24 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



of little consequence ; because, although they retain 

 the old word?, they attach to them new meanings 

 meanings which by no means belong to the words, 

 but which are perfectly understood among them- 

 selves. But with the rest of mankind the case is 

 very different : for, as they retain the old words, 

 they must also retain the old meanings, or else no 

 meaning at all, which is by far most frequently the 

 case ; because they cannot be aware of the several 

 great changes and improvements which medical 

 philosophy has undergone. When these words, 

 therefore, were first introduced, they were proper 

 enough: but, now that physicians have discarded 

 " Papin's digester," and refuse to recognise any 

 similarity between the uses of the stomach and 

 those of the stew-pan now that we know that " the 

 stomach is neither a mill, nor a stew-pan, nor a fer- 

 menting vat, but a stomach, Gentlemen, a stomach " 

 now, I say, all these words, as applied to any 

 condition or action of any part of the body, are per- 

 fectly senseless, and worse than absurd, because 

 they are only productive of confusion they ought, 

 therefore, to be expelled from medical language ; or, 

 if retained, they must, and indeed can only be un- 

 derstood in senses which do not properly belong to 

 them. But we had better get rid of them altogether ; 



