Summary

Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th-century German Benedictine abbess, wrote Causes and Remedies, a book in which she expounded her system on the composition and functioning of the human body. This consists of a material component: the four elements of the universe and four humors of the body. A physio-pathological component intervenes, represented by the effect of the qualities of the elements and humors (phlegm and livor) that activate normal and abnormal functioning. The whole is governed by a spiritual component: the soul infused by God. Von Bingen develops his thinking from a theological perspective based on God, creator of the universe and humanity. On the other hand, the previous Hippocratic authors limited themselves to the realm of man and nature. The Hippocratic humors each preserved their properties; The Hildegardians modified their qualities depending on the condition, succession, or mixture in which they participated. The author highlights the function of the bone marrow, veins and blood due to the reactions that occurred in them between the elements and humors. The marrow gave strength and red color to the blood; sometimes it formed blood. According to Hildegard, blood flowed in the veins. In the 2nd century Galen thought that intravascular blood had an ebb and flow motion, and that most of it was consumed in the veins after transferring nutrients to the body.