Book II THE PLAGUE 117

that of healthy persons is held to be very remarkable, but no
one is surprised that it should look turbid or whitish.  Some
authorities maintain that the reason why the urine looks like
that of healthy persons is that the corruption and putrefaction
affects the spiritual elements, hence there is nothing to prevent
the liver and kidneys from fulfilling their proper functions;
accordingly the urine is to some extent normally concocted.
But surely, if fever is an affection of the whole body, it is strange
that, when the spiritual elements are suffering and all the pow—
ers are waning, the liver and kidneys should nevertheless pro—
duce their normal concoctions, as though they were healthy
organs. So perhaps a more correct theory would be that,
though the urine is thick and consistent, it often happens that,
as the bodily powers begin to fail, and are unable to expel
those thicker elements, the urine is, in a manner of speaking
filtered, and after having been at first very thick, becomes
thinner as it flows down, and as it proceeds becomes still thinner,
till it arrives at a moderate consistency, with small cloudy ele—
ments floating in it. For this reason it looks like the urine of
healthy persons, though it is not really healthy, but only ap—
pears so. And this is often observed, not only in pestiferous
fevers but also in others, when death is imminent, and the
bodily powers are no longer able to expel the thick elements
of the urine. 'This phenomenon has often deceived inexperi—
enced doctors, who began to hope for the patient/s recovery
because of that change in the urine.

Abscesses, rather than spots, occur in this type of fever, be-
cause its substance is more highly irritated and turgid. It
rages more, internally, and in the principal organs, the liver,
heart and brain. Every raging humor causes the greatest
irritation and insists on being expelled; hence the movement
starts from the inward parts towards the emunctories (outlets)
of the principal organs.  But not only the raging substance, but
also the substance that is mixed with it, is set in motion, and
for this reason abscesses rather than spots nearly always occur.
8Spots, however, do sometimes appear as well on the outer skin,
owing to the expulsion of a thin sort of substance, especially
when the infection arises in the blood.

"This then is the nature of fevers called contagious. I will
now pass on to other diseases which are likewise of a contagious
character.