The basic premise of humoral medicine was that the human body consisted of Four Humors-i.e., Blood, Phlegm, Yellow Bile, and Black Bile-produced by four internal organs: the Heart, the Brain, the Liver, and the Spleen. Underlying this proposition were the elemental theories of matter and terrestrial organization -inherited from Empedocles (ca.492–432 BCE), Aristotle (384–322 BCE), and Claudius Ptolemy (ca.100–170 CE)- which stressed the primacy of The Four Elements -i.e., Air, Fire, Earth, Water- in the sublunary spheres. By the late fifteenth century, these premises were revitalized and codified into practical medical doctrines together with another theory from the early Hippocratic corpus: humoral medicine. Historiated Letter "C." Click the image for more information.Ĭorrespondence between the celestial and terrestrial spheres was a fundamental premise of early-modern medical astrology. Astronomer with compass and globe on a throne symbolizing the universe.
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