254. Medicine, 



with a powerful, logical and systematic mind, he 

 seemed to be designed to clear away the rubbish 

 of error and prejudice with which he found medi- 

 cal learning overgrown, to collect knowledge from 

 every source, and to present it to the world em- 

 bodied in that clear, consistent, elegant and lumi- 

 nous state of arrangement, which constitutes him 

 the parent of medical theory/ 



In framing his system of physic, Boerhaave 

 seems diligently to have studied the writings of 

 both ancient and modern physicians, from Hippo- 

 crates down to Sydenham. Though extremely 

 partial to the mechanical principles of Bellini 

 and PiTCAiRN, he appears to have endeavoured, 

 as much as possible, to divest himself of prejudice 

 in favour of former systems, and to make a candid 

 and genuine selection of truth from every source. 

 Besides availing himself of the experience of Hip- 

 pocrates, and other observers of nature in every 

 age, he drew many of his doctrines from the che- 

 mical as well as mathematical philosophy of the 

 period in which he lived. 



i This great man was born at a village near Leyden, in the year i66^, 

 and died in 1738. The space which he filled in the scientific world, for 

 upwards of forty years, was so great, that no one acquainted with the 

 history of the period in which he lived is ignorant of his immense learning, 

 his singular talents, or his numerous and inestimable works. His moral 

 and religious character is as worthy of commemoration as his intellectual 

 jEndowments. " Some, though few," (says his great disciple, Haller) 

 will rival liim in erudition; his divine temper, kind to all, beneficent to 

 foes and adversaries, detracting from no man's merits, and binding by fa- 

 vours his daily opponents, may perhaps never be paralleled." He was at 

 once a practical philosopher and an eminent christian. No one was ever 

 less moved by the attacks of envy and malice ; no one ever bore with more 

 firmness and resignation the evils of life. Simplicity was the characterisic 

 of his manners. He was easy and familiar in his converse ; perfectly fre? 

 from parade of every kind; grave and sober in demeanor, and yet disposed 

 to pleasantry, and occasionally indulging in good humoured raillery. He 

 was almost adored by his pupils, whose interests he regarded with the 

 kindness of a parent, and whom, when sick, he attended preferably to 

 any other patients. Piety of the most amiable cast, was wrought in the 

 very habit of his soul; the perusal of the scriptures was one of his habitual 

 and stated employments; and the business of every day was preceded by the 

 devotional exercises of thi closet. General Biography by JouN AikeN| 

 M. D. and others, vol. ii, 



