322 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



elusions which we have attempted to establish ; namely, that opi- 

 nions on those subjects should be formed on a very extensive induc- 

 tion of facts, and that, instead of being early and forcibly impressed 

 on the tempered wax, they should ever be worn so lightly as in no 

 way to influence our judgment on any subject. 



In Part III., the author enters more particularly into the quali- 

 ties, moral and physical, requisite to constitute a good observer ; and 

 examines how far, and in what way, education may be directed to 

 their improvement. We are happy to find a complete justification 

 of our remarks on the preceding part. 



The subjoined extract delineates the influences of prejudice on 

 the young student, and points at the value of *' philosophic doubt :" 



" To remount to the primitive causes which produce prejudice in the 

 minds of the greater portion of mankind, and which prevent them from ob- 

 serving well, would, doubtless, be an interesting research. Gueneau de 

 Monbeliard correctly attributes it to the numerous prepossessions inculcated 

 by education. No sooner, he says, do our eye-lids open than prejudice enve- 

 lopes us in her shade ; her indistinct murmuring is the first sound that breaks 

 upon our ear ; and our first regards are jaundiced by error. As our facul- 

 ties are developed, prejudice fastens upon them, and strengthens with our 

 strength. Not only does it falsify the evidence of our senses, but it also en- 

 feebles the glimmering ray of our reason. If it presented falsehood only — 

 more especially if it presented it when reason was matured — its venom would 

 be too gross, too slow of operation, to be very dangerous. But as it is, so to 

 say, identified with the very germ of our knowledge — as it unceasingly pre- 

 sents falsehood and truth confusedly mingled, and divested of their distinc- 

 tive characteristics — ^it troubles our ideas, it warps our judgment, and com- 

 pels us to receive, as in-born truths, errors of a within-us earlier growth than 

 our reason itself" 



♦' To hinder prejudice from deeply rooting itself in the mind, and, so, to 

 for ever block up the path of truth to the observer, — no better preventive 

 can be found than a union of scepticism and philosophical distrust. These 

 two rigorous antidotes may also extend their influence to the prevention of 

 errors, to which confidence and self-esteem might lead, when indulged be- 

 yond their proper limits. Genius inspires confidence, and too frequently 

 banishes the salutary fear of self-deception. Man naturally delights to re- 

 pose on his own abifities, and to receive, as true, those ideas with which he 

 is pleased." 



A systematic mode of interrogation is recommended, and the invi- 

 gorating influence o^ journalizings or registering observations at the 

 bedside, is strongly insisted on. Upon this subject, we recommend 

 the following suggestions to the attention of students : — 



" The inquiries to be made, with regard to a patient seen for the first 

 time, are reducible to the following points :— 



"1. To describe the actual condition of the patient, by noting symptoms 

 which are manifest to the senses — the suffering he experiences, — and to ana- 

 lyze the condition of the various functions. 



" 2. To ascend to the origin of the disease, in order to contrast its present 

 with its former state. For this purpose, we should ascertain the peculiar 

 character of the attack, the period of the manifestation of the existing symp- 

 toms, and what remedies have been already administered. 



'* 3. To seek for the excitant and predominant causes. These will be 

 found in the patient's profession or trade — in his mode of living — in acci- 



