*x INTRODUCTION TO THE 



" with the organization, finding them fit for the purpofes of fight and 

 " hearing, makes ufe of them accordingly. 



" Seniation, proceeding from the arrangement and texture of parti - 

 " cles, is to be afcribed to their peculiar magnitude, fhape, combina- 

 f* tion, &c. fo that inilead of being an original property of matter, it 

 tf is, in fact, only an occafional quality. Death is the privation of 

 ei fenfation, in confequence of the feparation of the fentient principle 

 " from the body : and this fentient principle, when a man dies, is de- 

 " compounded into its fimple atoms, lofes its fenfitive powers, and goes 

 *' into other forms and combinations. The foul, in this refpect, re- 

 §* fembliug the eye, which is no longer capable of performing its func- 

 (i tions than the connection of its organized texture with the body lafts." 



What Asclepiades did, was to apply the principles of the Epi- 

 curean Philofophy to medicine, and this he did with much ingenuity 

 and acutenefs. Building upon that hypothefis, he fuppofed the hu- 

 man body compofed of Epicurus' ultimate atoms, which, by their 

 figure, proximity, and arrangement, enabled it to perform its functions ; 

 and in a particular manner, that health confided in the fymmetry and 

 permeability of certain pafiages through the firm parts, which he call- 

 ed pores ; and the clofing up, or obftruction of thefe, conftituted dif- 

 cafe. He imagined the fluids to be formed of particles, varying in 

 figure and fize, and thus making all the varieties of them, from the 

 trucked blood to the moil attenuated animal fpirits. And when thefe 

 fluids moved freely through their pores, the body was found ; but when 

 they were too narrow, fo as to produce ftagnations, or fo oblique as not 

 to be readily pafTable, then indifpofition enfued. 



Such were the leading principles of Asclepiades, and he had ma- 

 ny followers, among whom Themison of Laodicea was the moil 

 eminent. He rejected molt of the fubtle and laboured reafonings of 



. mailer, and, declaring fuch minute inveftigations were ufelefs, af- 

 firmed, without delcending to particulars, and burthening himfelf with 



tails, a phyfician need only make himfelf acquainted with the gen- 

 eral principles of difcafes. Thefe, he faid, all belonged to two ciaffes. 

 I. Thofc proceeding from laxity; and, 2. Such as were caufed by 

 firiciurc. All that was neceffary to be done, therefore, was to afcer- 

 t.ain to which clafs any given difeafe belonged ; and then, if to the 

 former, to prefciibe ajlringent ; if to the latter, relaxing remedies. 



The regular and fyftematic plan which Themison and his numer- 

 ous followers adopted in their practice, differing very widely from the 

 conjectural and uncertain mode of other phyficians, caufed them to be 

 called Methodists ; and thev are to this day known in hiftory by 

 the name of the Methodic Sect. While Themison was reflecting 

 upon his fyftem, and endeavouring to advance it to maturity, he died, 



I the unSniihed work was taken up and completed by his follower 



Thessalus. He lived in the time of Nero ; and having rejected, 



olous, all the opinions of his predeceffors, he declaimed, with 



icmence and fury, againft the phyficians of all ages, and offered to 



.rucl a beginner in the art of medicine in the fhort duration of fix 

 months. And then, with a degree of arrogance and impudence, of 



which, 



