The Four Humors
“Essentially, this theory held that the human body was filled with four basic substances, called four humors, which are in balance when a person is healthy. All diseases and disabilities resulted from an excess or deficit of one of these four humors. The four humors were identified as black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood…. When a patient was suffering from a surplus or imbalance of one fluid, then his or her personality and physical health would be affected.”
Simply stated, each of the four types could be characterized in the following way:
Sanguine - Too much blood - Passionate, Bold, impulsive
Melancholic - Too much black bile - Depressed, anxious, moody
Choleric - Too much yellow bile - Irritable, hostile, bitter
Phlegmatic - Too much phlegm - Passive, introverted, rational
this is really cool art! (i can never decide if i’m melancholic or phlegmatic…i seem to flip-flop.)
