First draft. This English translation was generated by
Claude Sonnet 4.6, critiqued by Claude Haiku 4.5, and adjudicated/corrected
once by Claude Sonnet 4.6. It is published for reading and review, not as a
final scholarly edition. Hippocratic medical recipes and treatments are
historical text, not medical advice.
12. Whenever seed from both parties remains in the womb of the woman, first it mingles together — since the woman does not keep still — and it gathers and thickens as it is warmed. Then it takes in pneuma, being in a warm place, and also from the mother's breathing; and when the pneuma is filled up, it makes a way for itself out through the middle of the seed, by which the pneuma exits. When a way out has formed for the pneuma, which is warm as it exits, it in turn draws in another, cold, from the mother; and this it does throughout the whole time. For it is warmed, being in a warm place; and it takes in cold from the mother breathing; and everything that is warmed takes in pneuma. The pneuma bursts through and makes a way for itself and passes out; and the thing that is being warmed draws in turn another cold pneuma through the breach, from which it is nourished. This happens also with logs of wood and with leaves and with things eaten and drunk, as many as are strongly heated. Logs burning will allow one to grasp this: all logs will do this, but most of all the green ones; for they release pneuma along the cut; and when the pneuma passes out, it coils around the cut — and we always see this happening. The accounting of the pneuma is clear: that the warm pneuma in the log draws back to itself another cold one, from which it is nourished, and releases from itself; for if it did not draw back, the pneuma would not coil as it goes out; for everything warm is nourished by cold that is measured; and when the moisture present in the log is thoroughly heated, it becomes pneuma and passes out; and as the warmth present in the log exits thereby, it draws back another cold one, from which it is nourished. Green leaves do this too when they burn, for they take in pneuma; then the pneuma bursts through and makes a way and passes out coiling, and as it passes makes a crackling sound where it takes in its inward breath; and pulses, grain, and tree-fruits when heated take in pneuma, and it exits, having made a breach; and if they are moist, they release more pneuma and make the breach larger. And why speak at length? For everything that is warmed releases pneuma, and draws back another cold one through the same place, from which it is nourished; and these are for me the established necessities showing that the seed, being warmed in the womb, takes in and releases pneuma; and at the same time the seed also receives breath from the mother's breathing; for whenever the mother draws in cold from the air to herself, the seed partakes of it; and it is warm, being in a warm place; and then indeed it takes in and releases pneuma. And the seed forms a membrane as it is inflated; for the outer part is stretched around it, becoming continuous, since it is sticky — just as with bread being baked, a thin membrane-like skin stands out on the surface; for the bread as it is heated and inflated rises up; and wherever it is inflated, there the membrane-like skin forms. And for the seed being heated and inflated all over, a membrane forms around the outside; and through the middle of the seed a passage for the pneuma forms both outward and inward through the membrane; and at this point the membrane is thin, and of the seed itself there is very little in that part; but the rest of this seed is spherical within the membrane.
13. Now I myself saw seed that had remained in the belly for six days, having been expelled outside; and what it appeared to me at that time I use as a basis for the remaining observations. I will describe what I saw: the seed being six days old. It was a woman of the household — a musician, highly valued, who resorted to men, and whom it was not fitting that she should conceive, lest she become less valued. The musician had heard what women say to one another: when a woman is going to conceive, the seed does not come out but stays inside. Having heard this, she understood and was always watchful, and somehow she perceived that the seed was not coming out, and she told her mistress, and the word came to me; and I, hearing this, told her to jump heel-to-buttock, and she had already jumped seven times, and the seed flowed out onto the ground, and there was a sound, and she too saw it and looked and was astonished. What it was like I will tell: as if someone were to strip off the outer shell of a raw egg, and through the inner membrane the inner fluid could be seen; that kind of thing it was — enough to say. It was also red and round; and within the membrane there could be seen white, thick fibers, coiled within; together with thick, red serum, and around the membrane on the outside blood-blisters; and at the middle of the membrane there stood apart something thin which seemed to me to be the navel-cord, and by it the breath was being carried both inward and outward from the first; and the membrane was stretched out from that point encircling the seed in its entirety. Such was the seed, six days old, that I saw. I will also describe another means of recognition a little after this — one evident to everyone who wishes to know about this matter, and a witness to my whole account that it is true, as far as one can speak truly about such a matter. And this is as far as I have carried these matters.
14. That the seed is within a membrane and has breath both inward and outward, and grows as the blood of the mother descends to the womb — for the monthly discharges do not flow when a woman conceives, if the child is to be healthy, except that in some women it marks itself a little in the first month — but the blood coming down from the whole body of the woman stands around the membrane all around on the outside. And as the blood is drawn inward together with the breath through the membrane, through the perforated and separated part, it congeals and causes to grow what will become the living being. And as time passes, other membranes, thin and many, are stretched within the first membrane in the same manner as the first membrane formed; and these too are stretched out from the navel-cord, and have connective ligaments between one another.
15. When this has occurred and blood descends from the mother and congeals, flesh forms; and at the middle of the flesh the navel-cord stands apart, through which it breathes and receives its growth. The woman, when she is with child, is not troubled by the monthly discharges not flowing for this reason: that the blood is not disturbed, flowing pressingly each month; but it passes quietly, little by little, without pain, day by day into the womb; and what is within the womb grows. That it passes day by day and not all at once each month is because the seed present in the womb draws continually from the body, as much as it has power for. In this way also the breath: at first the breath is small, and little blood passes from the mother; but when the breath becomes greater, it draws more blood, and it descends into the womb in greater quantity. In women who are not with child, when the monthly discharges do not flow, pain arises for this reason: first the blood is disturbed in the body each month under the following compulsion — that month differs greatly both in cold and in warmth, and the woman's body perceives this, for it is more moist than a man's; and the blood being disturbed and filling the veins, it departs from them, and somehow this was established in the nature of things from the beginning. So: if the woman is emptied of blood, she conceives; if she is full, she does not; for when the womb and the veins are empty of blood, women take children to themselves; for after the cleansing of the monthly discharges women most often conceive — the reason is as stated. And when the blood, being disturbed and separated off, does not pass outside but into the womb, and the womb does not relax, then — being heated — the womb, with the blood lingering, provides heat to the rest of the body; and sometimes it also distributes some of the blood into the veins of the body, wherever the veins, filling up, suffer pain and produce swellings; and sometimes there is also risk of lameness from such a condition; and sometimes they press against the bladder and compress and close off the bladder and cause strangury; and sometimes the womb, being full of blood, falls against either the hip-joints or the lower back and causes pain; and sometimes the blood has lingered five or six months, and having rotted in the womb becomes pus, and in some cases the pus exits through the genitals, and in some cases it forms as an abscess at the groin, and the pus formed there comes out; and many other such troubles arise for women when the monthly discharges are not purged. But why list them here? For they will be discussed in the treatise on women's diseases; but I will complete the account from where I left off.
16. When flesh has formed, then the membranes, as what is present in the womb grows, grow themselves and fold into pouches — especially the outermost ones; and the blood that has descended from the mother, whatever the breathing flesh draws in, and growth occurs but it is not serviceable, is separated off into the pouches of the membranes; and when they have pouched out and received the blood, then indeed it is called the chorion. This is as far as I have carried these matters.
17. The flesh, growing, is articulated by the pneuma, and within it each like part moves toward like: the dense toward the dense, the rare toward the rare, the moist toward the moist; and each goes to its own place according to kinship, from which it also arose — and whatever arose from dense parts is dense, and whatever from moist parts is moist; and the rest comes about in the same way in the growth. And the bones harden, congealing under the heat; and indeed they branch out like a tree; and the inner and outer parts of the body are better articulated; and the head becomes distinct from the shoulders, and the upper arms and forearms from the ribs; and the legs are separated from one another; and the sinews spring up around the growth-points of the joints and open their own mouths; and the nose and ears stand out amid the flesh and are pierced; and the eyes fill with clear fluid; and the genitals become apparent as to which kind they are; and the viscera are articulated; and indeed by that time it draws breath with the upper parts, through both mouth and nostrils, and the belly is inflated, and the intestines, being filled with air downward from above, take over the breath through the navel-cord and diminish it, and a passage forms from the belly and intestines outward to the anus, and a passage outward to the bladder. Each of these is articulated by the breath; for when inflated they all separate out according to kinship. For indeed, if one were willing to bind a small tube to a bladder, and through the tube put into the bladder earth and sand and thin shavings of lead, and pour water in and blow through the tube — first those things will be mixed together with the water, but then in time, as they are blown, the lead will move toward the lead, the sand toward the sand, and the earth toward the earth; and if one allows them to dry out and breaks open the bladder and examines, one will find that like has come to like. So it is with the seed and the flesh: they are articulated, and each like part within it moves toward like. This is as far as I have carried these matters.
18. And a child has by now been formed and reaches this stage — the female in forty-two days at the longest, the male in thirty days at the longest; for as a rule it happens that within this time, or a little less or a little more, these articulations take place. For the purging that occurs in women after birth is, as a rule, forty-two days in the longest and complete case for the girl — though it would not be dangerous even in twenty-five days if the purging occurred; and for the boy the purging occurs over thirty days — the longest and complete case, though it would not be dangerous even in twenty days if the purging occurred; and at the end of that period the purging flows least; and in younger women the purging is completed in fewer days, in older women in more. Women suffer most in labor and in the after-birth discharge, those bearing their first child, and those who have borne fewer children suffer more than those who have borne more. The purgings after birth in women occur for this reason: that in the time before birth — up to forty-two days for the girl and up to thirty days for the boy — the least blood descends for the growth of the child, and from that time on more descends until birth; therefore the purging must be paid back in the after-birth period, and must come out in proportion to the number of days. The beginning of labor for the woman is this: the blood of the woman is disturbed and greatly heated by the vigorous movement of the child; and being disturbed, it first flows out; after it, thick bloody serum along with the child; and this served as a guide for it, like water on a table; and then after that, throughout all the days, the purging flows until the time stated — in amount, an Attic kotyle and a half at first, or a little more or a little less, proportionally decreasing until it ceases. The blood flows like blood from a sacrificial animal, if the woman is healthy and is going to remain so, and it congeals quickly; but if the woman is not healthy and is not going to be so, the purging flows in lesser quantity, worse in character, and does not congeal quickly. The matter stands thus: if a woman while pregnant has a disease that is not of the same kind as the after-birth cleansing, she will perish; and if she is not purged in the preceding days — immediately, whether she is healthy or not — but the lochia are hastened for her, whether by remedies or spontaneously and suddenly, they will flow in proportion to the days during which they did not flow, all at once; for if a woman is not purged of her lochia, she will have great disease and will be in danger of dying, unless she is cared for quickly and the purging is again induced in her. I brought this in here in order to show that the articulation of the limbs of children takes longest — forty-two days for the girl, thirty days for the boy; the purging of the lochia is the witness that this is so, that for the girl it occurs over forty-two days and for the boy over thirty days in the longest case. I am about to name this a second time now, for the sake of clarity: I hold that it is a reciprocal repayment — that to the seed present in the womb, the least blood passes from the woman to the womb when she carries a female, over forty-two days; for within those days the limbs of the children are articulated; and from that time on more blood passes; and for the boy the same holds proportionally for the thirty days. Here is another witness that these things are true: in the first days when the seed has fallen into the womb, the least blood passes from the woman to the womb, and then more — for if it came all at once in a large flood, the seed would not be able to have breath but would be suffocated by so much blood coming. And the reciprocal repayment comes in the purging: for the purging of the lochia flows most in the first days, and then in decreasing amount until it ceases. Many women have already expelled a male child a little before thirty days, and it appeared unarticulated; but whatever was expelled later than or at the thirty days appeared to be articulated; and for the girl proportionally with the forty-two days — when it is expelled, the articulation of the limbs shows itself; whether the child is destroyed before or after, thus the articulation appears, both by reason and by necessity, for the girl in forty-two days, for the boy in thirty; for both miscarriages of children and the purgings of the lochia are witnesses. The reason is that the female congeals and is articulated later, because the female seed is weaker and more moist than the male; and necessarily by this account the female congeals later than the male; and the purging is therefore longer in the case of the female than the male. I will go back again to where I left off.
19. When the child has been articulated, the forms of the limbs as it grows — the bones become more solid and are hollowed; and this comes about through the pneuma; and being hollow they draw to themselves from the flesh the richest part of the bruised blood. And in time the extremities of the bones branch out again, just as the topmost parts of a tree branch last; and so the fingers of the hands and feet of the child separate from one another. And at the extremities in turn the nails grow; for all the veins of a human being end at the fingers of the feet and hands, and the thickest veins in the body are those in the head, and next those in the legs and upper arms and forearms, while in the feet and hands the veins are finest and most closely packed and most numerous, and the sinews are finest and most closely packed and most numerous, and the bones are smallest in size; and this is most so in the fingers of the hands and feet. From the fingers, having as they do small bones densely packed and veins and sinews so arranged, the nails grow from them, thin and dense; and they take hold of the ends of the veins so that they no longer grow or project one beyond another; so one should not wonder that the nails are the most densely packed thing at the outermost part of the body — for they come from the most densely packed parts.
20. At the same time as the nails, the hairs also take root in the head. The nature of hair is as follows: they grow largest and most abundantly where the outer skin of the body is most open-pored, and where the hair has a moderate moisture for its nourishment. And where the outer skin becomes open-pored later, there the hairs also grow later — on the chin, at the groin, and wherever else. For at the time when seed is produced, the flesh becomes open-pored and the outer skin likewise, and the small vessels open their mouths more than in the time before; for when one is still a child and the small vessels are narrow, the seed cannot pass through them. And for girls the same account holds regarding the monthly discharge; when the passage comes into being, both the monthly discharge and the seed have their way; and the groin of the boy and the girl grows hair as the outer skin becomes open-pored; and at the same time the hair has a moderate moisture for its nourishment, and no less than moderate. The same holds also for the beard of the man: the outer skin becomes open-pored as the moisture passes into it from the head; for both during intercourse and in the time between, the hair has its moderate moisture for nourishment most of all when the time is given for the fluid descending from the head, keeping away from the chest, to reach the chin during intercourse. Evidence that hairs grow in the most open-pored parts of the outer skin: if someone wished to cauterize the outer skin so as to produce only a blister and let it heal, the outer skin having become dense at the scar will not put forth hairs. Those who become eunuchs while still boys — for this reason they grow neither groin hair nor beard hair, and become entirely smooth: because the passage for the seed, not having come into being, does not make the outer skin open-pored over the whole skin; for the passage of the seed has been cut off, as I said a little before. And women too become smooth on the chin and the body, because in their intercourse the fluid, not being agitated in the same way as the man's, does not make the outer skin open-pored. Those who become bald — these are of a phlegmatic nature; and in their head the phlegm, being agitated and heated during intercourse, falling upon the outer skin burns the roots of the hairs, and the hairs fall out. Eunuchs for this reason do not become bald: because in them there is no strong motion, and the phlegm, not being heated during intercourse, does not burn the roots of the hairs. Grey hairs come about for this reason: in the course of a long time, as the fluid makes its way through the person, the whitest part is separated out and settles toward the outer skin; and the hair, drawing a whiter moisture than before, becomes whiter, and the outer skin where the grey hairs are becomes whiter than the rest. And in those who have something grey in their head from birth, in them the outer skin where the grey hairs are is whiter than the rest; for there the whitest fluid is present. And this too holds in the following way: whatever moisture the flesh draws — whether white, or reddish, or dark — such also is the color the hair becomes. These things I have said to this point. I shall return again to what remains of the account.
21. When the extremities of the child's body have put forth their buds outward, and the nails and hairs have taken root, then it also moves; and the time for this is, for the male, three months, and for the female, four — for this is how it falls out for the most part, though some children do move before this time. The male moves earlier because it is stronger than the female; and the male also consolidates earlier, because it comes from a stronger and denser seed. When the embryo moves, that is when milk also gives its sign to the mother: the breasts rise and the nipples are engorged, yet the milk does not yet flow. In women of dense flesh the milk gives its sign and comes later; in women of open flesh, earlier. Milk comes into being from the following necessity: when the womb, being swollen by the child, presses upon the belly of the woman, and the belly being full undergoes compression, the fattiest part from the food and drink oozes out into the omentum and the flesh — just as if someone were to rub a hide with much oil and leave it to soak it up, and when it has soaked it up were to press the hide, the oil would ooze out outward through the pressed hide. So too, when the belly holds within it the fat from food and drink and is pressed by the womb, the fat oozes into the omentum and into the flesh. And if the woman is of open flesh, she perceives the oozing sooner; if not, later. And pregnant animals, if nothing is ailing them, become fatter on the same drink and food for this reason; and likewise also the woman. From the fat, being warmed through and being white, the part sweetened by the warmth from the womb, being pressed out, goes to the breasts; and a little also goes to the womb through the same vessels — for the same small vessels, and others closely similar, extend both to the breasts and to the womb. And when it arrives at the womb it takes on the form of milk, and the child derives a little benefit from it; but the breasts, receiving the milk, rise as they fill. And when she has given birth, with a beginning of motion arising, the milk flows to these breasts, if she suckles. For it is as follows: when the breasts are being suckled, the small vessels going to the breasts become more freely flowing; being more freely flowing, drawing the fat from the belly, they distribute it to the breasts. And indeed a man too, if he engages in intercourse frequently, the vessels becoming more freely flowing, this brings on intercourse the more.
22. This too holds in the following way: the nourishment and growth of children comes about according to however the substance from the mother passes into the womb; and according to how the mother is in health or weakness, so too is the child. Just as the things growing in the earth are nourished from the earth, and according to how the earth is, so too are the things growing in it — for when seed is cast into the earth, it fills with moisture from it; for the earth holds within itself moisture of every kind, so as to nourish the things growing in it. And the seed, filled with moisture, swells and puffs up; and the vital power (δύναμις) that is lightest in the seed is forced by the moisture to gather itself together. The vital power, gathered together by the pneuma and the moisture, becoming leaves, splits open the seed; and the leaves come up first. But when the leaves, having come up, can no longer be nourished by the moisture present in the seed, the seed and the leaves split downward, and the leaves, being pressed upon, release their vital power downward — that which remains in them on account of its heaviness — and the roots come into being from the leaves, extended downward. When what has grown is firmly rooted below and draws its nourishment from the earth, then all of the seed has already disappeared and been spent on what has grown, except for the husk, because it is the most solid; and then the husk, rotting in the earth, becomes invisible; and in time some of the leaves put forth buds. Since it has come from seed as from something fluid, while it is still soft and watery, impelled toward growth both downward and upward, it cannot put forth fruit; for it does not yet have a strong and rich vital power from which the seed will gather itself together. But when what has grown becomes more solid and more firmly rooted with time, then already it has wide vessels both upward and downward; and then what it draws from the earth is no longer watery, but thicker and richer and more; and this, being heated by the sun, boils up to the extremities and fruit comes about in accordance with its kind, from whatever kind it itself came. And it becomes much from little for this reason: each of the growing things draws more vital power from the earth than that from which it came, and boils up not through one but through many; and when the fruit has boiled up, it is nourished by the growing plant — for the plant, drawing from the earth, passes it on to the fruit; and the sun concocts and solidifies the fruit, drawing the more watery part away from it toward itself. And these things have been said by me concerning the things that grow from seed out of earth and water.
23. Those that come from cuttings — trees come from trees in the following manner. The branch has a wound at the lower part toward the earth, where it was broken off from the tree, from which the roots are sent out. They are sent out in the following manner: when the plant in the earth takes moisture from the earth, it swells and takes on pneuma, but the part above the earth not yet. And the pneuma and the moisture, having gathered together in the lower part of the plant the vital power that was heaviest, broke it downward, and from it come soft roots. When it has taken hold below, then it draws moisture from the root and distributes it to the part above the earth; and then again the upper part swells and takes on pneuma; and all the vital power that is light in the plant, gathered together, becoming leaves, sprouts, and now makes its growth both upward and downward. So it turns out contrary for the sprouting of those that come from seed and those that come from cuttings: from the seed the leaf comes up first, then the roots are sent downward; but the tree first takes root, then puts forth leaves — for this reason: because in the seed itself there is an abundance of moisture, and while it is entirely in the earth there is nourishment sufficient at first for the leaf, from which the leaf will be fed until it takes root; but this does not happen with the branch, for there is nothing from which the first leaf will have nourishment, since the branch itself is like the tree, and this stands much above the earth, so that it cannot be filled with moisture from above unless some great vital power coming from below distributes moisture to the upper part. And first the cutting must draw nourishment for itself from the earth by its roots, and then thus drawing from the earth give upward, and send the leaves on toward budding and growth.
24. When the plant grows, it puts forth buds from the following necessity, which I will describe: when more moisture comes to it drawn from the earth, by the abundance it bursts wherever it is most abundant, and there the plant buds. It grows both in breadth and upward and downward for this reason: the underground part of the earth is warm in winter and cold in summer. This is so because the earth is moisture-laden in winter from the water falling from the sky and is compressed upon itself, since the moisture is heavier; it is more dense because of this and has no exhalation at all; for there is no longer great openness in it, and for this reason the underground part of the earth is warm in winter. For also, dung that has been heaped up is warmer than when it is loosely spread, and in general things that are moist and compressed upon themselves heat up and are quite rapidly burned by the heat and rot; for pneuma does not pass through them, since they are dense. But if they are dry and loosely placed, they heat and rot much less. So too grain — wheat and barley — when moist and packed is warmer than if dry and loosely placed; and garments bound and powerfully wedged into leather are burned by themselves, as I myself have seen, as though burnt out by fire. And in all other cases too, if one wished to consider them, all things that are pressed together by themselves will be found warmer than those lying loosely; for they cannot breathe in the cold from the winds. So too the underground part of the earth, being full and compressed upon itself, being heavy and dense from the moisture, is heated in winter; for it has no outlet for the warmth. But when water falls from the sky into it, when it breathes out within the earth from the water, it does not pass further, since the earth is dense; but the breath goes back into the water. And for this reason springs are warmer in winter and larger than in summer: because as the pneuma breathes out, it goes back into the water, since the earth is denser and does not let the pneuma pass through itself. And the water, being abundant, bursts through wherever it happens to find a way, making its path broader than if it were little; for water in the earth does not stand still, but always flows toward the lower ground. And if in winter the earth let the pneuma from the water pass through itself, less water would flow from it, and the springs would not be large in winter. All these things have been said by me to show that the underground part of the earth appears warmer in winter than in summer.
25. Now I wish to say that in summer the underground part of the earth appears colder than in winter. For in summer the earth is open-pored and light, since the sun strikes more forcefully and draws the moisture from it toward itself; and the earth always has more or less water within itself; and all the breezes we have come from water — and it is possible to infer from this that it is so, for from all rivers breezes move at all times, and from the clouds, and clouds are water continuously held in the air. And then in summer the earth is open-pored and light and holds water within itself; and the water flows toward the lower ground; and as the water keeps flowing, another pneuma after another breathes off from it; and what breathes off passes through the earth, which is light and open-pored, and makes cold for the earth, and the water itself is cooled along with it. It is as follows: if someone were to press hard on a wineskin containing water and make a passage for breath to the water by a prick of a needle or something somewhat larger, and were to hang the wineskin and let it swing, no pneuma would pass through the hole, but water would — for the water has no room through which to breathe out. So it is with the water in the earth in winter. But if you make room in the water in the wineskin, and hang the wineskin and let it swing, pneuma will pass through the hole; for there is room for the pneuma to pass out from the moving water through the wineskin, and for this reason the pneuma passes through the hole. So it is also in summer with the water in the earth: for it has room, since the earth is open-pored and the sun draws the moisture from it toward itself; and the earth, letting through the pneuma — which, being cold from the water, passes through it since it is open-pored and light — for this reason its underground part is cold in summer, and the water is responsible for the pneuma in the earth being cold, and the water itself releases the pneuma both into itself and into the earth. And at the same time the water being drawn up in the well constantly stirs the pneuma as a fan does, and makes it supply cold to the water; but the water in summer that is not drawn up, being still and dense, does not receive the pneuma into itself from the earth in the same way, nor does it give it back to the earth from itself; and at the same time, the heat from the sun and the air not being dispersed in the well but standing still, the surface of it is heated first; then it passes the warmth from one layer to the next downward. And for this reason the water not drawn up in summer is warmer than that drawn up. The very deep springs are always cold in summer. And water drawn from the earth in winter, which is warm — immediately upon drawing it is warm, but when time passes it becomes cold, evidently having been cooled by the air which is cold; for it is evaporated by the wind and the pneuma seeps through it. Just as also water drawn up in summer, when drawn, is immediately cold, but becomes warm for this reason: because the earth being open-pored and pneuma being in it, it is cooled; but when time has elapsed since it was drawn, it stands still and appears warm — for it is warmed by the air, which is warm, just as the water not drawn in the well for this reason becomes warm in summer. These things have been said by me to this point.
26. I shall take up again the point that in summer the underground part of the earth is cold, and in winter warm, while the upper part of the earth is the opposite of this; and that the tree must not have two warm things coming to it at once, nor two cold things at once, if it is to be healthy; but if warmth comes from above, cold must come to it from below, and again if cold comes from above, warmth must come to it from below. Whatever the roots draw, they pass on to the tree, and the tree passes on to the roots. And so there comes about a dispensation of both cold and warmth — just as for the human being, when foods that in their concoction (pepsis) produce warmth enter the belly, cooling must be supplied from drink; so too for the tree there must be a giving back from below toward above, and vice versa. And the tree grows both upward and downward for this reason: it has nourishment both from below and from above. And while it is very tender, it bears no fruit; for it has no rich and dense vital power that is capable of contributing to fruit. But when time has elapsed, then already the vessels in it, becoming wide, produce in it a rich and dense flow from the earth; and the sun, spreading this through, makes it boil up toward the extremities, being light, and produce fruit in accordance with its kind, from whatever kind it came. And the thin moisture it carries off from the fruit, while the thick the sun, by concoction and heating, sweetens. The trees that bear no fruit do not have within themselves fat enough to give out for fruit. The whole tree, when by time it has grown solid and has taken firm hold from below with its roots, ceases to grow in every direction. In those trees into which buds have been inserted from other trees — trees that, having become trees, live within the trees and bear fruit unlike those in which they are inserted — this comes about in the following way. What happens to the bud is: first it sprouts, for it had nourishment first from the tree from which it was taken, then from the one in which it was placed; and when it has sprouted thus, it sends out thin roots from itself into the tree; and first it derives benefit from the moisture present in the tree in which it is lodged; then, as time elapses, it sends out roots into the earth through the tree in which it was placed, and derives benefit by drawing the moisture from the earth, and its nourishment comes from there. So that one need not wonder that inserted trees bear different fruit — for the inserted tree lives from the earth. These things have been said by me about the trees and their fruits for this reason: because it was not possible for me to leave the account half-finished.
27. I will return again to the point for the sake of which I have said these things about these matters. For I say that all things growing in the earth live from the earth's moisture, and however the earth holds moisture within itself, so also do the things growing from it; in the same way the child lives from the mother within the womb, and however the mother holds health, so also does the child. And if anyone wishes to consider what has been said about these matters from beginning to end, he will find that the whole nature of things growing from the earth and of things born from human beings is closely similar. And this is all I have to say on this point.
28. The child, while it is in the womb, has its hands at its cheeks and its head close to its feet; and it is not possible to judge with precision, even if you see the child in the womb, whether it has its head up or down. From the navel the membranes are stretched out, holding it in place.
29. Now I will describe the means of investigation which I said I would set forth a little earlier, as something that is as visible as possible to human understanding for anyone who wishes to know about this: that the seed is within a membrane, and at the center of it is the navel, and that it first draws breath into itself and sends it out again, and from the navel there are membranes; and you will find the whole of the rest of the child's nature, which I have described, arranged in this way from beginning to end, just as it has been demonstrated in my account, if anyone is willing to make use of the investigations I am about to describe. For if someone wishes to place twenty or more eggs under two or more hens to hatch, and beginning from the second day and going to the last day on which the egg hatches, takes one away each day and breaks it open and examines it, he will find everything in accordance with my account — bearing in mind that bird nature must be compared with human nature. For the membranes stretched from the navel, and all the other things that have been said about the child, you will find present in the bird's egg from beginning to end in just this way; indeed, anyone who has not seen it before will be astonished to find a navel inside a bird's egg. That is how things stand; and this is what I have to say on the matter.
30. When the time of birth comes for the woman, it happens then that the child, moving and kicking with hands and feet, breaks one of the inner membranes; and once one has broken, the others already have weakened strength, and they tear — first those nearest to it, then the last one. When the membranes have broken, the embryo is then freed from its bond and comes out dislodged; for it no longer has the strength now that the membranes have given way, and once they have been carried off the womb too can no longer hold the child — for the membranes also take hold of the walls of the womb, wrapping around the child, though with no great force. When the child moves out, it forces open and widens the womb in its passage, the womb being soft; it moves head-first, if it proceeds according to nature, for its upper parts, reckoned from the navel, are the heaviest. While still in the womb it becomes more vigorous up to the breaking of the membranes at the tenth month, when birth comes to the mother. But if the child suffers some violent affliction, it comes out earlier, before the appointed time, when the membranes break; and if the nourishment from the mother to the child stops first, birth likewise comes to the mother before the due time and the child comes out in less than ten months. But as for those women who seemed to carry for longer than ten months — and I have heard this said many times — they were deceived in the following way, which I will now describe. When the womb takes wind into itself from the belly which is producing flatulence, and swells up — for this does happen — women then think they have conceived; and if the menses, not flowing out, are gathered together in the womb and remain there longer, they keep seeping into the womb — sometimes along with the wind from the belly, sometimes also because they are heated — and then too women think they are pregnant, since the menses are not flowing and the womb has been lifted up. Then sometimes the menses broke out of their own accord, or when others came down from the body into the womb and drove out the earlier ones, and the wind escaped, and in many cases immediately after the purging of the menses the womb opened and turned outward at the birth-passage, and then, having intercourse with men, they received the seed on that very day or within a few days. Women who have no understanding of these matters and these things reckon themselves to have been pregnant from that time when their menses were not flowing and the womb happened to have been lifted up. That it is not possible to carry in the womb for longer than ten months, I will explain: the nourishment and the growth coming down from the mother is no longer able to suffice for the child when the ten months have passed and the embryo has grown; for it draws from the blood into itself what is sweetest, and at the same time it partakes of a little from the milk; but when these become scarcer for it and the child is grown large, craving more nourishment than is available, it kicks and ruptures the membranes. And this happens most to women bearing for the first time; for the nourishment fails the children so as not to suffice up to ten months. It fails in the following way: some women purge sufficient menses, others less; and if this is always the case, it is natural to them and hereditary on the mother's side; women who let out little in their menses, these also provide sparser nourishment to their children at the end of the time, when it is already large, and cause it to kick and press to come out before ten months; for little blood flows from them. And it happens in most cases that these women — those who let out little in their menses — are also more without milk; for they are drier and of denser flesh. As evidence for the account that it is when the nourishment fails that the embryo comes out, unless some violent affliction befalls it, here is an investigation: the bird comes from the green (yolk) of the egg in the following way. When the mother sits upon it, the egg is warmed; and what is inside the egg is set in motion by the mother; and being warmed, what is inside the egg takes in pneuma and draws in exchange another cold breath from the air through the egg — for the egg is porous enough to let through a breath that is sufficient for what is inside. And the bird grows within the egg and is articulated in the same or a similar way as the child, as I have already said before. It comes from the green (yolk) of the egg, while nourishment and growth come from the white that is in the egg; and this has already become evident to all who have paid attention. When the nourishment from the egg fails the chick, having insufficient supply to live on, it moves vigorously within the egg, seeking more nourishment, and the membranes break all around it; and when the hen senses the chick moving vigorously, she pecks and hatches it out; and these things come about within twenty days. And it is clear that this is how it is: for when the bird pecks at the shells of the egg, there is no moisture inside worth speaking of — it has been used up for the chick. In the same way too with the child: when it has grown, the mother can no longer provide sufficient nourishment; and so the embryo, seeking more nourishment than is present, kicks and ruptures the membranes, and freed from its bond comes out together with them; and all this comes about within ten months at the longest. And according to this account, birth comes to domestic animals and wild beasts too within the time in which each brings forth, and no longer; for each of the living creatures must have a time in which the nourishment will become scarcer for the embryo and will fail, and birth will be at hand; and those with less nourishment for their embryos give birth sooner, those with more, later. And this is all I have to say on this.
When the membranes have burst all around the child, if the inclination toward the head prevails, the woman gives birth easily; but if it moves sideways or feet-first — for this does happen, if the inclination happens to go that way, or because of the spaciousness of the womb, or also if the mother does not keep still at the beginning of labor — and if it proceeds that way, the woman will give birth with difficulty; and many have already perished — either the mothers themselves, or the children, or both the mothers and what was within them. Among women in labor, those giving birth for the first time suffer most on account of their inexperience of the pains, and they suffer through the whole body, but most of all the loins and the hips — for their hips are pulled apart; women more experienced in births suffer less than those giving birth for the first time, and those who have given birth many times suffer considerably less. If the embryo goes head-first, the head comes out first, then the other limbs following, and last the navel; and from the navel the afterbirth is stretched out. After this, a bloody watery flux comes from the head and the rest of the body, separated out by force, pain, and heat, and it has led the way for the purging of the lochia; and after the outflow of the serum, the purging takes place for the time previously stated. Both the breasts and all the other parts that are more moist break down in women — least in the first birth, then, as they experience more births, they break down still more as the vessels are emptied by the purging of the lochia. This is all I have to say on this matter.
31. Twins come from a single act of intercourse in the following way: the wombs have many folds and bends, some farther away, some closer to the birth-passage; and animals that are many-bearing have more folds than those that bear few; and similarly with sheep, wild beasts, and birds. When the seed happens to arrive divided into two folds and the womb receives the seed, and neither fold relaxes into the other, the seed, now separated, in each fold forms a membrane and comes to life in the same way as has been described for one. That twins come from a single act of intercourse, here is an investigation: the dog, the pig, and other animals that from a single act of intercourse give birth to two and more, and each of the young is in the womb in a fold and membrane — and we ourselves see these things happening — and they give birth to all of them on the same day for the most part. In the same way also the children born to a woman from a single union are each in a fold and chorion, and she gives birth to both on the same day, and the one comes out first along with its chorion. That male-and-female twins come about — I say that in woman, in man, and in every living creature individually, there is in the seed both a weaker and a stronger part; and the seed does not come out all at once but spurts out two and three times; and it is not possible for everything that comes out to always be equally strong — both what comes out first and what comes out later. In whichever fold thicker and stronger seed happens to enter, there a male is formed; in whichever more fluid and weaker seed enters, there a female is formed; if strong seed enters both folds, both become male; if weak into both, both become female. This account, stated in this way, is in its entirety complete.