iv. PREFACE. 
Chaussier. In this country, the Vital Force is 
usually called the Nervous Power, an epithet 
which is faulty, because it leads to the belief 
that it is generated exclusively by the Nervous 
System. 
Arguing from facts, is commonly called reason- 
ing, but in Medicine it frequently receives the 
appellation of theory; and as I have given — 
the reasons by which I arrived at new facts, I 
shall, in every probability, be stigmatized as a 
theorist. This charge I shall make no attempt 
to extenuate. I have related facts, with all the 
accuracy of which I am capable; and pointed 
out, as far as I have been able, the causes from 
which they spring, and the laws by which they 
operate, without either disrespect or servile 
deference for any authority past or present. 
Not many of the theories which I have advo- 
cated are entirely my own; some crude vestiges 
of most of them may be found in the records of 
Medicine; and so far at least I ought to escape 
the odium of innovation. 
