right, his idiosyncrasy he acquires, changes, makes it subject to his will, or is ruled by it. The distinction is broader than this, however. Temperament is a race-attribute. It is distributed like plants according to latitude and altitude. The bilious is tropic; it thrives best near the equator. The lymphatic belongs to the races of the North. Between these polar types are distributed races that monopolize temperaments as they do their language. The Celt is sanguine, the Saxon lymphatic, the Gaul nervous, the Latin bilious. Thus, temperament is pandemic, while idiosyncrasy belongs to the individual. M. Begin calls the first "la variété organique la plus générale," and the latter "celle qui est plus restreinte."
The tendency among recent writers upon physiology is to exclude the bilious, classing it with the nervous, and making three in place of four. This is the classification of M. Michel Lévy.[1] I shall retain the bilious, as being a term too commonly used by learned and unlearned to be omitted from a popular description.
The sanguine temperament presents marked physical traits. The mean height of the male is five feet eight and a half inches, and of the female two and a half inches less. The head is small comparatively, the face is made square by a firm and angular lower jaw, the forehead is slightly sloping, the nose prominent; it has a determined, resolute, exacting look. Under thirty-five the figures of both sexes are sparely covered with fat, but withal muscular. The chest is large, measuring thirty-five inches in average girth, and the abdomen flat. The complexion is light, and is florid only by exception to the rule; the hair light, light brown, or auburn, and often curly. The mouth is usually large, the lower lip full, and the teeth are regular, with a slightly yellow tinge, which indicates firm and lasting dentine. The sanguine are generally good eaters and drinkers. All of the vital functions are active; the large chest-room, the vigorous heart, the firm muscles, insure a bodily activity that keeps the operations of organic life in unconscious and easy motion. Digestion, assimilation, excretion, and elimination, work in harmony and with vigor.
Mentally, this type is the reflection of its physical traits. The rich blood, by its active circulation through the brain, causes vivid and active mental action. The general cast of the mind is never gloomy. The mental vision is outward rather than inward, and sees things near or remote tinted by glowing, joyous colors, as through a prism. This mental outlook never implies profound insight, or deep thought, or conscious indwelling. It is the surface of things that is studied with quick and transient glances of all that is pleasant, revolting from the difficult or painful. The sanguine man, therefore, learns quickly and knows a little of everything, and by his ready tongue and quick wit is good company—a thorough good fellow. He is brave from a sense of perfect muscular strength, loving sport and athletic games.
- ↑ "Traité d'Hygiène."
