OR CONSTITUTIONAL PROPENSITIES. 



perament : the first four of i^ese five having been added to the list by Boer- 

 haave, but unnecessarily, as they may readily be comprehended, as I shall 

 presently show you, under the four simple temperaments of Hippocrates j 

 while the fifth, in the general opinion of modern physiologists, is requisite 

 to supply what must be admitted to be a chasm in the Greek hypothesis. 



I have dwelt the longer upon this subject, because it has an immediate 

 and very extensive bearing upon the popular phraseology of the present 

 day, in all nations ; and will give us a clear insigiit into the meaning of 

 various colloquial terms and idioms, which we are in the constant habit of 

 employing, in many instances, without any definite signification. 



The two usual words to express the moral disposition or propensity of a 

 man, and especially as connected with the passions, are temper and 

 HUMOUR. Both are Latin terras : the first, in its original sense, imports 

 mingling, compounding, modifying, or qualifying, and has an obvious refe- 

 rence to the combination of the four radical fluids just mentioned ; on the 

 peculiar temper or proportion of which to each other we have just seen 

 that the Greek physiologists supposed the idiosyncrasy or pecuhar consti- 

 tution to depend : and hence temper is, in a certain sense, synonymous 

 with CONSTITUTION itsclf, though somewhat more generally applied to the 

 frame of the mind than of the body. 



Humour, in like manner a Latin term, is derived from the Greek xv(jlo<^ 

 (chumos), and in its simple and radical sense imports moisture, juice, or 

 fluid of any kind : in which sense we still employ the terms humid and hu- 

 midity, derived from the same source. In physiology and popular language, 

 HUMOUR is synonymous with temper ; and the explanation now oflfered 

 will sufficiently show us how, from such a derivation, it comes to be em- 

 ployed as significative of mental disposition. Every one must see instantly, 

 that, like the term temper, it has a reference to the general mass of the 

 four radical fluids, which, upon the Greek hypothesis, are essential to the 

 life of man ; the peculiar combination* of which with each other produces 

 the peculiar humour or prevailing current of every individual. It is 

 curious, and in many instances highly entertaining, to trace the transmuta- 

 tions of meaning that a word, from accidental circumstances, is thus fre- 

 quently compelled to undergo, so as to express, in one age, a very different 

 idea from what it had in a preceding. Even in the present day, however, 

 and in common language, we still occasionally employ the term humour 

 and its derivatives, in its original sense ; as when we speak of the humour 

 of the blood, meaning thereby a pecuhar acrimonious fluid ; and still more 

 openly when we speak of the aqueous humour of the eye. 



Humid and humidity continue steady to the radical idea, for they import: 

 fluidity and nothing else. Nay, so strongly have we imbibed the diflTusive 

 spirit of the Greek doctrine upon the subject before us, that we not unfre- 

 quently carry forward the same idea of fluidity without our being aware of 

 it ; as when, for example, we speak of a vein of humour, or a humorous vein^ 

 in which case we evidently refer to a fluid circulating in a canal. Thus. 

 Prior, in his well-known imitation of Adrian's lines to his soul : 



Thy humorous vein, thy pleasing foily, 



Lies all neglected, all forgot ; 



And pensive, wav'ring, melancholy, 



Thou dread'st and hop'st thou know'st not what. 



We are not only told, however, in popular language, that every man has 

 his humour, or vein of humour, but that one man is of a choleric humour, 



