tain object, and divided into a hundred parts, we may then, after accurate observation, say of numbers in which of the ten decades, or tenths, they rank. I repeat, toward a certain object; for, as it has been, in part, remarked, each temperament has its own point of irritability; its height, depth, distance, or proximity. There must, therefore, be a determinate object or point to which their attention must all be directed, and which shall affect them all; like as the thermometer can only give accurate indications in the place where it constantly stands. Each may imagine a given point for himself,

Each may make himself a thermometer of the temperaments by which he is affected.

To explain myself, in some measure, I have here given the Farewel of Calas, after Chodowiecki,

In this scene, the moist temperament is the least irritable:

The airy irritable only to ineffectual tears: The fiery to powerful revenge:

The earthy has no elasticity, exclaims not, but is oppressed, bowed down to the ground: The phlegmatic is round, smooth, full, and seated:

The sanguine is erect; springs, flutters; is oval and proportionate:

The choleric is angular, contracted, and stamping:

The melancholic droops and sinks.

In estimating temperament, or, as I would rather say, degrees of irritability to a given point, we must always carefully distinguish two things; momentaneous tension, and general irritability, or the physiognomy and pathos of the temperament. We are to enquire, how may this person be irritated? What is his present degree of irritability? What is the magnitude of his sphere of action? Where does irritability, at present, reside? What is its present weight, its possible power? The sum total, therefore, of temperament, according to the metaphor we have formerly used, will be to be sought in the outline of the body at rest; the interest of this sum total in the motion of the eyes, eyebrows and mouth, and momentary complexion,

It will likewise be found that the temperament, or nervous irritability of organized life, terminates in defined or definable outlines; that the profile, for example, presents lines from the curvature of which the degree of irritability may be found.

All outlines of the profile, and of the whole man, give characteristic lines, which may . be considered in a twofold manner, that is

to say, according to their internal nature, and position. Their internal nature is, in like manner, twofold; straight, or curved; as is their external; perpendicular, or oblique. Each has its numerous subordinations, which yet may be easily classed, as we have already shewn in foreheads. If to these profile outlines we add the principal lines of the forehead, placing them one upon the other, I have no reason to doubt but that the general temperature of each man, and his highest and lowest degree of irritability toward a given object, may be thus ascertained.

The pathos of temperament, in the moment of irritability, shows itself in the motion of the muscles, which, in all animal bodies, is governed by their qualities and form. Every head of man, it is true, is capable of the motion of every kind of passion; but each has only this capability to a certain degree; and, as this degree is much more difficult to find and to determine than in the outlines at rest, and as we cannot so easily make deductions, respecting the degree of elasticity and irritability, from the outlines in motion as at rest, we ought, at first, to satisfy ourselves with the latter; and, indeed, as the head is the sum of the body, and as

the profile or outline of the forehead is the sum of the head, we may be satisfied with the outline, the profile of the face, or of the forehead. We already know that the more each line approaches a circle, or rather an oval, the less it denotes choler; and that, on the contrary, it most denotes that temperament, the straiter, more oblique, and interrupted it is.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

1 The ne plus ultra of phlegm.
2 Sanguine.

3, 4, 5, 6, Different gradations of excessive choler.

7, 8, 9, Some lines of melancholy, that is to say, characteristically strengthened *.

I am well convinced of the imperfection of these thoughts on temperaments, but I would not repeat what had been so often repeated. I shall only add, I hope that, by

* The additions that belong to this volume are at the end of the fragments.

the aid of the determinate signs, lines, and outlines of the forehead, characters of irritability may be obtained for the principal classes; as well as the proportions which exist between all outlines of the human forehead, and every other form which can affect the human eye, or human sensation.

I shall now, shortly, recapitulate some few things which are defective in my fragments; shall ask a few questions which I wish to be answered by any wise and worthy man.

1. Can any man rid himself of, or entirely subdue, his temperament? Is it not with our temperament as with our senses and members? Since all the creatures of God are good, are not the powers of these creatures also good? Does religion require more than that the immoderate should be reduced to moderation; and not to destroy such other powers as are good in man; or than that we should change the objects of passion?

2. How must the phlegmatic father behave toward the choleric son; the sanguine mother toward the melancholy daughter? That is to say, how must one temperament act toward another?

3. What temperaments are most capable of friendship?

4. Which are the happiest united in marriage?