Book III TREATMENT OF THE GERMS 195

spiritual antipathy towards them. For, as I have said, there
exists in nature this sort of incompatibility in things that makes
them repel one another. And just as poisons and germs of
contagions have an antipathy towards the soul and the natural
heat, so there are certain other things which, like some antidotes,
have an antipathy towards poisons and the germs themselves
and repel them, and perhaps in some other way blunt their
force as well.  For, just as the image (manifestation)3 of poisons
and contagions when conveyed to the soul is hateful and un—
welcome to it, and excites sadness, so the manifestation of
antidotes is gladly and gratefully received; by this means the
original infection conveyed by poison or contagion is blunted
and the soul is invigorated. 'This is evidently what happens in
the case of a bad smell, when we feel refreshed by pleasant
odors. It is evident then, that this antipathy through which
a pleasant odor refreshes us, works also in the case of con—
tagions. And though it is not so evident that there is also
present the antipathy that repels the contagion, we may
reasonably suppose that it is there; for in the case of poisons it
is very evident. We all know that by the administration of
certain antidotes the whole force of a poison is suddenly nulli—
fied, and it would seem that this can be achieved by no other
faculty in us than that spiritual image (manifestation) which is
best able to repel poison; though it is true that an antidote
works through material qualities as well. We all know how
some peasants who were mowing grass were bitten by a viper
and swelled up forthwith, but when the herb called tormentilla*
was applied on the place, they were at once relieved of the swell—
ing. I have myself observed a wonderful cure of this sort by
the use of Armenian bole.s My bailiff set out from my house
to the market, and on the way felt a sting on his neck, but did
not know what had caused it. It at once produced a huge
swelling and a sensation of choking; so he came back to me, and
unable to speak, could only point with his finger to the place,
and flung himself down on a chest, moaning as though at the
point of death. I could not detect any signs of a carbuncle or
of any of those affections that arise in ourselves, so I thought it
was due to some poisonous animal, and gave him Armenian
bole to drink in vinegar, (for I happened to have a very good
lump of it at hand); and no sooner had he drunk it than as
though by a miracle the swelling suddenly went down, and he