ad nutrimentum foetus & conceptus conſeruationem: vnde Ariſt. li. 15. Menſtrum eſt fanguis non purus: ſed indiget digeſtione operatiua: hic ſanguis mixtus cum ſpermate, cibus eſt in animali: vnde mulier, poſt conceptionem, frequenter patiens fluxum menſtrualem, ſolet facere abortiuum: aut enim debiliatur foetus, aut moritur: & hoc propter nutrimenti ſubtractionem: vnde retentio ſanguinis menſtrualis ſignum eſt impregnationis, ex iam dicta cauſa: quod autem ſuperfluit de ſanguine menſtruali, detrahitur ad mammillas, vt inde lac generatur: materia enim lactis, eſt ſanguis decoctus in mammillis: vt dicit Ariſto. lib. 16. & 18. Lac inquit eſt ſanguis digeſtus, non corruptus. Item oportet vt fluxus ſanguinis menſtrualis actualiter ſit in corpore, antequā muher impregnetur: ſicut dicit Ariſto. li. 15. & Con. ſicut oportet arborē primo florere, quā fructus facere. Item quando venit talis fluxus, naturaliter ſemper accidit in aetate Lunae, aetati etiam mulieris conuenenti. Item aues & animalia non patiuntur talem fluxum: quia talis ſuperfluitas tranſit in plumas & in pilos: vt dicit Ariſt. Itē dicit Ruffus: mulieres nimis ſe exercentes, & ſepius mouentes, non multū menſtruant: ſed quæ quieſcunt, & multū comedunt, ſuauiterq viuunt, tales multa purgatione indigent. Item quando ſanguis talis, vel frigidare, vel craſsicie ora venarum conſtrinengte debito modo non exit, ad exeundum alias vias querit: vt venas narium, & emorroidarum, quas ſi clauſas inuenerit, ad alia membra ſe diffundit, & grauem naturae infert paſsionem: nam tales, vt dicit in viatico Conſt. defectum appetitus patiuntur: nam cibaria bona abhorrent: puluerem vero carbonum, & laterum appetunt, & ſimilium: nam ſanguis retentus in malicioſum ſumum terreſtrem & ponticum conuertitur: quo rapto, ad orificium ſtomachi, appetitus rationalis ſubuertitur, & irrationalis generatur. Vnde omnia talia corpora, ſunt maximis morbis apparata.
¶Of fleame. Cap. 9.
IHohannicus ſaith, that fleame is an humour halfe ſedde by working of vnperfect heate, of colde matter & moyſt by kinde gendred. And Ariſtotle lib. 15. ſaith, that fleame is an vndiſſolued ſuperfluitie of meate. The ſame is ye matter of bloud and of fleame: but they bée diuers by more ſeething or leſſe: and ſo of fleame is made bloud by more ſtrēgth of working heate, and not returning. Bloud tourneth neuer into fleame, as cholar chaungeth into melancholy: but not againward, as ſaith Auicen. Fleme is an humour kindlye colde, moyſt and weariſh: and kinde ſendeth that humor into the members and lymmes to be made pure, that the body be nouriſhed by that humour defied. It is to note, that ſome fleme is vnkindly and ſome kindly. Kindly fleame is colde, moyſt, and white in color, and fléeting in ſubſtance, of ſauour ſomewhat ſwéete in taſt, eyther all weariſh and vnſauourie. It is bred in the lyuer, where is the place of heate. And it is apte to be tourned and chaunged into bloude: and when the chaunge is full made, the body is ſuſtayned thereby. And though fleame of it ſelfe be thicke and vnſauery by ſtrength of heate that chaungeth it, yet it taketh the lykneſſe and ſauour of bloude, that is ſwéete: as appeareth by the fleame, that is called ſwéete fleame, And ſo for the néereneſſe and lykeneſſe that fleame hath with bloud, fleame is néedefull to all the lymmes of the bodye. And therfore prouident kinde, made fleame to paſſe with the bloude, through the veynes of all the bodye, both for néede & for profite.
For as Conſtantine ſayeth, If that bloud fayleth, heate diſſolueth fleame: For it taketh héede to féede the members and the lymmes thereby. And ſo Fleame is nobler than Cholera or Melancholia. For theſe may not be ruled to the bréeding of bloude of them. And by the benefite of bloude, all the lymmes of the bodye preuayle and bee fedde.
