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, wlien 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 liable to many diseases. Snuff-makers, from being exposed to 
the dust of the tobacco, arc 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. .lussieu states (Memoires de I’ 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 Mctallique, Paris, 
1812) states, that out of 279 ca,ses of colic in the hospital of La Charite, 
at Paris, in the years 1776 and 181 1, the numbers wore— Painters 148 ; 
Plumbers 28; Potters 16; Porcelain-makers lo; Lapidaries 12; Colour- 
griudersff; Glass-blowers 3; Glaziers 2; Toymen 2; Shoemakers2; 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 workshop, or 
without ablution, and in general to preserve groat 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 the 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 particles of steel ; M. D’Arcet invented the fonrneau d’appel; 
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. 
TEMPERAMENTS. 
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, w bile in a state of health, and occasion- 
ing that peculiar aspect and physiognomy termed the lempermnent, which 
strikes an observer at the first glance. This word, tempcramenl, must 
not be confounded in its signification with conslitnlion ; 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 marry as seven temperaments ; the 
more ancient authors 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 
Ui number. 
1. The SANGOiNEOtjs Temperament is characterized by the predomi- 
"unt activity of the heart and blood vessels. Externally, it is marked by 
rosy cheeks, an animated counten.ince, and all those physical characters 
’''hich 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 Antonins. The Due de Richelieu is a striking 
Instance of the sanguineous temperament among the moderns. 
These peculiarities constitute the Muscular or Athletic, when men of 
® sanguineous temperament devote themselves to the habitual exercise of 
tl'eir physical strength, and the entire frame undergoes a corresponding 
modification. The head beeontes small, the shoulders broad, the chest 
■nrge, the haunches solid, and the intervals of the muscles deeply marked. 
^ this acquired temperament, we find an excellent model in the statue 
nf 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 Ctesar, 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 alrabilious or melancholic temperament of 
the ancients. Louis XL, Tiberius, Rousseau, Tasso, Pascal. Gilbert, and 
Zimmemfian, 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 languid, 
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 life 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 Physiologie, 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 bis 
own, which constitute the idiosyncrasy 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 (Physiologie 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. Tliis is the bilious temperament of other writers. 
3. The Thoracic, or relative predominance of the thorax over the 
cranium and abdomen, forming the athletic or muscular temperament. 
4. The Abdominae, or predominance of the abdomen over the cranium 
and thorax. Here the 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-abdominai., 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-abdominae, e.asily 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, imbecility 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 eneigy, ambition, 
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 
