humoralism
The definitions used in this glossary of terminology either have been provided by the authors of the articles, or have been extracted wholly or in part, or paraphrased from the following sources: The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine, Charles B. Clayman, MD, Medical Editor, Random House, New York, 1989; Biotechnology from A to Z, 2d Edition, William Bains, Oxford University Press, New York, New York, 2002; A Dictionary of Genetics, 6th Edition, Robert C. King and William D. Stansfield, Oxford University Press, New York, New York, 2002; Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 29th and 30th Editions, W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, 2000, 2003; Genes VII, Benjamin Lewin, Oxford University Press, New York, New York, 2000; The Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, Volumes I and II, Stacey L. Blachford, Ed., Thomson Learning, New York, New York, 2002; The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts, 1997; Molecular Biology of the Cell, 3rd Edition, Bruce Alberts, et al., Garland Publishing, 1994; The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged Edition, 1966; Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1991.
DEFINITION:
- humoralism
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The ancient theory that health and illness result from a balance or imbalance of bodily liquids ("humors"). The theory is especially associated with Hippocratic writers, but it long antedates Hippocrates. Humoralism is a variant of Empedocles' theory of the four "roots" (earth, air, fire, water), the later four "elements," then the four qualities (hot, cold, moist, dry), then the four temperaments. The four humors and the four qualities are (1) phlegm (water, or a watery substance), which is cold and moist; (2) blood, which is hot and moist; (3) black bile or gall, secreted from the kidneys and spleen, cold and dry; and (4) yellow bile or choler, secreted from the liver, hot and dry. Humoralism was decisively displaced only in 1858 by Rudolf Virchow's Cellularpathologie.
Used in 2 Term definitions
Used in 2 Term definitions