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standing and temper, which, as to the happiness of the individuals, or the general good of society, more than counterbalance the advantage of their originality, as it is called. This originality often consists only in the predominance of some of their mental faculties, which have been successfully cultivated, perhaps, at the expense of others. It will not be the wish of any, who have calmly examined the question, to dispense with regular education, even with its present defects; but it must be the desire of every candid and intelligent person to see it improved; and every anxious parent must wish, that his son could reap the benefit, avoid the defects, and supply for himself the deficiencies of the present establishments. All these purposes have some chance of being accomplished, by taking the middle course that is here advised; by fully explaining the truth to young men before they go to universities. To give them comprehensive and just views of the methods of pursuing science, let them, as Dr. Gregory advises, study the writings of "Lord Bacon, who had as enlarged "views in medicine, of its deficiencies, and of the proper "method of supplying them, as perhaps any physician who

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ever wrote." It is scarcely necessary to specify, that Bacon's Novum Organum, and his Treatise de Augmentis Scientiarum, are the works alluded to: the credulity and fanciful notions which Lord Verulam has exhibited in most of his experiments, solitary and in concert, on sympathies, and on medicines curing by consent or by union, cannot now mislead; they can only afford striking proofs, if any were wanting, of the difference between giving and following excellent precepts.

Dr. Hook's Treatise on the Methods of improving Natural Philosophy may be read with advantage after Bacon's. It is worth observing, that, notwithstanding all the admirable cautions which Dr. Hook gives against suffering the mind to be biassed by favourite tastes or occupations in accounting for natural phenomena, he falls himself continually into the errour that he reprobates. How far his favourite taste for mechanics influenced him when he treated of metaphysics, may be seen in his theory of the coil of memory, in which he gravely represents the facts collected in the mind as arranging themselves spirally, one after the other, from the first fact to the last, and lying in their repository as a rope folded in regular coils; this arrangement, he says, accounts for the quick and easy transitions which are made by the understanding, from a recent to a remote fact; for, though the distance in succession may be great, they may happen in their spiral folds to be near each other, nay, absolutely to touch. While fanciful hypotheses, formed in consequence of the habitual bias of the mind, or favourite studies, relate merely to speculative questions, they are comparatively of little importance; but when they are applied to men's conduct, and influence their practice, then their absurdity becomes dangerous to happiness and life. An example of this may be pointed out in the life, or rather in the death, of the celebrated mathematician and natural philosopher, Mr. Lambert, who, when he had caught a violent cold, resolved to manage himself by an exact calculation that he had of the number of little abscesses which were formed in his lungs: settled how many he should expectorate per day; followed a regimen founded on this cal

culation; and when, by his own account, he was much better, having only about eight thousand of these little abscesses remaining, the unfortunate calculator expired!

To obtain a just view of the actual state of medicine, and to concentrate the attention upon what may be really useful, the student, previous to commencing his medical course at Edinburgh, or at any other university, should read the present Dr. Gregory's Conspectus, a work of admirable good sense and elegant Latinity.

To relieve and amuse the mind in the intervals of serious study, the lives of eminent physicians may be read. The lives of Boerhaave and Sydenham, by Dr. Johnson, are excellent. Sydenham is said to have recommended Don Quixote to Dr. Blackmore as the best book a physician could study; perhaps Gil Blas would be full as useful. A young man, who is intended for a physician, should not be ignorant of the ridicule, that has been thrown upon his profession by men of wit", and humour: where it is justly deserved, it may guard him against faults and absurdities; even where it is unjustly applied, it may be advantageous by fortifying his mind against the derision of witty ignorance: for men of wit are sometimes ignorant, and then their attempts to depreciate science recoil upon themselves, The attacks of le Sage and Moliere have been directed against what is truly ridiculous; the absurd

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y In Mercier's Tableau de Paris, tom. viii. p. 278, there is a witty apologue, and page 115, some humorous and sensible remarks upon the beneficial effects produced on the imagination of patients by the confidence, with which quacks exclaim, "Grace à Dieu, je ne suis point médecin; je suis guérisseur!”

rage for system, and the stupid vanity of useless learning. Dr. Sangrado's character and conversation amuse at this moment, as much as when they were first written; for though the rage for hot water and bleeding, by which Dr. Sangrado was possessed, may not be the fashionable system of the hour, yet the satire applies with equal force to whatever may be the reigning specifics. The account of Gil Blas's visit to his old master, of Sangrado's vehement declamation against the new practitioners, the tribe of chemical empirics, those who have harnessed themselves to the triumphal car of antimony, the worshippers of kermes and emetics, and the partisans of bleeding in the feet, still both amuse and instruct; for though the parties among physicians have changed, and though the definition of medical orthodoxy may be different from what it was in the time of this humorous dogmatist, some modern theory will always be open to similar ridicule. The jargon of medical pedantry may be altered, and the items in the apothecary's bill may vary, but this does not diminish the pleasure of reading the Malade Imaginaire of Moliere; the Messieurs Diafoirus are still original and excellent pictures, though their dress may be a little out of fashion. The éloge given by Mr. Diafoirus, the elder, of his son Thomas, will always amusé a well-educated young man; because he will feel the humour of the satire, and rejoice, that it is in no degree applicable to himself, or to his education ".

"Monsieur; ce n'est pas parceque je suis son père, mais je puis dire que j'ai sujet d'être content de lui. ** Lorsqu'il étoit petit, il n'a jamais été ce "qu'on appelle éveillé. On le voyoit toujours taciturne, ne disant jamais mot, ét né jóuant jamais à tous ces petits jeux que l'on nomme enfantins. "On eut toutes les peines du monde à lui apprendre à lire; et il avoit neuf

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Instead of attaching himself, like Diafoirus, to the old doctrines of medicine, to the utter exclusion of all new discoveries, and instead of trying, like him, to become redoubtable by wrangling at college, the rational student of medicine will at the university distinguish himself by a becoming respectfulness of conduct towards his instructors: yet, at the same time, he will not worship any great name, or yield implicit belief to any theory. Such blind deference is not now -required by any university: human reason and rational liberty have made considerable advances since the times when, as Malphigi tells us, the physicians of the old school at Bologna were so incensed by Harvey's new doctrine of the circulation of the blood, that they did their worst to get an act passed to add to the solemn oath every student was obliged to take on receiving his degree this clause, "You "shall likewise swear, that you will, with all your might (pro "toto tui posse) preserve and defend the doctrines of Hip

❝ans qu'il ne connoissoit pas encore ses lettres. Bon! disois-je en moi-même, "les arbres tardifs sont ceux qui portent les meilleurs fruits. *** Lorsque je "l'envoyai au collége, il trouva de la peine, *** mais, enfin, à force de battre "le fer, il en est venu glorieusement à avoir ses licences; et je puis dire, sans "vanité, que depuis deux ans qu'il est sur les bancs, il n'y a point de candidat qui ait fait plus de bruit que lui dans toutes les disputes de notre école. Il "s'y est rendu redoutable; et il ne s'y passe point d'acte ou il n'aille argu"menter à outrance pour la proposition contraire. Il est ferme dans la

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dispute, fort comme un Turc sur ses principes, ne démord jamais de son "opinion, et poursuit un raisonnement jusque dans les derniers recoins de "la logique. Mais, sur toute chose, ce qui me plait, en lui, et en quoi il suit mon exemple, c'est qu'il s'attache aveuglement aux opinions de nos anciens, et "que jamais il n'a voulu comprendre ni écouter les raisons et les expériences "des prétendues découvertes de notre siècle touchant la circulation du sang, et "autres opinions de même farine."

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