De venis mesaraicis obstructis ipsarumque ita affectarum curatione Theses sive Pronunciata LX

enter the mesaraic veins, and then, on account of both the tenacious and thicker matter and the narrowness of the veins, it is often obstructed, and the paths are blocked; whence the distribution is necessarily harmed, all the more so because the obstruction is greater. For sometimes the obstruction becomes universal when all the veins are blocked, but if it happens that only some are obstructed, it is called partial obstruction.

XVII.

In universal obstruction, the distribution is entirely harmed; in partial, it is not. Therefore, the former disease is more difficult, the latter lighter; just as the disease is more or less stubborn according to the nature of the obstructing matter. And this also happens on account of the veins; for since the superior veins, which go into the small intestines and the stomach, contribute more (not to say entirely) to distribution, the blockage of these also impedes distribution more than the blockage of the rest existing in the larger intestines, which seem to contribute to the excretion of certain excrements and the emptying of the intestines rather than to distribution.

XVIII.

Since the efficient causes of obstructions are internal and external, I include under the name of "conjunct causes" all non-natural bodies that obstruct the passages, whether they are liquid or concrete.

XIX.

"Liquid," in the manner of the Greeks, I call τὸ ὑγρὸν, that is, every non-natural humor, whether viscous, mucous, slimy, glutinous, or even thick and hard.

XX.

We establish that concrete bodies are twofold, based on the nature of the sediment (hypostasis): soft, like a fleshy tubercle and a clot; hard, like stone and small grains of sand.