ANATOMY. 
affairs of life, and in the aflions of the internal and ex¬ 
ternal parts, which are more or lefs connected with the 
health of the animal. 
“ The caufes of diverfity of temperament feern to be, 
t. The various quantity, firmnefs, and fentient faculty, of 
the nervous fyftem, from the brain communicated to each 
nerve. I have always obferved a clioleric difpoiition in all 
perfons having a large brain and thick ffrong nerves, along 
with a great fenfibility as well of the w hole body, y.s of the 
organs of fenfe. Hence arifes a ready apprelienlion of ob¬ 
jects, and an increafe of underftanding and knowledge, 
and, owing to the comparifon of many ideas, an acute and 
entire judgment, which choleric perfons polfefsin fo emi¬ 
nent a degree. But, along with this condition of the 
nerves, thefe people are excelfively liable to grief and an¬ 
ger, when the body or mind is but (lightly affected; and 
on this account medicines (hould be cautiou'lly given, and 
lefs dofes preferibed to them. With a fmall brain, and 
(lender nerves, 1 have obferved the fenfes more dull. Thefe 
people therefore require from external objeds ffronger im¬ 
preflions upon the organs of fenfe, and thefe impreflions 
longer applied, if they are meant to leave lading effeds. 
Hence their judgment is frequently weak on account of the 
defed of ideas; and they feldom acquire any extenlive 
knowledge. But nature has compenfated thefe diladvan- 
tages, by making them more able to undergo hardfhips, 
from change of climate, life, or labour; they demand 
more powerful medicines, and larger dofes. 2. The vari¬ 
ous degrees of irritability in the mufcular parts. For, 
wherever you find a very delicate irritability, atteded by 
almoft every ftimulus, and retaining lading impreflions, 
and at the fame time ading with a certain celerity; in that 
cafe you cannot doubt of a choleric difpotttion. Hence 
that remarkable ftrength in the mufcles of fome perfons, 
which ad with incredible quicknefs, difpatch, and con- 
flancy. On the contrary, if you examine a phlegmatic 
J ierfon, you obferve the contractile power of the mufcles 
anguid, and long of being determined to motion, although 
flrongly excited. 3. Even a certain foftnefs is obfervable 
in all fibres and membranes, if you touch the body of a 
phlegmatic perfon; or a feeming hardnefs and drynefs in 
melancholic habits. Along w’ith which particularities the 
phlegmatics join lefs elaflicity, whilfl, in the melancholic, 
there is a greater tone and contradile power. 4. There is 
in the air, undoubtedly, a certain eledrical principle, which 
being by refpiration communicated in different ways with 
the body, imparts a natural tone to the fibres, occafions a 
quicker motion in the veflels, and increafes and diminifhes 
by turns the alacrity of the mind. But, as this principle 
of atmofpheric air does not prevail in equal quantity every 
hour of the day, all times of the year, and in every cli¬ 
mate ; fo fometimes we feel an univerfal laffitude, which 
fuddenly ceafes, the flrength of the body and mind being 
reftored with a ferene and elaftic air; fd, in like manner, 
all men do not equally abforb this eledric matter, which 
thus forms a remarkable diverfity of temperament. 5. 
We ought, too, to combine with thefe the various nature 
of the blood from the proportion of its elements. And, 
in fad, as greater flimuli in the blood excite the heart to 
brifker contradions, fo a more acrid and copious bile may 
effectually promote the periflaltic motion, and the abun¬ 
dance of mucus occafion a tendency to lentor and frequent 
catarrhs. 
“ There are then diffident caufes, which, from our 
birth, may bring on, in the firft growth of the parts of the 
body, an irrevocable determination to this or that habit or 
temperament. I therefore can fcarcely admit a complete 
tranfmutation of temperament, which, during the exer- 
cife of thefe natural laws, could render a purely choleric 
perfon phlegmatic. But, that fome change may take place 
in temperaments, that violent attacks may be mitigated, 
that lentor, torpor, and liftleflnefs, may be increafed, I 
readily agree ; and, from the remedies by which fuch a 
change may be produced, I form a fecond clafs of the cau¬ 
fes of temperaments. The chief are, 1. A different kind 
VoL. 1 . No. 39. 
609 
of meat and drink. An animal diet adds a great ttimulus 
to our ftrength, invigorates our fenfes, and fometimes in¬ 
duces ferocity; as is evident from the Anthropophagi, 
carnivorous animals, wild beads and their whelps, and 
hunters, particularly if the abufe of aromatics, wines, 
and medicines, has fupervened. Vegetables, on the con¬ 
trary, increafe the lentor of the fibres, weaken the’ftrength, 
diminifli fenfibility and irritability; in a word, induce a 
phlegmatic difpoiition ; in which potatoes have a wonder¬ 
ful effeCt. It would be of great confequence to pay regard 
to tiffs in the bringing up of children, viz. to invigorate 
the inertia of the mental and corporeal faculties by the 
life of animal food, but to temper the vehement paifions 
peculiar to choleric perfons, by ufing a vegetable diet. 
2. The particular mode of education and examples. It 
need fcarcely be infilled on that thefe pod'efs great influ¬ 
ence, particularly in infancy. Hence it happens that whole 
nations are of one temperament. 3. Climate, weather, 
native country. Rarely in an unfettled climate or coun¬ 
try, in hot climates, or in moifl countries, will you find 
in choleric perfons that alacrity of temper, agility of body, 
and quicknefs of underftanding, which is fo common in a 
ferene and temperate climate, and high hilly countries. 
4. The increafe of knowledge. 1 have-often admired that 
change which a drenuous indudry produces in fome of the 
mod dull men ; fo that, with the increafe of knowledge, 
they became of a more cheerful temperament. 5. Abun- 
dande and want of neceflaries, both in life, and for the 
purpofe of forwarding improvement. For this reafon, it 
may happen that, according to the diverfity of the form 
of government, whether under mild or more fevere and 
tyrannical laws, the temperament of the fubjeCt may be 
either lively or languid. 6. The fort of life itfelf, inter- 
courfe with men, and public employment, may have a great 
diare in changing temperaments; fince rarely, after the 
thirty-fixth year of a man’s life, do you find the blood dill 
pure ; and a choleric perfon fcarcely preferves his former 
alacrity after his fiftieth. It is therefore difficult to fay, 
into how many fpecies temperaments might be divided, and 
what kind of character (hould be affigned to each, accord¬ 
ing to nature, and not conjecture,” 
Of the CIRCULATION or MOTION of the BLOOD. 
The arteries and veins contain either blood or lymph. 
The red blood fills thofe arteries and veins which we call 
red, or of tire firft order, and which have their origin in 
the heart. Sometimes they are very loofely and imper¬ 
fectly diftended by the blood, and at other times they are 
rendered very full and turgid. This didending blood is 
rapidly moved through all the veflels of the body, as is 
demonftrated to us from wounds; and the patient looner 
or later expires from the lofs of fo much blood as was ne» 
celfary for the maintenance of life ; tiffs lofs of blood hap¬ 
pens almod inftantly from the larger arteries, and fome¬ 
times very fuddenly from the fmaller ones. But from the 
veins, unlefs they are fome of the larged, it is generally 
flow; yet there are not wanting inftances of fatal haemorr¬ 
hages from wounds of the veins, in the inner corners of 
the eyes, and thofe under the tongue. The motion of the 
blood through the veins is uniform and equable; but, in 
the arteries, it is alternately greater when the veffel is 
more dilated, and lefs when it is contracted. This is pro¬ 
ved by ocular infpeCtion in living animals. 
That the motion of the blood is a continued courfe thro’ 
the fanguineous arteries into the veins is difeovered from 
experience. For, firff, it is certain, that all the arteries 
and veins communicate or open the one into the other; 
becaufe often, from even a fmall artery, all the blood of 
the whole body may be evacuated. We have numerous 
examples of fatal haemorrhages from an inner artery of the 
nofe, from the gums, from a finger,, from a tooth, from a 
cutaneous pore enlarged, from the punChim lachrymale, 
from the wound of cupping, and even from the bite of a 
leech. There are, therefore, of courfe, open ways, by 
which the blood fpeedily flows from the venous into the ar- 
3 Q^, terial 
