The modern ideas respecting the temperaments, appear to be founded upon
the descriptions given by the Arabians of the symptoms which characterize
the prevalence of the four humours, as they were called, namely, blood,
yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm, in the body. In proof of this, we
subjoin Rhases’ brief description of them: “De complexione autem infirmi
scias, quod si fuerit albi coloris admixti rubedini, et si fuerit bonæ
carnis, subtilis cutis, et quando locum fricaveris, rubescit statim,
significatur quod materia est sanguinea. Et si corpus fuerit pingue, et
albi coloris non mixti rubedini, et corpus nudum pilis, venis strictis,
carne molli, occultarum juncturarum, gracilium ossium, et generaliter
talis dispositio qualis est in corporibus mulierum, significatur quod
materia est phlegmatica. Et si fuerit macrum, citrini coloris, pilosum,
et cum crassis venis, et manifestis juncturis, ostendit quod materia
est cholerica. Et si fuerit niger color, durities corporis, pilositas,
asperitas cutis, significatur quod materia est melancholica.” (De Affect.
Junct. 2.)
It is to be understood, however, that Galen’s system of the temperaments
was not based, as has been often erroneously represented, upon any
hypothesis respecting the humours.