Memoirs of Erasjinis Darwin, M. D. 131 



when with licentious activity it links to<icthcr objects, other- 

 wise discordant, by some fanciful similitude, it mav indeed 

 collect ornaments for wit and poetry, l)ut philosophy and 

 truth recoil from its combinations. 



"The want of a theory, deduced from such strict analoo-y, 

 to conduct the practice of medicine, is lamented by its pro- 

 fessors; for, as a great number of unconnected ficts are dif- 

 ficult to be acquired, aud to be reasoned from, the art of 

 medicine is in many instances less efficacious under the di- 

 rection of its wisest practitioners; and by that busy crowd, 

 who either boldly wade in darkness, or are led into endless 

 error by the glare of false theory, it is daily practised to the 

 destruction of thousands : add to this the unceasing injury 

 which accrues to the public by the perpetual advertisements 

 of pretended nostrums : the minds of the indolent be- 

 come superstitiously fearful of diseases which they do not 

 labour under, and thus become the daily prey of some 

 crafty empiric. 



" A theory founded upon nature, that should bind tonether 

 the scattered facts of medical knowledge, and converge into 

 one point of view the laws of organic life, would thus on 

 many accounts contribute to the interest of society. It 

 would capacitate men of moderate abilities to practise the 

 art of healing with real advantage to the public ; it would 

 enable every one of literary acquirements to distincruish the 

 genuine disciples of medicine from those of boa'stful ef- 

 frontery, or of wily address ; and would teach mankind in 

 some important situations the knowledre of themselves." 



To estimate truly the great superiorly of this work, it 

 may be necessary to say somethiug of tlie several medical 

 Nosologies that have been published. Linnsus, who had 

 established order in the three kingdoms of nature, at- 

 tempted a Nosology, or distinction of diseases into classes, 

 orders, genera, and species. His plan is founded upon the 

 same principles introduced into botaiiv, and his a.-raneement 

 is founded upon artificial distinctions. As no naturaforder.^ 

 will, like Ariadne's clue, lead the naturalist through the la- 

 hyruith of nature, so diseases were by him classed accord- 

 ing to symptoms, not the frequently obscure causes of ihnii. 

 1 2 ■ 'il,e 



