136 Memoirs of Erasmus Darwin, M, D, 



nat only defective in the distribution of their genera, but 

 that in many genera the species have also no analogy to each 

 ether, either in respect to their proximate cause, or to 

 their proximate effect, though they may be somewhat simi- 

 lar in less essential properties : thus the thin and saline dis- 

 charge from the nostrils on going into the cold air of a 



"frosty morning, which is owing to the dificient action oi the 

 absorbent vessels in the nostrils, is one species ; whereas 

 the viscid mucus discharged from the secerning vessels of 

 the same membrane, when injlavied, is another species of 

 the same genus, viz. catarrhus, which bears no analogy in 

 respect to the cause, or the mode of treatment." 



Di*. Darwin wished his Nosology to point out at the 

 same time the mode of treatment, a plan Jirst happily 

 suggested by the unfortunate Dr. Brown, which reflects 

 on that illustrious genius the highest and eternal honour : — 

 Unforttinate, have I said ? Yes :■ — because his merits did not 



.{Jead to respect and honour, but persecution : and his wife 

 is nov/ lodged in London, in a lane, in great distress : — 

 and Dr. Darwin, aware of this coincidence. Dr. Brown 

 hivrngfirst published*, was obliged to appeal to his friends, 

 *' who," he declares, " saw his Zoonomia twenty years 

 before it appeared in the world." 



"The uses of the method here offered," says Dr. Darwin, 

 *' to the public, of classing diseases according to their proximate 

 causes, are, first, more distinctly to understand their nature 

 by comparing their essential properties. Secondly, to fa- 

 cilitate the knowledge of the methods of curej since, in 

 natural classification of diseases, the species of each genus, 

 and indeed the genera of each order, a few perhaps ex- 

 cepted, require the same general medical treatment. And 

 lastly, to discover the nature and the name of any disease 

 previously unknown to the physician ; which I am per- 

 suaded will be more readily and more certainly done by this 

 natural system, than by the artificial classifications already 

 published. 



* Dr. Darwin, speaking of Df. Brown's Elements of Physic, says «« that it is, 

 with a few exceptions, a work of great genius." The wife and sons of Dr. 

 Brown have met with a liberal benefa.ctor in Dr. Thornton. ■ 



« The 



