Thursday, August 4, 2011
Statement on Beverages
As to drinks, know them in regard to their properties and actions to employ the useful and to beware of what is harmful. One cannot know their temperaments and qualities. Since water is the earliest known (of drinks) and the most honourable in temperament, quali6es, and usefulness one should know its properties in regard to bodily change. Under normal circumstances, there are none. It is substance without colour, without taste, and without smell but it is cold and moist. Its body was created without form, and without connection among its parts except that which is united when it is in a container. It is not nutritious unless one considers its use in the cooking of food and its penetration into parts of the body.
As to the water which is contrary to that here mentioned, its matter has mixed with other matter possessing other attributes like sulphur and borax waters, etc. Waters like these have different tastes and properties. Owing to the fact that they vary in taste, smell and weight, for this reason, they affect the body in different ways. The physician must know the properties of waters and their differences. Otherwise, if the question of water is neglected, great harm will come to the body; this is because it is essential for life and its need is continuous.
So far as internal harm to the body is concerned, then, there are the matter [of water], the matter of the air, the factor of the seasons when they change, and the effect of the winds generally in [some] countries. Therefore, Hippocrates said that he, who wants to study medicine the straightforward way, must do this that I describe. It is, first, that you must consider the times of the year and what can be done since they are not alike. They are very different not only in themselves but compared also to others. Then, attention must be paid to the hot and cold winds, especially those common to all people and those peculiar to each country. It is also necessary to consider the properties of waters since they may not only differ in taste and weight but also be different in [other] properties.
When we reflect on the results of Hippocrates' advice, we understand that water is important, when suitable, for the preservation of health; it is harmful if not suitable. No one can be more discriminating in acquiring this [knowledge] than were the ancients. The most efficient in this was Hippocrates so listen to his teaching and hold on to it in order to attain your wish in the art of medicine.
Hippocrates said, "I want to inform you of the other waters and which of them are more effective in bringing good health. I shall describe what it is necessary to derive from evil and salty waters since the kind of waters is very important in aiding health.
There are waters which are stagnant, tainted and are at the bottom. These are warm, odorous, and thick in summer for they do not flow. They are used since rainwater does reach them. They tend toward a dirty colour and are bitter. In winter, they are covered with ice, and are turbid with the water coming from snow and hail. These waters are the most apt to cause phlegm, hoarseness, and a large, hard spleen in the one who always drinks them.
He said that these waters are bad for all things. Further, those waters which issue forth from rocky places are harsh like those which come from earth where there are hot waters, or where copper, silver, gold, sulphur, alum, or borax are produced. It is because these are produced form a hot shaft and it is impossible that good waters come from this earth. They are harsh, cause difficulty in urination, and prevent excretion.
He said that the best waters flow from lofty and high places, from mountains which have soil. These waters, whose sources are deeper, are palatable, pure, have little redness, are hot in winter and cold in summer. Superior waters, he said, are those whose sources are opposite to the rising locations of the sun; those after them (in superiority] have their sources between where the summer sun rises and sets. The third best are the waters [whose source is] between where the winter sun sets and where the summer sun sets. The worst waters arise opposite to the north. The waters are very bad in the times of the southern winds but; better in the times of the northern winds. He said that it is necessary to use these waters knowing this. As to the healthy and strong person, it is not essential that the discriminate among the waters; he drinks what is available. He praised rainwater as the lightest purest, most palatable, and finest of waters. This is because when the sun raises the water, it carries off the thinnest and lightest. Consider the use of the saltpan where the salty part of the water remains because of its thickness and heaviness, becoming saltier. The sun carries off the finer water; since it is light it raises it. It is raised from palatable waters, from sea water, from all bodies, and from the bodies of men continuously [especially] that which is the thinnest and lightest of the moisture.
Thus, when a man walks or sits in the sun and puts on his clothes then that part of his body exposed to the sun does not seem to perspire since the sun always carries away the perspiration by evaporating it. That part of his body which is covered with clothes or anything else perspires because the sun causes the sweat to come out. The covering keeps and preserve it. When this man moves into the shade, all his body is so since the rays of the sun do not fall upon him. For this reason, rainwater may be putrid and have a bad odor since it comes from many different kinds of moisture and is mixed with them. As a result, it is the first of waters to stink.
Then, after Hippocrates demonstrated how rainwater comes about, he said, "This water may be the best of waters but it needs to be cleansed by boiling." Then he said, "If this is not done, then it develops a bad odour and it causes the drinker to be hoarse, to cough, and to have trouble with the voice." Then said Hippocrates, "As to the water from snow and ice, it is all bad since when water is once frozen, it will not get back to its original properties but that which is pure, light, and palatable is expressed. The sediment and what is close to being a solid remains."
I have mentioned these quotations from Hippocrates to show the pressing need of water and to encourage you to study this science in the books of Hippocrates and Galen.
I shall now return to the value of taking hot water baths. The value of this bathing is different for the sick and for those who are well. For healthy people, it is good to bathe in potable, cold water, or for some in water with salt or borax, and for some with other tastes, hot and non-hot water. These waters may be good for some sick people but not for all, for people of certain ages but not for all, in some but not all countries, and depending on certain habits.
In this, there may be much error; it is necessary to be aware of it and to study it. Strive to know the good from the bad waters by the method described by Hippocrates. These methods are these. Make your decision according to the lightness of the water. its ability to become quickly cold or hot. Hippocrates said about this, "The water which warms quickly and becomes cold quickly is the lightest of waters." In the fifth section of his book, he said, "The lightness of its weight is so in comparison with any other, and is seen in the rapidity of its drying with what was kneaded with it, and in the quickness of cooking what is cooked [in it]."
