The Anatomy Lesson

The Humor of Four Humours Of all the psychotic theories that have been proposed in the history of science, Hippocrate's theory of four humors is by far one of the most outlandish. To sum up the man in a nutshell, Hippocrates said that personality and illness is dependent upon four humors that usually lie in the body. Any unbalance in these humors result in a personality problem or an illness.

Hippocrates himself was a very –interesting- figure in Greece at the turn of the 2nd century BC. He was an incredibly progressive thinker, proposing many theories in the fields of physics, biology, zoology, and psychology. He was able to propose the concept of specific gravity, a ratio of the density of a body to the density of water. He also conceived of a spherical universe with the earth lying at the center. He classified animalia into species.

The one main unifying theme in all of Hippocrate's beliefs is in the theory of four elements, earth, air, fire, and water, that all matter is created from and influenced by. He also proposed a superior element called Aether, which he theorized that the universe is composed of. The four elements also come into play in his wacky four humors theory. He theorized that black bile, yellow bile, (yummy) blood and phlegm (cough cough) represent the four elements.

So Hippocrates, the old codger, believed in this daft theory, and so did hundreds of physicians that came after him. Imagine if you will, visiting your doctor with a little cold, and he tells you that you are having a phlegm disorder, and you needed to be bled. I wonder sometimes how the human race didn't die out years ago with medicine like this…

Even the Marriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines "melancholy" as: "1. a: an abnormal state attributed to an excess of black bile and by irascibility or depression b: black bile c: melancholia 2. a: depression of spirits: dejection b: a pensive mood"

Scary, the influence of four humors…

Here is a table summing up the characteristics of humor disorders. Which humour are you?

Humour	Predominant temperment	Characteristics
Blood	Sanguine	Optimistic, enthusiastic, and excitable.
Phlegm	Phlegmatic	Stolid, apathetic and undemonstrative.
Black Bile	Melancholic	Depressed in spirits
Yellow Bile	Choleric	Anger, irritability, and a "jaundiced" view of life.

Source:
"Four Humours" Britannica Online.
http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/206/79.html
[Accessed 09 April 1998].

Addi Faerber 1998.