He who will live longlet him be early with the morning-meal and not late with the evening-meal；let him be sparing of commerce with women and chary of cupping and blood-letting and make of his belly three partsone for foodone for drink and the third for air；for that a man's intestines are eighteen spans in length and it befits that he appoint six for foodsix for drinkand six for air. If he walklet him go gently；it will be wholesomer for him and better for his body and more in accordance with the saying of God the Most High'Walk not boisterously [or proudly] upon the earth.'（Q.）'What are the symptoms of yellow bile and what is to be feared there-from？'（A.）'The symptoms are，sallow complexion and dryness and bitter taste in the mouth，failure of the appetiteand rapid pulse；and the patient has to fear high fever and delirium and prickly heat and jaundice and tumour and ulceration of the bowels and excessive thirst.'
（Q.）'What are the symptoms of black bile and what has the patient to fear from itif it get the mastery of the body？'
（A.）'The symptoms are deceptive appetite and great mental disquiet and care and anxiety；and it behoves that it be evacuatedelse it will generate melancholy and leprosy and cancer and disease of the spleen and ulceration of the bowels.'
（Q.）'Into how many branches is the art of medicine divided？'
（A.）'Into two： the art of diagnosing diseases and that of restoring the diseased body to health.'（Q.）'When is the drinking of medicine more efficacious than otherwhen？'（A.）
'When the sap runs in the wood and the grape thickens in the cluster and the auspicious planets are in the ascendantthen comes in the season of the efficacy of drinking medicine and the doing away of disease.'（Q.）'What time is it，whenif a man drink from a new vesselthe drink is wholesomer and more digestible to him than at another timeand there ascends to him a pleasant and penetrating fragrance？'（A.）
'When he waits awhile after eatingas quoth the poet：
I rede thee drink not after food in hastebut tarry still；
Else with a halter wilt thou lead thy body into ill.
Yeawait a little after thou hast eatenbrother mine；Then drinkand peradventure thus shalt thou attain unto thy will.'
（Q.）'What food is it that giveth not rise to ailments？'（A.）
'That which is not eaten but after hungerand when it is eatenthe ribs are not filled with iteven as saith Galen the physician'Whoso will take in foodlet him go slowly and he shall not go wrong.'To end with the saying of the Prophet，（whom God bless and preserve，）'The stomach is the home of diseaseand abstinence is the beginning of curefor the origin of every disease is indigestion，that is to saycorruption of the meat in the stomach.'（Q.）
'What sayst thou of the bath？'（A.）'Let not the full man enter it. Quoth the Prophet'The bath is the delight of the house，for that it cleanseth the body and calleth to mind the fire [of hell].'（Q.）'What waters are best for bathing？'（A.）
'Those whose waters are sweet and plains wide and whose air is pleasant and wholesomeits climate [or seasons] being fair，autumn and summer and winter and spring.'（Q.）'What kind of food is the most excellent？'（A.）'That which women make and which has not cost overmuch trouble and which is readily digested. The most excellent of food is brewis
according to the saying of the Prophet'Brewis excels other foodeven as Aa茂sheh excels other women.'（Q.）'What kind of seasoning is most excellent？'（A.）'Flesh meat（quoth the Prophet）is the most excellent of seasonings；for that it is the delight of this world and the next.'（Q.）'What kind of meat is the most excellent？'（A.）'Mutton；but jerked meat is to be avoidedfor there is no profit in it.'（Q.）'What of fruits？'（A.）'Eat them in their prime and leave them when their season is past.'（Q.）'What sayst thou of drinking water？'（A.）'Drink it not in large quantities nor by gulps，or it will give thee the headache and cause divers kinds of harm；neither drink it immediately after the bath nor after copulation or eating（except it be after the lapse of fifteen minutes for a young and forty for an old man）or waking from sleep.'（Q.）'What of drinking wine？'（A.）'Doth not the prohibition suffice thee in the Book of God the Most High，where He saith'Verilywine and casting lots and idols and divining arrows are an abomination of the fashion of the Devil：
shun themso surely shall ye thrive.'And again'If they ask thee of wine and casting lotssay'In them are great sin and advantages to mankindbut the sin of them is greater than the advantage.'Quoth the poet：
O wine-bibberart not ashamed and afraid To drink of a thing that thy Maker forbade？
Comeput the cup from thee and mell with it notFor wine and its drinker God still doth upbraid.
And quoth another：
I drank the sweet sin till my wit went astray： 'Tis ill drinking of that which doth reason away.
As for the useful qualities that are thereinit disperses gravel from the kidneys and strengthens the bowelsbanishes caremoves to generosity and preserves health and digestion.
It assains the bodyexpels disease from the jointspurifies the frame of corrupt humoursengenders cheerfulness and gladdens and keeps up the natural heat. It contracts the bladderstrengthens the liver and removes obstructions，reddens the faceclears away cobwebs from the brain and defers gray hairs. In shorthad not God（to whom belong might and majesty）forbidden itthere were not on the face of the earth aught fit to stand in its place. As for drawing lotsit is a game of hazard.'（Q.）'What wine is the best？'（A.）
'That which is pressed from white grapes and ferments fourscore days or more： it resembleth not water and indeed there is nothing on the surface of the earth like unto it.'（Q.）'What of cupping？'（A.）'It is for him who is [over] full of blood and has no defect therein. Whoso will be cuppedlet it be at the wane of the moonon a day without cloud or wind or rain and the seventeenth of the month. If it fall on a Tuesdayit will be the more efficaciousand nothing is more salutary for the brain and eyes and for clearing the memory than cupping.'
