Commentary on Human Temperaments as They Depend on the Structure and Fabric of the Body

II. The vehement temperament n.

The solid parts here enjoy great strength and have much hardness and vitality, especially those parts whose functions consist in motion and contraction; the nervous system is not very sensitive. Whether this diminished sensibility arises from the perpetual pressure of the contracting muscles, or from the excessive expenditure of a certain matter—perhaps equally necessary for irritability and sensibility—into the irritable and contractible parts, I cannot decide. The contractility of all muscles and vessels is vehement and joined to this temperament; by hardness and that vehement contraction, the elasticity of the solid parts is excited, by the help of which they are soon drawn back to their former position. Hence, the circulation of the blood is swift, every secretion is accelerated, the absorbent vessels are active, and the growth of the body ascends in a short time to a degree of moderate height; the animal heat is equal and great, helping transpiration and the more solid connection of parts. The disposition of the mind reveals the same vehemence, and the functions of the soul are performed with the greatest alacrity. To a man endowed with a vehement temperament, everything that requires the strength and agility of the body will be pleasing; the sense of his own fortitude can very easily generate pride and make him eager to command others; but he does not incline much toward cultivating the faculties of the mind in a peaceful manner, and the milder affections of the mind will not move him. Because of the diminished sensibility, light irritants are not perceived; but if they increase so much that the common sensorium is affected, from this unpleasant and unusual perception arises the utmost impatience. Furthermore, if the morbid matter evolved in such a body, or absorbed from the outside, takes on so much increase that the excretory ducts, spasmodically constricted, cannot remove it, terrible motions and stronger deliriums—due to the irritated common sensorium—are observed, which are mitigated by debilitating antiphlogistic care, especially tepid baths.

A vehement man is very swift in his gait, speech, and other things; he enjoys a fierce appearance, penetrating, almost truculent; with shining, fiery eyes, the pupil of moderate size, frequently dark; the bones of the whole body are pressed by the continuous action of the muscles, and are as if excavated; hence the face is always angular, by no means round, the hair is mostly blackish, dense, and curly; the humors are sharpened because of the velocity of the circulation; hence the bowels are frequent due to the acrid bile, which promotes peristaltic motion, but they are scant and almost globular; because it is deprived of all juices; the pulse is frequent, swift, and strong, etc.

n) It will be found not unlike the choleric temperament of Gerresheim, loc. cit., p. 42, 43; of Haller and Wrisberg, loc. cit., p. 78; and the Lydian of Plattner, loc. cit., p. 256.