PATH 
two dates or conditions of body which attended all forts 
of complaints. To one of tliefe dates they gave the 
name of fir icl urn, which implied a general conftridlion of 
the whole body; to the latter, the epithet of luxum, by 
which they meant a correfponding relaxation. Cafes, 
however arofe, that were not referrible to either of thefe 
claffes : confequently, the Methodifts were obliged to in¬ 
vent a third, which partook of the properties of both the 
others. Hence they admitted the contradiftion of a (late 
of relaxed contraction, an expreffion of which no conception 
can be formed. 
It has been fuppofed, however, by M. Cabanis, that this 
mixed (late of laxutn and JlriClum meant an irregular dif- 
tribution of vital power, or irregularity of tone. If his 
idea be corredl, this clafs would comprehend all difeafes, 
without the afliftance of the other two ; for we know of 
no difeafe that is not marked at times by an unequal dif- 
tribution of vital energies. As to the praSice of the me¬ 
thod ills, it may be obferved, that they wholly overlooked 
the healing powers of the fyltem, and, without regard to 
the peculiar circumftances of the cafe, or the nature of 
the part affedled, were l'olely intent on fulfilling thofe 
general indications that were conformable to their theo¬ 
ry. It is true, that they paid particular attention to days ; 
not, however, as connedled with the dodlrine of criles, 
for which the founders of this left entertained a marked 
contempt; but only as affording them a meafure of the 
duration of the diforder, and a guide for the method of 
treatment. In the firft days, they followed the llarving 
fyftem ; afterwards they purfued the fuppofed general in¬ 
dications of conftri&ing, or of relaxing: during the ex¬ 
acerbation of the difeafe, they endeavoured to moderate 
the violence of it; during its decline, they fupported the 
powers of the fyllem by nutritive diet. This was their 
mode of proceeding in all acute difeafes : but, in chronic 
complaints, to which it was lefs applicable, they had re- 
courfe to what they termed the ^T-oco-vyr.^ait, or re-in¬ 
corporation, of which the profeffed object was to reltore 
the proper relations between the atoms and pores, and for 
which they prepared the patient by the ocvx or re- 
fumplrtie circle. It was, in fadl, little elfe than their 
practice in acute difeafes reverfed: they firft fought to 
ftrengthen the patient by a generous diet, and then they 
adminiftered a fucceffion of violent remedies, to fubdue 
the original malady. 
Among the difciples of Themifon, one Theflalus of 
Trallis, a man of low birth and coarfe manners, made 
himfelf confpicuous by the fhamelefs audacity with which 
he fought to difparage the labours of others, arrogating 
to himfelf the title of I&t ^ony.ri;, or Conqueror of Phy- 
ficians, and that, it would appear, without the flighted: 
pretenfions to either learning or talents. (Plin. xxix. i.) 
He held forth, that he could qualify any one for a phy- 
fician in the fpace of fix months, and aftually fucceeded 
in obtaining a great number of pupiTs ; but they were from 
among the lowed order of artifans, fuch as rope-makers, 
weavers, cooks, butchers, fullers, and fuch like. Thefe 
he took with him to vilit his patients for the ftipulated 
time; and then he conferred upon them the privilege of 
pradlifing for themfelves. From his time it became the 
cuftom for the Roman phyficians to vifit their patients 
attended by all their pupils; in allufion to which, we 
have the epigram of Martial: 
Languebam ; fed tu eomitatus protinus ad me 
Venifii, centum, Symmache, dijcipulis. 
Centum me tetigere manus aquilone gelata : 
Non habuifebrem, Symmache : nunc habeo ! 
I’m ill. I fend for Symmachus; he’s here. 
An hundred pupils following in his rear. 
All feel my pulfe with hands as cold as fnow : 
I had no fever then ; I have it now. 
The methodic fcliool acquired much greater repute 
from the labours of Soranus and Caelius Aurelianus. 
The former a native of Epliefus, who had ftudiedat Alex- 
O L O G Y. 11 
andria, and came to Rome during the reign of Trajan ; 
the latter an African by birth. Free from the prejudices 
which had difgraced his predeceffors, Soranus cultivated 
the ftudy of anatomy, and wrote a book on the female 
organs of generation, which is dill extant, and difplays 
conftderable acquaintance with the fubjedt. Many of his 
obfervations (how that he was pofleffed of great fagacity 
and ftrength of judgment. To Cadius Aurelianus, on 
the other hand, we are indebted for an account of his doc¬ 
trines and pradlice, and for one of the bed works on me¬ 
dicine which have come to us from ancient times; writ¬ 
ten it is true, in a barbarous ftyle, but highly deferving 
of perufal, on account of the accurate defcription of dif¬ 
eafes,. and the different methods of treatment, which it 
contains. 
Anatomy and the other auxiliary fciences, though they 
had been fo much negledled by the Methodifts, were now 
receiving important additions from other quarters. 
Rufus of Ephefus, who lived in the time of the emperor 
Trajan, applied himfelf zealoufly to the dilTe< 5 lion of ani¬ 
mals, particularly of apes, and defcribed from analogy 
the different organs of the human body. Fie traced the 
nerves from their origin in the brain, and divided them 
into-thofe of fenfation and thofe of voluntary motion. 
The heart he believed to be the feat of life, of animal beat, 
and the caufe of pulfation ; and he (bowed the difference 
of ftrudlure and capacity between the right and the left 
ventricle. The fpleen he held to be an ufelefs organ. 
Marinus, whom Galen calls the reftorer of anatomy, and 
to whofe labours he was himfelf probably indebted for 
much of his knowledge on the fubjedl, rendered dill 
greater fervices to the fcience. He inveftigated the ab¬ 
sorbent fyftem with great care, and difcovered the me- 
fenteric glands; he diftributed the nerves into feven 
pairs: the N. palatinus (then called the fourth pair) was 
firft defcribed by him; and he is faid to have been the dif- 
coverer alfo of the par vagum, which he termed the fixth 
pair. Flis numerous writings have all perilhed. 
The ftudy of the materia rnedica, and of the other 
branches of natural hiftory, was profecuted with no lefs 
vigour ; and we owe to the firft century of the Chriftian 
era the invention of many remedies which are (till retained 
in our pharmaceutical fyltems. The elder Pliny, fecond 
only to Ariftotle in the univerfality of his genius, but 
furpafiing even that great man in his infatiable third for 
knowledge, had collected in his Hiftoria Mundi all that 
the ancients knew of natural fcience. Diofcorides of 
Anazarba, devoting himfelf to botany and materia rae- 
dica, produced a work which ferved for a guide in thefe 
fciences till a very late period. His defcriptions of fome 
of the more valuable drugs, fuch as myrrh, laudanum, af- 
fafoetida, ammoniac, opium, fquills, and their different 
preparations, are entitled to great praife. The efficacy of 
feveral remedies, which he recommends, has been ad¬ 
mirably confirmed by later experience, fuch as of the 
elm-bark in cutaneous difeafes, of potafti as a cauftic, of 
the male fern againft worms, &c. &c. Some of the con¬ 
temporaries of Diofcorides, as Scribonius Largus, Xeno- 
crates, and Andromachus, cultivated the materia rnedica, 
but with lefs fuccefs. To Menecrates, who lived in the 
reign of Tiberius, and who, according to an infcription 
in Montfaucon, appears to have been the author of 15s 
books, we are indebted for the invention of the diachy- 
lon-plafter; and Damocrates is well known as the author 
of feveral complicated remedies which bear his name. 
Herennius Philo, of Tarfus, is mentioned by Galen as 
the inventor of an anodyne compofition, called, after 
him, Philonium, and which confided of opium, euphor- 
bium, and different aromatics ; and Afclepiades 
Pharmacion was the introducer of numerous remedies 
from the animal kingdom, which, though long honoured 
with a place in our pharmacopoeias, have now defervedly 
fallen into difrepute. 
Before quitting this period of medical hiftory, it will 
be neceflary to fay a few words refpedting two other fedls, 
which 
