The four humors, black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood, were the focus of a medical theory called humor. Until the 19th century, humor dominated medical practice. Although debunked by modern medicine, traditional medicinal practices still suggest health problems are caused by imbalances in the body.
The four humors are black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood. They were the focus of a medical theory called humor, proposed by Hippocrates in the 4th century BC. Until the 19th century, humor dominated medical practice, with medical professionals attributing most health problems to an imbalance in these fluids. Humors also appeared in Muslim medicine, spreading as far east as India, where they are still used in some traditional medicines. Modern day medical doctors and researchers have staunchly debunked the theory, although it has left behind some legacies.
According to the theory, the four humors were fluids that circulated in the body. An imbalance, caused by an excess or a deficiency of one or more humours, would cause health problems. The moods were in turn associated with the four elements and with heat, cold, humidity and dryness. Using the complex system, doctors should have been able to figure out where the problem was in their patients, and then could have used a variety of tools to correct the imbalance.
Someone with an excess of black bile was said to be melancholic, while someone with too much yellow bile was choleric. Phlegmatic people, as you can imagine, had too much phlegm in their systems, while sanguine individuals had an excess of blood.
Correction of the imbalances could be achieved by eating specific foods that have been designed to promote the production of one mood or another. Patients could also be exsanguinated or fed emetics that caused them to vomit, thus in theory restoring their balance of humors. Doctors also used heat, cold, humidity and dryness to treat imbalances, which explains things like hot patches, cupping and other esoteric medical practices.
While it may seem strange to Westerners who believe in modern medicine, the four humors were taken very seriously until the 1800s, when people began to learn more about the mechanism of disease. However, the enormous leaps in science in the 1800s essentially disproved this theory, ending more than 2,000 years of medical practice.
Although the humours themselves have been debunked, this theory of medicine bears many similarities to the traditional medicinal practices of other cultures, especially Asia. Traditional medicine often suggests that health problems are caused by imbalances in the body that need to be corrected, and some traditional medicinal treatments are quite successful, suggesting that there may be some truth to this idea.
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