No study of the Plague could be considered complete without the study of its' variations and causes. Below are an essay and links dealing with these topics.

What are these Humours, anyway?
By Jessica Milidonis

Ever heard someone say that you’re “hot-tempered”, or that someone is “sanguine” or full of melancholy? Well, you might not hear stuff like this everyday of your life, but when someone makes a remark like this, they are remarking on your humour.
In ancient Greece, Hippocrates staed that the human body was composed of four humours (also sometimes called “liquids”, or bile) which corresponded to the four elements – earth, air, fire, and water. These humours were further given a personality type, and in some cases an animal representation. Everyone was made up of these combined elements, but there was always one which predominated. Also known as one’s “complexion”, it was believed to have been influenced by astrological phenomena at one’s birth. The medical practise of bleeding was performed as a means of ridding oneself of bad/negative humours, which if allowed to remain or predominate, would cause illness or other maladies. In short, the four humours are:

1) YELLOW BILE – This humour is associated with FIRE. As a result it is considered to be hot and dry, and is often considered masculine. The temperment associated with this humour is CHOLERIC, which typifies and angry person prone to being irritable, a hot temper, and someone who is easily offended.

2) BLACK BILE – This humour corresponds to EARTH, and is cold and dry. It is associated often with the feminine. It is the ruler of MELANCHOLIC temperments, meaning that it typifies someone who is depressed and weak-spirited, and often sad.

3) BLOOD – This is associated with AIR, and that which is hot and moist. Fittingly, it’s temperment is SANGUINE, indicating cheerfulness, confidence, and a sometimes mercurial nature. This is sometimes seen as masculine.

4) PHLEGM – WATER is the element of this humour, which is fittingly seen as cold and moist. The temperment of someone with this as a predominant element is PHLEGMATIC, indicating a calm, slow, cool, composed, yet strong temperment. This is seen as another feminine trait.

Whenever the physical elements were disturbed, as in the case of a miasma, storms, or droughts, the humours were seen as reflectors of this imbalance in the human body. This is why for scientists and doctors of the Arab and European schools, the humours were such important indicators of disruption. The people dying of Plague were dying not only of some disease, but from an imbalance in their humours, which was a further reflection of the imbalance of Man’s environment.

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