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''On the Sacred Disease'' is a work of the Hippocratic Corpus, written in 400 BCE. The authorship of this piece can not be confirmed and is therefore regarded as dubious. The treatise is thought to contain one of the first recorded observations of epilepsy in humans. The author explains these phenomena by the flux of the phlegm flowing from the brain into the veins rather than assigning them a divine origin. This turn from a supernatural to a naturalistic explanation is considered a major break in the history of medicine. ==Summary== The author, putatively Hippocrates, comments on the "sacred" disease declaring that it is no more sacred than other diseases. He stresses the importance of the disease having no relation with the divine whatsoever, but instead being purely of human origin. The author of ''On the Sacred Disease'' argues that even the most mysterious of diseases was still of natural cause and not of divine origin:
Symptoms of this disease are described as men becoming mad either by crying out, suffocating on saliva, frothing by the mouth, or by shaking uncontrollably. Such symptoms were thought to be a punishment from the gods on an individual. Hippocrates continues his argument by noting that such phenomena is not of divine origin because previous treatments to the affected involved incantations and pray patterns that were unsuccessful. The text continues with the known anatomy of the brain at the time. The brain of a human is similar to other animals in that it is double and divided by a thin membrane through the middle. Hippocrates attributes this fact for the reason that a patients pain isn't always located in the same spot on his or her head. Veins from the bodies major organs connect to the brain and vary in size. The veins that run along the right region of the body through the heart and lungs are continued to be described to the best of Hippocrates' knowledge:
Hippocrates argues that the start of this Sacred disease begins with the accumulation of phlegm (one of the four humors) in the veins of the head. This build up begins to be formed in utero. If this disease continues to grow after birth and into adulthood, the affected person will have a "melted" brain which results in mental illness. Once the disease is stuck within the head, the patient loses his speech and chokes causing foam to fall from his or her mouth. Young children that obtain the disease mostly die Hippocrates argues that due to their small veins, they are not able to accommodate the increased amount of phlegm. When the phlegm gathers the child quickly "cools" and the blood congeals causing death. The elderly for the most part survive the disease due to the Hippocratic theory that their veins are larger and filled with hot flowing blood that is safe from the coldness of the phlegm. ;Summary of Symptoms * Shivering * Loss of speech * Trouble breathing * Contraction of the brain * Blood stops circulating * Excretion of the phlegm Many of the afflicted seem to know when they are about to have another episode. When this happens, they become ashamed and flee from the surrounding crowd to hide. Hippocrates mentions that this is due to the fear of the divine and embarrassment that they have been punished with the "Sacred" disease. Hippocrates concludes that the Sacred disease is proof that the brain has the greatest power over man. It is through this part of the body that air from breathing first enters. When the disease dilutes the mind to the point where phlegm in the veins increases sufficiently causing air blockage, is when the patient begins to suffer and possibly die. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「On the Sacred Disease」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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