[The Evolution of Modern Medicine by William Osler]@TWC D-Link book
The Evolution of Modern Medicine

CHAPTER III -- MEDIAEVAL MEDICINE
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The body was composed of certain so-called "naturals," seven in number--the elements, the temperaments, the humors, the members or parts, the virtues or faculties, the operations or functions and the spirits.

Certain "non-naturals," nine in number, preserved the health of the body, viz.
air, food and drink, movement and repose, sleeping and waking, excretion and retention, and the passions.

Disease was due usually to alterations in the composition of the humors, and the indications for treatment were in accordance with these doctrines.

They were to be evacuated, tenuated, cooled, heated, purged or strengthened.

This humoral doctrine prevailed throughout the Middle Ages, and reached far into modern times--indeed, echoes of it are still to be heard in popular conversations on the nature of disease.
The Arabians were famous for their vigor and resource in matters of treatment.


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