Chapter 6: On acute diseases

1. _Oxea_ is acute disease which either quickly passes or more quickly kills, as pleurisy, phrensy, for ὀξὺ in Greek means swift and sharp. χρόνια is prolonged bodily disease which lingers through many seasons, as gout, phthisis.... Certain disorders have received their names from causes proper to them.

2. _Febris_ (fever) is derived from _fervor_, for it is an excess of heat.

3. Frenzy is so-called because the mind is affected, since the Greeks call the mind φρένες, or else because they gnash (_infrendant_) with the teeth, for _frendere_ means to strike the teeth together. It is excitement with exasperation and dementia caused by the power of bile.

17. Pestilence is a contagion, and when it seizes one it quickly passes to more. It is produced from a corruption of the air, and makes its way by penetrating into the inward parts. Although this is generally caused by the powers of the air, still it is certainly not caused against the will of Omnipotent God.... It is a disease so acute that it affords no time to hope for life or death, but a sudden weakness and death come at the same moment.