ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 187 



want, upon occasion. And for the several exercises, which 

 greatly conduce to the preservation of health, no physician 

 has well distinguished or observed them, though there be 

 scarce any tendency to a disease, that may not be corrected 

 by some appropriate exercise. Thus bowling is suited to 

 the diseases of the kidneys, shooting with the long bow 

 to those of the lungs, walking and riding to those of the 

 stomach, etc. 



Great pains have been bestowed upon the cure of dis 

 eases, but to small purpose. This part comprehends the 

 knowledge of the diseases incident to the human body, 

 together with their, causes, symptoms and cures. In this 

 second office of medicine there are many deficiencies. And 

 first, we may note the discontinuance of that useful method 

 of Hippocrates, 8 in writing narratives of particular cures 

 with diligence and exactness, containing the nature, the 

 cure, and event of the distemper. And this remarkable 

 precedent of one accounted the father of his art, need not 

 to be backed with examples derived from other arts, as 

 from the prudent practice of the lawyers, who religiously 

 enter down the more eminent cases and new decisions, the 

 better to prepare and direct themselves in future. This 

 continuation, therefore, of medicinal reports we find defi 

 cient, especially in forms of an entire body, digested with 

 proper care and judgment. But we do not mean, that this 

 world should extend to every common case that happens 

 every day, which were an infinite labor, and to little pur 

 pose; nor yet to exclude all but prodigies and wonders, as 

 several have done: for many things are new in their manner 

 and circumstances, which are not new in their kind; and he 

 who looks attentively will find many particulars worthy of 

 observation, in what seems vulgar. 



So in anatomy, the general parts of the human body are 

 diligently observed, and even to niceness: but as to the va 

 riety found in different bodies, here the diligence of phy- 



8 Narrationes MedicaJes. 



