CHAPTER V

THE GENERAL METHOD OF TREATING PESTILENT FEVERS

I will now pass on to those fevers which are called pestilent
because they are fatal in most, or at least in many, cases. Those
that are mostly fatal are called 'truly pestilent', but those that
are only often fatal are usually called 'malignant'. They differ
only in degree of severity, and not in their general nature. I
shall therefore deal first with the general methods and aims of
their treatment, and then proceed to their special treatment.

First of all must be taken into account what I said ought to
be carefully observed in dealing with contagions; namely their
analogy (selective property), the place, the time, and, above
all, the origin of the disease; I mean whether it arises within the
body or from without. Remember that in these fevers, also,
there are three points to which, as I have said, you must direct
your whole attention: the germs, the substance imperilled, and
the substance that has already encountered the peril and has
been entirely corrupted. As I have before said, the germs may,
generally speaking, be extinguished or broken or expelled, or
driven back by antipathies; we must therefore consider which
of these means are best suited to pestilent fevers.

In the first place, it is impossible to extinguish the germs by
means of caustics, because the fever has already been developed
within the organism, and it is very dangerous to take caustics
internally. On the other hand, if you apply them externally,
you will either accomplish nothing or provoke the contagion to
greater violence. Nou must, therefore, turn to other resources.
It is not easy to decide whether the germs can be extinguished
by cold remedies, for example by drinking cold water, for though
water, inasmuch as it is cold, may be of service, nevertheless,
inasmuch as it is moist, it will be found to be extremely harm—
ful, because it will increase the putrefaction. And not only
on this account may drinking water do harm, but also because

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