Book III. OF LENTIOCULAR FEVER—TVPHUS 231

the like. I approve also of drugs that carry away the substance
by means of copious urine, for I have observed that many of
these fevers terminated by a crisis of that sort.

After careful consideration of all these points, remember that,
for the rest, your treatment must be directed to fighting the
putrefaction and contagion by every possible resource, not only
by means of those remedies which are common for other fevers
as well, but also by those which are specially appropriate for
contagious fevers. Now since of these special remedies all are
dry in potency, but some of them are hot and others cold, and
again some are also styptic and of thick substance, I may be
asked whether hot remedies are advisable for these fevers; like—
wise whether styptic remedies and those of thick substance are
advisable. On this question Aloysius Mundella,*? & physician
of Brescia, a learned and industrious man, has written to me;
and he spoke especially of the emerald, which some doctors
consider & sort of arcanum,* and revere as an antidote. I
shall therefore, as I promised, discuss these debated points,
and say what I consider to be most advisable for this kind of
fever.

First, then, as regards hot remedies, since many of these
fevers consist in pituitous blood, and the substance is abnormally
thick in that sort of fever, no harm will be done, in my opinion,
by the use of hot remedies; or if cold are used, mix the hot with
them, especially the aromatic sort and any that offer most
resistance to putrefaction.  But when the blood is more bilious,
cold remedies will be more suitable, whether these be powders
or decoctions or whatever; and if you add styptics to these,
you will do no harm, except when considerable obstruction has
been observed, though that seldom happens with blood of this
sort.  Therefore do not hesitate by these means to hinder nature
and the expulsion of the spots, if the blood is volatile; for you
will rather moderate the ebullition, as has been said above in
discussing variolae (smallpox); on the other hand, you must
beware of such remedies when the blood is thicker and more
disposed to obstructions. For the rest, you must take into
account that, of styptic remedies, some are of very thick sub—
stance and are highly astringent, such as those called 'pontic!*4
and 'austere', for example unripe fruits, sorb—berries and cornel
berries, and you must beware of these; for this reason too I
should not approve of wine made of barberries** nor of that