In the humors theory of medicine, the body is seen as needing a balance of certain fluids called "humors": blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm. Keeping these in harmony so that one does not overwhelm the others was the goal of Western medicine for many centuries and left its mark on the cultural landscape. So, for instance, barbers' poles have red stripes on them because originally customers went there to be bled. Bleeding purportedly prevented the build-up of an excess of blood in one's system. With too much blood, a person was said to be "sanguine" (literally, "bloody"), a word that still today means "cheerful," originally "overly cheerful." Conversely, having excessive black bile (choler) made one "melancholy" or "choleric," that is, "depressed." The humors theory did not pass out of practice in some areas until well into the nineteenth century.

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