IN MENTAL FACULTIES. 205 



light and air, were so beneficial to the vines, that the quan- 

 tity and excellence of the ensuing crop were unprecedented. 



The diseases peculiar to man may be deemed a more 

 fit subject for pathology than natural history; but as these 

 unnatural phenomena arise out of the natural organiza- 

 tion and habit of the body, and the dispositions of the 

 animal economy, they cannot be entirely passed over in this 

 discussion. 



While the causes of disease in general are so obscure, 

 and the exact series of phenomena has been ascertained in 

 so few instances, it is hazardous to set down any particular 

 affections as belonging exclusively to man : other animals 

 might be aiFected, if exposed to the same causes. Those 

 in a wild state have very few and simple diseases, if any : 

 domesticated ones have several ; and they are more nume- 

 rous in proportion as the subjugation is more complete, 

 and the way of life differs more widely from the natural 

 one. The diseases of our more valuable domestic animals 

 are sufficiently numerous to employ a particular order of 

 men 5 and the horse alone has a distinct set to his own 

 share. The miserable canary-birds seem to be equally in 

 want of professional assistance ; for, in the list of disorders 

 to which they are subject, we find inflammation of the 

 bowels, asthma, epilepsy, chancres of the bill, and scabs *. 

 In man, the most artificial of all animals, the most exposed 

 to all the circumstances that can act unfavourably on his 

 frame, diseases are the most numerous ; and so abundant 

 and diversified, as to exhaust the ingenuity of the nosolo- 

 gist, and fatigue the memory of the physician. Perhaps 

 nosological catalogues would afford the most convincing 

 argument that man has departed from the way of life to 

 which nature had destined him ; unless, indeed, it should 

 be contended that these afflictions are a necessary part of 

 his nature — a distinction from animals, of which he will 

 not be very likely to boast. 



Tlie accumulation of numbers in large cities, the noxious 



* RrFFON by Wood; v. 14. p. ST. 



