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lants to produce such a result. On the whole, I should be disposed to regard the possession of this temperament as most favourable, cateris paribus, to the attainment of first rate excellence, in the generality of pursuits; and from the descriptions of historians, I should suppose that Alexander the Great, Cicero, Julius Casar, Attila, King of the Huns, our own Richard III., and Oliver Cromwell, were all of this temperament. Generally, indeed, the individuals who, under all circumstances, evince a kind of indomitable activity of character, are found to be of this temperament; they are neither enticed to indolence or sensuality by the lymphatic or the sanguineous constitution, nor too speedily exhausted of power, as is very often the case with individuals of the nervous temperament.-I need scarcely observe that the atrabiliary temperament of Hippocrates must be considered as a diseased condition; for the doctrine of the existence of black bile in the system, except as a morbid state of the secretion of the liver, has long been exploded.

The temperament denominated nervous is the most favourable to mere activity of the mental powers; but the activity is not so enduring as in the case of the bilious temperament. The mind may then be compared to a taper burning with a light too brilliant, and thence the more speedily consumed; or to ignited flax, which astonishes by its glare, but whose flame is as transitory as it is brilliant. In this constitution there seems to exist an extreme susceptibility of excitement in the nervous system, not referable to any observed peculiarity in the recognised fluids of the animal system. It may here be asked, what becomes of my own definition of the circumstances giving rise to the temperaments, if I adduce any of them as unconnected with coincident peculiarities in the condition of the fluids? In answer, I observe, that I am now discussing a subject concerning which very little that is satisfactory has been written, and very little of what is decidedly established, or perfectly defined, is even known; and I need hardly say that, under such circumstances, I am not prepared with facts, capable of being fashioned into a complete system. In the absence of direct facts, therefore, I will, for the present purpose, call in the aid of hypothesis, and will assume the correctness of those physiologists who have supposed the existence, in the constitution of the nerves, of a fluid, intimately affecting the sensibility and other phenomena of the nervous system; and, in that case, it appears to me to be highly probable that a greater or less proportion of this fluid will produce, cateris paribus, a greater or less activity in the functions of the nervous masses. In accordance with this view, we observe that children, whose nervous power is far below that of adults, greatly surpass the latter in activity; now, the more fluid condition of their brain and nerves is well known. Again,

as in old age we notice a comparative slowness and inactivity of all functional power, so do we observe a proportionate dryness and rigidity of the nervous masses. In these remarks, I wish

to be understood as but throwing out suggestions, which future investigation may confirm or reject. However, I will now proceed to mention the external characteristics of this temperament. A soft skin; fair and thin hair; sometimes a paleness of the complexion, and sometimes a hectic tinge; small and soft muscles; delicacy of the whole organization; generally a slenderness of form; a sparkling vivacity of the cornea; and a quick sharp pulse, are signs, in the aggregate, of the nervous temperament: giving rise, as I have before observed, to the highest degree of cerebral activity. Individuals so characterised will be sure to be in a state of very energetic excitement, on the application of stimuli inadequate to the result with the mass of mankind. If a person have strong animal propensities, he will, unless strongly under the influence of properly-directed moral feeling, be almost sure to run a short but active career of profligacy and libertinism; if the intellectual organs be in relatively large proportion, he may speedily wear down his bodily strength, and sink prematurely into the grave, the victim of excessive mental exercise; or if the religious feelings predominate greatly over the intellect and animal propensities, he may become a religious maniac; and so on. In children, the possession of the nervous temperament, under the present rage for early and strenuous mental excitation, is sometimes the worst of misfortunes; since their young brains, being so readily excited, often afford, in the mistaken judgment of their guardians, the highest evidence of genius; and thus the poor victims are goaded on, until some affection of the exhausted brain or nervous system hurries them to the close of their ill-fated career,-if it do not leave them the prey of some serious nervous affection, as epilepsy, hysteria, or even downright fatuity. In such cases, however, ill-judging and mistaken parents usually console themselves by observing that their children were too good for this world; or that they themselves were too happy in the contemplation of their excellencies, and that calamity had befallen the children as a visitation for the sins of their forefathers. I am far from disputing the verity of the doctrine implied by the last proposition; but an Almighty Providence has given us the capability of noting, to a certain extent, the intermediate links in the chain of causation, and has permitted us, where practicable, to modify their relations; and hence I would exhort every guardian of youth or infancy to consider well the effects of conduct such as I have just mentioned. Henry Kirke White, I should consider, afforded the very beau ideal of the nervous temperament; and

I have very little doubt that Lord Byron, Pope, and Cowper, were mainly of the same constitution.

These various temperaments are rarely found unmixed, but in the great majority of mankind are found to run into each other. Thus, combinations of the sanguine with the bilious, the bilious with the nervous, and the sanguine with the lymphatic, are very frequent; and generally those temperaments will be observed to run into each other, whose characteristic activity makes the nearest approach. This, however, is not invariably the case, for we may have a mixture of the nervous and sanguine, or lymphatic and bilious; and I am not sure that the combinations of temperament are not unlimited: and, in estimating their influence upon the activity of the powers, I suppose we must take the mean of the characteristic activity of the temperaments entering into the combination.

I have thus endeavoured to state in what manner, and to what extent, each temperament may be regarded as modifying the activity of the brain. And, in conclusion, I would earnestly recommend every Phrenologist to employ all vigilance and zeal in prosecuting the study of the subject, whereby we may probably hereafter obtain more certain information as to the real nature and extent of the influence of the temperaments, separately and in combination, and arrive at more precise explanations of the processes by which such influence is exerted.

[The foregoing essay displays talent and ingenuity, and shews that Mr Noble has bestowed much consideration on his subject. But though very far from disputing the truth of the general proposition, that the cerebral functions are materially influenced by the condition of the fluids, particularly the blood,-we cannot help regarding some of the detailed views of Mr Noble respecting the causes of the temperaments as purely theoretical; and he therefore seems to us to have done well in offering his suggestions rather in the hope that they may aid in leading to a true explanation than as furnishing such an explanation themselves. His description of the signs and effects of the different temperaments is clear and accurate, and what he says respecting the treatment of nervous children is especially worthy of serious consideration. It is with the effects of the temperaments, more than their causes, that we are most concerned; and happily the former are less obscure than the latter. When an individual is characterised by softness of flesh, fairness of the skin, flaxen hair, plumpness of figure, a weak slow pulse, and a loutish inanimate expression, physiologists agree in describing him as a person of a lymphatic temperament; and whatever be the cause of these appearances, we know from experience that they

are indications of great languor of the bodily and mental functions. Cateris paribus, temperament seems to affect equally every part of the body; so that if the muscles be naturally active and energetic, we may expect also activity and energy of the brain; and if one set of muscles be active, the like vivacity may be looked for in the others. This principle is practically recognised by William Cobbett, who, whatever may be his merits or demerits as a politician, is certainly a shrewd observer and describer of real life. In his Letter to a Lover, he discusses the question, "Who is to tell whether a girl will make an industrious woman? How is the purblind lover especially to be able to ascertain whether she, whose smiles, and dimples, and bewitching lips, have half bereft him of his senses; how is he to be able to judge, from any thing that he can see, whether the beloved object will be industrious or lazy? Why, it is very difficult," he answers: "There are, however, certain outward signs, which, if attended to with care, will serve as pretty sure guides. And, first, if you find the tongue lazy, you may be nearly certain that the hands and feet are the same. By laziness of the tongue I do not mean silence; I do not mean an absence of talk, for that is, in most cases, very good; but I mean a slow and soft utterance; a sort of sighing out of the words, instead of speaking them; a sort of letting the sounds fall out, as if the party were sick at stomach. The pronunciation of an industrious person is generally quick and distinct, and the voice, if not strong, firm at least. Not masculine; as feminine as possible; not a croak nor a bawl, but a quick, distinct, and sound voice."-" Look a little, also, at the labours of the teeth, for these correspond with the other members of the body, and with the operations of the mind. Quick at meals, quick at work,' is a saying as old as the hills, in this, the most industrious nation upon earth; and never was there a truer saying." "Get to see her at work upon a mutton-chop, or a bit of bread and cheese; and if she deal quickly with these, you have a pretty good security for that activity, that stirring industry, without which a wife is a burden instead of a help.” "Another mark of industry is a quick step, and a somewhat heavy tread, shewing that the foot comes down with a hearty good will." "I do not like, and I never liked, your sauntering, soft-stepping girls, who move as if they were perfectly indifferent as to the result."*

We are disposed to think that Cobbett's advice will prove sound in all cases where the nervous and muscular systems are equally developed, equally healthy, and equally accustomed to exercise. But if the head be large and the muscles small, the

* Cobbett's Advice to Young Men, Letter III, § 102–5.

individual will be much more inclined to mental than to muscular activity; and, on the other hand, if he have large muscles and a small brain, the activity derived from a sanguine or bilious temperament will have a tendency to expend itself in exercise or labour of the body. The reason of this is, that the largest organs have, cateris paribus, the greatest tendency to act; their activity is productive of the greatest pleasure; hence they are more frequently exercised than the smaller organs; and thus the energy and activity of the former are made to predominate still more than they did originally, over those of the latter. Mr Noble remarks, that when the temperament is sanguine, "there is most commonly a disposition to indolence and mental inactivity, in the absence of any very powerful motive;" but this, we suspect, is true only where the cerebral organs are in development and cultivation inferior to the muscles. The sanguine temperament is of itself no way unfavourable to mental activity; on the contrary, its usual effect is to give animation, not only to the mus cular system, but also to the affective and intellectual faculties. The remarks now offered in reference to the comparative efficiency of the muscular and cerebral functions, are equally applicable to the cerebral organs, considered in relation to each other. Where two organs are alike in development and cultivation, a nervous or sanguine temperament will render them equally active; but where one is more fully developed than the other, it will excel the latter both in power and in activity. In another brain of the same size and form, but with a lymphatic temperament, a similar predominance of the power and activity of one organ over those of the other will be found; but the ab solute power and activity of both will be less than in the other case supposed. Temperament, therefore, besides influencing the activity of the organs, affects their power also, to a greater extent than Mr Noble seems inclined to allow.

Facts, it is on all hands admitted, are still wanted, to place the subject of the temperaments on a completely satisfactory footing.-ED.]

ARTICLE III.

CASE OF DERANGEMENT OF THE FACULTY OF LANGUAGE, IN CONSEQUENCE OF A BLOW NEAR THE EYE.

A considerable number of years ago, M. De Fouchy read to the French Academy a very interesting account of an accident which he himself had sustained, and which was followed by derangement of the faculty of language. It is quoted by M. Moreau, in the Encyclopedie Méthodique, article MEDECINE MENTALE

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