it distresses one who eats plentifully of it'; but what particular distress it causes, and for what reason, and to what in- gredient of the man's constitution it is un- suitable." ^- The writer points to the physician's need to consider this question closely. Each individual „.. is peculiarly constituted, and cheese will be injurious or strengthening as it may or may not suit his constitution. Here the writer tacitly accepts the Hippocratic conception of the four humors representing the four ele- mental qualities of every human body: the blood contains the warm-moist quality; yellow bile, the warm-dry; black bile, the cold-dry; and phlegm (formed in the brain), the cold- moist. Although these humors do not exist in the same proportions in every individual, nevertheless each person's health depends upon their due relations and blending, while an ab- normal preponderance or accumulation of any one of them produces disease. Though the [i8]