87 
PATHOLOGY. 
cember laft (1820), of winch work he is at prefent the 
editor. 
Dr. G. in his addrefs to the then editor, obferves, 
“ You mud have been ftruck, in common with every 
other practitioner of this or any other country, with the 
fingular circumftance of no regular claffification of infan¬ 
tile difeafes having ever been propofed by the feveral 
eminent authors who have written on that particular 
branch of medicine ; and you will probably agree with 
me, that no-where is the neceility of fuch a claffification 
' likely to be more felt than in an extenfive inftitution di¬ 
rected folely to the alleviation of thofe difeafes, where 
daily and numerous occafions mutt occur for its ufe. In 
the Infirmary to which I have had the honour of being 
appointed principal medical officer, it would fcarcely have 
been poffible for the phyficians and furgeons belonging 
to it to have preferved any degree of uniformity in the 
medical records of that inllitution, had we relied on the 
ufual routine only, of entering the names of patients 
without any very precife and uniform defignation of 
their complaints. It became, therefore, necefl'ary to efta- 
blifh fomething like a Synopfis, by the help of which, as 
if with the ufe of a common language, we might become 
intelligible, not only to each other but alfo to the profel- 
fion in general; the members of which may hereafter wifh 
to refer, for many ufeful fubjefts of information, to the 
regifters of the Royal Infirmary. 
“ How far the prefent attempt to form fuch a Synopfis 
may fucceed in removing the difficulties which, like 
thofe experienced in general pradtice before any nofolo- 
gical arrangement of difeafes had been eftablifhed, muff be 
felt in the confideration of infantile complaints, I leave 
my colleagues and the public to decide. I have no pre- 
tenfions on the fubjeCt, and I give my prefent fpeculation 
as a mere attempt; happy if it ferve to ftimulate more 
competent perfons to fill upthechafm which has hitherto 
exifted in nofological fcience. The names of Heberden, 
Rofen, Capuron, Burns, and Underwood, not to mention 
feveral others, muff be familiar to thofe who have paid 
particular attention to the difeafes of children. The de- 
fcriptive obfervations and pradtical remarks of thefe emi¬ 
nent men leave fcarcely any thing to be wiflied for; yet 
it muft be admitted that, had thofe defcriptions and re¬ 
marks followed fome fpecific arrangement, the facilities 
for their ltudy and their retention would have been greater 
than they now are. 
“ The plan of the prefent claffification is as follows : I 
have, in the firft place, confidered all deviations front 
healthy adlion or healthy ftrudturein children, as having 
either begun with their fetal life and formation, or deve¬ 
loped themfelves at the moment, and in confequence, of 
parturition. Thefe, therefore, form a firft great divifion, 
very diftindl from that of any other complaint w-hich may 
afflidt a child fubfequently to its birth and up to the adult 
age. To this firft great divifion, I have'applied the deno¬ 
mination of Morbi Congenili, and I have necefi'arily been 
obliged to make two-clafles of it; in the former of which 
I have placed all difeafes or deviations from healthy 
ftrudlure previous to, and confequently independent or, 
parturition ; wdiile in thefecond thofe congenital difeafes 
have been arranged which are connected with, cr depen¬ 
dent on, parturition. The difeafes embraced by the firft 
of thefe two clafles of the firft great divifion are by far 
more numerous than thofe of the fecond clafs; and, in 
order to facilitate their recollection, they have been fub- 
divided into ten orders, each order containing an unequal 
number of genera, in all forty-five. Two orders only 
are contained in the fecond clafs : i, topical; 2, univer- 
fal; each being fubdivided into five genera. 
“ Having thus difpofed of all the difeafes which, from 
their being coeval with the patient, form a well-defined 
and diftindl divifion, it remained for me to arrange all 
thofe deviations from health which are known to "occur 
fubfequently to birth and as late as the adult age, whether 
peculiar to the period of time that lies between thefe two 
Vol. XIX. No, 1289. 
epochs, or likely to affedl children in common with per¬ 
fons more advanced in years. Thefe two confiderations 
gave rife to a fecond great divifion, which I have defig- 
nated by the name of Morbi SubJ'eqtienles,a.% quite diftindl 
from thofe which formed the fubjedl of the preceding 
remarks.” This fecond great fedlion is divided into four 
clafles, and each clafs into two orders ; the genera are 
96, which added to 55 in the firft grand divifion, make a 
fum of 151 genera of difeafes with which children are 
afflidted. How numerous the particular fpecies may be we 
are left to conjedlure, as the author fays, “ I have not 
extended my confideration to either fpecies or varieties, 
as this would have carried me too far.” 
This Synopfis has been printed on a card, for the con¬ 
venience of lludents. Omitting the names of the genera, 
the claffification will appear as follows : 
I. Morbi congeniti. 
Clafs I. Atocica. Congenital Difeafes independent 
of Parturition. 
Order 1. Atrefis. Natural openings imperforate. 
2. Collifis. Unnatural adhefions. 
3. Hiazeuxis. Unnatural feparations. 
4. Elatojls. Defective organization. 
5. Perifleuzis. Superfluous organization. 
6. Hydrops. Unnatural accumulation of fluids. 
7. Edopiee. Difplacements. 
8. Affymetria. Anti-fymmetrical conformation. 
9. Purcejlhefis. Defedlive adlion of fenfes. 
10. Metrocehs. Marks. 
Clafs II. Tocica. Congenital Difeafes dependent on 
Parturition. 
Order 1. Topici. Partial. 
2. UniverJ'ales. General. 
II. Morbi subseouentes. 
Clafs I. Zotica. Morbid Alterations of the preferva- 
tive Fundtions. 
Order 1. Pneumalici. Affedling refpiration. 
2. Hcematici. Affedting circulation. 
Clafs II. Auxitica. Morbid Alterations of the augmer.- 
tive Futidlions. 
Order 1. Cccliaci. Affedting digeftion. 
2. Lymphatici. Affedling abforption. 
Clafs III. Apocritica. Morbid alterations in the fegre- 
gating Fundtions. 
Order 1. Eccritici. Alfedting fecretion and excretion. 
2. Hermatici. Affedting exhalation. 
Clafs IV. AUsthetica. Morbid Alterations of the fen- 
fiti.ve Fundtions. 
Order 1. Ncurotici. Affedting fenfation. 
2. Myolici. Affedting voluntary motion. 
We hail the eftablifhment of an Infirmary for Sick 
Children, as likely to form a new era in favour of the 
rifing generation ; for we cannot doubt that it will havb 
its effedl in improving a branch of medical pradtice, of 
which it is not too much to fay, that it has hitherto been 
unaccountably negledted. “ In no department of our 
profeffion (fays Dr. Reid) does the pradtice of it appear 
fo cruelly abfurd as in the mifmanagement of infants. I 
once ventured to obferve, that, of the cafes of mortality 
in the earlier months of our exiftence,nofmall proportion 
confifts of thofe who have funk under the oppreifion of 
pharmaceutical filth. More infantile l'ubjedts in this me¬ 
tropolis are perhaps diurnally deftroyed by the mortar 
and peftle, than, in the ancient Bethlehem, fell vidtims 
in one day to the Herodian mafiacre. I plead guilty to 
the charge of rafhnefs and hyperbole, which were brought 
againft this remark when firft publiffied ; but I wifh that 
the years of experience, which have fince intervened, had 
convinced me that the remark was altogether deftitute of 
foundation. When we contemplate a church-yard, the 
earth of which is compofed in great meafure of the bodies 
of infants, it is natural for us to fancy, but furely it is 
A a not 
