The Beliefs of Humors in Medieval Medicine Essays

The Beliefs of Humors in Medieval Medicine Essays The Beliefs of Humors in Medieval Medicine Paper The Beliefs of Humors in Medieval Medicine Paper During the Medieval time period, few advances were made in the field of medicine and surgery. The belief in humors affecting ones health during the Middle Ages was responsible for the way health care was carried out. Practitioners in Medieval Europe believed in the existence of four humors: sanguine, choler, phlegm, and melancholy. The physicians thought that illness was caused, primarily, by an imbalance of the humors (Wallace). Each of the four humors was given specific qualities. Choler was dry and hot, melancholy was dry and cold, sanguine was moist and hot, and phlegm was moist and cold. Another property sometimes associated with the humors was color. Such as red for sanguine, and yellow for choler. This association of color and humors eventually became known as the Doctrine of Signatures which taught that â€Å"the color of flowers and other properties of plants indicated their usefulness in treating particular diseases† (Wallace). One example of this would be using yellow buttercups to control choler, to cure jaundice (Wallace). The physician and practitioners believed that â€Å"balance of humors in humans was achieved by diet, medicines, and phlebotomy† (Krzywicka). Changing diet was very popular in the lower classes while â€Å"real† medicine and phlebotomy were reserved for people of higher social standing (Krzywicka). Eating habits of an individual in Medieval Europe depended greatly on his financial status and, many times, his geographic location. When the change of diet was used to balance humors, the Doctrine of Signatures was put into use. For example, if one had too much sanguine in his system, he would give up foods red in color until everything was back in balance (Krzywicka). If a change of diet did not suit the patient, medicine would be administered. The type of medicine used would depend entirely on the ill person’s social class. Someone of an upper class would get a prescription from a formerly trained physician where as someone belonging to a lower class would seek help from a â€Å"folk† doctor (Krzywicka). â€Å"The medicines in the Medieval ages more often than not would take the forum of herbal remedies† (Krzywicka). Plants and other random substances were given certain properties to match those of the humors. Fold doctors (mainly women) generally gave prescriptions which did not involve taking anything internally. Such an idea would be wearing lavender to ward off the plague. Someone seeking help from trained practitioner would often be prescribed something such as a laxative, taken orally, to relieve hi body of the humor at fault. If something of this nature did not heal the patient, he would be sent to a surgeon. The surgeon then â€Å"worked to diagnose which humor was at fault then balanced out or purged the humor†¦often by bloodletting† (Wallace). â€Å"Bleeding was [a]†¦treatment thought to restore a balance of the humors in the body† (Black 5). Because of this, Bloodletting, or phlebotomy, was a common thing in Medieval times. The area of the body the blood was drained from depended on where the illness was located. Generally, the surgeons adjusted the humors â€Å"by bloodletting from the sides of the body opposite of the disease† (â€Å"Doctor’s Procedures†). More often than not the administration of bloodletting was unsuccessful, sometimes ending in the deadening of a limb or even death (â€Å"Doctor’s Procedures†). Because of the damage done during bloodletting, sometimes a person would have to have a limb removed. Amputation during the Middle Ages was not very safe. Since the link had not yet been made between health and cleanliness (germs had not been â€Å"invented† yet), many people died after an amputation due to infection of the wound. Fortunately, though, the patient would feel no pain during the operation due to the use of the opium poppy as an anesthetic (â€Å"Medicine in†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). The idea of the four humors held back medicine in many ways during the Middle Ages. Fortunately due to trade and other forms of communication with the outside world, most of this was rectified. Some ideas, such as trained physicians, did, however, remain. Bibliography : Black, Lois Fischer. â€Å"George M. Teeple: Rural Practitioner. † Favourite Edition September 1999:1-8. â€Å"Doctor’s Procedures. † The Medieval Medicine Web Site. Online. Internet. 14 October 2002. Available http://union-city. k12. nj. us/curr/stp/larts/medieval/medicine/proced. html. Krzywicka, Magdalena. â€Å"Education. † Medieval Medicine. 2000. Online. Internet. 8 October 2002. Available dorkart. com/med/ index. php. â€Å"Medicine in the Middle Ages. † The Causes and Cure of Disease. Online. Internet. 14 October 2002. Available http://minstercollege. schoolzone. co. uk/subjects/history/mhist/Medicine. htm. Wallace, Susan. â€Å"Commonly Used Medicinal Plants. † Mostly Medieval. 1999. Online. Internet. 9 October 2002. Available http://skell. org/ SKELL/plants. htm.