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 .
97-478: Humorism began to fall out of favor in the 17th century and it was definitively disproved in the 1850s with the advent of germ theory , which was able to show that many diseases previously thought to be humoral were in fact caused by microbes. The concept of "humors" may have origins in Ancient Egyptian medicine , or Mesopotamia , though it was not systemized until ancient Greek thinkers. The word humor
194-441: A bacterium but to any type of microorganism, such as protists or fungi , or other pathogens that can cause disease, such as viruses , prions , or viroids . Diseases caused by pathogens are called infectious diseases . Even when a pathogen is the principal cause of a disease, environmental and hereditary factors often influence the severity of the disease, and whether a potential host individual becomes infected when exposed to
291-430: A molecular version of Koch's postulates to establish correlation between microbial genes and virulence factors . After reading Pasteur's papers on bacterial fermentation, British surgeon Joseph Lister recognized that compound fractures , involving bones breaking through the skin, were more likely to become infected due to exposure to environmental microorganisms. He recognized that carbolic acid could be applied to
388-623: A plasma cell dyscrasia . To the Greeks, it meant an imbalance of the four humors : blood , black bile , yellow bile , and water ( phlegm ). These humors were believed to exist in the body, and any change in the balance among the four of them was the direct cause of all disease . This is similar to the concepts of bodily humors in the Tibetan medical tradition and the Indian Ayurvedic system, which both relate health and disease to
485-451: A choleric man, uses humoral therapy techniques on Katherina, a choleric woman, in order to tame her into the socially acceptable phlegmatic woman. Some examples include: he yells at the servants for serving mutton, a choleric food, to two people who are already choleric; he deprives Katherina of sleep; and he, Katherina and their servant Grumio endure a cold walk home, for cold temperatures were said to tame choleric temperaments. The theory of
582-450: A connection between these three parts of the soul and the three major organs that were recognized at the time: the brain, the heart, and the liver. This idea of connecting vital parts of the soul to vital parts of the body was derived from Aristotle's sense of explaining physical observations, and Galen utilized it to build his view of the human body. The organs (named organa ) had specific functions (called chreiai ) that contributed to
679-463: A correct explanation for disease by the scientific community. It held that diseases such as cholera , chlamydia infection , or the Black Death were caused by a miasma ( μίασμα , Ancient Greek : "pollution"), a noxious form of "bad air" emanating from rotting organic matter. Miasma was considered to be a poisonous vapor or mist filled with particles from decomposed matter (miasmata) that
776-482: A person can be a sign of illness. Hippocrates, and then Galen , suggested that a moderate imbalance in the mixture of these fluids produces behavioral patterns. One of the treatises attributed to Hippocrates, On the Nature of Man , describes the theory as follows: The Human body contains blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. These are the things that make up its constitution and cause its pains and health. Health
873-436: A set of three books covering the nature of contagious diseases, categorization of major pathogens, and theories on preventing and treating these conditions. Fracastoro blamed "seeds of disease" that propagate through direct contact with an infected host, indirect contact with fomites , or through particles in the air. In 1668, Italian physician Francesco Redi published experimental evidence rejecting spontaneous generation ,
970-527: A surplus of a humor. Apocroustics were medications intended to stop the flux of malignant humors to a diseased body part. 16th-century Swiss physician Paracelsus further developed the idea that beneficial medical substances could be found in herbs, minerals and various alchemical combinations thereof. These beliefs were the foundation of mainstream Western medicine well into the 17th century. Specific minerals or herbs were used to treat ailments simple to complex, from an uncomplicated upper respiratory infection to
1067-409: A symptom brought on by a disease. Empedocles 's theory suggested that there are four elements : earth, fire, water, and air, with the earth producing the natural systems. Since this theory was influential for centuries, later scholars paired qualities associated with each humor as described by Hippocrates/Galen with seasons and "basic elements" as described by Empedocles . The following table shows
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#17327718557761164-539: A theory that all infectious diseases were due to parasitic infection with " animalcules " (microorganisms). With the help of his friend M. Adele de Rosseville, he presented his theory in a formal presentation before the French Academy of Sciences in Paris. By 1853, he was convinced that malaria and yellow fever were spread by mosquitos. He even identified the particular group of mosquitos that transmit yellow fever as
1261-573: Is a layer of red blood cells (the "blood"); above this is a whitish layer of white blood cells (the "phlegm"); the top layer is clear yellow serum (the "yellow bile"). Many Greek texts were written during the golden age of the theory of the four humors in Greek medicine after Galen. One of those texts was an anonymous treatise called On the Constitution of the Universe and of Man , published in
1358-487: Is a translation of Greek χυμός , chymos (literally 'juice' or ' sap ', metaphorically 'flavor'). Early texts on Indian Ayurveda medicine presented a theory of three humors (doṣas), which they sometimes linked with the five elements ( pañca-bhūta ): earth, water, fire, air, and space. The concept of "humors" (chemical systems regulating human behaviour) became more prominent from the writing of medical theorist Alcmaeon of Croton (c. 540–500 BC). His list of humors
1455-468: Is based on Galenic and Avicennian medicine in its emphasis on the four humors as a fundamental part of the methodologic paradigm. The humoralist system of medicine was highly individualistic, for all patients were said to have their own unique humoral composition. From Hippocrates onward, the humoral theory was adopted by Greek, Roman and Islamic physicians , and dominated the view of the human body among European physicians until at least 1543 when it
1552-411: Is not a remnant of the humor theory. It is merely a literal use of humoral , i.e. pertaining to bodily fluids (such as blood and lymph). The concept of humorism was not definitively disproven until 1858. There were no studies performed to prove or disprove the impact of dysfunction in known bodily organs producing named fluids (humors) on temperament traits simply because the list of temperament traits
1649-494: Is not capable of converting abnormal chylous into normal chylous and normal humors. Humors are the end product of gastric digestion, but they are not the end product of the digestion cycle, so an abnormal humor produced by hepatic digestion will affect other digestive organs. According to Hippocratic humoral theory, jaundice is present in the Hippocratic Corpus . Some of the first descriptions of jaundice come from
1746-417: Is primarily that state in which these constituent substances are in the correct proportion to each other, both in strength and quantity, and are well mixed. Pain occurs when one of the substances presents either a deficiency or an excess, or is separated in the body and not mixed with others. The body depends heavily on the four humors because their balanced combination helps to keep people in good health. Having
1843-422: Is suitable for the liver to absorb and carry on digestion. Chylous is changed into chymous in the hepatic digestion stage. Chymous is composed of the four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. These four humors then circulate in the blood vessels . In the last stage of digestion, tissue digestion, food becomes similar to the organ tissue for which it is destined. If anything goes wrong leading up to
1940-404: Is the cause of tumours , of chlorosis , of rheumatism , and cacochymia – where is it? Who will ever see it? Who has ever seen it? What can we say of this fanciful classification of humors into four groups, of which two are absolutely imaginary?" The seasonal association of phlegm is winter due to the natural properties of being cold and wet. Humors were believed to be produced via digestion as
2037-584: The Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company , which supplied sewage-polluted water from the River Thames , Snow showed that areas supplied by this company experienced fourteen times as many deaths as residents using Lambeth Waterworks Company pumps that obtained water from the upriver, cleaner Seething Wells . While Snow received praise for convincing the Board of Guardians of St James's Parish to remove
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#17327718557762134-462: The "Father of Modern Medicine". With the advent of the Doctrine of Specific Etiology , the humoral theory's demise hastened even further. This demonstrates that there is only one precise cause and one specific issue for each and every sickness or disorder that has been diagnosed. Additionally, the identification of messenger molecules like hormones, growth factors, and neurotransmitters suggests that
2231-578: The "domestic species" of "striped-legged mosquito", which can be recognised as Aedes aegypti , the actual vector. He published his theory in 1854 in the Gaceta Oficial de Cumana ("Official Gazette of Cumana"). His reports were assessed by an official commission, which discarded his mosquito theory. Ignaz Semmelweis , a Hungarian obstetrician working at the Vienna General Hospital ( Allgemeines Krankenhaus ) in 1847, noticed
2328-525: The 1670s by Anton van Leeuwenhoek , an early pioneer in microbiology , considered "the Father of Microbiology". Leeuwenhoek is said to be the first to see and describe bacteria in 1674, yeast cells, the teeming life in a drop of water (such as algae), and the circulation of blood corpuscles in capillaries. The word "bacteria" didn't exist yet, so he called these microscopic living organisms "animalcules", meaning "little animals". Those "very little animalcules" he
2425-594: The Austrian physician Marcus Antonius von Plenciz (1705–1786) published a book titled Opera medico-physica . It outlined a theory of contagion stating that specific animalcules in the soil and the air were responsible for causing specific diseases. Von Plenciz noted the distinction between diseases which are both epidemic and contagious (like measles and dysentery), and diseases which are contagious but not epidemic (like rabies and leprosy). The book cites Anton van Leeuwenhoek to show how ubiquitous such animalcules are and
2522-537: The Hippocratic Corpus. Despite the fact that the Hippocratic physicians' therapeutic approaches have little to do with contemporary medical practice, their capacity for observation as they described the various forms of jaundice is remarkable. In the Hippocratic Corpus, the Hippocratic physicians make multiple references to jaundice. At that time, jaundice was viewed as an illness unto itself rather than
2619-415: The Hippocratic humors. He believed that phlegm did not influence character. In his On Hippocrates ' The Nature of Man , Galen stated: "Sharpness and intelligence ( ὀξὺ καὶ συνετόν ) are caused by yellow bile in the soul, perseverance and consistency ( ἑδραῖον καὶ βέβαιον ) by the melancholic humor, and simplicity and naivety ( ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἠλιθιώτερον ) by blood. But the nature of phlegm has no effect on
2716-454: The Hippocratic physicians (icterus). The ailment appears multiple times in the Hippocratic Corpus, where its genesis, description, prognosis, and therapy are given. The five kinds of jaundice mentioned in the Hippocratic Corpus all share a yellow or greenish skin color. A modern doctor will undoubtedly start to think of the symptoms listed in contemporary atlases of medicine after reading the clinical symptoms of each variety of jaundice listed in
2813-561: The Italian anatomist Giovanni Maria Lancisi for his early 18th century writings that claimed swamp miasma spread malaria, rebutting that bad air from decomposing organisms was not present in all cases. In his 1849 pamphlet On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, Snow proposed that cholera spread through the fecal–oral route , replicating in human lower intestines . In the book's second edition, published in 1855, Snow theorized that cholera
2910-521: The Roman poet Lucretius ( c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC ) stated that the world contained various "seeds", some of which could sicken a person if they were inhaled or ingested. The Roman statesman Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) wrote, in his Rerum rusticarum libri III (Three Books on Agriculture, 36 BC): "Precautions must also be taken in the neighborhood of swamps... because there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by
3007-496: The Sussex doctor more famous for discovering dinosaur fossils , spent time with his microscope, and speculated in his Thoughts on Animalcules (1850) that perhaps "many of the most serious maladies which afflict humanity, are produced by peculiar states of invisible animalcular life". British physician John Snow is credited as a founder of modern epidemiology for studying the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak . Snow criticized
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3104-477: The Temperaments , Galen further emphasized the importance of the qualities. An ideal temperament involved a proportionally balanced mixture of the four qualities. Galen identified four temperaments in which one of the qualities (warm, cold, moist, or dry) predominated, and four more in which a combination of two (warm and moist, warm and dry, cold and dry, or cold and moist) dominated. These last four, named for
3201-693: The air. And in his Epidemics ( c. 176–178 AD ), Galen explained that patients might relapse during recovery from fever because some "seed of the disease" lurked in their bodies, which would cause a recurrence of the disease if the patients did not follow a physician's therapeutic regimen. A hybrid form of miasma and contagion theory was proposed by Persian physician Ibn Sina (known as Avicenna in Europe) in The Canon of Medicine (1025). He mentioned that people can transmit disease to others by breath, noted contagion with tuberculosis , and discussed
3298-464: The balance and imbalance of the three bodily humors, generally translated as wind, bile, and phlegm. This is also similar to the Chinese concept of yin and yang that an imbalance of the two polarities caused ailment. The term is still occasionally used in medical contexts for an unspecified disorder of the blood. Specifically, it is defined in current medicine as a morbid general state resulting from
3395-472: The blood of plague victims under the microscope. He noted the presence of "little worms" or "animalcules" in the blood and concluded that the disease was caused by microorganisms. Kircher was the first to attribute infectious disease to a microscopic pathogen, inventing the germ theory of disease, which he outlined in his Scrutinium Physico-Medicum , published in Rome in 1658. Kircher's conclusion that disease
3492-416: The blood was the source of energy for the body and the soul. Blood was believed to consist of small proportional amounts of the other three humors. This meant that taking a blood sample would allow for determination of the balance of the four humors in the body. It was associated with a sanguine nature (enthusiastic, active, and social). Blood is considered to be hot and wet, sharing these characteristics with
3589-415: The blood. In the 18th century, more proposals were made, but struggled to catch on. In 1700, physician Nicolas Andry argued that microorganisms he called "worms" were responsible for smallpox and other diseases. In 1720, Richard Bradley theorised that the plague and "all pestilential distempers" were caused by "poisonous insects", living creatures viewable only with the help of microscopes. In 1762,
3686-460: The body were made. Robin Fåhræus (1921), a Swedish physician who devised the erythrocyte sedimentation rate , suggested that the four humors were based upon the observation of blood clotting in a transparent container. When blood is drawn in a glass container and left undisturbed for about an hour, four different layers can be seen: a dark clot forms at the bottom (the "black bile"); above the clot
3783-431: The body, depending on diet and activity. When a patient was suffering from a surplus or imbalance of one of the four humors, then said patient's personality and/or physical health could be negatively affected. Therefore, the goal of treatment was to rid the body of some of the excess humor through techniques like purging, bloodletting, catharsis, diuresis, and others. Bloodletting was already a prominent medical procedure by
3880-443: The body, rather than ingested, he believed that different foods had varying potential to act upon the body to produce different humors. Warm foods, for example, tended to produce yellow bile, while cold foods tended to produce phlegm. Seasons of the year, periods of life, geographic regions, and occupations also influenced the nature of the humors formed. As such, certain seasons and geographic areas were understood to cause imbalances in
3977-688: The books of Galen). The 16th century Reformer Martin Luther appears to have had some idea of the contagion theory, commenting, "I have survived three plagues and visited several people who had two plague spots which I touched. But it did not hurt me, thank God. Afterwards when I returned home, I took up Margaret," (born 1534), "who was then a baby, and put my unwashed hands on her face, because I had forgotten; otherwise I should not have done it, which would have been tempting God." In 1546, Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro published De Contagione et Contagiosis Morbis ( On Contagion and Contagious Diseases ),
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4074-596: The caterpillar. From 1835 to 1836, Bassi published his findings that fungal spores transmitted the disease between individuals. In recommending the rapid removal of diseased caterpillars and disinfection of their surfaces, Bassi outlined methods used in modern preventative healthcare . Italian naturalist Giuseppe Gabriel Balsamo-Crivelli named the causative fungal species after Bassi, currently classified as Beauveria bassiana . In 1838 French specialist in tropical medicine Louis-Daniel Beauperthuy pioneered using microscopy in relation to diseases and independently developed
4171-432: The character of the soul ( τοῦ δὲ φλέγµατος ἡ φύσις εἰς µὲν ἠθοποιῗαν ἄχρηστος )." He further said that blood is a mixture of the four elements: water, air, fire, and earth. These terms only partly correspond to modern medical terminology, in which there is no distinction between black and yellow bile, and phlegm has a very different meaning. It was believed that the humors were the basic substances from which all liquids in
4268-427: The dramatically high maternal mortality from puerperal fever following births assisted by doctors and medical students. However, those attended by midwives were relatively safe. Investigating further, Semmelweis made the connection between puerperal fever and examinations of delivering women by doctors, and further realized that these physicians had usually come directly from autopsies . Asserting that puerperal fever
4365-458: The early 19th century, the first vaccine , smallpox vaccination was commonplace in Europe, though doctors were unaware of how it worked or how to extend the principle to other diseases. A transitional period began in the late 1850s with the work of Louis Pasteur . This work was later extended by Robert Koch in the 1880s. By the end of that decade, the miasma theory was struggling to compete with
4462-471: The early ninth century. Use of the practice in modern times is pseudoscience . Humoral theory was the grand unified theory of medicine, before the invention of modern medicine, for more than 2000 years. The theory was one of the fundamental tenets of the teachings of the Greek physician-philosopher Hippocrates (460–370 BC), who is regarded as the first practitioner of medicine, appropriately referred to as
4559-513: The eyes, which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and there cause serious diseases." The Greek physician Galen (AD 129 – c. 200/216 ) speculated in his On Initial Causes ( c. 175 AD ) that some patients might have "seeds of fever". In his On the Different Types of Fever ( c. 175 AD ), Galen speculated that plagues were spread by "certain seeds of plague", which were present in
4656-409: The final products of hepatic digestion. Digestion is a continuous process taking place in every animal, and it can be divided into four sequential stages. The gastric digestion stage, the hepatic digestion stage, the vascular digestion stage, and the tissue digestion stage. Each stage digests food until it becomes suitable for use by the body. In gastric digestion, food is made into chylous, which
4753-430: The first century, but venesection took on even more significance once Galen of Pergamum declared blood to be the most prevalent humor. The volume of blood extracted ranged from a few drops to several litres over the course of several days, depending on the patient's condition and the doctor's practice. Even though humorism theory had several models that used two, three, and five components, the most famous model consists of
4850-414: The flask contents were only fermented when in direct contact with the external environment's air by removing the curved tubing, Pasteur demonstrated that bacteria must travel between sites of infection to colonize environments. Similar to Bassi, Pasteur extended his research on germ theory by studying pébrine , a disease that causes brown spots on silkworms. While Swiss botanist Carl Nägeli discovered
4947-419: The four humors described by Hippocrates and developed further by Galen . The four humors of Hippocratic medicine are black bile (Greek: μέλαινα χολή , melaina chole ), yellow bile (Greek: ξανθὴ χολή , xanthe chole ), phlegm (Greek: φλέγμα , phlegma ), and blood (Greek: αἷμα , haima ). Each corresponds to one of the traditional four temperaments . Based on Hippocratic medicine, it
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#17327718557765044-586: The four humors features prominently in Rupert Thomson 's 2005 novel Divided Kingdom . Germ theory The germ theory of disease is the currently accepted scientific theory for many diseases . It states that microorganisms known as pathogens or "germs" can cause disease. These small organisms, which are too small to be seen without magnification, invade humans, other animals, and other living hosts . Their growth and reproduction within their hosts can cause disease. "Germ" refers to not just
5141-634: The four humors with their corresponding elements, seasons, sites of formation, and resulting temperaments: Medieval medical tradition in the Golden Age of Islam adopted the theory of humorism from Greco-Roman medicine, notably via the Persian polymath Avicenna 's The Canon of Medicine (1025). Avicenna summarized the four humors and temperaments as follows: The Unani school of medicine, practiced in Perso-Arabic countries, India, and Pakistan,
5238-409: The fungal species Nosema bombycis in 1857, Pasteur applied the findings to recommend improved ventilation and screening of silkworm eggs, an early form of disease surveillance . In 1884, German bacteriologist Robert Koch published four criteria for establishing causality between specific microorganisms and diseases, now known as Koch's postulates : During his lifetime, Koch recognized that
5335-411: The germ theory of disease. Viruses were initially discovered in the 1890s. Eventually, a "golden era" of bacteriology ensued, during which the germ theory quickly led to the identification of the actual organisms that cause many diseases. The miasma theory was the predominant theory of disease transmission before the germ theory took hold towards the end of the 19th century; it is no longer accepted as
5432-505: The handles of contaminated pumps, he noted that the outbreak's cases were already declining as scared residents fled the region. During the mid-19th century, French microbiologist Louis Pasteur showed that treating the female genital tract with boric acid killed the microorganisms causing postpartum infections while avoiding damage to mucous membranes . Building on Redi's work, Pasteur disproved spontaneous generation by constructing swan neck flasks containing nutrient broth. Since
5529-409: The human body, according to Hippocrates, are in harmony with one another and act as a catalyst for preserving health. Hippocrates' theory of four humors was linked with the popular theory of the four elements (earth, fire, water, and air) proposed by Empedocles , but this link was not proposed by Hippocrates or Galen, who referred primarily to bodily fluids. While Galen thought that humors were formed in
5626-399: The humoral theory has not yet been made fully moribund. Humoral theory is still present in modern medical terminology, which refers to humoral immunity when discussing elements of immunity that circulate in the bloodstream, such as hormones and antibodies. Modern medicine refers to humoral immunity or humoral regulation when describing substances such as hormones and antibodies , but this
5723-406: The humors with which they were associated—sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic—eventually became better known than the others. While the term temperament came to refer just to psychological dispositions, Galen used it to refer to bodily dispositions, which determined a person's susceptibility to particular diseases, as well as behavioral and emotional inclinations. Disease could also be
5820-419: The humors, leading to varying types of disease across time and place. For example, cities exposed to hot winds were seen as having higher rates of digestive problems as a result of excess phlegm running down from the head, while cities exposed to cold winds were associated with diseases of the lungs, acute diseases, and "hardness of the bowels", as well as ophthalmies (issues of the eyes), and nosebleeds. Cities to
5917-422: The individual. A fundamental idea of Hippocratic medicine was the endeavor to pinpoint the origins of illnesses in both the physiology of the human body and the influence of potentially hazardous environmental variables like air, water, and nutrition, and every humor has a distinct composition and is secreted by a different organ. Aristotle's concept of eucrasia—a state resembling equilibrium—and its relationship to
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#17327718557766014-439: The invisible organisms found in decaying bodies, meat, milk, and secretions as "worms." His studies with the microscope led him to the belief, which he was possibly the first to hold, that disease and putrefaction, or decay were caused by the presence of invisible living bodies, writing that "a number of things might be discovered in the blood of fever patients." When Rome was struck by the bubonic plague in 1656, Kircher investigated
6111-407: The maintenance of the human body, and the expression of these functions is shown in characteristic activities (called energeiai ) of a person. While the correspondence of parts of the body to the soul was an influential concept, Galen decided that the interaction of the four humors with natural bodily mechanisms were responsible for human development and this connection inspired his understanding of
6208-414: The mid-19th century by J. L. Ideler. In this text, the author establishes the relationship between elements of the universe (air, water, earth, fire) and elements of the man (blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm). He said that: Seventeenth century English playwright Ben Jonson wrote humor plays , where character types were based on their humoral complexion. It was thought that the nutritional value of
6305-494: The nature of the components of the body. Galen recalls the correspondence between humors and seasons in his On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato , and says that, "As for ages and the seasons, the child ( παῖς ) corresponds to spring, the young man ( νεανίσκος ) to summer, the mature man ( παρακµάζων ) to autumn, and the old man ( γέρων ) to winter". He also related a correspondence between humors and seasons based on
6402-626: The neo-classical revival in Europe, the humor theory dominated medical practice, and the theory of humoral types made periodic appearances in drama. The humors were an important and popular iconographic theme in European art, found in paintings, tapestries, and sets of prints. The humors can be found in Elizabethan works , such as in The Taming of the Shrew , in which the character Petruchio,
6499-529: The pathogen. Pathogens are disease-carrying agents that can pass from one individual to another, both in humans and animals. Infectious diseases are caused by biological agents such as pathogenic microorganisms (viruses, bacteria, and fungi) as well as parasites. Basic forms of germ theory were proposed by Girolamo Fracastoro in 1546, and expanded upon by Marcus von Plenciz in 1762. However, such views were held in disdain in Europe, where Galen's miasma theory remained dominant among scientists and doctors. By
6596-525: The physical nature and function of the organ systems. Galen combined his interpretation of the humors with his collection of ideas concerning nature from past philosophers in order to find conclusions about how the body works. For example, Galen maintained the idea of the presence of the Platonic tripartite soul, which consisted of " thumos (spiritedness), epithumos (directed spiritedness, i.e. desire), and Sophia (wisdom)". Through this, Galen found
6693-405: The plague. For example, chamomile was used to decrease heat, and lower excessive bile humor. Arsenic was used in a poultice bag to 'draw out' the excess humor(s) that led to symptoms of the plague. Apophlegmatisms , in pre-modern medicine, were medications chewed in order to draw away phlegm and humors. Although advances in cellular pathology and chemistry criticized humoralism by the 17th century,
6790-544: The postulates were not universally applicable, such as asymptomatic carriers of cholera violating the first postulate. For this same reason, the third postulate specifies "should", rather than "must", because not all host organisms exposed to an infectious agent will acquire the infection, potentially due to differences in prior exposure to the pathogen. Limiting the second postulate, it was later discovered that viruses cannot be grown in pure cultures because they are obligate intracellular parasites, making it impossible to fulfill
6887-434: The production of humors, there will be an imbalance leading to disease. Proper organ functioning is necessary in the production of good humor. The stomach and liver also have to function normally for proper digestion. If there are any abnormalities in gastric digestion, the liver, blood vessels, and tissues cannot be provided with the raw chylous, which can cause abnormal humor and blood composition. A healthy functioning liver
6984-418: The properties of both. Blood, as a humor, was considered hot and wet. This gave it a correspondence to spring. Yellow bile was considered hot and dry, which related it to summer. Black bile was considered cold and dry, and thus related to autumn. Phlegm, cold and wet, was related to winter. Galen also believed that the characteristics of the soul follow the mixtures of the body, but he did not apply this idea to
7081-434: The result of the "corruption" of one or more of the humors, which could be caused by environmental circumstances, dietary changes, or many other factors. These deficits were thought to be caused by vapors inhaled or absorbed by the body. Greeks and Romans, and the later Muslim and Western European medical establishments that adopted and adapted classical medical philosophy, believed that each of these humors would wax and wane in
7178-401: The right amount of humor is essential for health. The pathophysiology of disease is consequently brought on by humor excesses and/or deficiencies. The existence of fundamental biochemical substances and structural components in the body remains a compellingly shared point with Hippocratic beliefs, despite the fact that current science has moved away from those four Hippocratic humors. Although
7275-450: The right balance of the four humors allow for the maintenance of human health, offering a more mathematical approach to medicine. The imbalance of humors, or dyscrasia , was thought to be the direct cause of all diseases. Health was associated with a balance of humors, or eucrasia . The qualities of the humors, in turn, influenced the nature of the diseases they caused. Yellow bile caused warm diseases and phlegm caused cold diseases. In On
7372-502: The season of spring. Yellow bile was associated with a choleric nature (ambitious, decisive, aggressive, and short-tempered). It was thought to be fluid found within the gallbladder , or in excretions such as vomit and feces. The associated qualities for yellow bile are hot and dry with the natural association of summer and fire. It was believed that an excess of this humor in an individual would result in emotional irregularities such as increased anger or irrational behaviour. Black bile
7469-608: The season reflect the nature of man. Phlegm was associated with all phlegmatic nature, thought to be associated with reserved behavior. The phlegm of humorism is far from phlegm as it is defined today. Phlegm was used as a general term to describe white or colorless secretions such as pus, mucus, saliva, sweat, or semen. Phlegm was also associated with the brain, possibly due to the color and consistency of brain tissue. The French physiologist and Nobel laureate Charles Richet , when describing humorism's "phlegm or pituitary secretion" in 1910, asked rhetorically, "this strange liquid, which
7566-464: The second postulate. Similarly, pathogenic misfolded proteins, known as prions , only spread by transmitting their structure to other proteins, rather than self-replicating. While Koch's postulates retain historical importance for emphasizing that correlation does not imply causation , many pathogens are accepted as causative agents of specific diseases without fulfilling all of the criteria. In 1988, American microbiologist Stanley Falkow published
7663-449: The site of injury as an effective antiseptic. Dyscrasia In medicine , both ancient and modern, a dyscrasia is any of various disorders. The word has ancient Greek roots meaning "bad mixture". The concept of dyscrasia was developed by the Greek physician Galen (129–216 AD), who elaborated a model of health and disease as a structure of elements, qualities, humors, organs, and temperaments (based on earlier humorism ). Health
7760-601: The theory had dominated Western medical thinking for more than 2,000 years. Only in some instances did the theory of humoralism wane into obscurity. One such instance occurred in the sixth and seventh centuries in the Byzantine Empire when traditional secular Greek culture gave way to Christian influences. Though the use of humoralist medicine continued during this time, its influence was diminished in favor of religion. The revival of Greek humoralism, owing in part to changing social and economic factors, did not begin until
7857-436: The theory of the four humors does appear in some Hippocratic texts, other Hippocratic writers accepted the existence of only two humors, while some refrained from discussing the humoral theory at all. Humoralism, or the doctrine of the four temperaments, as a medical theory retained its popularity for centuries, largely through the influence of the writings of Galen (129–201 AD). The four essential elements—humors—that make up
7954-404: The theory that living creatures arise from nonliving matter. He observed that maggots only arose from rotting meat that was uncovered. When meat was left in jars covered by gauze, the maggots would instead appear on the gauze's surface, later understood as rotting meat's smell passing through the mesh to attract flies that laid eggs. Microorganisms are said to have been first directly observed in
8051-445: The transmission of disease through water and dirt. During the early Middle Ages, Isidore of Seville ( c. 560 –636) mentioned "plague-bearing seeds" ( pestifera semina ) in his On the Nature of Things ( c. AD 613 ). Later in 1345, Tommaso del Garbo ( c. 1305 –1370) of Bologna, Italy mentioned Galen's "seeds of plague" in his work Commentaria non-parum utilia in libros Galeni (Helpful commentaries on
8148-403: The west, meanwhile, were believed to produce weak, unhealthy, pale people that were subject to all manners of disease. In the treatise, On Airs, Waters, and Places , a Hippocratic physician is described arriving to an unnamed city where they test various factors of nature including the wind, water, and soil to predict the direct influence on the diseases specific to the city based on the season and
8245-422: Was a contagious disease and that matter from autopsies was implicated in its spread, Semmelweis made doctors wash their hands with chlorinated lime water before examining pregnant women. He then documented a sudden reduction in the mortality rate from 18% to 2.2% over a period of a year. Despite this evidence, he and his theories were rejected by most of the contemporary medical establishment. Gideon Mantell ,
8342-604: Was able to isolate from different sources, such as rainwater, pond and well water, and the human mouth and intestine. Yet German Jesuit priest and scholar Athanasius Kircher (or "Kirchner", as it is often spelled) may have observed such microorganisms prior to this. One of his books written in 1646 contains a chapter in Latin, which reads in translation: "Concerning the wonderful structure of things in nature, investigated by microscope...who would believe that vinegar and milk abound with an innumerable multitude of worms." Kircher defined
8439-414: Was associated with a melancholy nature, the word melancholy itself deriving from the Greek for 'black bile', μέλαινα χολή ( melaina kholé ). Depression was attributed to excess or unnatural black bile secreted by the spleen. Cancer was also attributed to an excess of black bile concentrated in a specific area. The seasonal association of black bile was to autumn as the cold and dry characteristics of
8536-403: Was believed that for a body to be healthy, the four humors should be balanced in amount and strength. The proper blending and balance of the four humors was known as eukrasia . Humorism theory was improved by Galen, who incorporated his understanding of the humors into his interpretation of the human body. He believed the interactions of the humors within the body were the key to investigating
8633-411: Was caused by cells smaller than human epithelial cells, leading to Robert Koch's 1884 confirmation of the bacterial species Vibrio cholerae as the causative agent. In recognizing a biological origin, Snow recommended boiling and filtering water, setting the precedent for modern boil-water advisory directives. Through a statistical analysis tying cholera cases to specific water pumps associated with
8730-445: Was caused by microorganisms was correct, although it is likely that what he saw under the microscope were in fact red or white blood cells and not the plague agent itself. Kircher also proposed hygienic measures to prevent the spread of disease, such as isolation, quarantine, burning clothes worn by the infected, and wearing facemasks to prevent the inhalation of germs. It was Kircher who first proposed that living beings enter and exist in
8827-456: Was first seriously challenged by Andreas Vesalius , who mostly criticized Galen's theories of human anatomy and not the chemical hypothesis of behavioural regulation (temperament). Typical 18th-century practices such as bleeding a sick person or applying hot cups to a person were based on the humoral theory of imbalances of fluids (blood and bile in those cases). Methods of treatment like bloodletting, emetics and purges were aimed at expelling
8924-423: Was identifiable by its foul smell. The theory posited that diseases were the product of environmental factors such as contaminated water, foul air, and poor hygienic conditions. Such infections, according to the theory, were not passed between individuals but would affect those within a locale that gave rise to such vapors. In Antiquity , the Greek historian Thucydides ( c. 460 – c. 400 BC )
9021-427: Was longer and included fundamental elements described by Empedocles , such as water, earth, fire, air, etc. Hippocrates is usually credited with applying this idea to medicine. In contrast to Alcmaeon, Hippocrates suggested that humors are the vital bodily fluids: blood , phlegm , yellow bile, and black bile. Alcmaeon and Hippocrates posited that an extreme excess or deficiency of any of the humors ( bodily fluid ) in
9118-446: Was not defined up until the end of the 20th century. Theophrastus and others developed a set of characters based on the humors. Those with too much blood were sanguine. Those with too much phlegm were phlegmatic. Those with too much yellow bile were choleric, and those with too much black bile were melancholic. The idea of human personality based on humors contributed to the character comedies of Menander and, later, Plautus . Through
9215-436: Was the first person to write, in his account of the plague of Athens , that diseases could spread from an infected person to others. One theory of the spread of contagious diseases that were not spread by direct contact was that they were spread by spore -like "seeds" ( Latin : semina ) that were present in and dispersible through the air. In his poem, De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things, c. 56 BC ),
9312-413: Was understood in this perspective to be a condition of harmony or balance among these basic components, called eucrasia . Disease was interpreted as the disproportion of bodily fluids or four humours : phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile. The imbalance was called dyscrasia . In modern medicine, the term is still occasionally used in medical context for an unspecified disorder of the blood, such as
9409-493: Was unique for describing the presence of germs in ulcerating wounds. Ultimately, the theory espoused by von Plenciz was not accepted by the scientific community. During the early 19th century, driven by economic concerns over collapsing silk production, Italian entomologist Agostino Bassi researched a silkworm disease known as "muscardine" in French and "calcinaccio" or "mal del segno" in Italian, causing white fungal spots along
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