Black Bile & Melancholy

Black Bile & Melancholy

“Black Bile possesses in its constitution many varieties of matter.
Some portion of it appears to be like the sediment of blood,
and is sufficiently dense like the dregs of wine, but one portion
of it is very much thinner in its consistency than these“.
(Syrian Book of Medicine)
Melancholy and Black or Burnt Bile are the names given to that portion of the Blood which is more Cold and Dry. Its seat is the Spleen, and like other Humors it is Physiological when pure and in balance, but Pathological when impure or in excess.
Melancholy Humors are caused by foods which are hard of digestion, as well as weakness of the Digestion (Spleen-Stomach). Here we can see the similarity with the TCM concept of Damp. Damp likewise causes obstruction and hinders digestion, but is also enhanced by a weak Spleen function. The importance of the quote at the top of the page is important to note here. What is called Melancholy can be either a sediment or “ash” of the blood, or else a very thin, fine penetrating fluid. The latter equates with the Damp of TCM.
Because the nature of Melancholy is opposite to the Nature of our Body, which is Warm and Moist in nature when in Health, it is associated with various obstinate and chronic diseases. Leprosy, Fibroids, Cancer, Depression, Mental Illness as well as all diseases which deform or destroy the body.
Melancholy has a number of varieties. Any of the Humors, when Burnt, can cause Melancholy Humors, such as Burnt Bile, Burnt Phlegm, Burnt Phlegm-Bile etc.

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See also

Depression
Hypochondriac Melancholy
Preparers and Purgers of Melancholy
The Treatment of Melancholy (Wirtzung)
Treatment of Melancholy from Praxis Medicinae Theorica et Empirica

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Special Formulas