FALLACIES OF SIMPLE INSPECTION. 379 



poppies must relieve diseases of the head; Agaricus 

 those of the bladder; Cassia fistula the affections of 

 the intestines, and Aristolochia the disorders of the 

 uterus: the polished surface and stony hardness 

 which so eminently characterize the seeds of the 

 Lithospermum officinale (common gromwell) were 

 deemed a certain indication of their efficacy in calcu- 

 lous and gravelly disorders ; for a similar reason, the 

 roots of the Saxifraga granulata (white saxifrage) 

 gained reputation in the cure of the same disease ; and 

 the Euphrasia (eye-bright) acquired fame, as an appli- 

 cation in complaints of the eye, because it exhibits a 

 black spot in its corolla resembling the pupil. The 

 blood-stones, the Heliotropium of the ancients, from 

 the occasional small specks or points of a blood-red 

 colour exhibited on its green surface, is even at this 

 day employed in many parts of England and Scot- 

 land, to stop a bleeding from the nose ; and nettle tea 

 continues a popular remedy for the cure of Urticaria. 

 It is also asserted that some substances bear the sig- 

 natures of the humours, as the petals of the red rose 

 that of the blood, and the roots of rhubarb and the 

 flowers of saffron that of the bile." 



The early speculations respecting the chemical com- 

 position of bodies were rendered abortive by no circum- 

 stance more, than by their invariably taking for granted 

 that the properties of the elements must resemble those 

 of the compounds which were formed from them. 



To descend to more modern instances ; it was long 

 thought, and was stoutly maintained by the Carte- 

 sians and even by Leibnitz against the Newtonian 

 philosophy, (nor did Newton himself, as we have 

 seen, contest the assumption, but eluded it by an 

 arbitrary hypothesis,) that nothing (of a physical 

 nature at least) could account for motion, except 



