*- 

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A
MEDICAL  DISCOURSE,

               O R  A N


  HISTORICAL  INQUIRY


        Into the ancient and present


     State of  MEDICINE:


          The Substance of wfjicri   1 & £~ *-*

      Was delivered at opening THi***'-^—


MEDICAL    S C H O O L,


      In the CITY of NEW-YORK.

________________iZ___________
 By PETER MIDDLETON, M. D.
     And Professor of the Theory of Physic
           In KING'S  COLLEGE,
Eft quoddam prodire tenus—              Hor.

Curentur duhii Medicis MajORIBUS JEgri,    Juv.


      Printed  by Desjre.

                    wsBmnmrnmrnamaaBimm
      NEJV-TORK:

Printed by Hugh Gaine,  in Hanover-Square.

            M,DCC,LXIX. 
Saxnd Haidtnt of'CdunAia CnUue .
F.r Am MU. ~UJ*^Lfofi.iu- 
 
 
    To  the worthy and very  respectable
The  GOVERNORS  of King's  College,
                    and,
       to the much esteemed president
 •M Y L E S   COOPER,  L. L.  D.

     Gentlemen,
 / ■  ''HE favourable Sentiments you were pleafed
  -*-   to exprefs of my Introductory Lecture, at
 opening  the Medical School  in  this COL-
 LEGE, have  induced rne to make  fome confi-
 derable  Additions, in hopes of rendering it more
 generally entertaining : This, with my other ne-
 ceffary Avocations, has prevented its  Publication,
 till now. The fuccefsful Efforts which have lately
 been made, under your Auspices, towards efta-
 blifhing the Practice of Physic in this City
 upon a  reputable Footing, and  undeceiving the
 Inhabitants with  Refpect to  Impofton, are  con-
 fefTedly the Fruits of that chearful and fteady
 Warmth, with which you have at  all Times
                                     efpoufed 
                   (   ii  )
efpoufed the Caufe of Learning,  and the Interefts
of this College ; and more particularly of this
prefent Institution.  How far the following
Difcourfe can ferve to promote thefe  benevolent
and laudable Purpofes, is fubmitted to your Judg-
ments : If it merits your Approbation, the Author
will be happy in the Succefs of his Endeavours;
and your friendly Indulgence to him, for what
Faults  may  be  found in it, will be  gratefully
acknowledged by,

            Gentlemen,

              Your moil obedient,

                And very humble Servant,
King's Collsge,                         t.  , r
 Nov. 3, ,769.                           P. M. 
     MEDICAL  DISCOURSE.

           TH E  many and .great Advantages arifing to Society,
           from the Inftitution of publick Seminaries of Learn-
           ing, wfire fo  early apparent  to  the illuftriou's Sages
           and venerable  Legiflators of Antiquity ; that we  find
  fuch Schools nearly coeval with the Dawnings of Science itfei'f.
  The Hiftories of the moft remote Ages inform us, that particular
  Claries of Men, under various Denominations in  different Coun-
  tries, were employeJjaiid fet apart as the Depo/itaries or Prefervers of
  all the Learning then known ; whofe Duty it was by further Ob-
  fervations of their own, 'to reftify or improve whatever had been
  communicated to  them ; and afterwards  to tranfmit the whole,
  without  referve, to  their Succefibrs.  Thefe  Men from their re-
  tired Life, reputed Sanclity, and Knowledge of the Powers of na-
  tural Bodies, and when Patriarchal Authority had now for fome
*  Time* been  funk in that of rifing  States and Empires, would na-
  turally be considered in Days cf Ignorance and Simplicity,  as a
  fuperior  Order of Beings, and as  holding immediate  Converfe
  with Heaven ;  and therefore they were ufually entrufted at the
  fame Time,  with the Direction of all the religious Rites and Ce-
  remonies pradliled among them, in the Worfhip of their feveral
  local Divinities : But that their Attention might not be taken off
  from thefe different Tafks or Studies,  by' the Neceffity of pro-
  viding themfelves with Food and Raiment, they were for the moft
  Part maintained at the publick Expence.  So profufely  liberal
 had the  Kings of Egypt been to their Seminaries or Colleges of
 learned Men, that  as Diodorus Sietdus  tells  us,   one^hird  Part
 of the  whole Country  was anciently allotted for the  Support of
 the Priefts ;  who, he adds, were alio all Phyjlcians, or fkilled in
 the Art of Healing. Thefe Prieits,  by fome called  Hierephantes, or
 Expounders  of facrea Things, derived the Origin of their Infti-
 tution from the earlieit Ages  ; and were reputedly the moft learn-
 ed Body of Men then known in the World, wherever Policy and
 good Government had been  eftabliftied.   For it may be affirmed
 from natural Reafon, as well as from all the credible  Hifiories
 of ancient Nations,  that none of the liberal Arts or Sciences ever
 made any confiderablet'rogreft, but where good Order  and Go-
 vernment had been firft introduced and properly maintained. Laws
 are neceffary both for the Security of the  Perfons  and Properties
of Men, and from that  Eafe and Happinefs  which are the  ne-
ceffary  Confequences of fuch Securkv, proceeds  Curiofity, and
an emulou"  Defire of diftinguifhing themfelves   either by  fuc-
cefsful Refearches into the Nature and Ufes of the  Objects around
                             B    ,.                    them: 
 2              Medical  Discourse.

 them ;  or by fuch other Inventions and Difcoveries as are advan-
 tageous to themfelves, or Neighbours:  The happy Refult of all
 which is Science or Knowledge.

   Befides the Egyptian Colleges already mentioned, we find
 fimilar Inftitutions among feveral other Nations of Antiquity ;
 fome of which I fhall give a fummary Account of.

   Among the moft ancient of thefe are the Chaldeans :  They
 are noticed by that Name in Scripture, fo early as in the Days of
 Abraham, who  is there faid to  have been born in their Country.
 Tho' the Chaldjeans are frequently fpoken of as a Nation of
 Assyria, the Name is now moft generally underftood of  a cer-
 tain Body of learned Men diftincl from th%jfleft of the Citizens ;
 whofe fole Bufinefs was Study*; who lived in and about Babylon ;
 and were famous for their Knowledge of Aftronomy.  The Phi-
 Jofopher Calhjlhenes,  who attended  Alexander on  his Expedition
 againft  Darius,  fent Jriftotle an Account of Aftronomical Obfer-
 vations made by the Chaldteans, from  nearly the Time of the
 Moiaical Deluge.  They firft invented Judicial Aftrology, or pre-
 tended to foretel Events from the Inrluence and relative Afpetts
 of the Stars  and Conftellations.  They were much confulted in
 Difeafes, which they pretended to cure  by Charms, and the A-
 gency of invifible Powers, more  than  by the Medicinal Herbs
 they ufed on thefe .Occafions.

  The Cabeiri was an Appellation fometimes ufed by the  Anci-
 ents for their Great Gods, fo called ; but  moft generally for the
 Priefts,  who performed their facred Rites,, and taught their  Man-
 ner  of  Worfhip.  They firft  came from  'Phoenicia, and fettled in
 Sdmothrace ;  They  affected great Secrecy in their Ceremonies ;
 and  ufed Certain Forms of Initiation into their Myfteries, by
 placing their Pupils upon a Throne, and  dancing round them ;
 after which they put  a Girdle  about them, which was  thought
 to poftefs great Virtues.

  The Curetfs, fo called from keeping their Hair fhort, and
 the  Corybantes,  were different Names for the Priefts of  Cybe-
 Ic or Rhea, the fabled Mother of the Gods. They were fometimes '
 called Idtei Dactyli, from their Number ; and  from Mount Ida
 near Troy, where Cybele was held in particular Veneration. Thefe
Priefts went from Phrygia,  and took up their Refidence in  the
Iiland of Cnte,  where they were faid to have been intrufted with
the  Education of Jupiter ;  when  to prevent the Cries of the
young God from being heard  by his  Father Saturn, they invented
the noify and warlike  Dances in Armour, to the. Sound of Drums
and  Flutes, which  afterwards became  Part of their eftabliftied
Worfhip. They were expert in the Science of Augury and  Divi-
                                                    nation. 
                Medical  Discourse.              3
 nation.  Thev applied themfelves much to Aftronomy,  to Phyfi-
 ology or the Study of Nature,  and to Poetry.- They are faid to
 have firft inftru&ed the Cretans  to build Cities, and to live in So-
 cieties ;  to manage Flocks and Bees ; and to make and ufe Ar-
 mour.   Strabo mentions this Order of Priefts by the Name of
 the College of the Curetis ; and  as performing yearly Sa-
 crifices in Honour of the Birth of Apollo and Diana.

   The Telchines  came firft to Greece  from  the Ifland  of
 Rhodes, whither  they had removed'from Egypt; They  were un-
 doubtedly of the Tribe of the  Priefts in Egypt, the Inventors or
 Prefervers of the facred Hieroglyphick Characters, and of the oth«
 Methods by which they concealed their Learning from the Vulgar;
 for they were very fcrupulous and referved in communicating their
 Knowledge. The Greeks fpeak of them as the Inventors  of Arts ;
 who firft taught them to rear Temples,  to carve Images, and to
 practife regular Ceremonies in the Worfhip of their Deities.  They
 were alfo great Magicians, and pretended to work Wonders by
 Charms,  Incantations, and certain Drugs,  whofe Qualities they
 were acquainted with. They were probably the fame as Pharoah's
 Sorcerers or wife Men ;  who are faid in Scripture to have done
 fuch fupernatural Feats, in Imitation of the Miracles performed by
 Mo/is in Egypt.   They were alfo much given to Proceffions and
 Shows ;  and to all the other Arts by which they could excite Ad-
 miration  in Mankind, and Reverence for themfelves, and their
 Profeffion.

   In the Book of Joshua we read of a City of Paleftine or Ca-
 naan called  Ciriath-Sepher, which literally fignifies  the City of
 Books or of Letters ;  as the  Canaanites  and efpecially the  Sidonians
 are  known  to have even  then made great  Progrefs in  Arts and
 Learning, it is generally believed that they had in thofe Times,
 publick Schools §tT Colleges  in Ciriath-Sepher,  in which were taught
 the Sciences or Philofophy of thofe Ages ; and that this  City had
 its Name from thefe Circumftances, and the Number of learned
 Men who ufed to afTemble in it, for  Study, or mutual Improve-
 ment.

   It is  certain that there were Colleges  among  the Jews,  in
 the Time of Samuel, even for the Initrudtion of their Prophets
 in the Rites .and Ceremonies of  their Religion ; and other Myfte-
 ries of that  important Profeffion  Here is fuch an  Encomium
 umjn Learning,  as exceeds all the Powers of Man  to equal: By
 this we are given to  underftand that Learning was  conducive to
Infpiration,  and a more familiar Intercourfe with the Deity ; and
was  the  eligible Vehicle  of his revealed Will to that favourite,
People.   Accordingly in  the  prophetic  Writings  we find many
beautiful Defcriptions, ingenious Allegories, and inftrutlive mo-
                              R  7.                        ral 
4              Medical  Discourse.
ral Truths, delivered in a Stile truly Poetical and Sublime.  We
are alfo told in thejewifn Hiftory, thatHuLDAH, tne Trophetefs,
dwelt in the College at Jerulalem.

  The Salii  or  Priefts of Mars, were  inftituted at  Rome by
X:tma, for keeping  the Ancilia or facred Bucklers: They had a
Pk.esul  or chief Director; and they were called the  College
of the Salii.  This Name was given them,  becaufe they danced
in Armour thro' the Streets in their Proceffions,  in  a certain Ca-
dence, continually beating upon  their Bucklers ; on which  Oc-
caiion they were accompanied with a Number of young Virgins
« particular Habits, finging the Saliare Carmen, or Song of their
  rder.

  Befides thefe, we read that there were anciently Colleges of
the Perjian Magi, and of the Indian Gymnofopbifts or Bramins; which
Inftitutions exiit in the Eaft at this Day :  And the Colleges of
the  Druids, or Sem?iotheans both in Gaul and Britain,  are  fre-
quently mentioned in the Roman and other Hiftories. Thefe Col-
leges were inferior to  none of the  others, either in Antiquity,
Regularity, or popular Influence. Their  Learning and Opinions
fhall be more particularly confidered hereafter.

  It may be obferved in general  of all thefe Institutions or
publick Seminaries ; that they were ufually compofed of Men
diftinguifhed by their Birth, Learning, and Abilities, fet apart for
the Care of their religious Tenets  and Ceremonies ; and that they
were the  eftablifh'd  Schools for the Inftruction of Youth.

  Thefe Outlines or imperfect Models of publick Academies
or Schools, whether derived from the Inftitutions above-menti-
oned, or from fome other Denomination of learned Men,  among
Nations,   whofe  Hiftories have not reached our  "Times, were
warmly adopted and greatly improved by  the  Greeks : Among
them we  find  the  fine Arts more  generally diffufed  and culti-
vated, than among the other Nations of Antiquity.* This  indeed
might naturally be expe&ed  from the inquifitive Genius  and li-
beral Sentiments of the free born Sons of Greece ;  whofe  unwea-
ried Diligence in the Purfuit of, and inextinguifhable Avidity
for Know ledge, often prompted them  to  explore  diftant Lands,
to vifit many and Strange Nations, and to brave all oppofing Dif-
ficulties and Dangers, in Order to participate of every Treafure of
Learning, wherever it could be found.  Of this there are many
Inftances  in Hiftory ;  and it has  been obferved, that  one of The
greateft Encomiums bellowed uppn the fagacious Ulysses  is,
that he
" Wandering 
Medical  Discourse.              5
    " Wandering from Clime to Clime, obfervant,ftray'd,
    " Their Manners noted, and their States furvey'd."     Pope.

    Nor was  this Cuftom  of Travelling  confined to the  Greeks.
  The'famed  Zoroaster travelled over Indoftan,  as far  as the
  Ganges,  to be inftrutted yi the ancient Philofephy of the Bramins,
  who,  even in his  Time, were., celebrated  for  the Innocence of
  their  L;ves, and Purity of their Doctrines ; and the Gentoo An-
  nals,  ftill preferved in India, mention .both him and Pythago- '
  ras,  as Travellers into that Country, in Search of Knowledge.
  The Hyperborean Thilofopher and Britijh Druid Abaris, is men-
  tioned byfeveral  Greek Writers, as travelling over the  Conti-
  nent  of Europe to  Athens and Delos, and from  thence  into Italy.
  Anacharsis was a noble Scythian who came to Greece for Im-
  provement ;  from  thence he vifited Croesus in Lydia ; and af-
  terwards was killed in his own Country, for  endeavouring to in-
  troduce the Grecian Cudoms.  Erillus, and  Clitomachus,
  otherwife called As drub al, were Carthaginians who came to
  Greece, for Instruction ; as did Menippus  from Phoenicia.

  ■>We read  of many'more inquifitive Sages of Old, who quitted
  their native Countries to vifit diftant Regions, in Queft of  Learn-
  ing.  From  thefe renowned Travellers of Antiquity,  is derived •
  the modern fafhionabie Practice, of vifiting foreign Countries for
  Improvement; which was  adopted fbon  after the Revival of
  Learning in Europe; and'is,ftiil confidered, by Men of generous
  Minds and enlarged Underftandings, not only as a genteel and ufe-
  ful Accomplifhment, but as the finifhing Part of rolite Education.

     Since thofe  more remote Times, Learning has been fo exten-
   fively branched cut into various  Arts,  Sciences, or Profeffions ;
   by the many curious and  amazing Difcoveries communicated to
   the World,  within thefe few lalt  Centuries; and  by tKe innu-
  merable ufeful and interefting Improvements made in all its fe-
  veral Departments ; that  the munificent Founders, and generous
  Benefaftors of modjfc Universities have been thereby induced
  to  affign competen^ffllowances, for the Support of particular Pro-
  feffors or Teachers in each neceffary Branch  t Who with Abiliti-
  es  not  inferior, tho' with Affiltances and Advantages infinitely
  fuperior to the Antients, are r.evertheicfs conndcred as both ufe-
* fully and neceffarily employed/or  themfelves, and the Public, in
  attending to,  and  improving the angle  Part alloted them.

    By the Example of thefe  Eu-,;ean Nations, who have diftin-
  guifhed  themfelves as Encourac trs of Learning and  Patrons of
  Science ; and mc;j particula.l) by the Example,  and with the
  Countenance and  Affiftance of thofe Countries, which, with that
                                                    affectionate 
6              Medical  Discourse.
a-.cftionateRefpea due to the Birth Place of our Fathers, and thofe
Sentiments o£ Gratitude we fo juftly owe for their generous Pro-
tection and Aid in that  Undertaking,  we more emphatically  call
the MOTHER COUNTRIES ; a Seminary of "Learning,  has for
fome Time paft been eftabliftied and endowed in this City, with
a public Spiritednefs and Liberality worthy of its Founders;  and
which will, we hope, reflect  Honour  upon their Memories,  and
thofe of its kind Benefactors, while lives the Love of Letters,—
while Merit meets Reward.

  To render the Influence of this  College  more extenfive  and
beneficial  to Mankind,  the  refpectable  Governors  ljave, with
their ufual Benevolence, been pleafed to countenance and cherifh
the infant and well-meant Endeavours  of a few Gentlemen of the
Medical Profeffion here,  to  erect a School of Physick ;  by
bellowing  upon each of them the 1 itles,  Privileges, and Immu-
nities of Professors  in it,  of fuch fepavate Branches of Medi-
cine as they have  feverally engager to teach.   For thefe diftin-
guifhed Marks of Favour, it is  with the greateft Alacrity  and
Pieafure, that I embrace this  firft Opportunity, in my own Name,
and in the N|pes of my Brother ProfefTor$, of making our  fin-
cere Acknowledgements to the worthy and patriotic Governors,
for that Punction and Encouragement  they have fo  chearfully
afforded to our Urn; ei taking, and the Honours they  have been
pleafed to confer upon us:  And in a  particular  Manner we re-
turn our  unfeigned and muft  cordial# Thanks  to  the  three
Gintlemen of the  Committee *. appointed to  confer with
us ; whofe great CooJ-Senfe  and Politenefs were not only ufeful,
but necellary in removing "many Obftacles which occured to  the
Execution of our intended Plan;  and whofe  ileady and unweari-
ed Attention to the Reputation and  Intereft  of this  College,
are drily furpaffed by  their Humanity  and general Good-Will to
Mankind, fo  confpicuous in their Endeavours to promote  and
improve the great Art of Healing.

,  When we  confider that the moft civilized and polite Nations on
Earth, have formerly at fome  Period livedjks the  moft Savage
and Ignorant do at this Day; we  have greaWleafon to extol the
Sagacity and Addrefs of our Anceftois, for inventing, cultivating,
and improving the Arts and Sciences.  To enumerate the Bene-
fits we derive  from their Induftry  ; the many Conveniences  and
Plealures  of Life which their Difcernment and Good Senfe have  *
put us in PofTeffion of; or the Labours and Inquietudes we have
been delivered  from, by their profitable and fuccefsful Endeavours ;
would be a Tafk not more difficult u.an unneceffary  ; as it would
                                                         be
  * Dr. S. Auchmuty, Reftor of Tr:nitv Chi rch  Dr. M  Coopir, Pre-
fident of King's College, and J. T. Ktitifi,  h(qt his  Mjjcfty's Attorney Ge-
neral. 
                Medical  Discourse.              7
be doubting the Judgment of this learned Audience; as well
as their Knowledge of Men and  Books: I fhall therefore con-
fine  my fubfequent Difcourfe to the prefent Occafion of bringing
together this refpectable and polite Company ; and to what  is
properly the Subject of this prefent Inftitution.
                                      »
  The  Art of Healing, as is  obferved  by the learned  Dr.
Pitcairn, muft certainly be of greater Antiquity than the Study
of Philosophy ; becaufe in the Beginning  of the World, every
one  would be determined to thofe Studies of  Physick  or Phi-
losophy, according as the Feelings of Man's  Body, or the
Amufements of his Mind firft excited his Attention. Now it  is
moft probable,  that the  Reafons for Philosophy  were  only ac-
cidental or  cafual ;  for  Men  then only addicted themfelves  to
philofophifing,  when, after experiencing the  Efficacy of Reme-
dies, they could in fome Security and at  Leizure confider the
Qualities  of Natural Bodies,  and think of excelling the Reft  of
Mankind in the Powers of the  Underftanding :  Whereas the
Reafons for  Physick, or the Prefervatiori of Health, were per-
petual ; and, from the earlieft Ufe of Man's Faculties,  naturally
connected with  his Well-being and Exiftence.  The Science  of
Medicine  is  alfo  more uleful, more  honourable than that  of
Philosophy ;  by how much" the rrfore reafonable it is, that  our
Care for  the Life  of  Man,  fhould exceed  that  of  gratifying
his Curiofity.                                <&

  By the Word  Medicine, the Ancients underftood every Thing
which related to the Art of Hedling ; as by the  Appellation  of
Physician*,   they meant every  one  who  practifed  that Art,
whether the piefcriptive,  or manual Parts of it.
                                           •
  MAN,  from  the Beginning, feems to have been formed by his
Creator, fubject to Changes, and even to Death itfelf; equal-
ly with all the other living Productions of Nature.  The Structure
of his Body, the Functions neceffary to the Prefervation  of Life,
Motion and Reft, Watching and  Sleep, and even Health itfelf,
are ultimately productive of Infirmities and Sicknefs :  The daily
Neceffity  of frefh Supplies of Meat and Drink,  to  recruit  the
continual Wafte of the Body, by the Actions of Life ; the Air he
breathes, filled  with Exhalations of very different Properties, ac-
cording as they afcend from the  Earth in  the Day, or delcend
from the furrounding Atmofphere in the Night; the various and
fudden Changes of the Weather, from hot,  cold, moift, dry, to
their feveral Oppofites ; or the long and uninterrupted Cold and
Heat of fueceffive Days  and Nights ; the  Influence of the Sun
and Moon upon our Bodies, thro' the Medium of the Atmofphere;
and the varying Seafons of the Year ; all muft occafion  fuch  Al-
                                                   terations
  * I*Tpij, Medicus,—a Healer. 
8              Medical  Discourse.
  terations in his Conflitution,  and State of Health,  as are the ne-
  ceffiiry  Conditions of his Exiilence ;  and finally muft  become
  the  Source of his total DifTolution.   Frc m all this may we not
  conclude,  that before that myiterious Fall of Adam,  the Struc-
  ture of  the human Body muft have been very different from what
  it now is ;  or that it wa^s  not  liable to the fame Inconveniencies,
  Ncceffities, and Accidents, as at prefent; or otherwife, that even
  in Eden's Garden, and while poffefred of that fo celebrated and
  golden  State of Innocence, nothing  lefs  than a Tree of Life,  or
  fome fuch lingular and perpetual Exertion of Omnipotence,  could
  preferve to him, the full and undiminifhed Enjoyment of all thofe
  various  Powers and Faculties, depending upon the Hcajth and
  Weil-being of a Machine, fo mutable, foweak, and complicated I

   The  firft Race of Mankind, expofed in  the Forrefts or open
  Fields, to thq fudden Changes and Inclemencies  of the Weather,
 muft have.maintained their Life in  no very comfortable Conditi-
 on.  Unacquainted  with  thofe Luxuries  and  Abules of natural
 Benefits, which have fince their  Time been fo much followed and
 refined upon, it is agreed among all the  antient Writers  of every
 Country and Denomination, who have treated that Subject, and
 Reafon  itfelf confirms it to us, that their  whole  Suftenance con-
 fvu'd in  the Seeds, Herbs,  arid Roofs of their own and  Nature's
 Tillage, juft  as they  grew and prefented  themfelves  to  their
 Han j  joined Avith the fucculent Fruits  of Shrubs and Trees  ;
 and diiuted with the cool and  refrefhing Draughts from  the pure
 Stream  cr Fountain.  This Diet of the  primitive  Ages would
 vary, according to the differelt  Productions of their refpedtive
 Countries;  whence many Nations were, anciently diftinguifhed
 by Names expreffive of  that particular Food moft generally ufed
 among  them, or* with  which  their Country chiefly  abounded :
 Thus we are told that the Arcadians lived in  former Times upon
 Acorns ;  the Argi-ues on Pears ;  the Athenians on Figgs ;  other
 Nations  are faid "to have fed chiefly on B:uh Maft; and to keep
 up the Remembrance of thefe Days  of Innocence and Frugality,
 it was cuftomary at Athens, to  i refent the new married  Pair on
 the Day of  their Nuptials, with a Bafket  of Acorns mixed with
"Bread.   However,  let us obferve by  the  by, that  probably the
 Acorns in thefe fouthern Latitudes.differcd in Quality, from thofe
 known to us ; and  that other Kinds of Shell Fruits  might be
 comprehended under that Name.'  But  when we confider  the Na-
 ture of this  Diet,  we muft allow that, tho' it is  very proper for
 Cattle and the feathered Tribes, whofe Organs are adapted to fuch
 Aliment, 'it could not he fo fit  for or agreeable to Man, who is
of a more delicate Texture : For the  moft delicious Fruits are
cold,  and afford but little Nourifhment ;  Seeds, without previous
Dreffing,  are* flatulent,  and hard to digeft ; and Herbs and Roots
are ftill moreharfti and crude. This is the uncon trover ted Opinion 
                Medical  Discourse.              g
 of Phyficians in  all Ages  and Climates.   Hippocrates fays,
 that in the Beginning Men ufed the fame Food as the Beafts ; and
 that the many Diftempers, brought upon them by fuch indigeftible
 Aliment, taught them in Length of Time to find out a  different
 Diet, better fuited to theirConftitutions : And the fame Reafons no
 doubt,  fuggefted   the firft  Effays of improving the Tafte,  and
 meliorating  the Nature of fuch  ungrateful Food, by Means of
 Fire.                                                      *

   The Ufe ofMiLK was probably an early Acquifition to the Diet
 of the primitive Ages.  This  being a ready Article of Food, more
 palatable, and better fuited to their Powers of Digeftion, than any
 other then known, will eafily  account for  that  Attention  and
 Care with which the Men of thofeTimes preferved and multiplied
 their Herds and Flocks,  in which confifted all their Riches ; and
 for that perpetual Defire  they had to roam and change their Pla-
 ces of Abode, in their Function of Shepherds,  for the Convenience
 of finding frefh Pafture and Water.  Thus the Scythians  were
 fometimes called  Galactophagi,  or  Milk-Eaters,  "by the
 Greeks,  from their feeding much upon that nutritious Fluid.

   The Simplicity of their Diet could  only be equaled by that qf
 their Cloathing and Habitations.   The Skin of fome Animal, ac-
 cidentally found dead,  or of fome devouring Beaft of Prey, killed
 perhaps in Self-defence, was probably the firft Covering that was
 wore, either for Ufe or Ornament: As their Canopy was the Sky ;
 a natural  Grotto;   or fome temporary Shelter of  Branches  and
 Leaves;  agreeable to their Neceffities, and  fuited to  their Cir-
 cumftances.

    At what Time  the Ufe of Animal Food was  firft introduced,
 fs not eafily afcertained. Plutarch wonders what Soul or Senti-
 ments the Man had, who firft with his Mouth  touched Blood, or
 the Flefh  of flaughtcred Animals ; and thinks that nothing but
 extreme Neceffity  could have  introduced fuch a Practice.   When
 we confider the helplefsConditiot* of Man, in his State of Nature ;
 how he is comparatively  unprovided with Weapons of Offence or
 Defence ; and if we .reflect that there is  in every Man,  unprac-
 tifed in the Ways of Blood,  an innate  Abhorrence to deprive of
 Life,  or difpaffionately to butcher an inoffenfive  Brute, from a
 preconceived Defire of eating its Body ;  we cannot believe that he
 was originally formed by  his Creator for  an Animal  of Prey.
 This is further confirmed from comparative Anatomy ; by which it is
 evident, that his Inftruments of Manducation andDigeftion more
 nearly refemble thofe of Graminivorous^ than of Carnivorous Ani-
 mals.  Thus Adam, among other Injunctions given him, is told;
 That every Arb bearing Seed,  and every Tree  in vjhich is the Fruit
a/a Treepmng Seed, Jhallbt to him for Meat; But, tho'Dominion
           f.                  C                         is 
lo            Medical  Discourse.

is  exprefsly given him over all living Creatures,  in  every Ele-
ment, he is no where told that he might kill, or eat of them : And
it is as true as remarkable,  that excepting  thofe heman Figures
which inhabit near the frozen Seas to the North of Europe,  and
who from Neceffity live  almofl entirely upon Fijh and Sea FovjIs ;
the principal Part of Man's Food in all other known Regions of
the World, from the fierce Savages of America, to the wandering
Hordes of Tartary,  and the footy Tribes of Africa,  hasever
been, and ftill continues, to be Vegetable.  But by whatever Means
Man was firft tempted to act fo contrary to the Feelings  of Huma-
nity,  as to deltroy Animals for Food ; whether  from the Example
of Savage Beafts,  the grateful Odour of Burnt-Offerings,  Curio-
fity,  dire Neceffity, a Spirit of Revenge,  or by whatever Motive
he was induced to make the bold Effay ; the firft Account we have
of Animals being the deftined Prey of Man, is in that formal Per-
miffion addreffed to Noah;  immediately  after the Flood, in thefe
Words ; Every moving Thing that li-veth, ftail be Meat for you ; even
as the green He< b  have I given you  all Things : And it is the gene-
ral Opinion of Ecclejiaftical Writers, that  no fuch Food was ufed,
till after the Deluge.  This Permiffion to eat Meat, when eonfi-
dered fimply and in itfelf, will appear to have been  only a partial
favour,; For crude Flefh quickly  putrines, more efpecially when
affifted by the natural Heat of the Body;  while notwithftanding,
the human Stomach and Bowels,  from  the  Delicacy of  their
Structure and Length of their Tube, are  unable to discharge the
putrid Fa>ces  fo expeditioufly  as  is done by  Beafts  by Nature
formed for Prey, and whofe Inteftines are not only fhorter, but
alfo more firm and mufcular: Wherefore it is obvious  that the
Eating of« raw Meat muft have been  attended  with very pernici-
ous Confequences, before the various Methods of  dreffing it  by
Fire,  and  other Contrivances for preferving it, were found out;
in order to retard its Tendency to Putrefaction, and accommodate
this Difpofition to the Powers of Digeftion  in Man, and to the
Length of Time it  muft necefiarily remain in his Body.  Thus
the Art of Cookery,  however it may have  adminiftred to the
Folly or Luxury of later Times,"was undoubtedly,  in  its Origin,
not more fimple  than proper and neceflary ; and like  other pro-
phylactick Remedies or Prefervatives, was at*firft  practifed for the
fole Purpofes of Health and Convenience. Phyficians often form
very  juft Opinions refpeeting the Nature of the humane Juices,
and the general  State of Health, from that particular Kind of
Food chiefly ufed, whether it be Animal or Vegetable ; and fome
have even pretended to judge of Men's Tempers and Difpofition,
from eating their animal Food much dreffed, crude, or nearly fo.
There  are however many Examples  of  a voluntary Abftinence
from all Fie ft, both  in antient and modern Times ; partly from
Motives of. Humanity to Brutes,  and partly from  t»fe of Self-
Mortification  :  For  not  to  mention the  Aufteritiet^and  frugal
                                                       Life 
Medical  Discourse.              n
 Life of Anchorets in different Parts  of the Worjd, it is well
 known that,  of the prefent religious Orders amongft the Roman
 Catholicks,  the Carthusians and Minims  never eat Meat:
 and the rigid Order of La Trappe, never eat  any Thing which
 has ever had Life in it ; They live entirely on Vegetables, culti-
 vated  by their  own Hands.  The Colloyers, a SeCt  of Greek
 Monks, never eat Meat; and  on Fall Days they ufe Vegetables
 only.  There is another Sect of Greek Devotees called Ascetai,
 who live reclufe in the Mountains upon Vegetables alone :  Many
 Religious among the Armenians never eat Meat ;  and among the
 Japanefe we  are told, that  many of their Priefts  and  other De-
 votees are no lefs abftemious in that Article of Food. That fmall
 Society of induftrious inoffenfive People, who have lately fettled
 in  a neighbouring Province, and  are commonly known by the
 Name of Dunkards,  live for the  mwft Part upon Vegetable Pro-
 ductions ; and  tho' they do not refrain  altogether from  Meat,
 they profeffedly ufe it very fparingly, from a  Principle of Seff-
 Denial.  They are moreover very frugal in their Drefs,  Sleep
 upon Boards, and are extremely hofpitable : They have a Mo.ue
 of  Worfhip,  and fome Tenets .peculiar to themfelves ; and with
 RefpeCt to  their public OEconomy, they live under Regulations
 fomewhat refembling the antient Spartans, or their modern  Imita-
 tors the  Moravians.

   This natural Averfion in Man to kill Animals for Food, if it
 did not give  Rife to, was certainly much hightened by, the Be-
 lief of the Metempsychosis,  or Transmigration of Souls;
 which Pythagoras having been inftructed in  by the ^Egyptian
 Hierophantes, and Bramins of the  Eaft,  is  falfly fuppos'd
 to have been  the Author of,  becaufe he firft publicly taught it in
 Greece.   For  it  is certain that all of this Perfuafion, abltain more
 or lefs from Animal Food; either from Motives of Religion,  or
 Humanity.

  As this  Doctrine of the Metempsychosis  is very  apcient,
 and conftitutes  the very Effence of the  Gentoo  Religion at this
 Day ; and as the Account  of their original Tenets, lately pub-
 lifh'd by Mr."Holwell,  who refided feveral  Years  amongu
 them, is  in very few Hands  here; I ihall fubjoin an Abftract of
 their Opinions, chiefly  from  him,  for die Amufement of  the
 Curious,  tho' fomewhat foreign to the prefent Subject.

  The Bramins, or Gentoo Priests, by the Ancients called
Gymnosophists,  have ever  invariably  profefled,  as  funda-
mental Articles  of their Creed,  the three grand  Principles
 ufually taught to thofe initiated  into the  celebrated Eleusinian
 Mysteries ; to wit, The Unity of the God-Head ; his Provi-
dence over all Creation ; and a future State of Rewards  and Pu-
                             C 2                 nifhmenu 
 12            Medical  Discourse.

 nifhments.   They believe that the Hoft of Angels was called into
 Exiftence long before the Creation of this World ;  and thatrlong
 before this latter Event,  there was an  Apoftacy or  Rebellion  of
 the Angels in Heaven,  who,  with  their  Chief,  Moisasoor,
 were  banifh'd thence by the Eternal One, into utter Darknefs :
 That after fome Time,  at the Interceffion of the good Angels, fe-
 veral Worlds were created as Places of Punifhment  and Probation
 for fuch of the Debt ah, or fallen Angels, as were  penitent and
 defirous of regaining their lolt Eftate,  where they were doom'd to
 animate the Bodies of different Animals, even to the fmalleft Rep-
 tile  and Infect, according to the Nature  an'd Degree  of their
 Crimes  ; till by Obedience,  Perfeverance,  and a Series of Trans-
 migrations thro'different Species of Animals in all  thefe feveral
 Worlds, they fhould  have totally expiated their  Guilt,  and  be
 again admitted  into the  Divine  Presence.   They  believe
■that every Animal  Form is endow'd with Cogitation,   Me-
 mory,  and Reflection ;  that each Species  has  a comprehen-
 five Mode of communicating their Ideas, peculiar to themfelves ;
 and that the delinquent Spirits are confeious of their own Situa-
 tion, thro'all thefe different Trapfmigrations and Animal Forms.
 They believe that Moisasoor, or the Arch Rebel,  and his  impe-
 nitent Followers,  are continually endeavouring to bring  back the
 Penitent Angels to their Apoftacy, and to render ineffectual their
 Atonements, in the different  Forms they animate :  That the good
 Angels  have  alfo, from Time to Time, by*the  Permiflion of God,
 voluntarily fubjected themfelves to the Feelings  of Natural and Mo-
 ral Evil,  and undergone the whole  Series of Tranfmigrations ;
 for the Sake of inftrudting and encouraging  their Penitent Bre-
 thren :  That thefe benevolent Spirits have appear'd at different Pe-
 riods, in the various Characters of Kings, Lawgivers,  PhilOt
 sophers, or Teachers ; as fhining Examples to them of Courage,
 Piety, Benevolence, and of every other focial Virtue ;  and that thefe
 Violations were more frequent formerly than  now : That  in  all
 the rffferior Orders of Beings, thefe Spirits are in a State of Punifh-
 ment ; but that in Man, commences their State of Probation ; be-
 caufe in this  Form only, they become abfolute  and free Agents :
 Whereas in other Forms, they believe that the  intellectual Powers
 of theCriminal Spirits are circumfcribed, byjhe varied Structure
 of the Bodies they inhabit;  and in this  principally confifts, fay
 they, the Difference between  Man and other Animals.  That
 the moft Malignant of the Apoftate Spirits are doom'd to inhabit the
 voracious  ClaiTes  of Animals, whither of  the Earth,  Air, or
 Waters, and Men whofe Lives and Actions are atrocioufly or pub-
 licly wicked: Whereas the leaf Guilty tranfmigrate only thro' thofe
 Forms, which by Nature are deftined to feed on Vegetables'; among
 which they particularly venerate the Cow, as holding, according
 to their Belief, the next Rank  to Man in the Chain of Beings,
 as being by its Milk the moft ufeful of all  Animals to Men  forbid 
               Medical  Discourse.             13
the Ufe of Meat,  and as affifting them in the Cultivation of their
Lands,  upon which depends their vegetable Subfiftence. They be-
lieve that the Females of all animated Forms, and in a more emi-
nent De; ree, that Women are highly favour'd of God,  and are
inhabited by the leaf? culpable of the apojlate Angels :  i hat, when a
Spirit is difpoffefled of its Dwelling before the 1 ime allotted, how-
ever far advanced it might  be in Number of Tranfmigrations to-
wards its State of Probation, it was obliged to begin them all a-new
from the loweit Clafs : Wherefore the rigid Bramins execrate with
Bitternefs all fhofe  who kill, or eat fuch belov'd Animals of God,
as feed intirely upon Vegetables, efpecially the  Cow,  Sheep,  and
Goat ;  contrary, fay they, not only to  the exprcfs  Prohibition
of God,  but to  the natural  and obvious Conftruction  of  the
Mouth, and digeftive Faculties of Man ; which mark him as
deftin'd,  with the other moft favour'd Forms,  to fubfili upon the
Produce of  the Earth, with the additional Bleffing of Milk, they
dread to deftroy, even  by Accident, any Thing which has Life
in it; left they ftiould thereby djfpofTefs a Kindred Spirit; or  any
of thofe other Celeftial Beings,  who are working for their Redemp-
tion.  For the fame Reafons, they are anxious to purchafe the life
of any of the favour'd  Animals deftin'd  for Slaughter; and they
have Hofpitds for the maimed and infirm of fuch Ciafi'es,  where.
they are fedand attended with great Aifiduity and Care,  by their
Devotees.  They moft  religioufly abftain from every Kind of A-
 nimal Food, or from feeding  upon  any  Thing  which has  ever
 breath'd  the Breath of  Life.   1 here is not in all their Books, the ,
 fmalleft Allufion  to that Mode of Worfhip among  other ancient
 Nations,  by Sacrifices and Burnt Offerings; fuch a cruel Initiati-
 on, fo repugnant to the true Spirit of Devotion,  and fo abhorrent
 from the  Benevolence and paternal Love of the Deity, could only,
 fay they, be contriv'd  by  the evil Spirit.  With Refpeft to  the
 Antiquity of the Shastah, or Gentoo Scriptures, Mr. Holwell
 obferves, that the firft Conquerors, who  invaded their Country,
 found them a potent,  learn'd, and civilized People, united un-
 der one Head, and profeffing one uniform Worihip : That their
 Annals,  tho; fileirt as to the fabled  Conquefts of Bacchus, and
 Sesostris, yet  make  particular mention of the Expedition  of
 Alexander the Great into India, by the Epithets of a mighty
 Robber and Murderer :  That the Sancrit Language and Character,
 in which their Doctrines were originally written,  are not now any
 where ufed or underftood, except by a few learned of  the Bra-
 mins :  rI hat as  their Records make mention of the famous Pcr-
fian Philofopher  Zoroaster, and of Pythagoras^ from Greece,
 as Travellers into India in Queft of Knowledge ; it is highly pro-
 bable, that the Fame of their Learning and  Purity of Manners,
 may have induced many other inquifitive Sages of Antiquity to
 vifit theii; Country :  That a* the Gentoos are by the fundamen-
 tal Principles  of their Religion forbid all Intercourfe with  other
                                                    Nations ; 
 14            Medical  Discourse.

Nations; and  as they cannot even admit of Converts to their
Faith, or receive them into the Pale of their Communion, without
the lofs of their Caft or Tribe, which is a DifgraCe every Gentoo
would rather fuffer Death than incur ;  therefore that their Nation
has not only remain'd  unmix'd with any other Race of People to
this  Day, but  their Theological Dogmas  have  alfo fubfifted un-
changed and unmix'd,  ever iince they were firft taught to them by
Bramah ; which accordingto their Accounts, was near 4900 Years
ago ; - excepting  fome Mythological  Interpolations of  a later
Date :  And that the Chaldeans, Perfians, and ^Egyptians, fo cele-
brated  for their Wifdom, and who were not under the  like reli-
gious Reftraints from  leaving  their Country,  or from having
Communication with the Reft of Mankind, moft probably bor-
rowed  great Part  of  their Knowledge and Opinions from the
Bramins ; and not they from the Egyptians, Perfians, or Chalde-
ans.  From all which  Mr.  Holwell  concludes, that tho' many
Theological Syftems have in  all Appearance been built upon the
 religious Tenets of the Gentoo's, yet  they have copied from
 none :  And that therefore their Doctrines are moft ancient, and
 troly Original; as much fo at leaft, as any written Body of Divi-
 nity whatever.

   It is worthy  of a Remark,  that if Firmnefs of Mind, a fteady
 Adherence to  avow'd Opinions,  a philofophic  Indifference  to
 every Object of Pride  and Senfuality,  and a cool and determined
 Contempt of Death, are the, natural Refult of Integrity of Heart,
 and confeious Rectitude ; none have given greater or more volun-
 tary Proofs of thefe, than  the Bramins  and their Difciples,  for
 fucceffive  Ages.   The Bramin  Dan da mis, tho'  fent  for by
 Alexander the Great to  vifit him, was equally unmoved by
 his Sollicitations and Threats ; declaring that he had nothing to
 afk of Alexander, and that if the King had any Thing to afk of
 him, he might come to him : This magnanimous Prince however
 condefcended  to vifit  him firft ;  after  which the Phiiofopher was
 prevailed upon to come to  Court.  There is ftill extant a Letter
 from this Dandamis  to Alexander,  giving  him fome Ac-
 count  of the Sentiments of his  Sect;  and  in which he draws a
 Comparifon between his own Principles and Morals, and thofe of
 Alexander,  not much to  the Advantage of the latter. The
 deliberate and eafy Manner in which the Bramin Cai.anus, when
 fick of a Dyfentery, burnt  himfelf at Pajargad<e, before  Alex-
 ander and his whole Court, upon a Pile  of Wood erected for
 the Purpofe, is a Story equally well known and attefted ; and not-
 wifhftanding' -all Arguments, and even Intreaties  were ufed by
 Alexander, to  difluade  him from his  Purpofe, he perfiftcd
 in his  Refolution to  die,  for this fole Reafon,  becaufe  he was
 tired of Life.   But   Zarmanochacas,  another Bramin,
 who came in  the Train of Ambaffadors fent from the Indies to
                                                Augustus, 
Medical  Discourse.             15
Augustus, when on  his return from Rome,  burnt himfelf in
like Manner  publicly at  Athens ; profeffing on the contrary,
that he did this in the Height of his Profperity and Happinefs,
left he fhould afterwards  meet with Chagrin  and Misfortunes ;
and he ordered it to  be engraved upon  his Tomb,  that he did
thus,  in  Conformity to the Cuftom  of his  Country.   When
Teachers  Seal their Doctrines with fu^ph palpable Proofs of Con-
viction  and Sincerity,  it is  not to  be wondered at, if we meet
with  fimilar Inftances of Fortitude  and  Enthufiafm even  among
their  modern female  Difciples ;  who glory in afcending the fune-
ral Pile, and in fetting Fire to it, like,CALANUS, with their owft
Hands ; in order to  mix their Afhes with thofe of their deceafed
Hufbands.  We have a very particular Account of fuch  a free
Will  Offering,  told us  by Mr. Holwell,  in his Hiftorical
Events.

   Strabo tell  us,  that  Phyfic  was in  his  Time the  favourite
Study of  the Indians ; that they did not however deal fo much
in Pharmacy, as in the Disetetick Part of Medicine v that they made
great Ufe of external Applications in all Difeafes ; that they were
well  acquainted with  natural Philcfophy, and knew the falntary
and noxious Qualities of many Herbs.   We are further told that
 this Profeffion is chiefly followed by the Bramins ; that it is very
 ancient among them ;  and that their Rules and Method of Prac-
 tice,  particularly in Malabar,  are  recorded  in  Books, in like
Manner as among the Egyptians.   The Indians derive the Origin
of Physick  from  the  Supreme  Being,  to  their Prophets;  by
whom,  they fay, it  was firft communicated to Mankind.

   When we confider the Primitive State of Man, according to the
 View already exhibited, we can not doubt that, Being unaided by
fupernatural Powers, unprompted by Irtftina, and without Expe-
 rience, he firft felt the Inconveniencies of his Situation, before he
 thought of the Means for Relief.  His flow Reason muft often
 have been indebted to the more unerring Instinct  of  the Brute
 Creation, for  the Election  of his  daily Food ;  and often, no
Doubt, his late but woeful Experience taught  him to diftinguiih
the noxious, from the wholfomeVegetable, the nutritious andfalu-
tary Fruit, from fuch as he had found to be deleterious or hurt-
ful.   Thus it is cuftomary with Sailors, or  fuch as are forced
 upon an uninhabited Coaft, where they meet with unknown Fruits
or Plants, to obferve with great Attention, fuch as are eat or taf-
 ted  by Birds or other Animals, before they  themfelves venture
to feed upon them.

   But it may be prefumed that their Acquaintance with, and Ob-
servations upon the various Productions of the Earth,  were not con-
fined to fuch  only as they ufed  for  Food :   They  undoubtedly
                                                       made 
 16             Medical  Discourse.

 made Trials of thofe alfo that attracted their Notice by their Co-
 lour,  Smell, or other fenfible  Qualities: From repeated Experi-
 ments of this Kind,  they could not help obferving  the powerful
 Effects offome of thefe Productions, in exciting and promoting the
 more obvious and grand  Evacuations of the Body ; and having
 perceived that whatever was hurtful or naufeous to the  Stomach,
 was ejected by Vomit ;  and that every Thing offenfive to the Bow-
 els, was carried off by the fceculent Difcharges ; it is reafonable to
 conclude,  that the moft efficacious Simples or Remedies for pro-
 moting thefe capital Evacuations,  were carefully confidered and
 diftinguifhed*.   Such  were  probably the firft Medical Facts
 adverted to; theirKnowledge of which might arife, either from their
 own Experience, or that of others,  or  from their Obfervations
 upon Brutes :  For tho' many Remedies  have  been found out by
 Accident, many b. Inftincl, or particular  Longings, and  many by
 rational Enquiry and Analogy  ; it is well  known  that many have
 been difcovered by attending to the  Effects  of Subftances  upon
 Brutes: Thus  Herodotus tells us, that the purgative Qualities
 of Hellebore were*firft difcovered by the ancient Phyiician+IviELAM-
 pus : from obferving that hisGoats always purged, after browfing
 upon that Plant.  According  to  Pliny, the Hippopotamos firft
 fuggefted Blood-letting ; and the firft Hint of giving Enemata or In-
jections, was taken from the Egyptian Bird Ibis|.  Cretan Dittany
 became the celebrated Vulnerary of the Antients,  from  obferving
 that Deer and Goats,  whenever they  were wounded, had Re-
 courfe to it.   The Cathartic  and Alterative  Qualities cf fome
 Preparations of Antimony were firft obferved by that  ingenious
 Chymift Bafil Valentine ;  he  having thrown away  fome Antimony,
 which had  been ufed in the  Fulion of Metals, perceived that
 fome Swine, which had accidentally  eaten of it,  purged confider-
 ably, and afterwards that they foon became fleek and fat:  From
 this,  he firft  ufed Antimony  and  its  Preparations internally ;
 whereas it had formerly been ranked  among the Poifons. In thefe
 later Times it has been faid, that the febrifuge Virtues of the $>unra
 $>uina, or Peruvian Bark,  were firft noticed from fome wild Apes
 having Recourfe  to it in the Ague, which thefe Animals are fub-
ject to :  But Geoffroi,  with more Probability,  fays it was firft
 difcovered by an  Indian under that Diforder,  accidentally drink-
 ing of a Pond, into which fome of the Trees had fallen, and had im-
 parted their Properties and  bitter Taitc to the Water ;  by which
 he was cured.   We may further fuppofe that the fenfible Savage,
                                                        from

   * Sic Medicinam ottam, fubinde aliorum Salute, aliorum Interitu, pernicios a
difcernentem a Salutaribus. Cels.
  T The famous Tyrian Purple Dye, was firft difcovered by a Shepherd's Dog,
which being prefled by Hunger, ha:*, broke that Shell-Fifh on the Shore, when
the Shepherd wiping the Blood, as be thought, from the Dog's Mouth with fome
Wool, percti\cj it foon tinged with a Ln.urul purple Colour, 
               Medical  Discourse.             17

from repeated Trials, obfervmg that the  Succefs of this Remedy,
was always proportioned to the Degree  of Bitternefs in the Wa-
ter, would naturally be led to make Ufe of the Bark itfelf.  But
the ufeful Difcoveries which have been made in Physiology, and
in the Nature and Effects of various and  active Drugs, fince the
Begginning of the laft Century, by  Experiments  upon different
living  Animals,  from the ftately  Horse, to that  Medical
Martyr the Frog,  are fo numerous, that the Catalogue of them
alone would fill a Volume  : Let it fuffice to obferve, that by fuch
Experiments, the grand Difcovery of the  Circulation  of the
Blood was perfected by  the  immortal,Harvey,  and the Pro-
grefs of Conception  explained ;  by fuch Experiments, the Ufes
and Influence of the Nerves have been  traced; the  Peristal-
tic, or uplulatory Motion of the Intestines expofed to View;
and the  Courfe of the Chyle,  or digefted Aliment from the
Bovoels, to its mixing with the Venous Blood under the left Col-
lar Bone,  were firit tJemonftrated :  Not  to mention many other
valuable Acquifitions to  Natural Hiftory,  as well as to Medicine,
from this inexhauftible Source of Knowledge.

   The SciESNCi. of Medicine,  in this its Dawning or Infancy,
was ufually with the other Learning of the Times, preferved by the
Fathers or Heads of Families : But the Number of Obfervations and
Remedies, becoming too great  to be retained in the Memory  of
Men, otherwife occupied with the Concerns of their own little
States or Tribes; and the  Sacerdotal Function, for the like Rea-
fons of Convenience, being now feparated from the temporal Au-
thority, it was long engroffed by the Priefts ; becaufe internal Dif-
eafes were then confidered as Punifhments immediately inflicted by
the Gods, for Crimes ; and were therefore to be cured folely by
prieftly  Arts and Invocations : And fuch is the State of Phyfic a-
mong fome Superftitious and Pagan Nations, at this Day. After-
wards,  as Mankind  advanced in the Knowledge  of  Nature,
Medicine  became  the Study  and  Occupation of thofe
inquifitive Geniufes 'of Antiquity,  dittinguifhed by the Name of
Philosophers ;  who having moreLeifure and Curiofity to pro-
fecute Experiments, and to collect or mark down  the Cures  per-
formed  by themfelves, or communicated by others,  became ufe-
ful to Society,  not more by their learned Difquifitions, than by
vifiting the Sick,  and imparting their Advice to fuch  as afked it:
So that the fame Sages,  who fo ufefally applied themfelves t> the
Stuay of Nature, were in their Day no  lefs  famous for the  Cue
of Difeafes.* In Proof of this,  jElian relates that Pythagoras
was faid to have gone from  Place to Place,  not fo much to teach
his Doctrines,   as to praetife  Phyfick.  Many  iimihtr Inftances
                            D                       might

  * Ita ut Morborum Curatio,  &  Rerum  Nature Contemplatio fub iifdem
Autoribus natafit. Celsus. 
i8             Medical  Discourse.
  might be given, till Hypoc rates, emphatically called the Divine
  eld Man, f firft feparated this Profeffion from the Philofophy and
  fpeculative Learning of his Time, and gave it the Form and Sta-
  bility of a liberal and diftinct Science.  Thus Remedies, handed
  down  from Father to Son,  were continually improved and mul-
  tiplied, by fucceeding Generations.

    The primitive Phyficians  moft probably began their Inquiries
  into the Nature of Difeafes, with thofe which were moft generally
  obferved to attend upon the Changes  of the Seafons : And as
  Astronomy was the firft ^cience cultivated by the ancient Phi-
  lofophers, they would naturally impute thefe Diftempers  to the
  angry Influence of the Stars and Conftellations, which were  fup-
  pofed to rule at fuch Seafons;  hence  arofe  a  differed Mode of
 'treating Difeafes, by Charms and Incantations, in order to  ap-
  peafe  thefe prefiding Powers: Thefe medical Charms continued
  long in Ufe among the Antients,  and are ftill devoutly confided
  in, by many fuperftitious and ignorant Nations at this Day.

  ' All the Progrefs made in the Art of Healing at, or  before the
 Flood, may well be imagined to  have  been very inconfiderable.
 The infant State of the World makes it probable, that as Animal
 Food  and fermented Liquors were then little ufed, or altoge-
 ther unknown, there were but few Difeafes  exifting ; and that the
 Extent of Medical Skill then confifted, in the fuccefsful Exhibition
 of fome Simples internally or externally  ufed ;  in Frictions, Bath-
 ing, and Sweating in the Sun or Sand. Immediately after that Pe-
 riod, the making of Wi n e was found out, and communicated to
 Mankind.  This was probably the  Effect of Accident;  for Noah
 had certainly tailed of the Grape, before he expreffed or fermented
 the Juice ;  and he could not poffibly know, that the Effects of Fer-
 mentation were to give an inebriating  Quality, to a Liquor he had
 fo frequently experienced to be pleaiing  and harmlefs, and to pro-
 duce a Spirit in the expreffed Juice, which it did not contain be-
 fore ; till he difcovered it, by that memorable Incident recorded in
 Sacred Writ. Not long afterwards was probably difcovered the Me-
 thod of making of Beer ; for  Herodotus  tell us,  that in thofe
 Provinces of Egypt where no Vines were cultivated, the People
 drank  a Sort  of Wine made  of Barley :  This feems to have
 been the strong Drink mentioned in feveral Places of the Old
 Teftament,  as  diftinct from  Wine:  Thus it is faid, '« Give
 strong  Drink to him that is ready to perijh, and Wine to thofe
 that be of heavy Hearts :—Thou (halt  beftovj that Money for Oxen,
or for Sheep, or for Win v., or for strong Drink : Aaron and
his  Sons were forbid to drink Wines,  or strong Drink, when *
they went into the Tabernacle of the Congregation,  under the
Penalty of Death:  And Moses tells the Ifraelites, that  in all
                                                     . their
  t  Divinus Senez. 
                Medical  Discourse.             19
 their 40 Years Journey thro' the  Wildernefs, they neither drank
 Wine, nor strong Drink : Which proves, that they were both,
 at that Time known and ufed, in the Country whence they had
 fo lately emigrated.  The Ufe of Beer  among the Germans, and
 fome other northern Nations, is  as ancient as any Accounts we
 have of thofe People, or their Cuftoms. Dioscorides informs us,
 that the  antient Britons ufed an intoxicating Drink made of Barley,
 dr fometimes of Wheat, called in  their  Language Curmi ;  and
 this Liquor is ftill highly celebrated in  the old feftival Songs of
 the ancient Scots, by the fame Name ; tho'  the Method of mak-
 ing it is now loft. This  Curmi feems to have been different in its
 Qualities, and in the Manner of preparing it, from any Beers  now
 known ; if we may credit their Traditions concerning this famed
 Beverage.  We are told that the Mexicans alfo ufed a Beer, or
 intoxicating Liquor made of Maiz, or Indian Corn, when the
 Spaniards firft  came amongft them : This  muft have been an In-
 vention intirely their own.  The fameFact  is alfo told us of the
 Peruvians,  in the Hiftory of their Incas.

   As Vice and  Debauchery, by  fuch  Means prevailed in  the
 World, Infirmities and Difeafes muft have become more frequent;
 Remedies muft confeqiiently have been more fought after, and valu-
 ed ; and the Art itfelf more cultivated and efteemed, as it became
 more ufeful or neceffary to Mankind.

   We fhall now more particularly confider the State of Phy-
 sick, among the moft celebrated Nations of Antiquity ;  and the
 Reputation it was held in by them, from the Times it began to
 be followed as a Profeffion.

   Asia, without Doubt, was civilized  before any other  Part of
 the World.  Accordingly we find that moft of the Arts  and
 Sciences, the fure Concomitants and Confequences of the Efta-
 blifhment  of Societies, Property, and Laws, had their firft
 Rife in the Eaft.  Here too were made the firft Obfervations upon
 Difeafes  and Remedies, which were foon communicated to Egypt;
 but it was in Egypt itfelf,  that Medicine was  firft followed as
 a Science.  In Egypt  it is to be obferved, that however  the
 Hiftory of  their firft Kings has been concealed under  Allegories
 and Fables, it is greatly for the Honour of this  Profeffion,  that
 of thofe  who have been  deified by their  fuperftitious Country-
 Men, for inventing or communicating ufeful Knowledge to Man-
 king; fome as Hermes, Osyris, Isis, and Horus  have been
 deified, more  particularly for inventing and improving of Phy-
 sic.  It  is in Egypt we have the  firft authefttick Account upon
 Record, of Physicians by Profeffion :  For in the Book of Gent-
fis we are told, that Joseph ordered the Phyftcians to embalm the
 Body of  his Father Jacob.  Medicine  is faid  to have been  firft
 reduced to  a  Svftem there,  by  Thonis ; but after him, feveral
                             D v,                     King 
20            Medical  Discourse.
Kings are reported, not only to  have ftudied, but alfo to have
practifed it. The Egyptian Writer Manetho, according to Eufe-
bius, relates that Athotis wrote a Treatife upon  Anatomy; and
Hermes,  a King of Thebes, wrote upon the fame Subject, for,
adds our Author, he vuas a Pbyfician.—Whatever Credit may be
given  to thefe Accounts,  they atleaft prove the great Antiquity of
the Science, as well as  the great Veneration it  was held in, at
the Time when thofe Authors wrote.   Their Practice was much
fubdivided ; for fome undertook  to cure one  Diftemper  only,
and others to cure others :  Some practifed only upon Difeafes of
the Head; others  only upon  Difeafes of the  Eyes; of which
laft Oafs, Cyrus fent for one from Egypt. Others again practifed
upon  Difeafes of the Bowels ; fome  Studied thofe Diftempers
incident to Women  only ; others  applied  themfelves  to cure
occult Maladies incident  to  both Sexes : And none were
allowed  to practife out of their own Branch.  The Profeffion a-
mong them was hereditary, and the Science tranfmitted from Fa-
ther to Son. They had Salaries and Mantainance allowed from
the Public ;  and they practifed Gratis.  The Egyptian Phyficians
were particularly ftudious of Cleanlinefs.  The Books containing
their Rules and  Method of Practice were depofited in their Tem-
ples, along with thofe of their Religion and Learning.  If by fol-
lowing the Directions of this their facred Code,  they  could not
cure or relieve the Patient,  they went held blamelefs ; but if they
attempted any Thing not warranted by this Rule of Praclice, and
without  Succefs, it was deemed a capital Crime.  None, under
a fevere Penalty, was permitted to adminifter Medicine, without
being firft received a Member of their College, and  being li-
cenfed by their Authority. In all that  Country,  we are  told,  that
Medicine was a favourite Study, and that they  particularly re-
vered the Profeffion and Character of a Physician : Wherefore,
as Egypt abounds with all Sorts of Plants, both  Medicinal and
Poifonous, Homer, after  enumerating  the  pleafing  Effects of
Helen's  Anodyne Draught of Nepenthe, communicated to her
by Polydamne, the Wife of Thon Prince ofCANOPUs, fubjoins,

   " From P^on fprung,  the Patron God imparts,
   " To all the Pbarian Race, his Healing  Arts."
                                           Pope's  Odys.

   It fhould be remarked here  for the Honour of Egypt, that we
have  the  firft Account  of a public  Library, in that Coun-
try ;  over the  Doors of which  was written, in  golden  Letters,
Ty^x? I«.Tfitn>, or Medicinp  for the  Soul.  The  Egyptians
were wont to hang up the Hiftories of extraordinary Cures, in the
Temple of Vulcan at Memphis.  The  Art of Embalming,  for
which they yjere fo famed, is  a Proof of their being early ac-
quainted-with the g^ner^t Properties of Spkeries, Rofin, Balm,
                                                     Myrrh, 
               Medical  Discourse.            21
Myrrh, and other Gums, ufually imported by the IJhmatlites,  and
employed in that Procefs.

  The Ph^nicians  are among the firft Nations that make any
Figure in Hiftory, for Learning and Arts; and who are faid to have
ftudied and cultivated Phyfic very early. But as we have pnl-y gene-
ral  Aflertions to conduct  us in our Inquiries here ;  and as all
Obfervations upon Medicinal Facts, were in thefe Times necefla-
rily interwoven with their other philofophicStudies; we are obliged
to form  our Opinions refpeCting their Skill  in the Healing
Art, from  the Advances we find they had made in the other
Branches of useful  Knowledge.  It is uncertain whence they
derived their Origin.  Some think that they were the Pofterity of
the Inhabitants  of Canaan,  who efcaped the devouring Sword of
the Jews ;  and this Opinion feems countenanced by the Qtymo-
logy of the Word Canaan,  which, in the Language of \the Eaft,
means a Merchant.  The Author  of  the Inquiry into the  Life
and Writings of HomeR  obferves, That they retained much of
the Manners of the  Eaftern Nations ;  that their Language was  a
Branch of the old Aramaan ; that their Policy, both civil and reli-
gious, their Temples, their Records preferved  in Temples,  and
the Order  of their  Priefts  exempted from  Taxes, are very like
the Inftitutions that  prevailed over the Eaft: To which may be
added, that the  Tyrians worfhipped  the Fire.  They were the
Authors of the  nobler Kinds of Architecture, of Naviga-
tion, and Geography ;  the Improvers of Astronomy ; the
Inventors of the Heliotrope or Sun-Dial, and of Glass; and
the Rivals  of the Egyptians for the  Invention  of Letters and
Arithmetics  They were alfo the Parent of  Mechanics, and
the firft Workers in Metals, Wood, and Stone : So that what is faid
of Hiram, the Widow's Son from Tyre, and  the Mafter Workman
to King Solomon, was truly characteriftic of the Nation,—^
was Jkilful to work in Gold  and in Silver,  in  Brass, in
Iron, in Stone,  and in Timber ; in Purple, in Blue, in fine
Linnen, and in Crimson  : Alfo to grave every Manner of Grav-
ing, and to find out every Device which ftould be put to him.  In
fhort  they excelled in all Works of Tafie.  By their frequent Voy-
ages over the Euxine, and Red Seas, to all  the  different Parts of
the Mediterranean, and into the Atlantic Ocean,  as far as the Gum
Coaft  on one Hand, and to Britain  on the other; we may rea-
fonably fuppofe that they greatly improved  the  Healing Art,
and inriched the Materia  Medica  : For  it is well known that
the Communication of Difeafes from  one Country to another, as
well as of Remedies and Operations ufed in different Countries
for the fame Difeafes, is the Effect of Commerce. From the Phoeni-
cians,  Homer firft learned the noted Story of the Sirens ; and of
that dangerousDame G7rr*,who with the intoxicating Juice of Herbs,
could transform Men into Brutes.  From the fame People he pro-
                                                     bably 
22             Medical  Discourse.
bably firft heard of the Inchantments of Medea in Colchis, and
of her wonderful Skill in the Virtues of Herbs. If moreover we
confider their  daily  Intercourfe with,  and Vicinity  to Egypt,
where Medicine was always particularly cultivated and reflected,
and that even then, this Profeffion was a profitable Branch of Bu-
finefs ;  we can not doubt that they, wh-fe Merchants were Princes,
and whofe Traffickers the Honourable  of the Earth, were alfo well
acquainted with the  Nature and Cure  of Difeafes.  The Know-
ledge of Medicine conftituted in  thofe Days Part of their Phiiofo-
phic Studies  ; and Phaniaa has given Birth to many celebrated
Names of Antiquity.  Anceus,  the only  Argonaut upon that
Expedition who underftood.^/?rBn<wwy,was a Phoenician : Moschus,
who lived fome Time before the  Trojan War, and firft taught
the famous Atomical  Philofophy,  was  a Sidonian;  Democritus
afterwards brought this Philofophy  from the Eaft, and communi-
cated it to Epicurus, by whofe Name  it has been ufually diftin-
guifhed ever  fince ; and the Principles  of which became, as St.
Everemond fays, the fafhionable  Opinions of all the fine Gen-
tlemen of Antiquity.  Thales, commonly called the Milefian,
and one of the Seven  Wife Men, according to  Diogenes L«er-
tius, was a  noble Phoenician: AndZENO, the Founder of the Stoic
Philofophy, was originally a Tyrian Merchant fhipwrecked upon
the Coaft of  Attica, near Athens. It ought not  to be omitted that
Pherecydes, who is confidered as  the  Father of the Gracian
Philofophy, and as the firft who fpake of the  Metempfychofis,  and
who was  alfo Matter to Pythagoras ; without any one to lead
him in the Way to  Science, obtained  all his Knowledge  from
fome  Volumes  of the  fublime Philofophy of the Phoenicians,
which  he had  fortunately  purchafed  from  their Merchants  ;
whereby  he  acquired a great Name for Learning  among the
Greeks : Now Pherecydes is exprefsly faid to have been fkilful
in Phyfic.

  It was cuftomary withthcBABYLONiANS to bring out their Sick
into the Streets, and moft frequented Places ;  and to inquire of
Spectators or Paffengers  how they  might obtain Relief: And it
was confidered as wicked or criminal to pafs  them, without in-
quiring into the Nature of their Diftemper,  and  giving  fome
Advice, either from  their  own Experience, or from what they
had learned of others. From this Cuftom Herodotus imagines,
that there were no profeffed Physicians among the Babylonians :
But we know that  the fame Practice prevailed in Egypt, long after
Physick had been reduced to fome Rules in that Country j  and
alfo in Greece they expofed  their  Sick in like Manner,  after
Medicine is well known to  have made Part of their national
Learning.

  The ancient Scythians, according to Pliny, were very expert
                                                        in 
                Medical  Discourse.             23
 in  poifoning  their Arrows ;  and were well acquainted with the
 Medicinal Qualities of many Herbs.
   In the Countries bordering upon India, they had the Art of
 preparing Poifons in early Times ; for St r a bo mentions a Law,
 to deter them  from the Practice  of poifoning  one another, even
 in the fame Family. When we have fuch Authority for believing
 them experienced in the Powers of noxious Plants, we can't doubt
 of  their, being alfo well acquainted with thofe of many  falutary
 ones; and with the moft fuccefsful Methods of ufing them.

   In the facredHiftory of the Jews,  there is  frequent Mention
 made of Physicians, and of Medicines. The high Price which
 Rachel offered to Leah  for her Sons Mandrakes,   proves their
 early Acquaintance  with the real or f uppofed Virtues of Plants.
 Their great Law-Giver Moses,  tis faid,  was  learned in all the
 Wifdom of the Egyptians ;  among whom we  have obferved that
 the Study of Phyfick was particularly followed «  The  Symptoms or
 diftinguifhing Marks he has left  us, of the different  Degrees  of
 Malignancy in the Leprofy,  and of other cutaneous Diftempers in-
 cident to that People ; his Obfervations upon various other Mala-
 dies, claffed under the'Denomination of Unclean ; his Prohibitions
 with Refpect to fome particular Kinds of Meats ; all teftify his ju-
 dicious Attention as a Physician,  <o the prevailing Tempera-
 ment and Difeafes of his Country-Men ; and to the Di^tetick
 Part of Medicine  comprehending Food and Cleanlinefs.  We are
 told that by God's Direction, he cured the Bitternefs  of the Wa-
 ters at Ma rah, and rendered them fweet and potable, by calling
 a Tree into them ;  upon which it is elfewhere obferved "  Was not
 the Water made fweet with  Wood, that the Virtue thkteof might be
 known ?"   He  is the firft who fpeaks of the particular Mystery
 or Art of the Apothecaries, and mentions  their compound
 Ointments and Confetlions.   His grinding the golden Calf 'to Powder,
 and giving it to the People to drink, is an Inftance  of his  great
 Skill in Chymistry, which has puzzled all  the Adepts  in  that
 Art ever fince, to  imitate.   By the Mofaical Law,  whoever hurt
 or maimed another, was obliged " to caufe him to  be thoroughly
 healed, and to  be at the Expence  of his Cure. * Of all Solomon's
 divinely infpired Wifdom,  his Knowledge in Botany  muft have
 been none of the Ieaft confpicuous; for he is faid to  have wrote
 upon Trees,  from the Cedar  that is in Lebanon, even to the Hys-
 sop  that fpringethout of the Wall :  And himfelf affures us,  that
 he knew the Operation of the Elements, the Pofition of the Stars, the
 Nature of living Creatures, the Diverfities of Plants, and the Virtues of
Roots : It is a Saying of the fame  wise  King,  that « merry*Heart
doth good like a  Medicine.  It  is remarkable that King Asa being
difeafed in his  Feet, is reproached for feeking to the Physicians
(laTfSi)  rather  than  to Goo; and that the fweet  Odours and
                         W                           Spices
  *  Mercedem Medici folvet. 
24            MfDicAL  Discourse.
Spices in which hisBady was depofited after Death, were prepared
by the Apothecaries Art  (Mvct^i*) :  This feems  to  prove that
in his  Timei if not before, thefe two Profejfions were diftinct. *—
" Is there no Balm in Giliad, fays Jeremiah, /'/ there  no  Phy-
" si ci an there ? Why then is not the  Health of the Daughter of
" my People recovered?"  St. Luke the Evangelift,  is  called  the
beloved Physician ; -«nd from many Medical Expreffions ufed by
him in his Greek Original, is  with good Reafon b  lieved to have
been of this Profeffion.  For further Proof of the high Eftimation
in  which the Medical Character was held by the Jews, take
their own Words,—<c Honour a  Physician with the  Honour  due
" unto him, for the Ufes w/icb you may have of him ; for the Lord
" hath created him.—The Skill  of the Physician  Jhall lift up  his
" Head;  and in the Sight of Great Men, he ft all be  in  Admiration.
" The Lord hath created Medicines out of the Earth ;  and he that
" is wife will not abhor them :-—With fuch doth  he  heal Men, and
" taketb away their Pains ; of fuch doth tbe  Apothecary  make
" a Confection, and of his Works there is no End. And again,
" Give Place to the Physician—he ftall receive Honour of the King—
" and from him is Peaceoverall thtEarth." What deferves Notice
here,  and  fhows us from facred Writ, both the moral and religi-
ous Obligations we are under, to ufe the neceflary Means for the
Recovery of Health, is, that befides the above-mentioned Cure of
the Waters at Marah ;  the Prophet Elisha cured the unwhol-
fome Waters of Jericho, by throwing Salt into them; and Isa i a h,
tho'he had Divine Authority to affure Hezekiah, of his Reco-
very from  a perilous Difeafe in three Days, yet vifibly contribu-
ted thereto,  by the judicious  Application of a Poultice of Figs to
his Boil: Apid that even  our  Saviour himfelf deigned to  ufe
external Means in  the Cure of a blind  Man, by  anointing  his
Eyes with Clay,  made of Earth and Spittle ; 'when in  all  thefe
Cafes,  the Fiat or Command alone had fufficed.

  In Persia we find that Physic was early cultivated, and held
in high Efteem. Xenophon tells us, that the  Great Cyrus ne-
ver failed  to take  a  Number of Physicians along with him
in his Army; rewarding them very liberally, and fhewmg for them
a particular Regard.   He  farther remarks, that Cyrus in this
only followed  a Cuftom,  anciently  eftabliftied among the Per-
fian Generals : And we are affured that  the  Younger-Cyru*
kept up the fame Cuftom in his Army.

  Perhaps it may not be difpleafing to the Curious,  to have fome
Accotfnt here of the antient Perlian Magi ;  and of their modern
Defcendants thePARSsES,  or Guebres,  fo called from their  wor-
fhiping the Fire.

                                *                     The
  * A/a lived about 450 Years before Hippocrates. 
              Medical  Discourse.              2.5

  The Doctrines of the PerfianMAGi, are very ancient.  Their
Name, in that  Language,  means the fame  as Philosophers
among the Greeks, or Sapientes  (Wijemen)  among the Latins;
and  from their extraordinary Learning,  and Knowledge of  the
Operations of natural Bodies,  tljey were believ'd  to have fecret
Communication  with,  or Power over, inntifible Spirits.  We  are
told  that they believed the TranJmigration of Souls ; »and Dioce-
nes  Laertius affaires us, that they lived intirely upon Milk and
Vegetables.   They were the fole Guardians and  Superintendants
of Religion, and ofthe Laws : No publick Worfhip  could be
perform'd but by them ; and no Law could be enacted or abrogated
without their Concurrence*   They allowed of  no Images,   nor
ufed bloody Sacrifices in their Worfhip ; which  was always in  an-
cient Times, perform'd  by them in the open  Air, or in  Groves,
but never in  covered Temples: For as the Sun was the. great
Object of their Adoration, they faid that  the whole  World  was
the Temple of the Sun.  However,  Temples were afterwards per-
mitted,  for the  Prefervation of their Holy Fire, Which was always
kept burning; tho'even  then their Temples  were open at  the
Top.  Their Doctrines are believed to be older than Zoroaster,
and he lived  about the Time of  Romulus.  They were equally
revered by Princes and People ;  and feem'd to have had the fame
Power and Influence, as the Prophets among the Jews. They
were famed for  their Knowledge in the Arts of Divination and Au-
gury  ; and made great Ufe of Charms:  The Scripture bears Tefti-
mony of their Skill in Aftronomy, by the  Obfervations they made
upon that Star which appeared at the  Birth  of Christ. The
Pofterity of thefe Magi are ftill extant in the  Eafi-Indies; and
are diftinguifhed by the Name of Parsses. They call themfelves
Followers of Zoroaster ; and have preferved the Religion and
Belief of the ancient  Magi,  with little Alteration, to this Day.
We  are indebted to thelnduftry and laudable Curiofity of Mr.  Du
Perron, for the beft and moft genuine Account we have, of  the
Rites and Opinions of thefe Parsses.  This  Gentleman, a few
Years age, voluntarily undertook* Voyage to the Eaft-Indies, in
order to learn the Language and Religion ofthe  Parsses,  from  the
P/tRSSF.s themfelves ; and to difcover andtranllate at the  Fountain
Head, theZENDOVESTA, or Writings generally attributed to Zo-
roaster. »After travelling fome Time over Indoftan, for'Informa-
tion, and in Order to colledt Materials, he fixed  his Refidence at
Su'rat, where he continued three Years, ftudying  thofe langua-
ges in which their Sacred Books are written,  and which  are now
no more fpoken or underftood, except by a few  of their Learned.
At Surat he purchafed a grdat many of their Original Manufcripts,
which he partly copied, and partly tranflated.  Here too he had
an Opportunity of converfing with their Doftors, or Teachers ; as
there is a large Body of thefe Parsses, who have been eftablifhed
                            E                          in 
 26"             Medical  Discourse.

 in Guzaratte, ever fince the Year 767,  to which Place  they  fled
 from Kirman, a Province of Perfia,  on  Account ofthe Perfccuti-
 onsofthe Mahometan Followers of Om«r. Thefe original Manu-
fcripts, with Copies and \ ranflations of feveral others, reflecting
 both the Religion uf the Parsses and  Bramins, and which were
 collected from  different Parts of India, have  been brought to
 France, and depofited by Du Perron in the King*s Library there :
 The Genuinels  of which is fupported, by the univerfal Belief of the
 People themfelves, and ofthe Country they relide in ; by an unin-
 terrupted Tradition down  from Zoroaster  himfelf; by the
 evident Antiquity of the Cbaracler and Languages in which they
 are written, and which are now no longer  ufed, and  almoft in-
 tirely forgot;  and by  the  Affent of the Mahometans  themfelves,
 their declared Enemies. Tho' their Laws and Opinions are allowed
 to be much older than Zoroaster, yet as he new modelled and
 reduced them to a regular Syltem.  he is confidered by  them, not
 only as having been their Prince and Lawgiver, bat alfo as
 an infpired Prophet and Philosopher :  His Body of Laws is
 divided into 21 Books,  fome  of which are  now^oft ;  7 of them
 treated of  the Creation, and Hiftory of the World;  7 of Morality,
 and ofall Duties civil'and religious ; and 7,  of Physick and ■Iftro-
 nomy.  In one of his Chapters, he treats particularly ofthe Dig-
 nity and Usefulness of the Medical Profession ; and of the
 great Merit of him who has cured many Sick,  promifing that he
 fhall be rewarded with a long and happy Life.   He forbids  them
 ufing Remedies to his'beloved Parsses, without having firft ex-
 perienced theirEfficacy on others; And he then fixes the Fees, which
 the diffe:^nt ClafTes  among the Parsses are to give to the Physi-
 cian.  He alfo treats,  in  different Places,  of feveral  Difordcrs
 incident to Women,  under various Circumftance-. of Life. Whence
 we may reafonably conclude, that before Zoroaster compofed
 his Zendovesta, the Science of Physick, muft have been for
 fome Time followed as a learned and refpeCtable Profeffion, either
 in his own  Country, or in  Indoftan, the Place of his Travels  and
 Studies ; or in  both. Our Author was  often in the Temples of
 the Parsses,  and  obferved their  Mode of worfhipping the Holy
 Fire, according to theUfages ofthe Ancient Magi.  They con-
 fider the Fire as a fenfible Emanation of that Fountain of uncreated
 Light, which in the  Beginning contain'd the  Prototypt  of all Be-
 ings ; or as an Emanation of the Principle of Life and Action, which
 refides^the Supreme Being, and which Zoroaster calls the
 Son of God, or the createdof God.  Their  Devotion to the Sun,
 is rather that of Praife, than Adoration  ; 'tis he,  fay they " That
 " dijfvfes Light thro' all Nature;  he purifies  the Earth and the Wa-
 " ters ;  he is the Fountain of Abundance to the  World:" From Me-
 thtim, the Name of the Angel who, they believe, prefides over
 Farms and Villages, and is the Companion of theAngel who  pre-
 fides over the  Sun, comes  the Methra of the Ancients, fuppos'd 
               Medical  Discourse.             27
by them to be the Sun itfelf, becaufe Methrim is often mentioned
inPraifes addreffed to that Planet; tho' he only feconds the Sun in
his Functions.   The Parsses are forbidden to fwear,   e\en in
Favour of the Truth.  They believe that  there are two  primary
and  powerful  Angels ;  the  one the  Author  of all Good,
cailedMYTHRAS ; and the other the  Author of all Evil,  called
Arimanius ; who are for ever at Variance :  But that both are
fubjedttoone uncreated Supreme Ruler ofthe Univerje,  by  them
called Oromazes.

   The Greeks derived  almoft all their Theology, and the great-
eft Part of their other Learning from the JEgypuans, and Afiaticks :
And as the Travellers  of both Nations frequently took Phoenicia
in their Way, the AEgyptian Doctrines,  and thcenician Arts, palled
into Greece about the lame Time : Thus Danaus the ^Egyptian,
the Phrygian Pelops,  and Cadmus  the Phoenician, tho' by De-
fcenl an JEgyptian, are acknowledged  to have been the firft Plan-
ters andJmprovers of Greece. By Cadmus particularly, the Greeks
were firft taught the  Ufe of Letters, and the Mylteries of the Ca-
 beiri, or Great Gods.  In Crete, a Colony  from  .'Egypt,  they
learned  the  Inftitution of Oracles; with the  other  neceffary
fubfervient Arts.   The Study of Medicine was as early cul-
tivated in Greece,  as any other Branch of Science whatever.

   Before the Trojan War, Melampus, already mentioned, cured
 the Daughters of Pr^tcs King of Argos, of a particular Spe-
 cies of Madnefs or Hyfterick Phrenfy ;  for which he was  rewarded
 with one of them in Marriage, and a third Part of the  Kingdom
 as her Portion : He  is alfo the 'firft who prefcribed tae  Cold B.ith
 as a Medicine ;  by Means of which, and other Prefcriptions, he
 cured Iphiclus  of Impotency.  Medfa, fo celebrated in the Ex-
 pedition of the Argonauts to Cdckis, firft invented  the Medi-
 cated Warm Bath ; which was attended with fuch falutary Effcfts,
 that  flie was feigned, not only to nave thereby reftored her Huf-
 band  Jason's Father, the aged JEson,  to Youth ; but alfo to
 have preferved by the fame Means,  an unfadtd Youth in herfeJf.
 In the Trojan War, Homer celebrates the Medical Abilities of
 many of his Chiefs ; and  even  gives them a Preference to the
 Military Prowefs  of his braveft Warriors.   In the  Battle where
 Machaon  is wounded by  Paris, he tell us,

   "  In his right Shoulder the broad Shaft appeared)
    •*  And trembling Greece for her Physician leared."
                                              P^e's Iliad,

   And Idomeneus, having requeued the aged Nestor, to con-
 vey the wounded Hero  off with Speed to the i>hips, adds,  as an
 Argument for his Tendernefs and Care, that, 
28            Medical  Discourse.
 ■  " A Wife Physician  fkill'd our Wounds to heal,
   «• Is more than Armies to the Public Weal." '       Pope.

   Tho' the Greek Poet, here in the Original, * partes a very fignal
 Commendation upon Physicians, and infinuates that the Grecian
 Army was not  fo much difpirited at the Wounds of their bravefi
 Heroes, as at the fingle Danger* of Machaon,  whom in another
 Place he calls the Preferver of the  Greeks,  yet it muft be owned
 that Pope,  probably  in  Gratitude to his learned  Friend and
 Phyfician  Doctor Arbuthnot, has very much heightened che
 Compliment in his Tranflation. However, it will be allowed  to
 Homer, that he at leaft fpeaks the Sentiments of the Times he
 wrote in.   Homer further informs us, that even the inexorable
 Achilles,  while

   " His feafted Eyes beheld around the Plain,
   The Grecian Rout;  the Slaying, and the Slain ;
   His Friend Machaon, fingled from the Reft,        w     ,
   A tranfient Pity touch'd his vengeful Breaft."

   And the Diftrefs ofthe bleeding Eurypylus is greatly  aggra-
 vated with this Reflection, that

   The great Maohaon,  wounded in his Tent,
   Now wants that Succour, which  fo oft he lent.

   BoTrtNY,  or  the Knowledge of Plants,  muft even then have
 been in the higheft Repute amongft  them ;  and they believed that
 the moft wonderful and fupernatural Effects, could be produced by
 Means of Herbs: The Stories of Medea and Circe  are well
 known ; and Homer in the Iliad diftinguifhes AgaMede by this
 Character:               .^
                         *
   "  She that all Simples healing Virtues knew,
   "  And every Herb that drinks the Morning Dew."

   It fhould be obferved too, in juftice to Homer  himfelf, that
 in many Parts of his Poems, he fhews no inconfidcrable Know-
 ledge of Anatomy, Surgery, and Botany, confidering the Age he
 lived in.

   Of Podalirius, we are told,  that on  his Return from the
 Deftrudtion of Troy, being fortunately  driven upon the Coaft of
 Cariu,  he  c<§ed the Daughter of Damaethus,  King  of that
 Country, wfio had fallen  from the Top of a Houfe ; by bleeding
 her in  both Arms : And that fhe  was afterwards given  by her
Father to Podalirius in Marriage, with Half of theKingdom»
                                                       a«
   s O' Iarpo$ y»p Av»f> voaaau anT«|io; «Ww. 
                    Medical  Discourse.            29
     as a Reward for his Skill and Services.  This is the firft Inftance
     011 Record of  Vcnaefeclion,  or Bleeding with a medicinal Intention.

     • The Greeks, in early Times imitated the Babylonians and Egypti-
     ans, in bringing their Sick into the molt public Places, for Ad-
     vice.   They  carried them fometimes too into their Temples,
     to be there directed to a Cure, b^ Jiefuppofed Influence of their
     Deities in Dreams, or by the Management and Attendance of their
     Priefts or Devotees who came to  worfhip : And  when a Cure was
     effected, the Hiftory of the Cafe,  and the particular Method of
     Treatment by which the Sick recovered, were engraved or written
     upon Tables,  and hung up againft the Walls  and Pillars  ofthe
     Temple; both as a Memorial cf the Patients Gratitude; and to
     inftrudt others, who might thereafter labour under the fame Com-
     plaints.  From thefe Tables it is faid that Hippocrates after-
     wards acquired great Knowledge, by collecting  them from diffe-
     rent Places, and with the Affiftance of his own  Obfervations and
     Practice, digefting them into that Regularity and Order  fojuftly
     admired in his Writings.

       Many Medical Schools were erected at different  Times in Greece,
     and alio  by her Colonies, in various Parts of the  World.  From
     that of Crotone, the celebrated Damocedes, had  the good Fortune
     to cufe Darius King  of Perfia, of an obftinate Diforder, which
     had baffled the  Endeavours of his own  Phyftcians;  for which he
     was  loaded by that Prince with great Wealth and  Honors, and
     was pofl'effcd ever afterwards of  his Confidence afid  Friendfhip.
     But that  q£ Coo's excelled all others in Fame, by  giving to the
     World the immortal Hippocrates ; whofe Reputation was fo
     great,  that not only his own Countrymen, the  Coans, impreffed
     his Image upon their publk Coins; but all  Greece, by common
     Suffrage decreed him the fame Honours as were paid  to Hercules.
     The Athenians,  the politelt  and molt learned-of all the Gracian
    States, made him free of their City,  voted him a Crown of Gold,
    and Maintenance to him and his Pofterity,  at the public Expence.
    And in fuch Repute was the Profeffion  in his Time, that, when
    taught to a Pupil, a more  than filial Gratitude and perpetual
    Obedience were  required  from him to his Mailer or  Teacher;
    inafmuch as his Birth or Initiation into thofe learned and ufeful
•   Myfteries, was thought of fuperior Import to  that of Nature:
    The Oath exacted by Hippocrates from  his  Pupils, is  a Proof
    of this; and has ferved as a Model for thofe folemn Obligations
    ufually adminiftred to'Graduates in Medicine,  in  all  regular
    l/niverfities, ever fince. The Athenians held the Healing Art of
    fuch Confequence to the Public,  that theyfpaffed a Law  forbid-
    ding all Women, and fuch as were not free, to learn any Part of
    Medicine ; and  not only they, but feveral other Grecian States 
 30             Medical  Discourse.

 alfo decreed  public  Honours and  diftinguifhed  Privileges to
 Physicians.

 -  Thus we find the greateft Philosophers of Antiquity, wejjf
 proud of the Name and Reputation of being fkilled in Medicine.
 Pythagoras, who has Leen already mentioned,  erected a Medi-
 cal School m Italy, 550 Years .v^oie Christ ; and both he,  and
 De.\.ocritus  wrote  upon  the  Viriues of Herbs.    I he divine
 Plato wrote upon the •Theory oi Medicine, and particularly Phy-
fiology, or the (Economy oi  the human Body. Aristotle  being
 delcended from  tEsculafius,  confidered the  Science as his
 Birth-right ; he therefore  not only  ltudied, but practifed it with
 fuch Succefs, that having recovered  his Pupil the  great Alex-
 ander from a Fit of Sicknefs, this Monarch,  ever ambitious of
 excelling, prevailed with  his Matter to inflruct him  too in that
 ufefal Science ; and which Plutarch tells us, the  King  after-
 wards thought not unbecoming his  Dignity to communicate to
 Others:  When this Prince was fick at Tarjus, in Confequence of
 unfeafonably bathing in the River Cydnus, the noble and  gener
 rous Confidence with which he treated his Phyfician Philip, not-
 withftanding he had received Notice  from  Parmenio to beware
 of him as a Traitor, is not  more a Proof of his own Magnani-
 mity, than of the high Opinion he entertained of his Phyftcians
 Skill and Integrity.  Alexander's  Situation here was  critical,
 him.elf unable to act; Darius advancing faft upon him ;  being
 therefore equally impatient of Doubts as of Delay, he prefented
 Parmenio's Letter with  one Hand to Philip, while with the
 other he  took down the medicated Potion prepared fo^him : Nor
 was he deceived in the Event.  Theophrastus  alfo, and  many
 other Philofophers of Antiquity,  both  practifed and  wrote upon
 Phyfick.  At Smyrna, another Groecian Colony in  the  leffer Afia,
 Physicians were held in  fuch Repute and public  Eftimation,
 that, as we are informed  by the learned Doctor  Mead, their
 Names were impreffed upon  their public Coins, with  thofe of
 their Proetors or chief Magiftrates ;  they  were  even  frequently
 joined in their Medals, with their tutelar Deities : Nor did they
 confine thefe  Honours  to their  own  Phyficians;  for  we know,
 from the fame Authority, that they beftow'd them  alfo upon o-
 thers eminent in this Profeffion ; tho' belonging  to another cele-
 brated School in  a  remote Country,  and at that  Time their Ri-
 val in medical Fame.

   In fhort, the medical Abilities  of the  Greeks  continued une-
 qualled,  during  the  whole Courfe  of the Roman  Sovereignty;
 and even after itsDeclenfion :  And the learned Freind obferves,
 that if we compare any of the Greek  medical Writers, from Hip-
 pocrates to Paulus  ./Egineta  of the  7th Century, with the
 very beft  of their Cotemporaries in  any Art or  Profeffion  what-
                                                      ever, 
Medical  Discourse.             31
ever, we fhall find them not  at all inferior,  either in the Difpo-
fition of their Matter, the Clearnefs  of their Reafoning, or the
Propriety  of their Language.  Some have  written above  the
Standard of the Age they lived in;  and many have done great
Honour to this Profeffion,  by their extenfive Knowledge in other
Arts and  Sciences, as well as their own.   The Integrity of the
Ancients was fuch, that altho' their Credulity was fometimes an
Impeachment to their Underftandings, yet, being  abov^the little
Views of  private Intereft, and acting up to the Character of their
Profeffion  ; whatever they could find out by their own Experience,
or from the  Observations of others,   which might relieve their
FelloW'  Creatures,  they candidly  and generoufly made it public.
This was  the  Pradtice of the Antients, and* ought to be a perpe-
tual Model for fuch  of their Succeffors, as  would imitate them,
either in their Knowledge, or their Virtues.  Their medical Writ-
ings were evidently the Reiult of long Practice, accurate Obfe'r-
vation,  and folid  Judgement. .Hence an universal and deferved
Deference is paid to their Authority, by every Practitioner,  who
defires  to  comprehend  the  whole  Circle  of this Science,  or
to diftinguifh himfelf by Abilities in his Profeffion.

   The Carthaginians were a  Colony of  the Phoenicians ;  and
as there was an uninterrupted Amity and  Correfpondence  kept
up between thefe  Republicks, while either could be of JJfe to the
ether,  we cannot  doubt  that  they were well acquainted with all
the Learning  and Arts of the Country they came from.  They
had alfo frequent  Intercourfe with the Greeks, while at the Sum-
mit of  their Glory for  Arts  and Arms;  and while Medicine
was both a fafhionable  Part of  Philofophy, and followed  as a
Profefiion :  For we  find  that their  Lacedemonian Allies under
Xantippus, defeated the Roman  Conful Regulus in Africa, and
took him Prifoner. 499  Years  after  the Building of Rome,  and
255 Years  before Christ ;  whereas  Hippocrates lived about
500 Years before this laft Event.  What Progrcfs the Carthaginians
themfelves had made in the  Healing Art, cannot now be af-
certained  ; by Reafon of the barbarous Policy of the Romans, in
deftroying their hiftorical Monuments and Records.  We know,
however,  that there was  a Temple in that Part  of Carthage cal-
led. By rf a, dedicated  to Esculapius ; and Diodorus Siculos,
in  his Account of the Plague which  raged amongft the  Troops
under Hamilco, at  the Siege of  Syracuje,  gives us to underftand,
that they had at that Time profcffcd  Physicians in their Army.

   The Romans are the only Nation  of Antiquity who enjoy'd a
Form of Government, for feveral Centuries, without any Know-
ledge of Medicine. This is the more furprizing, as they appear
from  their Origin to have been a reftlefs,  quarrelfome People,
perpetually embroiled in bloody Dtfienfions  at Home, or in cruel
                                                       Wars 
 32            Medical  Discourse.

Wars abrorrd ; when the Haling Art,  particularly Chirup.ce/,
muft have been exrremelv necefiary.  In the 350th Year of their
City, there was certainly no  Practitioner, at feaft  of Merit, a-
Miongft them ;  fir being then grievoui'y afflicted with the Plague,
they, by the Advice of the Oracle at Delphi, fent ten Deputies to
the  Temple of ./Esculapius at Epidaurus, to bring the God to
Rome.  His Godihip,  as we  are  told, was pleafed  to go along
with  thd*, in the Shape of a Serpent ; and having quitted the
Veffel and gone afhore on an  Jlland in the Tyber, near the City, a
Temple was there eredtcd to him ; upon which the Plague ecafed.
Hither the Sick from all Parts of hah reforted, or fent for Relief.
The  Method of recording  Cures,  according to the  Cuftom of
the Greeks,  was long'pradtiied here  too, as Pliny teftifics : And
Hieronymus Mercurialis has prcferved to  us  fome Inscrip-
tions  written in the Reign  of Antoninus, and found  in  this
Temple of Esculapius ; where not only the Cures effected,
but alfo the Remedies  prefcribed i>y the Oracle  are recorded.  In
the Ruins of this Temple, not  long ago,  was difcovered  one of
the Marble Tables which had been confecrated to this Deity ; upon
which are ingraved in Greek  Characters, feveral Cures performed
by his Advice ;  and which is ftill preferved as a great Curiofity,
in the Palace of Mapheo at Rome.  'Tis indeed allow'd that, for
nearly the firft five hundred Years of their City, few or no Veftiges
of anyKiujd of polite Literature,  are  to be found amongft them.
Before thisPeriod, they feem to have refembled rather a turbulent,
licentious, and ill afibciated Community, with  refpect to them-
felves ; and a vindictive, haughty,  and unrelenting Band of De-
ftroyers, with refpf 3: to the neighbouring  Nations ; than the Pro-
genitors of thole, who were one Day to give Law to,  and diffufe
the Polite Arts with new Luftre over the World.  The Accounts
of their Tranfadtions, as  related by 1 their own  Hiftorians, luffi-
ciently countenance this Opinion ;  which  might probably have
been the general Belief at this Day concerning them, if their rival
States had been equally fortunate, in tranfmitting to us their own
Hiftories, together with their Sentiments andPortrait, of thePolicy,
and leading Characters oft), at imperious and proud  Republic;
fo as  that Polterity, unbiaffed by partial Evidence,  might have
judged for  themfelves.  However,  we are afTured that this Sci-
ence was  encouraged,  as early as any- Kind  of Learning  was
taught amongft them : For about,  or a few Years after the -Era
abovementioned, we have an Account of one Archagathus, a
Pbyfician of great Reputation, who came from  G-eece  to  Rcme;
where he was  honoured with the  Freedom of the City, and a
Houfe given  him  to  dwell  in.  Some Time  after him, lived
Ascl/piades the Bithynian,Vhy{ic\a.n to Crassus; no lefs reflec-
ted  by the Great for his Eloquence,  than for his Skill in Physic.
It is very remarkable, that from the firft Introduction of  public
Schools  at Rcme, to the Subverfion of this unweildly and  corrup-
                                                        ted 
                 Medical  Discourse.             33

  txd Republic, by the fuperior Fortunes ofthe great Caesar, almoft
  every ^Profeffion or Art then ftudied or  pradtifed  amongft them,
  except that  of War, was chiefly taught by fuch  Greekft as had
  emigrated thither for the Sake of Curiofity cr Gain; oijjjby fuch as
• the Fate  of Arms  had reduced to Servitude :  For the  fierce and
  warlike Temper  of her own Citizens,  unlike the more  exten-
  five and elevated  Genius of the Greeks,  deigned  not  as yet  to
  profefs any Science, except fuch as tended to gratify their Ambi-
  tion  for  C'onqu^i, or to lead and rule  the People.   While  the
  Romans thus  had little other Knowledge of Physic, than  what
  was  pradtifed by Captives and foreigners, or ferved only to  en-
  hance the Price of a Slave, we cannot wonder that it fhould fome-
  times be  fpoke of by their Learned, in  very inadequate Terms :
  Virgil  at  one  Time feems to confider it  as a mere  manual
  Occupation*;  yet  this great Poet tells us,  that  his Hero's
  Pkyfician Japis, preferred the Knowledge of Medicine, to  that  of
  Divination, Archery, oxMufic ; all which  Apollo had put equally
  in his Electionf.   But the wife and politic Cjesak, who was alfo
  the moft accomplifhed Scholar of the Age, made all who practifed
  Phyfic, Freemen of the City.   Augustus confirm'd to them thefe
  Honours; and particularly indulged his own Phyfician,  Anto-
  nius Musa, the  Privilege  of wearing  a golden Ring,  which
  among them was the ufual Badge of Knight-hood.   To this Musa
  the Romans alfo erected a brazen  Statue, as  a grateful Acknow-
  ledgment of his Services and Skill, in curing Augustus of an
  obftinate  Diforder.   Thefe encouraging Mark's of public Favour,
  could not but  recommend fo ufeful  an Art,  to  the Study of the
  Romans themfelves.   Accordingly the  elegant and learned Cel-
  sus || foon after this  Period, exhibited  to the World a lafting
  Specimen  of his Proficiency  in that comprehenfive Science: Yet
  Pliny, who lived about 120 Years after Celsus,  fays, that even
  in his Time the Romans had not much  applied  themfelves  to
  Medicine,  tho' then a profitable Employment ;  but that it was
  chiefly in  the Hands of the Greeks.

    Valentinian ordained that there fhould be a Physician  for
  each ofthe 14 Wards  into which Rome was divided, to take Care
  ofthe Poor ;  and who fhould be paid at the Publ c Expence.  This
  feems to have been  the firft Elfay towards a Public Hospital.
  We fhall here in general obferve, that many of the Faculty lived in
  the ftridteft Intimacy and Friendffiip  with the Roman  Empe-
 rors ;  that many had ample Salaries allow'd them  by thofe Prin-
 ces ; that many, by the liberal Gratuities given them for their Ser-
 vices,  acquired great  Riches,  and were  the  Authors  of many
                              E                      public
   * Mutas agitare, inglorius, Artes.
   -f- ------bcire Foteir-itcs Herbarum, ufumque medendi         Vn«.
 Maluit.
   U Latinifllraus Celsus. 
34            Medical   Discourse.
public Benefactions in  the Places where  they  lived ; and laftly,
that many,  from the Reputation of their univerfal Learning  and
great Abilities,  were employed as  Embafladors to foreign Poten-
tates,  and in  the other higheft Offices of State.  But befides  the
many and diftinguifh'd Honours  and Privileges from  Time to
Time conferred upon Individuals, the whole Profeffion was held
in fuch Efteem, that great Immunities were alfo granted to their
Schools or Colleges,  as well as to themfelves.   They were by the
public Edicts  of  Antoninus,  Constantine the  Great, and
Julian, exempted from all the ufual Duties or'Citizens, or Sol-
diers, from attending Courts, or entertaining public Officers and
Strangers ;  and every one was forbid to moleft  them,  under  the
Penalty of being punifhed at the Will of the Judge : And a Parti-
cipation of thefe public Indulgences was  extended, even to  the
Wives and Children of fuch ufeful Members to the Common-Weal.
Nor was the Fame of their Ppysicians always confined to the  Li-
mits even of this vaft Empire ;  for when a Peace was negotiating
between the Emperor Justinian, and Chosroes King of Perfia;
this laft would not even agree to a Truce, but upon this exprefs
Condition,  that the Phyfician Tribunus,  whofe Affiftance  he
wanted, and whofe Skill he was acquainted with, fhould be  fent
to him ; which Justinian having  comply'd with,  a Truce
was granted for  5  Years.   Chosroes, being reftored to Health
by the Care of Tribunus,  offered to give  him whatever he  de-
manded :  But the generous Phyfician  only  defired that fome
Roman Captives,  his Countrymen, fhould be fet at Liberty : That
gallant Prince not only releafed the Perfons required, and 3000
Prifoners befides, but alfo  rewarded him with ^great Prefents ;
and fent him back in Safety to his own Country.

  About this  Time the Medical School of  Alexandria, was  fo
celebrated thro' the learned World,  that to have been  educated
there, was  alone fufficient to give the Reputation of great Skill
in Physic. The Fame of this Place for Medicine, had been long
before this jEra eftablifh'd in the Eaft ; and it continu'd uridimi-
nifhed  for many Years, even after the City had been, in the  7th
Century, facked by the Saracens. Herophilus, Phyfician to Pto-
lomy Lathyrus, is faid to have been the Founder, as well as the
great Ornament of this School: He is faid alfo to have been the firft
who diffected Human Bodies,  for the Purpofes of Medical In-
ftruction; by the Countenancej^nd Encouragement of that Prince.

   Before I difmifs this  Enquiry  into the  State  of P h y s i c
among the Antient Nations  ; I muft requeft the Reader's Atten-
tion to one more Seminary of learned Men, not lefs remarkable
for their Antiquity, the Regularity of their Colleges, the  Sin-
gularity of their Dodtrines, their Learning, and popular Influence,
than any yet fpokenof:  I mean the British   Druids.   As
                                                       thefe 
               Medical  Discourse.             ^5
thefe Men, befides their other Functions, wer^lfo  in their Day,
the fole Practitioners of Physic ; and from Circumftanots of Place,
feem to .hold fome diftant  Connection  with ourfelves ;  I hope I
fhall be indulged in being fomewhat particular in the  following
Account of them :  As indeed the Advances made by them in the
other Branches of Literature, are the only Rule we have, whereby
to judge of their Progrefs in Medicine.

  The  Druids,  by fome  called Semnotheans,  i. e.  fuch as
reverence the Gods, were poffeffed of the fame Influence and Au-
thority  among  the Celtes, and other Gallic Tribes,  as the Perfian
Magi ; or as the Prophets among the Jews ; who are well known to
have been often too powerful, for Royalty itfelf. The firft Account
we have of them by that Name, is from  Caesar, who in his Com-
mentaries defcribes them as a College, or feledt Clafs of religious
Philcfophers, and Prieftr, having fix'd Places of Worfhip;  as govern-
ed by particular and eftabliftied" Regulations, and  fubjedted to one
certain Head or Archdruid,  who refided in Britain:  To which
Place, he fays, all  the Noble Youth of the Continental Gauls, were
ufually fent for their Education. As tfcey knew not the Ufe of Let-
ters, before their Intercourfe with thwRomans, they  committed all
their Learning  to  Memory,  and delivered it  to  their  Pupils in
Verfe.  They were fo called from Deru, which in the old Britijh
Language fignifies an Oak ; becaufe the Oak was always held fa-
cred by them ;  becaufe they always worfhiped in Groves  of Oak,
upon gently elevated Places ; and becstofe they never perform'd any
of their religious Functions  without it. TheMisLETOE of the Oak
was in a particular Manner revered by them, and gathered at cer-
tain Seafons, with great Parade and Ceremony: They believed
this to be  an  infallible Cure for Barrennefs ; an Antidote to Poi-
fons ; a Prefervative againft Witchcraft  ; and a powerful  Remedy
in all Difeafes whatever.  In fome old Britijh Books ftill extant, arc
to be found many  of the Medical Secrets, ufually  pradtifed by thr
Druids,  in their  Treatment of various Maladies ; and it need
not be doubted, that many  of  the  ftrange Cures and Charms re-
commended  at  this Day, for different Complaints,  by  the com-
mon People of the  Hebrides or  Weftern Ifiands, and elfewhere in
Britain, and Ireland, are from the fame  Origin.  They were ex-
perienced in the Powers  of  natural Bodies,  and particularly in the  '
Properties of  Plants,  and gave great Application  to fuch  Studies;
whence they were conftantly%:onfulted in  all bodily  Infirmities
and Sicknefs, by all Ranks of People :  The Silago, a Species of
Mofs which grows upon Trees, was alfo a fovereign Remedy with
them, efpecially for Difeafes of the Eyes; as was alfo  the  Sa
molus, a Species of the Water-Brook-Lime.  They were much ad-
dicted  to  Magick,  Hbeantations, and Oharms;  and were highl)
efteem'd, even  by  the Romans, for their Skill in Divination an^
Augury.   They were great Aftronomers> and 'tis  faid,  could  cal-
                                                      culate 
  36             Medical  Discourse.
  culate Eclipfes.  Jfhey were indeed well verfed in all thofe Arts,
  by which the Terror and Amazement of the Vulgar are ufually
  excited ; and by which the beneficial Belief, of their being pof-
  feffed of Supernatural Powers, could be kept  up.  The Learned
  have found much Reiemblance  between the Britijh Druids, and
  the Perfian  Magi,  in their religious Tenets, Modes of. Worfhip,
  Learning, and Drefs. The Druids  acknowledged the Exiftence
 of one Supreme  God, uncreated, and  uncon fined;  whom they
 therefore adored in  the open  Air,  in  confecrated Groves, but
 never in covered t emples.  'I hey admitted however of inferior
 Deities : Thus, Tar an us  was their Jupiter, having Power over
  the Heavens : H.ssus was  their  Mars,  or  God of War: Teu-
 tates was  their Mercury,  who  prefided over Arts  and Com-
 mercce,  and was the Guide of Travellers.  But  their principal
 Adoration was directed to Apollo, or the Sun ;  as  the  God of
 Light, Heat, and Physic.  To the Sun they offered grand year-
 ly. Sacrifices on the firft Day of May ; at which  Time  all  domef-
 tic Fires were every where extinguifhed,  and the People went to
 receive holy Fire from the Druids,  at their Temples, or Places
 of Worfhip ;  to  rekindle their houfehold Fires.  This Deity  or •
 God-like Luminary,  was by the  Druids  of  S.Britain, called '
 Belin ;  and the principal Seat of his Worfhip,  was  in the Ifle
 of Anghfey : But  the Caledonian Druids gave him the Name  of
 Grian,  fignifying  the Effence,  or Source of Fire and Heat; and
 worfhipped him at particular Seafons,  by making large Fires up-
 on the Tops  of Hills. There are many Remains of the Druidical
 Temples, ltill to be feen in Anglejey, in  the Wefiern Ifies of Scot-
 land,  and in feveral other Places ; confifting of long,  large, and
 rude fingle Stones placed on End in the Ground, at regular  Dif-
 tances, and in  a  circular Form ; with an Avenue of tht fame
 Contrivance, leading up  to  it.  They alfo paid great  Veneration
 to the Moon ; whofe Temples were conftrudted  in like Manner,
 but of a  femicircular Form; as  appears  by the Veftiges of fome
 of them, ftill obfervable in the  North of Scotland.   Mufic,  both
 Vocal and Inftrumental, was a conftant Attendant  upon all their
 religious  Rites;  and  their Inftruments were Pipes, Flutes,  and
 Harps. It does not appear that they ever ufed any Images in their
 Worfhip : From which and other Circumftaaces,  it  feems  evi-
 dent,  that they borrow'd nothing  from the Greeks ; tho' it  may
 be reafonably fufpedted, that the Greeks  have been indebted for
 fome things to the Druids.  Their Authority was fo great, and
 fo devoutly fupported, that their Excommunications were terri-
 ble, even  to  their Princes ;  fo that the  Nobles, generally from
Prudence as well as  Inclination,  procured themfelves to be initi-
ated into their Myfteries, and frequently, to be enroll'd among
them.  As they had the fole Direction in ajl religious Matters,
no Sacrifice,  whether Public  or  Private,  could be  perform'd but
by a Druid.  They  were alfo the fole Judges iu all Controverfie*
                                                  refpe&ing 
                Medical  Discourse.             37
 refpecting Property : No Law could be enadted without their Ap-
 probation :  They had the greateft Influence in all public Coun-
 cils :  And,  like  the  Spartan  Ephori, they could controul  the
 chief Rulers of the Nation.  They offered up human Sacrifices
 in Times of imminent Danger, or great Diftrefs;  for which
 Reafon  it is faid,  that Suetonius Paulinus  under Nero,
 utterly deftroyed their Groves  and Temples  in  South-Britain:
 But the  true Reafon feems  to  have been,  their great Influence
 with the People,  in fpiriting them  up to defend  their Liberties,
 againft the unmerited  Incroachments and arbitrary Sway of the
 Romans : For fuch  Sacrifices could be no more reproachful in the
 Druids, than in the Romans themfelves ;  who,  in no  very dis-
 tant Period, had countenanced  the  like Cruelties : It was only
 in the 657th Year of the City, and in the Confulate of Lentu-
 lus and Crassus, that human Sacrifices were  forbidden  at
 Rome:  Till  then they  had been occafionally  authorifed there*;
 and we meet with feveral Inftances  of the like Pradtices among
 the Remans,  long after that  Period, in different Parts of  theEm-
..pire. * Indeed we find frequent Examples of this  barbarous Cuf-
 tom, among moft Nations, in their Infant State ; from thf, chofen
 People of God, to  the profefled Objects of his Vengeance in Ca-
 naan ; and from the more enlightened Greeks, to the more  igno-
 rant and ill fated Mexicans.  The Deftrudtion of the Druids  ia
 North-Britain, was  more gradual, owing  to civil Broils,  and the
 Refentment of Parties contending for Power ; they having efpous'd
 the weaker  Side.  Tradition informs us, that there were fome
 Remains of them in Scotland, at that Time when the firft Chriftians
 fled thither, from the Roman Perfections : Where thefe pious  Fugi-
 tives, from their fequeftered Life in Caves, and other hiddenPlaces,
 were called  Culdees ;  and from  the Similiarity of their Cir-
 cumftances, being  not  eafily diftinguifh'd  by  the Natives from
 the profcribed Druids, they have been frequently confounded by
 Pofterity.  They believed the Immortalily of the Soul;  and the
 Metempfychofis from  one human  Body to another, under certain
 Circumftances :  And they allowed cf a future  State of Rewards
 and Punifhments.  They ufually burnt the dead Bodies  of their
 Friends, and preferv'd their Afhes in earthen Pots,  buried  under
 great Cairns,  or Heaps of Stones :  Some of thefe Pots  or Urns
 have lately been dug up,  from under thefe Cairns, in the Weft
 Highlands of Scotland.  The Druidical Functions were often here-
 ditary ; and  their  Females,  called Druidesses, were no lefs.
 famous for Divination, than the Druids themfelves.

   The pious and peaceful Hyperboreans, fo often mentioned
 by the old Greek Writers,  were  undoubtedly the  Celtic or Britijh
 Druids ; for as what  they  tell us  of thefe Hyperboreans,
 cannot  be apply'd  with any Juftice, either  to the Scythians,  or
 Scandinavians, there is  no other Clafs cf Men ) et known, who
                                                       agree 
 3S            Medtcal  Discourse.
 agree with their Defcription  and Situation,  but  the  Druids.
 rl hey tell us, that the Hyperboreans inhabited a large Illand,
 with many leffer Iflands about it,  lying to the N. W. of Europe.
 beyond Gaul, and in the great Atlantic Ocean ; and that Laton a,
 the Mother of Apollo, was born there :  That Apollo was the
 great Object  of their Worfhip  ; fo that after having finifh'd the
 Building of the Walls of Troy, he is  fuid by Pindar, to  have
 haftened totheHYPERBOREANs : That thefe Iflands were frequen-
 ted by the Ghofts of departed Heroes, and by friendly Genii,
 who revealed future  Events in Dreams ;  and that one  of  thefe
 fmaller Iflands, was the peaceful Retreat of old Cronus  or Sa-
 turn, after he had been deprived of his  Sovereignty by Jupi-
 ter  : Perhaps  the prefent Notion,  that fome People in thofe re-
 mote Parts, are pofTefled of what is called the  Second Sight,
 or a Power of predicting certain dij'uftrcus Events, is  a  Remnant
 of the old Druidical Doctrines and  Superftitions,  and  of this Be-
 lief in friendly Genii,, or guardian Spirits. The Fertility of the
 Soil, Temperature of the  Climate, and happy Situation of the
 Inhabitants of  thefe Hyperborean Iflands, were highly celebrated
 by many ancient Writers.  They fay that  they were  a religious,
 temperate, long lived, hofpitable, hardy,* and vigorous Race of
 People ; that they were fubjedt to few Difeafes ; that they  lived
 chiefly  on Vegetables ; and  were infefted with  no Wars :   That
 frequent Embaffies  of Young  Men and Virgins, crowned  with
 Laurel, and  cloathed in  White, had  from Time to  Time  been
 fent  from thefe Islands,  with Offerings of First  Fruits,
 wrapped in Wheat  Straw, and having their Inftruments of Mu-
 fick, to the Temple of Apollo, in the Ifland of Deles ; where
 Latona  is fabled to  have been delivered of him, and his  Sifter
 Diana.  Now Anacharsis  fays,  that his  Country-Men the
 Scythians detefted the Ufe of  Inftrumfnts of Mufic  in their  Reli-
 gion ;  and Laurel  was not then  known  to exift  in Rujfia,  or
 Scandinavia: Befides, when  Rome  was  facked by the Goals under
 Brennus, it was the general Report in  Greece, that this City
" had*been taken by an Army of Foreigners, from the Country of
 the Hyperboreans.

 ,  This Intercourfe between Greece,  and the Country  of the Hy-
 perboreans,  has been traced  up to about the Time of the Tro-
jan V/ar: So that Abaris,  the celebrated Hyperborean  Phi-
 losopher, and Priest of  Apollo,  who came to Athens about
 550 Years before Christ, to renew this Correfpondence, and to
 vifit Delos, could be none other than a Druid,  and probably too
 from the Weftern lfles of Britain- Diocenes Laertius obferves,
 that  it was the  Opinion of many learned  Men, that the Greeks
 acquired their Philofophy from the Barbarians ;  among whom
 he names the Druids: And it is allow'd, that the Hyperbo-
 reans firft taught the Greeks,  that the Earth was Spherical, and
                                                    fituated 
               Medical  Discourse.             39
fctuated in the Center of the World ; whence it is  conjectured,
that what riiey called the Sphere of the Barbarians, was a Form
or Machine contrived by the Hyperboreans,  for the eafier In-
ftrudtion of their Pupils in Aftronomy.   Befides,  as the Images
ufed by moft  Nations, to reprefent the happy State of Souls de-
parted, are ufually drawn from Subjects which uvere the principal
Part of their  Delights in this World ;  fo the Hyperboreans,
according to  Plato, among  other Things, promifed  in their
Paradise  or  Elysium,  the fineft  Fruits of every  Seafon,
Choirs of Dancers, Theatres of Poets,  vocal and inttrumental
Mufic,  public Feftivals,  Banquets,  and Schools of Philoso-
phers : All which are in every Refpect conformable to  the known
Rites, Ufages,  and Belief of the Druids.  Thus, the Druids
being generally defcended of the beft Families, the Honours of
their Birth, joined with thofe of their  Functions, and the Opi-
nion  of their great Learning, procured  them the  highelt Venera-
tion  and Authority, among all  the Gallic Nations:  And  it is
natural to believe, that fuch a Set of Men, under fuch a regular
Inftitution, continually employ'd in the Search of Knowledge,
and communicating their Discoveries  from Age to Age, muft
have  made great Improvements in Physic,  Astronomy, Ma-
thematics,  Philosophy, and the other Sciences ;  according
as their Studies or Refearches were directed.

   There was  alfo another Order of Priefts among them, but fup-
pofed to  be inferior to the  Druids ;  called  Eubates, or
Faids ; whence the Vates ofthe Latins. Thefe likewife ftudied
the fublime Myfteries of Nature, and pretended to be infpired:
There are fome Veftiges of their Name, among the Highland Scots,
and native Lift af this Day.

   The Bards were a Set  of  Men, inferior to both Druids,
and Faids :  They were the Difciples of the Druids  ; but they
were  no Priefts, nor interfered with religious Matters:   i'heir
Perfons however were every where facred,  among the old German
and Gallic Nations,  and  they were the ufual Heralds of State,
between contending Chiefs.  They were by Profeffion Poets, em-
ploy'd on Subjects merely mortal; and who celebrated in Songs,
the Genealogies of the Great,  and the Gallant  Deeds of depar-
ted Warriors : Nor were the fofter Pafiions forgot in their Com-
pofitions, as is  evident from thefe genuine  and  invaluable Re-
mains of ancient Poetry, afcribed to Ossian :  They were  ex-
empt  from Taxes, and all  public Duties, both Civil  and  Mili-
tary : They frequently went from Place  to Place, repeating their
Songs for Hire, like  the Scandinavian  Scalds;  or father like
the Aoidoi   (AotJo»)  of  the Greeks, among  whom  fome  have
claffed the imnfOrtal Homer himfelf. The Bards at 'aft  ca;ie
to be retained  in the Families of the  Great, as  lnipiciiiju':, of
                                                     State: 
40            Medical  Discourse.
State:  Their Function became hereditary ; Lands were affigned
to their Office in Perpetuity ;  and they continued in  the  higheft
Eftimation with the antient Natives, for many Ages after the Ex-
tirpation of the Druids ; as appears from Ossian's Poems, and
the Traces of that Profeffion ftill extant, in fome remote Parts
of Britain.      •

  It is worthy  of Remark, that  all the ancient Nations, who
firft cultivated or made  any confiderable Improvements in  Me-
dicine, have either attributed the firft Difcovery of it  to  their
Gods ; or have deified  the Inventors.  Such Sentiments at leaft
fhow the high Veneration they had for this ufeful Profeffion ; and
how beneficial  and neceflary they believed it  to be, for the Pre-
fervation  and Happinefs of Mankind.   Hippocrates obferves,
that this  Belief of the  divine Origin of Physic, was not only
confonant  to the general Opinions of the World in his Time ;
but alfo, he thinks, agreeable to Reafon.  In fhort, all Nations,
as they emerged from Barbarifm and Ignorance, and improved in
civil Polity and Knowledge, have encouraged and refpected the
Learned in  the Healing Art; as the Friends and Benefactors
of Society, and of Mankind.  They rewarded their Services while
living, with a Liberality almoft beyond Belief; and revered their
Memories  after  Death, not more honourably by monumental In-
fcriptions, Medals, and  Statues ; than gratefully, by continuing
their public Benefactions, even to their Pofterity. _,

   Let  us next view the  State of the Medicinal  Profession,
among certain  foreign Nations,  who,  tho' Ancient  as  to  their
Origin and Government, may yet be confidered as Modern, with
Refpect to our Acquaintance with them.

   The Chinese have applied themfelves to the Study of Medi-
cine,  from the very Infancy of their Empire ;  and they have a
great  Number of ancient Authors,  upon that Subject.  The Pro-
feffion  is not only  much refpedted among  them ;  but their own
Phyficians alfo are juftly efteemed, for their Sagacity and Angular
Acutenefs  in diftinguifhing Difeafes, and forming Prognolticks
by the Pulfe ; tho' they pay great Attention to the Tongue, Eyes,
Voice, and  Complexion of  the Patient, at the fame Time,  in
forming their Opinions  : From  the  Manners of  the  Country,
they are fometimes  obliged  to find out Diftempers by the Pulfe
alone ; for many of the great Men will not permit their Wives
to be feen  or fpoke to,  but only to put their Arms 'thro' a  Cur-
tain, in Order  for the Phyfician to feel the Pulfe.  Du Halde
has given 41s a  particular Account of their Method of judging
by the Pulfe, with  their various  Obfervations  and Diftindtions
concerning it.   Their Herbal is very copious, and contains many
Simples not known in Europe; from which they form a Variety of
                                              Compofitions. 
Medical  Discourse.             41
Compofitions.  The fame Author, gives us feveral Specimens of
their Prefcriptions, both fimple and compound ;  and affures us,
that they are as  expert in curing  Difeafes with their Medicines,
as the Europoeans are with theirs.   The  Profeffion of th-e Physi-
cian among them, is diftinct from that ofthe  Druggist, or
Apothecary ;  and he is  paid  for his Vifits.  They have  alfo
their  £>uacks ;   fome  of whom pretend* to.  be  poffeffed of- a
Medicine, which will  render thofe who take it, immortal.  They
are circumftantial in their Manner of collecting and curing their
Drugs ; minute in diftinguifhing Difeafes ; and attentive to every
Confidcration  fuggefted by Difference of Age,  Sex, Tempera-
ment,  Climate, Diet, or Occupation, or by the various Conditions
of  Women.  Every Part of the Elephant is  ufed by them in Me-
dicine,  in fome  Form or other; 'and the Ginjeng Root is  a fove-
reignjlemedy,  for numberlefs Diforders. They are however very
fuperficial Anatomifts ;  and have therefore made rflfcle Progrefs
in Medicine as a  Science :  And they are very whimfical in their
Theories.  Before their Acquaintance  With the Europeans,  they
knew little of Chymistry, and  nothing of  the Circulation
of  the Blood ;  whatever they may pretend  to the contrary :  Yet
they knew the Method of opening a Vein, tho' they feldom prac-
tifed it. The Ufe of Enemata or Injections,* they  learned from
the Europoeans ;  and therefore call them, the Remedy ofthe Bar-*
barians; for fuch they account ajl Nations,  befides themfelves.
Several of their Monarchs  are believed to  have both practifed,
and improved  Medicine  ;  and if we believe their  Accounts,
there werelmperial Academies  anciently eftabliftied, for  that
Purpofe : Nankin is particularly famous at this Day, for the (Cul-
tivation of the Arts and Sciences ; and has the greateft Number
of Libraries, of any City in China.

   There is an Anecdote mentioned in the Chinefe Hiftories, which,
while it proves their high Eftimation of the Healing  Art, yet
greatly invalidates  the  boafted Antiquity of  their Chronology :
They  tell us that Chi-Hoam-Ti, acknowledged  to  be one  of
their greateft  Monarchs, being interefted in  the Deftrudtion  of
all the ancient  hiftorical Records, and of thofe who preferved
the Memory of them, caufed all Books to be burnt, except fuch
as  treated  of Agriculture, and  Medicine ; in Hopes  that
his own Actions might eclipfe all thofe c f his Predeceffors in the
Empire.  This happened about 213 Ye:.:;  before Christ.-  As
the Ufe of Paper was not known, the Chjr\ e then wrote their Cha-
racters upon wooden Tablets, or littlePlatts ^1 Bamboo, which could
not eafily be fecreted or conceded ; and th. refore it is imagined,
that this Deftrudtion  of their hiftorical  I■' )numents,  muft have
been pretty complete : And that they can  hv.. : few if any authen-
tick Records, anterior  to that Period.  Th^j Emperor built the
                               G                    famous 
  42             Medical  Discourse.
  famous Wall, fo much admired  by Travellers ; to defend  his
  Dominions from the Incurfions  of the Tartars.

    We haye alfo in Du Halde, an Account of a Chinefe  Trca-
  tife, on the Subject of Prcferving Health, divided  into thefe 4
  Heads ; 1 ft, of the Heart and its Adions ;  zdly, of Diet ; 3<:lly, of
  the Adions of the Day\t; and  4thly, of Reft at Night :  Wherein
  feem to be contain'cf, moft  of the  Modern Rules reflecting Air,
  Aliments, Motion and Reft, Paffionsof the Mind,  things retain'd
  or difcharged,  and Sleep and Watching ; which in  the Medical
  Stile are  called the six Non Naturals.   In violent  Pains,
  particularly of the Gout, the Chinefe burn Moxa upon the Parts
  affected.  This Remedy,  upon the  Recomisendation  of  Sir
  William Temple, was for fome Time the  fafhionable Appli-
  cation for the Gout, in England ; but is new laid afide.

    Among the People of Japan, the Antiquity and Eftimation of
  this Art, are carried  as high as with the Ckineje.  They afci ibe  the
  Inveii.ion and  firft Practice of it, to their Kings ; who,- by their
  Corruutatiqn,  lived  long  before   the  Mofaic  Deluge*    Their
  Physicians have the Reputation  of great Skill and Abilities;
  and it is remarked.that they moft commonly prefcribe  their Mc-
• dicines in a  folid Form; and  make-  very frequent Ufe  of Rhu-
  barb and Cajfia : But the Art of Surgery b very little pradtifed
  among th.-m,  and lefs underftood.  The Japanefe are grofs  Pa-
  gans, or rather have little, real Religion of any  kind ;  for they
  treat their Idols with great  Contempt and Freedom, whenever
  th'ey are difpleafed with them.  As to their National  Character,
  they are. jult in their Dealings ; faithful to their Pron ifes  ; civil
  to Strangers  admitted among  them ; and of ftridt Veracity  :
  They  have but one Language, and one Meafure over  all the Em-
•  pire : rl heir Laws  are every where uniform, and  duely execu-
  ted : Property is well fecured, and generally hereditary; Perjury,
  Theft, and Gaming for Money, are punifhed  with Death : They
  are remarkably fond of Mufic,  and admit it to all their Enter-
  tainments. They are not permitted to leave their Country, on any
  Pretence ; arfd if they do,  they can never return.   In State  Of-
  fences, the Emperor generally orders the  Nobleman in  Dilgrace,
  to be his own Executioner, on an appointed Day : This is accoun-
  ted an Indulgence,  and always complied with: But the  Kindred
  and Friends of the Criminal, are frequently involved in his Fate.
  It is fafhionable with the japanefe Noblemen,  among other Blan-
  ches of their polite  Learning, to apply themfelves to the Study
  of Physic ;  in Order to recommend thc-mfe-ives more effectually
  to the  Emperor's Favour.  None however are allowed to write or
  publifh Books, but their Dairo, or Chief Prieft, with his Familv,
  and Defcendants, who for  this  Reafon, are  particularly induced
  to apply thtmicivcs to Learning.   The  Japanefe Ph^ ^icians
                                                        flu-ke 
              Medical  Discourse.              43

 make very  little Ufe of  Bleeding : And in violent Pains, or
 Spaiinodic Affections, they ufe Acupundure ;  or burn Moxa upon
 the Parts affected : This Practice is alfo followed  by the Chinefe
 in the like  Complaints, as well as in the Gout.          -

   The State of Phyfic among the Bramins,  and  Inhabitants of
 Indoftan, has been already  taken Notice  of.  We fhall only  add
 here, that they ufually divide Difeafes into certain Claffes ;  and
 that their Physicians confine themfelves to one or two of fuch
 Claftes, that they may excell in thofe  they particularly profefs.
 They -re very  exact  and pundtilious  with Regard to  Regimen ;
 and have a particular Regimen  for  moft Difeafes.   They have
 fome Knowledge of Chymistry ;  and make frequent  Ufe of
 Medicines prepared by Fire.  They have a Book of Inftitutes, in
 which is  contained all their Medicinal Knowledge.  Their Prog-
 nostics are  much influenced,  by fuperftitious  Obfervations.
 They are very nice  in .their Choice of  Medicines,  and Me-
 thod of preferving  them.  They carefully  confider both  the
 Pulfe and Excretions, in  order to form juft Notions  of Difeafes ;
 butthey.were  ignorant of Anatomy, or the Circulation of
 the Blood, when fir it vifited by the Europeans.

   In the Ifland of Ceylon,  the Practice of Physic, as well as
 their Modes of Worfhip,  and religious Tenets,  are  very fimilar
 to  thofe of  the Mogul Nations,  and Bramins. They make fre-
 quent Ufe  of ftrongly purgative Simples ;  and  apply fteeped
 Pepper outwardly,  in  all  Complaints of the  Bowels,  fhe  Ele-
 phant is alfo much ufed here in Medicine ; and the Ifland abounds
 with various Drugs, and valuable Spiceries.

   In the  Ifland of Amboyna, they are remarkably expert in
 the  Knowlege of poifonous Plants ;  and not lefs fo, in  the  Ap-
 plication  of their  Antidotes.  The  Natives  of  the Eaft-Indiet
 in general, particularly of the Iflands, are chiefly ftudious of the
 noxious Properties of Vegetables ;^ho' it muft be owned,  that
 they are alfo well acquainted  with many  falutary and Medicinal
 Productions.

   In Siam, the Pradice of Medicine confifts in adminiftering
 a  certain Number of Receits, which  have been handed down
 from their Anceftors ; and which,  like Our modern Quacks, they
 apply  at  Random, without Regard to the different  Caufes, or
 dillinguifhing  Symptoms of Difeafes.

   Among the Tartars of Thibet, the Lamas or Priefts are
 their only Physicians.   They prefcribe the  moft common Sim-
ples,  and chiefly fuch as  are ufed  in  China.  We  are affured,
 that fome of them are well acquainted with the Methods of cu-
                                                        ring 
 44            Medical  Discourse.

 rin~  moft  Difeafes,  incident to thefe  Countries.  The Tartars
 believe their chief Lam,*,  to be a living Deity ever prefent with
 them ; and accordingly  worfhip him  leated  upon an  Altar  in
 their $'cmple, whenever he pleafes to fhow  himfelf for  that Pur-
 pofe :  They  believe that he never dies,  but  only changes his
 Perion, or the Body he choofes to inhabit, as fuits his Inclination :
 The Vulgar have the fame Notions, with  Refpect to their fubor-
 dinate Lamas.  The L.ih.-» of Thibet, like the Roman Pontif,  is
 Supreme both  in Spiritual and Temporal Affairs ; and  is  often
 vifited by diftant Princes,  to receive his Bleffing,  and Remiffiou
 of  their  Sins.'

  Tne Arabians were long  acquainted with  the  Practical  Part
 of  Medicine, before the .Foundation  of the  Saracen  Empire :
 'Tis believed, that their Prophet Mahomet had fome Knowledge
 of  Medicine himfelf;  and that therefore it was ever afterwards
 highly eftcemed, by his Succelfors in the Caliphat.  The  Saracens,
 in  the beginning of  Mahometanifm,  fcarce  applied themfelves  to
 any Study, befides that of cultivating  their own Language, and
 underftanding their  own Laws, except Physic;  hut this  Pro-
 feffion was generally efteemed among them,  as being ofuniverfal
 Advantage to Mankind.   It was  the  barbarous  Policy of this
 People, to  deftroy all Books, and  other  Veftiges of Literature
 wherever they carried their Conquelts :  Accordingly,  Amrou,
 having made himfelf Matter  of  Alexandria,  and being  loath  to
 deftroy fo famous  and valuable a Library as he found in  that
 City, fe«t to the Caliph  Omar, to know his Pleafure ; he recei-
 ved for Anfwer, that if thefe Books contained the fame as the
 Coran,  they  could  be of no Ufe ;  and if  they  advanced  any
 thing contrary to it,  they fhould therefore  be burnt.  This  was
 accordingly executed, excepting fuch as treated of Medicine ;
 thefe  were carefully preferved from the  Conflagration,   the
 Quantity of Volumes which had  been collected there,  at an
 immenfe  Expence,  for a Series of Ages, was  fo  great,  that  it
 fupplied Fuel  to the  Bagnios^or the Space of  fix Months ;  tho'
 there were no lefs than 4000 at that time in Alexandria.  Thus
 the  Remains  of the Ptolomean Library, which had  furvived
 the  calamitous Accidents of Cesar's Wars, were now  intenti-
 onally and almoft intirely  confumed by theie Votaries to Super-
 ftition and  Enthufiafm.   It  has been  remarked  that Arts  and
 Sciences have undergone Revolutions, fomewhat  fimilar  to thofe
 of States  and  Empires. The Irruptions  of the Goths, and other
 Northern Nations into the Roman Empire, in the Cth Century, was
attended  with  the Deftrudtion of almoft   every  Monument of
Learning,  in  the Weftern World : And about  two Centuries
afterwards, the Saracens  and Followers  of  Mahomet in the  Eaft,
laid the Foundation  of  an Empire, which in the Space  of about
 80  Ytars, extended its Dominion with  amazing  Rapidity, over
                                                      mote 
Medical  Discoursed              45
more  Kingdoms and Territories, than the Romans had ever been
able to do in  800;  and  laboured but  too fuccefsfully, to
fubftitute Arabic  and the Koran,  in the  Place of every other
Lasguage and Book, thro' great Part of Afia, and Africa.  This
Difference  however is obfervable in thefe literary Events,  that
what was  done by the Northern Swarms, thro' brutal  Ferocity
and Ignorance, was perpetrated by thefe Apoftles of Mahomet,
under the fpecious Pretence of ferving God and his Prophet .
 vVe read,  it is true, of fome few Inilances, both in Sacred  and
Profane Hiftory, where a Difference in  Religious Dodtrines, has
oceafioned the'Demolition of States, or Extirpation of Nations :
even  the Followers of the  meek and  peaceful  Jesus,  tho'
fhameful to relate,—had already fet that execrable Example  of
killing, or otherwife perfecuting one another/or the Sake of God ;
which has been fo pioujly  and induftrioufly followed, by over-
heated  and  factious  Enthufiafts,  thro' fucceffive Ages,  to  thefe
prefent Times : But on fuch Pretences to deftroy Books, and the
 ufeful Labours of the Learned,  is fuch  a Proftitution of Reafon
 and Religion,  as.no  Age, no Nation,  before the  Saracens, had
 ever avowed.   Such Feats  of Bigotry and  Ignorance,  were re-
 ferved for the Sons of Ishmael; and  for fome Chriftian -Zea-
 lots  of  more  modern  Days,  who  with more  than  Turkift
 Barbarity, indulged their  religious Phrenzy, in  deftroying  both
 Books, and  many ftately Edifices, the very  Ruins  of which are
 at this Day  the  Admiration of  Strangers.  Notwithftandmg
 this Havoc among the Records of  Antiquity, the  Fathers  of
 Physic,  as has been faid  above, found an Afylum with  thefe
 religious   Conquerors.   Afterwards, when  Spain,  in  the 9th
 Century, was  reduced to the Moorift Yoke,  they began to attend
 to the Arts of Peace, and  founded  Colleges there ; to  which
 there  was a  great Refort of Students,  from all Parts of Europe,
 particularly to learn the Healing Art.  The many voluminous
 Publications of the  Arabian  Physicians, which for  many
 Years were almoft the only Books confalted  upon the Subjed of
 Medicine;  the liberal  Rewards and Salaries  beltowed upon  them,
 by their Caliphs and Princes;  the many valuable  Additions
 they have made to the Materia  Medica ; and the  accurate
 Defcriptions they  have left us, of feveral new Difeafes, unknown
 to former Authors ; are not only Teftimonies of the great Efteem
 the Science  was held in,  by that People, but alfo ofthe extenfivc
 Knowledge and Abilities of their  Practitioners.  We  are allu-
 red,  that  the Hakimm,  or Doctor, is   always  treated with
 uncommon  Refpect  amctt  the Arabians,  and other Nations oi
 the Eaft: That he  mayMninvited enter any Houfe,  where he
 never fails of a cordial  Welcome  : That  even in their  hoftile
 Incurfions and Depredations, his  Perfon and Effeds are unmo-
 lefted, and held  facred;  for,  fay  they, it  would be  barbarous
 and  uniuft,  to involve thofe in the  Calamities ot War, who
        *                                                  bv 
  46           Medical  Discourse.
  by their Profeffion and Employment are Friends  to Mankind :
  And by this diflinguifhed  ApelJation,  we are told by  1 ravcilers,
  they are charaderized in thefe Countries, at this Day.

    The  Turks are now,  v/ith Refped to Learning, nearly what
 -the Romans were, during their Repai,  and  a great Part of their
  Confular State; a  warlike, proud,  and illiterate People:  But
  where the other liberal Sciences are not permitted to take Root,
  the  Art of Healing- has never been obferved to flourifh. The
  Turks have fome  Family Receipt;, which they make  Ufe of
,  when fick; and when thefe fail, they then have Recourfc to fome
  profeffed Physician.  The Pradice  among them,  is generally
  carried on by Armenians, Greeks, or Jews ;  or by Chriftian Renu-
 gado's :  But they mult  all be licenfed by  the Echim-Paschi, or
  chief Physician to the Grand Seignior, before  they dare
  open Shop.  This  Licence, which is obtained  at no great Ex-
  pence, is confidered as their  Diploma.  They have  the fame
  Chief of the Faculty,  with the fame Powers of licenfing Prac-
  titioners, at Cairo in Egypt.  The Turks, bejfig forbid the Ufe
  of Wine, very  temperate  in  their Diet,  and  making frequent
  Ufe  of Bathing, are in general very healthy.  But what princi-
  pally difcourages the Art here, and  prevents Men of Skill from
  fettling among them, is,' that  the Turks are extremely covetous
  and fond of Money ; that  they make  great  Promiffes, but after
 the Service  is done, are bad Pay-Mafters ;  and that they are apt to
  impure the  Death of a Patient, to the Ignorance ofthe Doctor,
 whoever he is, from mere Caprice and a gratuitous Inclination
 for Abufe or Plunder.  They have a particular Infirmary  be-
 longing to  the Seraglio.   The Sultan's Physician is greatly
 refpeded, and always eats in the  Palace,  with  the Capee  Aga,
 or Chamberiain in  greateft Authority ; and for whom there is
 allowed a feparate Table and Attendance. They make great Ufe of
 Scarifications and Burning  for Head-Aches, or local Pains, and
 are very patient under fuch Operations.  The Commonalty con-
 fult,  for the moft Part, fome Jew or Renagado Chriftian, or who-
 ever will ferve  them cheapeft ; but if  thefe Medical Adventurers
 are convidted of Mal-Pradice,  they are  feverely punifhed in their
 Perfons or  Efteds,  and moft  frequently  in  both.   When  their
 Great-Men  .are  Sick, they  generally apply to fome Ambaffador,
 for the Advice  of his  Physician, who  neverthelefs is feldom
 well  paid for his Affiftance.   When a Phyfician is  applied to,
 they will not follow his Diredions, till he  firft has told them,
 what the Patient's Diforder  is : This iwiot only an Argument of
 their extreme Caution and Diffidence,  But  alfo of the Experience
 and Ability that they require in the Praditioner, to whom they
 entruft the Care  of their Health.  They have fome few Books of
 Phyfic among them,  as well  as  of Hi/lory,  Poetry, and other Sub-
jects.  Their  Injlitutes, and Pradice of Physick, are chiefly taken
                                                       from 
                Medical Discourse.  *.          47
from Galen.  The Arabian Writer Avicenna, whom they call
Eelx-Zina,  is alfo greatly admired, and much C£n fuited where-
ver the Mahometan Religion has prevailed.   Mathiolus is ano-
ther IVJedical Writer known to them : But  as  their fole Aim and
Study is to get Money, there is  ro Emulation any where among
them,  in any Branch of true or ufeful knowledge.

   Di Solis  informs us, that Montezuma,  Emperor  of Mex-
ico, had tranfplanted into his Gardens, f .r the Purpofes  of Me-
dicine, all  the  choice Similes that benign Climate, produced;
where  his Phyficiarft had an Opportunity of ftudying  their Pro-
perties.  By  long Experience,  they had found out various Herbs
and Plants,  proper for all kinds of Pains and Difeafes ; and with
which they often eftedcd furprir.ir.g Cures. The Emperor himfelf
pot only diftributed fuch Plant:; from Jm Collection,  as had been
prefcribed by the Phyficians, or defired by the Sick;  but would
alfo inquire  after the Succefs of the Medicines given ; thus,  ei-
ther gratifying his Vanity, or believing that he thereby fulfilled
the Obligations of a Sovereign, in feking fuch  Care of the Health
of his  Subjeds.  The fame Author tells us,  that Cortes having
been feized with a violent  Fever,  and Diforder in his Brain, at
Tlaj'cala, in  Confequence of a Wound of the Head, .which  he
had received  a  few  Days before,  in  an Engagement with the
Mexicans ; the Senate of that Republic, fent for the  belt Physi-
cians in the Country to his Affiftance :  Who, by  a wonderful
Difcernment  in the  Virtues of their Medicinal  Herbs,  and  by
varying their Applications,  according to the different Turns
and Appearances of  the  Diltemper,  at  laft reftored  him  to
Health.

   Mr. Waffer, who  was  himfdtf bred to Phyfic, tells us in  his
TraVels, that being accidentally  wounded in croffing the Ifihtnus
of Darien, he was neceffarily left behind among the Indians of
that Country ; that being unable to aifi.t himfelf,  thefe Savages,
tho' not remarkably kind to him in other Refpeds, took Com-
£flion upon  his  Wounds,- and  By applying certain  falutifcrous
Herbs chewed to  a Confifrence, and fpread upon Piantane Leaves,
they effeded  a compleat Cure, in a fhort 1 ime.  Thefe Indians
he tells us, had a very  Angular Method of Blading;  the  Patient
was feated on a Stone,  in the River which  flowed near their Ha-
bitation, and a Perfcn  fkilled in that Exercife,  fhot feveral little
Arrows at the Body, which pierced no deeper than the Skin:
And that when  they brought Blood, the Spectators were greatly
re;ov!-ed.  The Wife ofthe  Indian Chief Lacenta,  being fick,
Mr. Waffer, to relieve her, opened a  Vein ofthe Arm, with a
Lancet;  when the Spouting of the  Blood  fo alarmed the Indian,
that he was wiilyDiffculty withheld from killi:-.;^ him:  But the
Woman foon recovering, Lacinta, with all his Followers, kifTed
                                                       Mr. 
4#            Medical  Discourse.
Mr. Wafer's Hands, inReverenceto his Skill ; and they ever after-
wards treated4iim with fingular Refped. He was carried about in a
Hammock, from Plantation to Plantation, adminiltring  Advice,
Phlebotomy,  and Phyfic, for he had preferved fome Inftruments and
Medicines; and he became the Objed of almoft general Adora-
tion with thofe grateful Savage?.   It was with  Difficulty that  at
laft, when an Opportunity offered of getting back to Europe, they
confented to part with him, upon  his Promife of a fpeedy Return.

  The Peruvians, as we are told in the Hiftory of their Inc as,
had feveral  Medical Secrets and Operations,' for various Difeafes,
which had been tranfmitted from  Father to Son ; and which they
had learned  from long Experience: Tho'  they  had  a  pretty
extenfive Knowlege of Remedies,  they had not  advanced fo far
in that Branch of Learning, as to  have any regular Theory refpec-
ing Difeafes,  or to have ^reduced  their Pradice to  a System.
That they had profeffed Praditioners among them feems evident,
from  reading  in  the Hiftory of the Conqueft of Peru, that
Atauchi, Brother to the murdered Inc a Atabaliba, having
taken fome Spanift Prifoners,  would have facrificed  them all to
his Revenge ;  but he was afterwards prevailed upon, not only to
give thern their Lives, in Confideration of two among them, who
had warmly protefled againft the In ca's Murder  : Butalfo he took
Care, fays  our  Author, that fuch  as were  wounded, fhould
be cured: And then he difmiffed  them with Prefents.  By Means
of the Peruvians, we  are become  acquainted with feveral  power-
ful Drugs, particularly  Jefuits Bark, and Ipecac$an ; which are
ftrong Proofs of their Knowledge in the Virtues and Properties
of various Plants.

   The  warlike Savages of North-Am eric a, particularly the
Iroquois, or  five confederate Nations, where  they are untainted
with the Vices and cozening Arts  of the more civilized Europoeans,
exhibit the moft  linking and genuine Pidure  of the  primitive
World, or iuppofed State of Nature, to  be met with upon the
knov/n  Face of the Globe.   They have no eftabliftied Authomy
among them,  hereditary or eledive, but fuch only as  is acquired
by approved Bravery and Succefs  in War,  or by  Eloquence in
Council:  And even this Obedience or Submiffion to  fuperior
Merit,  is  altogether voluntary; for their Sachems or Chiefs,
when acknowledged  fuch, are mere Advifers  or  Counfellors,
they never  have any coercive Powers.  They  have  no national
Tenet? of  Religion; no eflablifhed Modes, or public Places of
Worfhip ;  no Order cf Priefts,  or Dillindion  of Days :  Every
Man frames his own  Creed,  according to his Fancy ; and many
of them have none at all.   The  only Article of Belief in which
they fe?m generally to agree, is  in fome vagtoe and obfeure No-
tion* of a future Exiftence ; But  with the ancient Mexicans, and
                                                        the 
                Medical  Discourse.             49

the more humanized Natives of Peru, this Opinion was ftill more
prevalent.

The following Lines  of Mr. Tope, maybe, with  fome Indul-
   gence, applied to all, or moft  of the known Tribes in this
   Wefiern World :
   Lo,  the  Poor Indian !  whofe untutor'd Mind
   $ees God  in Clouds, or hears  him in the Wind ;
   His Soul, proud  Science  never taught to ftray
   Far as the Solar Walk,  or Milky  Way ;
   Yet  ample  Nature  to his Hope has giv'n,
   Behind the cloud-topt Hill, an  humbler  Heav'n ;
   Some fafer World in Depth  of V/oods cmbrac'd,
   Some happier Ijland in the watry Wafte ;
   Where  Slaves once  more their native Land behold,
   No Fiends torment, no Christians  thirit for Gold.
   To  be, Contents his natural Defire,
   He alks no  Angels Wing,  no Seraphs  Fire ;
   But  thinks,  admitted to that  equal Sky,
   His  faithful  Dog  fhall  bear him Company.

   Some diftant Nations about the upper Lakes,  pay Reverence
 to the Sun : And fome alfo  to the Moon.  Some  have M«ni-
 toos,  or fmall' tutelar Divinities  of  their own  Compofitien,
 which they carry to War with them in Boxes, and confult upon
 particular Emergencies, with  ftrange Ceremonies, and always in
 the Dark;  upon which Occafions,  the War Captain generally
 ads the Conjurer.   Wstr and  Hunting are the  fole  Occupations
 of the Men ; and almoft every menial Office at Home,  or in the
 Field,  is performed by the Women.  Whoever firft Plants a Spot
 of Land with Maize or Indian Corn, poffefles it undifturbed, as
 long as he pleafes ; and when he leaves it, which is frequently
 the Cafe,  the  next Comer occupies  it by the fame indifputed
 Right, Poffeffion.  Whence the Migration of Families is both eafy
 and frequent among them ; and even whole^rTribes  or  Nations,
 from various Motives, will fometimes; change their  Habitations.
 Their Wants are few : Their  Houfhold Furniture and Riches are
 eafily tranfported :_ They know not tne JJfe of Locks or Bars to
their Houfes ;  yet Theft is fcarcely ever heard of among them-
 felves,  tho' they will all  take or fteal from Europoeans: Every
 Wood affords  them a Shelter ; and there too they can generally
 fupply themfelves*with both Food and Cloathing.   Their Medi*
cinal Remedies  are few, and generally adminiftred by  their Squaas
or Women : They confift  in various  Methods of Sweating;  in
certain Drinks made  with Simples,  which operate  by  Stool  or
Vomit;  and "in  cold Bathing.   They  have fome  Notions  of
Bleeding,  by Scarifications fot local Pains: They treat with par-
                            H                       ticular 
$o            Medical  Discourse.
ticular Refpedt,  upon all Occafions, fuch Europeans as poffefs any
Knowledge of  Medicine :  And they obey their1 Diredions,
when ailing, with the greateft Deference and Punduality.

   Among the  Negro Tribes of Africa, we are told,  that the
Pradice of Medicine  confifts in the outward Application of
certain Herbs  or Roots,  or Infufions and Decodions  of them
given inwardly: But the Remedies  they chiefly depend upon,
are the Charms, and other Tricks of their Conjurers.  They are
all believed to be fo very mifchievous,  and  with all  fo expert in
the Ufe of vegetable.Pbijbns, that every obftinate and uncommon
Ailment  among them,  is  ufually fuppofed to be the Effect of
Poifon adminiftred by fome envious or revengeful Negro : 'Tis
true, fuch Accidents too frequently happen ; but this Belief is fo
prevalent among the African Slaves,  that when once  a fick Negro
is fully impreffed with fuch a Notion,  he feldom recovers. Tho'
the extenfive Countries  of the Negroes are generally, for obvious
Reafon6 very unhealthy, yet we do not find any where  a fixt or
uniform Pradice in their Cure of Difeafes;  nor  do we know any
remarkableRemedies orDrugs which are peculiar to theirClimates.
It is however worthy of Remark,  that,  from undoubted Accounts
both of  Traders and intelligent Natives,  fome of  the inland
Nations of Africa have long had the Pradice of Inoculation
for  the   Small  Pox ; but whether  this is a  Difcovery of
their own, or derived from the more intelligent Nations of Asia,
we know not.

   The Revival of Learning in Europe, is  in nothing more dif-
tinguifhable,  than by that ardent Attention, and early Encourage-
ment given for improving all the various Branches ofthe He ali ng
 Art.   ManV  Medical Colleges were foon after this Period en-
 dowed,  and Ledurers  appointed, by different  Princes  in their
 refpedtive Dominions;  to which  there was a great Refort of Stu-
 dents, from many diftant Countries; according as the Reputation
 of the Profeffors attracted then*  From thefe firft fiftablifhments
 in Spain and  Italyi%\ready mentioned,  as we approach  our own
 Times,  we find the Profession  rifing  more and more into
 Fame and Eftimation, thro' France, Germany, and other Parts of
 Europe;   in Proportion's Discoveries  and Improvements were
 made,  in Anatomy,Thymistry, Botany, and Physiolo-
 gy : „.Till the immortal Harvey, Phyfician to that great Patron
 of  Learning Charles the First,  by  his  Difcovery of the
 Circulation of  the Blood, eaft fuch an* inextinguifhable
 Light upon this Science, as fixes here, the moft memorable JEra
 in the Hiftory  of Physic, fince it  firft exifted as  a Profeffion.
 From that Time, Medicine has continued to  flourifb, among
 the Britijh Nations, with unequalled Lirftre.  In no Country  is
 this Profeffion  more honourable,  more refpeded, or more bounte-
                                                       oufly 
 .   -           Medical Discourse.            51
oufly cherifhed; and no Profeffion  has more  amply repaid  this
benign Influence,  and  public Favour, or refleded more Honour
upon their Country, by fuch a Number of eminent Writers, than
this has ; Whether- we confider them with Refped to their Merit
and Abilities, in Subjeds  merely medical; or their great Reputa-
tion in foreign Kingdom*, for Compofitions of Genius and Tafte ;
or their acknowledged Proficiency, in all other Parts of ufeful and
polite Literature :  It is uuneceffary to give Inftances here, or to e-
numerate a long Train of Medical Worthies fo well known to
every Gentleman of Reading.  To  juftify my Affertion, permit
me to appeal to the Sentiments of that Ornament of human Nature,
Mr. Pope ; who,  in one of his familiar Epiftles,  fpeaking of Eis
Obligations to Dr. Mead, and others of the Faculty,  adds, they
are in general the moft amiable Companions, and the befi Friends, as well
as the  moft learned Men Lknowr.  And the ingenious Dr. Black-
stone, in his Ledure upon  the Study of the Law,  recommends
fome Acquaintance with this neceffary Science to the Faculty of
Physic, in  common with other Gentlemen, to compleat the Cha-
rader of general and extenfive Knowledge;  a Character,  fays
he, which their Profeffion, beyond others, has remarkably deferved.  Nor
is it our leaft Happinefs and Boaft, that there are now living, many
Gentlemen defervedly celebrated both at Home and Abroad; nOt
more for their medical Talents in particular, than for their exten-
five Knowledge of Letters  in general.  But when we turn our
Refearches from thefe glorious Fields of Science, to the prefent
obfcure and illiterate Scenes before us; when  we lift our Eyes to
thefe towering  and enlightened  Geniufes of ancient and modern
Days,  and afterwards look down to the favourite Wonder-work-
ing Dodors of this Place,  how wide is the Diftance between fuch
contrafted Objeds ? How numerous the  Links which conned the
Extremes of fuch  a lengthened  Chain r  The Comparifon, with
all Refped to thofe who think differently be  it faid, is too une-
qual, abfurd, and ridiculous to be fupported.

  I cannot conclude this Inquiry into the ancient and prefent
State of  Physic, without acknowledging, in Juftice to the Me-
dical Faculty  of Philadelphia, that they firft fetus the lau-
dable  Example of this Inftitution in America ;  tho' the pradi-
cability of inftruding  Youth in this ufeful and learned Profeffion,
among ourfelves,  has> for many Years been  an  Objed of Spe-
culation  here : Whereby  we may  in  a great Meafure prevent
the future Neceffity of long  and perilous Voyages  to  Europe ;
as well as large Remittances of Money, which  never more re-
turns : Nor  indeed is this the only Inllance" of the wife Police
and  public Spirit  of that flourifhing and well regulated City,
which deferves our Imitation.

  The Art of Physic inftructs us  in the Method of preferving
                                                    Health. 
 52             Medical  Discourse.
 Health when  prefent; and  in  the  Means  of  reftor.ing it when
 loft ;  or how  to alleviate the Inconveniencies  confequcnt upon
 Health impaired, when a total Cure cannot be effected.  This
 Art  is by Hippocrates  called  the Noblest of  aH Ap.ts ;
 which heal.-, by adding that which was wanting,  and taking a-
 w.iy what  is  fuperfluous.   And Pluthrch fays,  that Medi-
 cine contains as large and fruitful  a Field for Pleafure, as  any
 other of all the liberal Arts.

   The  whole Syftem of Physic  is  comprehended  under thefe
 two  Denominations, the Theory,  and  the Practice.  The
 Nature aud Meaning ofthe latter is pretty generally underftood :
 But the Theory of Physic, tho' the Foundation of all  rational
 Practice,  being  very little underftood or attended  to here,
 and  confequently  its  Advantagas not* fo obvious, a particular
 Explication  of the Nature and  Ufefulnefs  of  it, will now  the
 more readily be indulged me,  as it will ferve at the fame  Time
 to convey a  more adequate Idea of  the Importance  of this pre-
 fent Institution.

 '  There is'but too frequent Occafion  to remark, that  we are  apt
 to undervalue in others, what we ourfelves do not   poffefs, or
 defpair of ever' attaining ; efpecially when the Subjed  of  our
 Envy gives any Pre-eminence  to the' Poffeflbr ! This is  in no Cafe
 more applicable, than with Refped to the Ufefulnefs of Theory
 in Physic  ; and will fully account for that Objoquy  and  Ridi-
 cule,  with which the Self-taught Dodors of this City, affed to treat
 a  Plan of MeciCaL  Education,  which they  either have  not
 Senfe to comprehend, or Honefty and Candour  enough to regret
 the Want  of".   Such  little Foes  are pardonable; they  indeed
 claim our Pity ; becaufe they know no better.  But when an intel-
 ligent Head,  is totally  guided by  an unfeeling and  malevolent
 Heart: When the Want of academical Inftrudion in  his Profef-
 fion, is artfully  concealed under  many  real and more ftudied
 Oddities of Behaviour; by fhunning every Occafion of Medical
 Converfe with fuch as can judge of his Skill, or cenfure  hrs
 Pradice ; by amufing his credulous Hearers with vulgar Jefts, or
 the too generally deledable  Arts  of Defamation, and illiberal
 Abufe of thofe, who have been more fortunate in Opportunities of
 Improvement than himfelf: When  a  Spirit of Rapacity is gloffed
 over by boafted Nojirums, and fiditious Cures;  or otherwife,  by
 himfelf, or his Emijfaries,  pradifing upon the diftempered Ima-
ginations cf the fick ; and by. every other mean  and reproachful
Artifice; it might'well excite the Amaze  and  Regret of every
Friend to Learning, and of every good  Member of Society,
fhould he  find that  the infidious Opinions of fuch  a  Medical
Phoencmenon,  who refleds'fo little Flonour  upon  the City  he lives
in, and much lefs upon the Profeffion he follows, were  ftill, as
                                                 heretofore* 
                Medical  Discourse.             53
 heretofore,  not only  liftened  to,  but  applauded.  However I
 would willingly hope,  that this refpedable Community will,  for
 the^ future,  form their Opinions of this  Profeffion, and of this
 prefent  Undertaking,  from their own Underftanding and Ob-
 fervation ;  and that  Strangers,  who  fhall ^henceforth vifit thefe
 hofpitable Regions, for the Sake of Health, will not too  haftily
 judge of the whole Faculty here, from the ungracious PraCtifes
 of a heterocute  Doctor, or the relentlefs Cravings of an
 infatiable Leech.
                    t
   Before we proceed, let us here confider fuch common  Objedi-
 ons, made to  the Ufefulnefs  of Theory, as  carry  with them
 any Appearance of Reafon or  Plaufibility.

   It feems  to be univerfally allowed,  that Experience alone can
 never form  a  rational  Physician :  Vet fome decry Theory,
 as of no Ufe in explaining.Difeafes, becaufe,  fay  they, it cannot
 be accommodated to all of them.   But  fuch Difputants may as
 well contend, that becaufe Theory  cannot obtain in all Difea-
 fes, it  therefore does  in none ; which  would be to contradid
 all Senfe and Obfervation.   Others, becaufe  they   are not ac-
 cuftomed, or not willing,  or perhaps  not able to inveftigate the
 Caufes of Difeafes, reckon Theory not only as .ufelefs, but  would
 infinuate alfo, that it  may fometimes be dangerous in Pradice.'
 Now,  what can be more abfurd, than to imagine that a Physi-
 cian  will  be the more unfuccefsful,  the better he' underftands
 the Diftemper ?  Or that he  who fees  clearly into the Origin and
 Caufe  of an Indifpofitiori, fhould therefore be  the more incapa^
 ble of rightly  applying a Remedy ? Or on the  contrary,  that  he
 ftiould be the moft happy in his Cures, who is altogether ignorant
 why one Method  fhould  be purfued  rather than another ? The
 Futility  of  fuch Objedions is obvious  to every Capacity.  Others
 again fay, that Difeafes have been cured  by Perfons  ignorant of
 all -Theory ; who  neither underftood  Anatomy,  the  Ani-
 mal Oeconomy, nor the Manner in which  Remedies operate!
 This has fometimes undoubtedly been the Cafe ; and happy are
 they who have  efcaped, to tell the  Tidings ! But   were  we  to
 examine the Pradice of fuch Perfons,  and obferve how unfeafon-
 ably moft Medicines are applied ; how many and how contrary
 Things are given ; we  muft acknowledge that their Apothecaries
 are much obliged  to them, but their  Patients not  at all: For
 being  unacquainted  with the Nature of the Diftemper, or any
 certain Method of Cure,  they range thro' the whole Materia
Medic*, in Hopes that they may fortunately hit upon a Remedy
at laft.   There are fome  too who object  to  the Ufefulnefs  of
Theory ; That there are Perfons who, tho'  incirely ignorant
of any rational Scheme of Pradtice,  yet by being much employed,
have acquired  fuch a Degree of Knowledge,  as, to fucceed  in 
54            Medical  Discourse.
the Cure of fome  particular  Difeafes! This  Obfervation  will
hold equally good of every fagacious  and attentive old Woman,
or Nurje;  nor,  if true,  is it fo very furprizing,  when  y: is
confidered, that  fome Difea/es recur as it v/ere in a Circle.  But
fhoulcf any new.  Dif^jrlp'erarife,  and fuch as this  Praditioner
never  faw before, our Champion of Experience would then be
much at aLofs, and turn  over his mufty Receipts  and Commen-
taries long in vain,  'ere he could difcover  any Light to guide
him to a proper Treatment.  Whereas the judicious and rational
Physician, who is  intimately acquainted  with the Powers of
the human Body, and the Nature of the Fluids ; without being
alarmed at any unufual  Cafe;  applies  the Ideas he had already
formed in his  Mind,  about the Nature of Difeafes  in general,
to this particular Cafe ;  by which he eafily difcerns  the Genius
of the Difeafe ;  whence it arifes ; the true  Indications of Cure ;
and what Method ought chiefly to be purfued : Amidft the  Va-
riety of  D'ugs, he  has no Difficulty  in choofing immediately
fuch as are moft  proper for  his Purpofe, and in  fixing upon
that Order he ought to follow in preferibing them.  Empyri'cs
do not fo much diftinguifh between Difeafes themfelves, as the
Names  of Difeafes :  For lnftance  in Fevers, the fame fymptoms
frequently occur,  where the Caufe  of the Difeafe  and State of
the Humours,  are very different.  Thus fome Fevers arife from a
Redundancy, fome from  a  Rarefadion, others from a  Lentor,  and
others  again  from a putrid Dijfolution  ofthe  Blood; all which
require a  different Treatment,  according to their feveral Caufes.
Suppofe now this  Nominal Phyfician to be  fent for ; he  would
immediately form his Diftindions, or Diagnofis,  as it is  called,
from the moft obvious Symptoms attending Fevers  in  general ;
and without further Inquiry, pronouncing the Diftemper to  be a
Fever, would  boldly purlue the  fame  Method of  Cure in  all !
On the contrary,  the rational  Physician explores not fo much
the Name, as the Nature  of  the  Difeafe : He  endeavours to
find out its immediate  and remote'Caufes,  with the State of- the
circulating Fluids ; and from thefe is direded in his  Application
of Remedies :  And  often too, by a judicious Analogy, extends
thofe  Medicines to many Difeafes,  which Ufe  had perhaps too
arbitrarily determined as Specifics in one.  How can he apply
a  proper  Remedy to a'Difeafe,  fays  Celsus, who knows not
whence, it arifes, what Parts are atfeded, how they  are con-
neded, where they are  feated, or what  are their Fundiofts ? And
tho'  it is  undeniable that Experience  is abfolutely neceffary to
a Phyfician ;  yet even this Experience  can  neither be purfued,
nor fafely applied, without Reafoning upon it; or without for-
ming fome 1 heory from hie own Obfervations.  Whence  it  may
be.fairly concluded, that Theory and Practice  fo much re-
quire each others Affiftance, that no one can ever deferve greatly
of Physic, who does not unite them :  And let us add, that the
                                                        belt 
                Medical  Discourse.            55
 heft Colledion of Medical Receipts  or Prefcriptions which ever
 was, or will be made, can no more make a complete Physician,
 than gopd  Colours  and Pencils alone, can make a fine  Pain-
 ter.-—Thus  then  the  Knowledge  of the Theory  of Physic,
 regularly acquired  as a  Science, according to the beft and moft
 approved Methods of Study, is thfe fureit Guide to a fafe and judi-
 cious Pradice ; arid diftinguifhes the  rational Physician, from
 the daring Empyrick,  and other trammel'd Labourers in this Pro-
 feffion.

   We  fhall now cbnfider the Nature of Theory,  and what  it
 particularly teaches us.  It is well known, that  all other Sciences
 have their Prjecognita, or  Introdudory Parts ;  and that  no
 one can arrive at their Summit, without afcending by fuch  regu-
 lar Steps,  as Reafon and Experience  inform  us are neceffary to
 conduct him.   The Pr^cognita,  or Theory of Physic, com-
 prehends feveral curious,  and intricate Subjeds of Study ; each*
 of which alone is fufficient to employ the  Attention of a Student,
 for a long Time, before he can acquire fuch a competent Know-
 ledge therein, as will intitle  him to  pradife  with  Safety to his
 Patient, or Honour  to himfelf.

   The Foundation of all true and rational Medical Knowledge, is
 Anatomy; or that dextrous, nice, and methodical Difiedion of
 the human Body, which difcovers  to us  its  various component
 Parts,  together with their Figure, Arrangement, Situation, and
 Connedtions.   Anatomy*gives us the Mechanifm and Ufes of
 the Bones, and of theMufcles; it  defcribes the Contents ofthe
 different Cavities of the Trunk of the  Body :  It teaches  alfo, the
 particular Courfe of the Nerves*, and Blood Veffel3; and how we
 may often difcover the Origin or Scat of an Injury, when perhaps
 the Part affeded or complained of,  is very diftant from it.  The
 Demonftrations in this Polar Branch of Medicine,  are fo palpa-
 bly neceffary and  inftrudive, that tihey can  never be too often
 repeated by every Denomination of the Faculty, whether Pupils
 or Praditioners ; for it  is felf evident, that they ought to  know
 intimately and minutely the Compofition and  Frame of the Body,
 in the natural and found State,  before they  attempt to remedy
 its Infirmities  or  Ailments.—To  ufe a  familiar Comparjfon—
 would  not a Man deferve to be laughed at, who fhould undertake
 to regulate or repair any valuable or curious Piece of Machinery,
 (fuppofea Watch,)  without underftanding  its  Principles and Me-
- chanifm ?  Yet how many are  guilty  of a greater Abfurdity, by
 trufting their own  moft curious Animal Machine, which itfelf
 alone is a World of Wonders, in the Hands of thofe, who are
 ignorant of the Strudure and Ufes  even of fdch Parts,  as  admit
 of equal demonftrative  Certainty, wkh any Connivance of Man's
 Invention.?   •
                                                      Befides 
56            Medical  Discourse.
  Befides what  we are inftruded in by  Anatomy, which ia
principally concerned in defcribing the human Body after.Peath ;
there are other Parts of Knowledge, refpeding our prefent; Well-.
being and Exiftence,  which are properly the Subjeds of PhySi-
ology.—This  Branch of Theory  confiders Manprogreffively,
from his earlieft  Exiftence, before he has yet breathed the Breath
of Life ;  before  he is even fafhioned in his Mother's Womb ;,  and
while all the boafted Pre-eminence of this  future Image  of  Di-
vinity,  of  this  Deputy Ruler of the  World, is that of a loco-
motive Vegetable,  a mere auiomatous Machine, an almoft impercepti-
ble Worm;  to his  Decay,  or natural Death. Physiology treats
of the  Animalization of our  Pood; of the Properties and Ufes
of our various Fluids; of the Nature and  Circulation of tho
Blood; of Refpiration ; of the Senfes ; and, in fhort, of every
Fundion, whither Vital, Animal, or Natural, which is,  or ought
to be  performed by  the Body, while in Health: All which  are
comprehended under the Appellation of,—the Animal OEco-
nomy.  By Physiology, we are enabled to form a juft Idea of
Health, and wherein it confifts : As  from the  total, or  partial
Depravation of  aDy of the various Fundions, which are or ought
to be performed in Health, we form  the Idea of Sickness, in
all  its different Stages and Degree's.  Anatomy may  be con-
fidered as the Topography ofthe Body ; and Physiology as its na-
tural Hifto>y. Anatomy is the guiding Star to the Surgeon ; but
both are alike  effential  to the Physician.   We have  already
obferved, what  great  Improvements  have from Time  to Time
been made, in Physiology,  by opening and infpeding the  Bo-
dies of different Animals  alive; and otherwife making  Experi-
ments upon them.  How far fuch Pradtices, tho' influenced by
fuch good Motives, are reconcileable to Humanity, I will not pre-
tend to determine :  But wheh it is  confidered what important,
what ufeful Difeovcries have been made in that Way ; the Inqfci-
fitive both in  Physic and Phylosophy1,  will always congratu-
late themfelves upon every Acquifition of Knowledge, however
abhorrent they  may be from fuch Means of obtaining it.   We
find too,  that fuch pradical Curiofity prevailed  in a very early
Period of this Profeffion ;  and was even carried to great Lengths,
if what feme-affirm of Erasistratus, the fagacious  Physici-
an to the-finc  Seleucus,  and of Hfrophilus  above  menti-
oned, be true.  From what is already faid, it muft be evident to
every Man  of Senfe  or Refledion, how prepofterous it is, to at-
tempt to remedy the Alterations and Changes  produced in  the
Body by  Sickness, without a previous particular Knowledge of
its State in  Health.

  But thefe  Studies  of Anatomy, and  Physiology,  befides
being confidered as neceffary Qualifications for  the Pradice  of
Physic,  may moreover be looked upon as Branches of Natu-
                                                      ral 
               Medical  Discourse.            S7

ral  Philosophy, both  pleating and  inftrudive  to  Men of
Specuiudon and  Letters ;  and no lefs amufing to fuchvas carry  their
Refearches, no farther than the  immediate .Objects  of  their
Senfes. . If our Curiofity receives fuch exquifite  Gratification, in
contemplating the  immenfe Variety,  which Nature .has dif-
playe'd in her  inferior Produdions ;  why fliould we not in like
Manner take Pleafure in  purfuing her, in  her  more complete
and noble Work, the Human Frame?  When  we  examine the
various component Parts of the Body, with their different Com-
binations and Ufes, how are we amazed, to find all the  Motion*
of this moft complicated Machine performed^ according to the
well known and immutable Powe>s  of Mechanics ? How are
our moft warm and Heart-felt Emotions of Gratitude called up,
when we perceive, that every minute difcernible Atom is  formed,
and placed, according to the moft juft Weight, and ftrideft Men-.
furation? That the Diftribution of  our Veffels, and Courfe  of
the Fluids thro' them, are all conformable to the ever permanent
Laws of Hydraulics ;  and that all thefe are difpofed  of, v\irh
fuch  Symmetry and  benevolent Care,  as  are moft  conducive"  to
the Prefervation,  and prefent Happinefs of  Beings, whofe Du-
ration is fo fhort and limited ?—-The  Articulations of the Spine,
or Back-Bone, moving over their liquid Axle, and retting  upon
the Incomprejfibility of Water, atleaft incompreffible by any natural
Force of the Body :  The aftoniffiing Mechanifm of the Eye, and
■ Ear, fo beautifully contrived,  and carefully adapted to  the Na-
ture  and Properties of Light,  and Sound ; all muft excite the
moft profound Refped, and awful Veneration in  every attentive
Obferver of Nature, for Him who has thus  fafhioned us.   In
fhort, what more  rational Entertainment can be  found ; what
Subjed of  Admiration, more grand or noble ;  what more con-
vincing  fc-oofs  can be  given, of  the fuperlative  and  paternal
 Goodness of the Deity, than fuch an Hijfbrical Survey  of this
little World  of Man ? Who, agreable to  that juft, and empha-
tical Exclamation of the  Hebrew Poet,  is fo " fearfully and won-
" derfulfy made!"                  *
   Pathology neceffarily depends upon the previous Knowledge
of Physiology, and is  naturally conneded with it ; it is ufual
therefore to teach both, in the fame  Courfe of Lectures : Thefe
two Branches together are more particularly,  and  in  a limited
Senfe, called  the Theory of  Physic.  The Subjed of Patho-
 loc y confifts, in the general Inveftigation of the various Caufes
of Difeafes, whether adventitious or natural; with their  conse-
quent Symptoms, and Effeds.   Physiology confidcrs the Hurjian
Body, in its  found and  healtty State : But Pathology confi-
ders it, in its preternatural and"morbid State.

   A  familiar Acquaintance  with the Materia Medica, and
Pharmacy,  or atleaft with the Nature 'and Effeds of all fuch
                             J                        Simple 
58             Medical  Discourse.
Simple and  Compound Medicines, as are generally   ufed  in
Prefcriptions, together with the moft  proper  Methods  jf com-
pounding  them,  is  another Acquifition  in  this  Science, ex-
tremely necefiary to a Student,  before he engages in  Pradice.
Medicines  are the Inftruments in the Hands of the Ph%-sician,
with which he is to fubdue Difeafes : it would therefore be not
only dangerous  for the Patient,  but  abfurd  and wicked in  a
Praditioner, fhould he be  ignorant of the Strength and* Quali-
ties of thofe Weapons, he  enfploys for accomplishing  his Pur-
pofe : It is indeed his Duty to know,  not only the feveral Vir-
tues of Drugs; what Difeafes  they  are  proper for;  in what
Quantities they orjfght to be given ; and in what  Forms they can
be moft commodioufly exhibited :  But  he  fhould  alfo be able to
diftinguifh what are genuine, from what .ire fophilticated ;  and
what  are frefh and found,  from  what are old and ufelefs.

  Chymistry, and  Botany, with  Refped to Medicine, may
in  fome Senfe be  confidered, as Subdivisions  of the  Materia
Medic a ; with which they both ferve to make us more intimately
acquainted.  By Chymistry,  the Nature and Properties of all
fuch Subftances as are ufed in Medicine, are explored ; and vari-
ous powerful Remedies are thereby prepared from the Vegeta-
ble,  Fossile,  and Animal Kingdoms, by Means of Fire, and
Solvents.   By Chymistry, many curious Difcoveries,  and ufe-
ful Improvements  are made  in Natural  Philosophy.  It is a
Study, no lefs  pleafing than advantageous to the Physician  ;
and an Amufement equally curious  and entertaining  to the
Gentleman and Scholar.

   By  Botany we are inflruded  in  the Natural Hiftory,  and
diitirguilhing  Charaders  of Plants. This  purfuecLas  a Sci-
ence,  or  Branch of Medical  Study,  prefents  to us *a  Fund of
Knowledge, both  valuable and  ornamental.  As  this  Conti-
nent yields   moft of the Medical Plants  now in  Ufe, and
abounds alfo with a Variety of others, whofe Virtues we are as
yet but little acquainted with, or-intire Strangers to ; may we
not hope,  that among  the future  literary Inftitutions  in this
Place, a Teacher of Botany will foon be  appointed ; and  a
 Botanical  Garden  laid out,  and properly furniftied ? This would
open an extenfive Field for further Difcoveries in, and  for large
 Acquifitions to the Materia  Medica :  And this City  might yet
have the  Honour, of the  firft Appointment  of that  Kind in
 America.
                              f
   The principal and moft interefting Part  of  Medicine, and to
 which all  thofe other foregoing  Studies, or Branches of  Theory
 are fubfervient, is Practice  ; or the  Knowledge and Cure  of
 j'ifedVs.  The Practice of Pjiysic is founded  on repeated
                                               Experiment:, 
               Medical  Discourse.            59
Experiments, and Obfervations of*Fads, made  by our  Prede- '
ceffors in the Healing Art, upon Difeafes and Remedies ; and
compared with thofe made by  ourfelves: And thence, from
what ufually has happened,  we colled what may'again- happen,
and what we ought to do in fimilar Cafes.   As all the Proficiency
made  in the other preparatory  Classes, with every  Affiftance
which can be derived from Memory, or the  Powers of Under-
standing, is -neceflarily exerted here ; it has always been cufto-
mary^for Students, to embrace the earlieft Opportunities of being
converfant in it;  by  attending, from their firft  Entrance upon
their  Studies,  the  Pradice of feme Gentleman, eminent  for
Bufinefs and Abilities; or by  vifiting the  Sick  in Hospitals,
where  th£  fame Opportunities  of Inftrud^on  ufually occur.—
Permit me to obferve here,  that, in  this wealthy and populous
City, which from its extenfive Trade and commodious Situation,
is fo much the Refort of Strangers,  and to which, as  the  Me-
tropolis and Seat of Government, there is fuch a Concourfe of
People from the inland Settlements ; the want of a proper arid
well regulated Infirmary, is greatly  to -be  lamented.  When
we  lobk round, and fee how many Objeds  of Diftrefs, are every
where fuffering under the accumulated Woes of Poverty,  Sicknejs,
and bodily Infirmities ; only  becaufe  they cannot have the Con-
veniencies neceffary for their being benefited  by that Affiftance,
which many Gentlemen of this Profeffion daily do, and would
ftill moft cheerfully give them ;  it is a Matter of fincere Regret,
that neither the Motives of  Humanity, nor the laudable  Example
of,a neighbouring Colony, have yet been able to give Being,
to  fo defirable a Place of Refuge, from fuch complicated Mi-
ferv.   An Eftablifhment, fo beneficial to the whole Province,
and to this City  in  particulaf, well deferves the • Attention of
a public  Spirited Legislature; as well  as the united In-
fluence of every  Friend to the Country, and  of every compajfion-
ate and.good Man :  But the Manifold Advantages, which would
hence arife to the Young Student, and  Praditioner, in  the  Pro-
feffion both of Physic and Surgery, are fo very palpable and
obvious, that it in a particular Manner claims the Countenance
of every Friend to the Art of Healing.  I am not ignorant,
that there has been  for many Years  in this  City, a public  Re-
ceptacle for poor Invalids ;  but the intentional Plan and Oeconomy
of<hat Houfe, render it undeferving of the Name of an Hos-
pital.  From the  known Humanity  of the  Magiltrates and
Managers, it  cannot be doubted that the  Sick .are there at  all
Times'  fupplied with decent,  and fuitable-Entertainment :  But
their  Medical Treatment has  hitherto been  fo ftudioully  con-
ceal'd,  that as ytl  it is  inkrutable , ;::;d therefore it remains
                                                  a  Doubt/ 
  60            Medical  Discourse.
  a  Doubt,  whether it be  a Reproach to the Community,  or a
  Benefit to the Patient*.

     Every Thing which can poffibly affed the Body, or influence its
  State of Health,  whether it be done  by us,  or fuffered by us,
  comes under the Confideration of Practice.  Thus,  as the Body
  is  greatly influenced by the ggneraU Climate of the Country, as
  well as  by the particular Air, Soil,  Situation, &c. of the Places
  we live  in ; and by  the  Diet, Cloathing,  Occupation,  and'
  Exercife  peculiar to'each  Individual;  they are  all  Objeds of
  Practice.  Kence it  is not to be wondered  at, if the Alter-
  ations made in our State  of Health,  fhould be as different,
  as  are the Caufes they  may  arife from ; or that the  fame  Dif-
  eafes  fhould be more 3r lefs frequent in fome  Places,  tflan  they
  are in others;  and even that they fhould  be  fometimes widely
  different in the  fame Places, according to their various Caufes,
  and the Ccnftituticns  they affed.  This  Diverfity in  the  Symp-
  toms, and Degrees  of  Violence, by which Difeafes  are  diftin-
  guifhed,  muft neceflarily require the utmoft  Attention  of the
  Physician, in  his Management of them-;  and it muft be  very
  evident,  from thefe Confiderations, that no one Method of Cure
  can poliibly be framed,  fo general or  comprehenfive, as to  fuit
  every Climate ;  nor  even the  fame  Dij'eafe in every Case, in the
  fame  Climate. *We  fhall in  general obferve  upon  this  Head,
  that a thorough  Knowledge of Anatomy j and of the Animal
  Oeconomy, according to the lateft Difcoveries, and moft  ap-
  proved  Theories;  a competent  Acquaintance with the
  Powers  and  Effeds  of Drugs ; and a  diligent Study of  the
  heft.' ancient  and  modern Medical  Writers, improv'd  by  his
  own Experience  and Obfervationsj  fhould be  the  Bufincfs  of
  every Physician;  and are  the effentiaL  Requifites, to  a fafe
  and happy  Pradice.

    A Physician ought alfo to be well acquainted with the Ope-
  rations of  Surgery :  And to  underftand both  the Theory.
                                                            and
   * Since this Lecture was read in the College Hall,  the Neceffity and Ufeful-
  nefs of a Pu bl ic Inkirmar if has been fo warmly and pathetically fet forth,
  in a Difcourfe delivered by Dr. Samuel Bard, at the Commencement,  in May
 • laft; that his Excellency Sir  Henry Moore, immediately fet on Foot a  Sub-
  fcription U r that Purpofe; to which himfelf, and  moft of  the Gentlemen trrcn
  prefent liberally  contributed.  His Excellency alfo  recommended it in the moft
  preiTing Manner to the Assembly ofthe Province, as an Object worthv of their
  Attention; and the Cor for ati»n of the  City have given us AfTurances of
  granting a vtry valuable and commodious Lot cf Ground, for creeling the Building
  upon  So that there is now almoft a certain Prolpett of this benevolent and bu~
  mane Foundation  foon taking Place.  And as it is  to be upon the moft catho-
  lic and  unexceptionable Plan,  it is hoped  that it will meet with the Countenance
  and Encouragement  of eery cumpaffitnate and good Member of Society; what-
  ever Party or Denomination he may choofe to be difSnguifhcd by, on other Occa-
. fions.—Dr. Bard's D'^aur^•.,.by particular Defire, has lincc been published. 
              MedicaLj^>iscourse.               6i

and Manual Part of MfbwiFRY ; tho' he may not incline to
pradice either the one, or the other.  How neceMry fuch Ac-
compliftiments are every where," efpecially in thismfant  Coun-
try ; how conducive they  are to the Increafe and VMpfare of our
fellow Citizens ; and how  imprudent it is, to perm» any one to
practice thefe Arts of Surgery and MiDwiFRY^without pre-
vious Examinations, or having public Teftimonials of'their Abili-
ties, muft  be obvious to  every one.   A  Practitio4|r^>ught to
know how to ad, as well as to advife :  And in Cafe of Neceffity,
to afiift* in, or even perform every Operation needful for the Re-
lief, or Prefervation of thofe who have placed their whoVft Con-
fidence in him ;  or are otherwife committed to his Care.

   From this  general View of the Profeffion of Medicine ; hjow
aiv.azing and unaccountable is it, that Men of Senfe and Reflec-
tion, fhould  truft-that greateft of all Bkffings, Health, in the
Hands of Pr&fumptuous and daring  Empyrics ? who not only are
ignorant, of the above mentioo'd moft  iffential Principles to a con-
fcientious  Practitioner ; but even of the particular Qualities of
thofe very Noftrums, they  vaunt of? The Learned Rollin  ob-
ferves, that judicious and experienced Physicians deferve to be
highly rec$mpenfed and diftiaguifhed ; fince all their Labours,
Lucubrations, and Watchings,  are devoted to Peoples Health ;
which of all human Bleffings, is the deareft and moft valuable ;
And yet,  favs he, fo carelefs are Mankind of this Bleffing, that
thro' a blind Credulity,  they foolilhly entruft  it with Perfons of
no Skill,  or Experience, who impofe upon them by their Impu-
dence and Preemption, or feduce them by their flattering AfTu-
rances of an infallible Recovery.*

   The State of Health, was by the  Ancients believed to have
fuch Influence, upon the Faculties of the Mind,  that atcording to
Plato's  Opinion, an  infirm  Conltitution is an Obftacle to the
Practice o£ Virtue ;  becaufe  it makes People imagine themfelves
always fick,  and to mind, nothing but  their own frail  Carcafes.
When the Body is in Pain, fays another Philosopher, the Mind
has  no Relifh for the Exercife of Virtue ;  But Health enlarges
the Soul.  We are told in the Book of  Joe,  that all which a Man
hath will he give for  his Life ; but it might with equal Juftice be
faid, that all which a Man hath,  will he give for Health :
For many are the Inftances, is  all Ages,  and in all Countries, of
Men who  have facrificed L^fe  itfeif, at the Shrine of Health,
and anticipated  the  Time of their Departure for that

                               . " Peaceful Shore,
   Where Billows never break,  nor Tempoih> rare."  Garth.
                                                       rather
   * Palam eft, ut  quifque inter iflos loquendo polleat, Imperatorcm iUico Vita:
aoSttx, Nkcis que fieri.                                   Pl:n. 
61            MeDICAL  l]^gCOURSE.

rather  than arotrait  it,  without Health.  Should fhe Proffer
be  made tomis, of long Life loaded with Infirmities,  and the
perpetually Jcvotcd Prey to painful,  and  loafhfoeie  Difeafes:
Who is thatpiortal fo timid, or fuch an abject Slave to the Fears
of Death, alto make the Purchafe  by a fingle Wilh,  upon fuch
humiliatingaTerms ? Who would not rather ardently fupplicate,
a Releafe from fuch a  wretched  Exiftence,  than thus drag out a
Being,  tirffoMe to himfelf, burthenjome to his Friends,  and naufe-
ous  to  his Family ? While perhaps  his fingle Petition for Length
of Days,  is oppofed by the  fervent Prayers of Multitudes, for
his f{*edy Exit, and  their happy Delive»nce from fuch  a djf-
gufting Muj's  of Mifery ?  Let  thofe, whofe Patience has  been
tried by  Sicknefs,  whofe* Bodies have  felt  the rude Attacks of
that Monitor of Mortality, recall to Mind, the high Va-
luation they put upon Health, and their eager Longings  after
it, while  the Scourge of Difeafe,  or Rage of Pain  was upon
them. Let them reflect, how much  they prized that firm Friend
in Adverfity,  .that faithful Comforter in  ev%ry  Calamity, when-
ever it has been loft  to them. How feelingly will they then ac-
knowledge, that the Bleffings of Health  are indeed ineftima-
ble!                                            *

            Quee\-  of  every Joy !   Says Armstrong.
  Without thy cheerful,  active Energy,
  No Rapture fwells the Breaft, no Poet fings ;     j
  No more  the Maids of Helicon delight.

Who would  not  rather embrace  Poverty,  with Health ; than
either Grandeur or Riches with Disease ? Every  Enjoyment  of
Life, is infipid, without Health.  It may be  added, that every
Man, befides the Motives which  particularly refpedt himfelf,  is
concerned as a Member of Society, to take Care of his Health ;
to enable him to difcharge the Duties of his Station.  If Health
then is fo much preferable  to every other earthly Bleflng,  and
gives the  only true Relifh, for every  fecial Enjoyment ; how
ought we to prize that Art, by Means of which this invaluable
Boon is  preferved;  or recovered to  us, when injured,  or de-
ftroyed ?
  I  fhall conclude this Argument with the ingeniousDR. Garth's
Addfcefs to Health.
                                «
  Hail !  Blooming  Goddess, ThouppROPiTious  Power,
  Whofe Bleffings Mortals more than Life implore;
  With fio much Luftre your bright Looks endear,
  That  Cottages are  Courts, when thofe appear ;
  Mankind,  as you \*uchfafe.to  fmile or frown,
  Finds  Ease  in Chains,  or Ancutsh  in a Crown.
When 
                 Medical  Discourse. •           63

   When it  is confidered, how extenfive  this Science  is,  how
 many, and how various are its Objects; can we pofiibly  imagine
 it to be fuch  a  mean  A*cquifitioW,  fuch  an eafy Attainment, as
 to be within the Reach  of every needy Trader in Physic,  or
 mercenary Patcher of Cures ?  Can  we fnppofe, that  a  Releafe
 from the Importunities of Pain ; a Reprieve from the Horrors of
 the Grave ; and a Reftitution to the Blemngs of Health,  are fuch
 <jpnterriptible .Endowments,  as to be in  the  Gift- of every Ad-
 venturer, who takes upori himfelf to prefcribe Medicines, or to
 tamper with  the Lives of Citizens,  as ufeful to the Community,
 as his own is perhaps baneful and pernicious ? Equally prefump-
 tuous'would it be in any one, to charge himfelf with the Guid-
 ance of a Ship in a Storm, while he  was  ignorant of the Ufe of
 the Mariner's Compafs,  and of all her other neceffary Apparel, for
 the Purpofes of Navigation.   Yet fuch too often is the infatuati-
 on  of Mankind,  that  tho' they  fee,  and even  acknowlege the
 Inconfiltency of this Conduct, they  indolently fubmit to  the* De-
 ceit ; and continue to truft their  All to fuch Pilots.  The vulgar
 Excufe for the whole Tribe of Impostors, whether Medical,  or
 of any other Denomination, is  well known ;*—if People  'will be
 deceived, fay they, let them* :  Such TEjMTS^ery obvioufly fuif;
 fome Charaders  amongft us ;  and while* e Cheat is confined to
 our  Money, we may..pay that, and perhaps the additional  Tri-
 bute of being laughed at:'Bu?  when Life comes to be  the Ob-
 ject at Stake; and  perhaps the  Well-being* or Exifience of a Fa-
 mily dependant upon that Liee,  the Scene then becomes  ferious ;
 Jmpofition here is horrible ; and no Neceffity, however  painful,
 can palliate,  under thefe Circumfta»ces,  fo illiberal and difho-
 neft a Maxim.  Yet  many, too many, are the Inftances,  even in
 this Place, of Men otherwife valuable for their Penetration and
 Good Senfe,  who have  given up their own  Judgments, to the
 Opinions of the  credulous Vulgar ;  and joining in the Belief of
 Noftrums or fecret Cures, have countenanced,  and even employed'
• thg  moft obfeure and fuperficial  Traders in Physic: While the
 Practitioner of Modefty  and real  Merit, confeious of ^is  own
 Integrity and Knowledge, and  Jjcorning the little Arts  of fuch
 licenfed Free-booters, and fecret Homicides, or to  ftoop to  the un-
 reafonable Humours or Petulance of every Employer, has  often
 had very circumfcribed Practice  ; or has been abandoned, in Fa-
 vour of fome ignorant or mercenary Sycophant.  This  Conduct
 in fuch Men,  will  ever difcourage genuine Worth, and  the Pur-
 fuit of farther Difcoveries in  that ufeful Profeffion ; which in all
 Times, and among  all polite Nations, has  ever been  efleemed
 honourable, and worthy of Men ofthe firft Rank and Learning.

                                                         Such
* Si Populfls vult decipi, deciplatur. 
64          '  Medical  Discourse.
   Such being the State of Physic here, what Wonder is it that
this  City  fhould be pefteredJn fo remarkable a Manner,  with
the needy Outcafts of other  Places,  in  die  Character  of Dodors ;
or that this Profeffion, of all others, fhould be the Receptacle
and Common Refource for the Refufe of every other Trade and Em-
ployment ?  The Wondfr indeed   is,  that  we  mould be  fuch
Dupes to their Effrontery,  as to employ them, or buy their per-
nicious Compofitions ; not that they fhpuld frequent* fo benefidH
a Market.  So amazingly eafy of Belief are fome People in thefe
Miracle-Mongers,  that,  as if there  was fomething creative in the
Name of Doctor, feldom any other Teft of their Skill is required,
than their affuming that Title : So that this Appellation, with a
competent Prej'ence of Mind, and a String of ready coined Cures,
carefully propagated by fuch as find their Account in  carrying on
the Cheat, have feldom failed of procuring Traffic in New-York.
We  are  told  that  the  Univeriity of Turin  forbids Itinerant
Dodors, to  vend Medicines, without a,Licence from the Pro-
fessors  of Physic,  under Pain  of Death.

   Wchere acknowledge with grateful Refpect to  the Legisla-
ture of this Pr&inceJUhat in Confequence of an  Application
'feme few Years ago made  to them for that Purpofe, they readily
faffed an Act  for preventing the pernicious,  and often fatal
Practices of itinerant  Quacks  in  this City!  But this  Act,
tho'  well  meant, and truly commendable  fo far' as  it  operates,
is evidently inadequate to remedy all the  Mifchiefs then com-
plained of;  and much lefs is it calculated to remove the manj^
other Difadvantagesy  whitfh  the  Profeffion  ftill labours  under,
from other  Sources.  However,  from  thefe Beginnings,  let us
hope that  this infant Institution)  once raifed  by the kind
and  foftering  Hands  of the generous  Friends of Science ;
efpecially  fuch Gentlemen as  happily  have  experienced in
themfclvej,  the Benefit and Ufefulnefs  of a liberal  Education ;m
and  cherifh'd by the  more benign Rays  of public Favour,  #ill
foon btthe happy Means  of obviating all fuch  Reproaches for
the future, both againft this City, and* the  Gentlemen of
this  Faculty who fhall  practife in  it.   The  Uncertainty of
forming an  adequate Opinion,  ofthe Abilities  and Judgment of
fuch  as fhall henceforth practife the Healing Art  among us,
and which has been fo frequently  and jullly complained of,  will
biw  be effectually  removed. ■ Every Honour,   every Mark or
Title of Distinction,  every Reward  of Merit  which  the  moft
celebrated Universities  or Colleges in Europe  can bcftow,
may  be obtain'd alfo in  this  College; by fuch Candidates as,
by a profitable Application to their Studies, a ^diligent Attendance
upon the  Ledures in  the different Branches  of Medicine, and a due
Proficiency in Medical Knowledge ;  fhall,  upon proper and public
Examinations, appear to deferve  them.
                                                     Before 
               Medical Discourse.         .„   6$
  Before  I difmifs  this Subject, permit me  to  add fome  few
Thoughts upon th^ relative Duties of Pupils, Patients,  and
Physicians.

  No Pupil  ought to apply himfelf to the  Study of Physic,
kill he has previoufly laid the Foundation, in  a competent Know-
ledge of Classical Learning, and fome general Acquaintance
with the  Mathematlcks,  and Natural  Philosophy.   No
Expence ought to be put in Balance with  the Acquiiition of
every neceffary Branch of Inftruction,  to,  iufure  a  luccefsful
Practice.  He, who confiderb how he may go the cheapeft  Way
to  Work, too often purchafes the Name, for the  Reality ;  the
Shadow for the Subftance: A  candid and curfory View of  he
eftabliftied Praditioners here,  and in  the Country around, will
foon convince the  moft  incredulous, of the Truth of this Obfer-
vation..   A.s i,t may be prefumed that no Pupil puts himfelf under
the Tuition of a Mafter,  but from a  Conviction of his Experi-
ence and fuperior Underftanding ;  he ought therefore to confider
himfelf as at all Times accountable to his 1 utor  in  this Sci-
ence,  not only for  the Progrefs he makes  in  his  Studies;  but
alfo for every other Part of his Conduct, that can influence his
Morals, or. affect his Reputation  :  And to behave  to him  on all
Occafions, with that Attention and Deference due to a temporary
Father.  He ought indeed to  extend  this  Rcfpect and Obfer-
vance,  to all in  the  Character  of Medical Masters,  tho.'
not immediately his own ; in Order to conciliate to himfelf the
Eriendfhip and good Office:,  of every  eftabliftied  Practitioner,
who can any Way contribute to his Inftr.ucii.cn and Improvement,
by Precept or Example.

   It may appear oikntatious, to giveInftructions how a Patient
ought.to behave,  with Refpect to his i'hysician : But when it
is confidered,  that both are only  as Affiftants, contributing their
mutual  Endeavours  to  relieve or fupport Nature,  as the Princi-
pal; and that the Reputation of the Physician often furFers by
the Indifcretion or Obftinacy of the Patient ;  fome  Advice on
that Head may not be altogether imp:oper.  I fhall no* only
obferve, that a Patlent ought to be extremely cautious to whom
he commits the Care of hi* Health ;  but when he has once fixrd
upon this his Friend and. Counfellor in Diftrefs,  he  ought to receive
his Vifits with that  warm Welcome, and his Advice with  that
Deference and implicit Obedience, becoming the Importance of
the Truft repofed  in him.   A Want of Confidence in the Pati ent,
naturally  begets Difguft  or  Negled'm the  Physician ;  and it
muft ever  be difadvantageous,  and  fometimes  hazardous for
Valetudinarians to cJumge  the Physician, who has ftudied their
ConftiAutions,  in all their Peculiarities ; for  one who is an intire
Stranger to (hem.  It i^fcr this  Reafon,. that among  Pjjvsici- 
66            Medical  Discourse.
ans of equal Merit, Celsus advifes to prefer the  Friend.*   A
Physician  cannot be fponfible either for his Advice or Pre-
fcriptions,  unlefs,  not  only the Patient, but the Perfons alfo
about him, religioufly obferve his Directions.  Tho'  the Lot  of
Mortality is fuch,  that the beft Physician cannot always  be
fuccefsful;  yet even when he fails of his Expectations,  his Care
and affiduous Endeavours  to reftore Health, ought at  leaft to be
remembered with Gratitude.  But when he happily obtains  his
Purpofe ; when the late languifhing Patient,  is at laft  fnatchea
from  the Grafp of the Grim Tyrant, and relieved from the Loath-
fomenefs of a Sick Bed j a Retrofpect  of that dreary and  peril:
lous Gulph he has juft paffed, compared with the joyous Senfations
of Health regained, fhould be the  Meafure of his  Return for
Services performed,  and now no longer wanted.

  Manifold and important are the Duties of the Physician. Eve-
ry Practitioner who  charges himfelf with the Inftruction of
Youth, fhould be cautious of fetting them any Example,  he  would
not with rhem to follow. He ought to conceal Nothing from them
in the Way of his Bufinefs, which it imports them to know;
unlefs where his own Honour is engaged  to keep it fecret.  He
fhould always  readily and  with Complacence anfwer  their Que-
ftions, and folve fuch Doubts as occur in their Reading,  or in
the Courfe of his Practice ; and  in Terms  fuited to their Under-
ftandings.  He ought fo to watch over their  Studies and Condud,
as well knowing that the Succefs or Reputation  of the Pupil in
Life,  may ultimately reflect Honour or Reproach  upon the  Mas-
ter.    A Physician  ought to vifit his Patients frequently;
and to be minutely attentive to every Thing refpecting^hem,  by
which their Health may  be affected.  He  ought to be patient
to hear; and never  afhamed of informing himfelf, even by the
meaneft People, of Remedies confirmed by  Experience.  Let it be
remembered alfo by the  Physician who  does  not  adminifter
his own Medicines,  that according to the  statutes ofthe Col-
 lege of Salernum, he ought  to be obliged to  fwear, that he
fhall have no Share of Gains w th the Apothecary ; as the Apothe-
cary,  by the fame Statutes,  was  to take an  Oath, that he
 would make up his Medicines faithfully,  according to the Pre-
 fcripiions given him. A prudent Physician will never prefump-
 tuoufly warrant  the  Succefs of his  Prefcriptions ;  as Experience
 muft  have taught him,   that the  minuteft  Circumftances  will
 caufe a Variation  in the Diitemper,  either as to Danger  or Du-
 ration. He ought to be decent in his  Appearance ; difcreet in his
 Manners; cautious in  his Expreffions ; modeft arid circumfpecl
 in his Quejijons to his Patients ; -many  o£ which may often with
 greater Propriety be  propofed to their Attendants.   He  fhould be
                                                   moderate
   * Ideo-que cum Jfar Scientist fit, utiliorew,  tamca Mi Die VM effe Amicvm,
 quam£jc/< ar.cum,                                      Cxlivs. 
                Medical  Discourse.'            6y
moderate  in all his Actions;  yet  always  ready to do his Duty,
without difconcerting himfelf.  He ought to be humane, and
companionate ; no Talebearer, but fecret ; no rude Dogmatift,
'nit affable and  polite : In fhort,  all the  Qualifications of  the
Head and Heart, becoming the  Charader of a  Gentleman,
are indifpenfably required to conftitute the Physician of Merit,
who would fecure the  Efteem of his Patients, do Honour to him-
felf,  or Support the Dignity of his  Profeffion.   If it is commend-
able in him  to  collect Information from every one ; he cannot
furely, when confiftent with the Duty he owes himfelf, refufe to
confult  with other  refpeftable  Practitioners,  in  every Cafe of
Sicknefs,  upon what can be done  for the Benefit of the Patient.
As the humane Ph ys i cian prefers the Welfare of his Patient, and
his own Succefs in Pradice, to  every  Confideration which  Pride
or Avarice can  fuggeft; he will not only with .Alacrity-join in
fuch Consultations* when requefted  to  it, but  folicit them
occafionally, as an Indulgence and Relief to himfelf:  Whereas
a  contrary Conduct can only proceed  from  fordid  Motives, or
the Dread of having  his Ignorance or Mal-Pradice expofed, to
thofe who only can judge of them.  He ought to be extremely
cautious  of decrying  the Advice or Opinions of others, either
by open Cenfure, or private Inttueudos : The former too often pro-
ceeds from Rufiicity of Manners ; the latter always from interefted
Views, or a dijhoneft Heart.  But the fignificant Shrug, the folemn
Shake of the Head,  the affected Stare of Surprize,  the fludied Si-
lence of ill dijfembled Doubts ;  in fhort,  the infidious Show of good
Nature, the fubtle and defigning Delicacy of thofe, who—

   Willing to wound, but yet afraid to ftrike,
   Juft hint a Fault, and hefitate Diflike ;            Pope.

are the mean  Arts of needy Pilferers of Fame,  and of Spirits
poor indeed.  To vaunt of extraordinary Cures, before fuch as
are not competent Judges, or incapable of  inquiring into  the
Circumftances of them, may juftly render the Belief of them at
leaft doubtful.   An Oftentation of Learning in common Dif-
courfe, even when  his Profejjion is  the Subject, is not always  a
Proof of  it; on the contrary, to  be unable to convey his Senti-
ments, without  having Recourfe  to numerous Terms of Art, is
generally  a Proof of contracted Ideas, and a narrow Underftand-
ing. The Man of real Knowledge is generally modeft, often  dif-
fident, always eafy and happy in his Choice of Words,  and  ne-
ver loquacious :  While the   felf-fuffieient Pretender,  like  the
babblingjW/ow Stream,  is ever noify, froward, and petulant.
A Physician  ought frequently wrevife the different  Subjects
even of his youthful Studies, in  order to rub off the Ruft of
Memory,  and render  him more habile in Argument,  as well as
clear and  diftinct in Confultations.   Every Book  upon the bub-
ject  of Medicine,  which affords good Observations in Practice,
                                                      which 
68            Medical  Discourse."
 which gives a Defcription of any new Diftemper, or a new Me-
 thod of Cure  in  an  old One, or  fome remarkable Cafe, de-
 ferves to be looked into, by thole who would make the proper
 Advantage of other Men's Exper ence.  Perhaps it Would be no
 abfolute Paradox*  to  fay with  the learned Dr. Frifn-m, that a
 very indifferent Performance in Physic, may now And then at
 leaft be worth  the arjory Perufal of a Physician ; both  as it
 employs his Thoughts  his own Way ; and as it muft,  in the
 Courfe of Reading, give him conftant Hints, how far, and in
 what Manner, this or that  Particular relating to Theory or
 Medicine  may be improved :  And even fometimes might ftart
 a-n Occafion, of ftriking out  Something new of 4ns own.

   One Thing more is ferioufly  recommended to thofe'Gent: ?men
 in Practice,  whofe  Judgment arid Experience in the  Difeafes of
 this  Country,  may have enabled them to undertake the Tafk :
 That they would not only ftudy and  Improve upon the Obfervfc-
 tions of thofe  who have  gone  before them, but alfo collect O-
 thers for their own Ufe, and  the  Benefit  of their  Succeffors-.
 The various Changes  which are continually happening in  the
 State of PhystCk, make this  neceffary.  For there are  many
 Difeafes now exifting,  which were intirely unkftown 'to the Anci-
 ents :  The Names  both of "Difeafes and Drugs,  by Cuftom,  are
 differently  applied ;  Improvements  and  Difcoveries  are  daily
 made ; Medicines  in  the  higheft Reputation at one Time,  are
 laid afide, and others  fubftituted in their Place ; and the Forms
 and  Manners of ufing thofe retained, are perpetually diverfift-
 ed.  Befides, the Physicians  of this Country have ftill  more
 forcible Reafons, for imparting to the World, fuch Medical Re-
 marks as may feem inftructive or uncommon :  For our Climate,
 Way of Living, and other Circumftances, which -otrght always
 to be regarded in the Treatment  of Difeafes, are fo very different
 from thofe of the Countries, whence the moft ufeful and 'judicious
 Obfervations are tranvfmitte. to us ; that the young Practitioner* of
 this Continent muft  be  under  the greateft'Difficulties,  to  accom-
 modate  thofe foreign Obfervations,  by which tfhey muft neceffa-
 rily at firft  be directed, to the  Conftitutions  and Complaints of
 their Country Men.   Such  a Collection would  not  only tend to
the Benefit of Mankind in general,  but would greatly redound
alfo to the Honour of the Profeffion in America._.    ^s~^

  As there are many ingenious Men, ^vho may  have  neither-
 Leifure  nor Inclination  to angear in  Print,  and much lefs to
 write a Volume, who yet coula  communicate very  ufeful Obfer-
 vations,  if they had an Opportunity of doin  it  in a  concife
 Treatife, and without  Trouble; therefore it is juftly remarked,'
 that Nothing has  of late Years  fo much contributed to the Ad-
 vancement of Learning in genoral,  and to the Improving of this
                                                 Profeffion 
               Medical  Discourse."            6f

Profeflioh  ift  particular,  as the Inftitution of  Societies, or
thofe well  "regulated Associations of Gentlemen, who col-.
lect, examine, and publifh whatever inftructive Remarks or Ef-
fays are laid before them, according to their feveral Merits. Be-
fides, there are fome other particular Advantages, refulting from
Medical Societies to Practitioners themfelves,  as  well
as to young Students,  and the Public.  For there, different
Opinions and Modes of Pradice are examined  ; Experiments are
there directed, or critically  weighed, and  applied:  Dangerous
and extraordinary Cafes  are frequently Mated and confidered, in
fuch Societies : hnd there Advice is afked and given, with that
Openefs  and mutual  Confidence  becoming Friends,  not lefs
2j«aious for the Honour of their Profeffion, than  attentive to the
Reputation of each other : While every Memb?r chearfully con-
tributes his Affiftance, to the  Recovery or Relief of fuch Pati-
ents, as are the-Subjects of thefe Consultations.  And permit'
me to add, as one of many Inftances of the Utility of  thefe Soci-
eties, that whatever Merit there is  in this prefent Institution,
it was  firft planned and  concluded upon, in a Medical Soci-
ety now fubfifting in  this Place; and MAY IT LONG SUBSIST.

  The following Anecdotes were inadvertently  omitted, till that
Part-ef the Impreffion, which  treats of the State of  Medicine
among the Romans, was eaft off. But as I cannot iR Juftice to my
Subjed, pafs  over a Piece of Hiftory, which does fo much Ho-
nour to the Profession, I muft beg Leave to give it here more
at large, though it has already in Part been noticed.

  Whatever Difcouragements this  Science laboured under, in
the Time of the Roman Republic^; they were amply compenfated
by the Honours conferred  upon the Faculty, by moft  of their
Emperors.  The Title  of  Archiater  is found in feveral Roman
Laws,  and in  - Id Authors: Some  interpret it Arx°? 7W» l»Tpw»,.
Princeps Medicorum, or Chief  of Physicians : Others explairi
it, m Ap%W!Toc Iarpof, Imperatoris  Medicus,  or Physician to the
Prince ;  becaufe we read of no  ^rchiat ri  before  the Days of
the Roman Emperors :   1 he firft Interpretation  is  preferable, be-
caufe we read of Tbeon and  Glaucus, A^RCHiATRl of  Alexandria ;
and of Cyrus Archiater of Edefia,  tho' there were then no
Sovereign Princes in  thefe Cities.  We find Archiatri  alfo in
Conftantinople, and in  their Provinces of the Eafl,  as well as at
Rome ;  for Oribaftus  tells  us,  that  Julian  alfembled  all the
Archiatri of the Counry, and felected 72 of thofe  he  thought
moft learned ; of which Number Oribaftus himfelf was one.  The
14. Physicians  appointed to attend the Sick.,  in the  14 different
Wards of Rome, were called Archiatri : They  had  Salaries
from the Prince, and vifited all Roman Subjects,  whither Rich oj
Poor,  without Fees; except what the P^ucnt's Gencrofity fhould
                                                    prowipt 
 76             Medical  Discourse.

 prompt him to beftow, after he was cured: They enjoyed certain
 Immunities, which could  not be claimed by other Subjects; as,
 that they, with their Wives and Children, were exempted  from
 all the Taxes  and Burdens ©f the State ; that fuch as refided in the
 Provinces were not obliged toquarterSoldiers, or any otherPerfons;
 that they could  not be taken Prifoners, or dragged  to  the  Bar;
 nor obliged to make a perfonal Appearance before  the Judge;
 and  that none might infult them, without incurring the fevereft
 Penalties.  The  Law which ordains this, feems to extend  thefe
 Privileges to  all the  Physicians  of the Empire;  but a fubfc-
 quent Law reftrains them to the Archiatri of Rome.

   The Archiatri  both of Rome and Conftantinople were divided
 into two Claffes: The Firft were, called Archiatri  Sacri Pa-
 latii  intra Penetralia  Regalis Aulje  florentes, or
 Chief Physicians  who compofed Part ofthe Princes private
 Family ;  and who  were  always  employed about  his  Perfon
 and  Court.   The others were  thofe  of the City and  Country,
 called  Archiatri Populares;  who attended the In-
 habitants  in  general, or whoever would  employ them.   The
 Archiatri  of the Palace  were again  divided into two
 Ranks,  called Comites Archiatrorum Sacri  Palath
 of the firft or fecond  Rank ; according to  the Degree  of Con-
 fidence repofed by the Prince in their Skill and Abilities.  Thofe
 of the firft Rank  were equal in Dignity to their Vicarii and Duces,
 and  addreffed by the Epithet  (fpedabilis) respectable ;  they
 were by their  Office,  Comites Consistorii, or  Counsellors
 of State ; and  were next in  Honour to the  (illuftres)  illu-
 strious, or  firft Officers of the Empire. Thefe Comites always
 attended the  Emperor's Perfon,  whence is  derived the  Name * ;
 and  being intrufted with the Care of his Health, they had Accefs
 to him at all  Times.  The Archiatri Populares were alfo
 divided into two Claffes : The firft was of thofe appointed to re-
 fide in provincial Cities and Towns, in Proportion to their Ex-
 tent, and Number of Inhabitants :  The other Clafs was of fuch,
 as having been examined agreeable to the Laws, had been newly
 admitted into  that Order.

   This Office of Sovereign Physician muft have been inftitu-
 ted under the firft  Emperors:  The  Title of Archiater, firft
 ufed by Andromachus, Physician  to  Nero, is of the fame Im-
 port. An ancient Infcription mentions a President of Physici-
 ans  (Superpofitus Medicorum) in  the Time of Vefpafian.  We read
 of feveral Archiatri in the fucceeding Reigns :  And in the4th
 Century, Vindicianus,  in a Letter  to  Valentiniun, ftiles himfelf
                                                   Comes
  * Cokii, a commeando, or cemitandi; and it the Latin Word to  exprefi the
 Title  of Earl in Britain, of Count in Italy and t'ranct,  and of  Chaaw in
Cumany. 
               Medical  Discourse.            71

Comes Archiatrorum.  We find in Galen, that the Temple of
Peace was at firft, the ufual Place of Refort for all the Studious
and Learned, where Physicians too depofited their Books, as
in a Place of Safety ;  till it was deftroyed by Fire.  In the Athe-
ne'um, a College built by Adrian exprefsly for the Advancement
of the Arts and Sciences, Physicians had their Places of
Meeting: The Emperor  Severus  alfo affigned  them particular
Chambers or Apartments ; after which, we read of their  Secre-
taries and Librarians.  But under the later Emperors,  there
was a College of Archiatri,  compofed of a certain Number
of Physicians, who took their Places, according to the Dates
of their Admiffion;  fo that when any of them  died, the Perfon
chofen to fucceed, was loweft of all.  This College judged of
the Capacity of Candidates, and chofe, or rejected them accord-
ingly ; and the Emperors always confirmed thofe who were elected.
This is probably  that School of Physicians, in  the  Quarter
of Rome called Efquitia, which according to Mercurialis, was or-
namented with many fine Statues.

   After the Subverfion of the Roman Empire  in Italy, the Gothit
Kings introduced a great Change in this Medical  Dignity;
for inftead of feveral Comites, they appointed one Comes Ar-
 chiatrorum, or Sovereign Physician,  who had a certain
 Jurifdiction over all of  that Denomination, and  over all the
 Physicians of the State. The Powers  of this Noblr  Archi-
 ater were very extenfive; as we learn from a Claufe in the
 Formula  of his Infiallment; preferY,ed  by Cajficdorus, Secretary
to  Theodoric in the 6th  Century, viz.  " Henceforth we confer
 " upon  you, the Dignity of Comes of the Archiatri, that
 '« you may alone be diftinguifhed among the Guardians  of
 " Health ;  and that  all who fhall have Difputes refpecring
 " Medicine,  may fubmit to your Determination.   Be thou the
 '* Arbiter of this Sacred  Art, and tho fole Judge of thofe
 " Controverfies,  which  were formerly decided  by Caprice or
 " Prejudice.  You will  in Effect cure  the Sick, by putting an
 " End to thofe Contefb, which are injurious to them. Great is
 '• your Dignity, to rule and direct Men of Learning and Skill\
 " and to be honoured  by thofe, who themfelves are ho no ur-
 *« able  in the Eyes of all."  After the 6th Century, the De-
 ftrudtion of Books  by the northern Barbarians, involved Medi-
 cine and the  other Sciences in the fame Fate.  Some Veftiges
 of them, during this Eclipfe of Learning, were probably preferved
at  Salernum ; for we find different Preceptors  eftablifhed  there,
about the End of the 8th Century.  May not  the illuftrious and
noble Name of De  Medicis,  be originally derived from the
 signified Physicians above mentioned;  or from fuch as had
formerly followed this Profession ? We find James de Medicis
President of a Council at Orvietto, in the Year 1030 : Anfelmo
                                                        de 
72             Medical  Discourse.

de Medicis defended Alexandria again ft the Emperor Friderkk Bar-.
barcffa, in 1162 : And there is a Marble Monument erected in a,
Church  of Florence,  to  Anthony de Medicis,  fecond  Son of. tho.
Grand Duke,  who  in the 17th Century practifed Physick there^
with great Reputation.

  With  Refpect to this Office of Archiater, we fhall far-,
ther obferve, that  it was an early Inftitution  among the Franks y
for we find in a cotemporary Author, that Marileifus was Chief
of Phycians to Cbilperic,  in the 6th Century :  And other Wri-
ters tell us, that it thereafter was endowed with great Privileges ;
as,  that he  had Accefs to  the King at all  limes, even when,
in Bed ;  that he ranked with,  and  wore the fame  Robes as a
Counsellor of  State ;  that he fuperintended  the King's
Baths, and licenfed all  Mineral Springs j that  he had 8 Substi-
tutes who attended  the Court by Turns, and who vifited  thofe
who had been, or  were to  be touched for the King's  Evil; and
that he was  every  where treated by all  of the Faculty, with
the Refpect  due to a Superior.  Monf. Bourdelot  is  defigned
Counsellor andpHYsiciAN in Ordinary to Lewis the Great.

  Both the Office and Title of Archiater have been inftituted
in Mufcovy:  He  is Chief Physician  to the Court, and of
all the Rujfia's; with the Powers  of conferring Degrees in Me-
dicine,  and of  lieenfing Apothecaries.  This Dignity
was very lately enjoyed by a Native of Great Britain, who refided
long in Rujfia.

  It would be unneceffary to enlarge upon the many Honours
and Rewards beftowed upon iViedical Ivilrit   in the other
Kingdoms of Europe.  The Estimation  this Science is  \try
where held in, may generally be judged of,  by that ot the other.
Branches of  useful  and polite Learning.

  I' fhall  now conclude,  with my warmeft and moft fincere
Wifhes for the lafting Profperity of this College ; for the Hap-
pinefs of all who  are any Ways interefted  in  its Welfare and
Reputation,  whether  diltinguifh'd as Governors,  Teachers,
Pupils, or  Friends :  And more particularly for the Succeis of
this prefent  Institution; that  it may prove an Ornament
to this City, an  Honour to the Country,  and the Nur-
sery of Men of  Genius, whofe  Labours, ever ufeful, fhall
be tranfmitted with undiminished  Praife, to  the lateft Times, in
the Records of Literature, and  Annals of Physick : Whofe
Pride it fhall be, to have been formed to Science  within thefe
Walls ;  and whofe .Names fhall receive additional Lultre, from
the  wide-—extended Fame, and  merited Renown of this Uki»
versitt.     -     ■   ■
                 FINIS. 
 
 
MejdL-Hist.



  JL10




  1741
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