ENCYCLOPAEDIA LONDINENSIS 
OR, AN 
UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY 
OF 
ARTS, SCIENCES, and LITERATURE. 
PATHOLOGY. 
P ATHOL'OGY, f [from the Gr. waOo?, fufFering, 
and Aoyos, a difcourfe.] The fcience or doitrine of 
difeafes.—'This tree may naturally be conceived to have 
been under fome difeafe indifpofing it to fuch fruftifi- 
cation. And this, in the pathology of plants, may be the 
difeafe of fuperfoliation mentioned by Theophraftus. Sir 
T. Browne’s M if cell .-—That part of medicine which relates 
to diftempers, with their differences, caufes, and effects 
incident to the human body. 
As Physiology teaches the nature of the fundtions 
of the living body in a Hate of health; fo Pathology 
relates to the various derangements of thefe fundtions 
which conftitute difeafe. Its objedts, therefore, are to 
afcertain the various fymptoms which charadterife the 
different diforders of each organ of the body, and efpe- 
cially the diagnojlic and pathognomonic fymptoms, which 
afford the means of difcrimination between difeafes that 
referable each other; to determine the caufes, both pre- 
difpofing and exciting, by which difeafes are induced ; to 
point out the prognojis, or the tendency and probable 
event of each difeafe, from the changes and combination 
of the fymptoms ; and daftly, to teach the indications of 
cure, and the nature and operation of the remedies adapted 
to the various circumftances and periods of difeafe. 
The ftudy of pathology prefuppofes an intimate ac¬ 
quaintance with anatomy and phyf.ology ; or, in other 
words, with the ftruiture, laws, and operations, of the 
animal body in a ftate of health. An obfervance of the 
figns or fymptoms which denote a deviation from this 
ftate, conftitutes the firft branch of medicine, or J'ympto- 
matology : an acquaintance with the ufual concatenations 
obferved by thofe figns, diagnofis. Nqfology regards the 
arrangement of thefe figns or fymptoms; and atiology ap¬ 
plies to the cognizance of their caufes, whether external 
or internal. The application of the properties of inani¬ 
mate matter to the removal of thefe caufes, or figns, is 
denominated therapeutics. The fubftances ufed for this 
latter purpofe are termed materia medica. 
Before entering into any further examination of thefe 
fubjeits, it will be neceffary to give a fiiort Iketch of the 
hiftory of this art; in the courfe of which it will be feen, 
that its profeffors have been employed for the moft part 
in endeavouring to explain the phenomena of difeafe and 
the operation of remedies according to the principles of 
fome favourite or faftiionable ftudy. Thus mechanics, che- 
miftry, and metaphyfics, have each in their turn formed 
the bafis of celebrated medical theories : theories long 
fince exploded, but of which the recollection may ferve 
as beacons to warn us from the like errors. It is not, 
however, for this purpofe only that the writings of the 
ancients merit our regard. The perufal of them en¬ 
larges the field of our experience : we often find in them, 
Vol. XIX, No. 1283, 
remarks which ferve to explain anomalies in difeafe, and 
defcriptions which their beautiful and forcible language 
renders more interefting, and imprints more firmly on 
our minds. They likewife furnifti hints for the further 
profecution of inquiry, by fliowing the various lights in 
which the fame circumftances have been viewed by diffe¬ 
rent men; and the long chain of fads they difplay to 
our view enables us in fome meafure to appreciate the 
effeds of climate, diet, and even manners, on theconfti- 
tution of our fpecies. It may be remarked moreover, 
that fcarcely any fyftem of medicine has been framed, 
however abfurd, which has not contributed, by the fpirit 
of inveftigation it excited, and by the new flock of fads 
its eftabliftiment neceffarily developed, to advance the pro- 
grefs of the art. 
RISE and PROGRESS of MEDICINE. 
The origin of the medical art is involved in great ob- 
fcurity: yet, its antiquity is undoubtedly great, fince, 
from its intimate relation with the life of man, the difco- 
very of it muft have been coeval with that of the moft 
fimple mechanical arts. 
The little we know of the earlieft hiftory of our race, 
leads to the fuppofition, thatfurgery was the firft branch 
of medicine cultivated. While mankind fubfifted prin¬ 
cipally by hunting or filhing, they muft, of neceffity, 
have been fubjeded to a variety of accidents ; fradures, 
luxations, &c. muft have been frequent among them, and 
to cure or alleviate thofe obvious maladies muft have been 
their firft care. It is impoflible to conjedure what means 
were purfued for the attainment of this end, yet, it is 
natural to fuppofe, they w'ere, fora long period, very in¬ 
efficient, and that the knowledge acquired in this ftate of 
fociety was very confined. It is probable, however, that 
anatomy was not wholly negleded in this barbarous age. 
The frequent daughter of wild beafts, and the various 
purpofes of food, raiment, &c. to which their different 
parts were appropriated, muft have led to a curfory ac¬ 
quaintance with the ftrudure of thofe animals; and thus 
laid the foundation of comparative anatomy, an acquifi- 
tion by no means ufelefs in chirurgical operations. En¬ 
gaged, too, in perpetual hoftility, thefavage probably re¬ 
garded the examination of human bodies with little or 
none of that horror which has proved fo inimical to the 
ftudy of anatomy in more civilized times ; and indeed, 
(if we may judge from the accounts handed to us by the 
ancients,) he feems to have felt a brutal pleafure in man¬ 
gling and deforming the perfons of his deceafed enemies. 
Thus Homer relates of the Greeks over the body of 
Heitor, that, OvJ’ ago. oi ti; aiwrw ys tcciqsoto. 
It was in times when more refined habits of life ob¬ 
tained, and in fituations where gentler purfuits occupied 
B the 
Vs a 
