Neither truly do I count it a worth opinion to hold that the body of man is polluted by god, the most impure by the most holy, Symptoms of this disease are described as men becoming mad either by crying out, suffocating on saliva, frothing at the mouth, or by shaking uncontrollably.

Hippocrates continues his argument by noting that such phenomena are not of divine origin because previous treatments to the affected involved incantations and prayer patterns that were unsuccessful.

If this disease continues to grow after birth and into adulthood, the affected person will have a "melted" brain which results in mental illness.

Young children who obtain the disease mostly die; Hippocrates argues that due to their small veins, they are not able to accommodate the increased amount of phlegm.

The elderly for the most part survive the disease due to the Hippocratic theory that their veins are larger and filled with hot, flowing blood that is safe from the coldness of the phlegm.

When the disease dilutes the mind to the point where phlegm in the veins increases sufficiently, causing air blockage, is when the patient begins to suffer and possibly die.