Roman Medicine

Because doctors are sometimes called “leeches”

The Four Humors

The Romans and Greeks both believed that humans were made up of four basic substances. These substances were called the four humors. The humors were black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. Each humor matched a season. Black bile was fall, yellow bile was summer, blood was spring, and phlegm was winter. The humors were also related to one of the universal and equal elements. Black bile was earth, yellow bile was fire, blood was air, and phlegm was water. The four humors were also associated with a climate. Black bile was cold and dry, yellow bile was hot and dry, blood was hot and wet, and phlegm was cold and wet. If someone lived in a wet, cold climate and felt ill  they would move to a warmer, drier climate. The four Humors was an idea from Hippocrates. The four humors is not correct  but, many of Hippocrates ideas were very much correct.

A heart