382 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 



this he readily formed a pathology, or an account of diseases. 

 A stoppage of the pores formed one kind of disease, and the 

 laxity, or a too free transmission, on the other hand, produced 

 another set of diseases. He extended each of these genera to 

 a great variety of species, according as the disease was seated 

 in one part or other of the body, as it respected one fluid or 

 another; but all this required so many subtle distinctions, that 

 his system was not easily managed by persons of less acuteness 

 and eloquence than he himself possessed. 



Erasistratus, as we have said, employed few medicines, and 

 particularly avoided all those of a harsher or more violent ope- 

 ration. This was extremely suitable to the temper of the Ro- 

 mans, who had not been by degrees accustomed to the disa- 

 greeable practices of the Greek physicians, and were now 

 arrived at a degree of luxury which would not allow them to 

 bear any thing harsh or painful. Asclepiades suited himself 

 exactly to this temper : he professed to cure tuto, celeriter, et 

 jucunde ; and it was the last he especially studied. His prac- 

 tice consisted chieily in the different kinds of gestation, in fric- 

 tions, and in the proper management of wine. But it is not 

 our business here to give the particulars of his practice ; we 

 mention him only as an example of that state of practice which 

 is likely to prevail at all times in very great cities, in ages of 

 great refinement, and among the luxurious part of mankind. 

 Erasistratus fell into a mild practice from the errors and gen- 

 eral timidity of theory. Asclepiades entered upon the same 

 plan, and the physicians of great men will commonly do so, 

 because it is agreeable to their patients. In such a state of 

 physic, Placebos will abound ; and when these support the rou- 

 tine of the physician, there will be less anxiety about finding 

 out or employing more efficacious remedies. 



Themison, a physician at Rome, who came soon after Ascle- 

 piades, finding the subtleties of Asclepiades difficult, and judg- 

 ing them superfluous, proposed to abridge the system, and main- 

 tained that it was enough to consider what was common in dis- 

 eases, and that the particulars might be neglected. He, there- 

 fore, reduced all diseases to three kinds only, the Strict-urn, 

 the Laxum, and the MMum ; the last consisting of the stric- 

 tum in one part of the body, and of the laxum in another. 



