ON RESPIRATION. ]^J 



enthusiastic admirer of physiological pursuits, I have expe- 

 rienced, the greatest delight in reading an account of Mr. 

 Bichat's labours. I was astoni&hed at the irrisistible man- Bichat. 

 ner in which his experiments and demonstrations carry con- 

 viction to the mind; and I cannot but deeply lament, in 

 common with every lover of science, that so sublime and ar- 

 dent a genius should be suddenly cut off in the midst of his 

 useful and instructive career. I believe none of his works 

 have yet been translated into English, nor the originals 

 much diffused through this country. I hope however, if 

 not already done, no long period will elapse before so de- 

 sirable an object is accomplished. His physiological and 

 anatomical writings deserve to be most carefully studied, 

 particularly by those of the medical profession, ere they 

 can be duly appreciated. I am by no. means competent to 

 decide upon the merits of performances executed by so ex- 

 traordinary a man. 1 can only say, if upon a careful peru- 

 sal they shall leave upon the minds of others the same strong 

 impressions, that a partial knowledge of them has left upon 

 mine, they can never be obliterated ; and I have no doubt 

 ©f their occasioning so much ardour and discussion in the 

 progress of these pursuits, as will eventually be productive 

 of the most beneficial consequences to mankind, by fixing 

 the structure of medical science upon the immovable basis 

 resulting from the combination of the most liberal and en- 

 lightened theories with the most decisive facts and practical 

 experience. Hence shall arise out of the ashes of unstable 

 and departed hypothesis a permanent superstructure, invul- 

 nerable to the attacks of mere speculatists, and which, 

 though solid and immovable in itself, shall still admit of 

 being improved and beautified by the labours of present and 

 future artists. I trust I may be excused for thus taking the 

 liberty of paying this trifling tribute of admiration and 

 esteem to the memory of the ever to be lamented Bichat, 

 though he was never known to me but through the medium 

 of his writings. From the sketch of his life, which 1 have 

 read, 1 may be confident in stating, that my veneration can- 

 not be misplaced on him as a man, however my ability to 

 understand and value him as a writer may be readily called 

 jn question — that he was one of those, who will ever have a 



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