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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Timaeus by Plato: when we were speaking of juices, concerning the affections peculiar to the
tongue. These too, like most of the other affections, appear to be caused
by certain contractions and dilations, but they have besides more of
roughness and smoothness than is found in other affections; for whenever
earthy particles enter into the small veins which are the testing
instruments of the tongue, reaching to the heart, and fall upon the moist,
delicate portions of flesh--when, as they are dissolved, they contract and
dry up the little veins, they are astringent if they are rougher, but if
not so rough, then only harsh. Those of them which are of an abstergent
nature, and purge the whole surface of the tongue, if they do it in excess,
and so encroach as to consume some part of the flesh itself, like potash
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