The Four Humors :: European Europe History

The Four HumorsMedieval doctors had quite an understanding of the human anatomy, considering their lack of equipment and knowledge. about doctors in medieval clocks were philosophers more than actual medical doctors as most people know them today. Much of the knowledge they did acquire may have only been speculation, but quite a bit of it was callable to concentrated observation. Many scientists studied wounds and diseases intensely and one scientist in particular, Empedocles, came to the last that that body consists of four main fluids, or humors. These humors were yellow bile, black bile, inanition and blood. If one of these components was out of proportion in the body, disease occurred. The imbalance was called isonomia, an nous which was also proposed by the Greek scientist Empedocles. Empedocles followed the Pythagorean school of natural philosophers sort of than the Hippocratic school as most early(a) physicians in the time did. He felt people must use their senses, e ven though they are not thoroughly reliable at all times. The other schools preferred more mystic ideas as opposed to natural ones. He also hypothesized that all substances and objects were made up of air, fire, water, and earth in contrasting proportions. His proposal of the four humors of the body was later accepted by the Hippocratic school. Each of Empedocles four humors was connected to one of the four seasons. blackamoor bile was considered to be a part of autumn, blood was associated with spring, phlegm with winter and pass with yellow bile. Each humor was identified with its corresponding season callable to the belief that each humor contained certain qualities. These qualities were closely related to the conditions of the seasons. olibanum yellow bile was thought of as hot and dry alike summer. Its opposite, phlegm was unheated and moist like winter. Black Bile was cold and dry, while its opposite, blood, was hot and moist, like their counterparts, autumn and spring. As well as being connected with seasons, the four humors were also linked to four elements of nature. Black bile was associated with Earth, blood with air, fire with yellow bile and phlegm with water. This opening of nature and the body being interrelated was also proposed by Empedocles. in like manner each of these was also connected with the type of personality one presented. likewise much earth made a person melancholic, which meant they were very demoralize and saddened often.