An explanation of a passage from Avicenna's Canon of Medicine
The Canon of Medicine was the main reference for doctors in the Middle Ages. Today it makes fun reading, because it is so far from the facts and science we know, and its language is hard for modern readers. So we decided to give a rough "translation" of one passage from old technical Arabic into plain language. The passage is about how the place people live affects their nature. Please note that most of it is inaccurate and unscientific, so don't believe it: read it for fun.
Northern lands
These countries are cold, and blocked noses and stomach colic are common there. Their people digest well and live long. They often have nosebleeds, because they are fat and their fluids don't drain, so their vessels loosen and burst. (You see, sir…)
They don't get epilepsy (a nervous disease) because they are sexually active and have strong instincts; but if they do get it, they get it badly, because its cause must be serious.
Their wounds heal quickly thanks to their strong bodies, good blood and very warm hearts, and nothing external slackens their bodies.
They have the character of lions. But their women are not "clean", because they have little menstrual blood, so it is said they are barren. But I (Avicenna) think this is wrong, from what I saw in the land of the Turks, where I found that they make up for it with great sexual activity that resists slackness and discharge. They rarely miscarry because they are strong, but their births are difficult because their wombs and organs are tight and closed (!!!), and most miscarriages are caused by cold. Their breast milk is scant and thick, because the cold stops fluids from flowing.
Many of their women, especially those who give birth, get consumption (tuberculosis) and tetanus: blood pressure rises during labour, bursting vessels in the lungs and causing consumption, or bursting vessels in the muscles and causing tetanus (muscle spasms).
Southern lands
Their digestion is weak and they age quickly, like the people of Ethiopia and Sudan, who grow old at thirty. Their bodies are soft, and their water is sulphurous.
Their heads are full of fluid, and they often get diarrhoea because the fluid in their heads runs down into their bellies (ha ha ha).
Their organs are slack and weak (and yes, we mean their organs), their senses dull, and their appetite for food and drink small. Most of them drink a lot because their heads and stomachs are weak. Their wounds heal slowly and their bodies sag.
Their women have heavy periods, conceive only with difficulty and miscarry often, because of their various illnesses and for no other reason. Their men get high blood pressure, haemorrhoids and eye inflammation.
Those over fifty get hemiplegia (paralysis of one side after a stroke). Many of them get epilepsy and asthma because their heads are full. They get fevers that alternate between hot and cold (malaria), long winter and night fevers (tonsil and chest infections in winter), and their hot summer fevers are eased by their frequent "outings" (urine and stool).
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