Some Meanings of the Liver

Abstract

In diverse parts of the ancient world, the liver occu­ pied a central position in superstitious or mystical beliefs about man's character and destiny.' In Baby­ lon during the second millennium BC, the soul was thought to reside in the liver, and sheep livers were used for divination and prophesy.2 In the Bible (Ezekiel 21:21) it is reported that " ... the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the ways, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with im­ ages, he looked in the liver." Pythagoras, better known for the square of the hy­ potenuse, (circa 500 BC) is generally credited with originating a humoral theory of disease in which the basic elements were blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile. 3 Susruta, greatest surgeon of his day in ancient India (date uncertain, 50D BC-5OD AD), spoke of "Vaju" (air), "Kapheh" (phlegm), and "Pittam" (bile)"·5 The "elements," whether those of Py­ thagoras or of Susruta, were mixed harmoniously in what we would call a balanced and healthy individ­ ual. In the wrong proportion, the elements caused disease or an unbalanced character. T{)o much bile caused anger or depression; too little, timidity or cowardice. Huang Ti, called "The Yellow Emperor" (26982598 BC), identified five "elements" corresponding to spleen, heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver. In "The Yel­ low Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine," the gallbladder is said to be an "upright official" and the seat of courage, while the liver is the seat of anger and forms tears.6 The Etruscans (circa 750 BC) appar­ ently used the liver for divination much as the Baby­ lonians did, although the origins of the Etruscans and their undeciphered language remain a mys­ tery.2.5 The implication of bile in both health and charac­ ter in different cultures of antiquity raises the ques­ tion of whether the idea dispersed from one place or