La Teoria degli Umori

Optike Glasse Of Humours(TEACHING SHAKESPEARE at the Folger

Library)© 2002 Folger Shakespea re Library

•Classical medicine taught that the human body was governed by four fluids or humors, each tied to one of the prime elements. 

•The four elements were earth, air, fire, earth, air, fire, and waterand water; the four humors were black bile, blood, yellow bile, and phlegm. 

•Illness was presumed to be the result of an imbalance in the humors.

•Thus, since illness is the result of imbalance, the key treatments often involved trying to rid the body of the excess of certain humors.

• Diet and herbal treatments were often prescribed, but often the diagnosis called for a more extreme way of relieving the body of excess humors. 

•The most notable is perhaps the practice of phlebotomy or blood-letting. 

  Qualities

 HOT COLD

DRY

Qualities: hot and dry Element: fire

humor: yellow biletemper: choleric

organ: liverseason: summer

Qualities: cold and dry Element: earth

humor: black biletemper: melancholic

organ: spleenseason: autumn

MOIST

Qualities: hot and moist Element: Air

humor: bloodtemper: sanguine

organ: heartseason: spring

Qualities: cold and moist Element: water

humor: phlegmtemper: phlegmatic

organ: brainseason: winter

BLOOD YELLOW BILE PHLEGM BLACK BILE

Air Fire Water Earth

hot and moist hot and dry cold and moist cold and dry

"SANGUINE" "CHOLERIC" "PHLEGMATIC" "MELANCHOLIC"

Amoroushappygenerous

violentvengeful

Dullpalecowardly

gluttonousLazysentimental