Bleeding was used to reduce excess circulation, to slow the pulse, and to "reduce irritation", all felt to be the cause of inflammation. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a major figure in colonial American medicine and was an important proponent of bleeding, though unfortunately he mistakenly thought that the body held 12 instead of 6 quarts.
How would you best summarize this paragraph?
a.
Black bile represented a melancholic personality.
c.
George Washington had a sanguine temperament.
b.
Bleeding was used to balance the four humors
d.
Yellow bile makes people mean.
