Presenting a Single Concept out of "Abnormal Blood", Despite Different Statements in Persian Medicine (PM) Sources

Persian Medicine (PM) has significant views on the prevention and treatment of diseases with a history of several hundred years. With the view of expansion of traditional and contemporary medicine's combined role in reinforcing the health and treatment system, it is required to review and explain the physiological and pathophysiological basis of PM. Since blood comprises of a set of four humors (Khelt), and according to the scholars of PM, balance or imbalance in the quantity and quality of these humor determines a person's health and disease; therefore, in this study, abnormal blood types that are the source of various diseases were studied from the perspective of scholars in different centuries. This work is a prerequisite for preventing and treating a wide spectrum of diseases, especially hematological, metabolic, endocrine, and even diseases of other organs.

Views of the sages regarding blood were studied in several books of Persian medicine (PM) related to different centuries and the collected material was categorized and compiled in the form of a review article.

The word “blood or dam”, before being referred to dam as a specific humor and as one of the four humors besides three other humors, was referred to as dam humor in general, and as a humor which is the basis of all humors containing proportionate amount of other three humors. Blood is divided into two types, normal and abnormal (morbid blood). Natural blood has no bad smell, red in color, sweet in taste, and moderate consistency. The sayings of the sages about abnormal blood are different and this difference can be divided into four groups. The first group, based on views of scholars like Ibn Sina and many other scholars, has stated that abnormal blood results from changes in some or all of the attributes of natural blood. The second group, including scholars like Akhavini, divides blood into three types: biliary (safravi), melancholy (sodavi) and phlegm (balghami) blood. The third group that includes views of Qasta ibn Luka Baalbek divides abnormal blood into six dimensions based on quantity and quality and the fourth group, including views of Hakim Arzani, divides the amount of abnormal blood into four categories: increase in amount, dilution, concentration and infection.

The conclusion of views of PM scholars about abnormal blood shows that blood is said to becomes abnormal when the balance of its composition is changed quantitatively or qualitatively, which occurs in two ways, either blood accepts changes in quality within itself and without being mixed with anything, or something from the humors or fluid (maeat) mixes with it and thus changes its properties and creates abnormal blood types.