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In the Middle Ages naval and military barbers were not only responsible for cutting hair (to remove lice), but also for surgery such as tooth-extraction, and amputations. In England it was not until 1745 that a surgeons' guild was created, separate from the barbers' guild. This manuscript was written for the guild of Barber Surgeons of York.
In medieval thinking everything in the Universe consisted of the four Elements - Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. In the human body these corresponded to the four fluids - blood, yellow bile, phlegm and black bile - which in turn, according to the proportions in which they were mixed, produced four Humours - sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic and melancholic. The fact that there were also four cardinal directions, four winds, four seasons only confirmed the theory. Put into diagrammatic form, the whole scheme was perfectly symmetrical, convincing evidence that it must be true.
The scheme of the Humours linked to the seasons (and now the Ages of Man) is illustrated on folio 51v of this English medical textbook.
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