(seq. 5)

so little attached to theoretical opinions, as during the last
fifty years; the rapid progress of science having exposed
the futility of the reasoning, upon which the medical creeds
of our predecessors had been constructed. But while we
avoid the extravagance of theorists, we must take care that
we do not incur the imputation of empirics. It is very well
for uneducated men to deceive others, as they may perhaps
have previously deceived themselves, in the search efficacy
of drugs for the cure of particular diseases; but it may
reasonably move our indignation to see regular practi-
-tioners perpetually catching at new remedies, & hoping to
subdue diseases not by skill, but by luck. Did the practice
of physic consist in the discovery, or the application of
such means, it would deservedly lose all pretensions to a
liberal art. There are, no doubt, remedies capable of ex-
erting a specific action in the removal of certain disor-
ders, as Peruvian bark, Mercury, Sulphur, & some others;
and it is proper that physicians should avail themselves
of their help, when opportunity offers. But the number of
these is so limited, that they form a very inconsiderable
part of the practice of physic; while their mode of operation
is so little understood, that any rude hand many administer
them with almost equal success. It was long ago said by
Guy Patin - "pour des specifies, il n'ya che des charlatans, qui
se servent de ce terme".

A physician ought to have other objects in view. It is
his business by patient investigation to form a correct judge-
-ment of each case; to consider the age, the habits, the temper