Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-07-07
EXAMPLES OF THE NERVOUS TEMPER

Voltaire and Frederick the Great Of
Prussia are notable examples of the nerv-
Gus temperament. John Randolph and
the late General Nathaniel Lyon, who
was killed in the beginning of our civil
war, perhaps afford most remarkable ex-
amples of it among distinguished Ameri-
| cans.
| The diseases which are most apt to &C.
cur among individuals of the nervous tenn
! permanent are those which concern the
nervous system. Thus, we have the various
forms of neuralgia, certain affections of the
spinal cord, hysteria in all its protean va
rieties, St. Vitus' dance, catalepsy ecstasy
and insanity of all types. In fact, the
nervous temperament itself is, if strongly
| developed, almost pathological condition,
| the sensibility is SO acute, the capability
for receiving mental impressions so de-
cided, and the system is SO readily thrown
into disorder from slight causes that the
temperament in question may often be
considered rs the first manifestation of
disease.
Persons of the nervous temperament are
very subject to diseases which exist only in
their imagination or which, being slight,
are exaggerated by the constant habit of
introspection in which they indulge. They
are thus very frequently rendered seriously
iii by the morbid attention they give to
symptoms which are often by no means alb
normal.
But although the existence of the nerv-
Gus temperament in person prediSposeS
him or her more than does any other tenn
permanent to mental alteration, it is not to
be supposed that it possesses this power to
the exclusion of other temperaments.
The sanguine, the Emphatic and the
choleric are by no means devoid of inhu-
ence in this direction. Indeed, the latter
is not far behind the nervous as a predom-
inant temperament in insane persons.
In its normal manifestations the man of
choleric temperament is characterized by
tirmness, decision and determination. His
mind is quick to form judgment, his will
is active and powerful in the accomplish
ment Of his purposes, and his perseverance
carries him over all difficulties. His emo
tions are vivid, but when it suits his de-
sign he keeps them under due control He
is irritable and sensitive, and often vindic-
tive, cruel and INSCRIPTIONS. Bold in the
conception of a project, constant and indie
fatigable in its execution, it is among peo-
pie of this temperament that we find those
who in different ages have governed the
destinies Of the world full of courage,
boldness and activity all have signalized
themselves by great virtues or great
crimes, and have been the terror or admira-
ton of the universe. Such were Alexander,
Cesar, Brutus, Mohammed, Charles XII,
the Gar Peter, Cromwell, Pope Sixtus Y.
and Cardinal Richelieu.
A unon.r mon nf sciorca and 1attarc ,,.br
have possessed the choleric temperament
are Dante, Newton, Spinoza, Calico, Mil
ton, Pascal, Tasso, Rousseau, Goethe and
Calvin. In this country we have as the
most distinguished representatives of the
Webster, Gems. Grant, Sherman, Sheridan
and Lee, and Jefferson Davis.
The variety of insanity to which indi-
viduals of the chloleric temperament are
especially liable when they become the
subjects OF mental disease is melancholia
in all its FORMS and it often assumes with
them the most terrible of all the phases of
mental derangement-the suicidal and
homicidal. The decisions which are most
frequently met with in them are those
which relate to injuries done them by
others, or horrible crimes which they have
themselves perpetrated. Often they refer
to religious subjects, and to the state of
eternal damnation into which their souls
are to be plunged on account of the
enormity of their sins. The idea that
they have committed the objectionable
sin is very common delusion with this
class of lunatics, and they will often walk
the floor for days and nights at time
wringing their hands, moaning and sob
bling at the thought ever present of the
awful punishment in store for them IN the
world to come. know OF no one point in
the whole range of theology which has
inflicted more injury upon the human
mind, and caused more distress, than the
doctrine that there is q mysterious sin