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Appendix 3 - Phrenitis from the Fifth Century bce to the Twentieth Century ce: A Synoptic Table

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2023

Chiara Thumiger
Affiliation:
Cluster of Excellence Roots, Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, Germany

Summary

Type
Chapter
Information
Phrenitis and the Pathology of the Mind in Western Medical Thought
(Fifth Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE)
, pp. 385 - 389
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/cclicenses/

Appendix 3 Phrenitis from the Fifth Century bce to the Twentieth Century ce: A Synoptic Table

Bodily localizationCause
Hippocrates (fifth century bce) (Summary)
  • (not really a localization)

  • Diaphragm

  • Head

  • Blood

  • Stomach

  • Bile, phlegm

  • Pressure on the diaphragm?

  • Heating of the blood

Morb. 1.30Heating of the patient’s blood (haematocentrism)
Morb. 1.34Cause of death: lack of nourishment, wasting, excessive phlegm, cold, death
Hipp. Fragment in APBrainThe brain is damaged by the blood around the chorioid meninx, which usually feeds it, being corrupted by bile
Aff. 10DiaphragmBile settling against the diaphragm
Aff. 12Random part (ᾗ ἂν τύχῃ)Accumulation of phlegm and bile
Diocles (fourth century bce)Inflammation of the diaphragm (φλεγμονὴ τοῦ διαφράγματος); thick, cold phlegm gathering around the offshoots that grow from the heart (καρδία)Inflammation
Praxagoras (fourth century bce)Inflammation of the heart (φλεγμονὴν τῆς καρδίας); thick, cold phlegm gathering around the offshoots that grow from the heart (καρδία)
Anonymus Londinensis (fourth century bce)Logistikon
Heraclides of Tarentum (third–second centuries bce)
  • Head

  • The stomach can also be involved

  • Congestion of the head

  • Heaviness when food is in the stomach

  • Decomposition of the humours

Erasistratus (third century bce)Meninx (κατά τι πάθος τῶν κατὰ τὴν μήνιγγα ἐνεργειῶν)
Asclepiades (second century bce)
  • Meninges, membranes in general

  • Stomach

  • Brain

  • Sensorial channels

  • Generally delocalized

Stoppage or obstruction of the corpuscles in the membranes of the brain, as it becomes overheated; overflow of corpuscles and blockage. Thus: holistic, delocalized circumstances more than an individual cause (overheating is the sole starting point)
Thessalus (first century bce)Inflammation of the heartDenial of antecedent causes
Celsus (first century bce-ce)Body as a whole; non-specific fever
Galen (second-third century ce)Brain, nerves, hēgemonikon (diaphragm via sympathy; lungs may be involved)
  • Inflammation of the brain

  • Overflow of yellow bile in brain or meninges

  • Accumulation of malignant humour

  • Summer heat

  • Bad lifestyle

  • Also overflow of blood in the brain caused by various factors

Anonymus Parisinus
  • Doxographic survey:

  • Head

  • Meninx

  • Brain

  • Diaphragm

Inflammation, affection of the various parts; descriptive rather than scientific
Aretaeus (first-second century ce)
  • Diaphragm

  • Heart

  • Head

  • Neura

Oreibasius (fourth century ce)Brain
Aetius of Amida (sixth century ce)Meninges, brain; some relation to the chest
Paul of AeginaMeninges and brain
[ps.-] Alexander of Aphrodisias (second-third century ce)Brain
Alexander of Tralles (sixth century ce)Brain/meninges; but controversial localizationOchre bile; yellow bile; overcooked yellow bile
Nemesius of Emesa (fourth century ce)Brain
Caelius Aurelianus (fifth century ce?)No fixed localization
Byzantine authorsBrain (diaphragm)Inflammation, humoral unbalance
Ḥunayn (ninth century ce)Brain and meninges Diaphragm
al-Rāzī (ninth–tenth centuries ce)Brain
Haly Abbas, Pantegni/ Viaticum
  • Membranes of the brain or the brain matter

  • Diaphragm

Hot complexion of the brain or apostema in the membranes of the brain or in the brain
Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), (tenth–eleventh century)Brain/meninges (Diaphragm)
  • Hot apostema/abscess of the head

  • Blood, pure yellow bile, pure red bile, or bile burnt black

Arnau de Vilanova (fourteenth century)Membranes/Brain (Diaphragm, chest)Hot apostema of the membranes
Gilbertus Anglicus (thirteenth century)Anterior portion of the brain or its membranes (= frenes)Inflamed apostema born in the anterior portion of the brain or its membranes; accumulation of liquid in the brain due to (1) its many vessels, (2) its sponginess, which sucks in moisture
Gentile da Foligno (fourteenth century)Brain (Diaphragm)
Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) (twelfth century), Taysir
  • Head

  • Brain, membranes

  • Apostema

  • Humours

  • Humours rising from the stomach

Bernard de Gordon (beginning of the fourteenth century)Brain or membranes of the brain
  • Hot apostema

  • Overheating

Talmud (Kordiakos/Qordiakos)Heart?
  • New wine

  • A daemon

Rabbi Jonah (tenth–eleventh centuries ce)Brain/mind/diaphragm
Maimonides (twelfth century ce)Brain/mind/diaphragm
Syriac Book of Medicines (fourth–twelfth centuries?)Brain/chest/diaphragm/membranes
Salernitan school (tenth century CE- )Brain/head/membranes (Diaphragm)Apostema calidus
Parcelsus (fifteenth–sixteenth century)The spiritusThe tartari can be cause
Antonio Beniveni (sixteenth century)Head, brain
André du Laurens (sixteenth–seventeenth centuries)
  • Brain and membranes of the brain

  • Diaphragm

Daniel Sennert (seventeenth century)Brain, meninges
Giovanbattista Morgagni (seventeenth–eighteenth centuries)Brain and membranes of the brain (lungs can be involved)Inflammation, heating; various circumstances
Herman Boerhaave (seventeenth–eighteenth centuries)Brain and membranes of the brain (lungs and other organs may also be involved)
Gerard van Swieten (eighteenth century)Brain and membranes of the brain (lungs and other organs may also be involved)
Ferdinand Saalman (eighteenth–nineteenth centuries)
  • Brain and membranes of the brain

  • Lungs

Contagious infection, lack of hygiene and cleanness, bad air
Philippe Pinel (nineteenth century)Brain and membranes of the brainInflammation, heating
Physicians and veterinaries (seventeenth–nineteenth centuries)Brain and membranes of the brainInflammation, heating; various circumstances
nineteenth–twentieth-century medical consensusBrain and membranes of the brain (meningo-encephalitis)Inflammation, heating; various circumstances

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