70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



wide application to two things : first, to form ; and second, 

 to function ; that the idea of temperament governed these 

 two with wonderful faithfulness and accuracy. Now, let me 

 illustrate. I want to get this idea into your minds clearly, 

 so that you will not be confused in following me. Tempera- 

 ment, I say, governs form and function. It is so in men. 

 There are certain functions or adaptabilities that men have 

 who possess certain temperaments, and they do not have 

 them if they possess other temperaments. First, there are 

 certain pursuits which may be denominated the pursuits of 

 the nervous temperament. Take the occupations which 

 require a light manipulation of the hand, — music, for instance. 

 Let me ask you if you ever knew in your life a man with a 

 short, pudgy finger to be a skilful piano player? Did you 

 ever know a man to play the violin that had that sort of a 

 finger, — a short, fat, blunt, pudgy shaped finger? " But," 

 you say, " what has that to do with it?" Did you ever 

 know a man with that form of hand to .possess what is known 

 as the nervous temperament or the sanguine temperament ? 

 On the contrary, have you not always noticed that a man 

 with a hand shaped like that is phlegmatic, has the flesh- 

 producing tendency ? There is a tendency in such tempera- 

 ments to a construction of adipose tissue. You see 

 that temperament shapes the form and that function follows 

 form. This is particularly true with men. You see men 

 following certain lines of pursuit agreeing in the outlines of 

 their forms very largely. What makes the Yankee so uni- 

 versally a mechanic? It is because he is a lean, bony, 

 nervous-temperament man ; very few of them are of the 

 phlegmatic or adipose temperanjent. You may find an 

 exception here and there, but there are exceptions to all 

 rules. 



Now, temperament governs form very largely, and func- 

 tion. It is so in animals. The nervous temperament 

 predominates in dairy cattle, in dogs that are bred for speed 

 and scent, in horses that are bred for speed, and in fowls 

 that are bred for fighting. The game-cock is essentially a 

 bird of a nervous temperament ; the race-horse is essentially 

 a horse of a nervous temperament ; the dairy cow is 

 essentially a cow of a nervous temperament ; and the hunting 



