frequently, and with as great success as we can pre- 

 tend to. As to the art of bandaging, so very import- 

 ant and necessary, though much neglected at present, 

 and which the French so much pique themselves upon, 

 as if in this thev excelled all others : the ancients knew 

 it to such advgreeof perfection, that we do not even 

 flatter ourselves with having added any thing conside- 

 rable to wha! Galen hath taught us, in the excellent 

 tract he has writ on this subject. And although the 

 moderns claim an advantage over the ancients, in re- 

 gard to the variety of their instruments, it is never- 

 theless evident that they were ignorant and destitute of 

 none that were necessary : nay, it is highly probable, 

 from what Oribasius, nay and many others, have said, 

 that they had great variety of them. As to topics, or 

 the remedies which are externally applied, it is certain, 

 that we are indebted to them for having instructed us 

 in the nature and properties of those we now use ; and 

 as to general methods of cure, the ancients have so 

 eminently excelled, particularly in that of treating the 

 wounds of the head, than those of the moderns who 

 have written most judiciously upon it, though they 

 could do no better service to posterity, than comment 

 a-pon that admirable book which Hippocrates wrote 

 on this subject. 



7. " It would require more leisure and ability than 

 I have," concludes Mr. Bernard, u to enter into a 

 detail of more particulars, and shew what hath been 

 invented, set aside, or lost in different ages. What 

 I have already advanced sufficiently makes it appear, 

 that we ought to talk of the ancients with great respect; 

 not that we should blindly yield to their authority, or 

 imagine that they left nothing to be perfected in fol- 

 lowing ages; but we ought to imitate the celebrated 

 Bartholin. ' Wo make but an ill judgment of our own 

 interest,' says that great man, < when we so plunge 

 ourselves in the study of the moderns, as to neglect or 

 condemn that of the ancients, whose writings are so ne- 

 cessary to throw light upon every part of 



