990 PHLEGMATIC AND MELANCHOLIC TEMPERAMENT. 



pallid or livid complexion, and langour of all the 

 functions : but with this difference, that the former 

 is marked by a higher development of the nervous 

 system, with a greater tendency to intellectual ex- 

 ertion, which leads to exhaustion, and predisposes 

 to indigestion, torpor of the bowels, lowness of spi- 

 rits, insanity, apoplexy, paralysis, and other forms 

 of nervous disease, whereas the phlegmatic con- 

 stitution is generally marked by a predominance 

 of the abdominal viscera over the brain, an inani- 

 mate expression of countenance, a soft and flaccid 

 state of the muscles, with a tendency to dropsy, 

 diabetes, scrofula, and other diseases wdiich arise 

 from debility. 



That Lord Bacon regarded the choleric as 

 identical with the sanguine, and the melancholy 

 with the phlegmatic temperament, would appear 

 from his remark, that the humours of a young 

 man are choleric, and his blood inclined to heat, 

 in an old man, phlegmatic or melancholic. (Life 

 and Death.) With many other modern physiolo- 

 gists, Dr. Cullen maintains that the sanguine 

 and phlegmatic temperaments are characterized 

 by light, sandy, yellow, or brown hair, and fair 

 skin ; while some maintain that the choleric and 

 melancholic are marked by dark, coarse, and 

 curly hair, with a yellowish or brown complexion. 

 But if we except the pale, sallow, and livid hues, 

 that result from an impoverished condition of 

 the blood, complexion has very little more con- 



