Sect. III.] Theory and Practice of Physic. 347 



aiice much less uistructivc and useful than might 

 have been expected. 



It may also appear improper to omit some no- 

 tice of a theory of fevers, formed by the late sir 

 John Pringle, which, from its i)eculiar charaeter, 

 has been denominated the putrid theory. Having 

 been long conversant with the malignant diseases 

 of camps and military hospitals, that respeetaljle 

 physician adopted the notion of miasmata and con- 

 tagions operating like a ferment on the animal 

 fluids, and thereby producing putrid fevers. This 

 doctrine of fevers, however, is regarded as so 

 vague and improbable that few have been induced 

 to adopt it. 



Among living authors, many have been so justly 

 distinguished for their efforts to improve the theory 

 and treatment of diseases, that it would be inex- 

 cusable to omit their names in this retrospect. 

 The learned and excellent Dr. Rush stands in 

 the first rank of medical theorists in the United 

 States. His doctrine of the proximate cause of 

 fiver is the result of a long, vigilant, and enlight^ 

 ened attention to the phenomena of febrile dis- 

 eases, and to the various plans of cure which his 

 extensive learning enabled him to survey. The 

 pathology of the blood-vessels, which had been 

 too much neglected by preceding theorists, seems 

 to have employed a principal share of his atten- 

 tion in framing his doctrine of fevers ; which makes 

 their proximate cause consist of a convuisiou in the 

 sanguiferous, but more particularly in the arterial, 

 system. In conformity to this opinion, his deci- 

 sive and energetic treatment of febrile diseases is 

 chieflv directed to the reduction of excessive and 



