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

arise from the diversity of external things, and they often seem so little subject to the constitution of the body, that one and the same propensity seems to dominate in men of different body temperaments, and no diversity can be found, except for that which seems to flow from the manner in which each person, according to his different irritability and sensibility, displays his propensities and affections. Among so many difficulties that hinder the classification of the temperaments of the soul, I have thought it better, if I were to consider only the varying irritability and sensibility of the body, to commit that difficult matter to the study of the Philosophers, and to add only those propensities of the mind which seem capable of being explained by the constitution of the body, especially if its power over the soul is aided by other things.

§. 15.

The number of temperaments would indeed equal the number of individual men k, if there were a mind to consider even the smallest diversities by which one man can be distinguished from another, but to construct the principal classes of temperament, to which learned men can easily refer their observations, it will suffice, in the manner of Botanists, as that singular Swiss l says, to take the characters from the body. Pursuing this path, I find the following primary classes:

I. Equal, moderate temperament m.

The vital forces seem to be distributed with all the equality that is required for the functions of any part whatsoever. The muscular fibers enjoy just stiffness and irritability. The nervous system is sensitive, yet not excited by just any small stimulus. Hence, the circulation of the blood continues its quiet and equal path until a sufficient corporeal or mental irritation acts upon the parts endowed with vitality. The sensory organs have attained the same quality as the whole body, which, unless exercise is lacking, perform their functions optimally. A constitution surely most happy and consistent with the economy of the human body; yet, as it seems, it is rarer, since diet, invented partly by necessity and partly by luxury, and the tension of mind and body, and the relations of any kind encountered in human society have introduced such discrepancy; nevertheless, nature can sometimes overcome these obstacles, and effect that which I have called an equal temperament, which is easily recognized by a beautiful bodily habit, moderate size, a large, rare, slow, and somewhat hard pulse, and by the constancy of the actions of the body and mind, etc.

k) Haller, Elements of Physiology, Vol. II, p. 146.
l) J. I. Ritter, Morbona. Nuremberg, 1773.
m) It agrees almost with the quiet and mild temperament of the illustrious Wrisberg (cited work, p. 79); the phlegmatic of Cullen (cited work, p. 117); and the Roman of the distinguished Plattner (cited work, p. 257).