INTRODUCTION 



TO 



THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



CONTENTS OF THE INTRODUCTION. 



OljeB of thejirfl part of the Zoonomia. Arrangement of Irving motions. 

 Functions referable to each of thefe. Clarification of animated aclion 

 under four heads. Influence of jiimuli in Jujlaimng life. Comparifon 

 of Dr. Darwin's dofirine of Jlimulus and exertion with the Brunonian 

 Elements. Great refemblance acknowledged by the former. Which of 

 them was indebted to the other ? The two authors efpoufe Jimilar funda- 

 mental principles. Examination of the Jlander that Brown's doclrinc 

 was but a revival of the opinions of the ancient Methodic SecJ. Hifto- 

 ry of thatfefl. A branch of the Epicureans. Sketch of the Epicurean 

 philofophy. Application of this to medicine. Reafoning wholly mechan- 

 ical. Hi/lory of the opinions concerning life fuperadded to mechanifm, 

 from Hippocrates to Cullen. How far the latter had proceeded. Mer- 

 its of Brown. Abftrafi of thejirjl edition of his Ekmenta^ publi/hed in 

 1780, and now very rare. Review of his fecond edition, in 1784. 

 The Engli/h work a mere tranflation of this. Epitome of the Bruno- 

 nian DocJrine. Very different from the notions of Themifon and Thef- 

 falus. Defefts in Brown's fyilem. Room for improvements. Great 

 amendments made by various perfons. Introduction of chemical princi- 

 ples and modes of reafoning. Infufficient to explain the phenomena of 

 life. Laudable attempt of Dr. Darwin to inveftigate thofe laws which 

 neither mechanifm nor chemiftry can explain. ObjecJ of the fecond part 

 to form a nofology, or catalogue of difeafis, by a natural clajfification, 

 founded on their proximate caufes. 



AN attempt has been made in the firft part of this work to in- 

 vetfigate the complex laws of animal caufation. Thefe are de- 

 duced from the contractions and relaxations performed by the living 

 fibres, which conftitute the mufcles and organs of fenfe. Fibrous con- 

 tradlions feem to conftitute all the fun&ions of animated bodies, 

 and indeed all we know both phyfiologically and medically con- 

 cerning 



