SIAMESE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.
Nature, according to the Siamese, is made
up of four elements—namely, earth, fire,
wind and water.
The human body is supposed to be composed of the same elements, which they divide into two classes—visible and invisible. To the former belong everything that can be seen, as the bones, flesh, blood, etc.; to the latter, the wind and the fire.
The body is composed of twenty kinds of earth, twelve kinds of water, six kinds of wind and four kinds of fire. The varieties of wind are as follows: The first kind passes from the head to the feet, and the second variety from the feet to the head; the third variety resides above the diaphragm, and the fourth circulates in the arteries, forming the pulse; the fifth enters the lungs, and the sixth resides in the intestines. The four kinds of fire are—first, that which gives the body its natural temperature; the second, that which causes a higher temperature, as after exercise or in fevers; the third variety
