Excess in diet is a very great error; for, even if the stomach should
digest it properly, the veins, being over-filled, become affected, are
distended and burst; they are obstructed, or filled up with vapours,
and become much oppressed. In diseases nothing is worse than plethora
of the veins; for, in fulness of the stomach, the offending matters may
be evacuated either upwards or downwards, so that it is less pernicious
than the other, and yet it is by no means desirable. But if there be too
much food in the stomach, it must be immediately evacuated by vomiting,
for there is a danger lest being digested it fill up the veins, more
particularly if the person who is guilty of the excess be not attentive
to the necessary evacuations. Let him vomit, then, before the food
become spoiled; or, if there be any objection to vomiting, it will be of
great consequence to bring about frequent discharges from the bowels;
or otherwise, he should indulge much in sleep, and drink often of tepid
water. When he has digested properly, and more especially if he has had
evacuations by the bowels, let him have baths and fomentations, and let
him drink moderately of watery draughts, and eat some pickle. But should
he neither have alvine evacuations, nor digest readily, and if his whole
body be heavy, averse to motion, and sleepy, and if his mind be oppressed
with unusual sluggishness, these symptoms indicate plethora of the veins;
and, when lassitude supervenes to these, it will be proper to enjoin
quietude until digestion in the stomach be accomplished, and then to
evacuate by labour.
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