Radical moisture was part of an ancient Greek system of medicine which considered the imbalance between radical moisture and radical heat to be the origin of human health issues. This theory had largely fallen out of fashion by the eighteenth century.
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The timeline below shows where the term Radical Moisture appears in Tristram Shandy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 5: Chapters 29-35
...on the subject of health. He and Yorick debate the roles of radical heat and radical moisture in the body, the tension between which is the source of all good and bad...
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Book 5: Chapters 36-43
Chapter 36. Returning to radical heat and radical moisture , Walter argues that doctors and chemists have mistaken animal fats for radical moisture, which...
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...ill at the siege of Limerick, which Toby interprets as a textbook case of excessive radical moisture . Trim, however, thought to maintain the balance of radical heat and radical moisture with...
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...on fire each night. Walter asks Trim what his conclusions are, and Trim replies that radical moisture is ditch water and radical heat is burnt brandy, and each that individual only needs...
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