ABSTRACT
Black bile is a topic over which some have spent far longer than is needed for the art of medicine, whilst others instead have hesitated to promote any decent length of exposition, just as some have said nothing at all.1 It is this last category of people that is more at fault than those who add useless information, because it is easier to cut out excess verbiage than to search for whatever has not been been mentioned. Following this line of thought, Hippocrates seems to me as a prime example of someone who includes all that is vital for the conduct of this art, just as conversely Erasistratus is a prime example of someone who leaves out everything.2 I think that the pupils of Plistonicus, Praxagoras and Philotimus, who discussed the humours in the greatest detail, usefully define some of what was only sketchily described by Hippocrates, although over some of his other ideas they argued erroneously.3 Of the more recent writers, the best books that have been written about black bile are by Rufus of Ephesus.4
