HISTORY OF MEDICINE. 399 



lieve, that any man is so well determined to empiricism, as to 

 abstain from reasoning altogether ; and while most men indulge 

 in it, the reasoning in physic must be good or bad in propor- 

 tion to the knowledge of nature, the mode of philosophizing, 

 and the ardour in the culture of philosophy, that prevails for 

 the time, or which the particular physician possesses. Now, if 

 we view physic as dependent on these circumstances, we shall 

 not be surprised if it is yet far from perfection. Consider 

 how little of the time which this world is supposed to have ex- 

 isted, has been employed in the culture of science ; or, if it is 

 alleged that some culture has always appeared, consider to what 

 small portions of the earth that has been commonly confined, 

 how often it has been checked by premature regulations, how 

 often perverted by superstition, and interrupted by wars, and 

 how often the little accumulation that has been made by pol- 

 ished nations., in many ages, has been destroyed in a moment 

 by the irruptions of barbarians. Whoever considers the his- 

 tory of mankind, will perceive why physic and science have been 

 so long of attaining the heights they aim at. But we must ob- 

 serve farther, that a moderate degree of refinement, even in a 

 small nation, might produce poets, orators, historians, and every 

 thing that depends on the general culture of the human mind, 

 but it is Experience only that can produce natural knowledge ; 

 and experience can only be acquired by many hands and re- 

 peated labours ; it can only be the uninterrupted work of many 

 ages, secured in leisure, provided with its proper instruments, 

 and admitted to a communication with all the parts of the 

 globe, and all this under the conduct of the abstract sciences 

 of mathematics and metaphysics. 



Consider all this, and compare the state of Europe for a 

 hundred years past with any former period, and you will per- 

 ceive why physic has not yet made the progress it may be ex- 

 pected to make, why hitherto its experience has been little, im- 

 perfect, and incorrect, and why its reasonings have been con- 

 jectural, and for the most part frivolous. The history which we 

 have already delivered, therefore, is more a matter of curiosity 

 than of use ; but we are now to enter upon our seventh and 

 last period, which is more interesting ; and if it does not ex- 

 hibit medicine near to perfection, yet, by the progress already 



