TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION. 243 



centuries, our knowledge of its uses, and of the dis- 

 eases which result from its derangement, should con- 

 tinue to be very imperfect. May we not, indeed, 

 still say, with an intelligent physician of the last 

 century "It must be confessed that the discovery 

 of the circulation has not been followed by so great 

 advancement in the science of medicine as was natu- 

 rally to have been expected from it. The reason of 

 which is, that our theory has not yet advanced much 

 in the knowledge which is naturally founded upon 

 this grand principle the circulation. It has not yet 

 explained the epicycles, as I may be allowed to call 

 the partial systems and various relations of parts, 

 both fluid and solid, on which the anomalies of the 

 body, the nature of diseases, and the operation of 

 medicines, must depend. Had Newton only dis- 

 covered the general operation of gravity upon all 

 matter, and barely hinted that the motion of the 

 planets must depend upon it, philosophers had then 

 understood the system of the world nearly as well as 

 we do now the system of the body."* 



The want of zeal thus manifested in the study of 

 perhaps the most beautiful phenomenon in nature, 

 and certainly the most important action of the living 

 animal, will doubtless excite the astonishment of after 

 ages: and it were well for mankind if the causes 



O ? 



which have thus retarded the growth of medical 

 science were no longer in operation. The truth 

 would seem to be, that, notwithstanding all the 



* An Epistle to the Rev. Dr. Hales, introductory to an Essay on 

 the Blood, by Kichard Davies, M.D. : Bath, 1759. 



R 2 



