Our temperaments: their study and their teaching. A popular outline

Front matter

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THEIR STUDY AND THEIR TEACHING. A POPULAR OUTLINE:1 :

Preface

TMPRESSED by the frequency with A which the word temperament is used to account for the action that is taken not only on the ordinary but on the eventful occurrences of life ; while so little is known of the temperaments that very few outside the medical profession can name off-hand the four principal ones, — the Sanguine, the Bilious, the Lymphatic, and the Nervous, — I have endeavoured to construct from scattered and scanty material and my own observation, a practical guide by which observers may know the temperament of any one by looking at him, and associate

Vlll PREFACE.

with it certain mental qualities and traits of character.

"It is impossible to doubt that with every " temperament particular mental qualities are "associated." — Br. Pritchard, F.R.S.

" Not Sanguine and diffusive he, " But Biliary and intense."

Carlyle of Edward Irving.

iome proof of the doctrine of the temperaments— the association of certain mental qualities and traits of character with certain physical characteristics — is given in Chap. ///., founded on the experience of every one in reading faces, and on material found in the interesting and suggestive chapter " History of Twins," in " Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development," by Francis Galton, F.R.S.

The Temperaments have occupied an important place in the science and practice of medicine since the time of Hippocrates,

PREFACE. ix

more than two thousand years ago, but have received scarcely any consideration in general literature.

Including as it does, to some extent, the association of mental qualities with outward appearance, it seems strange that the subject has not been cultivated apart from medicine.

Even in medical works I have been unable to find precise descriptions by which the temperaments may be known with certainty, and it may be assumed that such have not been given, as in a recent publication * an eminent surgical observer says : —

" As yet, I fear we must say that the labours " of the physiognomist, and those of the student " of temperament, have been alike disappointing.

* "The Pedigree of Disease. Being six lectures on Temperament, Idiosyncrasy, and Diathesis." 1884. By Jonathan Hutchinson, F.R.S., Emeritus Professor of Surgery in the London Hospital.

X PREFACE.

" Whoever will set himself the task of attempt- " ing to classify a given number of individuals " according to their temperaments, will, I think, " soon find himself baffled."

As practical acquaintance with the temperaments must be imperfect without precise descriptions by which they may be distinguished from one another, I have submitted a scheme of the four pure temperaments— the Sanguine, the Bilious, the Lymphatic, and the Nervous — in which their physical characteristics and the associated mental ones are methodically arranged; and by numerous examples I hope to have enabled observers to discern, analyze, and name the far more numerous temperaments called compound temperaments — characteristics of two or more of the pure temperaments in one person.

" By the mixture of the physical charac- " teristics of the four pure temperaments nature " bestows on man the charm of variety that

PREFACE. XI

" beautifies all her lesser works, and the study " of the temperaments will be pursued with " increasing interest when it is seen that even M one characteristic of a different temperament " from the principal one brings with it some- " thing of the mental action of its own tem- '* perament. That, for instance, if black eyes " replace the blue ones of the Sanguine tem- " perament they bring more or less of the " caution, the persistence, the ambition of the " Bilious temperament ; and, similarly, if blue " eyes replace the black ones of the Bilious " temperament they bring more or less of the " impulsiveness, the love of change, the un- " warranted hopefulness of the Sanguine tem- " perament " (chap, vii.)

The Temperaments having a limited range of mental association, cannot claim to supplant Expression, Physiognomy, or Phrenology; but they are more definite than Expression and Physiognomy, and more readily available than Phrenology.

Expression is read by every one in his

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own way, intuitively, and cannot be reduced to a teachable system.

The expression of the eye, for instance !

Physiognomy and Phrenology, even had they not attempted the impossible — a measured estimate of mind and morals — would have failed as generally available systems ; phrenological examinations requiring time and opportunity, and physiognomical details being so numerous and minute that few, if any, are able to remember them.

The physical characteristics of the temperaments, on the contrary, are definite, few, and readily observed.

The mental characteristics here associated with the physical ones are also few, and no claim of relationship is made between the temperaments and morality, or the higher powers of the mind, except imagi-

PREFACE. xiii

nation, which is assumed to be more especially associated with the physical characteristics of the Nervous temperament.

As the mental qualities and traits of character naturally associated with outward appearance may be more or less modified by the capability of adaptation and improvement that men are fortunately endowed with, attention has been drawn to the ordinary influences that may so far change the natural man.

The ability to infer mental qualities and traits of character from outward appearance, even to the limited extent in the Scheme {Chap. iv.)9 has a wide field of application, and I have given some consideration to the temperaments as guides in the education of youth and the choice of a profession.

Their influence on health is briefly noticed, and importance is given to the

XIV PREFACE.

dependence of every pure temperament on a special internal organ of the body, and to the influence of derangement of its organ on the mental action of the temperament.

Popular ignorance of the temperaments having led to a random and unmeaning use of the word temperament in conversation and literature, " my temperament " and " his temperament " being in general use without thought of any particular temperament, a chapter is given to show the present unlimited and indefinite use of the word, and how its limited and definite use may be secured.

The concluding chapter is an endeavour to show that were the physical characteristics of the temperaments applied to word portraiture, the reader would see the subject of a biography with the mind's eye as if he had really seen and remembered him.

PREFACE. XV

I have no doubt whatever that popular knowledge of the temperaments would result in the right man being oftener found in the right place ; in the more likely choice of the best advisers ; and in greater harmony of life between those living or working together, from consideration of the natural impulses and tendencies of the temperaments.

I therefore hope that I may have succeeded in rendering it practicable to recognize and name the temperaments, and that familiarity with them may soon become general.

Readers may wish that I had considered more fully the association of mental with physical characteristics, but my chief intention was to make known the physical characteristics by which they may observe for themselves and form their own conclusions.

XVI PREFACE.

I feel warranted in having endeavoured to build up and attract attention to the subject, by a very long acquaintance with it; commenced when a student of medicine; continued in its practice, in which I have ever found it a trustworthy guide ; and cultivated, apart from medicine, by observation of the association of mental with physical characteristics.

The title " Our Temperaments " is intended to show that the temperaments described are those of the people of our own country.

To enable observers to classify faces by the form characteristics of the temperaments, a sufficient number of engravings are given from Bonn's edition of Lodge's Historical Portraits, the proprietor having readily consented to their reproduction.

Chapter I Preliminary

PAGE

No popular literature of the Temperaments. — Origin in medicine. — Extracts from two medical authors showing the scope of the subject. — From John Stuart Mill and Mr. Buckle, acknowledging its importance, and complaining that it is undeveloped and obscure ....... i

Chapter II. General View Of The Temperaments

Men separated into four groups, or Temperaments : the Sanguine, the Bilious, the Lymphatic, and the Nervous. — The Tem-

b

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peraments are outward distinctions. — The practical value of the study wholly dependent on the natural association of mental qualities and traits of character with outward appearance . . . . 1 5

Chapter III. The Temperaments And Mind

Dr. Pritchard on the relation of mental peculiarities to corporeal structure. — The extent of the relation often exaggerated. — Extracts from Dr. Maudsley, John Inglesant, and Richerand. — Mind not limited by temperament.— Association of imagination with the nervous temperament. — The sculptured groups on the base of the Albert Memorial. — Their temperaments and the character of their work. — Proof of the relation between traits of character and outward appearance, from reading faces, and from the " History of Twins" . . . . . -23

Chapter IV. Scheme Of The Four Pure Temperaments

The difficulty of distinguishing the temperaments acknowledged by authors. — Need of

CONTENTS. XIX

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standard descriptions. — Suggestion that their supply be undertaken by the Collective Investigation Committee of the British Medical Association. — The temperaments not sufficiently utilized in medicine. — Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson's views. — The temperaments taught in the class-room, and clinically, by Professor Laycock. — Some of the descriptions of English authors. — A scheme of the four pure temperaments, in which their physical and mental characteristics are arranged for practical guidance . . 47

Appendix, containing descriptions of the temperaments by the French physiologist, Richerand, and a Spanish author, Cortes . 83

Chapter V. Observations On The Scheme Of The Four Temperaments

Colour characteristics. — Colour of the hair and eyes. — Change of colour of the hair and eyes. — Colour of the complexion. Form characteristics. — Assignment of the same form characteristics to the Sanguine, the Bilious, and the Lymphatic temperaments.. — The form characteristics of the Nervous

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temperament. — The Sanguine, the Bilious, and the Lymphatic physically powerful temperaments. — The Nervous a gentle, imaginative, and intellectual temperament.— *- Probably an increasing temperament. — The mental characteristics of the scheme . .107

Chapter VI. The Nervous Temperament

Its physical characteristics. — Is the key-stone of the temperaments. — Tempers or refines the three other pure temperaments. — Newly recognized as one of the four temperaments. — Confounded with nervousness. — Carlyle and Charles Lamb. — Its distinctive natural action. — Characterized by J. S. Mill. — Exemplified in Nelson, Wm. Hunter, and Dickens. — Is careless of supply of energy. — Physical bankruptcy, or nervousness, the result. — Probably an increasing temperament . . . . . .129

Chapter VII. The Compound Temperaments

The Compound temperaments very numerous. — Their study somewhat complex. — Phy-

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sical and mental variety from the mixture of physical characteristics. — Descriptions of the Compound temperaments not found. — The usual mode of naming the Compound temperaments. — Examples. — Proposed addition to their names that they may indicate personal appearance. — The analysis of Compound temperaments. — Compound characteristics. — The Oval Fa^e and Medium Build. — The Balanced temperaments. — Examples. — The Semi-balanced temperaments.— Examples. — The Best temperament. — Forms of Compound temperaments to aid the student in analyzing faces . .143

Chapter VIII. Modification Of The Temperament

Modification by business pursuits. — Mrs. Carlyle. — Mr. Froude on professional mannerisms. — Modification by surrounding circumstances other than business pursuits. — By Oxford and Cambridge Universities. — Lord Houghton and Cardinal Manning. — Manner of speech. — Its susceptibility to modification early in life. — Change of temperament.— Dr. Wilks, Dr. Pritchard, and Mr. Buckle, on the causes which produce

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diversity of temperament. — National tern-' peraments. — Change in the colour of glass eyes sold in America . . . .185 Appendix: " British Calibre," from The Times, on the Reports of the Anthropometric Committee of the British Association.— tcThe Races of Britain," by Dr. Beddoe, F.R.S 205

Chapter IX

THE ORGANS OF THE TEMPERAMENTS. The four temperaments named after four internal organs of the body. — The four organs, and their influence on the mental action of the four temperaments. — Relation of the four temperaments to the causes of disease. — Food and the temperaments. — Climate and the temperaments. — Effects on Dickens of a month at Bonchurch, Isle of Wight. — Quotations showing the dependence of the natural mental action of the temperaments on the healthy action of the organs. — Return of natural mental action with convalescence. — The temperaments and minute structure. — Inheritance of disease limited by personal likeness. — Importance of such limitation in Life Assurance . -237

CONTENTS. XX111

Chapter X, The Temperaments Available In Education

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Preparation for competitive examinations often injurious to health. — Dr. J. Crichton Browne's views. — How the danger may be avoided. — Letter from Mrs. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, M.D., on " Examinations for Girls."— Dr. Carver, late of Dulwich College, on the importance of the careful study of the aptitudes of each boy. — Their study facilitated by masters and parents becoming acquainted with the temperaments. — How parents may modify the mental action of their children's temperaments ...... 267

Appendix : Thoughts on Education, from The Spectator 283

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Chapter XI. The Temperaments Available In The Choice Of A Profession

Business openings difficult to find. — Fitness often overlooked. — Consequent continued regret. — A case in point. — Sons put into their father's business fit or unfit. — Their future often arranged before they are born. — Mr. Ruskin's by his mother. — The temperaments a guide to parents in judging the fitness of their children. — Likings sometimes found without aptitude . . . 295

Chapter XII. The Temperaments Available In The Promotion Of Health

The teaching of the temperaments as regards health. — Only nervousness considered. — Signs of nervousness. — Some of its causes. — Predisposition relative to the number of nervous characteristics. — Effects on business men and others. — Preventive and curative means. — Addison's modes of taking exercise.— The sleeplessness of nervousness. —

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Work and nervousness. — Work and sleep. — Expedients to procure sleep. — The direction of the body in sleep. — The suburban homes of business men a cause of nervousness, especially in women .... 303

Appendix: " American Nervousness." .329 CHAPTER XIII.

THE USE OF THE WORD TEMPERAMENT.

In frequent use. — Should always indicate the physical characteristics of one of the four Temperaments, or a compound one. — Extracts showing that it seldom does. — Single mental or other traits wrongly called Temperaments. — List of twenty-seven so-called Temperaments. — Extracts containing some of them. — Temperament seldom used formerly. — Only once in Addison's Spectator. — Not once in Johnson's Rambler, or Idler y or Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. — Probable reason. — Additional extracts showing the misuse of the word. — Standard descriptions of the four Temperaments essential to the right use of the word in literature and conversation . . -337 ps£ ~lib^

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Chapter XIV. Word, Biographic, Or Temperament Portraiture

Word portraiture seldom effective. — Method necessary. — The form and colour characteristics of the temperaments recommended. — Sir Walter Scott on the value of portraits in biography. — Engravings, wanting colour, only partly effective. — Descriptions of Dickens from Mr. Forster's Life. — Of Sir Thomas More and Shelley. — Of Southey, Dickens, Tennyson, and others, by Carlyle. — Biographic portrait of Mr. Fawcett. — Temperament portraiture valuable in conversation, cases of identity, and heredity. — Likeness of Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke, and Montgomery, to both her parents . . . . .361

Conclusion. — Fields in which observation of the temperaments may yield useful results . 384

CLASSIFICATION OF FACES.

Forms of faces shown in a selection from Lodge s Historical Portraits.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

The Square Face. Hogarth . . . Frontispiece

The Melancholic Face .... Page 71

The Square Face. Steele . . . . ,,119

A Selection from Lodge's Historical Portraits,

showing the Chief Forms of Faces End of Volume

PART I.

THE STUDY OF THE TEMPERAMENTS.

ns

Chapter I. Preliminary

No popular literature of the Temperaments. — Origin in medicine. — Extracts from two medical authors showing the scope of the subject. — From John Stuart Mill and Mr. Buckle, acknowledging its importance, and complaining that it is undeveloped and obscure.

HAVE chosen our Temperaments for ■■■ this essay* because they are not generally understood, but deserve to be ; including as they do the natural association of certain external characteristics that are few and easily seen, with mental qualities and traits of character of sufficient importance that to be able to indicate them from out-

* The essay now published is the enlargement of one read to a private society in January 1881.

ward appearance must always be interesting and often useful.

I hope to be able to show that acquaintance with this natural association is of special value in

i. Education,

2. The choice of a profession, and

The frequent and almost always indiscriminate use of the word temperament also influenced me, and my choice was finally determined by the hope that my observations might be supplemented by our President who, by some striking remarks that fell from him in another place on the influence of the temperaments on religious feeling and life, showed that he has given the subject thoughtful consideration.

While recently at Cambridge I searched the catalogues of King's College and other libraries of the University for English works on the temperaments, but found none ; and I became aware that I had a difficult task before me, — to construct from scattered and probably insufficient material a concise view of the subject for practical guidance.*

Medical literature past and present is the home of the subject. Elsewhere, even in cyclopaedias and works on mental and moral philosophy it seldom finds a place,

* Continuing the inquiry, I was told of a volume of sermons : " The Four Temperaments, together with some Occasional Sermons, by William Clark, M.A., Prebendary of Wells and Vicar of Taunton. 2nd edition. 1874."

The volume being out of print, I should have failed to procure a copy had I not applied to the author, who kindly lent me his own.

The four temperaments are taken from St. Luke : ch. ix., the Choleric (bilious), vers. 51 — 56; the Sanguine, vers. 57 and 58; the Phlegmatic (lymphatic), vers. 59 and 60 ; the Melancholic, vers. 61 and 62 ; and there is a fifth sermon — a general view and application of the whole subject — from St. James i. 17.

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and when it does is generally treated very briefly and at second-hand, medical works being the source of information.

As mental and moral action are largely attributed to temperament, one might have expected the subject to have had at least as many ardent cultivators as Physiognomy and Phrenology. That it has not may be ascribed to its having arisen out of the practice of medicine and been always looked upon as a purely medical subject.

The ancient physicians, not having the stethoscope and other modern means of bringing the internal organs of the body into view, as it were, eagerly cultivated a knowledge of external signs, and soon found that men who differ remarkably in outward appearance and conformation, as dark and fair, for instance, are predisposed to diseases of a different class or character, and that even the same diseases affect them differently and may require a somewhat different treatment. They therefore observed with keen professional interest the resemblances and differences among men.

Their observations having accumulated, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, founded the doctrine of temperaments four hundred years before the Christian era ; and although primitive ideas of the composition and structure of the different parts of the body have been discarded, and erroneous views of the functions of the internal organs corrected, the physical distinctions and descriptions of Hippocrates and Galen have been reproduced by nearly all modern writers on the subject.

Dr. Cullen in Materia Medica, iyjg9 says : —

" The moderns have neither by observation "extended the ancient distinctions, nor, though

OUR TEMPERAMENTS.

"they have often attempted it, have they ever "given, so far as I can judge, any happy " explanation of the causes or foundation of " the distinctions they have so generally " adopted."

Professor Laycock observes : —

" Although the many attempts which have been made to establish a complete and " practical doctrine of temperament have been " unsuccessful, the general principles first " eliminated from experience remain to this " day."

a

All medical writers who have gone

beneath the surface of the subject, while

acknowledging its great professional value,

lament that it has received so little attention and is without precision.

It is indeed surprising that it is perhaps the only part of medical science that has stood still and remains not only unsatisfactory and behind the age, but is even in danger of being altogether neglected.

Dr. Cullen says : —

" I believe it will be generally allowed that " this part of medical doctrine is still in an " embarrassed and undetermined state."

Dr. Wilks in a valuable contribution

to Guy's Hospital Reports for 1869,

having insisted on its great value in medicine, savs : —

" And yet, singularly enough, with one or " two exceptions, our teachers of medicine " seem to have forgotten the doctrine of " temperaments, which occupied so large a " part of the old schools of education."

In the following extracts from medical works, one written only a few and the other a great many years ago, similar complaint is made, and I give them at length as they present the more important

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practical results, apart from medicine, of which the doctrine seems capable.

" The study of the temperaments has been " too much neglected in modern institutions. " Freed from the barbarous and hypothetical "jargon with which it was formerly clogged, " it forms a most interesting and important " branch of the science of man. It is not " now to be confined to the doctrine of the " humours and their various combinations. " Individual character is its object, and it " embraces the whole of the distinction by " which that character is marked. Its indica- " tions are useful, not only as announcing " predisposition to particular diseases, but as " proclaiming the nature and objects of our " moral affections. But in giving due regard " to these indications, we should endeavour " to separate what depends on original confor- " mation from the more variable and accidental " appearances which are produced by habits or " education." — Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. iv., p. 749: 1808.

PRELIMINARY. II

Dr. Maudsley in "The Pathology of Mind, 1879, says of Temperament and Idiosyncrasy : —

" Unfortunately these big words are at " present little better than cloaks of ignorance ; " they are symbols representing unknown " quantities, rather than words denoting de- " finite conditions ; and no more useful work " could be undertaken in psychology than a " patient and systematic study of individuals, " — the scientific and accurate dissection and " classification of the minds and characters of " particular men in connection with their " features and habits of body. How vast a " service it would indeed be to have set forth " in formal exposition the steps of the quick " process by which the shrewd and experienced u man of the world intuitively judges the " characters of those he has to do with, and " refers them in a moment instinctively to " their proper classes in his mind ! "

These extracts show that the study of the temperaments has a far wider scope than medicine, and that there is a craving among those professionally acquainted with the subject for the development and general application of what they have frequent proof of — the association of certain mental qualities and traits of character with the physical characteristics of the temperaments.

J. S. Mill and Mr. Buckle complain that " a subject so intimately connected with matters of the highest importance " should have remained undeveloped.

J. S% Mill when considering the causes that modify mental character, says : —

" That differences of bodily structure also " co-operate is the opinion of all physiologists, " confirmed by common experience. It is to " be regretted that hitherto this experience, " being accepted in the gross without due " analysis, has been made the ground-work of " empirical generalizations detrimental to the " progress of real knowledge."

Mr. Buckle says : —

" We are completely in the dark as to the " circumstances which regulate the hereditary " transmission of character, temperament, and " other peculiarities. . . . None of the laws "of hereditary descent connected with the " formation - of character have yet been " generalized, nor is our knowledge much " more advanced respecting the theory of " temperaments.

" " The difficulty attending the study of 11 temperaments, and the obscurity in which "this important subject is shrouded, may be "estimated by whoever will compare what has " been said by the following writers.' '

He refers to a number of well-known medical authors — foreign and English.

The subject has remained obscure and difficult because hitherto it has been subservient to medicine.

I am sanguine that were it a part of general literature it would be raiaed out of the rut in which it has lain for two thousand years, be brought within every man's comprehension, and become practically valuable.

Chapter II. General View Of The Temperaments

Men separated into four groups, or Temperaments : the Sanguine, the Bilious, the Lymphatic, and the Nervous. — The Temperaments are outward distinctions. — The practical value of the study wholly dependent on the natural association of mental qualities and traits of character with outward appearance.

^HE Temperaments are groupings of -*■ the chief physical characteristics

which distinguish men from one another, — dark or fair, stout or slim, a square, oval, or tapering face, a short or long neck, etc. — See^ Scheme, chap. iv.

The temperament is the mould in which men who resemble one another are said to be made : —

" Amongst these knights there were three brothers

bold, " Three bolder brethren never were ye borne, " Borne of one mother, in one happy mould."

— The Faerie Queen.

Dr. Wilks says :— -

"A patient enters the doctor's study, and he "will perhaps call to mind that he is only " another specimen of fifty patients, who seem " to have been taken out of the same mould ; " and adds, " If this be true, a good history of " man and his varieties has yet to be written." — Guy's Hospital Reports, 1869.

Carlyle goes farther than casting in moulds : —

" A big, burly brother of hers, a clergyman " whom I have seen, struck me as kneaded out " of the same clayT

Likeness between men is not of the face

GENERAL VIEW OF THE TEMPERAMENTS. IJ

only, or we should not on tapping the shoulder of a supposed friend overtaken in the street, find on his turning round that we had made the awkward mistake of tapping the wrong man.

Prince Bismarck writes of Prince Napoleon : —

" I will only say, that I was struck by the " resemblance between him and President Ger- " lach, not only in the features, but also as to " gestures, and play of countenance."

Hippocrates and his followers found it practicable, by the resemblance and difference between men, chiefly in the colour of the hair, of the eyes, and of the complexion, to sort them into four groups, into one or another of which, or one of their compounds, every person can be placed.

The four groups are the four Temperaments, named, from their dependence on the principal internal organs of the body,

The Sanguine. The Lymphatic.

The Bilious. The Nervous.

These are the pure or unmixed temperaments, seldom seen compared with combinations of two, three, or all of them, called the compound temperaments.

The Melancholic formerly held place as one of the four temperaments, but on insufficient grounds, and has therefore been excluded, and the Nervous temperament is now ranked, instead, as one of the four.

As the popular use of the term temperament refers only to the habit of mind that prompts to action, it may surprise many to learn that the temperaments are recognized distinctions in merely the outward appearance. Yet, such they were originally, having been founded on the observed relationship between the features

GENERAL VIEW OF THE TEMPERAMENTS. 19

of disease and the features and appearance of men, and such they still are in medicine ; a patient's temperament and its influence being known by a glance at his face and figure.

Not only in medicine —

" Diirer in his 'Treatise on Proportion expressly "proposes to indicate by means of the outward "measurement and proportions of the figures, to "which of the four temperaments they belong." #

That the temperaments are external distinctions is a fundamental fact that, except professionally, seems little known : the word temperament and the common phrases "my temperament" and "his temperament" being almost invariably used without thought of external appearance or any particular temperament, and therefore without obvious meaning.

That mental qualities and traits of cha-

* Albert Diirer, His Life and Times. 1882.

racter did not enter into the original idea of the temperaments, is obvious from their having been named Sanguine, Bilious, Lymphatic, and Melancholic, after the bodily organs ; the heart ; the liver (or rather its product the bile) ; and the lymphatics. Also, from the term temperament implying mixing together ; the idea being that the four elements of which the body was supposed to be composed were mixed together in various proportions in the temperaments.