30 INTRODUCTION. 
reign, and for general use, was rather the preserva- — 
tion of health than the cure of diseases. It does not 
enter, therefore, into any abstruse discussions, and 
what relates to theory only, is confined to a superfi 
description of the anatomy of the body, in stating — 
merely the number of the bones, the teeth, and the 
veins; and in treating more at large the four 
humours, which were of great importance in the 
ancient medicine, were held to be the great store- 
houses of the human fabric, and to form the great 
characteristics of the constitution. 
€ means prescribed for the preservation of 
health, consist in the due observation of the six nom- — 
naturals, air, food, exercise, sleep, the excretions, 
and the passions. To these heads may be reduced 
the various rules, of living in a salubrious air, and 
the changeful seasons: the minute detail 
observing 
of all kinds of meat and drink, and the qualities of 
herbs, which constitute the great bulk of the poem: 
frequent exercise and ablutions: avoiding sleep at 
improper times, not neglecting the calls of nature, 
and avoiding care, and all other violent agitations of 
the mind. 
For the cure of diseases a general remedy i 
°? Strangely so called because they are erternal, and not parts 
of the natural body 
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