A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



methods of cure are explained by the property of " ex- 

 citability." All exciting powers were supposed to be 

 stimulating, the apparent debilitating effects of some 

 being due to a deficiency in the amount of stimulus. 

 Thus " the whole phenomena of life, health, as well as 

 disease, were supposed to consist of stimulus and noth- 

 ing else." This theory created a great stir in the 

 medical world, and partisans and opponents sprang 

 up everywhere. In Italy it was enthusiastically sup- 

 ported; in England it was strongly opposed; while in 

 Scotland riots took place between the opposing fac- 

 tions. Just why this system should have created any 

 stir, either for or against it, is not now apparent. 



Like so many of the other " theorists" of his century, 

 Brown's practical conclusions deduced from his theory 

 (or perhaps in spite of it) were generally beneficial to 

 medicine, and some of them extremely valuable in the 

 treatment of diseases. He first advocated the mod- 

 ern stimulant, or "feeding treatment" of fevers, and 

 first recognized the usefulness of animal soups and 

 beef -tea in certain diseases. 



THE SYSTEM OF HAHNEMANN 



Just at the close of the century there came into prom- 

 inence the school of homoeopathy, which was destined 

 to influence the practice of medicine very materially 

 and to outlive all the other eighteenth-century schools. 

 It was founded by Christian Samuel Friedrich Hahne- 

 mann (1755-1843), a most remarkable man, who, after 

 propounding a theory in his younger days which was 

 at least as reasonable as most of the existing theories, 

 had the misfortune to outlive his usefulness and lay 



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