m c u l 
moral pathology. He introduced new fpeculations, 
which, if not always fatisfaCtory, never failed to be in¬ 
genious, and afforded animated topics for the debates 
and difeuflions of the ftudents. "Whilft he was chemical 
prefeffor, he had no public opportunity of delivering 
his medical opinions, except in the clinical lectures 
which fell to his lhare in courfe. Indeed, at the death 
of Dr. Alfton, in 1760, he was defined to finilh the courfe 
of materia mediea which th.at profeffor had begun ; and 
this gave occafion to fome further difplay of his fyftems. 
It was not till the deceafe of Dr. Whytt, in 1766, that a 
proper medical chair became vacant. The body of Un¬ 
dents then made a great effort to procure Dr. Cullen’s 
appointment to the practical profefforlhip ; but this was 
occupied by Dr. Gregory, who fucceeded to Dr. Ruther¬ 
ford. A compromiie, however, took place between 
their.,- by which they agreed to give leCtures on the 
theory and practice of phytic in alternate years; and 
fome have accounted this period to have been the moll 
flouriIhing for medical fcience which Edinburgh ever 
rvitneffed. This arrangement was broken by Dr. Gre¬ 
gory’s lamented death ; v after which Dr. Cullen conti¬ 
nued to hold the practical chair till within a few months 
of his own deceafe. His private employ kept pace with 
his academical reputation, and he role to be the firft 
phyfician in point of practice in Scotland. He was like- 
wife frequently conlulted from England, and other coun¬ 
tries, which were filled with practitioners who had been 
his pupils, and retained a high veneration lor his talents. 
He died on February 5, 1790, in his feventy-leventh 
year. Notwithftanding the fources of emolument he 
enjoyed, a large and expenlive family, arid inattention to 
economy, fo far exhaufted his income, that he left a 
fiender provifion for the lurvivors, which was however 
augmented by a penfion from the crown, granted upon 
the ground of his having been king’s phyfician tor Scotland. 
Dr. Cullen’s fcientific merits are now well known. 
As a chemilt, no conliderable difeovery can be aferibed 
to him; but he was an extremely uleful teacher of the 
fcience, from the liberal and comprehenfive views he 
took of it, and the great clearnefs of method with which 
he treated it. fie likewife, from an accurate collection 
of faCts, formed very complete hiftories of feveral of its 
departments, particularly thole connected with medi¬ 
cine and the materia mediea; and it is certain that no 
man in thefe kingdoms has done fo much to render che- 
mifiry a popular ftudy, efpecially among the medical 
faculty. 
His character, as a preceptor and improver in the 
theory and practice of phyfic, is to be eltimated irom 
the w orks, he publilhed, as a fort of text-book of his 
leCtures, and of which various fuccefiive editions ap¬ 
peared, enlarged and altered according to the progrefsof 
his profeitional labours. Of thefe the principal is that, 
which, in a bald tranflation- of the Latin term, Primes 
Line<z, tiled by Haller and others, he entitled Firlt Lines 
of the Practice of Phyfic. The complete edition of 
this work appeared in 1784, in four volumes, Svo. Re¬ 
garding the affeCtions of the motions and moving powers 
of the animal economy, as the leading enquiry in confi- 
lidering the difeafes of the human body, he alfumes the 
general principles of Hoffman, but corrected and ex¬ 
tended in their application. He difeiaims, however, all 
thofe hypothetical opinions which are uftially called 
theories ; and afferts, that the doCtrines he lays down are 
only inductions from that generalifation of faCts relative 
to the found and difeafed body, which it has been his 
gfeat b 11 finefs to colleCt. Nor has any fyftematift more 
fairly deferved the praifeof being a faithful collector of 
faCts, and allowing them all due weight in his reafonings. 
He has not, however, been contented with a merely em¬ 
pirical'bafis for medical practice, but has always endea¬ 
voured to inveftigate the proximate ca'ufe of difeafes, 
and to build upon it a confident method of cure. The 
jueff remarkable of his attempts of this kind is his dcc- 
C U L 
trine of the proximate caufe of fevers, in which he err- 
deavours to prove the co-exiltence of fpiffm and atony in 
the body. Whatever be thought of the fubtle reafon¬ 
ings upon which his opinions in this and other infiances 
are founded, no candid judge will deny the great merit 
derived to his work from the excellent deferiptions and 
fugacious diferiminations it contains, and the full and 
commonly juft views cf practice which it displays. 
Dr. Cullen affords the rare and inftructive example of a 
man naturally addicted to all the refinements of (pecula¬ 
tion, who yet pays Inch a refpeCt to experience, as to 
fubrnit to its decifion in all points of practice, even at 
the hazard of appearing inconfiftent with his own doc¬ 
trine. This difpofition, which has given his opponents 
fome advantage over him in argument, greatly adds to 
his value as a guide in an art fo uncertain in its princi¬ 
ples as that of medicine. Another of his clafs-books is 
his Synopjis Nofologitz Methodica, of which the third edi¬ 
tion, in two volumes, Svo. appeared in 1782. This 
contains the feveral nofologies of Sauvages, Linnaeus, 
Vogel, and Sagar, with one of his own, meant as an im¬ 
provement upon all thefe. As methodical arrangement 
was one of his peculiar talents, it might be expected 
that he fiiould fucceed in this talk, as far as the nature of 
the fubjeCt would admit; and, without difparagement 
to his predecefl'ors, it may be pronounced that he has 
improved upon them all in the elegance of his charac- 
teriftic definitions, and the judicioulnefs of his diftribu- 
tion. The LeCtures on Materia Mediea, which w.ere 
drawn up by Dr. Cullen on an emergency, were thought 
fo ingenious, that copies of them were multiplied among 
the Undents ; and at length, in 1772, one of them fur- 
reptitioufiy reached the prefs. The doCtor o’ tained an 
injunction to fiop the fale of this imperfect publication ; 
but, with fome corrections, it was afterwards buffered to 
proceed. He promifed, however, at fome period to give 
an improved edition of his own ; and this appeared in 
1789, in two volumes, 4to. This is a work very different 
from the common fyftems on the fubjeCt, and indeed, ra¬ 
ther deferves the title of the philofophy of the materia 
mediea, than the Ample hiftcry of it. \The arrangement 
is taken from the medical indications, and to each clafs 
are prefixed introductory obfervations, which form a 
fyftem of therapeutics. Many of the general doctrines 
of medicine are likewife detailed. As it contains a 
number of the mature opinions off the author on the 
molt important topics, it is well intitled to attention, 
although it is in many points defective as a treatife on 
the fubjeCt alligned. Its general fpirit is that of medical 
fcepticifm ; of a man who has read much, thought: 
much, and determined little : and it has been remarked 
of Dr. Cullen’s writings in general, th.at he has been 
more fuccefsful in denjoiilhing the fyftems of others, 
than in eltablifliing his own. A pamphlet, Concerning 
the Recovery of Perfons drowned and feemingly dead, 
1775, is to be added to the lilt of his publications. 
CUL'LER,/'. One who picks or choofes. 
CUL'LION,y. [ coglione , a fool, ItaL or perhaps from 
fcullion. It feems to import meanneis rather than folly. 3 
A mean pitiful wretch : 
Such a one as leaves a gentleman, 
And makes a god of fuch a cullion. Shakefpeare . 
CUL'LIONLY, adj. Having the qualities of a cul¬ 
lion; mean; bafe.—i’ll make a fop o’ t’n’moonlhine of 
you : you whorefon, cullionly, barber-monger, draw* 
Shakefpeare. 
CUL'LIS,/ [cculis, Fr. of colando, Lat. ftraining.] A 
kind of jelly, or rich ftrCined liquor. —Cullifcs made of 
dilfolved pearls and bruifed amber, the pith of parkets, 
and canded lambftones, are his perpetual meats. Marfzon, 
■—Firft a ftrong cv.llh in his bed, to heighten appetite. 
MaJJingcr. t 
CULLQ'DEN, a heath of Scotland, in the county of 
LiveinefSj celebrated for a victory obtained in 1746, by 
