Medical Aphorisms

Says Mūsā ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh, the Israelite, from Córdoba: People have often composed works in the form of aphorisms on [different] kinds of sciences. The science most in need of this is the science of medicine, because it has branches of knowledge that are difficult to conceptualize, like most of the exact sciences, and [because] it has branches of knowledge that are difficult only with respect to remembering what has been written down about them, just like the knowledge of one of the perfect languages. As for the science of medicine, its conceptualization and the understanding of its concepts are not as difficult as in [the case] of the exact sciences. However, aspiring [to master] this science is difficult in most cases because it requires retaining a very large amount of memorized material, not merely of general principles but also [of] particulars, which can almost be compared to the individual details that cannot be encompassed by the knowledge of one individual scholar, as one can demonstrate for himself.

These works composed in the form of aphorisms are undoubtedly easy to retain; they help their reader to understand and retain their objectives. [ . . . ]

I have made these preliminary remarks merely as a justification for those aphorisms that I have included in my book. And I do not claim to have authored these aphorisms that I have set down in writing. I would rather say that I have selected them [ . . . ] most of the aphorisms that I have selected are in the very words of Galen, or in his words and the words of Hippocrates, because the words of both are mixed in Galen’s commentaries to Hippocrates’ books; [in the case of] others, the sense [expressed] in the aphorism is partly in Galen’s words and partly in my own; [in the case of] yet other aphorisms, my own words express the idea that Galen mentioned. What has prompted me to do so is the fact that the idea of that aphorism becomes clear only [after reading] from scattered places in Galen’s lengthy exposition. I have gathered the sum of the idea of that aphorism and have articulated it in a concise expression. [ . . . ]

I have selected these aphorisms for myself only, so that I would have a ready record of them. Similarly, anyone who is like me or who is less knowledgeable than I am can benefit from them. I have not selected them for the benefit of someone who is at the same level as Galen or close to it. I have no doubt that many of these aphorisms are so [much more] clear to others than to me, that they do not have to be learned by heart. Similarly, what I consider to be of peculiar interest may be not of peculiar interest for someone else, and what I consider to be mostly unknown may be well known to someone else. [ . . . ]

In these aphorisms I have included personal remarks, in which I have included only the [most] essential [additional information]. To these I refer in my own name. I have also included aphorisms from some of the later [physicians], which I attribute to the one who has presented them. I have divided these aphorisms into a number of treatises so that it will be easy to remember them or to show what one wants to show. I have made twenty-five treatises of them. [ . . . ]

The Second Treatise

Containing Aphorisms Concerning the Humors

(1) Blood is something composed of all the humors according to a natural ratio. It is called “blood” because of its dominance over the other humors. And this is what comes out through venesection and cupping. When we say that the body contains four humors—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile—by blood we do not mean something composed of all the humors, but something existing, in our conception, unmixed with the other humors.