Memoirs of Erasmus Darwin, M. D, 139 



whether more diseases than one are comprehended under 

 one name ; a circumstance which has much impeded the 

 investigation of the causes and cures of diseases. 



" Thus the term fever is generally given to a collection of 

 morbid symptoms ; which are indeed so many diiitinct 

 diseases, that sometimes appear together, and sometimes 

 separately : hence it has no determinate meaning, except it 

 signifies simply a quick pulse, which continues for some 

 hours ; in which sense it is here used." 



Let us now criticise this new plan of arrangement. The 

 first volume, I speak now of the quarto edition, (375 pages) 

 is taken up in clearing the way for a perfect understanding of 

 the second. It consists of forty sections : " Section I. Of 

 motion. II. Explanations and defii-itions. III. The mo- 

 tions of the retina demonstrated hy experiments. IV. Laws 

 of animal causation. V. Of the four faculties or motions 

 of the sensorium. VI. Of the four classes of fibrous mo- 

 tions. VII. Of irritative motions. VIII. Of sensitive 

 motions. IX. Of voluntary motions. X. Of associate 

 motions. XI. Additional observations on the sensorial 

 powers. XII. Of stimulus, sensorial exertion, and fibrous 

 contraction. XIII. Of vegetable animation. XIV. Of the 

 production of ideas. XV. Of the classes of ideas. 

 XVI. Of instinct. XVII. The catenation of animal mo- 

 tions. XVIII. Of sleep. XIX. Of reverie. XX. Of 

 vertigo. XXI. Of drunkenness. XXII. Of propensity to 

 motion. Repetition. Imitation. XXIII. Of the circulato- 

 ry system. XXIV. Of the secretion of saliva, and of tears, 

 and of the lacrymal sac. XXV. Of the stomach and in- 

 testines. XXVI. Of the capillary glands, and of the mem- 

 branes, XXV^II. Of haemorrhages. XXVIII. The pa- 

 ralysis of the lacteals. XXIX. The retrograde motions of 

 the absorbent vessels. XXX. The paralysis of the liver. 

 XXXI. Of temperaments. XXXII. Diseases of irritation. 

 XXXIII. Diseases of sensation. XXXIV. Diseases of vo- 

 lition. XXXV. Diseases of association. XXXVI. The 

 periods of diseases. XXXVII. Of digestion, secretion, nu- 

 trition. XXXVIII. Of the oxygenation of the blood in the 



lungs 



