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The four TYPES of Humours.
A traditional theory of physiology in which the state of health--and by extension the state of mind, or character--depended upon a balance among the four elemental fluids: blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile. These were closely allied with the four elements (air, fire, water, and earth). Their correspondence is described as follows:
The "humours" gave off vapors which ascended to the brain; an individual's personal characteristics (physical, mental, moral) were explained by his or her "temperament," or the state of theat person's "humours." The perfect temperament resulted when no one of these humours dominated. By 1600 it was common to use "humour" as a means of classifying characters; knowledge of the humours is not only important to understanding later medieval work, but essential to interpreting Elizabethan drama, especially the late-16th century genre known as the "comedy of humours" (cf. Ben Jonson).
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~hanly/chaucer/coursematerials/humours.html
A traditional theory of physiology in which the state of health--and by extension the state of mind, or character--depended upon a balance among the four elemental fluids: blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile. These were closely allied with the four elements (air, fire, water, and earth). Their correspondence is described as follows:
| BLOOD | YELLOW BILE | PHLEGM | BLACK BILE |
| Air | Fire | Water | Earth |
| hot and moist | hot and dry | cold and moist | cold and dry |
| "SANGUINE" | "CHOLERIC" | "PHLEGMATIC" | "MELANCHOLIC" |
| (amorous, happy, generous) | (violent, vengeful) | (dull, pale, cowardly) | (gluttonous, lazy, sentimental) |
The "humours" gave off vapors which ascended to the brain; an individual's personal characteristics (physical, mental, moral) were explained by his or her "temperament," or the state of theat person's "humours." The perfect temperament resulted when no one of these humours dominated. By 1600 it was common to use "humour" as a means of classifying characters; knowledge of the humours is not only important to understanding later medieval work, but essential to interpreting Elizabethan drama, especially the late-16th century genre known as the "comedy of humours" (cf. Ben Jonson).
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~hanly/chaucer/coursematerials/humours.html
