16th-century German illustration of the four humors: Flegmat (phlegm), Sanguin (blood), Coleric (yellow bile) and Melanc (black bile), divided between the male and female sexes Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers. [1] Humorism began to ...
Humoral theory was one of the central principles in Western medicine from antiquity through the 19th century. “Humoral” derives from the word “humor,” which, in this context, means “fluid.” The human body was thought to contain a mix of the four humors: black bile (also known as melancholy), yellow or red bile, blood, and phlegm. Each individual had a particular humoral makeup, or ...
Humors are four bodily fluids that ancient Greek and Roman physicians believed controlled human health and personality: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. For nearly 2,000 years, this framework was the dominant explanation for why people got sick, why they behaved the way they did, and how doctors should treat them.
THE FOUR HUMORS Agents of Metabolism The Four Humors are the metabolic agents of the Four Elements in the human body. The right balance and purity of them is essential to maintaining health. The Four Humors and the elements they serve are as follows: BLOOD - AIR PHLEGM - WATER YELLOW BILE - FIRE BLACK BILE - EARTH All four of these humors, or vital fluids, are present in the bloodstream in ...
Each of these humors shares properties with one of the elements — phlegm (water) is cold and wet, blood (air) is hot and wet, yellow bile (fire) is hot and dry, and black bile (earth) is dry and cold. According to Hippocrates’s theory, these four humors must be perfectly mixed in the body to produce good health.