Practitioners of humoral theory took the idea of a balanced diet to a whole new level as they incorporated the consumption of food and drink into their medical belief system. A prevalent medical practice in medieval and early-modern Europe, humoral theory has its roots as far back as Hippocrates and Galen in ancient Greece. The four [Read more]
Throughout the medieval and early modern periods, medical practice was based on the theory of the four humors. The humors—blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm—were fluids that moved through the body and needed to remain in balance in order to maintain health. There were a number of things that could disrupt this balance, including [Read more]
Many of the items in our rare book collections feature beautiful illustrations of the human body. While these are often the obvious choices to use in exhibits and highlight on social media, a book does not need to be visually spectacular to be interesting. Some of our most fascinating holdings are small and unassuming in [Read more]