Part 4/8:
As the sweet aroma of the cooking apple muse wafts through Miller's home, he shifts the conversation toward the medical beliefs of the time. The prevailing theory was centered on the humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. This ancient concept, rooted in the teachings of Hippocrates and Galen, posited that a balance of these bodily fluids governed the overall health of an individual. An imbalance, which could stem from environmental factors like weather or even the positioning of celestial bodies, was believed to be the cause of various ailments, including the plague.