TEMPERAMENT

(Lat. temper are, to moderate.) In Music, the adjustment of the imperfect concords, in musical instruments whose sounds are fixed, such as organs, piano-fortes, ., so as to transfer to them part of the beauty of the perfect concords. The defect to be remedied arises from the single short keys between the two larger ones serving for flats as well as sharps. It is nece ary to observe, that in the theory of harmonies the interval of a tone is not always the same; for instance, that lying between the fourth and fifth of the scale contains nine small parts, called commas, whereas that between the fifth and sixth of the major scale contains only eight commas. Again, the diatonic semitone contains five commas, and the chromatic semitone three or four, according to the magnitude of the tone. Hence it is that the different situation of these elements with regard to each other, causes intervals of the same names to consist of different degrees or elements. To improve them, therefore, musicians temper them so as to reduce the whole more to mean distances from each other, nece arily producing a new division of the octave. Temperament, in Physiology, has been defined as that peculiarity of orgaqization which to a certain extent influences our thoughts and actions. The ancient physicians enumerated four temperaments; namely, the bilious, the choleric, the phlegmatic, the sanguine, the melancholic. To these some have added the nervous; and these terms are still in use among medical writers. TEMPERATE ZONES, in Geography, are two of the five zones into which the terrestrial globe is divided. The north temperate zone is included between the tropic of Cancer and the arctic circle; and the south temperate zone between the tropic of Capricorn and the antarctic circle. [s. 1234]