430 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 



thought of applying his dissections towards the ascertaining at 

 least some of these. 



But let me now proceed to consider the important part of 

 every practical work, and of this Synopsis universe? medicince ; 

 that is, the method of curing diseases. 



Here, again, upon the same plan as in giving the histories of 

 disease, the method of cure is delivered by enumerating the 

 whole of the remedies that have ever been employed in a disease 

 under the title prefixed, without assigning the species, or the 

 circumstances to which the remedies, though of a very different 

 and sometimes opposite nature, are peculiarly adapted. On 

 the subject of asthma, he very justly observes, that physicians 

 have been to blame in confounding, under this title, almost all 

 the species of dyspnoea ; and he himself very properly con- 

 siders asthma as a disease distinct from all the other cases of 

 dyspnoea. Still, however, he considers asthma as of many dif- 

 ferent species, arising from many different causes, which, till we 

 understand better, we cannot attempt to remove. Notwith- 

 standing all this, he proceeds to deliver a very general cure. 

 Paruin abest, says he, quin specifici titulo gaudeant pectora- 

 lia, vulneraria, et incidentia ! But from such language I re- 

 ceive no clear idea ; nor can I obtain any clear direction from 

 the enumeration of his medicines. Baccce juniperi, gummi 

 tragacanthum vel ammoniacum, sapo, aqua picea, terebin- 

 thina, fyc. quce tamen haud indiscriminatim sunt usurpanda, 

 sed pro re nata; delectu opus est. Very justly indeed, delectu 

 opus est; but here, as in many other instances, he gives us no 

 sort of assistance. 



From his endeavours, though not always successful, to ne- 

 glect all system, his practice is generally delivered in a very 

 indecisive manner ; or, what has the same effect, in a way so 

 conditional as will render it always difficult, and often impos- 

 sible, for a young practitioner to follow him. Let us take, for 

 example, his cure of dropsy. " The cure may be begun by 

 blood-letting in certain conditions ; but., in others, it cannot 

 be employed without danger. It gives relief in difficult breath- 

 ing ; but, after it is practised, the symptoms are aggravated 9 

 and rendered more obstinate. It is not to be concealed that 



