406 



than a third of a century, with distinguished success; and left it 

 with a national reputation. 



His lectures were enriched with varied erudition ; in style forcible 

 and terse. His medical opinions, accordant in the main with the 

 approved dogma of his time, were in much original. His practical 

 precepts were judicious and impressive. 



As a lecturer, he is well portrayed by his colleague, Dr. Jackson, 

 " as self-possessed, deliberate, and emphatic. Whenever warmed 

 with his subject, his animation became oratorical. Often the tedium 

 of dry matter would be enlivened by some stroke of wit, a happy 

 pun, an anecdote, or quotation. He was furnished with stores of 

 facts and cases, drawn from his own large experience and observa- 

 tion, illustrating principles, disease, or treatment, under discussion. 

 His bearing was dignified, his manner was easy, and his gestures 

 were graceful. He had a thorough command over the attention of 

 his class, with whom he always possessed an unbounded popularity. 

 His voice had a peculiar intonation, depending on some defect in 

 the conformation of the palate, that rendered the articulation of cer- 

 tain sounds an efi"ort. The first time he was heard, the ear expe- 

 rienced difficulty in distinguishing his words. This was of short 

 duration ; for once accustomed to the tone, his enunciation was re- 

 markable for its distinctness. Students would often take notes of 

 his lectures nearly verbatim,''* 



Chapman's leading Theory of Medicine was comprised in the great 

 principle, Sympathy. His predecessor. Rush, refining on the soUd- 

 ism of the Scotch school, had reduced all diseases to a unit, — con- 

 sidering them to be mere expressions of different states of excita- 

 bility and degrees of excitement. Chapman '^ recognized the dif- 

 ferences in the vital endowments of the tissues and organs, 

 and the diversities of pathological conditions." He restored the 

 classification of diseases which Kush had discarded. Adopting the 

 prevailing anti-liumoral views, he refused, however, to deny the 

 obvious and well-defined varieties in the manifestations of disease; 

 and skilfully expanded his theories to include them. 



In his teachings, exclusive contemporaneous dogmata were enlarged 

 and generalized; and his practical tact never permitted them to 

 lead him to unsound therapeutical deductions. 



His scheme of therapeutics stands the test of time. It is essen- 



* Dr. Jackson's Discourse. 



