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THE £^$0 
 
 INSTITUTES 
 
 OF 
 
 TNOMSONDSM 
 
 BY Dr. WILLIAM HENRY FONERDEN, 
 
 Member of the Philadelphia Branch of the United 
 States Thomson ian FriendlyHBotanic Society. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 rRTNTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE BOTANIC SENTINEL, 
 
 NO. 80, SOUTH STREET. 
 1837. 
 
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the 
 year one thousand eight hundred and thirty -six, by Dr. 
 Wm, Henry Fonerden, in the Clerk's Office of the Dis- 
 trict Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It will be obvious to every one, that any 
 scheme which proposes for its ultimate object 
 to meliorate the condition of the human family 
 h of the utmost importance to the community 
 at large, and deserves from each individual, 
 even the most sceptical, a calm and unpreju- 
 diced investigation. Such a scheme, character- 
 ized by universal philanthropy, we believe the 
 Thomsonian system of medical practice to be; 
 and we only bespeak for it a candid and impar- 
 tial examination of its claims. It is alone by 
 pursuing this means, that a stranger to the 
 principles on which it is based, can arrive at 
 any just conclusions in regard to its relative 
 and actual merits. Encouraged by the hope 
 that this volume will fall nto the hands of 
 many who will take this honourable and high 
 minded course, as well as by his own implicit 
 confidence in the system he espouses, the au- 
 thor cheerfully undertakes the task he has thus 
 voluntarily imposed upon himself, not however 
 without feeling his own incompetency to do 
 2* 
 
IV 
 
 justice to a cause that well deserves a better 
 head and belter heart. 
 
 The substance of the following pages was 
 written some time ago in short notes, which 
 were the basis of a regular course of lectures 
 the author intended to deliver. Uncontrolable 
 circumstances preventing the execution of this 
 design, the notes have lain until the present 
 time hidden amongst various other manuscripts; 
 and the desire of advancing the Botanic system 
 of medicine now prompts to a publication of 
 them in a form more befitting the public eye. 
 It is hoped it may not prove altogether a work 
 of supererogation, notwithstanding the variety 
 of valuable treatises, essays and lectures that 
 have already appeared. 
 
 The title which has been given may seem 
 strange to many readers, and may lead others 
 to form, at first view, an opinion of the general 
 character of the work different from what is 
 intended. It should be borne in mind that the 
 Thomsonian physiology and pathology are not 
 founded on speculation, but on actual facts ob- 
 servable by any one, though he may not be 
 skilled in the philosophy of the schools; conse- 
 quently, there is no need for a description of 
 the organs of the human body, their functions; 
 the modifications, nor the symptoms of disease. 
 The author wishes it distinctly understood, 
 that he is purely Thomsonian in his principles, 
 
and that the volume now offered to the public 
 if designed solely for the advancement of that 
 system which originated with Dr. Samuel 
 Thomson. He has examined what have been 
 called " scientific improvements" on his the- 
 ory and practice, but confesses his failure to 
 discover their superior claims so highly extolled 
 by their advocates. Whether it is for want of 
 sufficient penetration on his part remains yet to 
 be tested. In the following pages his views 
 will be given in such a manner as to afford am- 
 ple opportunity of judging whether they were 
 received prematurely, or after a strict investi- 
 gation of the comparative merits of ihe various 
 systems. 
 
PHYSIOLOGY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE THEORY OF LIFE. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Dr. Rush's Theory of Life examined. 
 
 There is no doctrine of Thomsonism that 
 has met with more violent and unyielding oppo- 
 sition than that which teaches " Heat is Life.'" 
 Various means have been used for the entire 
 subversion of this fundamental principle. It 
 has been said, with this specific object in view, 
 that, when carried out in all its legitimate 
 bearings, it will ultimately lead to materialism. 
 When this objection w r as first urged in our hear- 
 ing we were startled, and almost concluded to 
 abandon the opinion; but, on more mature de- 
 liberation on the subject, we feel more than 
 ever disposed to maintain it. Nor do we be- 
 lieve there is as much danger of departing from 
 the paths of Christianity, and becoming involved 
 in the interminable mazes of infidelity as some 
 are willing to suppose. The difficulty arises 
 wholly from confounding animal life with the 
 soul, which is manifestly an error in any sys- 
 tem. If the immaterial soul and animal life, or 
 the principle that animates the body, be syno- 
 nymous terms, or rather if they are one and 
 the self same principle, then the operation of 
 
10 
 
 any power, or the occurrence of any casualty* 
 that would destroy animal existence must like- 
 wise, as a necessary consequence, annihilate 
 the soul at the same time. This reasoning will 
 apply with equal propriety to scholastic theo- 
 ries, and in our opinion, will be found far more 
 favourable to the doctrine we are now advo- 
 cating, than to that of the late renowned Dr. 
 Rush. 
 
 In saying "heat is life," we only express 
 what we conceive to be the essence of animal 
 existence, without clothing it with any of the 
 peculiar attributes of the soul; whereas the au- 
 thor to whom we have referred, in maintaining 
 that heat, motion, sensation and thought, when 
 united, compose perfect life, evidently, though 
 undesignedly, no doubt, makes the immaterial 
 soul, and the principle that animates the body 
 one and the same thing. 
 
 Thought, according to this theory, is one of 
 the essential principles that constitute that state 
 or condition denominated life. Cogitation, how- 
 ever, is neither an inherent principle of mat- 
 ter, nor the result of organization. It is one of 
 those faculties which God, in his infinite wis- 
 dom and goodness, has seen proper to unite in- 
 separably to the soul; and it will necessarily 
 follow, that the duration of the cogitative power 
 or thought, must be commensurate with the 
 
11 
 
 existence of the soul. But if thought is an es- 
 sential constituent principle of animal life T 
 whatever destroys existence must likewise de- 
 stroy cogitation; and if cogitation be a faculty 
 indissolubly connected with the soul, whatever 
 destroys thought must, in the very nature of 
 things, annihilate the soul at the same time. 
 
 Dr. Jackson, in his late work on "The Prin- 
 ciples of Medicine, " asks, "If the intellectual 
 and moral faculties are not exercised by organs, 
 how is it possible that they should be so entire- 
 ly and profoundly modified by influences wholly 
 material in their nature? Will it be said, that 
 the immaterial principle acts independent of all 
 organization, and yet is excited by stimuli, be- 
 numbed by narcotics, modified by climate, by 
 aliment, by sympathetic reactions of the differ- 
 ent organs; in fine, by whatever is capable of 
 exerting an influence over the organic or phy- 
 sical structure of the economy ?" 
 
 It must be evident to every observer, that al- 
 though the immaterial principle may be depen- 
 dent, whilst confined to its "clay tenement,'* 
 on the organs for the manifestation and exer- 
 cise of its intellectual and moral faculties, yet 
 it surely does not derive the existence of those 
 powers from physical structure or organization, 
 IT It does not, then these faculties are peculi- 
 arly properties, qualities, or powers of the soul. 
 
12 
 
 As thought is one of these intellectual faculties, 
 not deriving its existence from any organ, 
 though depending thereon for its manifestation 
 and exercise, but an inherent principle of the 
 immaterial part, it cannot be considered a con- 
 stituent of life without confounding animal ex- 
 istence with the soul. 
 
 We conceive moreover, that the term " mo- 
 tion, 11 as used in this definition, has been misap- 
 plied, and that tl :e meaning of Dr. Rush was, 
 that the motive faculty, or power to move, is 
 requisite to the perfection of life. If, however, 
 we have mistaken his meaning, and if he really 
 intended the precise idea conveyed in the term 
 which has been used, we should have a still 
 more decided objection to his theory. It is 
 certain, from the structure and conformation 
 of the human body, that it is designed for mo- 
 tion, yet we cannot comprehend how it is 
 therefore, under the absolute necessity of being 
 in constant or perpetual motion. If it is not 
 thus necessitated, we cannot understand huw 
 motion itself, or the act of motion is required 
 for the perfection of animal existence. But 
 even on the supposition, that the correction we 
 have ventured to make is proper, we cannot 
 see that capability of motion is essential to life. 
 There are facts which prove the contrary; for, 
 when the powers of life are only suspended, as in 
 
13 
 
 asphyxia, supervening from any cause, the mo- 
 tive power completely depart:?. If capability 
 of motion were necessary to constitute man a 
 living being, it must remain with him until the 
 very last spark of vitality is extinguished; but, 
 in the instance we have mentioned this is not 
 the case. We therefore conclude, that the fa- 
 culty, power, or capability of motion, is not a 
 primary constitutional principle, but rather the 
 effect or result of life. 
 
 For these plain, simple reasons we cannot re- 
 ceive the doctrine that either thought or motion 
 is essential to life, but, with Dr. Thomson, be- 
 lieve that " heat is life." This is quite as much, 
 we think, in accordance with the tenets of the 
 Bible, particularly in regard to the immortality 
 of the soul, as the theory we have just exam- 
 ined. For although heat, or rather caloric, the 
 principle of heat, may be a material substance, 
 and therefore destructible, yet we consider ani- 
 mal life and the soul as separate and distinct 
 principles. This opinion is corroborated and 
 established by the words of holy writ — " The 
 Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, 
 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
 life."" According to commentators, the reading 
 of this passage in the original Hebrew is, "the 
 breath oflives." Here there is drawn betweep 
 the life of the body and that of the soul a line oi 
 
14 
 
 distinction, sufficiently plain to convince every 
 rational mind, that although when we say " heat 
 is life," even if w r e do intimate that the body is 
 animated by a material substance, we do not 
 detract in the least from the immateriality of 
 the soul. 
 
 Again, is it approximating any more to ma- 
 terialism to say, that heat is the only principle 
 of life, than to say with Dr. Rush, that it is 
 one of those principles which, when united, 
 compose perfect life? We think not. Just so 
 far as heat is concerned in the production of 
 the phenomena of animal existence, are those 
 phenomena dependent on this principle; and in 
 the precise extent to which the body is ani- 
 mated, whether wholly or partially, by heat, 
 is it animated by a material substance. Hence 
 the same arguments drawn from this source 
 against this principle, being that on which life 
 wholly depends, must likewise preclude the 
 possibility of heat partially producing the phe- 
 nomena. 
 
15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The correctness of Dr. Thomson's Theory estab- 
 lished by arguments from Physiology , Patho- 
 logy, and Death. 
 
 Having thus given the negative arguments 
 in favour of our belief, we will now proceed to 
 adduce some of a more positive character. We 
 shall endeavour to prove that life is really de- 
 pendent on the heat; that disease is caused by 
 a diminution of this vital principle, and that 
 death is the result of its total abstraction. 
 
 Almost every one that has attentively ob- 
 served the operations of nature, must long 
 since have noticed the strong affinity manifest- 
 ed by vegetable productions for light. It ap- 
 pears, indeed, to be essentially necessary for 
 the proper developement and perfection of their 
 functional vessels, branches, foliage, and rege- 
 nerative powers. Nor is this confined to the 
 vegetable kingdom alone; for the presence of 
 light is requisite for the perfection of animal 
 nature also. 
 
 In confirmation, we may quote an article 
 that appeared in Professor Jamieson's Philoso- 
 phical Journal. After giving a description of 
 
16 
 
 the subterraneous lake, Zirknitz, in Carniola, 
 he says . " Very singular peculiarities have 
 been remarked of these different openings in 
 the earth; some of them supply nothing but 
 water, others supply both water and fishes; 
 and there is a third class by which ducks are 
 supplied from a subterranean lake. These 
 ducks, at the moment that the water floats 
 them to the surface above ground, swim with 
 perfect facility. They are perfectly blind, and 
 almost naked. The faculty of sight, however, 
 is speedily acquired, but it is not till two or 
 three weeks that their feathers are so grown as 
 to allow them to fly, or furnish them an ade- 
 quate covering.'" 
 
 Notwithstanding this fact and others of a si- 
 milar character, have long been known to the, 
 philosophical world, the modus agendi of light 
 in developing and perfecting the works of na- 
 ture, has never yet, to our knowledge, been 
 satisfactorily explained. This influence we 
 have no hesitancy in ascribing to the presence 
 of heat. It is true, there may be heat without 
 light, because the substance exposed to the ac- 
 tion of the former, may be capable of absorbing 
 those of the latter; yet perhaps, no one will 
 deny, that there can be no light without heat. 
 Even from many such substances as we have 
 alluded to, when exposed to an increased in- 
 
17 
 
 tensity of heat, light will emanate, and the most 
 beautiful coruscations be emitted. Here then 
 we have the means of untying this Gordian 
 knot, and, at the same time, of sustaining our 
 theory. If light be dependent on the presence 
 of heat, the developement and perfection of or- 
 ganized nature must likewise be dependent 
 thereon. But this developement and perfection 
 is the peculiar function of the vital power ; — 
 therefore, " heat is life. n 
 
 As heat and cold, vulgarly speaking, stand 
 directly opposed to each other, it will follow, 
 that in proportion to the quantum of the former, 
 will be the resistance to the latter. Hence, 
 during the excessive or long continued action 
 of cold, stimulants by rousing the heat of the 
 system have been found highly serviceable. 
 For the same reason, persons of a plethoric ha- 
 bit of body, are better prepared to resist cold 
 than others. Their full physical developement, 
 fine flow of animal spirits, and strong passions, 
 evince a more than ordinary proportion of the 
 vital principle. An exposure to a current of 
 air, which in others would be productive of 
 a sensation of chilliness, is deemed by them 
 a delightful luxury. They are sometimes heard 
 to sigh for the return of the winter season, be- 
 cause they are not only desirous of enjoying the 
 cheerfulness of the social fireside, but also the 
 2 
 
18 
 
 bracing power of the northern winds. Their 
 pyrexial or febrile attacks are seldom of a low 
 typhoid type, but generally show a tendency to 
 assume an inflammatory character. Their flesh 
 is irritable, and. phlegmonic or inflammatory 
 symptoms supervene upon very slight wounds, 
 indicating clearly an abundance of vital power. 
 This abundance of living energy, and more 
 than ordinary proportion of vital heat in pletho- 
 ■retic individuals, prove the identity of life and 
 heat. 
 
 While these physiological facts prove that 
 many of the most remarkable phenomena of 
 life, and even animal existence itself are no- 
 thing more nor less than the results of the pre- 
 sence and influence of heat, which may there- 
 fore with propriety be considered as the vital 
 principle, others may be drawn from pathology 
 equally as demonstrative of the position that 
 the abstraction or diminution of the vital heat 
 engenders disease. 
 
 One of these, long known to the medical 
 world, and mentioned particularly by Dr. Cope- 
 land, we mean the transference of the vital 
 power from the young to the old, has hitherto 
 remained shrouded in impenetrable darkness; 
 and we know not by what method of reason- 
 ing, according to the principle of the schools, 
 it can be accounted for. It has frequently been 
 
19 
 
 noticed by physicians, whose field of practice 
 hasatforded thernan opportunity forobservation, 
 that when those who are just growing up, are 
 in the habit of sleeping with aged persons, 
 their looks become emaciated; they are trou- 
 bled with functional debility and lassitude of 
 the whole system; a distressing marasmus su- 
 pervenes; and often they are brought to an un- 
 timely grave before their physical powers are 
 fully developed. Every effort has failed to res- 
 cue the unfortunate victim from the hand of his 
 insidious foe. 
 
 The cause of this imperceptible consumption 
 of vital energy, it has baffled the philosophy 
 of the wisest to discover. But let us turn to 
 the doctrine of Thomson, and we find at once 
 a clue to direct us from the labyrinth of vague 
 conjecture and endless speculation to the light 
 of truth. In the supposition that u heat is life," 
 we have the solution of this difficult and per- 
 plexing problem. Heat has a natural tendency 
 to diffuse itself through surrounding substances, 
 and maintain an equilibrium in all. The aged 
 having lost a considerable portion of their vital 
 heat, abstract from the young to make up their 
 own deficiency. The abstraction exceeding the 
 quantum generated in the system of the young, 
 they daily grow more and more feeble, while 
 the old are invigorated by the transition. Thus, 
 3* 
 
20 
 
 considering the vital power to be the vital heat ? 
 simultaneously explains this phenomenon, and 
 proves that " heat is life." 
 
 The pernicious and too often fatal effects of 
 drinking cold water when the system is heated 
 by exercise, may also be urged as an argument 
 in favour of the Thomsonian theory of life. 
 The stomach is the grand centre of sympa- 
 thies, and on being brought in contact with the 
 water, its natural heat, by means of which the 
 functions of the whole system are carried on 
 with regularity, is communicated, according 
 to the laws that govern the action of heat or 
 caloric, to the water. By the operation of the 
 same principles, the determining powers rush 
 from the surface and extremities to restore an 
 equilibrium. Hence, the superficial emuncto- 
 ries are closed ; the passage of the blood 
 through the external capillary blood vessels 
 is obstructed for want of sufficient vital energy 
 to continue their action; and the same abstrac- 
 tion occurring in all the organs successively, 
 until finally it reaches the stomach itself, death 
 quickly ensues. Now, the water abstracts 
 neither the excitability of Brown, nor the mo- 
 tion, sensation, or thought of Rush; but merely 
 the heat of Thomson, on the presence of which, 
 as we have already shown, all these are depen- 
 dent; therefore, " heat is life." 
 
21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Objections to the Thomsonian Theory of Lift 
 answered. 
 
 We have frequently been pained to discover 
 on the part of some of the professed disciples 
 of Dr. Thomson, a disposition so to modify 
 many of the distinctive features of his system, 
 as to chime in with the popular opinions of the 
 day. We do not wish to impugn the motives 
 of any, but are willing to suppose this disposi- 
 tion has arisen from the circumstance of there 
 being difficulties in the way of the reception of 
 his entire creed, which they have been unable 
 to obviate. Now, we believe the founder of the 
 Botanic practice did not use the expression, 
 " heat is life," in a figurative manner; but, on 
 the contrary, intended to convey the literal idea* 
 contained in these words. 
 
 Although it may be obnoxious to our oppo- 
 nents, and even prove unpalatable to many of 
 our warmest friends, we are not willing to give 
 up the doctrine. The theories that have been 
 offered us in its stead do not appear to us as ra- 
 tional as itself, and the objections urged against 
 it are not of that forcible kind that it would re* 
 
22 
 
 quire to convince us of our error. We have 
 already seen, that whatever may be his theolo- 
 gical tenets, any man may receive it safely 
 without danger of emerging into infidelity, or 
 even hazarding his orthodoxy. We will now 
 inquire into its philosophy. 
 
 One of the strongest arguments against this 
 view of the principle of life is, that "roasted 
 potatoes will not vegetate, and a boiled egg 
 cannot be hatched," or, as it is more commonly 
 expressed, " heat will destroy life." In inves- 
 tigating the validity of this objection, we are led 
 into the discussion of two questions which are 
 involved in it : — First, Does heat in either of 
 the instances named really destroy life 1 And 
 secondly, Why cannot roasted potatoes vege- 
 tate, or a boiled egg be hatched ? 
 
 With reference to the first of these questions 
 we would say, it must be evident to every per- 
 son who has given the slightest attention to the 
 subject that it should be answered in the nega- 
 tive. Leaving entirely out of view the line of 
 distinction which should be drawn between the 
 embryo and actual life, there is no destruction 
 of the living principle. In both the animal and 
 vegetable kingdoms, a certain length of time 
 must elapse before the principle of life is im- 
 planted in, or imparted to, the plant or body. 
 In the human species the foetus must remain in 
 
23 
 
 the womb four months before the period of 
 quickening arrives. Why do we speak of the 
 period of quickening if it enjoys vitality Jtrom 
 the very first moment of conception. The use 
 of the term itself implies some definite juncture 
 of time when the spark of life is first struck, 
 from which the fire of actual existence shall 
 thereafter be enkindled. 
 
 Dr. Howard has very justly remarked, that 
 " a simple substance contains but one simple 
 principle; and this, so long as it remains insulated 
 from other matter, is inert and incapable of 
 producing phenomena of any kind whatever. 
 It is by combination of different [kinds of] mat- 
 ter, each being invested with its peculiar prin- 
 ciple, that the operations of nature are carried 
 on."* Now, whatever may be the varied com- 
 binations of different kinds of matter, or how- 
 ever peculiar their organization may be, with- 
 out heat, or more scientifically speaking, with- 
 out caloric, it will form at best but an inani- 
 mate mass; and, on the other hand, where 
 there is no organization, or form of matter pro- 
 perly combined, heat cannot produce the phe- 
 nomena of life. Hence, before the period of 
 vivifaction, notwithstanding the combination 
 of matter in the potato or the egg, may be a pro- 
 per one for the vivifying action of heat, neither 
 * Sys. Bot. Med. vol. i. p. 37. 
 
24 
 
 the roasting of the one, nor the boiling of the 
 other, destroys life, because that principle has 
 not as yet been communicated. 
 
 But, if there is no destruction of life, why 
 cannot a roasted potato vegetate, or a boiled 
 egg be hatched ? We answer, because their or- 
 ganization, or the proper combination of mat- 
 ter in them is destroyed. But is not this the 
 effect of heat or caloric applied in the process 
 of roasting or boiling? Undoubtedly it is; yet 
 there is a very wide difference between the or- 
 ganization of matter, and the vitality of organ- 
 ized matter. 
 
 We may add to the remark of Dr. Howard 
 already quoted, that it requires not only a com- 
 bination of the proper kinds of matter to pro- 
 duce any certain phenomena, but a proper 
 proportion of each kind must likewise be ob- 
 served in that combination. No one would ex- 
 pect to derive the sulphate of soda from a com- 
 bination of sulphuric acid with lime, because 
 lime is not the proper kind of matter from 
 which to form that salt. If even sulphuric acid 
 be combined with soda, it must be in the right 
 proportion : if the acid be either in excess, or 
 deficient in quantity, the result is disastrous in 
 regard to the substance formed. Let us apply 
 this reasoning to the subject in hand. However 
 proper then may be the different kinds of mat- 
 
25 
 
 ter in the egg or potato, no other principle 
 than heat is capable of producing the pheno- 
 mena of vivifaction. And though the heat be 
 actually the principle of life, it must be in the 
 proper proportion : its excess or deficiency 
 producing phenomena of a widely different 
 character from those which were anticipated. 
 
 From all that has been said, it must be evi- 
 dent that it does not follow as a necessary con- 
 sequence, because " roasted potatoes will not 
 vegetate, and a boiled egg cannot be hatched," 
 that therefore heat is not life, or that Dr. Thom- 
 son used the expression figuratively. If the ap- 
 plication of heat, before the time of vivifac- 
 tion, destroys the capability of the germ or 
 embryo to undergo the vivifying process, this 
 does not prove that there is a destruction of the 
 vital principle, inasmuch as that principle is as 
 yet wanting. And if after this principle has 
 been communicated, the organization of a ve- 
 getable or animal body is destroyed, even such 
 destruction does no prove that heat is not life. 
 It is well known that the full beams of a bright 
 sun will extinguish a fire. Does this prove that 
 caloric is not the principle by which combus- 
 tion is effected? The heat of the sun may over- 
 come the heat of burning wood, &c. ; but, does 
 this prove that heat is not heat ? 
 
26 
 
 But, since the existence of a vital principle 
 has been lately denied, we will enter into a 
 discussion of that subject in our next chapter, in 
 order that the propriety of the preceding argu- 
 ments may be duly appreciated. 
 
27 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Review of Dr. Howard's Theory of the Principle 
 of Life. 
 
 We now come more immediately to examine 
 the interesting question — Whether there really 
 is any abstract or distinct principle on which 
 the phenomena of life are dependent? Dr. 
 Cullen ascribed them to what he denominated 
 "autocrateia." Others have used different terms 
 to express the same principle, one calling it the 
 vis vital, another the vis insita, &c. They all, 
 however, are about equivalent to Dr. Thom- 
 son's " vital power." Latterly, the existence 
 of such a principle has been denied by those 
 from whom we little expected it, after the claims 
 they have urged for science and improvements. 
 
 The reviver of this old and absurd theory 
 says, " The compounding and decompounding 
 [of] the matter or proximate elements of which 
 man is composed is, undoubtedly, to some cer- 
 tain extent, continually going on within us. 
 This process is indispensably necessary to our 
 existence, and essentially constitutes vitality or 
 life."* In our opinion, the author here begs 
 * Howard's Sys. Bot. Med. vol. i. p. 36. 
 
28 
 
 his premises, since it is by no means a self evi- 
 dent truth, that such a change fci is continually 
 going on within us;' 1 neither is it allowed by 
 e\ery medical writer. Indeed, there are some 
 circumstances that militate against the proposi- 
 tion. If there be such an operation in the ani- 
 mal economy, then, as some have maintained, 
 there must be a universal and thorough renova- 
 tion of the human frame, at least once, and 
 very probably oftener, during the period of our 
 natural life. Now, it is well known, that those 
 who have been inoculated with the virus of the 
 small pox, have but little to fear from the con- 
 tagious character of this dreadful disease. It is 
 true, there are instances in which even the in- 
 oculated have not been exempt from a second 
 attack; but, a few exceptions cannot invalidate 
 a general rule. Whence arises this security, if 
 not from the fact that the atoms of the body re- 
 main essentially the same ? 
 
 After having thus adverted to "the effect pro- 
 duced in the compounding and decompounding 
 of the elements of man," and having denomi- 
 nated this effect " the living state or condition 
 of the body termed life," the author adds : — 
 u This view of what constitutes life, does away 
 the necessity of supposing a vital principle, 
 principle of life, living principle, and many 
 other terms which have been used to express 
 
29 
 
 the hitherto unknown something which produces 
 the phenomena of animal existence."* If this 
 author's views, which are certainly peculiar, or 
 rather original, are received, we might perhaps 
 be ready to admit his inferences likewise; but, 
 as those views are supported by no very pow- 
 erful arguments, we consider ourselves at per- 
 fect liberty to question the correctness of his 
 conclusion. 
 
 Three points yet remain to be satisfactorily 
 settled before we proceed any farther. The 
 first is, Whether this change is " continually go- 
 ing on within us?" Secondly. Whether it " is 
 indispensably necessary to our existence ?" And 
 thirdly, whether it " essentially constitutes vi- 
 tality or life ?" 
 
 The first of these questions has already been 
 answered in the affirmative, though, in our opi- 
 nion, such an answer is not warranted by the 
 evidence in its favour, submitted to the consi- 
 deration of the reader. Perhaps one of the 
 strongest arguments in support of this hypothe- 
 sis, (for such only we conceive it to be,) is the 
 fact, that some portions of the human body, for 
 instance, the hair, the nails; and, in the male, 
 the beard, are frequently renewed. But, al- 
 though this be a fact, confirmed by the observ- 
 ation of every day, and therefore no longer sus- 
 * Howard's Sys. Bot. Med. rol. i. p. 37. 
 
30 
 
 ceptible of doubt, yet it is matter of doubt whe- 
 ter this change be a natural consequence, re- 
 sulting from the operation of any of the laws by 
 which the human body is governed. Indeed, 
 this very renovation or renewal seems, on the 
 contrary, to result from the action of external 
 agents, or the occurrence of circumstances en- 
 tirely adventitious. 
 
 Nature seems to have assigned certain limits 
 to these portions of the body to which tbey may 
 extend their growth, but beyond which they 
 cannot go. When the glossy ringlets of the lit- 
 tle girl are cut from tim e to time, nature un- 
 ceasingly continues her renovating efforts; but 
 when the little girl advances in life, blooms m 
 the maturity of womanhood, and is no longer 
 compelled to submit to the operation of the scis- 
 sors, the rich suit of hair with which she has 
 been favoured comes to perfection, and the re- 
 newing exertions of nature are suspended, un- 
 til some new exigency shall have again re- 
 quired them. 
 
 The nails are also under the influence of the 
 same determinate laws. The customs and 
 usages of a civilized community justly demand 
 a due attention to personal cleanliness, and in 
 compliance with their requisitions the nails are 
 frequently pared; thus their progressive growth 
 is ensured. But in some of the Asiatic coun- 
 
31 
 
 tries where long nails are esteemed an orna- 
 ment, when they have attained a certain length 
 they cease to grow. We need scarcely refer 
 the reader for an instance of a similar kind, to 
 a religious sect in onr own country, who per- 
 mit the beard to grow as a part of their duty. 
 
32 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The question — "Is the progressive mutation of the 
 animal economy necessary to life?" discussed. 
 
 We have already examined the grounds on 
 which the theory of a progressive mutation of 
 the atoms or elements of which the human 
 body is composed; and though we even admit 
 that such a change is actually "going on within 
 us" at all times, the admission can by no means 
 prove that it u is indispensably necessary to our 
 existence.* If such a mutation occur at all, it 
 must be the result of one of three things : — 
 First, The action of external causes : Secondly, 
 The operation of some established principle in- 
 herent in the nature of man : or, Thirdly, The 
 combined action of both. 
 
 That extraneous causes or agents, operating 
 on the structure of the human frame, may pro- 
 duce organic lesion or structural derangement, 
 destroy the vitality of the animal fibre, and thus 
 effect "the decompounding [of] the elements of 
 man," we can easily believe; but we cannot 
 comprehend how similar causes or agents can 
 restore the vital energy, or have any part in 
 the compounding of these elements when once 
 
33 
 
 they are decomposed. If mortification of the 
 smallest fibre e take place, there is no known 
 cause, principle, or agent which can, indepen- 
 dent of, and abstract from, the principle or 
 power of life, induce a health) 7 action in the 
 diseased part, or compound a new fibre to sup- 
 ply the loss occasioned by the sloughing of the 
 dead one. This mutation or change cannot, 
 therefore, be attributed solely to the action of 
 external causes or agents. 
 
 So far as it relates to the second source, 
 whence such change may have its origin, viz: 
 11 the operation of some principle inherent in 
 the nature of man," we have only to remark, 
 that perhaps no one can be found, who wiil se- 
 riously argue that the action, or even the exist- 
 ence, of a principle directly tending to the de- 
 struction of life, " is indispensably necessary ," 
 to prolong life. And yet undoubtedly this must 
 be the inevitable bearing of the argument, if we 
 ascribe the change spoken of to the operation 
 of any innate principle of the constitution. One 
 function of this principle, in order to effect 
 such a change, would be to " decompose the 
 elements of man," and, by consequence, to de- 
 stroy vitality. If then the mutation of the atoms 
 of the human body depends on the action of 
 this innate principle of nature; and if such a 
 change is " indispensably necessary to our ex- 
 S 
 
34 
 
 istence, 11 it must follow that the principle it- 
 self is equally as essential to life. But this prin- 
 ciple must be possessed of a tendency to extin- 
 guish vitality; hence, a principle tending to the 
 destruction of life, " is indispensably necessary 
 to our existence.' 1 This argument refutes it- 
 self. Whatever power, therefore, this estab- 
 lished principle may exert in the " compound- 
 ing of the elements of man," we cannot yield 
 our assent to so absurd a proposition, as, that 
 the power of the same principle is exerted for 
 the destruction or " decompounding' 1 of those 
 elements. 
 
 Consequently, as neither of the first two 
 causes assigned, operating singly, can effect 
 this change, we must seek the only alternative 
 left us, and ascribe its origin to the combined 
 action of both. Since the first directly tends to 
 " the decompounding of the elements of man, 11 
 its existence, or rather its action cannot, as we 
 have already shown, be " indispensably neces- 
 sary to our existence. 11 If its existence is not 
 absolutely required for the continuance of life, 
 the change is not "indispensably necessary;" 
 for the necessity of the change depends on the 
 necessary conjoint action of both these causes. 
 
 The third and last point to be settled is, 
 u whether this change essentially constitutes 
 vitality or life ?" Something may be " indispen- 
 
35 
 
 *ably necessary to our existence," and yet not 
 constitute that condition which we term life; 
 but that which constitutes vitality cannot, in 
 the very nature of things be dispensed with 
 without the loss of life. The question then un- 
 der present consideration turns on the single 
 pivot, whether this change -" is indispensably 
 necessary to our existence? 1 ' We have seen 
 from the foregoing arguments, that even on the 
 supposition that it is " continually going on 
 within us," it may nevertheless be dispensed 
 with. It will therefore follow, that such a 
 change does not " essentially constitute vitality 
 or life." 
 
 It must appear evident from what has been 
 said, that neither of the propositions which we 
 have investigated, has as yet been satisfacto- 
 rily established ; on the contrary, each one se- 
 parately has been proved to be incorrect. It 
 cannot therefore be expected that we will ad- 
 mit any inference, however logical its deduc- 
 tion may be, which is drawn from an ill founded 
 postulate. Both postulate and inference are 
 but consecutive links of the same chain, and 
 such is the indissoluble connexion existing be- 
 tween them, that if the former is disproved the 
 latter is destroyed; if the foundation is over- 
 turned, the superstructure must fall. Let us 
 4* 
 
36 
 
 now proceed to an examination of the entire 
 argument. 
 
 If then, this change " essentially constitutes 
 vitality or life," it must be " indispensably ne- 
 cessary to our existence;" and, if it be abso- 
 lutely indispensable, it must necessarily be 
 " continually going on within us." The corol- 
 lary deduced from this comprehensive postu- 
 late is, that " this view of what constitutes 
 life, does away the necessity of supposing a 
 vital principle, principle of life, living principle, 
 and many other terms which have been used 
 to express the hitherto unknown something, 
 which produces the various phenomena of ani- 
 mal existence." But since the position itself, 
 assumed without an attempt at proof, cannot 
 be sustained by sound argumentation, the cor- 
 rectness of the inference is completely annihi- 
 lated, and " the necessity of supposing a vital 
 principle" remains as imperious as ever, not- 
 withstanding this mighty effort to destroy it. 
 
 We are thus strenuous in advocating the ex- 
 istence and the continual action of a principle 
 of life, because some of the doctrines we shall 
 have occasion hereafter to advance, stand in 
 the most intimate connexion with it. 
 
37 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Pathological Phenomena prove the existence of 
 a principle or power of Life. 
 
 We shall next institute an inquiry into the 
 character of the theory which has been offered 
 us in lieu of that which supposes a vital princi- 
 ple, and we are compelled to say that like all 
 others not derived from personal experience 
 and actual observation, it bears impressed on 
 its very front the stamp of gross inconsistency 
 and glaring contradiction. 
 
 After having, as we have already seen, posi- 
 tively denied the existence of a principle of life, 
 the author says, " It must be evident that the 
 preserving power of health can be nothing else 
 than the power of life."* Indeed, it is only on 
 the supposition of such a principle that we can 
 account for recovery from disease without the 
 aid of medicines. This fact we often see ex- 
 emplified, and such cases we refer with the ce- 
 lebrated Hippocrates to the sanative effort of 
 the vis medicatrix naturce, or restorative power 
 of nature. 
 
 Against this opinion it is argued, " if it were 
 * Howard's Sys. Bot. Med. vol. i. p. 47. 
 
88 
 
 by an effort of nature that diseases were cured r 
 this event could happen only at the very onset, 
 as it must be admitted that nature's power to 
 make an effort is then at its zenith, and is grow- 
 ing weaker and weaker as disease progresses."* 
 Here, as in most other instances, our opponents 
 beg the question. We do not admit, that in the 
 onset of disease, " nature's power to make an 
 effort is then at its zenith." An admission of 
 this kind would destroy the congruity of our 
 medical tenets, which, at the present, com- 
 mands our admiration as a pre-eminently beau- 
 tiful and distinctive feature of the Thomsonian 
 system. We could not then account for the pro- 
 gressive violence of fever^ which we consider 
 the friend of life. We concur in the opinion of 
 Dr. Cullen, that while nature appears, during 
 the cold stage of fevers to be quiescent, she is 
 only concentrating her forces for a more irre- 
 sistible attack upon the foe. Hence the febrile 
 paroxysm is always proportioned to the chill, 
 which is evidence that nature is only then rising 
 to her zenith. 
 
 This argument is as illogical as the one we 
 have just rebutted, although it is its converse. 
 In that we discover a wrong position assumed; 
 in this an unfair inference deduced. For even 
 supposing, that only in the commencement of 
 
 * Howard's Sys. Bot. Med. vol. i. p. 36. 
 
3d 
 
 disease, " nature's power to make an effort id 
 then at its zenith, 1 ' this is not proof that her most 
 powerful exertions are then made for the re- 
 pulsion of disease. We may with the same de- 
 gree of propriety argue that a man, if he reco- 
 ver at all from disease, can only so recover 
 when in the very prime of life, because " it 
 must be admitted," that his constitution being 
 then most vigorous, its " power to make an ef- 
 fort is then at its zenith." Mow, although at 
 the onset of disease, nature may be possessed 
 of as much "power to make an effort" as she 
 can possibly be at any other period, the full 
 exercise of this power may, nevertheless, be 
 suspended until the aggravation of the symp- 
 toms require it. One of the wise regulations 
 under which the constitution of man has been 
 placed by the Lord of Creation is, that every 
 effort shall be exactly commensurate with the 
 emergency that puts it in requisition. In ac- 
 cordance with this law, if the symptoms be 
 mild in the onset the effort of nature is slight; 
 but, if they become more alarming, her power 
 is exerted in proportion to the violence of the 
 disease. If therefore this argument against the 
 power of nature is to be made available in any 
 degree, it remains first to establish the premise; 
 and secondly, to deduce a fair inference. 
 
40 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Two antagonist principles operating in Disease. 
 
 *> 
 
 " But instead of such an hypothesis as this, 
 [the effort of nature to repel disease,] say these 
 scientific improvers of Dr. Thomson's theory y 
 " it appears much more rational to conclude, 
 that the system of man is so constituted by the 
 Author of his existence, that every disease pro- 
 duces an effect which is calculated to remove 
 the cause by which it was produced. "* Really, 
 if we had not been seriously told, that this is 
 more rational than the belief in an innate prin- 
 ciple of nature, by which disease is repelled 
 and health preserved, we must candidly confess 
 we never should have known it. And even yet 
 we are somewhat sceptical in relation to its ra- 
 tionality, notwithstanding the plausible argu- 
 ment which is advanced in support of it, and 
 the dexterous manner in which it is handled. 
 
 We are ready to admit, that " the Creator 
 of all things could as easily implant this quality 
 or principle in the constitution of man, as to 
 make him susceptible of being acted upon by 
 stimulants." But what advantage will be gain- 
 * Howard's Sys. Bot. Med. vol. i. p 86. 
 
41 
 
 ed thereby? The mere circumstance that the 
 Almighty is able to perform any certain thing, 
 is no proof that He has actually done it. If it is, 
 is it not astonishing that we are white when 
 God could as easily have made our skin the 
 same colour with the red men of the forest, or 
 the sable hue of the sun burnt African ? 
 
 Again, if we go farther, and even admit that 
 God actually did " implant this quality or prin- 
 ciple in the constitution of man," we cannot 
 comprehend how this will prove that disease 
 " is calculated to remove the cause by which 
 it was produced," unless the constitution of 
 man and disease be synonymous terms. 
 
 Such vague and inconclusive reasoning has a 
 sure tendency to destroy itself. If disease be 
 capable in any of its modifications, of removing 
 the cause that produced it, or in other words, 
 of effecting its own cure, then, he who directs 
 the power of his remedial agents against disease 
 should be considered the enemy of the human 
 family; because, so far from fulfilling the indi- 
 cations of cure, he is only baffling, by pursuing 
 such a method of treatment, the efforts that are 
 made to perform it. If such be the natural ef- 
 fects of disease, according to the principles of 
 true pathology, then should all who at present 
 practice the healing art be indicted for man- 
 slaughter or for murder, since disease is the tar- 
 
42 
 
 get at which they aim their arrows, whether 
 dipped in poison or in balm. It is matter of 
 great surprize moreover, that a solitary indivi- 
 dual should ever die of disease, if it be possess- 
 ed of this tendency; and particularly so after 
 the disease has been raging with violence for 
 any length of time. Its very violence, one 
 would think, w 7 ould add materially to its power 
 over " the cause by which it was produced," 
 and thereby render recovery doubly sure. The 
 man who can receive such an idea, may dis- 
 cern much meaning in the declaration of Aber* 
 nethey, when he said, though with a different 
 design, he would rather know his medicines 
 carried off his patients, than that they had be- 
 come the victims of the disease. 
 
 Since then this theory will not stand the test 
 of a strict examination, but appears flimsy " as 
 the spider's most attenuated thread," we are 
 obliged to revert, in our search after the cause 
 that exerts so salutary an influence over the 
 animal economy, or the power by which these 
 sanative efforts, are made to the operation of a 
 principle of life. 
 
 If all the phenomena attending disease, how- 
 soever diversified in their characters they may 
 be, are the natural effects of the disease itself, 
 there surely can be no necessity for the attend- 
 ance of the physician, nor any use in the em- 
 
43 
 
 ployment of remedies. But that this view of 
 these phenomena are incorrect, must strike 
 every man of common sense at first sight. It 
 is an axiom, that every effect must partake of 
 the nature of the cause that produced it; for, 
 u how can a good tree bring forth corrupt fruit, 
 or an evil tree bring forth good fruit?" Reason- 
 ing from this datum we could never account 
 philosophically or scientifically for the contra- 
 riety of symptoms observable in a single case 
 of intermittent fever. 
 
 It is characterized by alternation? of chills 
 and febrile paroxysms, varying in the length of 
 the intervals according to the type it may as- 
 sume. We have no hesitancy in crediting the 
 chills to the action of miasmata, or other mor- 
 bific matter received into the system, as its spe- 
 cific effect; but to what cause shall we assign 
 the regular recurrence of the pyrexial symp- 
 toms or hot stage? Surely not to the same 
 source whence the chill originates, for this 
 would be contrary to the axiom to which we 
 have just referred. 
 
 The action of morbific matter, whether in- 
 troduced by inhalation, salivary solution, or cu- 
 taneous absorption, or generated in the system, 
 is always productive of obstruction of the vital 
 energy, by which coldness is superinduced. This 
 coldness is either general, or such as amounts to 
 
44 
 
 a chilly sensation diffused throughout the sys- 
 tem; or local when confined to some particular 
 organ or set of organs. We can easily trace 
 the origin of such an effect to the operation of 
 its peculiar cause, though we should be loth to 
 ascribe an effect, which, in itself, is of a directly 
 opposite character, to the same cause. Here we 
 discover at once the action of two antagonist 
 principles; and, as we are compelled to attri- 
 bute the coldness to the disease, which stands 
 opposed in its very nature to the principle of 
 life, we cannot think otherwise than lhat the 
 heat or febrile symptoms result from the agency 
 of the vital power. 
 
45 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Life considered as a natural condition or stale* 
 The action of atmospheric air in the Lungs. 
 
 We are perfectly aware, that in controvert- 
 ing theories, and exposing the fallacy of hypo- 
 theses which have been advanced by the learn- 
 ed, and are now upheld by the established pre- 
 judices of the ignorant, we are hazarding much. 
 The little bark of reputation, thus launched 
 upon the sea of public opinion, must not only 
 breast the heavy surges of argumentative rea- 
 soning, but likewise dare the furious gales of 
 sneering sarcasm. If she outride the united ef- 
 forts of these combined powers, her victorious 
 flag will be hailed with joy by millions yet be- 
 low the horizon of real existence; but, if she 
 sink, it is into the shoreless deep of eternal ob- 
 livion. Yet, with truth for our polar star, phi- 
 losophy our sails, inquiry our compass and 
 perseverance our rudder, we commit ourselves 
 to the perilous wave. 
 
 The question has been asked by almost every 
 medical writer, " in what does life consist?" 
 To this important inquiry the celebrated M. 
 Bichat answers, " the aggregate of those func- 
 
46 
 
 tions which resist death." Yet, notwithstand- 
 ing the glaring inconsistency between this defi- 
 nition and the theory, that "life is a forced 
 state," the latter has been eagerly embraced, 
 and is now become the universally prevailing 
 doctrine. If there be any principle of life by 
 which death is resisted, that principle or power, 
 however diffused throughout the various or- 
 gans of the animal economy, must necessarily 
 be greater than the principle or power of death, 
 else the resistance would be easily overcome. 
 The effect caused by the predominance of a 
 stronger power over a weaker, is surely not a 
 forced one. 
 
 We may readily admit with the same learned 
 author, that "such is the condition on which 
 we live, that every thing around us has a ten- 
 dency to produce our dissolution, by the affini- 
 ties existing between their atoms, and the atoms 
 of which a living body is composed," without 
 however compromitting ourselves. The exist- 
 ence of extraneous substances, the operation of 
 foreign agents, or the occurrence of adventiti- 
 ous circumstances, does no! prove that there is 
 any innate principle possessed of the same ten- 
 dency; on the contrary, it directly supports the 
 position we have taken. 
 
 We may illustrate our views by reference to 
 the chemical law of simple elective attraction. 
 
47 
 
 If we present pure potassa to a combination of 
 nitric acid and lime, the nitric acid, possessing 
 a stronger affinity for the former, leaves the lat- 
 ter, and unites with the potassa. Now, the ex- 
 istence of this composite substance is not forced, 
 but a natural effect, resulting necessarily from 
 the law of single elective attraction, or simple 
 affinity. Thus the tenacity with which these 
 aggregate functions cling to life, and the resist- 
 ance they make to death, prove their greater 
 affinity (if we may be allowed the expression), 
 for the former, and that the latter can super- 
 vene only upon an entire reversion of those 
 laws and principles which govern the animal 
 economy. Even the very last spark of organic 
 life must be extinguished before the decomposi- 
 tion or putrefaction of the body, which is the 
 result of the affinities existing between its 
 atoms, and those of foreign substances, can pos- 
 sibly occur. Consequently life is not a forced 
 state. 
 
 In endeavouring to support this old theory of 
 the schools, its advocates have gratuitously as- 
 sumed the necessity of " exciting powers 1 ' for 
 the continuation of existence. Some of these 
 exciting powers are atmospheric air, articles of 
 food, whether solid or fluid, &c. But if we 
 carefully investigate the philosophy of their 
 operation on the human system, we find they 
 
48 
 
 are rather objects on which the excess of ac- 
 tion is spent. 
 
 When the blood, by the systole or contrac- 
 tion of the heart, is sent from the right ventri- 
 cle, through the pulmonary artery, into the 
 lungs, it appears loaded with impure and irri- 
 tating particles, the effete or worn out portions 
 of the system, which tend to augment the ac- 
 tion of the respirative organs. This action 
 would increase still more until it amounted to 
 an excess, were it not diminished by the inha- 
 lation of pure air, or such as contains the due 
 proportion of oxygen. The oxygen thus in- 
 spired, operates not as an exciting power, but 
 as a reducer of action, and a restorer of equili- 
 brium. 
 
 This opinion, however novel it may appear, 
 is corroborated by facts of almost daily occur- 
 rence. In hot weather the atmosphere is con- 
 siderably rarefied by the action of the solar 
 rays, and its bulk is proportionally enlarged. 
 The capacity of the lungs remaining the same, 
 they are not capable of inhaling as large a quan- 
 tity as they could if the same weight were com- 
 pressed into a smaller measure. Hence, for 
 want of a sufficiency to reduce their action, it 
 is more than ordinarily increased, and the in- 
 crease is manifested by a more rapid perform- 
 ance of their functions. This accounts for the 
 
49 
 
 panting of animals in the summer season. If 
 oxygen were really an exciting power, as has 
 heretofore been believed, its effects should be 
 directly the reverse; its abundance should in- 
 duce in the lungs a quicker performance of their 
 function, and its diminution a sluggish one. 
 
 Again, on being brought into contact with 
 the external organs of respiration, the pharynx, 
 larynx, trachea, and bronchia, atmospheric air 
 receives an addition to its own temperature, 
 and consequently subtracts from that of the or- 
 gans just mentioned, thereby lessening their ac- 
 tion. We cannot, therefore, subscribe to the 
 doctrine that oxygen is an exciting power.. 
 
50 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The action of Animal and Vegetable Food on the 
 digestive system, 
 
 The reasoning which we pursued in our last 
 chapter in regard to the a-ction of oxygen, will 
 hold good in relation to the operation of food 
 and drink. They, in a similar manner, reduce 
 the excessive action of the digestive organs. 
 This fact will be more apparent, if we mark 
 the difference between the effects produced on 
 the system by animal and vegetable diet. 
 
 It has long been customary among medical 
 men to proscribe the former in pyrexial and in- 
 flammatory disorders^ because of the prevailing 
 opinion, that it, acting as a stimulant, would 
 aggravate the symptoms. Febrile complaints 
 have a constant tendency to the acme of their 
 paroxysms. Animal food, participating in the 
 properties of human flesh, is more easily assi- 
 milated to it, and consequently requires a less 
 exertion of the chylifactive functions; and the 
 redundancy of vital energy thus produced, in- 
 creases the tendency of the disease until it ar- 
 rives at its crisis. On the other hand, a vegeta- 
 ble diet, requiring a greater effort of the diges- 
 
51 
 
 tive organs for its assimilation, reduces the ex- 
 cessive action, and thus allays, or at least does 
 not increase, the pyrexial symptoms. Hence, 
 we as Thomsonians, considering fever merely 
 as the rising of the vis medicatrix natures, or re- 
 storative power of nature, for the expulsion of 
 morbific matter, and the disengorgement of ob- 
 structed vessels, permit the use of animal food, 
 if the appetite craves it, with a view to aid na- 
 ture, by giving full play to her tendency to the 
 height of the exacerbation. And we may add, 
 the success of the practice has confirmed us in 
 the truth of the theory. 
 
 Whilst the illustrious Franklin was a jour- 
 neyman printer in London, by a rigid absti- 
 nence from the stimulating or exciting diet of 
 his fellow workmen, he rendered his physical 
 powers far superior to theirs. By his free use 
 of vegetable food, the excessive action of the 
 digestive organs was reduced, an equilibrium 
 was maintained, and the proper quantum of 
 vital energy diffused throughout the whole 
 system. 
 
 This position is further sustained by the pain- 
 ful experience of Dr. Brown. When labouring 
 under the most excruciating arthritic aiFection, 
 conceiving it to originate from plethora, he had 
 recourse to a vegetable diet to effect a cure, but 
 failed to accomplish his object until he again 
 5* 
 
52 
 
 resorted to a more generous mode of living. 
 Now, his abstemious vegetable diet required too 
 great an exertion for its digestion and assimila- 
 tion, thereby preventing an equalized action of 
 the organs. On changing his theory of the cause 
 of gout, and ascribing the origin of the disease 
 to debility, he returned to the use of animal 
 food, which produced the desired effect, not 
 however by stimulation, but by favouring the 
 action of the digestive powers, and inducing a 
 free transmission of the redundancy to the af- 
 fected organ, thus enabling it to throw off the 
 obstruction which caused the distressing de- 
 bility. 
 
 Notwithstanding animal food approaches 
 much nearer the nature of human flesh, and 
 might therefore be very reasonably supposed 
 to be much better adapted to the nourishment 
 of mankind than vegetable diet, yet, say the 
 editors of the Journal of Health, "Man has 
 little inclination to live solely on animal food. 
 It is indeed questionable whether he could en- 
 joy perfect health on a diet purely of flesh. It 
 is well known however that vegetable substan- 
 ces, particularly the farinaceous, are fully suf- 
 ficient of themselves for maintaining a healthy 
 existence.'*'* This fact appears to be totally 
 incompatible with the theory that food is a sti- 
 ♦ Vol. i, p. 277. 
 
53 
 
 mulant or exciting power, and that an animal 
 diet is more so than a vegetable one; but, with 
 the doctrine that it is a reducing agent, it is 
 perfectly concordant. 
 
 Again, meats which have undergone but 
 slight alteration during the culinary process, or 
 are what is vulgarly called rare, are considered 
 more wholesome than those that are thorough- 
 ly done. Yet the former require a longer time, 
 and greater effort for their assimilation than the 
 latter, because these have their organization 
 more completely destroyed. Now, we would 
 ask, why are they more wholesome, if it is not 
 because they better subserve the purpose of re- 
 ducing the action of the digestive organs? 
 
54 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The operation of pure water on the animal eco- 
 nomy. The pathological action of some of the 
 organs. 
 
 It must be on the selfsame principle which 
 we advocated in the preceding chapter, that 
 water will for a time prolong life, of which we 
 have a memorable instance in the history of 
 Pomponius Atticus, who, being troubled with* 
 a disease of the stomach, determined to destroy 
 himself. He was persuaded by Agruppa, his 
 son-in-law, to effect his purpose by starvation; 
 he was also advised to take a little water for 
 the alleviation of the sufferings which might be 
 caused by total abstinence from nourishment. 
 After passing many days in this manner, con- 
 trary to his expectation, death did not ensue; 
 but he was cured of his malady* and lived to an 
 advanced age. 
 
 But it may be said, the water he used acted 
 as an exciting power, by which means the ac- 
 tion of the vital power was continued. This 
 explanation of its modus operandi might answer 
 if it were not for two objections to it. 
 
 First, hot water is more highly stimulating. 
 
55 
 
 or exciting than cold water, if even the latter 
 really does stimulate or excite under any cir- 
 cumstances; yet, no one will pretend to say, 
 that the former is better fitted for the suste- 
 nance of animal life, which certainly would be 
 the case if the phenomena of life depended on 
 the action of stimuli. Cold water, by being 
 taken into the stomach, imbibed by the absorb- 
 ents, and carried to the different parts of the 
 system, attenuates the fluids which otherwise 
 would become viscid, conduces to their freer 
 progress through their respective vessels, and 
 thus indirectly reduces the excessive action of 
 those organs to which it is transmitted, by les- 
 sening their friction; or, on being brought into 
 immediate contact with the surfaces over which 
 it is diffused, directly effects the same reduc- 
 tion, by abstracting a portion of that heat on 
 which the action is dependent. 
 
 Secondly. Every one that has observed the 
 operations of nature must have noticed the fact, 
 that the vital action of the digestive system, 
 when not reduced by the presence of food in 
 the alimentary canal, is always increased until 
 the organs appear to be labouring under a fe- 
 brile attack. On this account fasting has been 
 practised not only as a religious ordinance, but 
 also as a means of preserving health and remov- 
 ing incipient disease. 
 
56 
 
 " Stuff a cold and starve a fever," has passed 
 into a proverb among almost all classes of so- 
 ciety, although latterly the medical world have 
 discarded the idea embraced in the first part of 
 the adage, as unwise and of evil tendency. 
 These gentlemen, by this rejection, have un- 
 wittingly declared in favour of Thomsonism, 
 however unwilling they may be to allow it. 
 On the supposition that the repletory practice 
 is beneficial, when there is impaired action of 
 the vis vita or power of life, and vice versa, and 
 that food is a repletory or exciting power, the 
 advice above mentioned must be good; for even 
 themselves admit, that cold does retard the 
 free exercise of that power. In this case then, 
 according to their own theory, repletion is in- 
 dicated; yet, with the inconsistency so inti- 
 mately interwoven in their creed, they say, to 
 w stuff a cold" is wrong. We believe however, 
 that the indication, in every instance, is to as- 
 sist nature, and that food of any kind is a re- 
 ducer of action : abstinence therefore, during an 
 attack of cold, may be judiciously recommend- 
 ed, for the ostensible purpose of avoiding a re- 
 duction of the vital action, and thereby permit- 
 ting nature to concentrate all her energies for 
 the counteraction and expulsion of disease. 
 
 Hence, from the facts that water actually re- 
 duces the quantum of action, and that absti- 
 
57 
 
 nence from both solids and fluids increases that 
 action frequently to an alarming and even fatal 
 degree, we cannot believe, that in the case of 
 Pomponius Atticus, it operated as a stimu- 
 lant or exciting power. 
 
 It appears that a remark of M. Bichat's 
 will fully sustain the view we have taken of 
 this subject. He says : — " When acute diseases 
 are continued for a long time, (hen the fat is 
 absorbed, serosity abounds, and the phenomena 
 become soon after like those of chronic dis- 
 eases. Nevertheless, we must observe that the 
 organs most altered, are those in which nutri- 
 tion is most active in an healthy state; and, on 
 the contrary, those which enjoy only an ob- 
 scure vitality, are the least sensibly injured." 
 In acute disease, the patients are seldom, if 
 ever, allowed a full and generous diet, and the 
 vital powers, having nothing on which to spend 
 their overplus of action, prey on the organs 
 themselves. If food of a generous kind were 
 prescribed, that excess of energy would be re- 
 duced, the adipose substance unabsorbed, and 
 the tendency to serosity counteracted. The 
 absorption of the fat indicates clearly increased 
 action of the absorbent system; the serosity 
 points to a similar condition of the serous mem- 
 branes; the changes occurring in those organs 
 possessed of active vitality, prove the increase 
 
58 
 
 of their action; whilst the final assumption of a 
 chronic character shows the vis vita to have 
 been expended by over action. 
 
 Now, if life be a forced state; if its pheno- 
 mena depend on the excitation of stimuli; and 
 if the articles of food operate as exciting pow- 
 ers, how shall we account for this increase of 
 action when their use is proscribed? 
 
59 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Objection answered. The theory sustained by 
 an argument from the nature of stimuli. 
 
 An argument, that seems at first view to bear 
 with considerable weight against the opinion 
 we have advanced- is, that immediately on the 
 reception of food into the stomach, there is a 
 sensible augmentation of the temperature of the 
 body. This augmentation, if indeed it be real, 
 cannot surely be placed to the account of the 
 stimulus of the food itself, for the stomach 
 serves only as a receptacle, in which, by the 
 action of the gastric juice, the food is converted 
 into chyme. It then passes into the duodenum, 
 where, being combined with the bile and pan- 
 creatic juice, it becomes chyle. It is then fit 
 for the action of the lacteals which receive it 
 and pour it into the thoracic duct. Now, if by 
 the term nutritious particles, we are to under- 
 stand the stimulating or exciting particles, we 
 certainly cannot attribute the increase of the 
 temperature of the body to the reception of the 
 food into the stomach, since the fact is, what- 
 ever change is wrought on it there, none of 
 these nutritious, stimulating, or exciting parti- 
 
60 
 
 cles are absorbed until they reach the innumer- 
 able lacteals of the duodenum. 
 
 We incline however to the opinion, that this 
 increase, apart from that caused by the various 
 condiments used in connexion with the com- 
 mon articles of food, or in other words, that the 
 increase caused by the food itself is merely re- 
 lative,, not absolute. 
 
 We have already noticed the fact, that when 
 the stomach is entirely deprived of food for any 
 length of time, its action, for want of some- 
 thing to reduce it, becomes greatly increased, 
 until finally it is excessive. During this pro- 
 gressive rise of the temperature of the digestive 
 organs, the surface and extremities are appa- 
 rently chilled. Their coldness however is only 
 relative. In reality, they have not lost any 
 thing of their actual or positive heat, which re- 
 mains stationary; but, when compared with 
 the stomach, whose temperature is greatly in- 
 creased, because of the want of an object on 
 which to spend the excess of its action, their 
 warmth appears diminished. But, let an agent 
 be presented, which will reduce the action of 
 the digestive system, and thereby lessen the 
 heat of the organs concerned in the process, 
 and immediately the temperature of the sur- 
 face and extremities seems to rise in an inverse 
 ratio. .Nevertheless, this rise, increase or aug- 
 
61 
 
 mentation is discovered only when the heat of 
 the surface and extremities is considered in its 
 relation to that of the alimentary canal. When 
 compared with surrounding objects, it is found 
 to have remained in statu quo. 
 
 If then there he no actual, but merely an ap- 
 parent or relative increase of heat upon the re- 
 ception of food into the stomach, and if the 
 food, during its stay in that organ, does not give 
 out any of its stimulant properties, we are com- 
 pelled to consider its action in some other point 
 of light than that of an "exciting power." 
 
 It is not merely for the sake of innovation 
 that we have explained the modus operandi of 
 these agents on the system in a manner differ- 
 ing so widely from all our predecessors, but 
 simply because their effects are at variance 
 with those of stimulants. The action of stimuli 
 on the animal economy is always less and less, 
 yet the same effect may be again produced by 
 an increase of the quantity of the stimulus. But 
 this is not the case with food, drink, &c. When 
 men advance in age their appetites are more 
 easily satiated. The vital energy diminishes in 
 an inverse ratio with the increase of years, and 
 a smaller amount of aliment will reduce the re- 
 dundancy, and maintain an equilibrium of ac- 
 tion. How then can we reconcile this fact 
 with the supposition that food is an exciting 
 
62 
 
 power? If this were true, would it not require 
 a greater portion of aliment to produce the 
 same effect than in the vigour of life ? Reason- 
 ing therefore from these premises, we reject 
 the inconsistent doctrine that " life is a forced 
 state." 
 
63 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Our Theory supported by arguments from the 
 primeval state of mankind, and the conditions 
 on which we now live. 
 
 It has long been customary for natural phi- 
 losophers to discourse on the adaptation of the 
 digestive organs of different animals to the dif- 
 ferent kinds of aliment on which they subsist. 
 They ought, in our opinion, rather to have re- 
 marked the infinite wisdom displayed by the 
 Deity in providing food for his various crea- 
 tures, suited exactly to the differences of their 
 conformations and structures; for the food was 
 certainly made for the animal. This idea is 
 fairly deducible from the language of Holy Writ 
 — " And God said, Behold I have given you 
 every herb bearing seed, which is upon the 
 face of all the earth, and every tree, in the 
 which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you 
 it shall be for meat."" From these words we 
 may draw another argument in favour of our 
 views on this subject. 
 
 Those who believe in the degradation of the 
 human family by sin, will readily admit that 
 the corporeal powers, as well as the mental 
 
64 
 
 faculties, have suffered in the fall. Now, it ap- 
 pears, that while man enjoyed the full exercise 
 of this undiminished physical energy, he fed on 
 vegetables alone; but, since the depravement 
 of his digestive powers he resorts, partially at 
 least, to a diet more eupeptic, or susceptible of 
 a more easy assimilation, and which, conse- 
 quently, will not, during the process of chyli- 
 faction, reduce to so great an extent the action 
 of the digestive organs. If th& vigour with 
 which the functions of life are performed, de- 
 pend on the excitation of stimulT, and if animal 
 food be more stimulating than vegetable, we 
 would naturally expect that man, in his prime- 
 val state, drew his vital power from an animal 
 diet. But, as this was not the case, to what 
 can we ascribe the superior energy of both his 
 physical and mental powers, if not to the more 
 active operation of an innate principle of life? 
 And this principle, in its more active state, re- 
 quired an agent calculated to reduce its action 
 to a greater extent. 
 
 But it may be said that such an explication 
 as this is only shifting the difficulty. If we pur- 
 sue the text already quoted a little further, we 
 find the position assumed by former theorists is 
 involved in more obscurity, and fraught with 
 greater absurdity than that which we have ven- 
 tured to take. During the time which elapsed 
 
65 
 
 from the creation of man, to his disregard of 
 the divine prohibition, these agents could not 
 possibly have operated as exciting powers, be- 
 cause being then endowed with immortality, 
 he required not extraneous aid for the continu- 
 ance or support of life. So that, if after all that 
 can be said, there still must remain a difficulty 
 it had better be shifted to the proper place, 
 than to make a second and greater one, in at- 
 tempting to obviate the first 
 
 A very powerful argument against the hy- 
 pothesis, that u iife is a forced state," may be 
 drawn from the fact, that the period to which 
 humui existence extended, even after the in- 
 ti eduction of death by sin, has been since 
 shortened by n )thing less than the irresistible 
 fiat of Omnipotence. According to the Mosaic 
 history, when the Lord determined to destroy 
 the world by a flood, he also curtailed the days 
 of man's life to one hundred and twenty years; 
 and we are informed subsequently to that time 
 by the Psalmist, that" The days of our years 
 are threescore years and ten." So far, then, 
 from the human frame having any tendency in 
 itself to dissolution, it absolutely require? the 
 agency of a supernatural power to produce such 
 an effect. 
 
 We are perfectly willing to admit, nay, it 
 ghes us pleasure to advocate, the scriptural 
 5 
 
66 
 
 and consolatory doctrine of a preserving Provi- 
 dence. Providence, in the preservation of life, 
 is both active and passive; active, when he 
 wards off those accidents which, contrary to 
 the laws of Nature would destroy it; pussive, 
 when he merely permits those principles which 
 he has already established, to have sway. As 
 we have seen, it is the predominance of these 
 principles over all others that constitutes exist- 
 ence. Therefore, life cannot be a forced state. 
 
 When the author of this work first advanced 
 this doctrine, in a lecture, delivered to the 
 Louisa and Hanover, (Va.) Thomsonian Bota- 
 nic Society, August 21st, 1835, he stood alone. 
 Since that time, however, the talented Editor 
 of the Thomsonian Recorder, Dr. Curtis, has 
 likewise seen the impropriety of calling life a 
 forced state. In the columns of his really va- 
 luable paper, he has advocated our views of 
 this proposition, and, as an argument in his edi- 
 torial annotations on a communication from T. 
 Ingersoll, M. D., is very appropriate, we take 
 the liberty of transcribing it. 
 
 u If the life of man is forced, " says Dr. C, 
 " so is that of brutes, and of vegetables; for, if 
 animal life is forced by food and stimuli, so is 
 vegetable life forced by heat, moisture, earth, 
 salts, &c, without which a plant cannot grow 
 any more than a man can live without eating. 
 
67 
 
 The question then arises — Is it natural or artifi- 
 cial for a plant to grow f If it is artificial or 
 forced, we ask, what is natural 1 Nature, says 
 philosophy, is whatever is opposed to art. Art 
 is the ingenuity or contrivance of man. Now 
 we ask, by what ingenuity or contrivance does 
 man produce animal or vegetable life? It is the 
 nature of plants to grow, and of man to live; 
 therefore, life is not a forced but a natural 
 state." — See Thorn. Rex. vol. iv; p. 237. 
 
 6* 
 
PATHOLOGY 
 
 3 
 
 OR 
 
 THE THEORY OF DISEASE. 
 
71 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Dr. Thomson? s Theory of Disease. Cold the 
 universal cause. 
 
 It is indispensably necessary to a correct 
 knowledge of the method of curing disease, to 
 ascertain the precise nature of its cause; for, an 
 error in the theory may lead to an error in 
 practice, which, in its turn, may prove as de- 
 structive as the disease for which it is instituted. 
 Hence the great uncertainty and inefficiency 
 which has so long been characteristic of the 
 popular practice of medicine in all ages, and in 
 all countries. 
 
 The next peculiar doctrine of the Thomso- 
 nian System which demands our attention is, 
 that " obstruction is disease." In this, as well 
 as in every other part of his theory, Dr. Thom- 
 son has evinced a degree of knowledge that 
 does not fall to the lot of every man to possess. 
 In our remarks on this interesting subject, we 
 will notice the cause and the nature of disease, 
 with some of the inferences that may be legiti- 
 mately deduced from the whole. 
 
 In regard to the cause of disease, Dr. Thom- 
 
72 
 
 son himself remarks in his chapter on life and 
 motion: — " Without a due proportion of heat 
 inward and outward, or outward and inward, 
 there is no animal motion — no animal life." 
 D. Eberle seems to have had some concep- 
 tion of the truth of this remark, for he observes, 
 " cold is perhaps the most common and fre- 
 quent of all the remote causes of disease in the 
 temperate latitudes." On another occasion, in 
 lecturing on this topic, we took the liberty to 
 say, " since disease is opposed to life it is inci- 
 pient death; consequently, what will produce 
 one, will cause also the other. What produces 
 death? The abstraction of the vital heat. Cold 
 then, in our humble opinion, must be the cause, 
 either remote or proximate, of all disease." 
 
 It may appear strange, perhaps, that we 
 should hazard our medical reputation by advo- 
 cating the doctrine of the unity of the cause, as 
 well as of the disease itself; yet, we candidly 
 avow our belief, that the cause of every devia- 
 tion from health is a reduction of the natural 
 heat, on which the phenomena of life depends. 
 To form a correct judgment of the propriety of 
 this belief, it will be necessary to examine the 
 modus operandi of the principle of life in health. 
 
 In addition to what we have already said, with 
 reference to the union of the vital principle 
 with organized matter for the vivifaction of 
 
73 
 
 the body, we may here say, that without a due 
 proportion of each of the constituent princi- 
 ples of living matter, there can be no health; 
 and that the only condition in which life can 
 remain, and the functions of the animal eco- 
 nomy be nevertheless performed in a manner 
 which is contrary to the laws that govern per- 
 fect health, is a reduction of the vital principle. 
 Every other condition is in perfect accordance 
 with those laws. These functions may be per- 
 formed with greater vigour, and the vital heat 
 may be in excess for the time being; yet, nei- 
 ther the more vigorous performance of the one, 
 nor the excess of the other, constitutes disease, 
 because the phenomena occur only upon the 
 operation of some cause tending to the destruc- 
 tion of life. Therefore, they are in accordance 
 with the laws of health, which are established 
 not only for its preservation, but also for its re- 
 storation. 
 
 The apothegm, "A house divided against it- 
 self cannot stand," which fell from the lips of 
 the Son of man, contains a sentiment whose 
 truth is as firmly established as the pillars of 
 Heaven. Every simple principle has but one 
 mode of action, and cannot, therefore, in the 
 very nature of things, produce a contrariety of 
 effects. Hence, when we discover that the 
 principle of life, which we know operates as a 
 
74 
 
 preservative of health, produces febrile and in- 
 flammatory symptoms during an attack of di- 
 sease, we are compelled to consider that a 
 healthy action. If this then be the peculiar 
 mode of action, and the effect of the principle 
 of life, disease, being in its nature diametrically 
 opposed to this principle, must necessarily be 
 produced by a reduction of the natural heat. 
 Cold therefore is the universal cause, remote 
 or proximate of the disease. 
 
75 
 
 CHAPTER II, 
 
 Morbific matter introduced by pulmonary inha* 
 lation and cutaneous absorption. 
 
 In the preceding chapter we advanced the 
 opinion that cold, or to speak more scientifi- 
 cally, the reduction of that heat on which the 
 perfect performance of the vital functions is de- 
 pendent, is the remote or proximate cause of 
 all disease, whatever be its peculiar modifica- 
 tion. Other causes may operate on the animal 
 economy in such a manner as to give a tendency 
 to a derangement of those functions; yet such 
 derangement can ensue only when other causes 
 are assisted in their deleterious influence by 
 the unhealthful action of cold. The indulgence 
 of the exciting or depressing passions, injuries, 
 &c, may predispose to disease, but such is the 
 nature of the human constitution, that this pre- 
 disposition would soon be counteracted, were 
 it not for obstruction of the circulation, arising 
 from the constrictive power of cold. 
 
 Our present inquiries will lead us more im- 
 mediately to notice the introduction of morbific 
 matter, after which we shall consider the rea- 
 son of its retention in the system. 
 
76 
 
 Extraneous particles noxious to the living 
 power, and productive of disease, may be in- 
 troduced into the system either by pulmonary 
 inhalation, cutaneous absorption, or by salivary 
 solution, or it may be generated in the system. 
 We shall confine ourselves to the two first means 
 of introduction in this chapter. 
 
 In speaking of the absorbent system, Dr. 
 Horner says, " With the exception of an im- 
 perfect observation of some of these vessels in 
 the mesentary of a goat, by Herophilus and 
 Erasistratus, 280 years before Christ, during 
 the reign of the Ptolemys in Egypt, what is 
 known of them is entirely a modern acquisition 
 in anatomy. In 1564, Eustachius discovered 
 the thoracic duct of a horse, which, in the ig- 
 norance of its use, he called vena alba thoracis 
 [white vein of the thorax.] This fact remained 
 insulated and almost forgotten for seventy 
 years. In 1622, Asellius discovered the absorb- 
 ents of the mesentery, and in the discussions 
 consequent thereto, the original observation of 
 Herophilus and Erasistratus, was raised from 
 an oblivion of nineteen centuries, to be again 
 brought to light and admired. Asellius seems 
 to have understood that the absorbents of the 
 mesentery collect the chyle from the intestines, 
 but his knowledge ceased there, for he thought 
 that they discharged into the vena portanim. 
 
7? 
 
 In 1634, Weslingius saw the thoracic duct again; 
 and, in 1649, ascertained that the chyliferous 
 vessels of Asellius terminated in it. In 1650, 
 Claus Rudbeck, a young man pursuing his ana- 
 tomical studies in Leyden, saw first the lym- 
 phatic vessels of the liver, and in a few months 
 afterwards injected similar ones in the loins, in 
 the thorax, in the groins, and in the armpits. 
 Thomas Bartholine, a teacher of great reputa- 
 tion in those days, in a dissertation, dated in 
 1652, claimed for himself the priority of these 
 observations, and from the obscurity of Rud- 
 beck, enjoyed for some time the merit of them. 
 In 1654, Rudbeck published and set forth his 
 own pretensions with such force, that he finally 
 triumphed over his antagonists, but not until 
 the whole world of anatomy had been set in 
 commotion, one party being for the professor, 
 and the other for the pupil; and many bloody 
 strifes having arisen between the students of 
 the respective sides. In 1653, Jolyff, a cele- 
 brated anatomist of London, proclaimed his 
 own rights to this warmly contested honour, 
 but the period being rather late, his name is 
 scarcely associated with the history of these 
 feuds. Almost a century then passed before 
 there were many additions to the knowledge of 
 those times. After which great contributions 
 were made by Dr. A. Munro, Dr. W. Hunter, 
 
78 
 
 Hewson, Cruikshank, but chiefly by the cele- 
 brated Mascagni, who, having imagined finely 
 pointed instruments of glass for executing his 
 injections of these vessels, succeeded in de- 
 monstrating them in almost every part of the 
 body, excepting the spinal marrow, the brain, 
 the ball of the eye, and the placenta. In some 
 of these parts, however, he says he has seen 
 them, and he speaks confidently of their exist- 
 ence without exception every where, even in 
 the enamel of the teeth.* 
 
 These vessels, studding both the external 
 and internal surfaces of the body, serve as con- 
 ductors of those particles intended for the nu- 
 trition of the system. In the performance of 
 their function of absorption, they will readily 
 form particles of a destructive character, as ac- 
 tual experiments have fully proved. Since 
 the lungs next to the liver is most plentifully 
 supplied with these vessels, and since their sur- 
 face is brought into immediate contact with 
 the air during respiration, it will be obvious 
 that pulmonary inhalation presents a ready 
 medium for the introduction of morbific mat- 
 ter, whilst the absorbents afford it conveyance 
 to the thoracic duct, whence, by means of the 
 circulation, it is transmitted to every part of 
 the system. The inspiration of a contaminated 
 * Horner's Special Anat. vol. ii. p. 294. 
 
79 
 
 atmosphere, in which the effluvia of animal or 
 vegetable decomposition are floating, is a pro- 
 lific source of derangement of the vital func- 
 tions. Hence the various febrile affections so 
 prevalent in low marshy countries. 
 
 In regard to the existence of cutaneous lym- 
 phatics, notwithstanding the ancient anatomists 
 conceived that they were only a continuation 
 of the arteries, intended to reconvey the se- 
 rous portions of the blood to the heart, "it has 
 been put beyond doubt by the observations and 
 tnjections of M. Lauth."* Their absorbing 
 powers have now been almost univerally ad- 
 mitted. We may discover this function fully 
 demonstrated in the introduction of mercury 
 and other medical agents, when externally ap- 
 plied in the form of ointments, liniments and 
 lotions, and in the increased secretion of urine 
 in persons immersed in water. It is by means 
 of the cutaneous absorbents that the morbific 
 matter of contagious disorders is introduced 
 into the system when communicated by the 
 touch. 
 
 * Horner's Special Anatomy, vol. ii. p. 294. 
 
80 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Morbific Matter introduced by means of the Sa- 
 liva. Generation in the System. 
 
 That the solution of morbific matter by the 
 saliva, and its passage into the stomach, may 
 be frequently the means of introducing di- 
 sease, seems very probable. We take the li- 
 berty of presenting to our readers another quo- 
 tation from the Thomsonian Recorder. 
 
 " The following preservative against infec- 
 tion, or the deleterious qualities of a contami- 
 nated atmosphere, is extracted from an ancient 
 record of philosophical transactions. However, 
 the subject is somewhat important, and among 
 the reflecting, will prompt their inquiring 
 minds to a more satisfactory investigation. ' Be 
 the infection of pestilential fears [fevers?] what 
 they may, either seminal, insectuous, vermicu- 
 lar or gaseous, it probably enters the system 
 through the medium of the saliva or spittle into 
 the stomach. ' So says a late writer. The opi- 
 nion has been thought by many to be correct, 
 while some have doubted. The sentiment ap- 
 pears however to be supported with a tolerable 
 degree of plausibility. We have not time to 
 
81 
 
 enter minutely into the subject. We shall only 
 give the subjoined article as we find it under 
 the general title of u A Universal Preservative 
 against Infection.'" By J. J. W. Dobrzensky, 
 Professor of Philosophy and Physic. — Prague, 
 1680. 
 
 This Universal Preservative is this: — That 
 whoever converses with patients affected with 
 any disease whatever, if he would preserve him- 
 self from infection, must be sure, so long as he 
 abides within the sphere of their steam, never 
 to swallow his own spittle, but to spit it out, for 
 he conceives that to be the part which first and 
 most easily imbibes the infection; and, by that 
 swallowed, the infection is carried into the 
 stomach, when it works those dismal and fatal 
 effects. 
 
 u The infection of pestilential fevers," he ob- 
 serves, " proceeds from a seminal ferment, 
 which is emitted by the patient in the form of 
 steam, into the encompassing air, and so in- 
 fects all things within a certain sphere of dis- 
 tance." 
 
 " This drawn into the mouth by the breath 
 is apt to infect the saliva or spittle, which being 
 swallowed, infects the stomach, and so the rest 
 of the body; but [to] spit out, frees the body 
 from infection." 
 
 On these principles our author conceives, 
 6 
 
82 
 
 that strong-smelling and strong-tasting substan- 
 ces, kept in the mouth and chewed, to promote 
 spitting, are of very good and necessary use for 
 physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, nurses, &c, 
 whose professional business frequently puts 
 them under the necessity of being in exposed 
 situations attending the sick. 
 
 When the plague took its last general range 
 in London, it has been intimated that smokers 
 and chewers of tobacco were seldom attacked 
 with the complaint. No doubt the Professor 
 of Prague would have said, that their extraor- 
 dinary exemption from the common calamity 
 should be ascribed to those persons spitting 
 more profusely than others. Probably, if any 
 of these tobacco users were infected, he would 
 have attributed their misfortune to the filthy 
 practice of some smokers and chewers, who 
 have strength of stomach continually to swal- 
 low all their spittle. 
 
 Most persons have noticed, that whenever 
 any strong offensive smell arises from filthy, in- 
 fected or infectious places, how suddenly na- 
 ture prompts to eject the spittle, and then cast 
 off the first intrusions of contagion. In passing 
 through an atmosphere laden with the offensive 
 exhalations of vegetable and animal substances, 
 in a state of putrefactive decomposition, every 
 person of delicate sensibility, whose feelings 
 
83 
 
 are not measurably brutalized by filthy habits, 
 or senses impaired by disease, will always 
 commence spitting. This is an index nature 
 has placed on our road that kindly points the 
 way to safety.* 
 
 This extract may afford the practitioner of 
 medicine some valuable ideas respecting the 
 prevention of the spread of infectious disease; 
 but the design of its introduction in this place, 
 is to show that morbific matter, arising from 
 the putrefaction of animal or vegetable substan- 
 ces, or from the exhalations of infected per- 
 sons, may find its way into the system by be- 
 ing dissolved in the saliva and swallowed. And 
 from the almost universal prevalence of de- 
 rangement of the digestive organs, we incline 
 to the opinion that this is the most frequent 
 means of the introduction of such morbific 
 matter. 
 
 Under somepeculiar circumstances, ofwhich 
 however we do not know the true character, 
 foreign particles introduced either by pulmo- 
 nary inhalation, cutaneous absorption, or sali- 
 vary solution, seem to act peculiarly on the 
 glands of an organ or set of organs, and some- 
 times on the glands of the whole system gene- 
 rally, powerfully irritating them, and inciting 
 them to the secretion of a vitiated, poisonous 
 * Thomsonian Recorder, vol, ii. p. 206. 
 
84 
 
 matter, capable of self propagation. Thus, 
 particles which are not in themselves actually 
 poisonous, may nevertheless become the gene- 
 rators in the systom itself of poisonous glandu- 
 lar secretions, which are characteristic of all 
 contagious affections. 
 
 We cannot account for this vitiated condi- 
 tion of the glandular secretions, without pre- 
 supposing the presence of some vitiating cause. 
 This cause too must be extraneous, for the laws 
 of the animal economy will always induce a 
 healthy performance of all the organic and vi- 
 tal functions, unless counteracted by the influ- 
 ence of foreign agents. 
 
85 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Exhalents^ Expulsion of Morbific Mailer. 
 Action of Cold. 
 
 Although we see that the inlets of morbific 
 matter are numerous, there is nevertheless pro- 
 vided a natural means of egress or expulsion. 
 A set of vessels has been supposed to exist for the 
 special purpose of carrying off all foreign parti- 
 cles, though it is true their existence has not yet 
 been fully established. Boerhaave, Haller, 
 and Bichat, are among those who believe in 
 the existence of the exhalents; while it has 
 been denied by Mascagni, Prochaskt, and 
 Richerand. Dr. Wm. E. Horner coincides 
 with the latter gentlemen in opinion, and deems 
 these vessels merely supposititious. But whe- 
 ther there really be a separate and distinct set 
 of vessels provided for the performance of this 
 function or not, it is sufficiently evident that the 
 process of exhalation is carried on by some 
 means or another. Dr. Horner ascribes both 
 absorption and exhalation to the lymphatic 
 system. 
 
 But, on the supposition that the absorbents 
 perform this double function, the reasons for 
 
80 
 
 believing in the natural expulsion of morbific 
 matter remain the same. 
 
 Whatever be the kind or character of those 
 vessels, by means of which exhalation is car- 
 ried on, we discover, that in the exercise of 
 this function, the effete or worn out particles 
 of the system are thrown off: and if we can 
 attribute to the absorbents the vital power of 
 discrimination between nutritive and effete 
 particles, we may surely allow them the like 
 power of discrimination between healthful and 
 morbific matter. Therefore, it is rational to 
 suppose, that whenever foreign particles, tend- 
 ing to the destruction of the organism of the 
 body, or to the deterioration of ihe animal flu- 
 ids, are introduced, whether by pulmonary in- 
 halation, cutaneous absorption, or salivary so- 
 lution, nature immediately prompts to their 
 ejection, either by means of distinct exhalents, 
 or through the absorbent system. 
 
 But since nature has provided appropriate 
 vessels or organs for the performance of all her 
 corresponding functions, as for instance, arte- 
 ries for the transmission of the blood from the 
 heart to the remotest parts of the system, and 
 veins for its return, we incline to the opinion, 
 that she has not been less careful in regard to 
 the exhalents; the more so when we take into 
 the account the greater regularity and constancy 
 with which exhalation is performed. 
 
87 
 
 Thi3 opinion moreover is strengthened by 
 the consideration, that if exhalation were per- 
 formed by the absorbents, the introduction of 
 morbific matter could not endanger the health, 
 since it could not be admitted except when the 
 lymphatics were in the full exercise of their ap- 
 propriate functions; and this very circumstance 
 would necessarily facilitate its expulsion. — 
 Again, if the lymphatic system were so deranged 
 as to hinder the ejection of noxious particles, 
 they would likewise be incapacitated for the 
 process of absorption; consequently morbific 
 matter could not be introduced. 
 
 Since every part of the system is exposed or 
 liable to attacks of cold, it will be obvious that 
 the exhalents may also feel its pernicious influ- 
 ence, and becoming constricted may be pre- 
 vented from that speedy expulsion of noxious 
 matter, to which nature in a healthy state al- 
 ways prompts. Hence cold, or the reduction 
 or diminution of the vital heat may very ration- 
 ally be supposed to be the remote or proximate 
 cause of all disease, either by favouring the re- 
 tention of morbific matter in the system, or in 
 the absence of such matter, by producing ef- 
 fects equally subversive of the laws of the ani- 
 mal economy. 
 
 When cold attacks the cutaneous exhalents, 
 it closes the mouths of these minute vessels; the 
 
88 
 
 watery particles which otherwise would pass 
 off in the form of vapour or insensible perspira- 
 tion are retained, and gathering together in the 
 cellular tissues, a dropsical diathesis super- 
 venes. When the capillary blood vessels are 
 exposed to its action, they become so much 
 constricted as to obstruct the return of the ar- 
 terial blood into the veins, thereby predispos- 
 ing to hemorrhage from the small, and aneu- 
 rism in the larger arteries, or local inflamma- 
 tion in the organ where the arteries anastomose 
 or unite with the veins. When it seats itself or* 
 the lungs, pulmonary transpiration is prevented,, 
 and insidious consumption tixes his envenomed 
 fangs on his unsuspecting victim. If the lym- 
 phatic system labour under the effect of cold, 
 the constriction of the mouths of the absorb- 
 ents occasions congestion of the organ. Hence 
 the various affections of the liver, heart, peri- 
 cardium, diaph agm, kidneys, stomach, &c. 
 
 Thus we discover we are not under the ne- 
 cessity of supposing a plurality of causes, in or- 
 der to account rationally for the many effects 
 of disease. Whatever be their type or charac- 
 ter, they are all the offspring of one common 
 parent. 
 
89 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Dr. Brown* s Theory of Disease considered. 
 
 The nature of disease has been differently 
 described by different medical writers. We 
 will first examine the theories of the two most 
 prominent author?, and then compare them 
 with that of Dr. Thomson, that the reader may 
 be the better able to decide on their respective 
 merits. 
 
 Dr. Brown considered debility, either direct 
 or indirect, as disease; but, in our opinion, the 
 effect of disease is here mistaken for disease it- 
 self. If there be a sufficiency of vital heat in 
 any organ, the tone of that organ must remain 
 unimpaired. Cold produces obstruction of the 
 circulation, thereby preventing the organ or 
 the system from relieving itself of morbific mat- 
 ter, and debility is superinduced. 
 
 A healthy vital action depends on the regu- 
 lar diffusion of the vital heat through the sys- 
 tem by means of the circulation of the blood. 
 While the latter function is properly perform- 
 ed, the action of the different organs will be 
 sufficiently great. To say the circulation will 
 pot proceed when the organ is debilitated, is to 
 
90 
 
 transfer the peculiar functions of the heart and 
 arteries to the whole system generally. The 
 motion of the blood is secured by two forces 
 only, viz: — The propulsive power of the heart 
 and arteries, and the syphonic force of the heart 
 exerted in the dilatation of the right auricle. 
 These two powers, we conceive, acting syn- 
 chronously are sufficient of themselves to con- 
 tinue a regular circulation without the inter- 
 vention of other aid. The syphonic force to 
 which we allude may be illustrated by the ac- 
 tion of a common syringe. 
 
 If the pipe of one of these instruments be 
 placed in a bowl of water, and the piston 
 drawn upward, a complete vacuum would be 
 formed, were it not for the ru h of the water 
 afterthe piston. In like manner in the diastole 
 of the heart, the principle of suction comes into 
 operation, by means of which the blood is re- 
 turned from the surface and extremities through 
 the veins to the heart, to be again sent to every 
 part of the system by the propelling power of 
 the left ventricle and arteries during their con- 
 traction. That these two powers are sufficient 
 for the continuance of the circulation is demon- 
 strated by the fact, that though the veins are 
 possessed of contractility, they are neverthe- 
 less very slightly, if at all elastic, and therefore 
 can exert but small influence in the perform- 
 ance of this function. 
 
91 
 
 From this then it will he evident — First, 
 That debility or diminished vital action cannot 
 occur so long as there is a regular and suffieient 
 supply of vital energy on which that action is 
 dependent. 
 
 Secondly, That the supply of vital energy 
 must be regular and sufficient, so long as the 
 circulation, by means of which that energyls 
 diffused throughout the system, remains free 
 and unobstructed. And, 
 
 Thirdly, That therefore the loss of vital en- 
 ergy and consequent debility are only the ef- 
 fects of obstruction. 
 
92 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Dr. Rushes Theory of Disease examined. 
 
 The second theory proposed for the consi- 
 deration of the medical world in modern days 
 is that of Dr. Rush, who maintained that mor- 
 bid excitement is disease. This however, in 
 our opinion, has as little philosophy in it as that 
 we have just examined. 
 
 We have seen, in the course of the preced- 
 ing remarks, that there is only one cause of di- 
 sease, and that cause is the reduction or dimi- 
 nution of the vital heat, on the proper quantity 
 and equal distribution of which the healthy 
 performance of the various functions depends. 
 We have also seen, that no principle has more 
 than one mode of action, and must consequent- 
 ly, in every instance, produce precisely simi- 
 lar phenomena when acting on the same kind 
 of matter. It is equally certain, that when the 
 operation of any principle is suspended, its ef- 
 fect must cease, because an insulated principle 
 cannot produce any effect whatever. Cold 
 acts in perfect harmony with the law of inor- 
 ganic contractility, and obstruction necessarily 
 follows. Hence, if in disease there is any ex- 
 
93 
 
 citement at all, it does not result from the ope- 
 ration of cold. 
 
 The only circumstance which, in health, 
 seems to favour the idea that cold may, in some 
 instances, be productive of excitement is, that 
 the affusion of cold water throws over the body 
 a delightful glow or flush. Jt is from the healthy 
 that we are te reason concerning the patholo- 
 gical phenomena. The latter must arise from 
 the action of some other cause than that which 
 produces the former. 
 
 Now, if we inquire into the cause of the glow 
 we have alluded to, we find that it is not the 
 coldness of the water, but the operation of the 
 conservative vital principle, which stands diame- 
 trically opposed to cold. We have before remark- 
 ed, that whenever there exists in the system any 
 thing possessed of a tendency to depress or 
 obstruct the vital action, the principle of life or 
 the vital heat is immediately aroused for its ex- 
 pulsion. And since cold, whenever and by 
 whatever means applied, has a direct tendency 
 to produce an obstruction, and if continued, a 
 total cessation if the vital action, the excite- 
 ment or glow consequent on the affusion of cold 
 water, must be attributed, in the absence of 
 any other cause to which we may rationally 
 ascribe it, to the reaction of the vital heat. 
 
 The propriety of this position may be more 
 
94 
 
 clearly discerned, if we take into the account, 
 that when cold affusions are used for the pre- 
 servation or restoration of health, they are ge- 
 nerally succeeded by the process of rubbing or 
 active exercise; either of which, under any cir- 
 cumstances, is naturally calculated to increase 
 the action or excitement. 
 
 We think enough has been said to satisfy 
 every unbiased mind, that the excitement ob- 
 servable in so many modifications of disease, is 
 not produced by the same cause that produces 
 the pathological phenomena, but is, on the 
 other hand, the counter effort of nature. 
 
 If there be any principle implanted in the 
 constitution of man, whose action, when there 
 is no derangement of the vital functions, tends 
 to the preservation of health and the continu- 
 ance of life, the operation of that principle 
 must always be healthful, because it cannot 
 possibly have more than one mode of action, 
 or produce more than one kind of effects. The 
 principle of life in the exercise of its powers 
 during health, produces a salutary excitement, 
 and this effect must invariably, in a greater or 
 less degree, follow its operation, and partake 
 of its salutary nature. The excitement, there- 
 fore, whether it be violent or slight, cannot in 
 itself be disease, nor can it be morbid, or par- 
 take of the detrimental character of disease. 
 
95 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Dr. Thomsons Iheory. Unity of Disease. Iden- 
 tity of Disease and Obstruction. 
 
 Dr. Thomson, in pursuing his medical inqui- 
 ries, laid aside speculative reasoning and hypo- 
 thetical theories, and studied Nature as she 
 is. His observations of the manner in which 
 she acted for the preservation of health, as well 
 as the effects of disease on the human system, 
 led him to the conclusion that obstruction is 
 disease. 
 
 The remedies he exhibited were calculated 
 to raise the natural heat to its proper standard, 
 to equalize the circulation, to remove obstruc- 
 tions, to expel morbific matter of every kind, 
 and to restore the tone of the suffering organs. 
 These indications were fulfilled and his patients 
 were well. Thus every circumstance tended 
 to confirm him in his theory. 
 
 The unity of disease may first be proved by 
 the modus operandi of lis cause. Cold, we have 
 seen in another chapter, is the universal cause 
 of disease, whatever be the peculiarities attend- 
 ing it. It may indeed be variously modified by 
 circumstances, but were it not for the constric- 
 
96 
 
 tive power of cold, no morbific matter could 
 remain in the system long enough to do it de- 
 triment or injury, inasmuch as such matter 
 could not be assimilated, and would soon be 
 naturally expelled through (he proper emuncto- 
 ries or excreting vessels provided for its egress. 
 
 If every principle requires something else on 
 which to act, or by which to be acted on, be- 
 fore it can produce phenomena of any kind, it 
 may be rationally inferred, that upon the ab- 
 straction of the vital heat on which the vital ac- 
 tion depends, that action must be obstructed. 
 If every principle produces, in all cases, an ef- 
 fect partaking of its own nature, then cold must 
 produce obstruction in every instance; and if 
 the action of cold produces disease, then ob- 
 struction is disease, for both are the result of 
 one cause; therefore, disease is a unit, and that 
 unit is obstruction. 
 
 Another argument in favour of the unity of 
 disease, may be drawn from the effects of the 
 Thomsonian medicines. We know our oppo- 
 nents deride this method of reasoning, but we 
 are willing to abide by the decision of honest 
 men, if themselves do not in fact pursue the 
 fame method. The only reason which can be 
 assigned for the continual incongruity of their 
 reports is, that their remedies being so uncon- 
 genial with the principle of life, and so equivo- 
 
9? 
 
 t:al in their operation, are constantly producing 
 in the hands of different practitioners effects 
 and phenomena as discordant as multiplied. 
 Yet every one demands universal assent to the 
 peculiar theory he may advance, because, for- 
 sooth he has tried certain remedies which re- 
 sulted in a cure. 
 
 Ill supporting our views, then, by reasoning 
 from the effects of the Thomsonian medicines, 
 we ask no more than what others do. But we 
 possess this decided advantage: all our argu- 
 ments derived from this source, perfectly har- 
 monize with each other, though advanced by 
 different persons, and under different circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The one indication fulfilled by the exhibi- 
 tion of our remedies is, to assist Nature^ though 
 it may be by processes differing somewhat in 
 their character. Since Nature relies solely on 
 the operation of the vital heat for the counter- 
 action ofdisease, we attempt to raise that heat, 
 until by its action all morbific matter is expelled 
 from the systetn, and the exhausted energies 
 restored to their wonted strength. These ef- 
 fects are never controlled simply by the parti- 
 cular type or modification the disease may as- 
 sume. In every case in which Thomsonian 
 medicines are administered, and which is cura- 
 ble by human means, they follow, and the ra» 
 
98 
 
 ging power of disease is subdued. These are 
 facts, and facts too that afford us an irrefraga- 
 ble argument in support of the unity of disease, 
 and the identity of disease and obstruction. 
 
THERAPEUTIC 
 
 OR THE 
 
 SCIENCE OF CURING DISEASE. 
 
101 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Therapeutical Science should be in accordance 
 with Physiology and Pathology. The indica- 
 tion of Disease. Stimulants* 
 
 In establishing a system of therapeutics or 
 method of treating disease, it is necessary to 
 have continual reference to physiology and pa- 
 thology, in order, first, that the remedial agents 
 employed may not counteract the beneficial ef- 
 forts which Nature may make for the restora- 
 tion of health : and secondly, that those medi- 
 cines may accomplish the objects of the cura- 
 ble process. That the Thomsonian system of 
 medical practice is admirably adapted to pro- 
 duce these desirable results, abundant evidence 
 is afforded by the nature and effects of the re- 
 medies prescribed. 
 
 The physiological doctrines to be remem- 
 bered are, that heat is life, and that this princi- 
 ple ever acts for the preservation of existence. 
 The pathological principles are, that disease is 
 a unit, and that unit is obstruction. These te- 
 nets have been so firmly established in the pre- 
 ceding part of this volume, as to warrant us in 
 
102 
 
 the declaration, that the exhibition of remedies 
 acting in unison with their requisitions, or, in 
 other words, which will increase the vital heat, 
 remove obstructions, and restore the natural 
 tone, will fully accomplish the object of medi- 
 cal science. Let us then institute an inquiry 
 into the nature of the Botanic medicines, and 
 see whether these effects are produced by 
 them. 
 
 The first indication (to increase the vital 
 heat) should be fulfilled, if at all, by the use of 
 stimulants. These, and these only, possess the 
 property or power to aid the principle of life. 
 Sir Astley Cooper, in his " Treatment of In- 
 flammation," states, that the sudden application 
 of cold for a short time is highly stimulating. 
 We have already attempted an explication of 
 the real cause of the glow consequent on the af- 
 fection of cold water, viz : the efforts of the 
 vis medicatrix nalurce, or restorative power of 
 nature, to counteract the sedative effect of cold. 
 In addition we may here subjoin, that although 
 there even were no actual increase of the vital 
 heat for this purpose, yet the action of cold 
 closes the mouths i f the cutaneous exhalents, 
 and thus that portion of this principle (heat) 
 still remaining is prevented further expenditure 
 from the process of perspiiation. 
 
 Nature, however, does not stand stationary 
 
103 
 
 or passive, but according to the laws that go- 
 vern her operations, proceeds immediately to 
 the generation of a fresh supply of animal heat. 
 If the sensation of heat depends on the action 
 of caloric, how the abstraction or reduction of 
 this principle can produce that sensation we 
 cannot comprehend. Verily, in the language 
 of Sir Astley, " this appears like [is it not 
 really ?] contradiction. " Hence the operation 
 of cold, whether transient or continued, can ne- 
 ver in itself subserve the purpose of stimula- 
 tion, though it is no doubt useful in toning up 
 the system after too great relaxation of the 
 muscular fibre, by favouring the inorganic con- 
 tractility. 
 
 But even if we admit that cold does act 
 as an indirect or mediate stimulant, we would 
 not prescribe its use to meet the first indication 
 of disease, since this obviously requires direct 
 stimuli, or such as will immediately increase 
 the vital heat. 
 
104 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Stimulayits should be pure and diffusive. 
 
 In the second place, in many of the stimu- 
 lants in general use, so many different princi- 
 ples are combined, that they are impure and 
 consequently objectionable. They frequently 
 require an exhibition of correctives along with 
 them. In fulfilling the first indication, it be- 
 hoves the intelligent practitioner to select such 
 articles as will best answer the end proposed, 
 without producing any other effects which 
 may prove prejudical. The operation of differ- 
 ent principles combined in one remedy will 
 frequently induce results neither anticipated 
 nor desired. 
 
 A careful examination of the Thomsonian 
 stimulants has led both friends and foes to de- 
 clare them the purest known. Numbers one, 
 two and six, act as powerful stimulants, with- 
 out any of the evil effects of ardent spirits or 
 alcoholic liquors, and without injuring the finest 
 tissue of the body. We can therefore recom- 
 mend them with a degree of confidence not to 
 be reposed in any other stimuli. 
 
 Another advantage not to be overlooked is. 
 
105 
 
 that the Thom^oman stimuli are all diffusive 
 This is of no small import tnce when we re- 
 member, that a local specific must of necessity 
 be a general poison. Those remedies whose 
 action is confined exclusively to one organ, or 
 to one set of or^a.is, will, to a greater or Jess 
 extent, produce derangement in ever) part of 
 the system, on winch the) do not operate bene- 
 ficially; and the injury thus sustained is fre- 
 quently more to be dreaded than the disease for 
 which they were given. Even if the patient 
 recover from the original a tack, he is perhaps 
 the miserable victim of some chronic affection 
 for life. Witness, for one n oment, the horrid 
 effects consequent on the use of the various 
 preparations of mercury, antimony, arsenic, 
 and a host of other articles eqnahv deleterious 
 in their nature, and then sa\ if this opinion is 
 unfounded or untrue. 
 
 But it is our conviction that a local stimi lant 
 is never indicated; for, though the disease may 
 manifest itself under a local form, such is the 
 intimate sympathy existing b< tween the differ- 
 ent parts of the whole economy, that ail suffer 
 in some degree with the part afflicted. Diffu- 
 sive or general stimuli should therefore be used 
 in every case. 
 
 It moreover frequently happens, to the great 
 mortification of the medical practitioner, that 
 
106 
 
 the vantage ground which has been obtained, is 
 lost from (he simple circumstance, that the sa- 
 lutary effects of the stimuli exhibited are easily 
 dissipated. It will therefore be obvious, that 
 remedies combining the qualities referred to 
 above, with permanency or durability of effect, 
 will prove exceedingly useful in repelling the 
 inroads of disease. Perhaps no article can be 
 found hi the whole materia medica, possessed 
 of properties so permanently stimulant as Num- 
 ber two. 
 
 How much more rational then is that prac- 
 tice which will thus answer the first indication, 
 than those antiphlogistic or depleting mean9 
 usually resorted to in febrile attacks? The very 
 first anil main object should be to aid Nature 
 in her efforts, because the certainty of cure de- 
 pends ureatly on such a. course. Now, how 
 does Nature strive to counteract disease '{ By 
 rous'-n-: the vital heat. If this be the principle 
 on which Nature acts in the exercise of her 
 conservative powers, we should likewise en- 
 deavour, by all means, to increase that heat; to 
 do which there is nothing better calculated 
 than the direct, pure, diffusive, and permanent 
 stimuli of Dr. Thomson- 
 
107 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The second Indication. Relaxation. Vapour 
 
 Bath. 
 
 The second object of the curative process is 
 the removal of obstructions. Two things are 
 here to be kepi in view : — First, the relaxation 
 of vessels constricted by the action of cold; and 
 Secondly, the expulsion of morbific mailer. 
 
 It will at once Strike the reader, thai the first 
 is considerably promoted by the exhibition of 
 stimuli. It will be remembered that the con- 
 striction of vessels originates from the reduc- 
 tion or abstraction of the vital heat. Any me- 
 dicine therefore that will increase this princi- 
 ple, without detriment to the system, must ne- 
 cessarily have a tendency to produce relaxa- 
 tion, thereby affording a ready passage to any 
 morbific matter thai may have been retained by 
 the contraction of the different c-xcretories. 
 But, as a very valuable, and in many rjises an 
 absolutely indispensable, adjunct or auxiliary 
 to the stimulants we use the vapour bath, which 
 it is well known has a powerful influence in 
 diminishing the tension of the muscular fibre. 
 We think a remark of Sir Astlky Cooper 
 
108 
 
 will fully sustain this mode of practice. In the 
 lecture we quoted before, " Treatment of In- 
 flammation, " speaking of the etfects of heat and 
 moisture combined, he says : " The application 
 of heat alone woulci.be injurious by increasing 
 action; but, when combined with moisture, it 
 is beneficial, by producing relaxation, opening 
 the cutaneous pores, and giving rise to perspi- 
 ration, thereby removing congestion, and pro- 
 ducing effects nearly similar to those which arise 
 from the application of blisters. The effects of 
 heat an I moisture combined are well exempli* 
 fied by what happens when persons take to the 
 Warm bath, for instance, a person whose pulse 
 is at 75, places himself in a bath, the water of 
 which is heated to 100, his pulse soon rises to 
 100; presently he perspires freely; his pulse 
 becomes less frequent 5 but soft; great relaxa- 
 tion follows, and if he were not removed he 
 w r ould faint, so great is the exhaustion it occa- 
 sions/' 
 
 Now, if the result of the tepid bath is so de- 
 cidedly beneficial, the application of aqueous 
 vapour must be more so, because being a more 
 subtile fluid, it will more readily penetrate 
 the cutaneous pores, and produce relaxation. 
 Moreover a degree of heat may be borne, when 
 applied by means of the vapour bath, which, 
 under other circumstances would be insup- 
 
109 
 
 portable. If, (hen, the united action of stimu- 
 lants and the vapour bath has a tendency to re- 
 lax constricted vessels, they are both service- 
 able in promoting the first part of the second 
 indication. 
 
 The objections that have so often been urged 
 against the use of the vapour bath have been 
 founded altogether in error. It should ever be 
 borne in mind, that this invaluable agent is al- 
 ways to be used in conjunction with the free 
 exhibition of stimuli. When these are neglect- 
 ed, there is danger of congestion of the brain, 
 instances of which we have known to occur in 
 the hands of the faculty, but never in those of 
 a 1 homsonian; or, that the determination will 
 be from the surface to the centre, a circum- 
 stance which cannot be too sedulously avoided. 
 
 When the temperature of the surface is in- 
 creased above that of the centre by the adminis- 
 tration of the vapour bath, without the internal 
 use ofstimulants,thesystem is placed in precisely 
 the same situation as when the internal heat is 
 diminished below that of the surface by drink- 
 ing water while warm, the evil effects of which 
 we have elsewhere described.* Hence, when 
 the vapour bath is deemed necessary, it should 
 be preceded and accompanied by the internal 
 use of stimuli, thus keeping, as Dr. Thomson 
 expresses it, " the fountain above the stream. 1 ' 
 ♦Vide, p. 20. 
 
110 
 
 Here two we may mention the Number one. 
 This article is likewise an excellent stimulant 
 and diaphoretic. Its administration immedi- 
 ately after, or in conjunction with the vapour 
 bath, promotes a natural circulation, and opens 
 the cutaneous pores, by which means the salu- 
 tary effects of the preceding remedies are gent- 
 ly kept up. Its relaxing qualities render it very 
 appropriate to the purpose of a deobstruent. 
 But as it will be more particularly noticed here 
 after, it is unnecessary to speak further of it in 
 this place, especially, as its power in counter- 
 acting the rigidity of the muscular fibre is well 
 known to all who have watched its operation. 
 
Ill 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Deobslruents. Derangement of the Alimentary 
 Canal. Canker. 
 
 The next thing to be attended to in answer- 
 ing the second indication is, the expulsion of 
 morbific matter from the various organs. This 
 morbific matter, as we have already observed, 
 may be introduced by cutaneous absorption, 
 pulmonary inhalation, or salivary solution, or 
 it may be generated in the system. But it must 
 be evident to every one who has attended to 
 our explication of the cause of disease, that, 
 whatever be the manner of its introduction, or 
 the mode of its generation, it cannot have any 
 agency in the production of disease, unless de- 
 tained in the system by the constrictive influ- 
 ence of cold, or the obstruction consequent on 
 the reduction of the vital heat. Hence the im- 
 perious call for deobstruents. 
 
 Those we have already mentioned — diffusive 
 stimuli, and the aqueous vapour bath, will an- 
 swer in many cases where the morbid effect! 
 a*e not too deej-ly rooted. But others of a more 
 powerful nature are indicated where these mor- 
 bific particles have fixed themselves in any part 
 of the alimentary canal. 
 
112 
 
 Etmuller, a German physician of note, 
 maintained that acidity of the stomach was the 
 cause of all febrile affections. Whether such 
 disorders always originate from acidity of the 
 stomach or not we are not prepared to decide, 
 but we may rationally infer, th it all morbific 
 matter must be diffused abroad in the system 
 through the medium of the stomach, this being 
 the centre of sympathies, and the organ by 
 means of which all the articles of food are pre- 
 pared for the action of the chyliferous vessels. 
 
 This supposition is rendered quite probable 
 by other considerations : — First, Many articles 
 which produce evil consequences on the hu- 
 man system by an external application, gene- 
 rally manifest their deleterious influence, by 
 their operation on the stomach. If, for in- 
 stance, a green leaf of common tobacco be 
 bound or laid on the abdomen, the peristaltick 
 motion of the alimentary canal is soon reversed 
 nausea and violent vomiting occur, and death 
 follows. Secondly, in every modification of 
 disease there is more or less vitiated lymph, or 
 Dr. Thomson's canker, discovered in the sto- 
 mach and intestines. 
 
 In view of this circumstance, medicines that 
 will disburthen the fauces, stomach and intes- 
 tines of their load of canker, may be adminis- 
 tered with a salutary effect. Such are the va* 
 
113 
 
 rious preparations of Number one, Number 
 three, and the Injections, recommended in 
 the New Guide to Health, all of which will be 
 found highly advantageous. 
 
114 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Number One. Alarming Symptoms. Number 
 
 Three. 
 
 Number one is among the most active erne- 
 tics of the whole Materia Medica, and although 
 much prejudice has been excited against its 
 use by interested persons, we conceive our- 
 selves fully justifiable in asserting it to be one 
 of the safest ever yet discovered. We have ad- 
 ministered it, in some cases, to the amount of 
 six large teaspoons full of the first preparation; 
 and we have taken, during an attack of bilious 
 fever, so called, five teaspoons full of the pow- 
 dered seed, the most active part of the plant, in 
 every instance with the most indubitable be- 
 nefit. 
 
 Two facts conspire to establish the convic- 
 tion of its perfect safety: — First, in itself it is 
 stimulant, thereby promoting the generation of 
 the vital heat ; and secondly, when combined 
 with Number two, which also increases the 
 vital heat, its effects are more certain. It there* 
 fore acts in entire harmony with the principle 
 of life, according to the physiological require- 
 ment before laid down; and if its operation be 
 
115 
 
 congenial to the power of nature, it assuredly 
 must be safe. 
 
 Its activity is frequently manifested by the 
 supervention of what have been termed M the 
 alarming symptoms." These, however, so far 
 from producing alarm, should be considered as 
 affording the most triumphant proof of its benefi- 
 cial effects. Operating as a diffusive stimulant, 
 it is opposed to the inorganic contractility re- 
 sulting from a reduction of the vital heat, and 
 by increasing this principle of life, it exerts an 
 expansive influence on the muscular fibre, 
 thereby producing a tingling sensation through- 
 out the whole system. 
 
 It has latterly been found, however, that this 
 unpleasant effect of Lobelia may be com- 
 pletely obviated by its union with Bitter 
 Root. The publication of this discovery has 
 been eagerly seized by the opponents of Thom- 
 gotrism as a flagrant inconsistency, as they sup- 
 pose, of the system. That opposition must be 
 preposterous in the extreme, which has no- 
 thing in its favour but sophistry, such as the 
 merest tyro in logic may overturn. 
 
 The burning sensation caused by a plaster of 
 cantharides or Spanish flies, is undoubtedly 
 considered a good symptom, by which it is as- 
 certained that it draws; but, if it were possible 
 to produce the blister without the burning, 
 9* 
 
116 
 
 would the Faculty lightly esteem the discovery? 
 We think not. Again — an accoucheur looks on 
 the violence of parturient pains as a favourable 
 symptom; but, if he could devise some method 
 of alleviating the misery of his patient, without 
 diminishing the expulsive efforts of nature, 
 would he not pursue it ? He might even do so, 
 and yet view the natural labour pains as a fa- 
 vourable, though certainly not a pleasant 
 symptom. 
 
 Dr. Thomson, therefore, is not to be consi- 
 dered as retracting one word of what he for- 
 merly predicated of" the alarming symptoms" 
 following the use of Lobelia, when he advises 
 the addition of Bitter Root as a preventive 
 of those symptoms. 
 
 The action of the emetic is very much faci- 
 litated by the exhibition of Number three, 
 which completely loosens all morbific matter 
 that may adhere to the villous coat of the sto- 
 mach and small intestines, thus obviating the 
 difficulty which might arise from the non-se- 
 cretion of the gastric juice, or from the non- 
 absorption of the nutritious portion of the chyle. 
 This cankerous matter when loosened by Num- 
 ber three, is easily ejected from the stomach 
 by the powerfully emetic properties of Num- 
 ber one, or carried downward by the opera- 
 tion of an enema or clyster. Since this vitiated 
 
117 
 
 lymph or canker is always discoverable in the 
 stomach and intestines, in some degree, there 
 is no form of disease in which the use of Num- 
 ber three should be proscribed or neglected. 
 
118 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Deobsiruents continued. Injections. Number Six. 
 
 The operation of the injections is two-fold: 
 — First, they promote a gentle dejection; and 
 secondly, they restore a healthy action to the 
 intestines. When the intestinal portion of the 
 alimentary canal becomes coated with canker, 
 the mouths of the lymphatics are obstructed; 
 and when the superficial emunctories are closed, 
 the intestinal exhalents pour forth a superabun- 
 dance of their fluids; in either case diarrhceal 
 and dysenteric affections follow. At other 
 time?, the mouths of these latter vessels are 
 constricted by the direct influence of cold, or 
 are obstructed by a cankerous coating, and vio- 
 lent constipation is the consequence. In all 
 these cases the injections will be found highly 
 serviceable in removing both the canker and 
 tbe crude injesta. 
 
 We can scarce too much extol these injeo 
 TlONs;for unlike the drastic purgatives of the day, 
 they do not exhaust the strength of the patient, 
 or leave any unpleasant effects behind. One 
 or two evacuations is generally the extent of 
 their action on the bowels, and those produced 
 
119 
 
 in a manner almost natural. It might be sup- 
 posed by those unacquainted with their genial 
 operation, that in view of their apparently slight 
 effect, they must be frequently repeated, and 
 that the repetition would render them a trou- 
 blesome agent. Such would be the case if they 
 merely removed the contents of the intestines; 
 but they likewise restore a healthy action. — 
 They allay irritation, subdue any inflammatory 
 symptoms, and prevent the tendency to morti- 
 fication. By their stimulating properties they 
 increase the general heat of the system, pro- 
 mote the natural action of the bowels, and thus 
 preclude the necessity of repetition, unless ia 
 obstinate cases. 
 
 Number six may likewise be mentioned 
 here, for when applied externally, besides be- 
 ing detergent and antiseptic, it likewise ope- 
 rates as a deobstruent. It is true, Sir Astley 
 Cooper, in the quotation we have already made 
 from his " Treatment of Inflammation, 1 ' de- 
 nounces the application of heat a<one, because 
 of its tending to increase action; but then he 
 had allusion to extraneous heat simply. Num- 
 ber six, however, increases the internal heat; 
 and since local inflammation originates from 
 local obstruction, it may be dispersed by an 
 agent, which will increase that heat, by the re- 
 duction of which the local congestion is occa- 
 
120 
 
 gioned. Number six may therefore be applied 
 with advantage. 
 
 If then these remedies act in accordance 
 with the requisitions of physiology and patho- 
 logy, they must necessarily be beneficial in 
 every modification of disease* From the fore- 
 going exhibition of their nature and modus oper- 
 andi^ we arrive at the following conclusions: — 
 First, their properties are such as act directly 
 in aid of the principle of life; and secondly 
 their effect is the removal of obstructions which 
 if permitted to remain, would eventuate in re 
 suits as disastrous to the animal economy 
 Hence, they are admirably calculated to ac 
 complish the second design of therapeutial sci 
 ence, and, by consequence, are eminently use 
 ful in every form of disease. 
 
121 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Third Indication. Alteratives. Tonics. Nrnubers 
 Four and Five. 
 
 The next grand object to be aimed at in the 
 treatment of disease is to restore the tone of the 
 system, which should be done by means of al- 
 teratives and tonics ; these should act through 
 the medium of the stomach and bowels on the 
 whole system. Bad habits of body are easily 
 established, and when thus established become 
 second nature. It is therefore requisite, after 
 having removed the obstructions which pro- 
 duce such habits, to exhibit alteratives and to- 
 nics, in order to promote a healthy performance 
 of the functions. 
 
 Since the digestive organs exert so great an 
 influence over all the vital functions, and since 
 the stomach and bowels, in every form of dis- 
 ease, are to some certain extent labouring un- 
 der impaired action, of which the nausea, loss 
 of appetite, and furred tongue, the usual conco- 
 mitants of disease, give proof; it will be found 
 expedient to direct our remedies intended to 
 effect the object of the third indication to them 
 primarily. Correct the depraved habit they 
 
122 
 
 may have contracted,' and that of the other 
 organs will be more easily overcome. 
 
 But it is one thing to gain the victory, and 
 another to maintain it. Bad habits are almost 
 as easily recontracted as at first established, 
 particularly when they have been of long stand- 
 ing prior to their removal. It therefore becomes 
 necessary to guard against their return. Tonics 
 will render the solids of the body firm, and en- 
 able the system more successfully to resist a se- 
 cond attack, and the various organs to perform 
 their respective functions with uninterrupted 
 regularity. When the regularity of functional 
 action is not thus continued, we may take it for 
 granted that the debility, arising from the pre- 
 dominance of a bad habit, is not entirely re- 
 moved; and, as the finale of our treatment we 
 should prescribe correctives and tonics. 
 
 Both these qualities are contained in Num- 
 bers four and five, which ought never to be 
 neglected. Nevertheless, it should be recol- 
 lected, that this end is not to be accomplished 
 by medicines whose operation is confined to 
 the stomach and bowels alone, but by such aa 
 will act on the system generally. Hence the 
 addition of Number two to the Number fou& 
 will increase its salutary effects. 
 
 These remedies, fulfilling the third and last 
 indication, viz: — The restoration of tone or 
 
123 
 
 strength to the system, will leave the patient 
 perfectly free from disease, and prepared to re- 
 sist its influence more effectually at a subse- 
 quent period, 
 
 Inasmuch as the Thom?onian medieines are 
 so well calculated to promote the three great 
 designs of the healing art, or in other words, to 
 increase the vital heat, remove obstructions, 
 and invigorate debilitated organs; and as they 
 act in harmony with that principle, whose pe- 
 culiar function it is to animate the corporeal 
 frame, and repel the invasions of every foe to 
 health and life, there cannot possibly be any 
 form of disease in which they may not be used 
 with perfect safety and success, if the attack ba 
 at all curable by human means. 
 
 THE END. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 12, line 7 from bottom, for "act of 
 motion" read u act of moving." 
 
 Page 15, line 5 from top, omit" the." 
 
 Page 22, line 4 from top, for " emerging" 
 read " immerging." 
 
 Page 32, line 4 from top, after " composed" 
 read " is based" 
 
 Page 74, last line, omit " the.' 
 
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