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Jan Baptist van Helmont, a 17th-century physician and alchemist, proposed a radical theory that emotions are connected to the digestive organs. He believed that sensations like fear or sorrow can be felt in the stomach, an idea considered "mad" by his contemporaries. However, recent research on the gut microbiome and enteric nervous system has revealed a dynamic relationship between the belly and brain, validating van Helmont's intuition.

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Source: https://wellcomecollection.org/stories/the-soul-in-the-stomach