Yellow bile

In Shakespeare s time, the traditional model of illness was as an imbalance of the four humours melancholy (or black bile), choler (or yellow bile), blood, and phlegm. 

The fourth century b.c.e. philosopher Plato added four qualities to this theory hot, dry, wet, and cold Two of each of these qualities were shared by each element, as can be seen in Figure 5.2, and because of this shared quality one element could transform into another. Alchemists also related the four qualities and elements to four liquid qualities in the body called humors black bile, phlegm, blood, and yellow bile. They believed that health was attained through the proper balance of these humors. They also believed that an excess of any humor led to... 

Humor Black Bile Phlegm Yellow Bile Blood... 

Paracelsus went on to dismiss the theory on which the orthodox medicine of the day was based. This theory, which had originally been proposed by Hippocrates, held that the body contained four humors blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Disease was supposedly a consequence of imbalances in these humors, and it was the physician s job to correct the imbalances. Furthermore, each humor was associated with one of the four elements. For example, a fever was clearly the result of the presence of too much fire. The humor that corresponded to fire was blood, so feverish patients should be bled. All of this was nonsense, Paracelsus said. The body was a kind of chemical laboratory, and a doctor must investigate the properties of chemical compounds to find those that would cure any specific disease. 

One of the first people to apply science to medicine was the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (ca. 460-377 b.c.e.). Influenced by the idea that the world is composed of four substances—earth, air, fire, and water—as taught by the Greek philosopher Empedocles (ca. 495-435 b.c.e.), Hippocrates proposed that four fluids are critical in determining a person s state of health. These fluids, known as humors (from a Latin term for moisture), were called blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. According to Hippocrates, an imbalance in these humors caused disease. Later, people associated a specific temperament or personality with these humors, a theory that was one of the earliest attempts to explain moods and emotions. Blood, for example, was associated with an optimistic disposition, while black bile corresponded to depression. 

Four humors as in ancient Greek medicine — blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile — semigaseous vapors that maintain body fluids and balance digestion (Thomas, 1997 and General References). 

The Latins used the word humour to mean moisture or fluid the tradition of the medical profession used the word regarding four fluids blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. Depending on whichever of the four fluids was dominant, the person possessed of the humour was said to be sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, or choleric. 

The doctrine of humours is derived from the Middle Ages and earlier. According to this doctrine, the body consisted of four humours (or moistures) blood, phlegm, yellow bile (choler), and black bile (melancholy). When these were in proportion within the individual, he was healthy. Jonson wrote two comedies, Every Man in His Humour and Every Man out of His Humour, where he relied, presumably completely, on the doctrine of humours as a basis for his characters personalities. Such an approach constituted a scientific justification for the extreme character types that have always been a staple of comedy. 

Small volume of yellow bile, high values of acid phosphatase - recovery from starvation has begun within the last week or so. 

Small volume of yellow bile, low value of acid phosphatase, quantity of muscle protein still reduced - fish has been severely starved but has been recovering for some time. 

These beliefs led to the creation of an extensive development of folk medicine that prevailed for many centuries. However, with the publication in 1661 of Robert Boyle s The Skeptical Chemist, the foundations for the application of chemistry to the development of drugs were laid down. The archaic ideas of Aristotle (regarding the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water) and Hippocrates (the body s four fluids humors —blood, black and yellow bile, and phlegm) were finally swept away, and a chemical element was defined as a substance that could not be broken down into simpler substances. 

First mention of the green or yellow bile pigments by A. F. Fourcroy. 

Bile first attracted Man s interest long ago. Around the time of the sixth century bc, the Greeks developed the doctrine of the four humors or body fluids. These humors were yellow bile, black bile, blood, and phlegm. Bile... 

Throughout history, people have suffered from depression. During ancient Greek times, influential physicians such as Hippocrates, sometimes dubbed the father of medicine, popularized the belief that depression (as well as all other illnesses) was caused by an imbalance of the four humors, substances produced by the body that were believed to regulate all bodily functions. The main four humors were phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile. For instance, depression was believed to be caused by an overabundance of black bile, which was associated with melancholy. A physician would thus administer a remedy that would supposedly correct the imbalance, usually a concoction of herbs. Although the basis of treatment was wrong, herbs (e.g., St. John s wort) are still used by some physicians as a valid treatment for depression. 

Blood - sanguine or hopeful Black bile - melancholy or gloomy Yellow bile - choleric or irascible Phlegm - phlegmatic or even tempered... 

These humours were considered to originate and be replenished by various organs blood by the heart, black bile by the spleen, yellow bile by the liver, and phlegm by the brain. Lastly they had associated with them a physical property blood - hot and wet, black bile - cold and dry, yellow bile - hot and dry, phlegm - hot and wet, as represented in Figure 2.1 These in their turn were considered to be related to the four elements, earth, air, water, and fire. 

Biliverdin—CaaHaaNiOe—is a green powder, insoluble in HaO, ether, and chloroform, soluble in alcohol and in alkaline solutions. It exists in green biles, but its presence in yellow biles or. biliary calculi is doubtful. It responds to Gmelin s test. In alkaline solution it is changed after a time into biliprasin. 

Galen s views had dominated medicine for 1400 years. He believed that a balance of four bodily humours (phlegm, black bile, yellow bile, and blood) was re-... 

Nearly 20 million Americans suffer from depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The disease has been described by physicians, scientists, and writers for centuries. In the fourth century Bc, Hippocrates believed that mental illness was the result of an imbalance of four elemental body fluids-blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile- in a context of four elements air, fire, earth, and water. He viewed mental illness the same way that he viewed other medical disorders. 

One of the oldest theories of the causes of mental illness, propounded by Hippocrates and other physicians from Greek and Roman societies, postulated that imbalances of substances in the body, called humors, were responsible for emotional maladies, many of which resembled the major mental disorders described in American Psychiatric Association s diagnostic manual. More specifically, Hippocrates posited that disease and mental illness were caused by surpluses or deficiencies in the four humors phlegm, yellow bile, black bile, and sanguine. For example, people with too much black bile were thought to be melancholic (very sad) those with too much yellow bile were thought to be irritable. For nearly 2,000 years (from ancient times until the nineteenth century), bloodletting to restore humoral balance was a common treatment for mental illness and other ailments. 

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