Prognostic

​9. It is bad when the head, hands, and feet are cold, while the abdomen and the flanks are warm. But it is best when the whole body is evenly warm and soft. The patient should turn easily, and feel light when raising himself; but if the rest of the body, as well as the hands and feet, appear heavy, it is more dangerous. And if, in addition to the heaviness, the nails and fingers become livid, death is to be expected immediately; but fingers and feet that are completely blackened are less fatal than livid ones; yet one must also observe the other signs. For if the patient appears to bear the disease easily, and some other of the signs of recovery, in addition to these, should show themselves, there is hope that the disease will turn into an abscess, so that the patient survives, while the blackened parts of the body slough off. Retracted testicles and private parts signify severe pains and deadly danger.

​10. Regarding sleep, as is natural and customary for us, one should be awake during the day and sleep during the night. If this should be reversed, it is worse; but it would cause the least trouble if he should sleep in the morning until the third part of the day; but sleep after this time is worse. It is worst of all not to sleep either by night or by day; for from this sign, sleeplessness from pain and suffering, or delirium, follows.

​11. As for the excrement, it is best when it is soft and formed, and passed at the same hour as when in health, and in quantity proportional to the food taken; for if the evacuation is of this kind, the lower abdomen would be healthy. But if the stool is liquid, it is not beneficial for it to rumble, nor to be frequent, nor to pass by little and little; for the patient, fatigued by the constant rising, would be sleepless; but if it passes in large quantities frequently, there is danger of fainting. Rather, it should pass twice or thrice during the day, and once during the night, and more towards the morning, as is customary for the patient. The excrement should become thicker as the disease proceeds towards a crisis. Let it be yellowish and not too offensive. It is also favorable for round worms to pass with the excrement as the disease proceeds towards a crisis. In every disease, the abdomen should be soft and well-shaped. To pass stools that are very watery, or white, or pale-green, or strongly red, or frothy, are all bad. It is also bad when it is small, sticky, white, pale-green, and smooth. More deadly than these would be those which are black, or fatty, or livid, or rust-colored, or fetid. Variegated stools, though more chronic than these, are no less fatal; such are those which are like scrapings, bilious, leek-green, and black, sometimes passing together mixed, and sometimes in turn. It is best for wind to pass without noise and without eruption; but it is better to pass even with noise than to be pent up inside; and passing in this way, it signifies either that the patient is in pain or is delirious, unless the patient voluntarily makes the discharge of wind in this way. Pains and swellings in the hypochondria, if they are recent and without inflammation, are relieved by a rumbling arising in the hypochondrium, especially if it passes off with feces, urine, and wind; but if not, even the rumbling itself passing through is beneficial; and it is also beneficial if it descends to the lower regions.