Book III OF ELEPHANTIASIS 297

In treating elephantia, remember that your aim must be two—
fold.  First, you must consider the deep—seated substance (if any)
which is present in excess in the body; secondly you must con—
sider the substance that is already putrefying under the skin
and is becoming contagious. 'Then, if you decide that there is
an excess of that original substance, you ought at once to open,
not merely one vena basilica but both, that is if it seems expe—
dient and the other conditions allow. But this must be done
in the initial stage of the malady, and when the contagion has
originally arisen in the patient. When it has either been con—
tracted from another person, or has progressed so far that it is
already malignant, by venesection you will carry the contagion
farther in and greatly endanger your patient. But you must
bring about the digestion of the rest of the substance and then
evacuate it.  We shall secure its digestion by means of medica—
ments that are incisive, volatilising and detergent, and also
add those that are slightly moistening. 'The most suitable will
be the following. 'Take goat!s milk whey, and in this decoct
stoechas,'54 thyme and epithyme, satureia,'85 scordium, Cretan
dictamon, iris, seris,!* lichen, stratiotis'*' or the like, varying
them according as the substance is more or less burned. Nou
can use syrups also: oxymel and syrup of epithyme, or fumitory,
sabor,'55 apples and the like. But first, for evacuation use
hierae, for example the colocynth compound, or the hiera of
Rufus'59 or of Archigenes; also you may use hellebore, epi—
thyme, senna, polypodium'?? and the like.

'TThe substance that is making the pustules and is striving to
be digested must be prepared so that it can be cleared away.
'This is effected by remedies that volatilise and soften it gently.
And since this substance is packed with viscosity and foulness
and contains the germs of the contagion, it calls for detergents
and drying remedies; not the milder kinds of the latter, but the
more active, which either have caustic powers or are akin to
caustics. 'The medicaments that are effective against this
contagion are: nitre, sulphur, hellebore, cedar, incense, iris,
quicksilver, turpentine and liquid styrax; mix them with fat,
and I advise you to use the fat of the bull, the fox, the bear or
the lion.

But perhaps some will find it hard to understand how such
warm medicaments cean be suitable, since both the substance
and the germs consist in a certain adustion, and one might