ON THE DOMESTIC QUADRUPEDS. 597 
M. Dupuy observes, that the faith which is reposed on certain 
recipes, and the hardihood with which they are applied to the 
different diseases of animals, is the height of absurdity; and 
that the powers of the greatest mind could not be better em¬ 
ployed than in endeavouring to convince the public that they 
only are w orthy of confidence, who, before they attempt to cure, 
have studied the characters of disease and the resources of nature. 
He continues, and it is perfectly true with regard to the 
French school, that the number of substances which are em¬ 
ployed in the treatment of disease constitutes one of the 
greatest obstacles to the progress of medical science. Fourcroy 
had said in 1785, that “ the mixture and confusion of medica¬ 
ments is one of the grand obstacles which medicine has to 
surmount. In proportion as persons are in the habit of using 
remedies, composed according to the Galenic pharmacopoeia, it is 
impossible to ascertain the true properties of any of the ingre¬ 
dients. The ancient school of Cos employed only simple 
remedies; and if we do not renounce the present dangerous 
exuberance ( luxe ), science must remain w r here it is; overwhelmed 
with pretended riches, it is unable to make any use of them. 
Instead of celebrated electuaries, and compound decoctions, 
simple chemical preparations ought alone to compose the materia 
xnedica.” 
In another place, he remarks, that “ the stationary condition 
of the curative art is principally to be attributed to the complex 
nature of our medicaments {ala 'polyphar made). We are too 
apt to prescribe many substances at the same time, rather than 
trust to simple formulse ; so that when a prescription has produced 
some good effect, it is impossible to decide by which, among the 
various ingredients, that effect has been produced.” 
M. Dupuy observes, that a simplification of the materia 
medica was impossible with early veterinarians, because they 
were deficient in experience and observation; and anatomy and 
physiology were little known. The case is altered now, and we 
shall be inexcusable if we continue to unite very different sub¬ 
stances in the same formula, without endeavouring to determine 
which are the drugs that render that formula valuable. If, w hen 
bark began to be employed as a febrifuge, maliy other medica¬ 
ments supposed to possess a similar virtue had been added to it, 
is it not evident that it w ould have been difficult or impossible to 
have recognized and established the efficacy of bark in the cure 
of intermittents ? 
Our old hippiatrists, following the errors of their brethren of 
human medivine, entertained the most absurd ideas of the effects 
of medicines. They supposed that each substance had its post 
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