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From
the time of Hippocrates, the “Father of
medicine” in the 400’s BC, people
believed that the body had four liquids or humors
that must be in correct balance to maintain good
health. They were:
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blood (from the heart),
likened to the basic element air |
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phlegm (from the brain),
likened to water |
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yellow bile (from the
liver), likened to fire |
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black bile (from the
spleen), likened to the earth |
For over
1000 years these beliefs were held, and a
doctor's job was to keep the proper balance.
Thus, if a person was hot with fever, they
believed the heat around the body resulted from a
problem with 1 (since the heat was in the air),
and they tried to rid the body of what was
believed to be excess blood. This practice of
blood-letting the victims was common, and usually
resulted in an even more weakened state in the
victim. This time of 1000 or more years saw
little advancement in the field of medicine. Much
of the people’s lives came under the
influence of the church, and the belief was that
these diseases were the “will of God”
and shouldn’t be messed with. So there was
little questioning and no research into causes or
cures. It was during the Renaissance that
advancements started to be made, and then with
the advent of the printing press, medical
information was published and circulated.
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| ___________________ "Most
disease is the result of change in our
enviroment, behavior, or both.".
___________________
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By the
early 1900’s it seemed as if we had
conquered the microbe with our emphasis on
fitness, research and cleanliness. Then polio
appeared in the advanced nations where exposure
and immunity weren’t built up. It seemed to
avoid the under-privileged countries, where there
was immunity to disease as a result of more
exposure to microorganisms.
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Where epidemics in
the past came about as the environment degraded, the
trend seems to have changed. Lyme disease sprouted up in
a “recovering” environment. The tics that were
found to carry the disease are carried by deer that
inhabit suburban areas and second-growth forests.
Legionnaires disease was found in a protected environment
of air conditioning and hot-water systems. AIDS has
spread through advancements such as hypodermics, blood
transfusions, tissue transplants, and changes in sexual
behavior.
New epidemics come into
existence, change, and vanish. Most disease is the result
of change in our environment, behavior, or both.
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