270 Medicine. 



In framing his system, Brown seems to have 

 combined the irritabilifij and sensibility of Hal- 

 LER to form his excitability ; and to that eminent 

 physiologist he was probably more indebted for the 

 first hints of his doctrine, and especially for the 

 facts on which it is founded, than to any preceding 

 writer. His general principles are supposed more 

 correctly to suit the condition of the animal econo- 

 my in health than in disease. The fundamental 

 position, that excitability is accumulated and ex- 

 pended in the inverse ratio of the stimulation, ap- 

 pears to be confirmed by many facts concerning 

 the application of heat and the taking in of food, 

 during the healthy states of the body, or when it 

 is only affected by cold or hunger. Whether it 

 equally holds good in the state of disease is more 

 liable to doubt. He was acquainted with only 

 one mode of action of the living principle, that 

 which has been described by a succeeding theorist 

 under the name af irritation ; while he was wholly 

 regardless of the influence of sensation, volition 

 and association. He neglected, or was ignorant 

 of most of the important relations which the doc- 

 trines of modern chemistry bear to the animal 

 economy, and to the composition of animal mat- 

 ter. These, however, comprise only a small por^ 

 tion of the criticisms to which this system is ex^ 

 posed. 



But with all these, and many more faults, it 

 cannot be denied that the praise of genius and ori- 

 ginality in an eminent degree belongs to Dr. Brown. 

 The simplicity, comprehensiveness and consist- 

 ency, as well as novelty, of his system, gave it 

 a very seducing appearance, and contributed great- 

 ly to its prevalence. One of the greatest excel- 

 lences of it, as applied not only to the practice of 

 physic, but to the general conduct and preserva-^ 

 tion of health, is, that it impresses on the mind a 



