what's the meaning of "a touch of the vapours"?

In the Victorian era, a wide variety of conditions which primarily affected women were referred to as “the vapors.” Women were viewed as fundamentally weak during this period, and they were also believed to be more susceptible to a range of medical complaints. The stereotypical Victorian image of a woman swooning against a couch is a classic depiction of a woman who has been overcome by the vapors. Currently, the vapors are not recognized as a medical diagnosis.

The origins of this term lie in Ancient Greece and Rome, where doctors developed the Four Humors theory of medicine, which stated that the body was influenced by the balance of four “humors” seated in various organs of the body. Imbalances could theoretically cause ill health, and by determining the source of the imbalance, doctors could prescribe the appropriate treatment. Doctors in the Victorian era believed that melancholy feelings had their roots in the spleen, and that they rose up through the body in the form of vapors which affected the mind.

While this might sound ludicrous today, this was widely accepted, and reinforced by claims that women were more susceptible to the vapors than men due to irregularities of their anatomy. The Greeks called it “female hysteria,” while the Victorians preferred “the vapors.” In either case, the condition added to the mystery of the “female condition,” and in some cases, the diagnosis hampered serious treatment of medical conditions like vaginal fistulas, a common complaint among Victorian mothers.