An old medical condition described as an imbalance of the body's humors or fluids that was thought to cause diseases.
From Greek 'kakos' (bad) + 'chymos' (juice/humor/fluid). This term was central to Galenic medicine and remained influential through the medieval period.
Doctors in ancient Greece through the Renaissance spent centuries refining theories about cacochymy—even writing entire textbooks on it—before germ theory showed them the real culprits were microorganisms, not bad humors!
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