(seq. 7)

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of his patient; the origin, the progress, the effects of his
disorder; to obeserve what part demands his first care, &
how the relief of it may be conducted with most advantage
to the whole frame. Having (so far as human infirmities
permit) made himself master of these preliminary steps, he
should endeavour to restore his patient, not by the magical
agency of a nostrum, or specific, but by the judicious
use of those means, which the experience of former times
has placed in his hands. He has the power of exciting
certain changes in the body by bleeding, vomiting, purging,
& such like; he has the power of increasing its energies by
wine and various stimulants; or lulling its irregular actions
by remedies of an opposite kind; and if his education in
his profession has not been in vain, he should be able to
judge not only correctly, but readily, when is the fittest
time, what the best manner of affecting the habit so as
to enable it more speedily, or more effectually to shake off
the disorder under which it labors. This proper duty of a
physician is well contrasted with the mere exhibition of
medicines, by Aristotle, whose mind penetrated with such
singular acuteness into every branch of rational inquiry -
Μελι, και οινον, και ἑλλεβορον, και καυσιν, και τομην ειδεναι, ῥαδιον · αλλα πως δει νειμαι προς ὑγιειαν, και τινι, και ποτε, τοσουτον εργον, ὁσον ιατρον είναι. ({Ethics} 5,9)

The skill of a physician is perhaps most really, tho' not
most ostentatiously displayed in the conduct of chronical
diseases. He should be prepared to pay a patient and watchful
attention at once to the progress of the disorder, & to opera-
-tion of medicine. He should know when it is proper to promote,

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SHoman

Quotation in Greek near the bottom of the page.