THE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MAN. 



125 



The particles of vegetable matter in a minute state of division, found 

 floating in the atmosphere of corn-mills, when inhaled by the work-people, 

 bring on asthma, indigestion, and frequently consumption. Millers are 

 consequently pale and sickly in their appearance, and their lives usually 

 short. The heated and sulphureous vapours arising from kilns render 

 maltsters hable to many diseases. SnufF-makers, from being exposed to 

 the dust of the tobacco, are often affected with diseases of the lungs and 

 head, partly from its mechanical effects, and partly from its narcotic in- 

 fluence. 



Mineral particles in general are peculiarly noxious. The fumes of mer- 

 cury become speedily fatal to the workmen in quicksilver mines, to gild- 

 ers, and glass-platers. M. Jussieu states (Memoires de 1' Academic des 

 Sciences, 1719), that by proper precautions, by care in changing the dress, 

 and by minute attention to cleanliness, the free workmen in the mines of 

 Almaden escaped disease for a long time; while the slaves who could not 

 afford a change of clothing, and took their food in the mines without ab- 

 lution, speedily became diseased in the throat and lungs. Lead occasions 

 paralysis and colic. M. Merat (Traite de la Colique Metallique, Paris, 

 1812) states, that out of 279 cases of colic in the hospital of La Charite, 

 at Paris, in the years 1776 and 1811, the numbers were — Painters 148 ; 

 Plumbers 23; Potters 16; Porcelain-makers 15; Lapidaries 12; Colour- 

 grinders 9; Glass-blowers 3 ; Glaziers 2; Toymen 2; Shoemakers 2; Printer 

 1 ; Lead-miner 1 ; Shot-manufacturer 1. Of the remainder (-39) there 

 were 17 belonging to trades connected with copper. The same writer re- 

 commends the artisans never to take their meals in the worksho[), or 

 without ablution, and in general to preserve great cleanliness. The acid 

 vapours of chemical works frequently occasion inflammation of the throat, 

 and the most corpulent person is speedily reduced to a small size. Chlo- 

 rine is similarly injurious, but at the same time acts as a disinfectant. 

 The chemical manufactory of Belfast was preserved by the Chlorine fumes 

 from the effects of the epidemic that ravaged Ireland for the three years 

 preceding 1819. 



Particles of matter acting mechanically on the lungs are perhaps of all 

 others the most certainly fatal to tlie artisan. By irritating the bronchial sur- 

 face, pulmonary diseases are speedily induced. These causes act princi- 

 pally among needle and steel-fork pointers, dry grinders, and sandstone 

 cutters. These unfortunate victims of their industry seldom live above 

 the age of 40, while the greater number die at the ages of .30 and 35. 

 Philanthropists of every description have long attempted, by various con- 

 trivances, to remove these evils ; but the ignorance, perverse habits, and 

 blind fatuity of the workmen themselves, are the principal obstacles to their 

 success. Mr Abrahams of Sheffield proposed magnetic masks to intercept 

 the minute panicles of steel ; M. D'Arcet invented the fourncau. d'ajipel ; 

 Dr Johnstone the damp crape, and Dr Gosse the sponge. But the care- 

 lessness of the workman mars the good intentions of the philosopher; 

 so strong is the influence of habit and the recklessness consequent on the 

 certainty of a short career. 



TEMPF.aAMENTS. 



Besides the marked differences observable among Mankind in respect to 

 age and sex, there are others arising from the relative energy of the differ- 

 ent functions of the human body, while in a state of health, and occasion- 

 ing that peculiar aspect and physiognomy termed the te>nperame?il, which 

 strikes an observer at the first glance. This word, temperament, must 

 not be confounded in its signification with constitution ; for one individual 

 may be of a robust constitution, and another frail in the extreme, although 

 both are of the same temperament. 



Some modern writers enumerate as many as seven temperaments ; the 

 more ancient autliors admit only four. We shall describe the sanguineous, 

 the bilious, the lymphatic, and the nervous ; to which may be added the 

 subordinate temperaments, called the athletic and melancholic, making six 

 in number. 



1. The Sanguineous Temperament is characterized by the predomi- 

 nant activity of the heart and blood vessels. Externally, it is marked by 

 rosy cheeks, an animated countenance, and all those physical characters 

 which are so accurately represented in the superb statues of Antinous and 

 the Apollo Belvidere. Its moral character is exhibited in the lives of 

 Alcibiades and Marcus Antonius. The Due de Richeheu is a striking 

 instance of the sanguineous temperament among the moderns. 



These peculiarities constitute the Musmlar or Athletic, when men of 

 a sanguineous temperament devote themselves to the habitual exercise of 

 their physical strength, and the entire frame undergoes a corresponding 

 modification. The head becomes small, the shoulders broad, the chest 

 large, the haunches sofid, and the intervals of the muscles deeply marked. 

 Of this acquired temperament, we find an excellent model in the statue 

 of the Farnese Hercules. 



2. The Biliods Temperament is characterized by a brown skin, in- 

 clining towards yellow ; moderate fulness and firmness of body ; the mus- 

 cles well-defined ; and the forms harshly expressed. It is chiefly among 

 men of this temperament that we find those splendid virtues and enor- 

 mous crimes, which have been at once the admiration and terror of the 



32 



world. Alexander the Great, Julius Casar, Marcus Brutus, Mahomet, 

 Charles XII. of Sweden, the Czar Peter the Great, Oliver Cromwell, 

 Sixtus v., and Cardinal Richelieu, are commonly cited as examples. 



Whenever the bilious temperament is attended by a morbid obstruction 

 of the abdominal viscera, or derangement in the nervous functions, the 

 skin acquires a deeper hue, the aspect becomes uneasy and gloomy, and 

 it assumes the characters of the atrabilious or melancholic temperament of 

 the ancients. Louis XI., Tiberius, Rousseau, Tasso, Pascal, Gilbert, and 

 Zimmerman, are its models. 



3. The Lymphatic Temperament arises from the undue proportion 

 of the fluids over the solids, and is chiefly marked by the form becoming 

 rounded and without expression, all the vital actions more or less lant^uid, 

 the countenance pale, the memory treacherous, the attention interrupted, 

 the pulse weak and slow. Such Men are but little fitted for business, 

 and never produce any of those great characters, which occupy an emi- 

 nent place in the moral history of the human race. 



4. The Nervous Temperament is marked by the predominance of the 

 nervous or sensitive system, over the muscular or motive. This excessive 

 sensibility of the organs is rarely natural or primitive, but is most com- 

 monly the acquired result of a fife too sedentary and inactive, in which 

 the mental powers have attained a great development. Voltaire and Fre- 

 derick the Great of Prussia are illustrious instances of the nervous tem- 

 perament. (See Richerand, Elemens de Physiologic, 10° Edit. 1833.) 



It is seldom that we find all the particulars of any temperament united 

 in the same individual, and every person is born with peculiarities of his 

 own, which constitute the icliosi/ncrasi/ of that individual. The sanguine 

 temperament is, however, directly opposed to the melancholic, bilious, and 

 lymphatic; although it may happen, that an individual, sanguineous in 

 early youth, becomes melancholic with advancing years. 



According to M. Thomas (Physiologic des Temperamens et des Consti- 

 tutions, 1826), the human temperaments depend upon the relative propor- 

 tions in the cavities of the cranium, the thorax, and the abdomen. He 

 enumerates, 



1. The Mixed, or just proportion of these cavities, constituting the 

 Apollo Belvidere, or complete physical Man. This corresponds with the 

 sanguineous temperament. 



2. The Cranian, or relative predominance of the cranium over the 

 thorax and abdomen. This is the bilious temperament of otheF writers. 



3. The Thoracic, or relative predominance of the thorax over the 

 cranium and abdomen, forming the athletic or muscular temperament. 



4. The Abdominal, or predominance of the abdomen over the cranium 

 and thorax. Here tlie pelvis is broad, the cellular tissue widely distri- 

 buted, as in the Venus de Medicis ; accordingly, this temperament is usu- 

 ally found in the female sex. 



5. The Cranio-thoracic, or predominance of the cranium and thorax 

 over the abdomen. It is directly opposed to the abdominal. When this 

 temperament is highly developed, the muscles are hard and well pronounc- 

 ed, the cellular tissue is rare in all parts of the body. This temperament 

 seems merely to be a modification of the nervous already described. 



6. The Cranio-abdominal, or relative preponderance of the cranium 

 and abdomen over the thorax. This form of the nervous temperament, 

 most commonly found in females, is directly opposed to the thoracic. 



7. The Thoraco-abdomixal, easily recognised by the predominance 

 of the face over the cranium, and directly opposed to the cranian, is 

 more widely distributed over Asia, Africa, and America, producing, when 

 excessive, imbecihty of mind and idiocy. 



It can scarcely be denied, that the temperaments exercise a considerable 

 influence over the moral character of the individual. Although we admit 

 that every virtue and every vice in all its degrees may be distinctly exhib- 

 ited in the several temperaments : yet there are certain general facts which 

 mark the natural tendency of the moral sentiments to follow correspond- 

 ing states of the body. 



If, for instance, we find the lungs of great extent, the chest capacious, 

 and the heart of considerable size, attended by a high degree of animal 

 heat, and a very active state of the vital functions ; with a muscular fibre 

 and a cellular tissue of medium consistency; we shall also find the moral 

 character mild and amiable, generally amorous, light, inconstant, and vo- 

 latile- 



Again, if we find in addition to these a large hepatic system, and copious 

 secretions of bile, with corresponding powers of procreation, the animal 

 heat becomes higher, the circulation obtains greater rapidity, and the ves- 

 sels acquire a size still larger than in the former instance. Violent dis- 

 positions of mind are the result, with a character of great energy, ambilion, 

 magnanimity, intrigue, or cruelty. 



On the other hand, if we remark a high degree of softness in the mus- 

 cular fibre, a feebleness in the nervous system, attended with slight acti- 

 vity of the abdominal and thoracic viscera, the prevalent states of mind 

 may be safely predicted to be mildness, want of energy, indolence, idle- 

 ness, and an almost total inactivity of the mental powers. 



Those states of mind, which habitually belong to an individual of high 



