HERB - Humoral Theory

[Sheron Buchele/Curtis Rowland]

Good Mistress Agnes,

Your comments on Humoral Theory were quite fastinating.  Where do you get
this weath of information on the humoral theory?  I am really really
interested in this.

Leonora

At 09:18 AM 1/28/99 -0600, you wrote:
>
>
>Christine A Seelye-King wrote:
>
>> This is from a site called the Compendium of Common Knowledge, for
>> historical (specifically Elizabethan) re-enactors.  I thought it did a
>> good job of explaining the Humoral Theory.
>>         Christianna
>>
>> http://www.renaissance.dm.net/compendium/31.html
>>
>>                    Science and Health
>>                    (without key to the scriptures)
>>
>
>Christiana, what do you think "without key to the scriptures" means?
>
>>
>>                    Everything in the world is composed of four elements:
>>                        Earth, Air, Fire and Water
>>
>>                    In the human body, the humours are the natural bodily
>>                 fluids. They correspond to the elements and have various
>>                 qualities: cold, dry, hot, and moist.
>>
>
>Note that the humours are made of two elements (choler is hot dry, or
blood hot
>wet)
>
>>
>>                    The nature or complexion of anything is a combination
>> of              two of these humourous qualities.
>
>so I don't think this is accurately stated.
>
>>                    Here is a simple chart of the relationships of the
>> humours         and elements.
>>                    Most people are aware of this chart to some degree.
>>                 (Hypochondriacs  have it memorized.)
>
>what I think hypochondriacs have memorized is the zodiac. Since the
planets are
>
>like everything else composed of the 4 elements, the planetary arrangement at
>your birth
>tells a lot about what your tendencies are at a much finer scale.
Likewise, the
>8th house is
>health and what is in your 8th house helps the physician distinguish between
>hot wet fevers
>and hot dry fevers.
>And usually cures were Doctrine of Opposites:  treat cold dry fevers with
>physical treatments or
>herbs that are hot wet.  Better still, if its Mars in your 8th house treat
with
>under Venus, or a Fire sign of the zodiac with a plant under a water sign,
>especially exact opposites across the chart. Box, governed by Mars, and mint,
>governed by  Venus, are both used for fevers, but very different ones.
>
>>
>>
>>  Element                Humour          Quality
>>                 Nature
>>  Fire           Choler (yellow bile)  hot and dry     Choleric
>> (angry,
>>
>>    temperamental)
>>  Air            Blood           hot and           Sanguine
>> (jolly,                                 moist
>> lusty)
>>  Water          Phlegm                 cold and
>>   Phlegmatic                                    moist
>> (sluggish, slow)
>>  Earth          Melancholy                      Melancholic
>>                 (black bile)    cold and dry     (sad,  lovesick)
>>
>>
>>
>
>I have wondered how the learned physician cast the horoscope of people who
>didn't know their
>hour of birth.  And while there are Period manuals for estimating, no
doubt it
>was one of the
>mechanisms for maintaining class divisions, since upperclass people would
note
>the hour of a child's birth.
>
>Agnes
>kkeeler1 at unl.edu
>
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