Humorism


Phlegm (water)
Blood
Gall (black bile thought to be secreted by the kidneys and spleen)
Choler (yellow bile secreted by the liver)

The humoral theory (also called humoralism was devised well before Hippocrates (c.460-c.375 BC). It was not definitively demolished until Rudolf Virchow published his formative book, Cellularpathologie, in 1858 that laid out the cellular basis of pathology. Pathology now rests on a cellular and molecular foundation. The humors have been dispelled, except for the aqueous humor (and its ilk).

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