AND SURGERY. 253 



medicines, I have never heard the fmalleft 

 complaint. 



As to quack-medicines, never-faihng nof- 

 trums, drinks, and cordials, that always fucceed 

 where every thing elfe fails, and fpecifics for 

 incurable difeafes — 



" Doubilefs the pleafure is as great, 

 " In being cheated as to cheat," 



elfe how are we to account for the never-fail- 

 ing cullibility of man ? Does it never occur to 

 the purchafers of thefe articles, that a regular 

 medical man muft furely have as extenfive an 

 acquaintance with the family of drugs, chemi- 

 cal or galenical, and that he is, at leaft, as 

 likely to make a fortunate conjunftion between 

 them, as the conjurer who advertifes his nof- 

 trum ? Do they confider the blunders they 

 themfelves are likely to make in the applica- 

 tion ? But the quack does his bufmefs by the 

 average, or rather by wholefale ; he fires at a 

 flock, and the buyer, or his horfe, may chance 

 to be of the number. The philofophy of 

 quack medicine lies upon the furface; any 

 man may underftand it, and any man may 

 make them ; the only difficulty is to get money 

 to advertife them. As to the pharmaceutical 

 part of the bufmefs, chufe your difeafe, then fix 

 upon the mod powerful acknowledged fpecific, 

 clap in an auxiliary or two, ad Ubitiim, difguife 



them 



