PATHOLOGY. 
of barracks, where the foldier who Is ill expires of the 
plague, or any other complaint, unlefs nature is fuc- 
cefsful in the conteft. There are two or three quackifh 
practitioners, almoft dying of hunger, to whom the Miri, 
or public treafury, allows forty or fifty piaftres per month, 
(25 or 30s.) in order that it may be faid that there are 
titled phyficians at the places. They go much lefs with 
the view of treating their patients’ difeafes, than with 
that of treating themfelves with wine and brandy, which 
they invariably prefcribe for every diforder. 
“When the Turkilh fleet is put into commiffion, the 
diforderis fomewhat lefs; but there is a confiderable in- 
creafe of expenfe, particularly for the medicine-chefts, 
which the phyfician caufes to be prepared at fome drug- 
gift’s (hop in Conftantinople. On this occafion, it is a 
matter of fpeculation between the two parties, who have 
a perfeCt underftanding with each other, and charge a 
great price for an inconfiderable number of medicines. 
But cultom demands that each veflel ftiould be provided 
with its medicine-cheft, and much economy could not 
with propriety be inftituted in fuch inftances. But to 
what utility can all this tend, either on land, or at fea, 
when well-qualified medical men are adequately recom- 
penfed for their attendance on the fick on-board the ad¬ 
miral’s Ihip alone ? 
“ At Conftantinople there are at prefent only hofpitals 
for the reception of tliofe affeCted with the plague, and 
for patients luffering either under external or internal 
difeafes which are not of a contagious nature. The French 
government has two; one at Galata, for complaints of 
an ordinary kind 5 the other in the faubourg of Pera, for 
fuch of their unfortunate countrymen as are attacked by 
peftilential difeafes. The Greeks have three great hofpi¬ 
tals, of which two are devoted to the plague. The Latins 
have, in the faubourg of Pera, but a Angle hofpital, which 
is defined equally for the relief of tliofe fluttering with the 
plague and with other difeafes. Thefe are all the hofpi¬ 
tals which now exift at Conftantinople : it rauft be ac¬ 
knowledged that, while fuch eftablifliments do honour to 
humanity, the individuals entrufted with the direction of 
tnofe for the plague are accuftomed to engage in fpecu- 
lations, no lefs barbarous than infolent, on what each 
patient is likely to leave them : for it is a well-known faCl, 
that they regard themfelves as the univerfal legatees of all 
the unfortunate objeCts that are brought there, and that 
the death of the patients is the more certain if they are fo 
unlucky as to poflefs any money or jewels. In addition 
to fuch villainy, they have the audacity to fend for fale, 
at the bazars of Galata and Conftantinople, the fpoils of 
their ill-fated victims. 
“No druggift’s ftiop in Conftantinople is directed by a 
Turk : molt of them belong to Greeks, a few to Arme¬ 
nians, and fome to Europeans. As this profelflon re¬ 
quires previous ftudy, the Turks, who have no acade¬ 
mies nor faculties of medicine, and who never travel to 
gain information, feel their incompetency to undertake 
the fuperintendance of fuch eftablilhments. 
“It was in the month of June 1820, that I quitted 
Conftantinople; and fince faw with much pleafure, and 
a lively intereft, the work which you (bowed me. The 
great progrefs juft made by the Turks, in the publication 
of this production, by order of the fultan Mahmoud 
himfelf, at once proves that the fovereign prefers difcoun- 
tenancing the prevailing prejudices, and that he is in 
poflefilon of fufficient power to filence fanaticifm, which 
would not have failed to advance loud remonftrances 
againft the impiety of reprefenting human figures : but 
fuch complaints might have been anfwered by the alfur- 
ance that the plates were not executed with trifling or 
futile views. 
“If reafon ftiould ever gain the afcendancy among thefe 
people, the fultan will eftablilh hofpitals, and cauie laza¬ 
rettos to be conftruCted at Proti, an ifland oppofite the 
capital, in order to arreft, at the port of Conftantinople, 
the fcourge which annually decimates the Ottoman em- 
Vol. XIX. No. 1288. 
79 
pire. I have the honour to be, &c. Maugin. —Paris, 
April 1821.” 
GENERAL PATHOLOGY. 
In the prefent philofophic age, it appears needlefs to 
difcufs the propriety and neceftity of being guided by 
reafon in our pathological inveftigations. Very few pro- 
feffiona) gentlemen will now be found ftriCtly empirical; 
and thofe few are among the lead honoured and lead de- 
ferving in our profeflion. There is fomething in the 
human mind fo prone to enquire into the caufe why, and 
the reafon wherefore, that the verieft empiric in the prac¬ 
tice of phyfic will never be contented with attaching 
himfelf to faCts, as he profefles, without regard to infe¬ 
rential reafoning. There is-fomething fo gratifying to 
one’s love of fcience, fomething which fo evidently leads 
to better information, even in the vagueft explanation 
of natural phenomena, that we cannot be furprifed that 
it has been attempted in all ages. 
Yet, in the courfe of our hiftory of medicine, we have 
had frequent occafion to (how how fatal has been the 
refult of too much theory. Independently, however, of 
the circumftance that what is injurious to the progrefs 
of fcience in its infant (late, may ceafe to become fo 
when it is more advanced, we have found hitherto no 
fyftem of medicine which has fufficiently accounted for 
all morbid phenomena, or in which many huge gaps and 
deficiencies have not been filled up by gratuitous afler- 
tions. 
In the infant ftate of medicine there can be no doubt 
that theory often exerted a moft decided influence on 
that fcience. But the paucity of faCts, the data whence 
the theories of the ancients were framed, were the caufe 
of their frequent errors. They were like labourers at¬ 
tempting to build a lofty palace with a few (tones. In our 
own time, however, we have fo far advanced in the ac¬ 
cumulation of faCts, that, though much remains to be 
done, we are compelled in fome meafure to generalize 
and l'yftematize our knowledge, which elfe would become 
too burthenfome for memory. To follow up our fimile, 
we may be faid in our own time to be in pofleflion of 
materials fufficient for building a liable edifice ; and hence 
we may now look forward to the eftabliftiment of a fyftem 
which, to ufe the arrogant exprefiions of Darwin “ may 
not moulder, like the (truCtures already ereCted, into the 
fand of which they were compofed, but which may (land 
unimpaired like the Newtonian Philofophy, a rock amid 
the wafte of ages.” 
We (hall not paufe here to enquire into the utility of 
fyftems of medicine. Our periodical medical publications 
have lately railed much uproar againft fyftems. It muft 
be obvious to every one, how'ever, thataferies of dry in- 
fulated faCts, or of reafonings applicable only to a limited 
number of phenomena, can never be fufficiently remem¬ 
bered, or indeed perfectly known. Provided, therefore, 
we wander not into the mazes of hypothefis, provided 
our analogies are not forced, or our claflifications likely 
to lead to erroneous methods of practice, it muft be al¬ 
lowed that we are advancing our knowledge, clearing 
away many erroneous notions, and reconciling many 
contradictory opinions, by taking general and extended 
views of difeafe. See vol. xvii. p. 245. 
We have faid that the knowledge of the ftruCture and 
functions of man ftiould precede the ltudy of pathology. 
Of the animal ftruCture we have given an ample account 
in the firft volume of our work, under the article Ana¬ 
tomy ; of the fecond we propofe to treat under the ar¬ 
ticle Physiology. In the mean time, the more clearly 
to develope the opinions we have adopted, it will be ne- 
ceflary to give a ftiort (ketch of the economy of man, and 
of the moft prominent fyftems and moft important Itruc- 
tures which belong to his organization, the better to un- 
derftand in what difeafe a deviation from this ftate con- 
fifts. 
In the organization of man, then, the firft fyftem to be 
Y confidered 
