Spleen
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The spleen, or milt, is an organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter.
A 3D medical animation still of spleen structure and exact location
Spleen seen on abdominal ultrasonography
Maximum length of spleen on abdominal ultrasonography
Micrograph of splenic tissue showing the red pulp (red), white pulp (blue nuclei in lighter background) and a thickened inflamed capsule (mostly pink – top of image). H&E stain.
Humorism
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Humorism, the humoral theory, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing a supposed makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers.
Spleen
…digestion. In various cultures, the organ has been linked to melancholia, due to the influence of ancient Greek medicine and the associated doctrine of humourism, in which the spleen was believed to be a reservoir for an elusive fluid known as "black bile" (one of the four humours). The spleen also plays an…
16th-century German illustration of the four humors: Flegmat (phlegm), Sanguin (blood), Coleric (yellow bile) and Melanc (black bile), divided between the male and female sexes
The four humors as depicted in an 18th-century woodcut: phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine and melancholic