What Was the Medical Understanding of Cancer in Vesalius' Time?
In the 16th century, cancer was poorly understood. The prevailing theories were rooted in the humoral theory of medicine, which posited that an imbalance of the body's four humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) caused diseases, including cancer. Vesalius' work did not directly challenge these theories, but his emphasis on anatomical accuracy and observation began to undermine the overly simplistic humoral explanations.
