§7#1Ἐφεξῆς ἂν εἴη σκεπτέον, εἰ, ὥσπερ ἡ ἐκπνοὴ ἄνεσίς ἐστι καὶ οἷον ἀνάπαυσις τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ θώρακος, ἡ ἐκφύσησις δὲ ἐνέργεια, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ μᾶλλόν τε καὶ ἧττον ἔχει, τῆς ἐκπνοῆς οὐκ ἐχούσης, οὕτως καὶ ἡ συστολὴ μὲν ἐν τοῖς σφυγμοῖς ἔκλυσις τῆς ἐνεργείας ἐστὶ τῶν ἀρτηριῶν, ἕτερον δέ τι ταύτῃ παρακείμενον ἀνάλογος ταῖς ἐκφυσήσεσιν ἡ ἐνέργεια.
Next, we should consider whether, just as exhalation is a relaxation and as it were a rest from the activity of the thorax, while active puffing out is an activity, and for this reason admits of the more and the less, whereas exhalation does not, so also contraction in the pulses is a release of the activity of the arteries, while some other thing adjacent to this is the activity analogous to the puffings out.
καί μοι δοκεῖ καὶ τοῦτο παντὸς μᾶλλον ἀληθὲς εἶναι.
And this also seems to me to be true above all.
τεκμαίρομαι δὲ ἔκ τε τῶν κοινῇ περὶ πασῶν ἡμῖν τῶν ζωτικῶν δυνάμεων ἑτέρωθι δεδειγμένων, κᾀκ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὴν τὴν ἀναπνοὴν ἀναλογίας.
And I infer this both from what has been demonstrated by us elsewhere in common concerning all vital powers, and from the analogy to respiration itself.
ἐν μέντοι γε τοῖς περὶ τῶν δυνάμεων λογισμοῖς ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὀργάνων ἐμφαίνει ἐναντίως ἔχειν ἐμφύτους δυνάμεις.
However, in the accounts concerning the powers, it is shown that each of the organs possesses innate powers of an opposite nature.
ἡ δ’ αὖ τῆς ἀναπνοῆς ὁμοιότης ζητεῖ τὴν ἐνέργειαν ἐν ταῖς ἀρτηρίαις ἀνάλογον ταῖς ἐμφυσήσεσιν.
On the other hand, the similarity to respiration requires that the activity in the arteries be analogous to the puffings in.
καὶ γὰρ ἀτοπώτατον ἂν εἴη, μᾶλλον δ’ ἀδύνατον, ὑπάρχειν μέν τινα χρείαν τῇ φύσει τῆς συστολῆς τῶν ἀρτηριῶν, μηδεμίαν δ’ αὐταῖς δοθῆναι σύμφυτον δύναμιν, δημιουργὸν τῆς τοιαύτης κινήσεως.
For it would be most absurd, or rather impossible, that there should be some need for the contraction of the arteries in nature, but that no innate power should be given to them as the creator of such movement.
εὐλογώτερον οὖν μακρῷ, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς περὶ δυσπνοίας ἐδείκνυμεν, ὁπόταν μὲν ἡ ἐκ τῆς τῶν χυμῶν συγκαύσεως ἀθροιζομένη λιγνυώδης ἀναθυμίασις ἀξιόλογος ᾖ, τηνικαῦτα μὲν ἐκφυσήσεως τὸ ζῶον ἐφίεσθαι, ὁπόταν δ’ ἤτοι διὰ τὴν εὔχυμον, ἢ τὴν τοῦ θερμοῦ μετριότητα μηδὲν τοιοῦτον ὑποτρέφηται περίττωμα, μόνης τῆς ἐκπνοῆς, κᾀν ταῖς ἀρτηρίαις τὴν μὲν ἀνάλογον ταῖς ἐκφυσήσεσι συστολὴν ἐν ταῖς πλεονεξίαις τοῦ τοιούτου περιττώματος γίνεσθαι, τὰς δ’ ἄλλας, ὅταν ἀτμῷ μᾶλλον ἢ καπνῷ παραπλήσιον ᾖ τὸ κενούμενον ἐξ αὐτῶν.
It is, therefore, far more reasonable that—as we showed in the work on dyspnea—whenever the smoky vapor gathered from the combustion of the humors is significant, then the animal desires active puffing out, but whenever, either due to the good state of the humors or the moderation of the heat, no such residue is nourished, it desires exhalation alone; and that in the arteries, the contraction analogous to the puffings out occurs during excesses of such residue, while the other contractions occur when what is emptied from them is more like steam than smoke.
ἐναργῶς δὲ μαρτύρια πάμπολλα τῶν ἐν τοῖς σφυγμοῖς φαινομένων, οἷον εὐθέως τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους ἐπὶ τῶν ἐδηδοκότων δαψιλῶς.
And there are very many clear proofs from the phenomena in the pulses, such as, immediately, those during sleep in those who have eaten abundantly.
ἐν τούτοις γὰρ ἐκλύεται μὲν ἡ διαστολὴ μικροτέρα τε ἅμα καὶ βραδυτέρα γινομένη, ἐπιτείνεται δὲ κατ’ ἄμφω ἡ συστολὴ, καὶ γὰρ ὠκυτέρα ἢ πρόσθεν καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον εἴσω κατιοῦσα φαίνεται.
For in them, the dilation is slackened, becoming both smaller and slower at the same time, while the contraction is intensified in both respects, for it appears swifter than before and descending further inward.
ἔοικε γὰρ ταῦτα γίνεσθαι κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους εὐλόγως θ’ ἅμα καὶ ἀνάλογον ταῖς ἐκπνοαῖς.
For these things seem to occur during sleep both reasonably and analogously to the exhalations.
ἔσω γὰρ μᾶλλον ἢ ἔξω κινουμένης τῆς ἐμφύτου θερμασίας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πολλῆς ἀθροιζομένης κατά τε τὰ σπλάγχνα καὶ τὴν γαστέρα κατεργαζομένην τούς τε χυμοὺς καὶ τὰ σιτία, πλείων ἀνάγκη καὶ τὸ περίττωμα γενόμενον δεῖσθαι τῆς φυσικῆς κενώσεως.
For since the innate heat moves inward rather than outward, and for this reason much of it is gathered in the viscera and the stomach which are digesting both the humors and the food, it is necessary that the residue produced, being greater, requires natural evacuation.
καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν μὲν ταῖς ἀναπνοαῖς ἡ ἐκπνοὴ θάττων τε καὶ μείζων, καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ μετ’ ἐκφυσήσεως τοῖς κάμνουσι κοιμωμένοις, καὶ μάλισθ’ ὅταν ἐδηδοκότες ὦσιν ἱκανά.
And for this reason, in respiration, the exhalation is swifter and larger, and for the most part accompanied by active puffing out in sleeping patients, and especially when they have eaten sufficiently.
κατὰ δὲ τοὺς σφυγμοὺς ἡ συστολὴ τὸν αὐτὸν διατίθεται τρόπον.
And in the pulses, the contraction is disposed in the same manner.
οὕτω τοι καὶ τοῖς παισὶν ἄμφω πλεονεκτεῖ· πλείστη γὰρ καὶ ἡ τῶν χυμῶν ἐργασία τοῖς τοιούτοις διὰ τὴν αὔξησιν.
So indeed in children also both exceed; for the processing of the humors is greatest in them on account of growth.
ἔμπαλιν δὲ ἡ τῶν γερόντων ἡλικία βραδυτάτην τε καὶ μικροτάτην ἔχουσα φαίνεται τὴν συστολὴν, ὡς ἀμυδρὰν καὶ περὶ τὰς πέψεις ἀσθενοῦσαν καὶ τοὺς χυμοὺς ἥκιστα κατεργαζομένην, ὡς μὴ ἀναγκαίαν.
Conversely, the age of the elderly appears to have the slowest and smallest contraction, as being faint and weak regarding digestions and processing the humors least, as not being necessary.
ἀνάλογον δὲ τούτοις καὶ τὰς ὥρας τε καὶ χώρας καὶ πάσας ἁπλῶς τοῦ περιέχοντος ἡμῶν ἀέρος τὰς μεταβολὰς εἰς κρύος τε καὶ θάλπος ἀλλοιοῦσθαί φασι τοὺς σφυγμούς.
And in proportion to these, they say that the pulses also alter with the seasons and regions and, simply, all changes of the air surrounding us into cold and heat.
οὕτω δὲ καὶ τῶν ψυχικῶν παθῶν καὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων τε καὶ νοσημάτων ἕκαστον ἤτοι τὴν ἔξω κίνησιν αὐξάνει τῶν ἀρτηριῶν, ἢ τὴν εἴσω.
And in this way also, each of the psychic passions, of occupations, and of diseases increases either the outward movement of the arteries or the inward one.
καίτοι γ’ ἐχρῆν, εἰ διὰ παντὸς ἀνάπαυσίς τις ἦν ἡ διαστολὴ, πρῶτον μηδαμῶς μήτ’ ὠκυτέραν ἑαυτῆς μήτε βραδυτέραν ταύτην γίνεσθαι· δεύτερον δὲ καὶ τῆς κινήσεως ὅρον ἕνα διὰ παντὸς ὑπάρχειν, ὃν ἐκ τῆς φυσικῆς κατασκευῆς αἱ ἀρτηρίαι κέκτηνται.
And yet, if the dilation were always some kind of rest, it would be necessary, first, that it should in no way become either swifter or slower than itself; and second, that there should always be one limit of movement, which the arteries possess from their natural construction.