INTRODUCTION 



TO THE 



AMERICAN EDITION 



CONTENTS OF THE INTRODUCTION, 



ObjeB of thejirjl part of the Zoonomla. Arrangement of living motions* 

 Functions referable to each of thefe. Clarification of animated adioti 

 under four heads. Influence of Jlimuli in fuflaining life. Comparlfon 

 of Dr. Darwin's doitlrlne of Jllmidus and exertion with the Brunonian 

 Elements. Great refemblance acknowledged by the former. Which of 

 them was indebted to the other ? The two authors efpoufe Jimilar funda- 

 mental principles. Examination of the Jlander that Brown's dotlrinc 

 was but a revival of the opinions of the ancient Methodic Seel. HIJIg- 

 r y of that feci. A branch of the Epicureans. Sketch of the Epicurean, 

 philofophy. Application of this to medicine. Reafoning wholly mechan- 

 ical. Hiflory of the opinions concerning life fuperadded to mechanifm y 

 from Hippocrates to Cullen. How far the latter had proceeded. Mer- 

 its of Brown. Abflrabl ofthefirjl edition of his Elementa, publijhed in 

 1780, and now very rare. Review of his fecond edition in 1784. 

 The Englifb work a mere tranflation of this. Epitome of the Bruno- 

 nian Dotlrine. Very different from the notions of Themifon and Thef- 

 falus. Defecls in Brown's fyjlem. Room for improvements. Great 

 amendments made by various perfons. Introdutlion of chemical princi- 

 ples and modes of reafoning. Infujficient to explain the phenomena of 

 life. Laudable attempt of Dr. Darwin to invejllgate thofe laws which 

 neither mechanifm nor chemiflry can explain. Objetl of the fecond part 

 to form a nofology, or catalogue of dlfeafes, by a natural clajJiflc%tion f 

 founded on their proximate caufes. 



AN attempt has been made in the firft part of this work to in- 

 vefligate the complex laws of animal caufation. Thefe are de- 

 duced from the contractions and relaxations performed by the living 

 fibres, which conftitute tht mufcles and organs of fenfe. Fibrous con- 

 tractions feem to conftitute all the functions of animated bodies, 

 *ad indeed all we know both phifiologically and medically con- 

 cerning 



