Humours, part 2

I know, I know, "humours" seem ridiculous.  But who knows what we believe today that in 25 or 50 years will be thought to be ridiculous?  The idea of humours had worked for over 2,000 years -- it was a given, especially because medical people of the time had no way to ascertain what was going on in a living body.  That very basic diagnostic tool, the stethoscope, wasn't even invented until 1816 (Porter, Blood, 75). and wasn't produced widely until the 1850s!  And then it was only invented because the doctor didn't feel comfortable touching his patients and he didn't want to put his ear on the chest of ladies!  (Wellcome Images, Description for diarama of Rene' Laennec -- inventor of the stethoscope -- examining a patient, reference no: Science Museum A6261415, http://images.wellcome.ac.uk/, accessed 6 November 2012)

Left, a 19th century stethoscope used by Vincent VanGogh's doctor, modeled on Laennec's stethoscope.
(Source: Wellcome Library, London) 

Two well-respected physician-writers in the 18th century were Dr. Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689) and Dr. George Cheyne (1671-1743).  Wesley studied the publications of both men, and added their views to Primitive Physick.  He particularly liked Cheyne's ideas, and knew him personally (Donat, James.  "Empirical Medicine in the 18th Century:  The Rev. John Wesley's Search for Remedies That Work,"  Methodist History, vol. XLIV, no. 4, Jully 2006, 216-226).

Sydenham declared a sound body has "a free and regular circulation, a just mixture and proportion of the blood and juices, the due tone and motion of the solids, and a perfect exercise of the vital animal functions" (Sydenham, Thomas.  The Entire Works of Thomas Sydenham, 3rd ed (London: printed for ECare, 1753), p. 1, quoted in Ott, Philip.  "John Wesley on Mind and Body: Toward an Understanding of Health as Wholeness," Methodist History, vol. 27, #2, January 1989, 61-72).  Cheyne proclaimed it was essential that the passage of fluids, including the movement of blood, throughout the various vessels and tubes within the body needed to be free-flowing, and that any hindrance or obstruction caused disease (Ott, 69-70).

Therefore, John Wesley's advice, although it seems preposterous to us today, was based on the accepted understandings of health at the time.  He wrote, "How is the soul united to the body?  A spirit of a clod?*  What is the secret imperceptible chain that couples them together?  Can the wisest of men give a satisfactory answer to any one of these plain questions?" (Wesley, John.  Works 6:343, also Works 13:497, quoted in Ott, 68.)

*Humans as dust or earth, see Genesis 2:7 and Isaiah 64:8.

Thus, when someone was sick it was due to the imbalance of their humours.  One could balance the humours through healthy lifestyles, taking medicines, or releasing the overabundance of the suspected humour (Porter, Blood, 30).  The patient would then to take an emetic to vomit or a purgative or a clyster (enema) to restore balance.  Physicians and apothecaries prescribed medications or treatments.  Surgeons were the professionals who let blood, cupped (more later), or made blisters to prick open as part of their treatments to restore health.  However, most clergy and teachers knew how to bleed (King, Melanie.  Can Onions Cure Ear-ache?  Medical Advice from 1769 by William Buchan, MD (Oxford: The Bodleian Library, 2012, initially published as Domestic Medicine; or the Family physician Chiefly calculated to recommend a proper attention to regimen and simple medicines by William Buchan, MD in Edinburgh by Balfour, Auld & Smellie, 1769), 3-4.)  Many people had a yearly bleeding in the spring, whether they were ill or not (Waller, 87).

These are two types of bleeding bowls -- what the blood flowed into -- used in the 18th century.  The one on the left is the only one I have seen that measures the blood loss in ounces.  (Source:  Wellcome Library, London.)