DIGESTION AND FOOD. 83 



of them eat it rarely ; certainly, they make it a secondary 

 article of their diet. But in the temperate climates, in the 

 middle regions between the extremely hot and the extremely 

 cold, a mixed diet is generally, and almost universally, adopted. 

 Even here, the proportions of the meat and the vegetable 

 vary with the climate. In the warmer countries, in the 

 south of Europe, and as we approach the tropics, the vege- 

 table predominates; and among the northern nations, to- 

 ward the frigid zone, the meat is the main dependence for 

 nourishment. This is in obedience to the general law of 

 life, that the body needs, and the stomach can bear, a more 

 highly stimulating food, when and where the atmosphere is 

 cold, than when and where it is warm. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Temperaments. Lymphatic. Nervous. Sanguine. Bilious. 

 Difference of the Excitable and the Inexcitable. Diet to be 

 regulated according to Temperament. 



178. There are differences of individuals that should re- 

 quire corresponding differences of diet. It is plain, even to 

 the most careless observer, that men are not all alike. Orie 

 is dull, difficult to be moved, and habitually inactive. Anoth- 

 er is quick, irritable, and easily excited or depressed ; he is 

 gratified or disturbed with very small matters and is restless 

 in his disposition and habits. These differences arise from 

 the physical condition of the individuals, from their ori- 

 ginal organization, and constitute, in part, what are called the 

 various temperaments of men. Physiologists have divided 

 mankind into several classes, as to temperaments, according 

 to the predominant traits in their constitution. Some have 

 made four of these classes, calling them the lymphatic, ner^ 

 vous, sanguine, and bilious temperaments. Others have 

 made more classes. But however few or many any physiolo- 



