The meaning of the underlined sentence is quite clear: Disease befalls from an excess (a μοναρχία - the fragment is famous for that metaphor) of the elements hot or cold, from a surfeit or deprivation of food, and it occurs in the blood or marrow or brain. But some questions: If you were translating this into English, how would you translate ὡς (ὡς μὲν, ὡς δε, ὡς δὲ)? How would you explain, grammatically and/or semantically, the οὗ in ὑφ’ οὗ and ἐξ οὗ? Are ὑφ’ οὗ and ἐξ οὗ and ἐν οἷς, or perhaps ὡς ὑφ’ οὗ and ὡς ἐξ οὗ and ὡς ἐν οἷς Aristotelian or Aristotelian-like categories?Ἀ. [sc. Alcmaeon says] τῆς μὲν ὑγείας εἶναι συνεκτικὴν τὴν ἰσονομίαν τῶν δυνάμεων, ὑγροῦ, ξηροῦ, ψυχροῦ, θερμοῦ, πικροῦ, γλυκέος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν, τὴν δ’ ἐν αὐτοῖς μοναρχίαν νόσου ποιητικήν· φθοροποιὸν γὰρ ἑκατέρου μοναρχίαν. καὶ νόσον συμπίπτειν ὡς μὲν ὑφ’ οὗ ὑπερβολῇ θερμότητος ἢ ψυχρότητος, ὡς δὲ ἐξ οὗ διὰ πλῆθος σίτων ἢ ἔνδειαν, ὡς δ’ ἐν οἷς αἵμα ἢ μυελὸν ἢ ἐγκέφαλον. ἐγγίνεσθαι δὲ τούτοις ποτὲ κἀκ τῶν ἔξωθεν αἰτιῶν, ὑδάτων ποιῶν ἢ χώρας ἢ κόπων ἢ ἀνάγκης ἢ τῶν τούτοις παραπλησίων. τὴν δὲ ὑγείαν τὴν σύμμετρον τῶν ποιῶν κρᾶσιν.
I confess the latter didn't occur to me until I saw the translation on Perseus "the efficient cause of the disease is ... the material cause is ... the place is ...". (Here is another English translation. Cf. Diels' translation in DK: "Und zwar ließen sich die Krankheitsfälle, was die Ursache angehe, auf das Übermaß von Hitze oder Kälte zurückführen, was die Veranlassung, auf Übermaß oder Mangel an Speise, was die Örtlichkeit, so würden Blut, Mark oder Hirn betroffen; ...").
Your thoughts?