Note 392 — Chapter II · THE MEDICINE OF HIPPOCRATES AND HIS PERIOD.

Derivation is the drawing of humours from one part of the body to another, as from the eye by a blister on the neck; revulsion differs from this only by the force of the medicine and the distance of the disorder from the part to which it is applied. He treated fevers by preparations which increase the amount of fluid in the blood, as by water, buttermilk, whey, etc. This was called the diluent system. At the same time he used mild aperients and sometimes venesection.