9 



There was a time when medical men 

 entertained so determined a dislike to the 

 word theory, that they could scarcely to- 

 lerate the term. If any such remain, 1 

 would beg them to reflect that hypothesis 

 and theory are the natural and inevi- 

 table result of thinking ; so that if they 

 refuse to allow of any theory, they must 

 prohibit all thought. 



The antipathy which some have en- 

 tertained to the term theory, has arisen 

 from its misapplication. For opinions 

 drawn from very partial views of subjects, 

 sometimes having no foundation on facts; 

 opinions formed by processes of mind, 

 similar to those which occur in dreaming, 

 when lawless imagination produces com- 

 binations and associations without any re- 

 ference to realities; opinions, as unlike 

 what I should understand by theory as 

 darkness is to light, have nevertheless 



