SECT. LXI.—DIAGNOSIS OF THE TEMPERAMENTS.
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.’
SECT. LXII.—ON THE FORM OF THE HEAD.
A small head is the peculiar mark of a faulty configuration of the brain, but a large is not necessarily a good one; for if occasioned by the strength of the vital powers of the part fabricating an abundant and proper material, it is a good sign; but if occasioned by the quantity of matter alone, it is not good. We must judge of heads then from their shape, and from the processes which arise from them: from their shape, if well formed, for that is always a good sign; and from the processes of the brain, if they be in their proper state, and if the nervous parts be all properly nourished, have their suitable tone, and if the sight be acute. Sharp heads are defective in the protuberance of the front or hind-head, or else it is unnaturally increased. Now, in most cases we shall find that these last, like the large, are faulty, and yet some of them, though rarely, are good, the formative principle being strong.
Commentary. This Section is taken from Oribasius (Synops. v, 45); Aëtius (iv, 63); or direct from Galen (Ars Med. c. 6.)
Psellus, like our author, remarks, that a small head, by contracting and binding, as it were, the brain, is necessarily a bad formation; whilst a large head, if it arises from excess of the natural powers, is good; but if it is occasioned by a collection of superfluous matter, the contrary. We would refer, in this place, to the curious account of the Macrocephali given by Hippocrates in his treatise ‘On Airs,’ &c. (§ 14), and to the interesting remarks in the same by M. Littré (t. iv, p. xi.)