§4Λείπει τοίνυν ἐπισκέψασθαι περὶ τοῦ λοὶ ποῦ πέρατος τῶν κατὰ τὴν ῥῖνα πόρων, ὃ διὰ τῶν ἠθμοειδῶν ὀστῶν ἐπὶ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον ἀναφέρεται.
It remains therefore to examine concerning the remaining limit of the passages along the nose, which is carried up through the ethmoid bones to the brain.
ἀλλὰ κᾀνταῦθα τὰ μὲν τῆς κατασκευῆς ὅμοια, χιτὼν ὑπαλείφων τὸν πόρον, ὡσαύτως ἔχων τῷ κάτω κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν οὐσίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν νεύρων ἰσχνότητα, τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν συμβεβηκότων ἕτερα.
But here too, the things regarding structure are similar—a coat lining the passage, being in the same state as the one below with respect to its proper substance and the thinness of its nerves—but the things from the accidents are different.
κατὰ γάρ τοι τὴν εἰσπνοὴν ἐγχωρεῖ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον αὐτὸν ἐνεργοῦντα καὶ διαστέλλοντα τὸν θώρακα διὰ τῶν οἰκείων ἀποβλαστημάτων ἐπισπάσαι τι καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἑαυτοῦ κοιλίας.
For during inhalation, it is possible for the brain itself, acting and dilating the thorax through its own offshoots, also to draw something towards its own ventricles.
οὐ μὴν ἀδύνατον τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ κινοῦντι βραχυτάτην ἑαυτοῦ παρέχεσθαι κίνησιν εἰς ἑαυτόν τε καὶ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ, πιλούμενον μὲν, ἡνίκα εἰς ἑαυτὸν συνάγηται, χεόμενον δὲ, ὁπόταν ἀποτείνηται πάντα· συνακολουθεῖν δὲ αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸ συνεχὲς, ἐπειδὰν εἰς ἑαυτὸν συνάγηται τὸν ἔξωθεν ἀέρα, καθάπερ γε καὶ ἀντεκπνεῖσθαι πάλιν, ἐπειδὰν χέηται.
Indeed, this is not impossible, but rather, as it moves, it presents a very slight movement of itself into itself and out of itself, being compressed when it is contracted into itself, and expanded when it is stretched out completely; and the outside air follows it continuously whenever it is contracted into itself, just as it is breathed out again in turn when it is expanded.
τοῦθ’ ἡμῶν σκοπουμένων ποτὲ, κατά τινα τύχην συνέβη βεβλαμμένον ἄνθρωπον ἐκ κορύζης τε καὶ κατάῤῥου πολυχρονίου τὴν αἰσθητικὴν ὄσφρησιν ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ μελανθίου βοήθειαν ἀφικέσθαι.
While we were once considering this, it happened by some chance that a man whose sensory smell had been damaged by coryza and long-lasting catarrh came to the aid of nigella.
κόπτεται δὲ ἀκριβῶς τοῦτο χάριν τοῦ χνοῶδες γενέσθαι, καὶ ἔπειτα μιχθὲν ἐλαίῳ παλαιῷ τρίβεται μετ’ ἐκείνου πάλιν ἐπιμελῶς· εἶτα πληρώσας ὁ θεραπευόμενος ὕδατος τὸ στόμα, καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀνανεύσας, ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐγχεόμενον διὰ τῶν μυκτήρων τὸ φάρμακον εἰσπνέων ἕλκει σφοδρότερον.
This is beaten accurately for the sake of becoming like fine dust, and then, mixed with old oil, is rubbed with it again carefully; then the one being treated, having filled his mouth with water and tilted his head back, draws the medicine, which is poured in abundance through the nostrils, more vehemently as he inhales.
ἐπὶ δὲ τριῶν ἐφεξῆς ἡμερῶν ὁ νεανίσκος χρησάμενος τῷ βοηθήματι, μεγάλως ὤνατο.
Having used the remedy for three successive days, the young man benefited greatly.
φιλοτιμότερον δὲ εἰσπνεύσας τῇ τετάρτῃ τῶν ἡμερῶν, ἰσχυρᾶς ᾔσθετο δήξεως ἐν τῷ βάθει τῆς κεφαλῆς, καὶ μάλιστ’ αὐτῆς κατὰ βραχὺ μειουμένης, παντάπασιν ἐπαύσατο κατὰ τὴν ὑστεραίαν.
But having inhaled more eagerly on the fourth of the days, he felt a strong biting in the depth of his head, and as this especially decreased little by little, it ceased altogether on the following day.
ἐδόκει τοιγαροῦν ἡμῖν ἐνηνέχθαι τι τοῦ μελανθίου κατὰ τὰς τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου κοιλίας, ὃ προσιζῆσαν ἤτοι τοῖς χοροειδέσι πλέγμασιν, ἴσως δὲ καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ ἐγκεφάλῳ, παρασχεῖν τὴν ὀδύνην.
It seemed therefore to us that some of the nigella had been carried down into the ventricles of the brain, which, having adhered either to the choroid plexuses, or perhaps even to the brain itself, produced the pain.
ὁμολογεῖν δὲ φαίνεται τοῖσδε καὶ τὸ δεῖν ἀτμοειδές πως εἶναι τὸ τῶν ὀσμῶν ἴδιον ὄργανον.
And the requirement that the proper organ of smells must be somehow vapor-like also seems to agree with these things.
καὶ διὰ τοῦθ’, ἕνεκα τοῦ βεβαίως πεισθῆναι, καὶ ἄλλῳ τινὶ καὶ ἄλλῳ καὶ πολλοῖς ἐφεξῆς οἰκέταις ἐνεχέαμεν τοῦ φαρμάκου, σφοδρῶς ἀναπνεῦσαι κελεύσαντες.
And for this reason, for the sake of being firmly convinced, we poured some of the medicine into one and another and many successive servants, ordering them to breathe in vehemently.
ἐξ ὧν ἔνιοι μὲν οὐδ’ ὅλως, ἔνιοι δὲ ἀμυδρῶς, εἰσὶ δ’ οἳ καὶ σαφῶς ᾔσθοντο δήξεως ἐν τῷ βάθει τῆς κεφαλῆς.
Of whom some did not perceive it at all, some dimly, and there were those who also clearly felt a biting in the depth of the head.
ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν ἔκ τε τούτων ἀναλογιζόμενοι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν προειρημένων ἐν ταῖς προσθίαις κοιλίαις τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου τὴν τῶν ὀσφρητῶν αἴσθησιν ἐπιστεύομεν γίγνεσθαι.
We, therefore, reasoning from these and from the other things mentioned before, believed that the perception of objects of smell takes place in the anterior ventricles of the brain.
προσήρχοντο δὲ ἡμῖν ἐξ ἐπιμέτρου πίστεις οὐ σμικραί· πρώτη μὲν ἡ τῶν πταρμῶν, ὠφελούντων ἐναργῶς τῷ βάρει τῆς κεφαλῆς, ὅταν ὑπὸ ἀτμῶν παχέων ὁ ἐγκέφαλος ἐμπλησθῇ· δευτέρα δὲ, ὅτι πληροῦταί τε καὶ θερμαίνεται κατὰ τὰς τῆς ἀναπνοῆς ἐπισχέσεις ὁ ἐγκέφαλος, ὡς ὀλίγον ὕστερον ἐρῶ· εἰκὸς οὖν ἐστι, δεῖσθαι τῆς μὲν ἐκπνοῆς αὐτὸν ἕνεκα τοῦ τὰ λυποῦντα κενῶσαι, τῆς δ’ εἰσπνοῆς ἀναψύξεως χάριν· ἔτι τε τρίτον, τούτοις ἐγκεκαυμένης ἢ καὶ ἄλλως ὁπωσοῦν θερμῆς τῆς κεφαλῆς, αἰσθανόμεθα τήν τε τῶν ῥόδων ὀσμὴν καὶ τινῶν ἄλλων, ὅσα προσηνῶς ἐκψύχει, ἐπιφανῶς ἰᾶσθαι τὴν θέρμην· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον ἐγχωρεῖν ἐν τῷ ῥινὸς χιτῶνι τὴν αἴσθησιν γίνεσθαι τῶν ὀσμῶν· ὃ γὰρ εἶχε μόνον βραχὺ τὸ πιθανὸν ὑπ’ Ἀριστοτέλους εἰρημένον, ἐξεταζόμενον ηὑρίσκετο ψεῦδος.
And no small proofs came to us in addition: first, that of sneezes, which manifestly benefit the heaviness of the head when the brain is filled with thick vapors; and second, that the brain is filled and heated during suspensions of respiration, as I shall say a little later; it is reasonable, therefore, that it needs exhalation for the sake of emptying the things that trouble it, and inhalation for the sake of cooling; and still third, when the head is scorched by these or in any other way hot, we perceive that the smell of roses and of some other things that pleasantly cool visibly cures the heat; moreover, it is in no way possible for the perception of smells to occur in the coat of the nose; for the only claim said by Aristotle that had a little plausibility was found, when examined, to be false.