470 PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. 



best of my judgment, appeared to be the method approved of 

 by experience as much as it was the consequence of system. 



Upon this general plan I have endeavoured to form a System 

 of Physic that should comprehend the whole of the facts re- 

 lating to the science, and that will, I hope, collect and arrange 

 them in better order than has been done before, as well as 

 point out in particular those which are still wanting to establish 

 general principles. This which I have attempted, may, like 

 other systems, hereafter suffer a change ; but I am confident, 

 that we are at present in a better train of investigation than 

 physicians were in before the tune of Dr. Hoffmann. The af- 

 fections of the motions and moving powers of the animal econ- 

 omy, must certainly be the leading inquiry in considering the 

 diseases of the human body. The inquiry may be difficult ; 

 but it must be attempted, or the subject must be deserted alto- 

 gether. I have, therefore, assumed the general principles of 

 Hoffmann. And if I have rendered them more correct, and 

 more extensive in their application, and, more ' particularly, if 

 I have avoided introducing the many hypothetical doctrines of 

 the Humoral Pathology which disfigured both his and all the 

 other systems that have hitherto prevailed, I hope I shall 

 be excused for attempting a system, which, upon the whole, 

 may appear new. 



EDINBURGH, Nov. 1783. 



