the river phlegethon was one of the five rivers of the underworld, and it was made of fire.

the word phlegm comes from the same root. it means heat or fire, or the “morbid humour” (disease-causing fluid) caused by heat, presumably fever.

i like the word humour when used like fluid, because it’s part of one of my favorite-sounding phrases ever: vitreous humour, which is the goopy stuff inside your eyeball.

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