An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

to help us to understand the totality of folk medicine, it gives us a tool to describe andanalyse one perspective on folk medicine.Rehman (1989) and Greenwood (1992) suggest that classical Greek Hippocratic medicinedisease was the origin of the idea of homeostatic imbalance, although Elgood (1934)postulated that the doctrine of humours had arisen long before on the banks of theEuphrates and even before that in India. He observed that the Hindu holy books, whichwere composed prior to 2000 B.C, contain the doctrine of humours. He suggested thatfrom India, this theory spread to Persia where it was modified and expanded and fromPersia, it reached Greece. Contemporary authors like Rehman and Greenwood, however,support the diffusionist theory that the system of homeostatic pathology originating in theHippocratic School and developed by Galen, was later adopted by Islamic medicaltraditions) into a comprehensive theory and with the spread of Islam it was incorporatedinto the medical systems of different societies of the world.The theory was based on four basic aspects of homeostasis; blood, mucus, yellow bile andblack bile, as necessary for the body to function properly. These four aspects were believedto combine with four qualities of hot, cold, wet and dry. Excess in these qualities isbelieved to cause imbalance of one or more vital humours, resulting in diseases. Theinfluence of different environmental factors such as climate, temperature and food itemswas an important part of the homeostatic theory of diseases. This theory was based on theidea of the transformation of food in the body into four cardinal aspects: blood, mucus,yellow bile and black bile (cf also Siegel 1968, Hart 1969, Temkin 1973, Good 1994 andGran 1979).44