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Looking at what we would do today, using Jalap plant seems like a very primitive way of treating Yellow Fever which is caused by a virus carried by mosquitoes. The virus infects the liver causing a jaundiced (yellow) appearance to the skin and the whites of the eyes. The plant was used to cause vomiting. At the time people thought that disease was caused by an imbalance of what they called 'humors'.

Galen's humoral theory, for example, held that illnesses were caused by imbalances among four bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. Restoration of proper humoral balance restored health. Doctors who embraced the humoral perspective studied fluids such as urine, vomit, and blood for signs of health, and prescribed treatments they hoped would influence the character of those fluids. So causing a patient to vomit was one way to do change the imbalance.

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7y ago

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