A Salernitan Regimen of Health - Page Fifteen
 These are the humors which give to each his skin coloring:
From phlegm comes a fair, white complexion,
From blood a ruby color, and a rather tawny complexion from red choler.
If blood is overabundant, the face turns red, the eyes protrudes,
The cheeks swell up, the body is too weighed down,
The pulse is frequent, full, and soft; great pain
Occurs, especially in the forehead; the bowels are constipated,
A dry tongue and thirst result, and dreams are completely red in color.
The saliva is sweet, even when tasting bitter things.

******

Phlebotomy is scarcely needed before a person is seventeen.
The more productive spirit will escape with your blood during phlebotomy,
But these spirits will soon be replaced by drinking wine, and
Any harm done by the humors will be gradually repaired by food.
Phlebotomy clears your eyes, freshens your
Mind and brain, makes your marrow warm,
Purges your bowels and restrains your stomach and belly from vomiting or menstration;
It purifies the senses, brings on sleep, takes away weariness;
It cultivates and improves hearing, speech, and strength.

******

These are the good months for phlebotomy - May, September, April -
Which are lunar months just as are the Hydra* days.
Neither on the first day of May nor the last day of September or April
Should blood be drawn or goose be eaten.
In the old man or in the young man whose veins are full of blood
Phlebotomy may be practiced in every month.
These are the three months - May, September, April -
In which you should draw blood in order to live a long time.

*The constellation Hydra

NEXT - PAGE SIXTEEN

Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum - A Salernitan Regimen of Health
Page One | Page Two | Page Three | Page Four | Page Five | Page Six | Page Seven
Page Eight | Page Nine | Page Ten | Page Eleven | Page Twelve | Page Thirteen
Page Fourteen | Page Sixteen | Page Seventeen

Cummins, Patricia Willet. A Critical Edition of Le Regime Tresutile et Tresproufitable pour Conserver et Garder la Santé du Corps Humain. Chapel Hill: North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures, 1976.

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