427 



energy of certain organs, "there is> besides, in each individual, a mode 

 of existence which distinguishes his temperament from that of any other, 

 to whom, howe.ver, he may bear great resemblance. We express by the 

 term idiosyncrasy^ these individual temperaments, the knowledge of which 

 is of no small importance in the practice of medicine. 



The predominance of any particular system of organs, modifies the 

 whole economy, impresses striking differences on the results or the or- 

 ganization, and has no less influence on the moral and intellectual, than 

 on the physical faculties. This predominance establishes the tempera- 

 ment; it is the cause, and constitutes its essence. 



If the heart and the vessels which carry the blood through every part, 

 are of predominant activity, the pulse will be sharp, frequent, regular, the 

 complexion ruddy, the countenance animated, the shape good, the forms 

 softened though distinct,: the flesh of tolerable consistence, moderate 

 plumpness, the hair fair and inclining to chesnut ; the nervous suscepti- 

 bility will be lively, and attended with rapid successfully, that is to say. 

 that being easily affected by the impressions of outward objects, men of 

 this temperament will pass rapidly from one idea to another; conception 

 will be quick, memory prompt, the imagination lively; they will be ad- 

 dicted to the pleasures of the table and of love ; will enjoy a health sel- 

 dom interrupted by disease 5 and all their diseases, and these slight, mo- 

 dified by the temperament, will have their seat principally in the circula- 

 tory system, (inflammatory fever, or angeiotenic ; jihlegmasia ; acute hx- 

 morrhage) and will terminate, when moderate, by the mere force of nature, 

 and require the use of the remedies, called antiphlogistic, among which, 

 bleeding is the chief. The ancients applied the name of sanguine to this 

 disposition of body; they considered it as produced by the combination 

 of warmth and moisture, and had very correctly perceived that it existed 

 in the young of both sexes, was heightened by the spring, the season 

 which has been justly compared to youth, calling that age the spring 

 time of life. 



That the specific characters of the temperament I have just described, 

 may show themselves, in all their truth, it is requisite that the moderated 

 developement of the lymphatic system, coincide with the energy of the 

 sanguineous system, so that these tv/o sets of vascular organs may be in 

 true equipoise. The physical traits of this temperament are to be found 

 in the statutes of Andnous and the Apollo of Belvidere. Its moral phy- 

 siognomy is drawn in the lives of Mark Antony and Alcibiades. In Bac- 

 chus are found both the forms and the character. But why seek amongst 

 the illustrious men of antiquity, or among its gods, the model of the 

 temperament I have been describing, whilst it is so easy to find it among 

 the moderns ? No one in my opinion, exhibits a more perfect type of it 

 than the Marshal Duke of Richelieu, that man, so amiable, fortunate and 

 brave in war, light and inconstant, to the end of his long and brilliant 

 career*. 



Inconstancy and levity are in fact, the chief attribute of men of this 

 temperament : excessive variety appears to be, to them, a necessity as 



* See his Memoirs, 6 vols. 8vo.. 



Voltaire has painted his character, with superior ability, in many verses addressed to 

 him. 



Rival du conquerant de 1'Inde, 



Tu bois tu plais, tu combats, &c. Author's Note, 



