AMERICAN EDITION. xxvii 



2. Sthenic diathefis ; as in pleurify, other forms of fynocha, &c. 



3. Indirect debility ; as in old age, intoxication, fatigue &c. 



4. Direct debility added to indirect ; as in gout very often, and in 

 many difeafes of advanced life. 



5. Indirect debility added to direct ; as in over-feeding a famifhed 

 perfon, &a in mod difeafes of infants and young perfcns 



Let now the candid reader compare this view with the opinions of 

 the old METHODISTS, and fay whether it be a mere revival of the 

 practice of TH EMI SON, and THFSSALUS ? Surely they who have af- 

 ferted it was, can never be fuppofed to have given themfelves the trou- 

 ble to examine. 



Yet, with all this novelty about it, BROWN'S doctrine wants pre- 

 cifion. It proceeds not far enough beyond general principles, which, by 

 reafon of their abftract or fpeculative nature, have not been found clofely 

 enough applicable to the fubjects of pathology and phyfiology. He takes 

 for granted, for inftance, that tru nervous fyftem is always one and 

 the fame excitable thing. He fays fcarcely any thing accurate on the 

 different qualities of the blood and circulating fluids, and of the fecre- 

 tions ; and gives nothing very minute concerning the mighty influence 

 of the refpiratory and digeftive procefTes upon the animal economy. 

 He paiTes over entirely the chemical compofition of our food and 

 drink, of our inhalations and excretions of the gafes we breathe and 

 the remedies we fwallow : in fhort, he has left not a fentence on the 

 compofition or the nature of bone, mufcle, vefTel, fat, lymph, or 

 gluten, nor how varioufly thefe are arTefted by difeafe, nor in what 

 their healthy differs from their morbid fhte, nor by what means the 

 alterations they undergo are brought about. 



Thefe, and other omiilions and defects in the BRUNONIAN SYSTEM, 

 called lor amendment ; and this was to be begun by attending to the 

 varying condition of the living folid, and the concomitant (late of the 

 fluids. 



The eftablifhment of the new nomenclature of chemiftry in France, 

 in 1787, maybe confidered as forming a new epoch in fcience. Since 

 the publication of that invaluable performance, language has been 

 adapted with greater accuracy to the expreffion of ideas, and philo- 

 fophical inveftigation conducted with fuperior advantage and fuccefs. 

 LAVOISIER, in his Elements of Chemifrry, has attempted the expla- 

 nation of the putrefactive, as well as the fermentative procefs in the 

 organized forms of animals and of plants, upon the modern principles ; 

 and, in a natural and convincing manner, has proceeded a great way 

 beyond any one who undertook the explanation before. SPALLAN- 

 ZANI, indeed, in his Experiments on the Concoction of Food in 

 the Stomach, and CRAWFORD, in his Application of the Principles of 

 CornbufKon to the Function of the Lungs in breathing, had given ex- 

 cellent fpecimens of this mode of reafoning on phyfiologicai fubjects. 

 Great progrefs has been made fince in detecting the nature and prop- 

 erties of the atmofphere, the gafes and ceiiform fluids ; and the right 

 knowledge of thefe, derived from experiment and obfei vation, has fur- 



niihed 



