Hippocrates, De morbis popularibus
W. H. S. Jones, Ed.

---

---

---

CASE XIII

Apollonius in Abdera was ailing for a long time without being confined to bed. He had a swollen abdomen, and a continual pain in the region of the liver had been present for a long time ; moreover, he became during this period jaundiced and flatulent ; his complexion was whitish. After dining and drinking unseasonably cow's milk¹ he at first grew rather hot ; he took to his bed. Having drunk copiously of milk, boiled and raw, both goat's and sheep's, and adopting a thoroughly bad regimen,² he suffered much therefrom. For there were exacerbations of the fever ; the bowels passed practically nothing of the food taken ; the urine was thin and scanty. No sleep. Grievous distension ; much thirst ; coma ; painful swelling of the right hypochondrium ; extremities all round rather cold ; slight delirious mutterings ; forgetfulness of every-thing he said ; he was not himself. About the

[p. 281] fourteenth day from his taking to bed, after a rigor, he grew hot ; wildly delirious ; shouting, distress,³ much rambling, followed by calm ; the coma came on at this time. Afterwards the bowels were disordered with copious stools, bilious, uncompounded and crude ; urine black, scanty and thin. Great discomfort. The evacuations showed varying symptoms ; they were either black, scanty and verdigris-coloured, or else greasy, crude and smarting ; at times they seemed actually to be like milk. About the twenty-fourth day comfortable ; in other respects the same, but he had lucid intervals. He remembered nothing since he took to bed. But he quickly was again delirious, and all symptoms took a sharp turn for the worse. About the thirtieth day acute fever ; copious, thin stools ; wandering ; cold extremities ; speechlessness.

Thirty-fourth day. Death.

This patient throughout, from the time I had knowledge of the case, suffered from disordered bowels ; urine thin and black ; coma ; sleeplessness ; extremities cold ; delirious throughout.