INTRODUCTION TO THE 



meafles and fcarlet fever, as well as in fmall-pox, the genera! indication 

 of cure is to diminifh the inflammatory diathefis, without the leait re- 

 gard to the particular nature of the contagion, or the (rage of erup- 

 tion ; but thefe are carefully to be difKnguifhed from the plague, and 

 other eruptive difeafes of a totally oppofite character : and that with- 

 out attending to the peculiarity of the refpiratinn. or the precife na- 

 ture of the morbific caufe, the certain things to be attended to are, 

 How far the difeafed condition deviates from health ; and in what de- 

 gree the living body approximates towards death. The exanthema- 

 tous fymptoms in the two clafles of complaints, varying in each, their 

 form only, and not their nature. 



Having proceeded thus far, he declares that difeafes of the fame 

 type or clafs are to be relieved, or cured by the fame mode of treat- 

 ment ; and that the volumes of diagnofHcs, and the endlefs diftinc- 

 tions of nofology, in fpite of the authority of even BAGLIVI and SYD- 

 EN HAM, when oppofed to clear reafon and matter of fact, ought to be 

 difregarded. He exprefTes his appreheniions too, left the infinite dif- 

 tinction of difeafes mould lead to a mode of practice equally diverfi- 

 lied, and have a very baneful effect upon materia medica and pre- 

 fcriptions. 



In his remarks upon predifpofition to bad health, he avers that no 

 perfon ever fudderJy became fkk, but that gradually a predifpofhioa 

 was created by the agency of the exciting powers, and out of this pre- 

 difpoiition grew the difeafe Of this he gives examples in the phlogif- 

 tic exanthemata, wherein he fays a high degree of excitement pro- 

 duces the difeafe, a lower predifpofition* and a ftill lower health : the 

 means, therefore, conducive to the latter of thefe he thinks fo fimple, 

 that the ufe of the common nofology is inure! y fuperceded. 



Proceeding upon this plan., he diftinguifhes local from univerfa] 

 ailments ; both of which are confufedly clafied together, in the differ- 

 ent nofological arrangements 



This led him to an examination of hemorrhagy, which, if attended 

 in the beginning with phlogtiHc diathefis. he thought always became 

 eventually aflhenic, and in this enquiry it was that he was induced to 

 call in queftion the exiftence of plethora, as a caufe of hemorrhagy, and 

 to reject altogether the notion of a vis medicatrix naturse as an agent 

 in the animal fyftem. 



This firft edition of the Elementa is an unfinimed work, and com- 

 prehends the details of his doctrine no farther than the Jlhenic form of 

 difeafes. Among thefe he there ranks hemorrhagy, efpecially menor- 

 rhagia, haemorrhois, epiihixis, and apoplexy ; an arrangement which 

 be afterwards confidered wrong, and altered accordingly in the fol- 

 lowing editions by placing them all in the aflhenic clafs. 



Such, he tells us, was the train of ideas pailing in his mind as hs 

 reflected upon the animal economy ; and upon thefe confederations 

 did he judge himfelf warranted in undertaking an explanation of the 

 fubject, different in many refpects from any thing done before hi:n. 



He declares throughout the whole, he never defcends beneath hh 

 dignity to animadvert Upon particular perfons $ though in certain 



cafes,, 



