rim REMARKS on Tut 
are fimple, and within the reach of almoft every perfon. 
To this fubje@ I anxioufly wifh to turn the attention of 
phyficians and of phyfiologifts; becaufe the analogies 
which fubfift between the effects of this poifon and thofe of 
fome other animals, both of the fame and of different fami- 
lies, are numerous and ftriking. It is highly probable, 
therefore, that our refearches into this fubje&, would con- 
dudt us to the knowledge of means whereby we might 
fometimes, perhaps not unfrequently, be enabled to pre- 
vent the confequences of the bite of the mad-dog, &c. 
Our fuccefs in one cafe ought, at leaft, to flimulate us to 
make the experiment in another, Let us not, any longer, 
look for ab/olute /pecificks. Let us be content that, in the ful- 
nefs of her benevolence, nature, ever attentive to our welfare, 
has enriched her feries of animals, of vegetables, and of 
minerals, with beings, with objects, and with means, 
which man, in every ftage of his improvement, is in- 
ftructed to employ for preventing, for alleviating, or for 
curing at leaft fome of thofe infirmities the whole of which 
conftitute, as it were, a part of his eflence, or nature. The 
rage for fpecificks is, indeed, nearly at an end. I exceed- 
ingly regret, however, that it is ftill, in fome meafure, 
fupported by the botanifts, who cultivate an ufeful and 
an amiable branch of natural knowledge. ‘Thus, the 
Flora of almoft every country, and even of a narrow dif- 
trict, or of the fuburbs ofa city, is too frequently crowded 
with the moft unqualified recommendations of certain ve- 
getables in different difeafes. But the partiality of the 
botanifts for remedies for the bites of poifonous ferpents 
appears to be peculiarly ftriking. Perhaps, this partiality 
may be placed among thofe errors which difgrace even the 
primordia of medicine. It is certain, that we very eafily 
trace it to a ftate of fociety of which credulity, fuperitition, 
and ignorance are the moft prominent and diftinCive fea- 
tures. 
Of 
