The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English: or, Medicine Simplified, 54th ed., One Million, Six Hundred; and Fifty Thousand — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English: or, Medicine Simplified, 54th ed., One Million, Six Hundred; and Fifty Thousand
John Stuart Mill · en
Organization implies vital energy, since there can be no organization
without it. The sperm cell, as we have previously seen, exists before
the initiation of the life of every individual organism. The early
history of this fertilizing cell, which is composed of infinitesimal
molecules which contain the embryo powers of life, is only partially
written. It is a fact, authenticated by Faraday, that one drop of water
contains, and may be made to evolve, as much electricity as, under a
different mode of display, would suffice to produce a lightning-flash.
Chemical force is of a higher order than physical, and vital force is of
a still higher order. Within the microscopic compass of the sperm cell
are a great number of forces acting simultaneously, which require the
answering conditions of a germ cell, and are so blended as to occupy a
minimum of space. The union of these subtle elements through the agency
of their physical, chemical, and vital forces, constitutes the
initiation of life. Elementary matter is transformed into chemical and
organic compounds, by natural forces, upon the cessation of which, it is
liberated by nature's great destroyer, and re-appears in the world of
elements. Thus, man is formed out of the very dust by means of energies
which reconstruct the crude, inert matter, and to dust he returns when
those energies cease.
When we enter upon the consideration of the temperaments, we should bear
in mind one peculiarity of life: that it combines, in a small space,
many complex powers. In the process of reproduction, there is a complex
combination of organic elements. Structures differ as greatly as their
functions. So likewise do animals vary in their nature and organization,
and individuals of the same species are, in some respects, dissimilar.
Yet the characteristics which have distinguished the races of mankind,
are fundamental and faithfully maintained. Time does not obliterate
them. Within race-limits are found enduring peculiarities, and, although
each individual is weaving out some definite pattern of organization, it
follows the type of the race, as well as the more immediate, antecedent
condition.
What then is a _Temperament_ but a _mixing together_ of these
determining forces, a certain blending manifested in the constitution by
signs, or traits, which we denominate _character_. The different races
of mankind must have their several standards of temperament, for the
peculiarities of one are not fully descriptive of, and applicable to the
other.
The term temperament is defined by Dunglison, as being "a name given to
the remarkable differences that exist between individuals, in
consequence of the variety of relations and proportions between the
constituent parts of the body.
For its simplicity and scope, we prefer the following definition,
suggested by our friend, Orin Davis, M.D.: A TEMPERAMENT IS A
COMBINATION OF ORGANIC ELEMENTS SO ARRANGED AS TO CHARACTERIZE THE
CONSTITUTION.