Galen's theory of black bile : : Hippocratic tradition, manipulation, innovation / / Keith Andrew Stewart.

• Superior document: Studies in Ancient Medicine ; Volume 51
• VerfasserIn: Stewart, Keith Andrew,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2019]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in ancient medicine ; Volume 51.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (178 pages).

In Galen’s Theory of Black Bile: Hippocratic Tradition, Manipulation, Innovation Keith Stewart investigates Galen’s writing on black bile to explain health and disease and shows that Galen sometimes presented this humour as three substances with different properties that can either be harmful or beneficial to the body. Keith Stewart analyses the most important treatises for Galen’s physical description and characteristion of black bile and challenges certain views on the development of this humour, such as the importance of the content of the Hippocratic On the Nature of Man . This analysis allows us to understand how and why Galen defines and uses black bile in different ways for his arguments that cannot always be reconciled with the content of his sources.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Galen and the History of Black Bile -- Key Influences on Galen’s Writing on Black Bile -- Galen’s Qualitative and Structural Characterisation of Black Bile -- Galen’s Distinction of Different Types of Black Bile -- Galen’s Explanation of Harmful Black Bile -- The Cleansing of Harmful Black Bile from the Body -- The Diseases Caused by Black Bile -- Conclusion -- Back Matter -- Bibliography.