450 
ters, you have a chance of his pos- 
sessing a reasonable share of the 
learning to be acquired of the va- 
rious seats of disorders, and the hid- 
den powers of medicine. 
‘* Acute diseases (said Dr. Ba- 
thurst to Dr. Johnson) cure them- 
selves; chronic diseases are never 
cured.” 
«© Why, Doctor (said Dr. Johnson 
one day to Dr. Laurence) you phy- 
sicians seem merely to be called in 
to see your patients die, you do so 
little.” 
‘¢Why, Doctor (replied that learn- 
ed and honest physician) a physi- 
cian who has done little for his pa- 
tient, passes in general a better night 
than when he has done much, how- 
ever it may be with the sick person.” 
** Ars conjecturalis experimentis 
nitens,” says Celsus of the medical 
art ; and art indeed it is too often, 
and not a science. ‘ Fiat experi- 
mentum in corpore vili,” said one 
French pbysician to another, when 
poor Passerot, the celebrated French 
scholar, was brought into the hospi- 
tal of La Charite; ‘ Corpus non 
vile est, Domini Doctissimi (replied 
the patient, to the astonishment of 
the two sons of Aésculapius) pro 
quo Christus ipse non dedignatus est 
more.” 
Dr. Moore used to say, that ‘¢ at 
least two-thirds of a physician’s fees 
were for prescrihing to imaginary 
complaints.”— Among several in- 
stances of this nature, he mentions 
one of aclothier, who, after lOng 
drinking the Bath waters, took it 
into his head to try the Bristol hot- 
wells. Previous, however, to his 
setting off, he requested his physi- 
cian to favour bim with a leiter, 
stating bis case to any brother Ga- 
Jen. This done, the patient got 
into a chaise and started. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1792. 
After proceeding about half way, 
he felt an itch to pry into the con- 
teots of the letter, when the fol- 
lowing words presented themselves : 
“* Dear Sir, The bearer is a fat 
Wiltshire clothier ; make the most 
of him,”’. It is unnecessary to add; 
that his cure was from that moment 
effected, as he ordered the chaise 
to return, and immediately proceed- 
ed home. 
It has been said, that of all men 
of letters who attach themselves to 
any profession, none so willingly 
quit their professional studies to en- 
ter on other subjects as physicians. 
Why physicians write so little on 
their own art, is a question not ea- 
sily to be resolved, unless we sup- 
pose that, as they are better ac- 
quainted with it than other persons, 
they are the best able to judge of its 
futility. 
CARBONARIUS. 
Detraction : a Vision. 
From Coiton’s Pieces, in Prose 
and Verse. 
UPERIOR excellence is the ge- 
neral mark for calumny ; and en- 
vy is usually led to asperse what it 
cannot imitate. A little mind is 
scandalized at the pre-eminence of 
its neighbour, and endeavours to de- 
preciate the virtues which it cannot 
attain to. Thus the distempered eye 
is impatient of prevailing bright- 
ness; and, by attempting to observe 
the lucid object, inadvertently be- 
trays its own weakness. Pride is 
the fruitful parent of detraction : 
and it is the unjust estimate which 
men set upon themselves, that ge- 
nerates in their minds this ridiculous 
contempt of greater worth. Per- 
sons of this unhappy complexion 
regard 
