Passions and tempers a history of the humours is the first book ever to recount the full history in the west of the system of the four humours blood phlegm choler melancholy fluids within the organism that for 2500 years were deemed to determine health and illness mood and temperament. Passions and tempers the humours blood phlegm black bile and choler were substances thought to circulate within the body and determine a persons health mood and character for example an. Passions and tempers a history of the humours by noga arikha july 8 2007 cosmic elements before humours there were elements air fire water earth the earliest myths of creation . About the humours the story of the long lived notion of humours recounted in passions and tempers shows how we have historically represented our bodies to ourselves and how even the capacity to see inside the body does not necessarily suffice to understand how it is functioning or failing to function