Temperament

TEMPERAMENT. - A functional synthesis of an individual, expressed by his most manifest and evident characteristic. In place of the four humors proposed by ancient authors (phlegm, bile, black bile and blood), today the basis of temperament is taken to be the functional characteristics prevailing in the field of the endocrine glands (v.) and of the autonomic apparatus of vegetative life (v. NEUROVEGETATIVE, SYSTEM).

Accordingly, the classification of the various temperaments is made on the basis of the hyperfunction or hypofunction of a single endocrine gland or of a group of glands acting in synergy ("endocrine constellations"), always bearing in mind, however, that the term temperament is never an indication of a morbid disposition, but rather of a "paranormal borderline" functional condition, that is, between the normal and the pathological.

In the classification of temperaments, consideration is also given to the function of the autonomic apparatus of vegetative life, inasmuch as its two sections, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic, preside over the synergic, rather than antagonistic, innervation of all the organs of vegetative life, imprinting on the individual, according to the prevalence of one section or the other, a particular neurovegetative tone.

Present knowledge, still limited, concerning the function of the known endocrine glands, and the discovery of ever new organs endowed with such functions (liver, tonsil, etc.), do not permit the establishment of a precise and definitive classification of individual temperaments. The classification most in use today is that proposed by N. Pende, which distinguishes, first of all, individuals into two groups: the hypervegetative and the hypovegetative, superimposing them respectively on the megalosplanchnic (individuals who from the morphological point of view present an excess of the trunk over the limbs) and the microsplanchnic (in whom the limbs are more developed than the trunk; v. CONSTITUTION). This classification is an eminently functional distinction, inasmuch as it takes into account the course of the anabolic and catabolic processes of the organism, that is, of its energy exchange (metabolism). In hypervegetative individuals anabolism is greater than catabolism and there is an accumulation of fats and proteins, whereas in hypovegetative individuals the catabolic processes of oxidation are increased and the life of relation prevails over vegetative life.

This particular course of metabolism is guided by the functionality of the endocrine glands, among which some preside over the anabolic processes of the organism, while others stimulate catabolism. Two groups of endocrine glands have thus been identified, called "endocrine constellations," one constituted by glands stimulating anabolism (ovary, adrenal cortex, parathyroids, pancreas, pineal gland and thymus) and one with an opposite and contrasting action (thyroid, pituitary, interstitial cells of the testicle, medullary part of the adrenal). The hyperfunction of a single gland or of an entire endocrine constellation comes to imprint a particular character on the individual, whose temperament will be affected in a special way by the overproduction or the scarcity of the hormone or hormones secreted by each gland or by the various glands with altered functionality, and from this circumstance it will take its characteristic.

It must be observed, however, that in clinical experience one sees individuals with similar functional tendencies who belong to the two opposite groups of the hypervegetative and the hypovegetative. There are, that is, phenomena of glandular compensation between glands belonging to the two endocrine constellations, which lead to the cancellation of the hyperfunctioning activity of one gland. Both the hypervegetative and the hypovegetative must be subdivided into individuals with a sthenic temperament, with prevalence of the sympathetic part of the vegetative nervous system and a ready and lively reaction; and individuals with an asthenic temperament, with opposite characteristics and prevalence of the parasympathetic or vagal section of the same system.

Thus a whole variety of temperaments arises. Among the hypovegetative, the sthenics: hyperthyroid, hyperthyroid-hyperpituitary, and the asthenics: hypoparathyroid, hypoadrenal, hypogenital; among the hypervegetative, the sthenics: hyperadrenal, hypergenital, and the asthenics: hypothyroid, hypothyroid-hypopituitary, hyperpancreatic.

Alessandro Marolla