NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE Bethesda, Maryland M ADDRESS, &c. AFTER a continued druggie of many centuries againft the abfurd fyftems of ancient phyficians, and amid the difficulties repeatedly oppofed to the progrefs of Medicine by modern hypothefes fcarcely lefs prepofterous, it has at length become eftablifhed as a fundamental truth, that experiment mull precede conje&ure, and that facls are the only rational bafis of theory. Philofophers are no longer permitted to de- fcend from generals to particulars, fhaping them according to preconceived notions of their intimate relations; but are ex- pected to proceed by a rigid examination and cautious aflem- blage of particulars to every general inference. This labori- ous procefs of reaforring, fo favourable to truth, and fo little flattering to indolence, to vanity, and to a creative fancy, re- quires the pofTelTion of an extenfive mafs of experiment, a various and judicious fele£f.ion of fa£ls ;—not only for him who would overthrow or coridru(5l a fyftem, but for every one who would rightly exercife the art to which they belong. And in proportion as thefe fentiments have gained ground among phyficians, Sydems of Phyfic have lod much of their value; and Collections of Hiftories and Obfervations, whether the work of a fingle, or of many hands, have gradually obtained a high confideration and authority in the fchools of medicine, as well as in the clofets of practitioners. For, whatever advant- ages may have been temporarily derived from certain celebrat- ed theories, it is chiefly by the new fpririg which they have given to the mind, and by the more accurate invedigation of natural phenomena to which they have incited others, that they have been permanently ufeful. For our knowledge of nature is too limited, our collection of materials too fcanty, to enable even the mod diligent and ingenious to frame a correct theory. Medical ( 2 ) Modicr.l collections, therefore, are dill neceffary, and mud long continue to be fo; and as they are free from the incumbrance of fyftematized hypothecs, the opinions they contain, for the molt part, fpring more naturally out of the facts on which thevare founded, are thus lefs likely to miflead, and even though erroneous, as they maintain ho intimate connection with an extent!ve fcheme, ftill leave us, in the facts ihemfelves, the furefr. guides amidft the intricacies of practice. Publications of this kind, likewife, from their very nature, poffefs many advantages over fyftematic works. They employ a greater number of obfervers, over a wider field, admit of minuter de- tails, ampler difcuflions, and more various opinions and re- condite inveftigations. By their indrumentality, facts are preferved or refcued from oblivion, which, without tliem, had been wholly lofl: for there are few men who find leifure and inclination, from the preffure of daily bufmefs, to become au- thors, and ftill fewer whofe obfervations are fo numerous and important as to demand a laboured treatife; while there are ma- ny who have time and facts to furnifh out, almod every year of their lives, a fhort but valuable effay. And if to thefe ar- guments, in favour of Medical Collections, drawn from the na- ture of the works, it may be permitted to add others from the practice of other nations than our own, the example of almod every civilized country of Europe may be cited; in which pub- lications of this kind are fuccefsfully multiplied, and fought after with peculiar avidity. But, notwithftanding the many obvious benefits refulting from them, fuch undertakings, in the United States, have been few, and feebly profecuted. And this is the more to be lamented, as no country in the world is fo capable of giving permanent utility to fuch a defign. For, belide thofe advantages which we poffefs in common with other nations, there are numerous others of new and peculiar importance. Thefe exift in our extenfive territory ; in the va- riety of its foil, climate, elevation, and afpect; in the varied defcent, population, intermixture, inftitutions, manners, and confequent difeafes, of its inhabitants; in the opportunities it affords of obferving and eftimating the effects of old and new fettlements, of gradual and rapid changes in the face of a country, of agriculture, commerce, and navigation, of the fa- vage, civilized, and intermediate ftates of fociety; of compar- ing the difeafes, or phenomena of each difeafe, and the opera- tion ( 3 ) tion of the fame remedies, in the fame or •different complaints, in Europe and America; in the general diffufion of knowledge, and turn for obfervation, among all claiTes of its citizens; and, finally, in the famenefs and perfection of their language—an advantage poffeffed in the fame degree by no other people.— Thefe are privileges which fhould prove fo many powerful incentives to medical induftry; which fhould infpirit the exer- tions of phyficians to give that importance, in a profeflional view, to their country, which, fertile as die is in occafions, fhe loudly calls for at their hands. The prefent time feems particularly favourable to fuch attempts. The diftrefllng events which have been fo recently witnelTed, in various parts of our country, have awakened the curiofity of others, as well as of phyficians; and while they have quickened the zeal and obfervation of the latter, have excited the eager apprehenfions of all. This has created an uncommon intereft, in refpect to medical opi- nions, among the people at large, and efpecially fmce the belief of the domeftic origin of certain difeafes has been con- fiderably diffeminated. The partial fuccefs of a late benevo- lent attempt, of the kind now referred to,* is rather encou- raging than difheartening; fince its failure is attributable to caufes not neceflarily connected widi the defign, and fince there is good ground to believe, that a little perfeverance would have given it ftability and reputation.—To the fuccefs of fuch a publication, much time, as well as the concurrent exertions of many obfervers, were indifpenfable. The field of inquiry, likewife, was comparatively narrow; and too much reliance was, probably, placed on public felicitation, with fo limited a time for the collection of materials. Influenced by confiderations, and invited by views, which we have now unfolded, and fhall confequently enlarge upon, we have ventured to project a work fuch as we have recom- mended, and thus publicly to folicit your affiftance in its ex- ecution. And we requeft you to furnifh us, either quarterly, femi-annually, or annually, as may beft fuit with your con- venience, with fuch information, relative to all or either of the following particulars, as may be in your power. i. Hiftories * Mr. Webster's Colkaion, relative to BilliousFevers, &c. ( 4 ) I. Hiftories of fuch difeafes as reign in your particular pla- ces of refidence, at each and every feafon of the year; including the time of their appearance and difappear- ance; the peculiar cuftoms and manners, and food of the people; local peculiarities, (not merely thofd of the town or village, but of the immediate refidence of the fick); preceding, cotemporary, and fubfequent com- plaints; fymptoms, progrefs, extent, method of cure, mortality, and what proportion of either fex, and of different ages, are affected:—infea-ports, attention to he paid to fuppofed fources of importation, and to the arrival of foreigners; in new fettlements, to changes in. the face of the country, by clearings, drainings, &c. and to the increafe of population, by immigration and other- wife. a. Kiftories of fuch difeafes as appear amorfg Domeflic Ani-r mals—fuch as horfes, cattle, fheep, £cc—their caufes, ivmptoms, method of cure, &c. &c. 3. Accounts of Infcfls—whether any uncommon dearth or numbers of them; whether troublefome or noxious to men, beafts, or vegetables; with as accurate and minute notices as may be of their derivation, mode of propaga- tion, nature and extent of fuch ravages, or other evils, as they may occahon; of their appearance and difap- pearance, and of the means, if any, of guarding againft or dcftroying them. 4. Hiftories of the progrefs and condition of Vegetation— with regard to growth, vigour, and difeafe; independent of the ravages of infects; but marking the influence of manures, and the local fituation, both as to elevation and foil, air and water. 5. The ftate of the Atmofphcre—in refpedt to drynefs and humidity, heat and cold, ferenity and tempeffuoufnefs; including the direction and force of winds, and the fen- fible quantity of electricity. Where information relative to thefe various topics of in- quiry can be given in a connected form, it will be moft ac- ceptable; and the more minute and precife, the more ufeful «iil it be. Bur general and diftind communications are ear- neftly ( 5 ) neftly requefted, where more extenfive and combined Intelli- gence cannot readily be afforded. The outline now traced, gentlemen, will enable you to form fome idea of the nature, extent, and importance of the work, in the profecution of which we folicit your, co-operation. The benefits which may refult from fuch a publication, if vi- goroufly and judicioufly executed, are too numerous and con- siderable not to be fuggefted by the flighteft reflection. Were it to be ably and completely profecuted, it could fcarcely fail, even in a few years, of leading us to a near view of the ori- gin and caufes of general, or febrile difeafes; to the difcovery of what fituations, climates, and feafons, moft favoured their production; of the order, and rapidity of their progreflion, from one place to another, in the fame or different countries; and of the moft fuccefsful method of cure, as well as of pre- vention. Aided by a work compofed of materials collected with fuch care, and drawn from fo many and fo diftant quar- ters, we might be enabled to determine the relative healthinefs of places; the caufes why fome were favourable and fome un- favourable to health; their peculiar difeafes, with the means of their removal and extirpation.—No plan feems more hap- pily calculated to mark and explain the influence of different dates of fociety, occupations, inftitutions, manners, expofure, air, modes of living, &c. &c. on health; and thus, indirectly, on morals, induftry, and happinefs: none more happily, for refolving the hitherto unexplained and difficult problem, pro? pofed by the illuftrious Sydenham,*—" whether a careful ex- " amination might not fhew, that certain tribes of diforders " conftantly follow others, In one determinate feries, or circle, " as it were; or whether they all return, indifcriminately, ac- " cording to the fecret difpofition of the air, and the inexpli- '• Able fucceffion of the feafons." Nor is the folution of this problem of fmall importance; fince, in the flrft place, were it difcovered that general difeafes purfued a regular courfe, we might thence be prepared to receive and counteract them; or, were it determined that they depended on the qualities of the atmofphere, we fhould be directed to the proper object of in- veftigation, and thus be well advanced towards a knowledge f.f their caufes. But, whatever may be true in refpect to the fyftematie * Wallis's Sydenham, vol. i. p. 6. C 6 ) fyftematic fucccffion of difeafes hinted at by Sydenham, it i* certain that an apparent progrefs of a paiticular difeafe has fometimes been obfei vable in the United States; as though the morbid principle poifeft the power of affimilating the atmof- phere to its own nature, agreeable to determinate, but inferu- table and peculiar laws: fometimes rapidly extending, as in the Influenza ; fometimes flowly, as in Scarlatina. It is per- haps difficult rightly to appreciate the benefits which the deter- mining of a fingle point like this would confer on medicine; (whether by quieting apprehenfions of fuch an extenfion of a difeafe, if indeed there were no reafon to fear it; or by putting us on our guard, if fuch were clearly proved to be its nature)— but, whatever they may be, no method feems better adapted for afcertainlng the fact, than by a publication like the one now propofed. By this means, the inquirer will be prefented with a regular hiftory of the progrefs of fuch a difeafe, from one extremity of the continent to the other; and be able to mark its effects in all the varieties of people, climate, and feafon j or, if it appear in feveral places, obvioufly difconnected, at the fame time, of comparing the circumftances in which they re- femble each other, and thus of determining its caufes.—But, not to dwell longer on the recommendations to fuch a work, we may ultimately remark, that, when thus completed, the volume of every year will form the hiftory of the health of the United States for the year preceding ; a fingle glance of the eye will be equal to perceive what difeafes prevailed at the fame time, in all the intermediate fituations, from St. Mary's to St. Croix, and from the Miffiiippi to the Atlantic; and individual expe- rience's well as new difcoveries, will be propagated with un- exampled benefit and celerity, to every part of the United States. When we confider the extenfive plan now propofed, fhe number of perfons, and the time required for its execution, and the difficulties which always attend every work of the kind, we fhould indulge a prefumptuous and reprehenfible ex- pectation, did we look to fee it fpeedily and completely carried into effect. But, notwithftanding all reafonable allowance for impediments of this fort, we flatter ourfelves that fuch materials may be collected from time to time, as will enable us to pre- fent annually an acceptable volume to the public; while the great i 7 ) great object of our propofed inquiries, as already explained, will gradually acquire confiftence and patronage. To the end that fuch a volume may be readily and regularly publifhed, we have thought it advifable to add the following f ubjects, to thofe heretofore propofed, concerning all of which we would requeft information. i. Accurate and fuccinct accounts of general difeafes which have formerly prevailed in any part of the United States. 2. Ufeful hiftories of particular Cafes. 3. Hiftories of fuch complaints of profeffional men, me- chanics, manufadhirers, occ. as appear to originate from their peculiar employments, or the materials with, or about which they are employed. 4. New methods of curing difeafes. 5. Accounts of new difcovered or applied remedies, in rare or hitherto incurable difeafes. 6. Extracts from rare, printed or manufcript, works, illus- trative of the nature and cure of fuch difeafes as now prevail in the United States. 7. Interefting information, relative to the minerals, plants, and animals of America. 8. American medical biography. 9. Accounts of former American medical publications. 10. Reviews of new American medical publications. 11. Medical news. It will be obvious to every one, that the variety of fubjects comprehended in this undertaking, will put it in the power of almod every other clafs of citizens, as well as of phyfici- ans, ufefully to aid in its execution: and as the benefits which may refult from its fuccefs are limited to no defcription of men, we are the more encouraged to folicit affiftance from all whofe fituations enable them to afford it. We addrefs ourfelves, therefore, not to phyficians only, but to men of obfervation, and to the learned, throughout the United States. With ( 8 ) With refpect lo the mode of publication, we have not yet de- cided, whether to print an octavo volume annually, or to diftri- bute the fame materials into four quarterly numbers, equal to fuch a volume. This muft be determined, in good meafure, by the regularity and readinefs with which we are fupplied with fuit- able materials; and by thofe fuperior advantages for circula- tion, which, after proper inquiry, one form fliall appear to poffefs over the other. But, whichever may be preferred, fea- fonable notice will be given, and a fubfcription will be opened to defray the expence, when we are ready for publication; and, in the mean time, it is defired that all communications ma y be addreffed to Samuel L. Mitchill, Columbia College. Edward Miller, No. 21 Courtlandt-ftrect* E. H. Smith, No. 13 Cedar-dreet. New-York, Nov. 15, 1796. * I V ' «/