Those bodies which are of a hotter temperament than the moderate will
have their teeth earlier than usual, and will grow in like manner. They
feel warmer to the touch, and have less fat; they are of a ruddy colour,
have their hair black and moderately thick, and their veins are large.
But if such a one be also fat and brawny, and have large veins, he is fat
from habit and not from nature. The following are the marks of a cold
temperament: Such bodies appear cold to the touch, are without hair, and
are fat; their complexion, like their hair, being tawny. But when the
coldness is great, they are pale, leaden-coloured, and have small veins;
and if lean, this does not proceed from nature, but habit. The dry is
harder and more slender than the temperate—the hardness, indeed, being
inseparable from the dry temperament; but leanness not only follows the
congenital temperaments, but also those which are acquired by long habit.
It is a mark of hardness when the body is rendered unapt for motion, dry
and parched, by drying applications. The humid, in all other respects,
is like the temperate, but is softer and fatter, and the softness is
inseparable from it; but the grossness not only follows the connate
temperament, but also that acquired by long habit. It is peculiar to
the humid temperament that the body is oppressed by things of a moist
nature. The warm and dry temperament is extremely shaggy, having the
hair of the head in early age of rapid growth, black, and thick; but, in
after-life, baldness follows. The veins are large, as are likewise the
arteries, which beat strongly. The whole body is firm, well articulated,
muscular, and without obesity; and the skin is hard and dark. When the
temperament is cold and humid, the chest is narrow, and, like the rest
of the body, without hairs; the skin is soft and white, and its hairs
somewhat tawny, especially in youth; and such persons do not get bald
when they grow old; they are timid, spiritless, and inactive; their
veins are invisible; they are gross and fat; their muscles and legs are
feeble, and their joints ill-formed; and they are bandy-legged. But
should the humidity and coldness increase, the colour of their skin and
hair becomes tawny, or, if they increase still more, pale. The hot and
humid temperament is softer and more fleshy than the best temperament,
and, when it increases much, is subject to putrid disorders; but, if it
be only a little more humid and much hotter than the moderate, the bodies
of such persons are only a little more soft and fleshy than the moderate,
but they are much more hairy and hotter to the touch. But if the cold and
the dry grow equally together, such persons have naturally their bodies
hard, slender, and white, with fine muscles, small joints, and little
hair; and they are cold to the touch. Although slender, fat is mixed with
their flesh. The colour of their hair is correspondent to the degree of
constitutional coldness. As to disposition of mind, they are spiritless,
timid, and desponding. To say all in a word, with regard to the compound
temperaments, they are always to be distinguished by the marks of the
prevailing quality.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 44), who
borrows from Galen (Ars Med. c. 15.) See also all the authorities
referred to in the preceding chapter.
The ancients, it will be perceived, connected the passions and desires of
the mind with the temperaments; and, to establish the alliance between
them, Galen wrote a treatise, wherein he has handled the subject very
ingeniously, and has delivered many profound views of the animal economy.
Galen’s work, to which we allude, is entitled, ‘Quod Animi Mores Corporis
Temperamenta sequuntur.’