Prognostic

​PROGNOSIS 1. It seems to me to be best for the physician to cultivate prognosis. For by foreknowing and foretelling, in the presence of the sick, the present, the past, and the future, and by explaining thoroughly what the sick omit, he would be believed to understand the cases of the sick better, so that men would dare to entrust themselves to the physician. And he would conduct the treatment best, if he foreknew the future from the present symptoms. For to make all sick people healthy is impossible; for this would have been better than foreknowing what is going to happen. But since men die, some before calling the physician, by the strength of the disease, and others even after calling him, died immediately, some living for one day, and others for a little longer time, before the physician could contest each disease by his art; therefore one must know the natures of such diseases, how far they are beyond the power of bodies, and at the same time whether there is anything divine in the diseases, and learn thoroughly the prognosis of this. For thus he would be justly admired, and would be a good physician; for those who are capable of surviving, he would be able to preserve even better by taking thought beforehand for each thing from a longer time, and by foreknowing and foretelling those who will die and those who will be saved, he would be free from blame.

​2. One must examine as follows in acute diseases: first, the face of the sick man, whether it is like those of healthy people, and especially, whether it is like itself. For thus it would be best, but that which is most opposite to the likeness is most dangerous. And it would be of this kind: a sharp nose, hollow eyes, collapsed temples, cold and contracted ears, and the lobes of the ears turned back, and the skin about the forehead hard, stretched, and dry. And the color of the whole face being pale or even black, and livid, or lead-colored. If, then, the face is such at the beginning of the disease, and it is not yet possible to judge from the other signs, one must ask further, whether the sick man has been sleepless, or his bowels have been violently loose, or he has some hunger; and if he confesses to any of these, one should consider it less dangerous; and such matters are decided in a day and a night, if the face is such because of these reasons. But if he says none of these is the case, and it does not recover in the aforementioned time, one must know that he is near death. And if, when the disease is of longer standing, either on the third or fourth day, the face is such, one must ask further about those things which I previously ordered, and examine the other signs, both in the whole face, and in the body, and in the eyes. For if they avoid the light, or shed tears involuntarily, or are distorted, or one becomes smaller than the other, or the whites of them become red, or livid, or have black veins in them, or rheum appears about the eyes, or they are either projecting, or become deeply hollowed, or the eyes are dry and dim, or the color of the whole face is altered, all these must be considered bad and fatal. And one must also observe the showing of the eyes in sleep; for if any of the white is visible, the eyelids not closing, unless it is from diarrhea or purging, or unless he is accustomed to sleep thus, the sign is unfavorable and very fatal. And if a eyelid, lip, or nose becomes distorted, livid, or pale, along with some of the other signs, one must know that he is near death; and it is fatal also for the lips to become loose, hanging down, cold, and pale.