ABSTRACT
When therefore any portion of the chest causeth a man pain, and he spitteth up blood, not in a large quantity, and not in a pure state, 1Jut which is I dark-coloured and is only Fol. 976. brought up by the exercise of great force, it is chiefly his chest that causeth him pain, I and he spitteth blood from his Page 202 lungs. And thus also is it in the case of the man who bringeth up pus, in the diseases that produce pus, and in which the pus that is between the breast and the lungs becometh so solid that it can be perceived by the touch, and likewise, what is spit up hath the colour which is seen in matter expectorated during pleurisy. And in the lungs there appeareth quickly a wound (ulcer?), which, according to some physicians, is incapable of healing, but it hath been thought by others that it can be healed with very great difficulty. Now to the chest are attached many veins which may become ruptured, and of these some contain much blood; and however long the rent which taketh place in them may last, it can never be entirely healed. On the other hand, when the rent which taketh place in the lungs subsisteth for a very long time, although it is sometimes healed, yet to the very end there will remain in it something which is obstinate and fistular in character, and which, even after the lapse of much time, will be easily denuded of its skin by the smallest cause. And there cometh up sometimes, with the things that are spit up from this region, that which is called by the physicians "slough". Now the breakings forth of blood which take place in the lungs are recognized by the fact that a copious flow of blood cometh from the ruptures, and by the fact that the primary cause of the rupture is well
known and is easily perceptible, such as a fall, or shouting, or some one of the causes which have been mentioned above, besides some manifest cause which is external. Moreover, there sometimes taketh place a rupture in the veins and arteries of the lungs through excess of blood, just as in any other member, whatever it may be, when the vein or artery becometh hardened and unpliant, either because of some chill which hath attacked it, or through some evil condition of its natural structure.
