History of Monsters 123

# DISEASES

We can gather that human health is subject to a vast number of diseases from the fact that—even leaving aside poisons, whether delivered by the bite of a serpent, a sting, or by ingestion, which also afflict other animals from time to time—human beings very frequently fall into ill health. Diseases are categorized as either simple or composite. The latter primarily concern physical conformation, regarding a flawed shape, an internal cavity, or a surface (whether rough or smooth); others relate to number, size, and position; and finally, there are those diseases resulting from a loss of unity. For the present, so that the infinite variety of ailments may be revealed, we shall begin with diseases of the head, then move to specific afflictions of the parts and general ones of the whole body, followed by wounds, ulcers, tumors, the conditions of women and children, and finally, the skin.

Afflictions of the head include *achores* (scald head), *phthiriasis* (lice infestation), baldness, alopecia, *ophiasis*, *leontiasis*, hydrocephalus, and various forms of headache like *cephalalgia*, *cephalea*, and migraines. Sometimes head pain is caused by worms born there, or even a scorpion, as happened to a certain Italian from the frequent smelling of basil, an incident recorded by Schenck in his observations. Indeed, a stone once grew in the brain of a citizen of Leipzig, reaching the size of an egg.

Furthermore, the brain is troubled by sunstroke, phrenitis, mania, erotomania, loss of memory, melancholy, lycanthropy, divine enthusiasm, lethargy, catalepsy, and deep stupor. Since the nerves originate in the brain, we must mention convulsions here, and consequently epilepsy, facial distortions (specifically the "cynic spasm"), nightmares, tremors, and numbness. Even that condition suffered by Pericles' slave, who would climb to the highest rooftops while asleep, is classified as a type of convulsion, as is the case of Theon the Stoic, who used to wander about in his sleep. Then come apoplexy and paralysis. However, Schenck records a man suffering from a "resolution of the nerves" (paralysis) who threw himself out of a burning house and was thereafter able to walk perfectly well.

Finally, man is tortured by long-lasting wakefulness. Seneca reports that Maecenas lived for three entire years without sleep and was only freed from the condition by a bout of illness. Similarly, Heurnius mentions that while staying in Pavia, he learned that the famous Ciceronian scholar Nizolius did not find sleep for a decade. Montuus also confesses to having known a noble matron who lived without sleep for a span of thirty-five years.

Diseases of the eyes are numerous compared to the afflictions of other parts because so many components must come together to form a complete eye. The primary conditions are the shrinking or protrusion of the eye, squinting (*strabismus*), nearsightedness, *amaurosis* (blindness without visible cause), *nyctalopia* (night-blindness), *epiphora* (watery eyes), and "resolution" of the eye. Others include various forms of inflammation like ophthalmia, *sclerophthalmia*, *xerophthalmia* (dry eye), and *leucophthalmia*; *ectropion* (turning out of the eyelid), which is the opposite of *lagophthalmia*; *trachoma*, gumming of the eyelids, styes, *chalazion*, *encanthis*, *trichiasis*, *pterygium*, *phlyctenes*, *hypopyon*, *leucoma*, *aegilops*, *amblyopia*, prolapse of the uvea, *mydriasis*, wasting of the eye, cataracts, bruising, vertigo, *scotomia*, and *synchysis*—an eye disease resulting from a blow. There is also the lacrimal fistula and excessive tearing, from which blood sometimes flows. Indeed, Dodonaeus recounts seeing a sixteen-year-old girl who shed bloody tears, a cause he attributed to the suppression of her menses.

The nose is subject to ill health through heaviness (or *coryza*), polyps, *ozena* (foul ulcers), hemorrhages, bad odors, sneezing, and *trichiasis*. Although this last condition was counted among eye diseases, it should be noted that the name is ambiguous. Eyelids troubled by irritating hairs are said to suffer from *trichiasis*; but when hairs infest the nose, doctors also call the condition *trichiasis*. Furthermore, the tongue can suffer from it, and finally, the term is used for hair-like filaments that sometimes pass through the urine. The ears are plagued by *otalgia* (earache), tinnitus, hearing loss, deafness, and ulcers.

Lastly, the mouth is overwhelmed by poor health when it suffers from foul breath, *alcola*, and cracking of the