GREEK BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 



most frequently translated and imitated de- 

 scription of a face of a dying man: " for his 

 nose was as sharp as a pen," says the Hostess 

 of the dying Falstaff. 



Space fails me for the writer's description 

 of unfavorable signs from the patient's posi- 

 tion in bed, — as " lying upon his back, with 

 hands, neck, and legs extended," or his wishing 

 to sit erect at the climax of the disease, espe- 

 cially in pneumonia, or waving his hands be- 

 fore his face, or hunting as if gathering bits 

 of straw or picking the nap from the coverlet: 

 " for after I saw him fumble with the sheets, 

 and play wijh flowers, and smile upon his 

 fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way," 

 still says the Hostess, who had not read 

 Hippocrates, but doubtless had seen old men 

 die before. 



There is scarcely a statement in this writing 

 that has failed to leave its impress upon medi- 

 cine: witness, for example, the cult which has 

 surrounded its statement of the periodic crises 

 in acute disease. The writing closes substan- 

 tially with these words: " He who would know 

 correctly beforehand those that will recover, 

 and those that will die, and in what cases the 

 disease will be protracted or shortened, must 

 [30] 



