Physiologia of Jean Fernel (1567)

Transactions, American Philosophical Society (vol. 93, part 1)

John M. Forrester

• Publisher: The American Philosophical Society Press
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN: 9780871693693
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Physiology

Jean Fernel (1497-1558) was one of the foremost medical writers of his day, ranked by his contemporaries alongside Andreas Vesalius, reformer of anatomical studies, and Paracelsus, radical reformer of theories of disease and treatment. He is arguably the leading expositor of the Galenic system of medicine. He exemplifies in his Physiologia the method and approach of a typical Aristotelian philosopher in the period immediately before the downfall of Renaissance Scholasticism. John Forrester offers the Physiologia here in its entirety and provides, for the first time, a complete English translation of the work.

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Tradition and Reform: Jean Femel's Physiologia (1567)
• BOOK 1. DESCRIPTION OF THE PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY DE PARTIUM CORPORIS HUMJNI DESCRIPTIONS. LIBER PRIMUS
• Chapter 1. The order of teaching and demonstration in which the art of medicine should be arranged. Quo doctrinae atque demonstrationis ordine ars medica constituenda sit. Cap. I
• Chapter 2. The difference between the human body and those of the other animals, and the parts that both share. Quid hominis corpus a caeteris distat animantibus, quasquepartes habet cum illis communes. Cap. II
• Chapter 3. The bones. De ossibus. Cap. III
• Chapter 4. The cartilages, joints, and ligaments. De cartilaginibus, articulis, et vinculis. Cap. IIII
• Chapter 5. The muscles and tendons. De musculis et tendonibus. Cap. V
• Chapter 6. The function of the internal parts to which we owe our life and nutrition, and the need for them. Quis ususpartium interiorum, quarum benejicio vivimus et nutrimur, quae illarum necessitas. Cap. VI
• Chapter 7. The internal parts held within the lower belly. Departibus interioribus infero ventre conclusis. Cap. VII
• Chapter 8. The vital parts. Departibus vitalibus. Cap. VIII
• Chapter 9. The head. De capite. Cap. IX
• Chapter 10. The nerves. De neruis. Cap. X
• Chapter 11. The veins. De vents. Cap. XI
• Chapter 12. The arteries. De arteriis. Cap. XII
• Chapter 13. The membranes and the skin. De membranis et cute. Cap. XIII
• Chapter 14. Flesh and soft parts. De came mollibusque partibus. Cap. XIIII
• Chapter 15. Fat, marrow, hairs, and nails. De adipe, medulla, pilis, et vnguibus. Cap. XV
• Chapter 16. Conduct of the dissection. Consectionis ratio. Cap. XVI and Peroration
• BOOK 2. THE ELEMENTS DE ELEMENTIS. LIB. II
• Introduction. Praefatio
• Chapter 1. Resolving the human body into composite parts and simple parts. Humani corporis in partes turn compositas, turn simplices dissolutio. Cap. I
• Chapter 2. What is a part of the body, and the correct numbers of simple and similar parts. Quid pars corporis, et quot simplices ac similares proprie dinumerentur. Cap. II
• Chapter 3. What should be called an element, what parts in the body should be called elements for doctors, and what should be called principles. Quid elementum, quae medicis in corporepartes elementa,et quaeprincipia did debeant. Cap. III
• Chapter 4. The reasoning on which earth, water, air, and fire are called the elements of everything. Quibus rationibus terra, aqua, aer et ignis rerum omnium elementa dicantur. Cap. IIII
• Chapter 5. The body of man, like those of everything else, is united and held together by the coalescence of the four elements. Corpus hominis, vt caeterorum omnium, ex quatuor elementorum concretione necti et contineri. Cap. V
• Chapter 6. Against recent authorities who believe that only the powers of elements, and not their substances, reside within us. Contra iuniores qui elementorum solas vires, non item substantias in nobis putant inesse. Cap. VI
• Chapter 7. A more searching inquiry into the mixture of elements. De elementorum permistione diligentior inquisitio. Cap. VII
• Chapter 8. Whether the whole of the substances of elements pervades everything completely, or only the whole of their qualities. Vtrum elementorum substantiae, an qualitates solae totis totae perfundantur. Cap. VIII
• BOOK 3. THE TEMPERAMENTS DE TEMPERAMENTIS. LIB. III
• Chapter 1. What a temperament is, and how Avicenna defined it wrongly. Quid temperamentum, vtque idperperam definierit Auicennas. Cap. I
• Chapter 2. That contraries gather into the same thing, and how the powers of each are to be judged. Contraria in idem confluere, et vnde singulorum vires aestimentur. Cap. II
• Chapter 3. The number and nature of distinctions between temperaments. Temperamentorum differentiae quot qualesque sint. Cap. III
• Chapter 4. What is moderated by justice, what is moderated by mass, and that both really exist in the nature of things. Quid iustitia, quid pondere temperatum, vtrumque in rerum natura vere subsistere. Cap. IIII
• Chapter 5. Human touch is the decisive assessor for distinguishing temperament. Hominis tactum, discernendi temperamenti legem esse et iudicem. Cap.V
• Chapter 6. The tempering of individual parts of the human body. De singulorum partium corporis humani temperatura. Cap. VI
• Chapter 7. The temperament of a man as a whole, and that not everything living is hot. De vniuersi hominis temperamento, neque viuens omne calidum esse. Cap. VII
• Chapter 8. Touch does not straightforwardly discover the temperament of internal parts. Vt tactus non simpliciterpartium interiorum temperamenta discernât. Cap. VIII
• Chapter 9. The inborn temperament is altered by many causes, and the basis on which this occurs. Multis ex causis ingenitum temperamentum mutari, quâque id ratione accidat. Cap. IX
• Chapter 10. Age, the distinctions between ages, and how with increasing age everyone's temperament changes. Quid aetas, quot aetatum differentiae, vtque illarum progressa cuiusque temperamentum vertatur. Cap. X
• Chapter 11. No temperament should be called bilious, sanguineous, phlegmatic, or melancholic. Temperamentum nullum biliosum, sanguineum, pituitosum, aut melancholicum did oportere. Cap. XI
• BOOK 4. THE SPIRITS AND THE INNATE HEAT DE SPIRITIBUS ET INNATO CALIDO. LIB. IIII
• Chapter 1. A heat resides in us and all living things, and is divine. Calorem quendam in nobis cunct'isque viuentibus inesse, eumque diuinum. Cap. I
• Chapter 2. A spirit given to all living things is associated with the vital heat. Spiritum quendam cunctis datum viuentibus, qui vitae calorem continet. Cap. II
• Chapter 3. The material of both heat and spirit is recognized in us, on the model of bodies that take fire. Corporum quae incenduntur exemplo, materiam turn caloris, turn spiritus in nobis cognosci. Cap. III
• Chapter 4. Proof of the original moisture, which is the material underlying both heat and spirit. Humidiprimigenij quod turn caloris, turn spiritus subiecta est materia, demonstratio. Cap. IIII
• Chapter 5. The triple substance of a similar part, and the other distinctions between humors. De triplici similarispartis substantia, et de caeteris humorum differentiis. Cap. V
• Chapter 6. What the innate heat is and what its substance is. Quid innatum calidum, quae eius substantia. Cap. VI
• Chapter 7. What nature is to physicians, and what its substance is. Quid natura medicis, et quae eius substantia. Cap. VII
• Chapter 8. Innate heat undergoes a change of state as age [literally, "ages"] wears on. Vt innatum calidum aetatum inclinatione, status mutationem subeat. Cap. VIII
• Chapter 9. The innate heat alters with the seasons of the year and the region, and has numerous names. Vt innatum calidum per anni tempora etper regiones mutetur, et multiplex illius appellatio. Cap. IX
• Chapter 7 [9A]. Distinctions between native heat and spirit; spirits are implanted in individual parts, and controlled by spirits flowing in from elsewhere. Natiui turn caloris, turn spiritus differentiae: hosque partibus singulis insitos, aliunde influentibus gubernari. Cap. VII
• Chapter 12. Natural spirit becomes the material of vital and animal spirit. How the spirits and other substances inherent in the parts are nourished. Naturalem spiritumfieri materiem vitalis atque animalis: vtque spiritus et aliae substantiaepartibus ingenitae alantur. Cap. XII
• BOOK 5 THE FACULTIES OF THE SOUL DE ANIMA FAC ULTATIB US. LIB. V
• Chapter 1. The soul. Quid anima. Cap. I
• Chapter 2. The number and nature of the kinds, parts, and faculties of the soul. Animae genera, partes etfacultates quot et quae sint. Cap. II
• Chapter 3. How many faculties there are of the first part of the soul, the so-called natural faculties. Quotprimae partis animae sint facultates, quae naturales appellantur. Cap. III
• Chapter 4. The nourishing [faculty] requires the help of four faculties. Quatuorfacultatum subsidio altricem indigere. Cap. IIII
• Chapter 5. Over and above these four, there is no other natural faculty of appetite, neither of distinguishing, nor of separating. Praeter eas quatuor; non aliam quandam esse naturalem appetendi facultatem, aliam internoscendi, aliam secernendi. Cap. V
• Chapter 6. Different natural faculties are more effective for different parts, and have assigned to them particular instruments for functioning. Aliis partibus alias facultates naturales ess valentiores, Usque propria quaedam functionum instrumenta destinata esse et attributa. Cap. VI
• Chapter 7. The faculties of external sensation. Externae sentiendi facultates. Cap. VII
• Chapter 8. Internal faculties of the sentient soul. Interiores sentientis animaefacultates. Cap. VIII
• Chapter 9. Appetite and the faculty of movement. De appetitu et mouendi facultate. Cap. IX
• Chapter 10. The base and the instrument of action that each single faculty of the sentient soul possesses: they are not all present in every animal. Quam unaquaeque sentientis animae facultas sedem habeat, quod agendi instrumentum: neque omnes omni inesse animanti. Cap. X
• Chapter 11. The faculties of intelligence. De intelligentiaefacultatibus. Cap. XI
• Chapter 12. The vital faculty, which Aristotle considered the same as the natural one. De vitalifacultate, quam Aristoteles eandem atque naturalem existimauit. Cap. XII
• Chapter 13. The physicians who follow Plato divide the vital faculty from the rest. Medicos Platonem sequutos, vitalem facultatem a reliquis diiungere. Cap. XIII
• Chapter 14. The three faculties of the soul are separate in their seats and locations. Tres animae facultates sedibus atque locis discludi. Cap. XIIII
• Chapter 15. Refutation of the reasoning put forward by antagonists. Rationum quas aduersarijproponunt confutatio. Cap. XV
• Chapter 16. What the vital faculty provides and imparts to the rest, in what it resides, what status it reaches, and what life is. Quid vitalis facultas caeteris praestet et impertiat, in quibus insit, quo accedat ordine, quid vita. Cap. XVI
• Chapter 17. The harmony of the faculties and their precedence. De facultatum concentu etprincipatus ordine. Cap. XVII
• Chapter 18. The soul in these parts is simple, and hence the arguments of the Aristotelians break down. Simplicem esse animam quae his partibus continetur; hincque Aristotelicorum rationes dissolui. Cap. XVIII
• Chapter 19. The moral faculties. De moralibus facultatibus. Cap. XIX
• BOOK 6. THE FUNCTIONS AND HUMORS DE FUNCTIONIBUS ETHUMORIBUS. LIB. VI
• Chapter 1. Preparation of food in the stomach. Alimenti in ventriculo confectio. Cap. I
• Chapter 2. The distribution of nutriment takes place from the stomach by way of the intestines and mesenteric veins into the liver. Vt è ventriculo per intestina et venas mesaraicas in iecur fiat alimenti distributio. Cap. II
• Chapter 3. Production of blood and humors in the liver. Sanguinis et humorum in iecore procreatio. Cap. III
• Chapter 4. All humors are generated at the same time, and from one and the same heat. Omnes humores simulgigni, et ab vno eod'emque calore. Cap. IIII
• Chapter 5. How the blood slips out of the liver and is distributed through the vena cava to all parts of the body. Vt sanguis à iecore delapsus per venam cauam in omnes corporis partes dijfundatur. Cap. V
• Chapter 6. How many kinds of concoction there are, what the particular humor of each is, and what waste matter there is. Quot concoctionum genera, quis cuiusque proprius sit humor, quod excrementum. Cap. VI
• Chapter 7. Blood, and how it is present in veins. De sanguine, vtque is consistât in venis. Cap. VII
• Chapter 8. Blood in the veins consists of a mixture not of three but of four humors, and what the different sorts of it are. Sanguinem in venis, non trium, sed quatuor humorum permistione contineri, quotque eius sint differentiae. Cap. VIII
• Chapter 9. The different sorts of phlegm and of the two kinds of bile. Pituitae et vtriusque bilis differentiae. Cap. IX
• Chapter 10. Animal functions. De animalibus functionibus. Cap. X
• Chapter 11. Functions of the internal sense. Sensus interiorisfunctiones. Cap. XI
• Chapter 12. How appetite and moral actions come about. Vtfiant appetitio atque morales actiones. Cap. XII
• Chapter 13. Forward motion, and touching. De progressions et tactione. Cap. XIII
• Chapter 14. The functions of the mind. De mentis functionibus. Cap. XIIII
• Chapter 15. The main faculties of the soul are not separate in their seats. Principes animae facultates non esse sedibus distinctas. Cap. XV
• Chapter 16. Our heat needs cooling, fuel, and purification all the time, or it is quenched and declines. Calorem nostrum perpetuo refrigeratione, pabulo, et expurgatione indigere, alioqui extingui ipsum et extabescere. Cap. XVI
• Chapter 17. The value of pulse and respiration, and the difference between them. Pulsus et respirationis vsus: vtque inter se distent. Cap. XVII
• Chapter 18. The basis on which respiration and pulsation happen. Qua ratione fiant respiratio atque pulsus. Cap. XVIII
• BOOK 7. ON HUMAN PROCREATION AND ON THE SEMEN DE HOMINIS PROCREATIONE ATQUE DE SEMINE. LIB. VII
• Preface. Praefatio
• Chapter 1. The origin of the difference between the sexes, and what Aristotle handed down about the semen. Sexuum distinctio vnde sit, et quid de semine sit ab Aristoteleproditum. Cap. I
• Chapter 2. The material of semen is generated in the solid parts, and how it is separated from them by the power of the testicles. Seminis materiam in solidis partibus progigni, vtque ab illis testium vi secernatur. Cap. II
• Chapter 3. The testicles and their preeminence. De testiculis et eorum praestantia. Cap. III
• Chapter 4. The composition of semen, and what the testicles contribute to its making. Quaenam est seminis compositio, quid testes ad eius confectionem conferant. Cap. IIII
• Chapter 5. The nature, excellence, and powers of semen, and that it is the cause both of all spirits and of all faculties. De seminis natura, praestantia, et viribus, idque omnium turn spirituum, turn facultatum causa esse. Cap. V
• Chapter 6. The female's semen. De foeminarum semine. Cap. VI
• Chapter 7. The menstrual blood. De menstruo sanguine. Cap. VII
• Chapter 8. The conception of the semen, and the original establishing of the human being. De seminis conceptione, et prima hominis constitutione. Cap. VIII
• Chapter 9. The initial shaping of the animal. Prima animalis conformatio. Cap. IX
• Chapter 10. Great argument both about the main one among the bodily parts and about the order of their shaping. Vt departium corporis principatu, ita et de conformationis ordine magna quidem contentione certatur. Cap. X
• Chapter 11. The completing and filling out of the fetus. De foetus perfectione et complemento. Cap. XI
• Chapter 12. The reasons children are like or unlike their parents. Quibus ex causisfit, vt nati parentibus similes dissimilesve sint. Cap. XII
• Chapter 13. The source from which the soul's faculties accrue to the conceptus, as if begotten, and the sequence in which this occurs; in addition, it is beyond doubt that the semen is a part of the conceptus. Vnde et quonam ordine animae facultates conceptui tanquam genitae accedant: nec essepraeterea dubitandum an semen parsfiat conceptus. Cap. XIII
• Notes to the Latin
• Notes to the Translation
• Bibliography
• Index