Weatherwatch: the winds that brought good or ill health

Hippocrates claimed that the wind had different effects on the body depending on its direction – which remained an accepted truth for 2,000 years

Before the modern era, much of the interest in the winds focused on their impact on health rather than their value in predicting future weather. Hippocrates, writing around 400BC, claimed that the wind had different medical effects depending on the direction from which it blew. This was an accepted truth for 2,000 years.

Hippocrates associated the four winds with the four seasons and the four supposed bodily humours. In his work on Airs, Waters and Localities he advised any physician in a new city to study the prevailing winds carefully.

Continue reading... November 22, 2017 at 03:00AM