mm
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM CULLEN, M. D
 
 AN 
 
 ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE, LECTURES, AND WEITINGS 
 
 WILLIAM CULLEN, M.D., 
 
 PKOFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE OF PHYSIC IN THE UXIVERSITy 
 OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 JOHN THOMSON, M.D., F.R.S.L.&E,, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND GENERAL PATHOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1832. 
 
 NOW IlE-ISSUED ALONG WITH THE SECOND VOLUME, AND HAVING 
 PREFIXED TO IT A BT0f4EAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON. 
 
 MDCCCLIX.
 
 100 
 
 CWT . 
 
 JOHN ALLEN, Esq. 
 
 MASTER OF DULWICH COLLEGE, 
 
 |-c. ^c, ^c. 
 
 Dear Allen, 
 
 I BEG that you will regard the Inscription to You 
 of this Work as a sincere though hut feeble expression of my 
 admiration of your intellectual endowments, of my esteem for 
 your private virtues, and your inflexible integrity of character, 
 and of the value I attach to the Friendship that has subsisted 
 between us for more than forty years, — a friendship which 
 has been to me the source of so many agreeable associations, 
 and has had so powerful an influence over the fortunes of my 
 life. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 JOHN THOMSON, 
 
 80. George Street, 1 
 1832./ 
 
 Edinburgh, \'^th April 
 
 79i;o'^V
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Among the many eminent Teachers of Medicine to 
 whom this country has given birth, there is certainly 
 no one who, by his Lectures and Writings, has had a 
 greater influence on the opinions and practice of medi- 
 cal men, and on the general progress of medical science, 
 than the late Dr Cullen. It may be justly, there- 
 fore, matter of surprise, that so many years have been 
 suffered to elapse since his death, without the pub- 
 lication of any authentic or correct history of his life 
 and studies. To account in some measure for this, it 
 may be mentioned that his eldest son, the late Lord 
 Cullen, entertained the laudable desire to write a bio- 
 graphical memoir of his father, a duty for which he 
 was singularly well qualified, by the intimate know- 
 ledge which he had of many interesting circumstances 
 regarding the life, studies, and habits of his distin- 
 guished Parent, as well as by his own acknowledged 
 talents for literary composition, and for the observation 
 and delineation of character. From havhig this object 
 in view, he was led to decline several offers to execute
 
 vm ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 that undertaking made to him by Medical men, who 
 had enjoyed the personal acquaintance of Dr CuUen, 
 and who were desirous of being furnished mth the 
 materials necessary for writing his life. That Lord 
 Cullen had not accepted of some of these offers is the 
 more to be regretted, that, on his death, it did not ap- 
 pear that he had himself made any progress in the exe- 
 cution of his design. 
 
 Soon after Lord Cullen's death, Dr Cullen's papers, 
 consisting of letters from private friend s^ sketches of es- 
 says, notes of lectures, and medical consultations, were 
 placed in my hands by his surviving family, with a re- 
 quest, that I would endeavour to draw up from these 
 documents, and from the information I should be able 
 to procure from other sources, such an account of his 
 Life, Lectures and Writings as might in some degree 
 satisfy the curiosity of the Public. In complying with 
 this request, I was not altogether unaware of the diffi- 
 culties with which an attempt to write the life of a 
 medical practitioner, teacher and philosopher, who held 
 so high a place in the public estimation, must neces- 
 sarily be attended, — difficulties presenting themselves 
 the more forcibly to me that I had not myself enjoyed 
 the advantages of Dr Cidlen's personal acquaintance, 
 and could scarcely expect, after the lapse of so many 
 years, even to have an opportunity of conversing with 
 any of those who had known him in the early and more
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. IX 
 
 interesting part of his career. Indeed, the difficulties 
 which I have experienced in obtaining correct informa- 
 tion, and the consideration of the variety and extent of 
 the scientific and professional subjects with which Dr 
 Cullen seems through the whole of his long life to have 
 been constantly occupied, have made me feel more sen- 
 sibly, as 1 have proceeded, how imperfectly 1 was qua- 
 lified for the task I had undertaken, and have rendered 
 me sometimes doubtful whether I ought not to abandon 
 it altogether. But my increasing admiration of his ge- 
 nius and labours, and the desire excited by the perusal 
 of his papers and writings, to do justice to his memory, 
 have urged me to persevere ; assured, that however 
 much I may fail in performing what is due to him, and 
 in satisfying the wishes of those who take an interest 
 in the progress of INledical Science, I shall at least 
 have the satisfaction to know that, in the narrative, 
 which I now submit with much diffidence to their judg- 
 ment, 1 have not stated any thing with regard to Dr 
 Cullen for which I have not undoubted authority ; and 
 the pleasure to hope that the statements I am about 
 to give, may tend to correct several mistakes and mis- 
 representations in the very erroneous accounts of his 
 Life which have hitherto been given to the Public. 
 
 In prosecuting the undertaking in which I had en- 
 gaged, I found that there grew upon my hands a large 
 mass of materials, in the form of extracts from Dr
 
 X ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Cullen's MS. Lectures, explanatory of his medical 
 opinions, which would far exceed the bounds that could 
 be allotted to them in a biographical memoir, but which, 
 I conceived, might be advantageously submitted to 
 the Medical Profession, if incorporated with his pub- 
 lished writings. Under this impression, I prepared the 
 edition of Dr Cullem's Works that was pubUshed 
 in 1827, — a task, in the performance of which I re- 
 ceived much assistance from two of my young friends, 
 the late Dr Donald Macintosh of this place, and 
 Dr Ferdinand W. Becker of Berlin. 
 
 I may be allowed to add, that, amidst the various dis- 
 tractions necessarily arising from a multiplicity of pro- 
 fessional duties as a practitioner, a teacher, and an 
 author, and with such interruptions and delays, some 
 of them of several years' duration, as have from time to 
 time occurred, I have been enabled to carry on the 
 inquiries connected with Dr Cullen's Life, by the 
 assistance which has of late years been rendered me 
 by my eldest Son ; and at length to execute that por- 
 tion of it which is now published, in the hope of oiu* 
 being able, at no great distance of time, to bring out 
 the remaining volume.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Dr Cullen's Birth and Parentage, page 1. — Education at the 
 Grammar-School at Hamilton and the University of Glas- 
 gow, 2. — Visit to London and Voyage to the West Indies, 
 4. — Return to Scotland, and residence at Auchinlee, 6. — 
 Attendance at the University of Edinburgh, 8. — Settlement 
 at Hamilton, 11. — Connexion with Dr William Hunter, 12. 
 — Marriage, 16. 
 
 Removal from Hamilton to Glasgow, 17. — Lectures on the 
 Theory and Practice of Physic, 20 — on Chemistry, 29 — 
 on Materia Medica and Botany, 32. — Plan of his Lectures on 
 Chemistry, 35. — Connexion with Dr Joseph Black, 45. — 
 Investigation of the doctrines of Heat, Evaporation, &c., 51. 
 — Intercourse with Lord Karnes on Chemistry and Agricul- 
 ture, 60. — Intercourse with M. Duhamel, 60. — Origin of his 
 acquaintance with the Duke of Argyll, 70. — Admission into 
 the University of Glasgow, 70. — Intercourse with Dr Adam 
 Smith and Mr David Hume, 71. — Experiments on Bleach- 
 ing and on the manufacture of Salt, 74. — Intention to pub- 
 lish an edition of Sydenham's Works, 79. 
 
 Desire of removing from Glasgow to Edinburgh, 82. — Canvass 
 for the Chair of Chemistry in Edinburgh, 86. — Removal 
 to Edinburgh, 93. — Proposal to publish a translation of 
 Van Swieten's Commentaries, 99. 
 
 Delivery of Clinical Lectures, 101. — History of Clinical Teach- 
 ing, 102. — De Haen's Ratio Medendi, 105. — Dr Cullen's 
 qualifications for teaching Clinical Medicine, and success in 
 the performance of this duty, 107. — Prejudices against him, 
 excited by the novelty of his doctrines, 117. Attachment
 
 Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 of his pupils, 122. — Correspondence with Dr George For- 
 dyce and Dr Balfour Russel, 122. — Kind behaviour to- 
 wards young persons, 134 Account of this given by Dr 
 
 Aiken and by Dr Anderson, 134.^ Anecdote by Mr Dugald 
 Stewart, 136 Interest taken by Dr Cullen in the Philo- 
 sophical Society, 137. — Intercourse with Dr Franklin, 139. 
 
 Course of Lectures on Materia Medica, 141. — Surreptitious 
 publication of these Lectures, 143. 
 
 Canvass for the Chair of the Practice of Physic, 144.— Dr Gre- 
 gory's appointment, 152. — Dr Cullen's Acceptance of the 
 chair of the Theory of Physic, 153. — Arrangement with Dr 
 Gregory for lecturing alternately on the Theory and Prac. 
 tice, 161. — Appointment as sole Professor of the Practice 
 on Dr Gregory's death, 161. 
 
 State of Medical Science when Dr Cullen began to teach, 162. 
 — Doctrines of Stahl respecting the influence of the Soul in 
 the Animal Economy, 164. — Their relation to those of 
 Aristotle, 167.— Of Galen, 170— Of other Physiologists, 
 171. — Opposed to those of Des Cartes, 175. — Stahl's Theory 
 of Disease, 177. — Influence of his opinions on Medical Prac- 
 tice, 179. 
 
 Doctrines of Hoff"mann, 182 — Their relation to those of Aris- 
 totle and Stahl, 184. — Doctrines relative to the Properties 
 and Nature of the Sentient Soul, 185 — to its Seat and Crea- 
 tion, 193. — Impulse given by Hoff'mann to the study of the 
 Nervous System, 195 — his Theory of Disease, 197 — his 
 opinions propagated by Rega and Dr Cullen, 200. 
 
 Doctrines of Boerhaave — his view of the difference between 
 Mind and Matter, 202. — Account of the Mental Faculties, 
 203. — Signification attached by him to the term Idea, 204. 
 — Subservience of different portions of the Nervous System 
 to different functions, and difference between Nerves of 
 Sensation and of Motion, 205. — Boerhaave's opinions re- 
 specting the application of Natural Philosophy and Che- 
 mistry to Physiology and Pathology, 208 — his Patholo- 
 gical doctrines, 214. — Improvements introduced into the 
 System of Boerhaave by De Gorter, 2 18 —by Kaau Boer- 
 haave, 219--by Gaubius, 220.
 
 CONTEXTS. Xlll 
 
 Doctrines of Hallei, 221. — Experimental researches, and gene- 
 ral opinions, 223 Doctrine of Sensibility, 228. — Doctrine 
 
 of Irritability, 228. — Opinions of Galen respecting Muscu- 
 lar Contraction, 228 — of Glisson, 231. — Investigations of 
 Haller, 234. — Attempts to prove that the muscles possess 
 a power of contraction independently of the Nervous sys- 
 tem, 236. 
 
 Doctrines of Whytt, 241. — Organic functions attributed by him 
 to the agency of the Mind, 243. — Difference between his 
 opinion and that of Stahl, 244 — Opposition to Haller's 
 doctrine of a Vis Insita in the Muscles, 249 — his theory 
 of Sympathy, 250. 
 
 Dr CuUen's Lectures on the Institutions of Medicine, 258. 
 
 Lectures on Physiology, 260 — Division of the Physiological 
 part of the Course, 261. — Observations on the Simple So- 
 lids, 263. — Account of the Nervous System, 264. — Divi- 
 sion of it into four parts, 265. — Opinion of the Nerves of 
 Sensation and Motion being different, opposed by Haller 
 
 and Cullen, maintained by others, 266 Of the Nervous 
 
 System as the connecting medium between the Immaterial 
 and Material parts of Man, 270 — as the organ of Sensa- 
 tion, 273 — of our Intellectual operations, 279 — of the Vo- 
 luntary, Involuntary, Mixed and Sympathetic motions of 
 the animal economy, 284 — Causes exciting the Brain to 
 produce the motions of the several parts of the body, 289. 
 —The Will, 289 — Emotions and Passions, 291.— Principle 
 
 of Imitation, 293. — Appetites, 294. — Propensities, 294 
 
 Certain internal impressions occurring naturally in the 
 
 economy, 295. — Occasional impressions and states, 300. 
 
 Vis Medicatrix NaturcB, Direct and Indirect stimulants, 302. 
 — Doctrine of Consent or Sympathy, 305.— States of Sleep- 
 ing and Waking, and doctrine of Excitement and Collapse, 
 309 — Effects of Custom on the corporeal and mental func- 
 tions, 318. 
 
 Lectures on Pathology, 325. — Character of Gaubius, 326. 
 
 Object of General Pathology, 327. — Definition of Disease, 
 
 328. — Causes of diseases, 321. — Proximate causes, 332 
 
 Remote causes, 333. — Symptoms, 336 Divisions of Pa-
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 thology, 338. — Diseased states of Solids and Fluids, 340 — 
 of tliG Vital Solids, 342. 
 
 Pathology of the Aervous System, 343. — Morbid states of the 
 function of Sensation, 345. — Causes producing increased or 
 diminished Sensibility, which act on the sentient extremi- 
 ties, 345 — those which act on the Brain, 346. — Errors of 
 Sense referred to three classes, 350. 
 
 Morbid conditions of the Intellectual Faculties, 356 — Imbecili- 
 ty, 356. — Delirium ; three modifications of this, 357. — Cir- 
 cumstances on which the Tones of Mind depend, 360. — 
 Causes of Delirium, 363. 
 
 Morbid conditions of the Function of Motion, 364. — Increased 
 and diminished vigour of the Muscular Fibres, 365. — Cir- 
 cumstances influencing their state of vigour, 366. — In- 
 creased and diminished mobility of the Muscular Fibres, 
 373. — Causes of increased mobility, 374. — Symptoms re- 
 sulting from the morbid conditions of the Muscular Fibres, 
 379. — Increase of Motion, 379. — Spasm and Convulsion^ 
 their causes, 380. — Direct and Indirect stimulants, 381-2. 
 Diminution of Motion, Paralysis^ 383. — Its causes, 383. — 
 Tremor and Palpitation, 387. 
 
 Lectures on Therapeutics, 388. — Therapeutics comprehends 
 Hygiene; plan of arrangement according to Indications, 389. 
 — Scheme of Indications, 393. — Medicines acting on the 
 
 Simple Solids, 295— on the Fluids, 397— Nutrients, 400 
 
 Medicines acting on the Moving Powers, 402. — Tonics, 402. 
 — Atonies, ^OQ. — Stimulants, 407. — Sedatives, 419. — Conclu- 
 sion of the Course, 428. 
 
 Impulse given by Dr Cullen to the investigation of the laws 
 of the Nervous System in the states of Health and Disease, 
 429. — Diffusion of his opinions, 432. — Publication of his 
 Outlines of Physiology, 432. — Dr De la Roche's Analyse 
 des Fonctions du Systeme Nerveux, 433. 
 
 Progress of the Study of the Nervous System in the School of 
 Montpellier, 437. — Doctrines of Sauvages, their resem- 
 blance to those of Whytt, 438. — Doctrines of Bordeu, 439. 
 Dependence of Secretion on the Nerves, 440 — Importance 
 attached by Le Caze and Bordeu to the Phrenic Centre or
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Gang-lionic System of Nerves, 44 J. — Attempt to refer all 
 the phenomena of living- beings to Sensibility, 441. — Doc- 
 trines of Barthez, 442. — His employment of the term Vital 
 Principle, 443. — Properties he ascribed to it, ibid. — His 
 doubts as to its nature, 444. — Objections to his Doctrine, 
 446. — His Account of Sympathies, 455. — Medical School 
 of Paris, 455. — M. Senac, ibid. 
 Popularity of Dr CuUen as Professor of the Theory of Physic, 
 458. — His attempt to put a stop to the trafl&ck in Scotch 
 Medical Degrees, 462. — Circumstances which directed his 
 attention to this subject, 462. — Dr Fothergill's altercation 
 with Dr Leeds, 463. — Proceedings of the College of Physi- 
 cians in London, 465. — Memorial on this subject drawn up 
 by Dr Cullen, 468. — Letter from Dr Adam Smith discourag- 
 ing interference, 473. — Dr Cullen's Answer to Dr Smith's 
 Arguments, 482. — Remarks on the System of Medical Le- 
 gislation existing in this country, 486. — Useless distinctions 
 among Medical Practitioners, ibid — Necessity for the inter- 
 ference of the Legislature in regulating Medical Education, 
 498. — Dr Cullen's opinions on the manner in which Medical 
 Education should be conducted, 501. — Importance of im- 
 proving the Literary and Scientific Education of Medical 
 Practitioners, 505. — Propriety of bestowing privileges on 
 particular Teachers of Medicine, considered, 508. — Ap- 
 pointment and Qualifications of Examiners, 512. — Object 
 of examinations, 513. — Apprenticeships, 515. — Trade in 
 drugs as a part of the practice of medicine, 516. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note A. Dr Fothergill's Account of the Edinburgh School 
 
 of Medicine, .... Page 523 
 
 Note B. Dr Cullen's Account of Dr John Clerk, 525 
 
 Correspondence with Dr David Clerk, . . 537 
 
 Note C. Correspondence with Dr W. Hunter, . . 539 
 
 Note D. De Dispositione Herbarum Flore Composito Ob- 
 
 servationes, ..... 566
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 Note E. Double Elective Attractions, . . Page 370 
 
 Note F. Correspondence with Dr Black, . . 573 
 
 Note G. On the Generation of Heat and Cold by Mixture, 580 
 Note H. Letters from Glasgow Pupils to Dr CuUen, 583 
 
 Note I. Correspondence with Lord Karnes, . . 591 
 
 Note K. Correspondence with M. Duhamel, . . 602 
 
 Note L. Letter from Lord Deskfoord, relative to Dr Reid, 605 
 Note M. Letters from Dr Adam Smith, . . 605 
 
 Note N. Letter from Dr Cullen to Dr Hunter on the death 
 
 of Mr David Hume, .... 607 
 
 Note O. Correspondence with Dr D. Millar, . 609 
 
 Note P. Omitted. 
 
 Note Q. Correspondence relative to the surreptitious publi- 
 cation of the Lectures on Materia Medica, . 611 
 Note R. Dr Cullen's Announcement of a Summer Course 
 
 on the Practice of Physic in 1768, ► . 619 
 
 Note S. Medical School of Montpellier, . . 622 
 
 Note T. Letters from M. Senac to Dr Cullen, . 624 
 
 Note U. Correspondence with Pupils, . . 625 
 
 Note V. Letters from Drs Fothergill, Watson, and W. 
 
 Hunter, ...... 654 
 
 Note W. On the distinction of Medical Practitioners into 
 
 Physicians, Surgeons, Apothecaries, &c. . 662 
 
 Note X, Prosecutions by the College of Physicians in Lon- 
 don for the maintenance of their corporate privileges, 663 
 Note Y. Dr Cullen on Medical Education, . . 664 
 
 Note Z. Suggestion of an Arrangement for the course of 
 
 Medical Study, ..... 665 
 
 Note A A. Motives for an extended course of Preparatory 
 
 Education for Students of Medicine, . . 666 
 
 Note B B. Selection of Examiners, . . . 667 
 
 Note C C. Trade in Drugs, .,.,686
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 DR THOMSON. 
 
 John Thomson was born at Paisley on tlie 15tli of March 1765. 
 His fatlier, who was originally from Kinross, was a silk weaver, 
 and for some time had been rather prosperous in the world ; 
 but by imprudent confidence in a person with w^honi he was 
 accustomed to have dealings in business, he became involved 
 in difficulties, which obliged him ever afterwards to live in a 
 humble and most frugal manner. His family was thus brought 
 up with rigorous attention to economy, and his children put 
 to work at an early age. 
 
 After being engaged for about three years in the minor ope- 
 rations of trade under different masters, John Thomson was, 
 at the age of eleven, bound apprentice to his father for a term 
 of seven years, and he continued to assist his father for nearly 
 two years after his apprenticeship had expired. 
 
 During the whole of the period he had been thus employed, 
 Mr Thomson had sought for knowledge from every source from 
 which he could obtain it ; — the conversation carried on in the 
 workshop ; the newspaper weekly read there ; the books in his 
 father's possession, which, however, related chiefly to doctrinal 
 divinity ; a circulating library, to which a very small pittance 
 was weekly contributed ; and books probably borrowed from 
 some of his associates, or, at a later period, purchased with 
 his own earnings. His disinclination for a mechanical employ- 
 ment, and ardent desire for a profession that would admit of, 
 or require, his devoting a larger portion of his time to the 
 pursuit of knowledge, must have been known from an early 
 
 a
 
 G BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 period to his father, who, to promote that desire, would willingly 
 have agreed that his son should be educated with a view 
 to qualify him to become a minister among the Antiburgher 
 Seceders, a branch of the Dissenting Church of Scotland, of 
 which Mr Thomson senior was a member highly esteemed for 
 his upright character and great piety. His son, however, de- 
 clined to accede to this proposal, as he had for some time 
 felt a strong prediliction for the study of Medicine, and still 
 hoped to be enabled to make that the great object and pur- 
 suit of his life. This the elder Mr Thomson had uniformly 
 opposed, partly on the ground of expense, and partly in conse- 
 quence of the unpromising and hazardous nature of the voca- 
 tion which his son had selected. At length, an explanation 
 took place between them, which determined the future destiny 
 of Mr John Thomson. Some occurrence, possibly an appear- 
 ance on his part of neglect of his work, gave occasion to his 
 father exclaiming, that he wished from his heart he had been 
 at the learning long before, as he saw he was never to do good 
 at his trade^ — adding, that it w^as too late, however, to think 
 of changing, as his want of previous instruction rendered it 
 hopeless to expect that he should now be able to qualify him- 
 self for a learned profession. Upon this, his son, producing 
 a Latin book, and reading a few sentences out of it, to the 
 father's no less delight than surprise, confessed having, about 
 a twelvemonth before, without his father's knowledge, placed 
 himself under a master capable of teaching him the Latin. 
 From this time Mr Thomson senior withdrew all opposition to 
 the wishes of his son, and as the son v>as often heard to men- 
 tion, with an affectionate tribute to the considerateness of his 
 father, he continued for several years to reside under the pa- 
 rental roof and follow the bent of his own inclination. 
 
 In accordance with the resolution thus adopted, John Thom- 
 son was, in 1785, when he had reached the age of twenty years, 
 bound apprentice to Dr White of Paisley, in which capacity he 
 continued for three years. His master was a man of superior 
 education, in the possession of an extensive and varied library ; 
 and Mr Thomson's pursuits, whilst under his charge, partook 
 much more of a scientific character than could have been
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 7 
 
 expected of a country apprenticeship. Writing nearly forty 
 years afterwards, Dr White gave the following account of the 
 manner in which these three years were spent. " His conduct 
 was such as to deserve and obtain my warmest approbation. 
 His zeal in acquiring medical knowledge was ardent and un- 
 remitting ; and I still recollect, with much satisfaction, the 
 many pleasing hours I passed with him in reading and study- 
 ing the best authors on medical subjects, and especially in going 
 over with him the excellent MS. lectures of the late celebrated 
 Dr Cullen. Besides the knowledge thus acquired, he had fre- 
 quent opportunities of visiting my private patients, and also 
 those admitted to the public dispensary. On these occasions 
 I frequently remarked in him a singular talent in discriminat- 
 ing diseases, — a talent which appeared to me almost intuitive. 
 It may not be improper to mention, that he at this time also 
 cultivated the departments of botany and chemistry with great 
 ardour." 
 
 Mr Thomson's taste for general science, and for the several 
 branches of natural history in particular, must have been 
 greatly strengthened at this time by the intimate friendship 
 which he had contracted with Mr William Lochead, who after- 
 wards became superintendent of the botanic garden in the 
 island of Trinidad. Some letters written by this gentleman 
 when studying medicine in Edinburgh, during the winter ses- 
 sion of 1786-87, to his friend Mr Thomson, have been pre- 
 served, and are interesting as evidence of an independent and 
 enthusiastic temper of mind, which, had he lived, must have 
 raised him to high eminence in the departments of science to 
 which he devoted himself. 
 
 Another circumstance which, at that time, fostered these 
 tastes in Mr Thomson, while it afforded the opportunity of 
 gratifying them, was the favour conceived for him, and the in- 
 terest taken in his advancement, by Mr Robert Alexander, 
 brother of Mr Boyd Alexander, of Soutlibar, in Renfrewshire. 
 This gentleman, who was himself a zealous naturalist, had 
 stored his garden, in the immediate vicinity of Paisley, with a 
 very rich collection of plants, and his library with a valuable 
 collection of books in the several departments of natural his- 
 
 a 2
 
 8 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 tory, particularly botany ; and of both of these his young friend 
 was encouraged to make free use in the prosecution of his 
 studies. Mr Alexander seems also to have readily provided 
 such apparatus as was wanted for the chemical experiments in 
 which tliey were jointly engaged. 
 
 At the beginning of the winter session of 1788-89, by which 
 time his apprenticeship to Dr White was completed, Mr John 
 Thomson went to Glasgow to attend the medical classes. He 
 was introduced by Mr Alexander to the particular notice of Mr 
 William Hamilton,* who had a short time previously succeeded 
 his father in the chair of anatomy in the university of that city, 
 and who gave promise of rising to very great distinction as a 
 teacher of this branch, and as a practitioner of surgery. He 
 speedily gained Mr Hamilton's friendship and confidence, and 
 in this way his anatomical studies were materially assisted. 
 Besides prosecuting the study of anatomy with ardour, he at- 
 tended the lectures of Dr Cleghorn, who was lecturer on che- 
 mistry in the college, an office which had been successively held 
 by Cullen, Black, and Irvine. He also joined a chemical so- 
 ciety, which contained several members who afterwards attained 
 great eminence as practical chemists. The doctrines of La- 
 voisier had just been made known, and gave much interest to 
 the proceedings of a society of young and ardent cultivators of 
 chemical science, among whom it may be supposed that they 
 found a readier reception than among those who, before adopt- 
 ing the new doctrines, had previously to unlearn the old. " It 
 is consistent with my knowledge," says Dr White, " that during 
 his studies at the University of Glasgow he acquired the esteem 
 and confidence of the late worthy Professor Hamilton, and of 
 that eminent lecturer Dr Cleghorn ; and from every thing I 
 could learn from these gentlemen, his improvement kept pace 
 with their zeal in teaching." 
 
 In the summer of 1789, Mr Thomson had the misfortune to 
 lose his friend and first patron Mr Alexander, after an illness 
 of some weeks, during which he sedulously waited upon him. 
 The history of his connection with this gentleman presents 
 
 * Father of Sir William Hamilton, Bai-onet, the late distinguished Pro- 
 fessor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh.
 
 OF DR THOMeON. \) 
 
 several persons in so agreeable a point of view, that we shall 
 venture to dwell on it. Mr Alexander, who seems to have 
 been a diligent collector of objects of natural history, parti- 
 cularly in the vegetable kingdom, was invited by I)r White to 
 come to see a collection of dried plants which his apprentice 
 had brought back with him from the islands of Bute and 
 Arran, whither he had gone to recruit his health. Mr Alex- 
 ander having expressed much satisfaction with the collection, 
 Mr Thomson on the instant requested his acceptance of it, and 
 this was the foundation of the interest Mr Alexander subse- 
 quently took in his advancement. 
 
 Mr Lochead also was a friend of Mr Alexander's, and in 
 writing from Antigua in April 1789, in reply to a letter in 
 which Mr Alexander had expressed his desire to make him 
 some requital for botanical specimens which he had sent him 
 from that island, he concludes by saying, " Any attention you 
 can show to Mr Thomson will be the same as if it were to my- 
 self." Nor is the history less touching of the manner in which 
 Mr Alexander's friendship continued to benefit his young pro- 
 tege even after he was himself consigned to the grave. At the 
 conclusion of the funeral ceremony, Mr Hogg, then manager 
 of the Paisley Bank, afterwards of the British Linen Company's 
 Bank in Edinburgh, coming up to Mr Thomson, said to him, 
 that, of the numerous array then present, he believed they two 
 were the parties by whom Mr Alexander's loss was most sen- 
 sibly felt ; that out of respect to his friend's memory he was 
 desirous to be of service to him ; and that he would endea- 
 vour to supply to him, as far as he could, the loss he had sus- 
 tained in Mr Alexander's death. This engagement, during 
 the remainder of his life, Mr Hogg most faithfully performed. 
 
 In the beginning of the winter session of 1789-90, Mr Thom- 
 son went to Edinburgh to pursue his medical studies. He has 
 often been heard to mention that he attended, at the commence- 
 ment of that session, the introductory lecture of Dr Cullen, but, 
 being satisfied that the doctor was in too frail a condition to 
 make much progress in his course, and the state of his own 
 finances not admitting of his throwing away money, he did not 
 enter to the class. In point of fact, Dr Cullen resigned a few
 
 10 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 weeks afterwards, and died before the middle of the session. 
 It is not precisely known what courses of instruction Mr Thom- 
 son attended during this session, — probably those of Drs Monro 
 and Black ; but it is certain that a considerable portion of his 
 time was passed with Mr Fyfe, a most accurate anatomist and 
 amiable man, who officiated as Dr Monro's assistant in the 
 anatomical rooms. 
 
 In September 1790, he was appointed assistant-apothecary 
 in the Royal Infirmary ; in the month of June following, as- 
 sistant-physician's clerk ; and, in the following September, 
 house-surgeon, under the designation of surgeon's-clerk. His 
 predecessor in this last office, Mr Clark, as jMr Thomson has 
 been known frequently to mention, had availed himself of the 
 opportunities which the hospital afforded for making the pa- 
 thology of lumbar abscess a subject of particular investigation, 
 and had satisfied himself of its uniform connection with ver- 
 tebral disease, — a conclusion which Mr Thomson subsequently 
 confirmed by numerous post-mortem examinations made in the 
 hospital. 
 
 In his residence in the Royal Infirmary, Mr Thomson was 
 particularly fortunate. It may easily be conceived how much 
 influence the character of. the matron must have on the com- 
 fort of the resident officers, as well as of the patients, of such 
 an institution. Long afterwards, Mr Thomson paid the follow- 
 ing tribute to the memory of the lady who at that time occupied 
 this position, " There are many who must remember well the 
 daily visits which Mrs Rennie made through the wards of the 
 Infirmary ; her unceasing efforts to add to the comforts of the 
 patients ; the tenderness with which she inquired into the cir- 
 cumstances of those who appeared to be in peculiar distress ; 
 the numberless little acts of kindness which she performed to 
 them ; the strict charge which she took of the character and 
 conduct of the nurses ; her friendly and maternal attentions to 
 the clerks ; and the impartiality, equanimity, and propriety 
 with which, in the faithful discharge of the duties of a laborious 
 and difficult situation, she conducted herself in all her inter- 
 course with the servants, medical officers, and managers of the 
 Infirmary. It is pleasing to record the virtues of such a cha-
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 11 
 
 racter ; and in paying the tribute of our respect to the memory 
 of departed worth, to point out Mrs Rennie as a model for the 
 imitation of her successors." 
 
 Mr Thomson was singularly fortunate also in the young men 
 with whom he was associated in the duties of the house. One 
 of these was Mr John Allen, afterwards private secretary and 
 confidential friend of the late Lord Holland. With Mr Allen, 
 up to the time of his death in 1843, he maintained an unin- 
 terrupted friendship, to the powerful influence of which over 
 the fortunes of his life he has himself borne testimony in the 
 dedication, to Mr Allen, of the first volume of his Life of Cul- 
 len. Another was the late Dr William Russell, who was after- 
 wards member of the ^ledical Board of Calcutta, and was created 
 baronet on his return from a mission to Russia in 1831, for the 
 purpose of investigating the progress of the cholera in that 
 country. Dr Russell was the brother-in-law of the late Mr 
 iVndrew Wood, surgeon in Edinburgh, and through him origi- 
 nated Mr Thomson's acquaintance with that excellent man. 
 To Mr Wood, in after life, he professed himself, in the dedi- 
 cation to him of his Lectures on Inflammation, bound by the 
 remembrance of the kind attentions, counsel, and support for 
 which he had been indebted to his friendship, without which 
 that work would probably never have been composed, nor his 
 attention been directed in a particular manner t© the study of 
 surgery. 
 
 In the beginning of the winter session of 1790-91, he be- 
 came a member of the Medical Society,— an institution which 
 has in very many instances served as an arena both for ex- 
 hibiting and for strengthening the powers of those who have 
 received their education in the medical school of Edinburgh. 
 About that time its business was carried on with even more 
 than its usual spirit ; and that Mr Thomson bore his share in 
 its labours might be inferred from the fact of his having, at the 
 beginning of the following session, been nominated one of its 
 presidents, — an office in which he had the pleasure of having 
 conjoined with him, besides his friend Mr Russell, Dr Richard 
 Fowler, now of Salisbury, — a gentleman who early manifested 
 that taste for scientific investigation by which, through his
 
 12 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 long career of professional usefulness, he has been most ho- 
 nourably distinguished. Dr Fowler, in reference to the period 
 of which we are now speaking, says, "During three years that 
 I passed in the University of Edinburgh as a student of medi- 
 cine, I had the pleasure of a frequent intercourse wath Mr 
 Thomson, of the most intimate, and, I may add, with respect 
 to myself, of the most instructive kind. A stronger, more ac- 
 tive, or more informed mind than his, certainly was not to be 
 found within the limits of my acquaintance. As his studies 
 were directed ardently, and almost exclusively, to the profession 
 of which he has become so distinguished an ornament, his ex- 
 ample had perhaps more influence than that of any other indi- 
 vidual in exciting the emulation of others." 
 
 According to the established usage of the Medical Society, 
 Mr Thomson was called upon, during his first session as a mem- 
 ber of it, to write upon a " Case" and a " Question." The 
 case -which fell to him w^as one of catarrh, and his paper is in- 
 teresting in this respect at least, that it expressly refers by name 
 to Dr Lubbock and Mr Allen, as having separately proposed 
 that view of the theory or intimate nature of inflammation 
 which, in his lectures on this subject, published more than 
 twenty years afterwards, he again ascribed to them. The ques- 
 tion upon which he wrote, viz., " AVhat are the Agents which 
 Nature employs in the consolidation of the Strata of our Globe?" 
 shows how much his tastes inclined to the consideration of sub- 
 jects of natural history. In the subsequent session he com- 
 pleted the duties he owed to the Society as a writer by a paper 
 on the question, '' In what manner can the mechanism of the 
 Passions be explained ? " 
 
 After residing for nearly two years in the Royal Infirmary, 
 Mr Thomson resigned (31st July 1792) his appointment as 
 house-surgeon, in consequence, as the minutes bear, of the la- 
 borious duties of the oflflce having proved detrimental to his 
 health. Soon after this he proceeded to London, and entered 
 himself as a pupil at Mr Hunter's school in Leicester Square. 
 In this year Mr Hunter finally relinquished his course of lec- 
 tures in favour of his brother-in-law, Mr, afterwards Sir Eve- 
 rard Home. Mr Clift speaks of his early recollection of the
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 13 
 
 diligence with which Mr Thomson pursued his studies at the 
 time he was in Mr Hunter's dissecting rooms in the year 1792 ; 
 and Sir Everard Home, in reference to the same period, says, 
 " I witnessed your ardour in the pursuit of medical science, 
 applauded your zeal, and endeavoured to give you such fa- 
 cilities as were in my power, to encourage you in your la- 
 bours." 
 
 It is believed that the more immediate object of ^Ir Thom- 
 son's visiting London at this time w^as to qualify himself for 
 teaching anatomy, a design which he afterwards relinquished, 
 partly in consequence of difficulties connected with the outlay 
 that would have been necessary, and partly in consequence of 
 the high impression which he had formed of the abilities of Mr 
 John Bell, who about that time entered on this department of 
 instruction in Edinburgh. 
 
 Mr Thomson returned to Edinburgh early in 1793, and in 
 the following year, his friend, Mr Hogg, having kindly inter- 
 posed his credit with the bank of which he was manager, for 
 the advancement of the necessary funds, he became a Fellow 
 of the Royal College of Surgeons, a body with which his con- 
 nection was destined to become of a still closer character, and 
 to be the source of much honour to both parties. He seems 
 forthwith to have taken measures for renewing his connection 
 with the Koyal Infirmary, as it is recorded in the minutes (of 
 2d September 1793) that permission was granted for his at- 
 tending as surgeon along with Mr Brown. 
 
 Upon his leaving the Infirmary in 1792, Mr Thomson had 
 entered into engagements to form an alliance in business with 
 Mr Arrott, a fellow of the College — a gentleman of some pecu- 
 liarity of manner, but of very considerable abilities and of great 
 kindness of heart. Under Mr Arrott's hospitable roof he con- 
 tinued till the autumn of 1798, seeing a large amount and a 
 great variety of society. 
 
 In 1794, his friend Mr Allen began to deliver a course of 
 lectures on physiology, — a course which, by the testimony of 
 all competent judges, was singularly distinguished at once by 
 the multitude of facts which it placed before the easy compre- 
 hension of the hearers, and by the philosophic spirit with which
 
 14 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 the whole was arranged and animated. The manner in which 
 Mr Thomson's own time was employed during this period, it 
 would, in a full narrative of his life, be very important to 
 trace, as there can be no doubt that there were then laid the 
 p'ound-works of many of his subsequent investigations ; but we 
 cannot at present enter upon this inquiry. Chemistry, at all 
 events, occupied a considerable share of his attention ; and, in 
 1798, he began to render the fruits of his labours in this de- 
 partment available to himself and the public, by the publication 
 of the first volume of an edition of Fourcroy's Elements of 
 Chemistry and Natural History, with the Philosophy of 
 Chemistry prefixed. In publishing this edition, he adopted the 
 translation of the " Elements" by Mr Nicholson, and an anony- 
 mous translation of the " Philosophy ;" but to almost each 
 chapter he appended copious notes, in the composition of \vhich, 
 he says in the advertisement, he had had it chiefly in view to 
 exhibit a short abstract of the most interesting discoveries and 
 improvements that had been made in the science of chemistry 
 within the period of the previous twenty years, and to make 
 accurate references on every subject of importance, to the 
 various orighial memoirs, essays, and writings from which 
 farther information might be derived. " By intermixing in this 
 manner," he observes, '' the history of modern chemistry with a 
 work so long and so deservedly popular, I have endeavoured to 
 assist those who may be desirous to prosecute this interesting 
 science beyond the narrow limits of an elementary treatise." 
 The second volume of this work was published in 1799, and 
 the third and last in 1800. In speaking of it, Professor 
 Jameson says, "This edition, as I well remember, was received 
 in a distinguished manner by the illustrious author himself; 
 and your illustrations were considered by your countrymen as 
 a fine specimen of elegant taste and composition, combined with 
 varied and profound philosophical views." 
 
 In the winter of 1799-1800, Mr Allen, with whom Mr 
 Thomson had now formed an alliance in business, went to Lon- 
 don for the purpose of prosecuting the study of anatomy. 
 During that winter the late Earl of Lauderdale came to reside 
 in Edinburgh, and being, with that ardour which characterized j
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 15 
 
 him in all his pursuits, very desirous to prosecute the study of 
 chemistry, Mr Thomson was introduced to him as a person qua- 
 lified to assist him. Thus originated his acquaintance with that 
 distinguished nobleman, whose uniform kindness and assistance 
 he always felt had laid him under a deep debt of gratitude. 
 
 Under Lord Lauderdale's auspices, a chemical class was 
 formed, consisting chiefly of gentlemen connected with the 
 Parliament House, and which met at Mr Thomson's private 
 residence. Writing to Mr Allen in January 1800, he says, " I 
 delivered my ninth lecture to-day. If I continue to like 
 lecturing as well as I have done hitherto, I shall certainly try 
 to get a larger class from the Parliament House for summer. 
 I speak from short notes, and the embarrassment I experienced 
 for the first days begins to wear off"." After the completion of 
 the course, he writes, " I have resolved on repeating my lessons 
 again in summer ; but as the number I expect will be too large 
 for my room, I shall be obliged to go to your class-room."* 
 But in a subsequent letter he says, " Dr Hope has announced 
 a course of chemistry for the gentlemen of the Parliament 
 House. It is to last from the 12th of May till the 12th of 
 July. I shall not go, in consequence of this, to (the class- 
 room in) Surgeon's Square, as it would have the appearance of 
 my wishing to oppose myself to the Doctor." His zeal for the 
 adv^ancement of chemical science, however, suflfered no abate- 
 ment, as is shown in the following extract from a letter ad- 
 dressed to Mr Allen, which will not be the less interesting from 
 the incidental glimpse it furnishes of the scientific relaxations 
 of two individuals who subsequently attained great eminence in 
 the councils of the nation ; and with both of whom Mr Thomson 
 
 * ^' I am extremely happy," he adds, " in the prospect of being now able 
 to carry into effect the plan I have so long intended for the winter, — I 
 mean a course of lectures on the elementary parts of Chemistry, Materia 
 Medica, and I'harraacy.'' So early as 1793, his friend, Dr William Russell, 
 inquires after a work on Pharmacy, in which he was tht n engaged ; arid Mr 
 George Bell, in writing to him from Tiondon in 1797, apologizes for not 
 having yet obtained for him notes of certain courses of lectures on Materia 
 Medica, then in progress of delivery in the medical schools of the metro- 
 polis. But he must soon afterwards have abandoned all thoughts of engag- 
 ing in such a work.
 
 16 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 had the pleasure of living on very friendly terms. " Some of 
 the memhers of the Natural History Society waited on me some 
 time ago to talk to me about the state of the Society. In the 
 
 course of conversation I could perceive that 's salary was 
 
 considered as an insuperable obstacle to the prosperity of the 
 Society in its present circumstances. Various plans of relief 
 were proposed, and I at last suggested the turning the Society 
 into a Chemical Society, that should provide itself with an 
 apparatus, and occasionally make experiments. This proposal 
 has since been talked of among the members, and is, I believe, 
 universally approved of. In mentioning it to Horner, he pro- 
 posed an alliance with the Academy of Physics. Brougham, 
 in the meantime, came home, and has entered keenly into our 
 views. I have made the continuance of 's salary a con- 
 dition with each of them in private, and the general belief is, 
 that, instead of any want, we are likely, when the plan can be 
 carried into effect, to have an overflow of members. It has, on 
 that idea, been suggested to restrict the number of ordinary 
 members to thirty. The two chief difficulties which at present 
 occur to the plan are, the want of a proper place, and an 
 arrangement which shall combine the interest of the Society 
 with the operations of the experimental committee. I have not 
 
 yet said any thing of the proposal to , but with his leave 
 
 I shall, under him, be acting secretary till you return. I wish 
 you would make an offer to the Society of your class-room to 
 meet in till they can provide themselves with a place. Per- 
 haps I am too sanguine, but I conceive that, if we can give 
 to the infant society a good organization, it may become an in- 
 stitution which you will have pleasure in patronising. We shall 
 be able to draw into it, I hope, all the young men of the place 
 who have any turn for physical researches. It is proposed to 
 meet in summer. Brougham is to write you in a day or two. 
 He looks well, and his present appearance would give you much 
 satisfaction. Horner and he are both particularly anxious 
 that you should approve of the plan of a Chemical Society." 
 
 His subsequent letters during the continuance of Mr Allen's 
 residence in London contain reports of the proceedings of 
 the Chemical Society, and of the topics he was going over with
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 17 
 
 Lord Lauderdale. An extract from one, dated 12t]i June, 
 may be quoted, as illustrative of the ardour of that nobleman, 
 to which reference has already been made. " Lord Lau- 
 derdale and I made the galvanic experiment last week, and I 
 exhibited it to the Society on Saturday. We are getting tubes 
 with gold wires and glass stoppers to try its effects on caustic 
 liquids, and we are getting a very broad plate of zinc made, to 
 try whether the increase of power be in proportion to the 
 increase of surface. In that case his Lordship's whole service 
 of plate will be converted into a galvanic battery !" 
 
 But whilst thus indulging in his fondness for chemical pur- 
 suits, and endeavouring to render these subservient to his 
 immediate necessities, Mr Thomson never lost sight of the pro- 
 fession on which he had embarked. Writing to Mr Allen, of 
 date 20th December 1799, he says, " I shall not expect much 
 anatomical information from you, but, indeed, you must trea- 
 sure up for me every hint in surgery. Notes, however short, 
 of Cooper s Lectures, may be of much use." " Be assured," he 
 writes early in 1800, " I am not to be diverted by chemistry or 
 any other occupation from the prosecution of surgery." Again, 
 a few months later, " I wish to be able to assist you in the 
 anatomical labours you propose ; and so long as you continue 
 fond of dissection, be assured I shall never suffer myself to be 
 drawn away from the study of anatomy and experimental 
 surgery." And in May, after noticing that " Mr Russell* has 
 been rather anxious about my giving in to chemistry," he 
 announces his purpose of " lecturing, next session, if you ap- 
 prove of it, and if my health will permit, on the principles and 
 practice of surgery." The allusion to experimental surgery, in 
 the preceding paragraph, was probably suggested by that in- 
 quiry into the changes occuring in the osseous system in the 
 processes of Necrosis and Callus, in which he had been engaged 
 in the previous summer with his friend and pupil, Dr Alexander 
 
 * Keference is here made to the late Professor James Russell^ to whom 
 Mr Thomson had dedicated his edition of Fourcroy, and of whom it is 
 elsewhere recorded, that when Mr Russell succeeded, in 1803, in getting the 
 chair of Clinical Surgery in the University instituted, he was desirous to 
 have Mr Thomson associated with him in that chair.
 
 18 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 Hermann Macdonald of Hamburg, the results of which appeared 
 in the Inaugural Dissertation published bj that gentleman on 
 graduating in September 1799. 
 
 The time, however, had now come when it was necessary for 
 Mr Thomson to make a more decided election of the leading 
 objects of his pursuits. In 1800, Dr Gregory addressed to the 
 managers of the Ptoyal Infirmary his well known " Memorial," 
 in "which he attacked the mode of attendance of the surgeons in 
 the hospital, promiscuously by rotation, which at that time was 
 followed. A communication on the subject having been made 
 by the managers to the College of Surgeons, and a diversity of 
 opinion having sprung up among the members of that body as 
 to the proper course to be pursued, each fellow was invited to 
 give in his own suggestions. Mr Thomson, on this occasion, 
 published " Outlines of a Plan for the Regulation of the Surgical 
 Department of the Roj^al Infirmary," in support of a motion 
 which Mr Andrew Wood had submitted to the College, suggest- 
 ing a middle course between the then existing mode of general 
 rotation and the appointment of permanent surgeons, which 
 some had been inclined to recommend. The party then pre- 
 dominating in the College advocated an adherence to things as 
 they were ; and very intemperately directed their censures 
 against those who supported opposite views. Among others, 
 Mr Thomson was blamed for having submitted his proposal to 
 the consideration of the managers of the Infirmary, instead of 
 to that of the College itself; and Mr Andrew Wood was cen- 
 sured for reading to a committee of the managers, — of which 
 body he was a member, — an extract from a protest that had 
 been lodged by Mr Thomson against a decision of the College, 
 without accompanying it with the answer on the College's be- 
 half. It is not necessary to trace the progress of the lawsuit 
 which arose between the majority of the College and the 
 managers of the Infirmary on this occasion. Suffice it to say, 
 that, fortunately for humanity, the courts of law decided that 
 the managers were entitled to select the persons whom they 
 considered best qualified for the performance of the duties of 
 surgeons, irrespective of any bargain supposed to have been 
 entered into by the predecessors of the two parties engaged in 
 
 1
 
 OF DR THOMSpN. 19 
 
 the litigation. Meanwhile, however, tlie managers had resolved 
 to nominate six surgeons, on the principle recommended hy 
 Mr Wood, and advocated in Mr Thomson's pamphlet ; and 
 accordingly, before the end of the year (1800), they agreed on 
 a list in which Mr Thomson's name was included ; his associates, 
 all of them his seniors, being Messrs Russell, Wardrop, Law, 
 Inglis, and Brown. 
 
 Mr Thomson entered on the teaching of Surgery soon after 
 his appointment as surgeon to the Royal Infirmary. In a 
 letter addressed to Mr Keate, the surgeon-general, which must 
 have been written in September 1803, he mentions his having 
 been employed for three years in teaching Surgery, and his 
 having given, during that time, two courses of clinical lectures 
 in the Royal Infirmary, and two courses of lectures on the 
 Principles and Practice of Surgery, in a private theatre. 
 
 A subject which very early engaged Mr Thomson's particular 
 attention as a teacher of surgery, was the natural means by 
 which haemorrhage from wounded arteries is suppressed, — con- 
 ceiving this doctrine to be, as he was accustomed to say, the 
 main pillar on which all speculations regarding the operative 
 part of surgery must depend for their support. It has been 
 repeatedly noticed in other publications than the present, that 
 the inaugural dissertation on the subject of divided arteries, 
 published by Dr Jones of Barbadoes, on graduating at Edin- 
 burgh in 1803, and which he afterwards republished in a more 
 extended form in his Treatise on Haamorrhage (1805), derived 
 a large share of its value from tlie assistance afforded him by 
 Mr Thomson. The precise share in Dr Jones's investio-ation 
 which Mr Thomson claimed for himself, in the absence, as 
 he conceived, of suitable acknowledgment on the part of 
 the author, appears in the following extract from his sur- 
 gical lectures; in which, however, it may be permitted to say, 
 that delicacy of feeling and regard for his pupil have perhaps 
 contributed to diminish the force of expression with which 
 so unwarrantable an appropriation might have been charac- 
 terised. 
 
 " There are two views of this subject (the natural suppres- 
 sion of haemorrhage) which, from the first moments of lectur-
 
 20 BIOGKAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 ing in this place, I have endeavoured to inculcate and explain 
 at some length. The first of these is, that the natural suppres- 
 sion of hsemorrhagy from divided arteries is not a simple event, 
 but one in the production of which several powers concur. The 
 second view which I have been accustomed to take of this sub- 
 ject is, that each of the experimenters who have endeavoured to 
 ascertain the means by which nature suppresses hsemorrhagy, 
 has added something valuable to our knowledge of these means, 
 and that these experimenters have erred chiefly by directing their 
 attention to one step or stage of this process, and by neglecting 
 to take a general and comprehensive view of the whole. These 
 are views which you will find explained and illustrated at great 
 length in a most excellent treatise on the process employed by 
 nature in suppressing the hsemorrhagy from divided and punc- 
 tured arteries, by the late Dr Jones of Barbadoes. They are 
 views which I have reason to know were new to Dr Jones when 
 he first heard me deliver them in these lectures. That gentle- 
 man was led to consider the subject of hcemorrhage, in conse- 
 quence of my explaining to him, in various private conversa- 
 tions, the opinions which I entertained with regard to this pro- 
 cess. He had made choice of the absorbent system as the sub- 
 ject of inquiry for his inaugural thesis. I suggested, and strongly 
 recommended to him an experimental investigation into the 
 means by which nature suppresses hsemorrhage. It was with 
 no small pleasure I prevailed upon Dr Jones to undertake this 
 investigation, because, among my medical acquaintances, I have 
 seldom known one who, from j>revious acquirements, steady 
 attention, and a cautious observation and accurate description 
 of the phenomena which presented themselves in his medical 
 inquiries, was better able to conduct it. How far Dr Jones had 
 the candour to acknowledge the use that he made of the views 
 which he adopted from my lectures and conversations, or the 
 assistance which I lent him in most of the experiments which 
 he performed while in Edinburgh, the perusal of his treatise 
 will inform you. To be obliged to allude in this manner to one 
 in whom I placed unlimited confidence, must ever be to me a 
 matter of the most painful regret and mortification. After Dr 
 Jones had left Edinburgh, he continued his researches, and made
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 21 
 
 several new, original, and most interesting experiments, the 
 details of which you will find in his treatise, — a work to which 
 I can refer with confidence those who are desirous of acqniring 
 a minute and accurate knowledge of everything which is at 
 present known, not only respecting the natural means hy which 
 haemorrhage is suppressed, hut also respecting the use and ap- 
 plication of the ligature to arteries, the most useful of the means 
 which art has ever employed to suppress ha3morrhage.V 
 
 " The only circumstance which Dr Jones has not made out 
 completely to my satisfaction is the formation of the internal 
 clot." " The conical internal clots which adhere by their hases 
 to the closure of the arteries, have appeared to me to be com- 
 posed of secreted organizable coagulable lymph, attached often 
 to the artery by one side as well as by their bases. This opinion 
 of the formation of the internal clot I had formed before I pre- 
 vailed upon Dr Jones to undertake the investigation of this sub- 
 ject. I often communicated to him my opinions with regard to 
 the internal clot in conversation, and I stated to him, just be- 
 fore the publication of his thesis, these opinions still more dis- 
 tinctly in writing." " In consequence of the conversation in 
 which this statement was made, Dr Jones added the supplement 
 which you will find at p. 72 of his thesis, printed here in 1803. 
 In this supplement Dr Jones has given an extract from the last 
 of the memoirs of M. Petit, containing an opinion very similar 
 to that which I had formed, and am still inclined to adopt. I 
 do not find that Dr Jones has made any addition to our know- 
 ledge of this subject (the formation of the internal coagulum), 
 in the very valuable experiments which he made after he left 
 Edinburgh, nor in the account which he has given of it at page 
 160 of his treatise.'' 
 
 On the renewal of hostilities between this country and France 
 in 1803, the country, as is well known, was thrown into a state 
 of much military excitement by the apprehension of an invasion ; 
 and in connection with the arrangements for putting Scotland in 
 a state of defence, the establishment of a military hospital at Edin- 
 burgh was contemplated. Previously to being informed of this 
 proposal, Mr Thomson had resolved, at the particular recom- 
 mendation of the late Sir Thomas Maitland, to give, during the 
 
 b
 
 22 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 winter session of 1803-4, a course of lectures on the nature 
 and treatment of those injuries and diseases ^vhich come more 
 peculiarly under the care of the military surgeon ; and as there 
 were but few authors upon these subjects in this country, he 
 employed himself in studying the best French and German 
 writers who had treated of them. The idea of giving a course 
 of military surgery he was the more readily induced to adopt, 
 partly, as he himself says, by the circumstances of the times, 
 and partly by his knowledge that the army and navy during the 
 impending momentous conflict, must in a great measure be sup- 
 plied with surgical officers from among the young men educated 
 in the medical school of Edinburgh, who, from the narrowness 
 of their circumstances, could not afford to attend the hospitals 
 in London, but must go immediately from the Edinburgh school 
 into actual practice. Entertaining these views, he listened w^th 
 no small degree of pleasure to an unsolicited offer which Mr 
 Benjamin Bell made, of endeavouring to procure for him a place 
 in the military hospital, about, as was understood, to be estab- 
 lished in Edinburgh. 
 
 In furtherance of this object, Mr Thomson went to London 
 in the autumn of 1803 ; and through the influence, among 
 other parties, of Sir Walter Farquhar, to whom he was strongly 
 recommended by Dr Gregory, Mr Keate was induced to enter 
 into his views. As the rules of the service required that the 
 whole surgical department of the army should be fiilled by those 
 who had begun at the lowest step in the service, viz., that of 
 hospital mate, he was appointed to that rank. In speaking of 
 this arrangement at a subsequent period, he himself says : — 
 " In 1803, when an invasion was dreaded, I was attached to 
 the Medical Military Staff of Scotland, with a small salary, it 
 is true, but with directions from the Surgeon-General, that I 
 should be employed only in superior duty, and with private as- 
 surance from the same quarter, that, on the event of a military- 
 hospital being established in Edinburgh, I should have the Situ- 
 ation I wished for in the chirurgical department." And Mr 
 Keate, in introducing him to Dr Bogerson, then principal medical 
 officer in Edinburgh, says, " Mr Thomson has been strongly 
 recommended to me, and is now appointed hospital mate to the
 
 9mf DK THOMSON. 23 
 
 proposed general hospital in Edinburgh. He is a gentleman of 
 superior talents, and will no doubt, if the exigency of the service 
 requires it, prove highly useful in the superior departments of 
 his profession," 
 
 Mr Thomson did not allow the time spent by him in London 
 whilst on this errand to be consumed in the business of solici- 
 tation. On the contrary, he turned it to great account in the 
 way of his own professional improvement. The pathological 
 collections of the metropolis especially engaged his attention. 
 Mr Howship mentions that he applied himself with unwearied 
 assiduity and peculiar diligence to the study of the various de- 
 partments of pathology, as exemplified in the divisions of Mr 
 Heaviside's Museum ; and speaks with admiration of his " most 
 unceasing application to the laborious task of possessing him- 
 self, in the least possible time, of all the useful information that 
 could be obtained by a visit to London ;" and Mr Clift alludes 
 to his having made at this time a close examination of Mr 
 Hunter's collection, particularly the pathological part of it, 
 '• in a manner so particular as had never till that time been 
 done by any visitor, and, indeed, not frequently since, except by 
 the college professors." The ample notes of the preparations 
 in these and other collections, which he made upon the spot, 
 and which are still preserved, as well as his own private letters, 
 fully corroborate the statements of these gentlemen. 
 
 Mr Thomson was accustomed to mention, that, the evening 
 before leaving London on this occasion, he dined with Mr Aber- 
 nethy, previously to going to hear him lecture at St Bartholo- 
 mew's Hospital, and that Mr Abernethy allowed him to make 
 choice of the subject of the lecture. The subject he chose was 
 Tumours, on which Mr Abernethy had not yet published ; and 
 as this was too extensive a topic to be finished in one night, Dr 
 Jones took notes of the subsequent lectures, and forwarded 
 them to him in Edinburgh. These notes are also still preserved, 
 and the subject was one on which, both in his surgical and in 
 his pathological lectures, Mr Thomson used to dilate, always 
 rendering to Mr Abernethy the praise to which he was entitled 
 for his attempt at a scientific classification of morbid growths. 
 
 b 2
 
 24 BIOGEAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 Mr Thomson had at an early period of his surgical studies 
 become impressed with the necessity, towards the elucidation of 
 the subject of hernia, of a more accurate anatomical examina- 
 tion of the regions of the body in which ruptures are liable to 
 occur. Writing to Mr Allen early in 1808, he says, '* Marshall, 
 I am told, has studied the subject of hernia. It forms an ad- 
 mirable subject for illustration with drawings and prepara- 
 tions ;" and of a later date in the same year, in reference to 
 some preparations illustrative of hernia which Mr Allen had 
 mentioned having seen, he writes, " If the preparations on 
 hernia are very interesting, I wish you would get any kind of 
 outlines of them, however rude." His critical notice of Camper's 
 Icones Herniarum, and his short comment on Dr Heberden's 
 article on Ileus, both in the second number of the Edinburgh 
 Review (for January 1803), and his Observations on Mr Hey's 
 chapter on Strangulated Hernia, in the third number of the 
 same Review (for April 1803), as well as other articles in the 
 same work, all show how much his mind was at that time oc- 
 cupied with that branch of surgery. 
 
 It was probably during the visit to London, to which refer- 
 ence has just been made, that he saw reason to abandon a de- 
 sign, relative to hernia, in which he had been for some time 
 engaged, as explained by himself in his lectures on Surgery, 
 when speaking of the anatomy of the groin. " This is a part 
 of Anatomy," he was accustomed to say, " of which you will 
 find no good general description before the publication of Mr 
 Astley Cooper's splendid work upon hernia, though many parts 
 of it separately had been well described. I was so much im- 
 pressed with the importance of the anatomy of this region, that 
 I had very nearly completed the description and delineation of 
 the different parts which enter into the formation of the groin, 
 with a view to publication, before I had heard of Mr Cooper's 
 being engaged in investigating the subject of hernia. I was too 
 well aware of the superior advantages which he possessed, to 
 think of continuing my design. Mr Cooper's descriptions and 
 plates contain almost all the information which we possess re- 
 specting the anatomical structure of the groin, and confirm tha
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 25 
 
 views which I had taken of tliis part, while they add consider- 
 ahly to their extent and to their importance."* 
 
 The portion of Mr Cooper's work relative to Inguinal Hernia 
 was published in 1804, but the portion relative to Crural Hernia 
 did not appear till 1807- In 1805, the late Mr William Wood, 
 on being required to prepare a Probationary Essay for the Col- 
 lege of Surgeons, which he was about to enter, made choice 
 of this subject ; and wqtli that candour which characterized 
 him in all the relations of life, frankly avowed how much he had 
 been " indebted to Mr Thomson, Professor of Surgery to the 
 Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, for the information 
 which I have received on the subject, not only from his valuable 
 lectures, but also from his very accurate dissections of the parts 
 concerned in the disease, which he was so kind as to allow me 
 to witness." This gentleman has informed us, that on his re- 
 turn from studying in London in 1804, he was strongly urged 
 by Mr Thomson to set about the preparation of a Treatise on 
 Ruptures, and was promised the use of all his materials, as well 
 as of his advice in its preparation. Mr Wood, from a misappre- 
 hension, as we conceive, of his own qualifications, shrank from 
 the task. How well a work of the description wdiich Mr Thomson 
 had projected for his young friend w^as soon afterwards executed 
 by Mr Lawrence (1807) the profession is well aware. 
 
 In connection with the subject of Hernia, Mr Thomson had 
 paid particular attention to the natural process of repair occur- 
 ring in Intestines in which, by injury or disease, solution of 
 continuity has been produced. His experiments on this ques- 
 tion of surgical pathology he communicated to Mr Cooper, who 
 introduced a notice of them into his work on Inguinal Hernia. 
 After mentioning some experiments of his own, in wdiich the 
 intestine was returned into the abdomen, where it rested against 
 the wound in tlie parietes, and the ligatures were left hanging 
 externally, Mr Cooper proceeds to quote his friend Mr Thomson, 
 Lecturer on Surgery at Edinburgh, as having, with the assist- 
 
 * Among his notes of his communications with Mr Cooper during this 
 visit, there occurs the following observation : — " Mr Cooper's dissections of 
 the termination inwards of the internal oblique and transversalis, much 
 more minute and correct than mine ; not so his account of the external 
 fascia, nor of the di-itribution of the tendon of the external oblique."
 
 26 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 ance of Drs Farre and Jones, performed a series of experiments, 
 from which it appears that, in the animals which were the sub- 
 jects of them, not only the intestine may be returned into the 
 cavity of the abdomen, but the ligatures which are applied upon 
 it; and that no apprehension need be entertained of these liga- 
 tures being separated into that cavity to produce the inflamma- 
 tory effects of extraneous bodies, seeing that they are in fact 
 separated into the intestinal canal, and discharged from it by 
 the natural passages. Mr Cooper next proceeds to notice a 
 curious difference in the facility with which a longitudinal and 
 a transverse wound of the intestine unites. ^' It has been shown," 
 he remarlss, " that transverse wounds heal readily; but with re- 
 spect to the longitudinal, they have a contrary tendency;" and 
 in illustration of this principle, he quotes the experiments of 
 Mr Thomson, '• the result of which," he observes, '• will be found 
 extremely curious." 
 
 Mr William Wood, in a correspondence with the late Dr 
 Monro, in the course of 1807, mentions that " Mr Thomson, 
 in the two courses of his lectures, which he had had the plea- 
 sure of attending, described at great length the different modes 
 of stitching divided intestines that had been recommended from 
 the time that Celsus first mentioned the practice to the present 
 day. But in showing the results of his experiments, which Mr 
 Cooper has described, he took particular pains to caution his 
 students from inferring, that, because the practice of stitching 
 intestines had often succeeded in brute animals, and in a few 
 instances also in the human subject, it was one which should 
 be followed in the diseased state of the intestines usually 
 accompanying strangulated hernia." This subject of the process 
 of nature in repairing wounds of the intestines was, as is well 
 known, at a subsequent period, very fully discussed in a most 
 valuable monograph by Mr Travers, a gentleman whom Dr 
 Thomson had the happiness of numbering among his pupils, 
 and the still greater pleasure throughout the whole of his after 
 life of counting among his friends. 
 
 Mr Thomson again delivered, during the winter session of 
 1803-4, his course of lectures on the Principles and Practice of 
 Surgery ; and in the succeeding summer (1804) he carried into
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 27 
 
 effect his intention of delivering a short course on Military Sur- 
 gery. In writing in the subsequent autumn to Mr Keate, he 
 says, "I have taken the liberty to inclose for your inspection a 
 short prospectus of a course of lectures on Military Surgery, 
 which, in addition to my usual winter course, I gave this last 
 summer at Edinburgh. I trust you will approve of the desire 
 which I have manifested by the delivery of this course to pro- 
 mote, in as. far as in me lies, the good of that department of the 
 public service over which you preside. That I may be able to 
 devote my time exclusively to the learning and teaching of Sur- 
 gery, I intend to give up private practice for two or three years, 
 or at least while I am continued in the place of resident hospi- 
 tal mate, which I now hold by your goodness." 
 
 The beneficial influence of these courses was very speedily 
 perceived by those interested in the improvement of surgical 
 education in Edinburgh, and by none more promptly than by 
 Mr Benjamin Bell and Mr Andrew Wood ; and they revived a 
 wish that had repeatedly been expressed in the College of Sur- 
 geons, to have the teaching of Surgery placed in this city upon a 
 permanent and respectable footing. Accordingly, shortly before 
 the commencement of the winter session, 1804-5, a memorial 
 was presented to the College, signed by Messrs A. Wood, George 
 Wood, James Law, William Farquharson, Benjamin Bell, Wil- 
 liam Brown, James Bryce, Andrew Wardrop, and James Arrott, 
 pointing out the advantages likely to result from the institu- 
 tion by the College of a lectureship or professorshi]) of Surgery. 
 The College, approved of the suggestion, and Mr Thomson was, 
 as was afterwards stated by Dr Erskine, " universally considered 
 by his professional brethren as better qualified than any one 
 else of their number for the office of their professor, which, ac- 
 cordingly, they unanimously conferred upon him." The extra- 
 ordinary attempts that were made to frustrate this measure were 
 recorded by Mr Thomson in a Statement of Facts published in 
 1806; of which a considerable part was reprinted in a pam- 
 phlet, afterwards to be noticed, published by him in 1826, 
 under the title of Additional Hints respecting the Improvement 
 of Medical Instruction, &c. As a part of the scheme of taking 
 on itself to provide instruction in Surgery for the medical
 
 28 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 students attending the Edinburgh School, and, as is well known, 
 on Dr Thonison's suggestion, the College of Surgeons resolved 
 to institute a Museum. To this he made over a collection which 
 he had been himself forming for some years. In the formation 
 and extension of this Museum he was zealously assisted by his 
 young friend and pupil, Mr James Wardrop, who, in a few years 
 afterwards, by the publication of the first volume of his Morbid 
 Anatomy of the Human Eye (1808), and of his Treatise on 
 Fungus Hsematodes (1809), evinced how thoroughly he had 
 been imbued with the conviction that a knowledge of the true 
 nature of diseases is the only safe foundation of rational prac- 
 tice. The museum thus commenced has gone on increasing, 
 under the fostering care of the College, partly by the contribu- 
 tions of its members, of whom none was more assiduous in its 
 behalf than Mr Thomson continued to be ; partly by the late 
 Dr Barclay's bequest of liis valuable museum ; and partly by 
 the purchase of that of Sir Charles Bell ; — till it has attained a 
 most honourable position among the anatomical and pathological 
 collections of the empire. 
 
 In receiving the appointment of Professor of Surgery to the 
 College of Surgeons, Mr Thomson proposed to the College, that 
 medical officers of the army and navy should be allowed to at- 
 tend the lectures delivered under its patronage without paying the 
 usual fees. This proposal was immediately adopted by the College; 
 and accordingly his lectures were, on this footing, attended every 
 year subsequently by varying but considerable numbers of offi- 
 cers belonging to these departments of the public service. 
 
 The expectations of the College in instituting a professorship 
 of Surgery, and conferring it upon Mr Thomson, were speedily 
 realized. Dr Erskine, in writing to Mr Allen in the beginning 
 of 1806, relative to Mr Thomson's claims to an appointment 
 presently to be more particularly noticed, says, " He has, by 
 delivering several full and separate courses on Surgery, already 
 performed a service of the greatest benefit to the public ; for,, 
 since the commencement of his lectures, a very material im- 
 provement has taken place in the qualifications of the young 
 men whose education, as surgeons, has been confined to this 
 place, and they are now found to possess such a stock of pro- 
 
 i
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 29 
 
 fessioiial information as, in former times, I am convinced, was 
 rarely to be met with among them. The truth of this I have 
 an opportunity, as one of the examinators of the College of 
 Surgeons, in some measure to ascertain by personal observa- 
 tion. It is also, I conceive," adds Dr Erskine, " no slight con- 
 sideration, that, in order to do justice to this very important 
 course, he has withdrawn himself, for a time at least, from 
 private family practice." In reference to the same subject^ the 
 late Mr George Bell, at a later period, speaks of the " increased 
 and increasing improvement in the qualifications of candidates 
 for surgical diplomas since the establishment of the professor- 
 ship of Surgery by the Royal College of Surgeons in 1804. 
 The beneficial effects of this professorship have been made mani- 
 fest over a large portion of this country, and have been very 
 generally acknowledged, not only by practitioners in civil life, 
 but also by the medical officers both in the army and navy. 
 No one acquainted with these facts," says Mr Bell, in address- 
 ing himself to Dr Thomson, " can hesitate to attribute a great 
 part of this visible and important alteration to your exertions." 
 
 In 1806, on the formation of Mr Fox's Administration, Mr 
 Thomson was encouraged by Lord Lauderdale to apply to his 
 Majesty's Government for a commission to be Professor of 
 Military Surgery in the University of Edinburgh. Earl Spencer, 
 at that time Secretary of State for the Home Department, after 
 a personal interview with Mr Thomson, and minute inquiry into 
 the objects and probable usefulness of an institution for the in- 
 struction of medical students intending to enter the service of 
 the army and navy, advised his Majesty to create this professor- 
 ship, and recommended Mr Thomson for the appointment, which 
 he accordingly received. 
 
 A fact which came to light during the preparation of his 
 commission may give some idea of the extent to which the 
 bitterness of party feeling was at that time carried. The clerk 
 in the Secretary of State's office, to whom the preparation of 
 this deed was referred, reported to Lord Spencer that a caveat 
 against Mr Thomson's receiving any appointment from the 
 Crown had been lodged in that office for a considerable time ; 
 and that it had, on a previous occasion, prevented his receiving
 
 30 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 an appointment of a diiferent sort, even after it had been pro- 
 mised him by two difterent ministers. We have been assured 
 that an impression has prevailed in some quarters, that Mr Thom- 
 son, at an early period of his medical career, took a share in po- 
 litical movements of a character hazardous to public tranquil- 
 lity, and particularly that he was a member of the association 
 known under the name of the Friends of the People. These 
 notions, however, are utterly erroneous. Whilst warmly at- 
 tached to popular rights, he was persuaded that these can be 
 soundly advanced only by moral and intellectual persuasion, 
 and not by physical force. And it was with him a matter of 
 extreme regret, that his friend Mr Allen, who, in general, was 
 most particularly distinguished by calmness and soundness of 
 judgment, allowed himself to be entangled in proceedings which 
 had the not uncommon consequence of extreme measures, viz., 
 that of strengthening the hands of those against whom they 
 were directed. Of the motives by which Mr Allen was influ- 
 enced in the conduct he pursued at that time, we have, it is 
 believed, a correct statement, in the following extract of a letter 
 from their common friend, Dr W. Kussell, to Mr Thomson, 
 when in London, of date 20th November 1792. " Allen has 
 left the hospital, but notwithstanding your good advices, is 
 still by far too deeply engaged in democratic politics, I think. I 
 have constantly urged him to give out, as I conceive it is not only 
 inconsistent with his present situation, but occupies his time, 
 and introduces him to a public notice which, at best, can be of no 
 advantage to him. There is to be a public meeting of delegates 
 to-morrow, after which I hope he will be persuaded. His fears 
 are, that from the volcanic heads which, certainly at least 
 here, conduct them, viz., Muir and Johnson, they will be mis- 
 led ; but I am afraid that, though he were even to devote his 
 whole time, this will not be prevented, unless some of the more 
 staid men join, who rather at present keep back." And a 
 passage in one of Mr Allen's own letters to Mr Thomson, of 
 date 4th January 1793, points at one of the difficulties experi- 
 enced by a man of spirit in quitting a cause in which he has once 
 embarked, even when he comes to disapprove of the means by 
 which it is pursued. " I have given up their societies, but on 
 
 J
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 31 
 
 the whole I believe they are still increasing. If I ever return, 
 while in my present situation, it will be merely to prevent any 
 imputation of desertion in the hour of danger." 
 
 Mr Thomson has been heard frequently to mention, in illus- 
 tration of his anxiety to steer clear of the " volcanic heads " 
 referred to by Dr Kussell, that having occasion to speak with 
 Mr Allen, at a time when he was in attendance on one of the 
 meetings of delegates, he abstained from going himself to the 
 place of meeting, and sent a messenger to fetch him ; and that 
 on Mr Arrott informing him that Margarot, who, as a medical 
 man, had brought an introduction to Mr Arrott, from a com- 
 mon friend, was to .dine with them on a particular day, he 
 immediately replied that he was to dine that day at Stenhouse 
 Mills, the house of Mr Allen's stepfather, Mr Cleghorn, where all 
 Mr Allen's friends at that time experienced the comforts of a 
 kind home. In giving these explanations, it is not meant to 
 suggest a doubt as to the strength of Mr Thomson's political 
 opinions, or to offer any apology for them, but only to establish 
 the fact, that, in entertaining these opinions, he was very 
 guarded in giving no countenance to measures for their advance- 
 ment by which there was risk of the public tranquillity being 
 put in peril. 
 
 The issuing of Mr Thomson's commission, as Professor of 
 Military Surgery, again renewed that strife which each succes- 
 sive attempt to improve the system of teaching Surgery in Edin- 
 burgh had created. Some of the particulars are related in the 
 " Additional Hints" already referred to. It has often been dis- 
 paragingly objected to the creation of the chair of Military 
 Surgery, that much more advantage would have resulted had a 
 chair of ordinary Surgery been at once instituted in the Uni- 
 versity ; but those conversant with the actual circumstances of 
 the case will allow that as much was done by the creation of 
 this chair, for benefiting surgical instruction, as could be accom- 
 plished at the time. 
 
 On the 11th January 1808 Mr Thomson obtained from the 
 University of King's College, Aberdeen, the degree of doctor in 
 medicine; and early in the same year, being then one of the 
 acting surgeons of the lloyal Infirmary, he printed " Observations 
 on Lithotomy; being a republication of Dr James Douglas' Ap-
 
 32 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 pendix to liis History of the lateral Operation for tlie Stone, and 
 of tlie other original papers relative to i\Ir CLeselden's invention 
 and improvement of that operation." To these papers he added, 
 " A proposal for a new manner of cutting for the Stone." 
 
 It will not be necessary to enter here into a discussion raised 
 by the late Dr Yelloly, as to whether Dr Douglas has given, in 
 his Appendix, a correct account of Cheselden's final opera- 
 tion. It will be sufficient to state that the main object of 
 Dr Thomson's own " Proposal " was to point out the practi- 
 cal objections to the use of the gorget, in its multiplied forms, 
 as a cutting instrument in lithotomy ; and to suggest a certain 
 procedure whereby the knife may be employed in this operation, 
 so as to obviate the risk of wounding the rectum with it. His 
 manner of operating differed, as he himself stated, from that 
 which was then generally practised in this country, in the instru- 
 ments used in making the internal incision, in the direction, in 
 some cases, jDf the incision itself, in the constant introduction of 
 the finger into the bladder, previous to that of the forceps, to 
 ascertain the size of the internal incision, and, if possible, also 
 the size and situation of the stone ; and in employing the finger 
 as a conductor for the knife, in all cases in which it may be 
 necessary to enlarge the internal incision. This mode of opera- 
 tion he put in practice in five cases on which he operated for 
 the stone in the Eoyal Infirmary of Edinburgh, during the years 
 1808-9. One of these, a child of four years of age, proved 
 fatal. Another case, as having along with the first, led 
 accidentally to a change in Dr Thomson's later career in 
 practice, requires some farther notice. In this case so great 
 a difficulty occurred in seizing the stone, that it was neces- 
 sary to put the patient to bed for a time, in order to restore 
 quiet and procure rest. The renewed attempts by Dr Thom- 
 son some days later also proved unsuccessful, and he having 
 become fatigued and anxious by his long-continued efforts, 
 gave the instruments into the hands of Dr Brown, wdio was 
 assisting him, and Avho, with considerable difficulty, and after 
 repeated attempts, at last succeeded in removing the stone. 
 The patient was finally dismissed cured. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Mr John Bell published an account of these 
 two cases in which he strongly condemned the proceedings ; but
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 33 
 
 certainly without just reason ; for all unprejudiced men ^Yho 
 knew tlie"circiimstances, not only applauded the manly courage 
 which led Dr Thomson in the first instance, at some risk 
 to his professional reputation, to dismiss the patient to rest, 
 but they also expressed their entire approval of the opera- 
 tive procedure, and their conviction that, in his hands, it could 
 only be from some unknown peculiarity in the seat of the stone 
 thtit the difficulty in seizing it was experienced. Dr Thom- 
 son himself attributed the difficulty to the stone being partially 
 encysted in the coats of the bladder; but as the patient re- 
 covered, the real state of the case was not ascertained. The 
 attention drawn to the case by the unfavourable remarks of Mr 
 Bell appears to have made a deep impression on Dr Thomson's 
 feelings, = — an impresion which was increased by the circum- 
 stance, that the managers declined to accede to his request that 
 a formal inquiry into the cases should be instituted ; and in the 
 vexation of the moment, Dr Thomson, perhaps unnecessarily, 
 and to the great regret of his friends, resigned his appointment 
 in the Infirmary. 
 
 Dr Thomson might no doubt have treated the attack, 
 as he had treated many previous attacks from the same 
 quarter, with silent contempt; and it is scarcely possible to 
 doubt, that such is the line of conduct which, in the cool 
 exercise of his judgment, he would have recommended to 
 another. That he followed a different procedure is probably 
 to be accounted for by the influence which he thought the 
 statements of Mr Bell might exercise on the public mind, and 
 by what he conceived was expected from him as surgeon to a 
 public institution. Nor can it be altogether overlooked, that 
 the state of Dr Thomson's own feelings at this time was ill 
 calculated to render him tolerant of a charge of the nature of 
 that wljich had been preferred against him. In point of fact, 
 the practice of operative surgery was extremely disagreeable to 
 him. He possessed a practised dexterity of hand and great 
 quickness of eye, but he was deficient in that freedom from 
 commiseration which Celsus declares to be requisite in a sur- 
 geon. Both previously to the performance of any serious 
 operation, and during the doubtful period of the subsequent
 
 3.4 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 progress of a case in which he had operated, he was oppressed 
 with an anxiety that went so far as to deprive him even of that 
 moderate share of rest which he was accustomed to allow him- 
 self. No wonder if, under these circumstances, an attack 
 characterized by Mr John Clerk, afterwards Lord Eldin, in 
 language which we shall not venture to quote, and which in- 
 duced Professor Playfair to send back to the author a presenta- 
 tion copy of the work in which it was contained, on the ground 
 that he never received a present for which he could not return 
 thanks, — should have disturbed the equilibrium of Dr Thom- 
 son's temper, and led him to follow its promptings rather than 
 the counsel of attached but unruffled friends. 
 
 But whatever diversity of opinion may arise on this point, 
 there will be none as to the spirit which — when Mr Bell was 
 no more — dictated the following tribute by Dr Thomson to his 
 merits as a promoter of surgical science, — " Mr John Bell, in 
 the course of lectures on anatomy, which he gave for some years 
 in Edinburgh, delivered lectures on select subjects of Surgery 
 also, which were listened to with the greatest attention by his 
 auditors. His Discourses on Wounds, and his Observations on 
 Aneurism, in particular, have, since their publication, been 
 read with much eagerness and delight by all ranks of medical 
 men, and have contributed in a powerful manner to promote 
 the study of these dangerous affections ; and, of course, to lead 
 to more correct views than had been previously entertained 
 with respect to their nature and treatment.'' 
 
 In 1811, Dr Thomson renewed his attempt to obtain a con- 
 nection with the military hospitals, but in this he was unsuc- 
 cessful. In the memorial which he presented on the occasion 
 to the Army Medical Board, he expressed his wish to extend in 
 future the course of lectures he delivered in the University to 
 the principal diseases which, in different regions of the world, 
 come more immediately under the care of the military surgeon. 
 He mentioned also that he had annually delivered a course on 
 Military Surgery in the University, and that, in the previous 
 winter, he had read these lectures without fee to the students of 
 Surgery in Edinburgh, nearly 200 of whom had availed them- 
 selves of the opportunity thus afforded them.
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 35 
 
 In the course of the same year (1811) his friend Dr Erskine, 
 to whom, on retiring from general practice, he had as far as pos- 
 sible transferred his business, was seized with a fatal ilhiess, of 
 which he died. It was Dr Thomson's wish that his friend Dr 
 John Gordon, who was then residing with him, should have 
 taken Dr Erskine's place ; but Dr Gordon being averse to form 
 any engagements that woukl interfere with his duties as a 
 teacher of Anatomy, declined this proposal ; and Dr Thomson 
 resolved himself, with the assistance of his friend Mr Turner, 
 who had for some time been acting as Dr Erskine's assistant, to 
 take up the business, which he accordingly did. 
 
 About this period Dr Thomson seems to have taken a con- 
 siderable interest in the success of a Chirurgical Society, then 
 existing in Edinburgh in connection with the College of Sur- 
 geons. In the number of the Medical and Surgical Journal 
 for April 1812 (viii. p. 249), it is mentioned, that "at a late 
 meeting of the Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, Professor 
 Thomson gave an account of a particular species of counter- 
 fracture which he had repeatedly had occasion to observe in 
 the examination of the crania of persons dying in consequence 
 of injuries of the head. This is a variety of counter-fracture 
 which seems to be more frequent in its occurrence, and more 
 determinate in its position, than any of those hitherto de- 
 scribed by practical authors. It occurs in the basis of the 
 cranium, and runs along that portion of the temporal bone 
 which forms tlie roof of the cavity of the tympanum, and of the 
 meatus auditorlus externus. In some instances it exists on one 
 side only of the head ; in others it occurs on both, sometimes 
 with, and at other times without, a fracture of the sphenoid or 
 occipital bones." To this notice are appended some of the 
 more general results which Dr Thomson deduced from the par- 
 ticular histories of the cases he related. 
 
 In 1813, he published his Lectures on Inflammation, ex- 
 hibiting a view of the general doctrines, pathological and prac- 
 tical, of Medical Surgery. This work was received with universal 
 approbation, and speedily insured for itself a permanent posi- 
 tion in the medical literature of the country. It was recom- 
 mended by the Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the 
 
 I
 
 36 . BIOGKAPIIICAL NOTICE 
 
 University as a treatise of great merit, communicating much 
 information, and likely to be most useful to the student. All 
 tliis it did, and a great deal more ; it supplied a deficiency long 
 felt in the literature of medical and surgical Pathology, and 
 exerted a remarkable influence on the subsequent progress of 
 these two departments of science. It may be proper here to 
 advert somewhat more particularly to the services which the 
 publication of this treatise rendered to the medical profession. 
 
 Previous to the time when Dr Thomson's Lectures on 
 Inflammation appeared, the only work which the student, de- 
 sirous of obtaining a knowledge of the general doctrines of 
 this, the most important of all the pathological conditions of 
 the economy, could consult with advantage, was the Treatise of 
 John Hunter on the Blood and Inflammation, originally pub- 
 lished in 1794. Mr Hunter's work was remarkable for the 
 number of new and important facts which the author had 
 adduced to elucidate the pathology of inflammation ; for the 
 great originality of the doctrines ; and for the strong tendency 
 to simplification, both as respects pathology and treatment, 
 which was evinced in the application of principles to practice. 
 Probably no work contains so m.any new and curious facts 
 regarding the state of the blood and the vascular system in 
 health and under various states of disease ; and certainly no 
 work published before that time contained so many important 
 and instructive observations on the phenomena of inflammatory 
 diseases, and their constitutional effects. With all these advan- 
 tages, the work of John Hunter was, and continues to be, ex- 
 tremely difficult to study and to comprehend. The method of 
 arrangement is perplexed in the extreme ; and the author often 
 throws out the most important facts and hints in the place 
 where they are least expected to be found. The statements 
 contained in this treatise were interesting, because they were 
 new and pointed ; but it was difficult to remember them, in con- 
 sequence of their not being at all times arranged in the most 
 methodical order. Mr Hunter had also suggested for conside- 
 ration many points which he had not himself fully discussed, 
 or sufficiently explained. In short, the w^ork of John Hunter 
 required to be read and studied several times before its doc- j
 
 0¥ DR THOMSON. 37 
 
 trines could be thoroughly understood, and their actual bearing 
 and applications could be estimated ; and as few possessed the 
 fortitude and perseverance requisite for an undertaking so 
 arduous, the work was too often, after the perusal of a few 
 chapters, laid aside in despair ; and eventually it had come to 
 be an authority much more frequently quoted and spoken of 
 than carefully studied. 
 
 Several of these evils, and perhaps others, Dr Thomson doubt- 
 less felt in studying the work of John Hunter, and expounding 
 its doctrines to his pupils ; and it was manifestly one great object 
 of his lectures on Inflammation to render the doctrines of this 
 surgeon more easily intelligible, and thereby to cause the merits 
 of his work to be more thoroughly appreciated. It is certain 
 that he arranged these doctrines in a much better order, and 
 explained them in a much clearer manner than their author had 
 done; and by his own comments on, and additions to, Mr 
 Hunter's statements, he exhibited a more connected, syste- 
 matic, and complete view of the pathology of the process of 
 inflammation, and its effects, than had ever before been taken. 
 Respecting the state of the vessels in inflamed parts, or the 
 l^roximate cause, as it used to be called, of inflammation, Dr 
 Thomson advanced a large amount of new, original, and, in 
 general, accurate information. This subject had been a favourite 
 subject for discussion in the Medical Society; and from the con- 
 tending hypotheses maintained in these discussions, in which 
 Dr Thomson was wont to take an active part, he was led to 
 investigate the subject experimentally, and by the aid of the 
 microscope. By applying the results of his experiments to 
 explain and rectify the theory of inflammation proposed in 1765 
 by Vacca Berlinghieri, Dr Thomson was enabled to present a 
 view of the pathological characters of this process more com- 
 plete and accurate than any previously adduced, and one which 
 has formed the basis of the efforts of many subsequent inquirers. 
 
 One of the most important parts of Dr Thomson's Lectures 
 on Inflammation was the examination of the modifications 
 induced in this process, and its effects, by the difterence of the 
 textures which are affected with it. Though Dr Carmichael 
 Smyth had given a short view of this subject in 1790, yet Dr 
 
 c
 
 38 BIOGKAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 Thomson certainly had the undisputed merit of giving the first 
 clear and comprehensive exposition of it, elucidated by the 
 lights of morbid anatomy and pathology, and enriched with 
 much new information. 
 
 The history which he gave of the constitutional effects of 
 inflammation was remarkable for its philosophical views, and 
 for the correct and ingenious manner in which he traced, after 
 Whytt, the effects of morbid sympathies. This subject had 
 been very much neglected, surgeons too often confining them- 
 selves to the mere local treatment of inflammation. Dr Thom- 
 son inculcated strongly the necessity of general, and the value 
 of medical treatment. 
 
 Not less original and instructive were the views given in this 
 work of the effects of inflammation, especially suppuration and 
 ulcerative absorption. In explaining the nature of these morbid 
 processes, Dr Thomson performed the part of a faithful and 
 intelligent interpreter of the doctrines of Hunter, which, with- 
 out his exposition, must have remained in a degree of obscurity 
 quite impenetrable to the great body of students. In the his- 
 tory of the diff*erent forms of gangrene, also, Dr Thomson 
 showed himself to be an equally able and learned expositor of 
 the multiplied and often contradictory facts which had been 
 recorded on that subject. His description of traumatic gan- 
 grene, of the gangrene of the aged, and the state of the arteries 
 in these aff'ections, as well as his account of the gangrene which 
 arises from the use of spurred rye, presented specimens of the 
 most accurate and precise generalization on these subjects ; 
 while his remarks on their treatment, and especially on that so 
 confidently recommended by Mr Pott in the senile gangrene, 
 showed the philosophical spirit with which he estimated the 
 powers of remedial agents in diseases. 
 
 The most unequivocal proof of the high value of these lec- 
 tures is found in the facts, that in a very short space of time 
 large portions of them were transferred to the pages of Mr 
 Samuel Cooper's Surgical Dictionary, by which the knowledge 
 they contained was diffused most extensively through the pro- 
 fession at home ; and that translations of the work itself appeared 
 in France, Germany, and Italy, and a reprint in America. The
 
 OF DR THOMSOX. 39 
 
 Englisli edition was soon exhausted ; and copies became so rare, 
 that when they appeared they were bought with avidity at four 
 or five times the original cost. 
 
 The publication of this work, in short, exerted both at home 
 and abroad a most beneficial influence on the study and practice 
 of surgery. It gave a new direction to the minds of the reading 
 and reflecting portion of the profession ; and all subsequent 
 essays and monographs on the subject of inflammation have 
 been written, more or less, upon the principles therein adopted, 
 and present distinct traces of the influence of this example. 
 
 By the publication of the part of his course relating to inflam- 
 mation, Dr Thomson was enabled, in his public instructions, to 
 devote a larger amount of time to various other important sub- 
 jects. He had now lectured on the principles and practice of 
 surgery for thirteen years ; and as every year had enabled him 
 to introduce from foreign authors, and the experience of the 
 best civil and military surgeons, improvements and rectifications, 
 his course of lectures may be regarded as having at this time, 
 1814-15, &c., reached its highest degree of perfection. This, 
 therefore, may be not an inappropriate point in our narrative at 
 which to ofler a few observations relative to Dr Thomson's 
 merits as a teacher of surgery. 
 
 The great peculiarities in Dr Thomson, as a lecturer, were 
 the large amount of accurate and useful information which he 
 communicated, the clear and methodical order in which it was 
 presented, the intense interest and ardent zeal which he excited 
 in his audience, and the sound spirit of criticism and judgment 
 with which the diff'erent opinions, propositions, and theories 
 that came under review were examined. At the time when Dr 
 Thomson began to lecture on surgery, no separate or distinct 
 course on that subject was delivered in Edinburgh, either in the 
 University or by any private teacher. Surgery was taught only 
 as an appendage to anatomy ; and the result was, that a few 
 lectures, hurriedly introduced at the close of the anatomical 
 course, long formed the only instructions in surgery given in 
 this city. It is easy to perceive that from such courses com- 
 paratively little benefit could result. Little attention could be 
 paid in them to surgical anatomv ; and none could be given to 
 
 c2
 
 40 BIOGEAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 the pathology of surgical diseases. The important and essen- 
 tial part of surgery, viz., the phenomena, causes, and effects of 
 local diseases, was either neglected or treated in a cursory, 
 meagre, and unsatisfactory manner. These lectures were, indeed, 
 merely short courses or demonstrations on the principal surgical 
 operations, — their history and their different modes of perform- 
 ance, — a view of surgery at once narrow and unjust. Dv 
 Thomson was among the first who recognised and showed the 
 necessity of estahlishing the teaching of surgery on a more exten- 
 sive and stahle foundation, and who supplied the serious defect 
 that had existed in the education of surgeons, by delivering a 
 complete course of lectures on surgery, presenting a systematic 
 view of surgical anatomy, surgical pathology, and surgical 
 operations. In these lectures the student found not only ample 
 and correct information on surgical anatomy, but what was 
 now^here else given, either in a satisfactory manner or in any 
 form at all, a large amount of information, often entirely new, 
 on the pathological history of surgical diseases. He impressed 
 on his pupils the necessity of studying well the phenomena and 
 progress of those diseases which the surgeon is expected to treat, 
 of discovering their natural tendencies and terminations, and of 
 ascertaining, if possible, how much or how little they require 
 of manual or proper chirurgical interference. He always studied 
 also to distinguish and appreciate the exact influence of remedies 
 and operations ; and it is believed that his example has tended 
 more than that of any individual to diminish the number of 
 operations, and to direct the minds of practitioners to the great 
 use of medical treatment in surgical diseases, and to the value 
 of what has been called Medical Surgery. In short, his course 
 upon surgery was unequalled in importance and judicious 
 selection ; and when students found how much information was 
 communicated in an interesting manner in these lectures, they 
 became indispensable to every one who desired to qualify h'mself 
 for the conscientious discharge of Lis professional duties. 
 
 Dr Thomson devoted much attention in his course to the 
 diseases and injuries of the arteries and veins, to the patho- 
 logical history of aneurism, to the sul)ject of injuries of the 
 head, to the anatomico-pathological history of hernia, to tlie
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 41 
 
 pathological history of calculous and urinary affections, and to 
 that of diseases of the joints ; and all his pupils, who were com- 
 petent to judge of his instructions at the time of receiving them, 
 or who have since remembered them, will be able to bear testi- 
 mony to the novelty as well as accuracy of his information, and 
 to the high value of these lectures. His lectures on syphilis 
 and the use of mercury, and the progressive but decided course 
 which he adopted in demcmstrating the pernicious effects of this 
 vaunted remedy, form a most conspicuous era in the history of 
 modern pathology and therapeutics. 
 
 It was not only, however, as an instructor who communicated 
 correct and useful information that Dr Thomson showed his 
 pupils what surgical pathology really is, and what the scientific 
 surgeon ought to be. By examining not only opinions, hypo- 
 theses, and theories, but facts and statements of facts in the 
 spirit of candid criticism and inquiry, he taught his pupils to 
 observe, to think, and to reason for themselves ; and by setting 
 them the example of original and vigorous, yet perfectly logical 
 reasoning, he laboured to train their minds to that species of men- 
 tal exercise which is of all others the most useful to the medical 
 practitioner,— the faculty of estimating the true value of medical 
 doctrines, and the actual merits of various remedial measures. 
 
 Dr Thomson had established the practice of teaching surgery 
 in separate courses on a foundation so firm and stable, that it 
 was soon adopted by several able instructors. Students found 
 that they could not obtain the necessary information in this 
 branch of study without attending such a separate course ; and 
 the different boards followed the example set by the College of 
 Surgeons in Edinburgh, by requiring such attendance on the part 
 of candidates for their licences. Of this great and beneficial 
 chano^e in surgical education in Scotland, Dr Thomson must be 
 regarded as the originator ; and whatever benefit has thereby ac- 
 crued to the profession and the public must be ascribed mainly, 
 if not solely, to his sagacious discernment of what was required 
 by the actual state of surgical science. It must, indeed, be re- 
 garded as singular that in the University of Edinburgh no pro- 
 vision for teaching this impoitant branch of medical education 
 was made, till, by his iiiHuence and at his suggestion, a profes-
 
 42 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 sorsliip was established by the government then in office, so 
 late as 1831. If it was requisite to teach the practice of medi- 
 cine in a separate course of lectures, not less necessary surely 
 was it to devote a distinct course to the principles and practice 
 of surgery. 
 
 Of the effect of Dr Thomson's surgical lectures on the stu- 
 dents, an eye-witness gives the following account : — 
 
 " It was in the winter of 1815 and 1816 that I attended the 
 lectures of Dr Thomson. At that time, partly from the great 
 enthusiasm felt in the study of medicine and surgery, partly 
 from tlie great number of army and navy surgeons who came to 
 Edinburgh to renew or complete their studies, the number of 
 medical students was great and annually increasing. The lec- 
 ture-room was crowded daily to its greatest capacity. There 
 must have been at least 250 or 280 auditors, and of these about 
 50 or 60 were men who had been in the service of the country 
 for ten or fifteen years. During lecture every one listened with 
 the deepest attention and interest, eager to carry away every 
 word of the discourse, which was always animated and often 
 eloquent. The impression it produced was evinced by the con- 
 versations and discussions that ensued after lecture. The army 
 and navy surgeons especially used almost invariably to carry on 
 a keen discussion on the merits of the various doctrines pro- 
 pounded in the lecture; and these discussions were often continued 
 or revived in the Medical Society, or in the Clinical Wards of 
 the Royal Infirmary. The proper treatment of gunshot wounds, 
 the comparative advantages of primary and secondary amputa- 
 tion, the causes of traumatic tetanus, traumatic gangrene, and 
 hospital gangrene, all formed points on which every individual 
 present was induced to state his opinions, and the results of 
 what he had himself seen and done. These discussions among 
 the army and navy surgeons were often of great use to the mere 
 student, by making him think, read, and inquire, and thereby 
 leading him to increase his knowledge, and render it precise ; 
 and all this intellectual exertion was unquestionably to be as- 
 cribed to the influence of the surgical lectures of Dr Thomson." 
 
 But the course of lectures delivered by Dr Thomson was valu- 
 able, not simply as a body of chirurgical instruction. From
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 43 
 
 the method of arrangement which he adopted, and the suhjects 
 of which he treated, it followed that much information on medical 
 pathology was communicated. Hence not only were his lec- 
 tures on inflammation equally useful to the physician as to the 
 surgeon, but his lectures on cutaneous diseases, on injuries of 
 the head, on wounds of the chest, on hernia, and on syphilis, led 
 him to communicate a large amount of information of the ut- 
 most value and interest to the physician. 
 
 From these circumstances it resulted that the course of Dr 
 Thomson, indispensable to the well-educated surgeon, was not 
 less necessary to the physician; and hence there were few phy- 
 sicians at that time educated in Edinburgh who did not feel the 
 importance of attending these lectures with the utmost regularity. 
 Dr Thomson, indeed, evinced as intimate a knowledge of 
 medical diseases, and especially of those depending on organic 
 changes, as of those falling under the proper management of 
 the surgeon; and he was destined to exemplify, in his own case, 
 the principle, that the practitioner who is trained fully and suf- 
 ficiently in surgical pathology, necessarily becomes acquainted 
 with medical patliology, and that, however the arts may be dis- 
 joined in practice, in study they must be conjoined and made to 
 assist each other. 
 
 In the summer of 1814, availing himself of the termination 
 of the war to execute a purpose he had long had at heart, 
 Dr Thomson, accompanied by his friends, Dr Kobert Ren- 
 ton, now of Edinburgh, and the late Dr Thomas M'Kenzie 
 of Newcastle-under-Lyne, made a tour for the purpose of ex- 
 amining into the state of medicine in the different schools of 
 Europe. '• In the course of this journey," says Dr Renton, 
 '' we visited France, Italy, Austria, Saxony, Prussia, Hanover, 
 and Holland. Dr Thomson examined minutely into the modes 
 of medical and surgical practice followed in the public hospitals 
 of those countries. His practical knowledge of diseases, and 
 his extensive acquaintance with the works of the best medical 
 writers of the different countries through which we passed, pro- 
 cured for him everywhere the respect and attentions of the 
 teachers and practitioners of medicine, and facilitated greatly 
 the attainment of the objects which he had in view. The minute
 
 44 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 accuracy, also, with which he examined the anatomical and 
 pathological collections at the Ecole de Medecine in Paris, at 
 Pavia. Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig, Halle, Gbttingen, Amsterdam, 
 and Leyden, evinced an ardour in his researches which I and 
 my fellow-traveller, well as we knew Dr Thomson's zeal in pro- 
 fessional pursuits, could not ohserve but with feelings of sur- 
 prise and admiration." 
 
 On the 7th of February 1815 Dr Thomson became a licen- 
 tiate of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, a measure 
 though not necessary, yet expedient to one who was now acting 
 as consulting surgeon, and occasionally as consulting physician. 
 
 In the ensuing summer he again returned to the Continent, 
 with a different object, but one not less indicative of his anxiety 
 for professional improvement. " Upon hearing of the result of 
 the battle of Waterloo," as he has himself said, " I immedi- 
 ately resolved to proceed to Belgium, that I miglit have an op- 
 portunity of observing the medical and surgical condition of the 
 men who had been wounded in that battle. My friend Dr 
 Somerville, principal medical officer in Scotland, to whom 1 
 communicated my intentions, instantly formed the wish of ac- 
 companying me thither, and gave me encouragement to hope 
 that the Medical Board would not disapprove of the objects 
 which we had in view, in wishing to visit the different military 
 hospitals in Belgium. We had the satisfaction to find, on ar- 
 riving in London, that the Director- General approved warmly 
 of our intentions, and was disposed to afford us every assistance 
 in his power to carry them into execution. Dr Somerville ac- 
 cordingly received a letter from the Medical Board, accepting the 
 ofFeis of service, and containing instructions and recommenda- 
 tions with regard to me in every respect calculated to procure 
 the opportunities of observation which I so much desired. We 
 loft London on the 4th and arrived in Brussels on the 8tli of 
 .Inly ; and, conformably with the instructions which he had re- 
 ceived, Dr Somerville reported himself, and introduced me to the 
 senior medical officers there, Mr Gunning and Dr M'Neill. We 
 made known to these gentlemen our desire to visit the different 
 military hospitals under their charge, and to have an opportunity 
 of observing the condition of the wounded whom these hospitals
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 45 
 
 contained. They received us with the cordiality of friends, 
 entered readily into our views, and introduced us without delay 
 to the other officers who composed the medical staff at Brussels. 
 By these officers we were everywhere received with the most 
 flattering marks of attention ; they did everything in their power 
 to forward our examination of the wounded ; and by their frank, 
 open, and liberal communications on the individual cases of their 
 patients, facilitated greatly the attainment of the objects of our 
 inquiry." 
 
 The duty which he had thus zealously undertaken, Dr Thom- 
 son most faithfully and laboriously discharged. " On the late 
 occasion of the severe action in Flanders," says Sir J. M'Grigor, 
 '• he was the only one of the three gentlemen then honoured 
 with acting appointments who devoted himself entirely to the 
 professional duties for the relief of the wounded ; and the testi- 
 monials which reached me of the services he rendered both to 
 the patients and to the medical staff by his advice were most 
 gratifying." '• At Brussels, after the battle of Waterloo," says 
 Deputy- Inspector Irwin, '^ I knew you to be consulted on every 
 case of moment, and you never failed to convey the most satis- 
 factory information and useful advice, both as physician and 
 surgeon, which your judgment and research so qualified you to 
 communicate." '' I have had the comfort and gratification." 
 says Deputy-Inspector Gordon, • of experiencing the benefit of 
 your able counsel and advice at the bed-side, on many import- 
 ant and trying occasions, in the hospitals of the wounded at 
 Brussels. On this subject, I need only say, that as I appreciated 
 them highly at the time, so do I still feel gratitude and com- 
 placency at the recollection of the advantages derived from yo. r 
 assistance and co-operation." " When I first had the pleasure 
 of your acquaintance at Brussels in 1815," says Deputy- In- 
 spector Hennen, " I was struck, in common with every officer 
 of the staff, with the enthusiastic zeal and indefatigable atten- 
 tion with which you investigated the wounds, and the endemic 
 and other diseases which at that time abounded in the militarv 
 hospitals. And I can never forget the professional emulation 
 which you excited among the junior officers, — the friendly and 
 unpretending style in which you communicated information,
 
 46 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 and the ready and available assistance which you offered to us 
 all." 
 
 Shortly after his arrival at Brussels, Dr Thomson was ap- 
 prised by a communication from the Secretary of the Army 
 Medical Board, that, on being made acquainted with the dis- 
 interested manner in which he had resolved to proceed to the 
 Netherlands, for the purpose of assisting the wounded in the 
 late glorious battles, they had deemed it advisable to submit to 
 H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief the advantage that might 
 be derived from his accepting the appointment of acting staff- 
 surgeon ; and the Director- General having accordingly recom- 
 mended this measure, H.B.H. had been pleased to approve of 
 it, in a full assurance of the benefits that would result to the 
 service from the exercise of his talents in the military hospitals. 
 On his way home from Belgium, Dr Thomson conceived the 
 idea of applying for a continuation of his appointment as an 
 army surgeon^ on the understanding that he should be at- 
 tached to the military hospitals in Edinburgh. His position 
 as Professor of Military Surgery had made him long regard a 
 connection with the military hospitals as highly desirable ; but 
 he had recently come to attach to such an appointm.ent the 
 oreatest importance, from the opportunities it was calculated to 
 afford him of prosecuting his inquiries into the necessity and 
 expediency of the administration of mercury in the treatment 
 of syphilitic diseases, a subject which, for several years pre- 
 viously, he had been prosecuting in the necessarily circum- 
 scribed field of private practice. He accordingly addressed a 
 memorial to the Duke of York, praying for the permanent 
 appointment of surgeon to the forces. The memorial was re- 
 ferred to the Director-General of the Army Medical Department, 
 who returned it with the expression of his hope that the 
 Commander-in-Chief would be pleased to honour this request 
 with his sanction. " Being strongly impressed," the Director- 
 General added, " with the opinion that great and permanent 
 advantage may be derived from the employment of Dr Thom- 
 son, and from the public being enabled to avail itself of his 
 talents in forwarding the education of students intended for 
 the army, and perfecting those already holding appointments in
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 47 
 
 it in the higher branches of scientific surgery, I beg leave most 
 respectfully to recommend for the approbation of H.R.H. the 
 Commander-in-Chief, that Dr John Thomson may be appointed 
 surgeon to the forces." The appointment accordingly took 
 place. 
 
 On his return to Edinburgh, Dr Thomson occupied himself 
 in reducing the observations which he had made in the British 
 military hospitals in Belgium into the shape of a Beport, which 
 he published in the following year, along with a very valuable 
 discourse upon Amputation. This report he inscribed to the 
 Duke of York, by whom his services had been viewed in so 
 gracious a manner. The great variety of important surgical 
 topics concisely but forcibly handled in this report, show how 
 much Dr Thomson was at home in this department of the healing 
 art, and how diligently he must have availed himself of the com- 
 paratively limited opportunities occurring in civil practice for 
 making himself acquainted with the more immediate and more 
 remote effects of injuries and wounds of every description. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that so signal a mark of favour as 
 had thus been conferred on Dr Thomson could fail to excite 
 jealousy in some quarter or other; and, accordingly, strong efforts 
 were made to convey to the mind of the Secretary-at-War, by 
 anonymous communications, an impression of the impropriety 
 of the appointment he had received. In the beginning of 1817, 
 the Secretary-at-War having indicated a disposition to recall his 
 commission, Dr Thomson submitted to the Director-General the 
 following statement : — " You are not ignorant what share of 
 my time, since my return to Edinburgh, has been employed in 
 official military medical duties ; but I beg leave to state, for the 
 information of the Secretary-at-War, that, in addition to these, 
 in the winter session of 1815-16, I gave admission without fee 
 to my lectures upon the Principles and Practice of Surgery to 
 18 medical officers belonging to the army, and to 62 medical 
 officers belonging to the navy ; and that in the summer session 
 of 1816, I delivered, without fee, a course of lectures on Mili- 
 tary Surgery, which was attended by 110 students, of whom 17 
 belonged to the army and 28 to the navy ; and that this winter 
 I have given out 51 gratis tickets for each of my courses of lee-
 
 48 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 tares to medical officers of the army, and 53 to those of the 
 navy. Further, yon are aware that the depot hospital, which 
 has been under my charge since March last, and the hospital of 
 the 92d regiment at present in Edinburgh Castle, have been 
 open to the medical officers of the army for the purpose of 
 instruction under my superintendence ; and that I have been, 
 and am at present, employed during this winter in giving clinical 
 lectures, on the cases admitted into these hospitals, to the medical 
 officers attending there," 
 
 It w^as under such observation as is here adverted to, of gen- 
 tlemen who had been engaged for longer or shorter periods in 
 medical practice in the public service, that Dr Thomson con- 
 ducted his trials, in the military hospital under his immediate 
 charge, of the treatment of syphilis without mercury. On this 
 subject he published a very short paper towards the latter end 
 of 1817, in the shape of a letter to the late Dr Duncan, jun., 
 and inserted by him in the 53d number of the Medical and 
 Surgical Journal. In this paper he stated the circumstances 
 which originally suggested to him this mode of treatment, 
 among which he alluded particularly to the conversations he 
 had had with Mr Pearson of the Lock Hospital. He described 
 the beneficial effects which he found to result from the long- 
 continued administration of the decoction of sarsaparilla in those 
 cases which had been treated by mercury and in various forms 
 of the disease ; and he gave an account of the experimental trials 
 which he was enabled to make in the most favourable circum- 
 stances of the military depot hospital of Edinburgh Castle, in 
 which the patients were placed wholly under his control. He in- 
 variably followed the same modes of treatment in private prac- 
 tice, and was led, from his experience, to place the most entire 
 confidence in the non mercurial treatment of every form of the 
 disease, whether primain- or secondary ; thus demonstrating that 
 the employment of mercury as a specific was altogether unneces- 
 sary, and that the general principles of medical and surgical 
 therapeutics w^ere as applicable to this as to other diseases. 
 
 In the course of these inquiries, which excited considerable 
 interest, and some opposition fiom those who regarded it as hete- 
 rodox in medicine to doubt the specific efficacy of the mercurial
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 49 
 
 treatment, lie received a letter from his friend Sir Astley Cooper, 
 requesting information as to liis practice; and his letter in reply 
 contains a temperate and satisfactory refutation of the mis- 
 statements in which some had indulged as to the ill success, and 
 even hurtful effects, of the non-mercurial plan of treatment ; 
 together with a relation of the results he had obtained, which, 
 to an unprejudiced mind, placed the advantages of the new plan 
 of treatment beyond doubt. Of the truth of this, we receive the 
 strongest confirmation in the revolution — as the change may 
 fairly be called — which the employment of mercury in the treat- 
 ment of syphilitic diseases has undergone in this country since 
 it was first advocated and adopted by Dr Thomson. 
 
 We quote the last paragraph of Dr Thomson's letter to Sir 
 Astley Cooper as a specimen, not only of the fulness of the evi- 
 dence which he required as satisfactoryin such an inquiry, but 
 of the caution with vrhich he deduced conclusions even from 
 experimental trials which appeared complete and satisfactory. 
 
 " This is all that at present occurs to me to say in answer to 
 your letter ; but as I know you love your profession, and desire 
 above all things the discovery of truth in it, I am assured that 
 you will think well of the trials of the non-mercurial practice 
 which are being made in the military hospitals, under the super- 
 intendence of the most active, intelligent, and enlightened medical 
 officer that has ever held the place of Director -General. Whe- 
 ther, from the investigation which has just been entered upon, 
 it shall iiltimately be found advisable to administer mercury for 
 the cure of syphilis, and whether, in the event of the use of this 
 medicine being found to be advisable, it will be better to employ 
 it in the first or in the secondary stages of the disease, are, I con- 
 ceive, legitimate subjects of inquiry, concerning which very little 
 satisfactory information is to be found in the past records of our 
 art. From tlie trials I have myself made, and seen others 
 make, I am fully satisfied that not a single individual has 
 hitherto been injured, and that, on the contrary, many, particu- 
 larly persons of scrofulous constitutions, have been saved much 
 evil, by abstaining, during the treatment of syphilitic complaints, 
 from the use of mercury. Be assured that if I should ever see 
 anything contrary to this in practice, I shall feel myself bound 
 
 I
 
 50 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 in liononr and duty to state it, not only to my private friends, 
 but to tlie public ; and I think I may do this the more readily, 
 that I never pledged myself for anything besides the accuracy 
 of the statements which, in order to attract attention to the 
 subject, and to secure my share of a claim to which I conceive 
 myself entitled, I was induced to make public." 
 
 Dr Thomson had returned from the Continent in 1814, 
 strongly impressed with the advantage, both to the sick and 
 diseased poor, and to the medical school in Edinburgh, which 
 might arise from the establishment in that city of an efficiently- 
 conducted dispensary. This led to the institution of the present 
 New Town Dispensary, which, at its commencement, met with 
 a vehemence of opposition, of which, at the present day, it is 
 difficult to form any conception. The gentlemen engaged in the 
 design found it necessary to lay before the public a detailed 
 statement of facts, which, if we mistake not, was chiefly prepared 
 by Dr Thomson. The simple fact, that the number of patients 
 admitted to the benefits of this institution, from its first estab- 
 lishment in September 1815 to 31st December 1844, was 
 229,020, of whom the number visited at their own houses was 
 97,819, contains the best practical refutation of the allegation 
 then strenuously urged of its being unnecessary ; and nothing, 
 certainly, has since occurred in the history of the other chari- 
 table medical institutions of Edinburgh to justify the apprehen- 
 sion then so loudly expressed, of its being calculated to be pre- 
 judicial to them. We scarcely think we are attributing too 
 much to the influence of Dr Thomson's example upon the gen- 
 tlemen with whom he was associated in this measure, when we 
 say that, had not his professional zeal been equalled by his 
 moral courage, the New Town Dispensary would have been 
 strangled at its birth. 
 
 In 1818, another occasion occurred for testing his moral 
 courage in the cause of humanity. In the course of the pre- 
 vious year, principally through the instrumentality of his friend 
 and former pupil, Dr Gordon, an inquiry was set on foot as to 
 certain defects in the economical treatment of the patients in 
 the Koyal Infirmary. This inquiry gave great offence to the 
 managers, a very influential portion of the community, and to
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 51 
 
 tlieir friends. Previously to the meeting of the Court of Con- 
 tributors at which the Report of the Committee of Inquiry was 
 to be considered, Dr Thomson drew up and published, in the 
 form of a letter to the Court of Contributors, a summary of the 
 results of the investigation. At the meeting, the managers' 
 party mustered in overpowering numbers. Whoever attempted 
 to speak on the opposite side was overpowered by clamour ; 
 whilst a very high functionary was listened to in a lengthened 
 oration, in which he censured, in no measured terms, the con- 
 duct of those who had been in any way instrumental in the 
 inquiry ; and particularly vituperated the author of the letter to 
 the Court of Contributors. When the meeting, at which Dr 
 Thomson had not been present, was over, a general feeling pre- 
 vailed that this speech had not been met as it should have been ; 
 and deeply participating in this feeling, Dr Thomson set about 
 the preparation of a second letter to the Court of Contributors, 
 in which he went into a full examination of the arguments by 
 which the honourable manager had endeavoured to set aside the 
 Report of the Committee, and the recorded evidence on which it 
 was founded. These two letters appeared without his name. 
 In the " Advertisement " to the second letter, he says, " The 
 author of the following letter is fully aware of the well-founded 
 prejudice which exists with regard to anonymous publications, 
 and his name certainly should not have been withheld could he 
 imagine it would have added any weight to that side of the 
 question respecting the late inquiry into the state of the Royal 
 Infirmary, which he has felt himself compelled, by an imperious 
 sense of duty, to adopt. But in delivering his opinions with the 
 freedom which the nature of the subject seemed to him to re- 
 quire, he is conscious that he has endeavoured to avoid every- 
 thing which might give offence to those connected with the 
 management of that institution ; and he trusts that he has in no 
 respect expressed himself differently from what he would have 
 done had he judged it proper to subscribe his name to this or to 
 his former letter." But though appearing anonymously, it is 
 believed that the source from which these letters proceeded was 
 very generally understood. What share they may have had in 
 strengthening prejudices which led in a few years afterwards, as
 
 52 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 we sliall presently see, to Dr Thomson's exclusion from tlie place 
 in tlie University to wliicli the voice and the interests of the pub- 
 lic loudly called him, it would perhaps be vain to conjecture. 
 It is extremely gratifying, however, to know, that not only have 
 the greater part, if not, indeed, the whole of the economical 
 arrangements recommended by the Committee of Inquiry, and 
 enforced by Dr Tiiomson in his two letters, been since adopted 
 in the Royal Infirmary, but that changes pointed out by them 
 in the constitution of the management have been introduced, 
 which, by placing, that management more under public control, 
 have secured for the institution a much larger share of public 
 support than it had ever previously received. 
 
 In the course of 1817-18 commenced an epidemic of small- 
 pox in Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland, which for a suc- 
 cession of years engaged a large share of Dr Thomson's atten- 
 tion, compelling him to abandon the pleasing conviction he had 
 up to that time entertained of cow-pock being an absolute pre- 
 ventative of small-pox, though it left him fully convinced of its 
 possessing extraordinary powers in modifying the severity of 
 that disease when occurring in persons previously vaccinated ; 
 and leading him to the persuasion that the distinction between 
 small-pox and chicken-pox, established by Heberden, and since 
 generally admitted, is erroneous. 
 
 The results of much personal observation of the disease, and 
 of much reading, were communicated to the public in two 
 volumes, viz., the " x\ccount of the Varioloid Epidemic," &c., 
 published in 1820, and in his "Historical Sketch," &c., pub- 
 lished in 1822. 
 
 The opponents of vaccination had, from an early period of 
 the practice, brought forward examples of what they regarded 
 as the occurrence of small-pox subsequent to cow-pock ; and 
 represented this as an overwhelming objection to placing con- 
 fidence in that practice as a preventative of small-pox. The 
 champions of vaccination, on the other hand, had denied that 
 such an objection could be brought against the practice ; alleg- 
 ing that what had been represented as cases of small-pox, occur- 
 ing subsequently to vaccination, were actually cases of chicken- 
 pox, and not of small-pox. By degrees, however, they were
 
 OF DR THOMSON. o3 
 
 at leno;th constrained to acknowledge tlie reality of tliis occur- 
 rence; and these reluctant acknowledgments tended to lead both 
 themselves and the public into the persuasion that, as che op 
 ponents of vaccination had proved correct as to their facts, so 
 also they were correct as to their inferences, and that the prac- 
 tice of vaccination was not deserving of the confidence it had 
 acquired as a preventative of small -pox. 
 
 It was, we think, in a very considerable degree, if not mainly 
 by Dr Thomson's labours that the profession and the public 
 escaped from falling into what would, practically, have been a 
 most unfortunate error. These labours clearly established that 
 what was happening in the case of cow-pox, had previously 
 happened in the case of small-pox, whether natural or inocu- 
 lated; that is to say, that the persons who had passed through 
 one attack of that disease had been liable to one if not more 
 subsequent attacks of the same disease ; just as those who had 
 passed through cow-pox were now found to be liable to a sub- 
 sequent attack of small-pox ; but tbat, though in neither case 
 is there absolute exemption from the occurrence of small-pox, 
 the general rule is, that the secondary attack of small-pox in 
 the one case, and the attack of small-pox after vaccination in 
 the other case, is greatly milder than a primary attack of small- 
 pox ; and his personal observations even led to a conclusion far 
 more favourable to vaccination than could d, priori have been 
 anticipated, viz., that small-pox occuring in those who have pre- 
 viously passed through cow-pox is, on the whole, a much milder 
 disease than small-pox occuring in those who have previously 
 passed through small-pox. 
 
 In the concluding part of his historical sketch, written at a 
 late period of 1821, Dr Thomson mentions that, since June 
 1818, 836 cases of the varioloid epidemic had come under his 
 observation. " Of the whole number, 281 have occurred in 
 individuals who had neither had small-pox nor cow-pox, and of 
 these fully more than one in four have died ; 71 had previously 
 passed through small-pox, and of these two have died ; and 484 
 had undergone the process of vaccination, and of this number 
 one only has died, results which evince," he observes, " beyond 
 the power of cavil, the beneficial effects of vaccination in pro-
 
 54 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 tecting the human constitution from the dangers of small-pox, 
 and the great advantages which must ultimately arise from tlie 
 universal adoption of this practice." 
 
 In finding himself compelled to admit that some of the small- 
 pox-like, or varioloid, cases which occur after vaccination ac- 
 tually proceed from small-pox contagion, and cannot be got rid 
 of, as he and other advocates of vaccination had been wont 
 to suppose, on the plea of their being cases of chicken-pox, Dr 
 Thomson was naturally led to inquire how it had happened that 
 he and others had failed to recognise their true small-pox 
 nature, and had set them down as cases of chicken-pox ; and 
 the conclusion at which he arrived was, that there was a funda- 
 mental error in Dr Heberden's recognition of chicken-pox as a 
 disease distinct from small-pox, and that, in point of fact, what 
 had been established as a generically or specifically distinct dis- 
 ease, is only one of the many varieties which small-pox, as it 
 occurs under various modifying influences, is liable to exhibit 
 in its external characters. It is not the purpose of this memoir 
 to discuss or to vindicate the correctness of Dr Thomson's 
 medical opinions, but, we believe, we may safely say, that the 
 number of believers in the separate and independent existence 
 of chicken-pox as a distinct disease from small-pox is already 
 very much reduced, and that, under the progress of time and 
 observation, it is likely to become still more diminished, if not 
 entirely to disappear. 
 
 The labour which Dr Thomson went through in the prosecu- 
 tion of this inquiry, the almost entire possession which it took 
 of his mind for a long period of time, can be conceived only by 
 those who were witnesses of it. Any subject which offered a 
 prospect of extending the boundaries of medical knowledge was 
 sufficient to engage the attention of a mind so ardent as his ; 
 but the interest and importance of vindicating in the right 
 manner the advantages of so great a boon to mankind as vacci- 
 nation were calculated to call into operation all his energies. 
 He dedicated with great satisfaction the two volumes to Sir 
 James M'Grigor, Director-General of the Army Medical 
 Department, to whom he felt himself attached by obligations of 
 which he could make no other acknowledgment besides that of
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 55 
 
 cherishing them, as he did to the last hour of his life, in the 
 most grateful remembrance. 
 
 In connection with the subject of cow-pox and small-pox, it 
 is proper here to notice a short letter from Dr Thomson to the 
 late Dr Duncan, which appeared in the 21st volume of the 
 Medical and Surgical Journal (p. 92], in which he suggests, 
 that the well-known test-pock of Mr Bryce bears the same rela- 
 tion to the primary cow-pox which secondary small-pox bear to 
 primary small-pox ; that cow-pox modify cow-pox as small-pox 
 modify small-pox ; and these diseases produce each a diminutive 
 or spurious pock in being reciprocally modified by one another ; 
 and that if medical men, previously to the introduction of 
 vaccination, gave the name of varicella to varioloid eruptions, 
 many of which we have reason to believe were cases of secondary 
 small-pox, we may now, with equal propriety, give the name of 
 vaccinella to secondary cow-pox. These analogies, he adds, be- 
 tween small-pox and cow-pox, are as curious in a speculative 
 as they are important in a practical point of view. 
 
 In the summer of 1819, Dr Thomson delivered a course of 
 lectures on the diseases of the eye, partly systematic and partly 
 what is usually, though inaccurately, termed clinical, — the 
 patients affected with eye diseases who applied for advice at the 
 New Town Dispensary being transferred to his class-room, and 
 other means being used for bringing together illustrative cases. 
 In Edinburgh, at that time, there did not exist any separate 
 institution for the treatment of this class of diseases, and no 
 separate course of lectures for its consideration had been pre- 
 viously delivered. Dr Thomson's inducement to undertake this 
 course was, it is believed, his desire and hope that it should be 
 continued by his pupil and esteemed friend, Dr Tweedie, whose 
 early removal to Loudon frustrated this expectation. There can 
 be no doubt, however, that this course paved the way to the 
 institution, five years later (1824), of the first Eye Dispensary, 
 as well as at a subsequent period (1834) to that of the Eye In- 
 firmary in Edinburgh, the senior surgeon of which (Dr Watson) 
 always referred to the course of lectures delivered by Dr Thom- 
 son in the summer of 1819, as having first directed his atten- 
 tion in a special manner to this department of practice, in which 
 
 d 2
 
 56 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 he justly attained considerable eminence. Br Thomson had, 
 throughout his whole professional career, bestowed much study 
 and attention on the diseases of the eye, and seems at more 
 than one period to have entertained serious thoughts of se- 
 lecting them as a special department of practice. Among his 
 correspondence is found a letter from Dr De Carro, well known 
 as an early promoter of the practice of vaccination upon the Con- 
 tinent, and who was then resident in Vienna, giving an account 
 of the celebrated living oculists of that capital, and advising his 
 friend in what way he would be able to derive the largest amount 
 of benefit from their instructions; and, in letters written by him- 
 self from London in 1803, he repeatedly speaks of the diseases 
 of the eye as being likely to be the first professional subject on 
 which he would venture to appear before the public as an 
 author. 
 
 Dr Thomson was now comparatively little engaged in the 
 
 practice of surgery, and that only in the way of consultation, 
 
 and had become desirous to transfer his energies as a teacher to 
 
 a new field. His connection with the University, however, so 
 
 long as it continued, debarred him from delivering any course 
 
 that could be considered in the light of competition with any of 
 
 those delivered by his colleagues. The history and treatment 
 
 of organic diseases was a department of medical science which 
 
 his habits of pathological investigation had especially prepared 
 
 him to teach ; and though attendance upon a special course of 
 
 this kind was not required by any of the public boards, on the 
 
 part of candidates for their licences, he hoped to be able to 
 
 render such a course attractive, particularly by extending in it 
 
 a practice he had pursued to a considerable extent in his course 
 
 of surgery, that, namely, of illustrating the various diseased 
 
 appearances of the difl:erent organs of the body by coloured 
 
 delineations. With this view he secured the services of Mr, 
 
 afterwards Dr and Sir Robert Carswell, whose singular talents 
 
 for the representation of morbid structure have since been so 
 
 advantageously manifested, not only in the large collections of 
 
 drawings which he executed successively for Dr Thomson and 
 
 for the University College in London, but in his published 
 
 " Illustrations of the Elementary Forms of Disease."
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 57 
 
 The benefits that might result from the application of coloured 
 delineations to the representation of diseases, were fully pointed 
 out by Professor Delius in his " Meditatio de Iconibus Patho- 
 logico-Anatomicis ad Naturam pictis," published at Erlangen 
 in 1782. But though, in some particular departments, and 
 especially in the illustration of the diseases of the eye and of 
 the skin, advantage had been taken of this mode of representa- 
 tion, the idea of applying it, in a systematic course, to the 
 elucidation of the whole range of diseases, does not seem ever 
 to have been entertained by any teacher previously to the bold 
 conception of Dr Thomson. It is scarcely necessary to remark 
 what important benefits have resulted to pathological science 
 from his engagement of Dr Cars well in this design. Had it 
 had no other consequence besides that of training Dr Carswell 
 himself to an intimate acquaintance with morbid anatomy, to 
 the promotion of which his personal observations and labours 
 have furnished very large and important contributions, it would 
 have conferred a most valuable service. But when we look to 
 the numerous works on morbid anatomy, illustrated by coloured 
 delineations, which have since appeared, and consider how much 
 both the preparation and the publication of these works have 
 tended to the promotion of pathology, we cannot fail to regard 
 this as another instance, in addition to the many which Dr 
 Thomson's history affords, of the beneficial effects resulting to 
 science from a new direction being given to the labours of its 
 cultivators, by an impulse from a judicious and intelligent 
 mind. 
 
 Dr Thomson's collection of pathological delineations, begun 
 before 1820, was greatly extended between the years 1822 and 
 1826, when Mr Carswell was entirely occupied in its formation 
 in this country, and in various hospitals and museums on the 
 Continent, to which he was sent by Dr Thomson. It was first 
 employed in illustration of Dr Thomson's Lectures on the 
 Practice of Physic. At a later period it underwent a greater 
 increase, when it was adapted to the illustration of the courses 
 of General Pathology in the University of Edinburgh ; so that 
 at last the number of delineations amounted to about 2400. 
 Of this number, more than a half consisted of original finished
 
 58 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 paintings, chiefly in water colour, of the morhid appearances 
 observed in different cases of disease, many of which were of a 
 most rare and interesting kind. It may be proper here to state 
 further, that this unrivalled collection of pictorial illustrations 
 of pathological subjects was afterwards employed by Dr Wil- 
 liam Thomson for the illustration of his Lectures on the Prac- 
 tice of Physic in the University of Glasgow, and that after his 
 death it passed into the possession of the University of Edin- 
 burgh, in connection with the Practice of Physic Chair. 
 
 In the year 1821, Dr Gregory died, and Dr Thomson, along 
 with many others, offered himself as a candidate for the vacant 
 chair of the Practice of Physic in the University. In that appli- 
 cation he was most nobly supported. His early instructors, his 
 fellow-students, his pupils, his professional brethren, all com- 
 bined in furnishing a body of testimony in his favour which left 
 the Town- Council, — who were patrons of the chair, — no room 
 for difficulty. " Most of these," said Dr Thomson himself, in 
 transmitting a portion of his testimonials to the patrons, " are 
 from individuals who have themselves been employed in 
 teaching branches of medical science ; and all of them from 
 men of such worth and eminence, that, as it is my highest pride 
 to have obtained their good opinion, so it shall be the study of 
 my life to endeavour to justify it." 
 
 In laying before the reader a single specimen of these pro- 
 fessional testimonials, we might perhaps present it under a 
 name of more extended and imposing authority than attaches 
 to the one we shall select, — that of the late Dr Kellie of Leith ; 
 but certainly not under that of one more capable of estimating 
 the qualifications of a colleague than Dr Kellie was, in tlie 
 judgment of those who knew him most intimately, and no one 
 knew him better than Dr Thomson, or valued more highly 
 tliose talents and attainments which only needed a wider field 
 of exertion to have raised their possessor to a position of the 
 first rank in his profession. 
 
 " Your printed testimonials, which you have done me the 
 honour to send me, are indeed most ample and respectable ; 
 but you have lived so long amongst us, and have been so long 
 and so eminently distinguished fpr all those accomplishments
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 59 
 
 which the vacant chair of our medical school demands, that I 
 should have thought such a mass of testimonials little wanted to 
 substantiate your claims." " A physician of mere pi^actical ex- 
 perience^ and one of mere science and research would be equally 
 unfit to discharge the important duties of professor of medicine 
 in our alma mater. You, in an eminent degree, unite the qua- 
 lifications of both. With great talents, joined to unrivalled in- 
 dustry, you have established for yourself abroad, as well as at 
 home, a distinguished reputation as a man of literature and of 
 science, and have become equally eminent as a writer, a teacher, 
 and a practitioner of medicine. As I know few men who have 
 better deserved this high fame, so surely I know no one who 
 has made greater sacrifice to merit and obtain it." 
 
 Nor w^as the evidence borne in his favour confined exclusively 
 to members of the profession ; and one non-medical testimony 
 to Dr Thomson's high qualifications we cannot deny ourselves 
 the pleasure of introducing here — prompted not more by the 
 singularly truthful and eloquent exposition of his scientific cha- 
 racter it aflTords, than by our knowledge of the value he attached 
 to the long and steady friendship which it records. " It is now, 
 I think," says Mr Thomas Thomson, to whose labours all in- 
 terested in the constitutional history of Scotland are under per- 
 petual obligations, " more than thirty years since I first had the 
 good fortune to make your acquaintance, when we were attend- 
 ing the chemical lectures in Glasgow College ; and I can dis- 
 tinctly remember the high opinion we all then formed of your 
 scientific talents, as well as of your zeal in the acquisition of 
 knowledge. That acquaintance laid the foundation of a friend- 
 ship which has ever since subsisted between us ; and which, 
 while it has certainly afforded me ample opportunity of esti- 
 mating your character in riper years, may probably be thought 
 to have disabled me from judging impartially in anything where 
 your interests or your fame are nearly concerned. At the same 
 time, I am confident that I shall not offend against the convic- 
 tion of any of those to wTiom you have been best known, in 
 stating, that from the period when you first entered on the 
 career of science, down to the present day, throughout a life 
 devoted to the laborious and anxious duties of your profession,
 
 60 BIOGEAPKICAL NOTICE 
 
 your original ardour in the pursuit of knowledge has never 
 suffered the slightest abatement, but has carried you onward in 
 an uninterrupted progress of discipline and of acquirement, 
 which constitute at once the highest title and the best qualifica- 
 tion for the important and honourable office to which you are 
 now aspiring." 
 
 It soon, however, became apparent that other considerations 
 than the qualifications of the candidates, or the reputation and 
 welfare of the University, were to determine the choice. As the 
 day of election approached, representations were made to the 
 Duke of York of the individual injustice and public injury that 
 were threatened by the disreg:ard of Dr Thomson's claims. Upon 
 this his Royal Highness addressed to the Lord Provost a letter, 
 in which, to a strong representation of the opinion entertained 
 of Dr Thomson's character and services in the array, he sub- 
 joined the expression of his own best wishes for Dr Thomson's 
 success. This communication unfortunately arrived a few days 
 too late. The majority of the Council, at a previous meeting, 
 had committed themselves as to the course they were to pursue, 
 to such a degree as to render it impossible for them to draw 
 back. There can be no doubt, however, that this letter produced 
 a very startling impression upon them ; and with a view to 
 counter-balance its effect, and to justify the conduct of the 
 Town-Council in His Iloyal Higlmess' eyes, a declaration of the 
 high qualifications of the gentleman on whom the chair was to 
 be conferred was obtained from several of the members of the 
 Medical Faculty in the University, — a declaration which tended 
 greatly to destroy the confidence which patrons of University 
 chairs might repose in the judgments of academic colleagues. 
 
 Early in the competition for the Practice of l*hysic Chair, Dr 
 Thomson resigned the chair of Surgery, which he had held for 
 seventeen years from the College of Surgeons, and had the double 
 gratification of receiving the warm thanks of that body for the 
 manner in which he had discharged the duties of his office, and 
 of seeing elected as his successor in that office his former pupil, 
 and latterly assistant as well as friend, Mr Turner. lu the 
 course of the following summer, his services as surgeon to the 
 forces having been discontinued in consequence of reductions in
 
 OF Dll THOMSON. 61 
 
 the military establishments of the country, he resigned his ap- 
 pointment as Professor of Military Surgery in the University, 
 thereby freeing himself from any restrictions as a teacher ; and 
 accordingly, in the subsequent winter session, he delivered, as an 
 extra-academical lecturer, a course upon the practice of physic. 
 
 In entering on this course he at once put aside that arrange- 
 ment of diseases which nosologists had adopted, in their desire 
 to imitate the classifications of naturalists, and to secure to 
 medicine the benefits which these classifications had conferred on 
 the several departments of natural history. In its place he sub- 
 stituted an anatomico- physiological arrangement, as the one best 
 adapted for lectures or for treatises on the practice of physic, 
 inasmuch as it brings together, in the first place, the diflferent 
 diseases of the same organ, and, in the second place, those of 
 the organs most intimately related to one another. The expe- 
 diency of this change has received the best sanction which it 
 could have obtained, in the rapidity with which it has been al- 
 most universally followed by other teachers of the same depart- 
 ment of medicine in this country. 
 
 Our limits do not admit of entering into any exposition of 
 the character of this course generally, or of the topics discussed 
 in it, and the manner in which they were treated. We may 
 observe, however, that the view which Dr Thomson presented 
 of the diseases of the respiratory and circulatory organs, in par- 
 ticular, embracing as it did the most recent researches of Con- 
 tinental as well as domestic pathologists, and more especially 
 those of M. Laennec, which had been published two or three 
 years before, was probably fuller and more systematic than had 
 ever previously been exhibited in a course on the practice of 
 physic. And illustrated, as it was, by coloured representations 
 of almost all the morbid alterations of structure to which these 
 organs are subject, it could not fail to give his students a deep 
 interest in these two classes of diseases, and to urge them to a 
 more accurate investigation of the many circumstances in their 
 natural history which he pointed out as being still imperfectly 
 understood. 
 
 The greater part of these lectures were composed immediately 
 T)i-eviouslv to their deliverv ; and it may convev to the reader
 
 62 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 some idea of Dr Thomson's energy, copiousness of knowledge, 
 and systematic arrangement of his ideas, to learn that very many 
 of the lectures were dictated nearly fully to an amanuensis on 
 the morning of the day on which each one was delivered, while 
 he was in bed, and this at a period when he was so much en- 
 gaged in practice, that no other time could be found free from 
 interruption. He was then in the habit of reading in his car- 
 riage as he went during the day to his different professional 
 visits, and of studying in the evening in his extensive and well- 
 chosen library. He retired to bed generally about ten o'clock, 
 and by three or four in the morning he was again at work, 
 digesting and preparing the materials which, between the 
 hours of six and nine, he dictated in the form of lectures to 
 the amanuensis. 
 
 Among those who, in addition to his sons, acted in this capa- 
 city for Dr Thomson at various times, and all of whom he made 
 his companions in study, may be mentioned the names of Mr 
 Gray, surgeon, of Kinross ; Dr Donald Mackintosh, who died 
 in 1827 ; Dr (afterwards Professor) Ferdinand Becker, of Berlin, 
 who died in 1836 ; and Professor J. Y. Simpson, of the Uni- 
 versity of Edinburgh. 
 
 It has been erroneously said, that Dr Thomson treated the 
 stethoscope, on its first introduction, with ridicule. So far from 
 this being the case, he took infinite pains, in his lectures on the 
 two classes of diseases that have been mentioned, to make his 
 students acquainted, as far as can be done in a merely systema- 
 tic course, with the various acoustic phenomena which the prac- 
 tice of auscultation reveals, and with the inferences to which the 
 occurrence of these phenomena in particular cases leads, so far 
 as the then existing state of knowledge admitted of such infe- 
 rences being deduced ; and he urged upon them the propriety 
 of making themselves practically familiar with these phenomena 
 as they occur both in health and disease. It was in respect of 
 the risk of being led by an over-implicit reliance on auscultatory 
 phenomena, to set down as cases of organic disease of the heart 
 what are really only cases of functional disturbance of that or- 
 gan, that Dr Thomson principally cautioned his students against 
 an imprudent confidence in drawing inferences from stethoscopic
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 63 
 
 signs ; and no impartial person who reviews the progress of 
 knowledge in this department, since the time when the first 
 edition of M. Laennec's work was published, can fail to acknow- 
 ledge, that, in the doubts which Dr Thomson expressed as 
 to the sufficiency of the knowledge that had then been acquired, 
 for effecting the discrimination of the diseases dependent on 
 organic alteration from those of a simply functional or dyna- 
 mical character, he only afforded an illustration of his usual 
 sagacity, and of his practical acquaintance with both classes of 
 diseases. 
 
 What Dr Thomson may perchance have been tempted to say 
 on some particular occasion, in bantering a stethoscopic enthu- 
 siast, must not be construed to the precise letter, any more than 
 his off-hand profession that the practice of the homoeopathists 
 differed from that which he followed, chiefly in this respect, that 
 while they gave very little medicine, he gave none at all. His 
 sentiments as to the employment of medicines as remedial agents 
 in the treatment of diseases, on which also there seems to be 
 some misconception, may be best learned from the following 
 observations wath which he was accustomed to conclude his 
 course on the practice of physic. 
 
 " I am aware that, on looking back on the remedial part of 
 the treatment of most diseases, there are two points in which my 
 course may appear to some of you to have been defective. The 
 first is, the small number and great similarity of the remedies 
 which I have usually recommended in the treatment of diseases ; 
 and the second is, the entire omission of the mention of many of 
 those remedies which you will find strongly recommended in 
 your books on materia medica, and which are even still much 
 used by many respectable practitioners. 
 
 " Respecting these points, all I can say is, that I have 
 been chiefly desirous to make you acquainted with the gene- 
 ral facts or principles which appear to me to have been ascer- 
 tained with regard to the antiphlogistic plan of curing diseases; 
 and, at the same time, with some of those salutary changes which 
 nature, aided by diet and regimen, often accom2)lishes, but 
 which are usually ascribed by the ignorant to the operation of 
 the medicines that have been administered during the time that
 
 6-4 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 those natural and salutary changes, by which diseases are, in 
 fact, ultimately cured or relieved, have been going on in the 
 constitution. 
 
 •' With regard to the small number of remedies which I have 
 recommended for the cure of diseases, I have to observe, that 
 though it be certainly very desirable that we should have in our 
 possession a sufficient store of remedies, and some room for 
 choice in their adaptation to different constitutions, even in the 
 treatment of the same diseases, yet I cannot but regard the 
 infinite number of remedies with which the Materia Medica is 
 incumbered as one of the greatest evils to which the practice of 
 physic is at present exposed. The endless number of these 
 remedies, and the variety of powers which each of them is sup- 
 posed to possess, renders the study of the materia medica pain- 
 fully and uselessly laborious, the choice of remedies perplexing:, 
 and the consideration of their results doubtful and unsatisfactory. 
 There is certainly no mechanical art in which a man could be 
 expected to acquire much skill in the application, or in the 
 knowledge of the comparative effects, of different instruments, 
 were he obliged to employ, in the exercise of his profession, in- 
 struments as numerous as the remedies are which it is deemed 
 necessary that the medical practitioner should employ in the 
 exercise of his art. 
 
 " In no department of the healing art is a greater reform, in 
 my opinion, necessary than in the Materia Medica. But from 
 the number and strength of the prejudices and interests with 
 which this reform has to contend, I fear that it will be long, — 
 that it will be ages, — before it can be accomplished. We must 
 hope, however, — and by our exertions endeavour to promote it, — 
 that in the progress of the healing art, the articles of which our 
 materia medica consists shall be such only as are universally 
 acknowledged to have the sanative powers ascribed to them ; 
 and that these powers shall be such as to produce sensible effects, 
 in the same way as those remedies which we at ju'esent include 
 under the general terms of Cathartics, Diuretics, Diaphoretics, 
 &c., and not of the kind which have been so long included under 
 the indefinite and deceitful terms of Tonics, Alteratives, and 
 Specifics.""
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 65 
 
 In 1824, it having- been rumoured that proposals were un- 
 der the consideration of the Senatus Academicus of the Univer- 
 sity, for improving and extending the curriculum of study re- 
 quired of candidates for the medical degree, Dr Thomson, under 
 the designation of a Graduate of King's College, Aberdeen, ad- 
 dressed to the Patrons and Professors a few remarks which he 
 entitled, " Hints respecting the Improvement of the Literary and 
 Scientific Education of Candidates for the degree of M.D." &c. 
 In 1826, on the appointment of a Royal Commission for visit- 
 ing the Universities of Scotland, he prefixed to these Hints, 
 " Observations on the Preparatory Education of Candidates for 
 the degree of M.D. in the Scottish Universities," and addressed 
 the whole to the Royal Commissioners in his own name. He 
 subsequently printed " Additional Hints respecting the Im- 
 provement of the System of Medical Instruction followed in the 
 University of Edinburgh," the object of which was to call atten- 
 tion to two great defects, as he conceived, in that system,— the 
 want of separate professors of surgery and clinical medicine. 
 
 In consequence, probably, of these publications, Dr Thomson 
 received notice that he was to be summoned before the Commis- 
 sioners for examination ; and a considerable interval having 
 clasped between the time of notice and his being called to give 
 evidence, he had an opportunity of extending into short essays on 
 each topic the heads on which he at first proposed to offer remarks 
 viva voce. These remarks are to be found in the printed " Evi- 
 dence" which accompanied the Report of the Royal Commission. 
 Besides impressing on the Royal Commissioners his views as 
 to the improvements desirable in the preparatory education of 
 medical students, which he regarded as of incomparable im- 
 portance, and in the modes of teaching surgery and clinical 
 medicine, he suggested to them the expediency of making General 
 Pathology, then taught as a department of the Institutes of 
 Medicine, the subject of a separate course of lectures. 
 
 In the first volume of his Life of Cullen, Dr Thomson after- 
 wards inserted a statement of his general views on medical 
 education ; and it merits notice, that in recent legislation upon 
 this subject, a near approach has been made to some of the
 
 66 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 most important suggestions thrown out by Dr Thomson in the 
 publications above referred to. 
 
 In the course of 1827, Dr Thomson published an edition, in 
 two volumes 8vo, of Dr Cullen's Works, containing the Physio- 
 logy, Nosology, and First Lines of the Practice of Physic, with 
 numerous extracts from Dr Cullen's MS. papers, and from his 
 treatise of the Materia Medica. " In preparing it for the 
 press," he observed, in a dedicatory address to the students of 
 the Medical School of Edinburgh, " I have had two objects 
 chiefly in view ; first, to furnish you with such extracts from Dr 
 Cullen's MS. papers as seem to throw additional light on the 
 subjects of which these books treat; and, secondly, to put the 
 public in possession of documents that appear to me to estab- 
 lish Dr Cullen's claims to originality for observations and 
 doctrines wliich, under various modifications, have been repeat- 
 edly brought forward since his time, and made the bases of 
 new theories or systems of medicine." And, again, " In pre- 
 senting you," says he, " with these elementary works in their 
 present form, I am well aware that the science of medicine has 
 made great advances since they were first produced ; advances 
 which require corresponding changes in the manner in which 
 this science should now be taught. But I know of no general 
 work on the practice of physic, hitherto published in this 
 country, calculated to supersede Dr Cullen's writings as text- 
 books ; and certainly none which can bear a comparison with 
 them in the extent and variety of the medical information which 
 they contain ; in the model which they afford of distinct and 
 comprehensive definitions and histories of diseases ; and in the 
 talent which they display for the accurate discrimination and 
 simple generalization of the results of experience." 
 
 In this, as in all the other works published by Dr Thomson, he 
 entirely neglected pecuniary considerations. They were all a cause 
 of expenditure, rather than a source of emolument to him. It can 
 scarcely be doubted that if, at the period at which we are now ar- 
 rived, he had published a treatise on the Practice of Medicine, em- 
 bodying the more modern information contained in his lectures, 
 he would have satisfied a great demand which existed for such a
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 67 
 
 work, with much advantage and accession of reputation to himself. 
 But he preferred doing justice to Cullen's reputation, by the 
 publication of the edition of his works, with the addition of ex- 
 tracts from his manuscripts which had come into his possession. 
 
 During the sessions 1828-29 and 1829-30, Dr Thomson de- 
 livered his course on the Practice of Physic in conjunction with 
 his elder son, after which he transferred it wholly to his son, 
 with no expectation of again resuming the duties of a teacher. 
 In discontinuing this course, he probably felt that the motives 
 which had prompted him to commence it, had now, in a great 
 measure, ceased to operate. One of these, his desire, by teaching, 
 to augment his own knowledge, he had in a very considerable 
 degree removed, by making himself acquainted, so far as his very 
 extensive and laborious business would permit, with the latest 
 and best writings upon special pathology. He had established 
 a greatly improved method of teaching this important depart- 
 ment of medical education upon a solid foundation ; and he 
 might well feel, also, that he had amply justified the favourable 
 opinitms of his qualifications for teaching it that had been 
 expressed by his friends in reference to his application for the 
 chair in the University. 
 
 In the course of the autumn of 1830, he indulged himself 
 with the recreation of a tour through a large portion of England, 
 accompanied by his younger son, chiefly for the inspection of 
 asylums for the reception of the insane ; a class of institutions 
 which he lost no opportunity of visiting. On his way home- 
 wards he paid a visit to Dublin and Belfast. 
 
 In 1831, Dr Thomson addressed to Lord Melbourne, then 
 secretary of state for the home department, a memorial repre- 
 senting the advantages to medical education likely to flow from 
 the establishment of a separate chair of General Pathology. 
 The result was the issuing of a commission in his favour, con- 
 ceived in terms which inferred that the course of pathology 
 should be added to the curriculum of study required by the 
 University of its medical graduates. A similar commission was 
 at the same time issued in favour of his friend Mr Turner, to be 
 the first distinct Professor of Surgery in the University. From 
 the latter appointment, Dr Thomson derived even more gratifica-
 
 6S BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 tion than from that in which he was himself concerned. — not 
 less on public grounds than on account of the acknov/ledgnient 
 it implied of the high qualifications of one with whom, after 
 having seen him educated to the profession under his immediate 
 superintendence, he had, for upwards of twenty years, lived upon 
 habits of the most intimate and confidential friendship. 
 
 The creation of the Pathology Chair gave rise at the time, 
 and on several subsequent occasions, to much discussion. T)r 
 Thomson defended the utility of the measure, first, in a letter to 
 the College Bailie, of date 29th October 1831 ; and a second 
 time in 1837, iri Remarks on the Memorial of the Town Council 
 to Lord John Russell, &c., respecting the professorship of me- 
 dicine and general pathology. 
 
 It is unnecessary now to enter upon the discussion of the 
 propriety of the establishment of a chair of general pathology 
 in the University of Edinburgh, as the experience of a quarter 
 of a century has fully shown how correctly Dr Thomson estim- 
 ated the future progress of medical science in recommending that 
 measure ; and there are at the present day few large medical 
 schools in the country in which general pathology or pathological 
 anatomy does not form a distinct and regular course of instruction. 
 It may be proper, however, to state in this place, very shortly, the 
 reasons which led Dr Thomson first to propose, and to the last 
 to defend through all opposition, the institution of the chair. 
 
 The department of General Pathology originally formed a 
 branch of the course of the Theory or Institutes of medicine, 
 along with Physiology and General Therapeutics. But the 
 progress of the knowledge of the structure and functions of the 
 human body in a state of health had rendered physiology so ex- 
 tensive a subject as to demand the whole of the time allotted for 
 one course of lectures, and to absorb the whole of the attention of 
 a teacher, who should at the same time be an earnest culti- 
 vator of his department of science. It had thus become appar- 
 ent, that either a distinct professorship of general pathology 
 was required, or a separate course of lectures on that subject by 
 the professor of the institutes had become necessary. The latter 
 expedient had accordingly been for some time resorted to in 
 the Edinburo^h School of Medicine.
 
 OF DE THOMSON. 69 
 
 In almost all the Continental universities, however, General 
 Pathology had been recognised as a separate course, and wns 
 taught in many by a distinct professor. More especially, the 
 very great advances made during the first quarter of the present 
 century in the department of pathological anatomy, — a continu- 
 ally growing science, requiring peculiar and special means of 
 illustration and instruction, — seemedto render it inexpedient that 
 so important a body of doctrine as that which treated of the gene- 
 ral nature, causes, and effects of disease, should be included in 
 the same course with the equally or more extensive subject of 
 physiology. It had, indeed, become obvious to the majority of the 
 most enlightened persons in the profession, that no full or satis- 
 factory account of two such comprehensive and different depart- 
 ments could be communicated to students by the same teacher ; 
 and that the investigation of both could scarcely be undertaken 
 even bv the most hio-hlv o-ifted individual with advantaoe. It 
 
 *' owe; O 
 
 was not to be wondered at, then, that, in the proposal for the 
 establishment of the new chair, Dr Thomson met with the 
 approval and sympathy of all those members of the profession 
 who felt an earnest desire to extend the boundaries of medical 
 science, and who were of opinion that the formation of the new 
 professorship would tend to the improvement of the education 
 of those obtaining the medical degree at the University. 
 
 These arguments have continued to gain force with the ad- 
 vance of knowledge of the several departments in the present day, 
 and we trust that in any changes which hereafter may be In- 
 troduced in the amount of the qualifications for the medical 
 degree, it may not be considered expedient to attempt to lessen 
 the alleged burJcns upon the medical student, by the removal 
 from the curriculum of the subject of instruction which, from its 
 presenting the phenomena of disease to him in their most gene- 
 ralized and scientific aspect, has the greatest effect, next to the 
 study of physiology, in improving the powers of mind of the 
 student, and elevating the scientific character of the medical 
 profession. 
 
 Soon after his appointment as Professor of General Patho- 
 logy, Dr Thomson published the first volume of the Life of 
 Cullen, a work in which he had been long engaged, but 
 
 e
 
 70 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 which had been greatly retarded, partly by his numerous 
 engagements, partly by his great fastidiousness as to what is 
 required in a work to be presented to the public, and by his 
 apprehension of falling short of what was due to the memory 
 of one, of whose scientific character he had formed a very high 
 estimate. 
 
 In the winter session of 1832-33, he delivered his first course 
 of lectures on general pathology. Although Dr Thomson's 
 previous courses of lectures on the practice of medicine must 
 have brought und^r his review a considerable part of the facts 
 and doctrines which fall to be treated of in a course of general 
 pathology, and although he had in those courses given especial 
 attention to the organic changes occasioned by disease, yet we 
 cannot but be struck with the energy which enabled him at the 
 age of sixty-seven, when most men are contented to rest satis- 
 fied Avith previously acquired knowledge, to embark on an ex- 
 tensive range of new inquiries, necessitating a vast amount of 
 varied reading, and much reflection and collation. His mind 
 was not one which could be contented with imperfect infor- 
 mation in any subject, much less in that which formed the 
 special object of his inquiry, and accordingly we find him at 
 this period engaged in collecting materials from all sources 
 for maturing his views of the general nature and causes of dis- 
 eases. In this labour he was much assisted by his eldest son, 
 whose education he had carefully directed into this channel, in 
 the hope that he might succeed him afterwards in the chair, an 
 oflEice for which Dr William Thomson possessed many and 
 peculiar qualifications. 
 
 The printed syllabus of the course, which was, soon after its 
 commencement, jointly prepared by them, sufficiently attests 
 the extent and importance of the subjects to be taught, the 
 erudition necessary for their treatment, and the labour and 
 judgment required on the part of the professor who should 
 succeed in conveying to his students a consistent view of the 
 doctrines of general pathology. 
 
 In the succeeding autumn, Dr Thomson again made a Con- 
 tinental tour with his younger son. On this occasion they pro- 
 ceeded through the Low Countries up the Rhine, visiting some of
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 71 
 
 the German universities ; then through Switzerland to the north 
 of Italy, and by Turin, Milan, Bologna, Florence, and Rome, 
 to Naples ; thence they returned by sea to Marseilles, and visited 
 successively Montpellier, Lyons, and Paris. This extensive 
 tour was performed in less than three months, and every place 
 visited was seen in a very thorough manner. He was accus- 
 tomed, on his return, when asked how long he had been at 
 any particular town, to reply, " Don't ask me how long I was 
 there, but what I saw." His visit to the Italian schools of 
 medicine derived great additional interest from his having been 
 for some time previously engaged in the study of the works of 
 the Italian pathologists, in reference to their bearing on patho- 
 logy generally, and on the doctrines of Brown in particular, 
 which it was his intention to discuss fully in the second volume 
 of the Life of Cullen. 
 
 In the summer of 1835, in consequence of repeated at- 
 tacks and long continuance of illness, Dr Thomson formally 
 announced to his professional brethren his resolution to decline 
 in future attendance on patients at their own houses, and to con- 
 fine himself exclusively to such consultation practice as could be 
 pursued at his own residence. This measure he adopted in the 
 hope that he would thereby be enabled to go on with his course 
 on general pathology. At the beginning of the winter, he experi- 
 enced a severe blow in the death of Mr Turner; and in the suc- 
 ceeding spring, he was again seized with illness, which greatly 
 reduced his strength, and by the approach of the following 
 winter he found it necessary to obtain the consent of the patrons 
 to the delegation of his University duty. With the exception of 
 some occasional lectures, delivered in subsequent sessions, his 
 labours as a teacher now terminated, the course being conducted 
 by deputy up to the time of his resignation in 1841, and the 
 appointment of a successor in 1842.* In 1837, however, on a 
 proposal, threatening to be fatal to the permanent existence of 
 the Pathology Chair, on the part of the Town- Council, to wdiicli 
 body, mainly on his recommendation, the patronage had been 
 
 * Dr Craigie conducted one of these courses, Dr Simpson another, and 
 Dr William Thomson the remaining or.es. 
 
 e2
 
 72 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 transferred, he made liis last visit to London for the purpose 
 of defeating these efforts. 
 
 From the time of his quitting the practice of his profession, 
 Dr Thomson resided principally at his villa, on the south side 
 of Edinburgh, near the foot of Blackford Hill, making occa- 
 sional visits, particularly for portions of the Avinter, to his sons. 
 The purpose of the present notice, and the length to Avhich it 
 has already extended, equally preclude us from following him 
 into his retreat. We may remark, however, that in retiring 
 thither from the field of active life, Dr Thomson ran no risk of 
 being the victim of that weariness which is so apt to make a 
 prey of those who venture upon such an exchange. He was 
 now at liberty to follow those pursuits in natural and mental 
 science which were congenial to his tastes, without distraction 
 or interruption from the laborious duties or harassing anxieties 
 of his profession. 
 
 In the course of our narrative, we have had repeated occasion 
 to refer to the interest which Dr Thomson took in studies, cog- 
 nate, indeed, with medicine, but not absolutely appertaining to 
 it. But into how many tracks, and how far, he pursued these 
 studies, it has not been possible for us to indicate ; nor is it at 
 present in our power to supply the defect which belongs to this 
 part of our picture of his intellectual character. " "When I say 
 that Dr Thomson is the most learned physician I ever met with," 
 observed the late Dr Henry Davidson, who w^as perhaps him- 
 self better entitled to that character than any living compe- 
 titor, " I know that I am quite safe from any appearance of 
 exaggeration ; because I have heard the same language era- 
 ployed by many medical men in England, and by all those 
 foreigners with whom he became acquainted during his pro- 
 fessional tours on the Continent. It is not only in medicine 
 and its immediate branches that Dr Thomson has a most re- 
 markable degree of knowledge. No one, I am certain, can have 
 conversed with or consulted him upon the actual state or pre- 
 vious history of chemistry, botany, mathematics, or general 
 philosophy, without been surprised at the extent and accuracy 
 of his information ; which can have been acquired only by a 
 devotion of time and attention to laborious studv, seldom found
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 73 
 
 and but little expected in an individual engaged, as Dr Tliora- 
 son has been, in an anxious and fatiguing profession." 
 
 It is perfectly true that Dr Thomson's acquirements were the 
 result of much assiduous application, superadded to the posses- 
 sion of large natural endowments. Few men, we believe, ever 
 w^asted less time than he did upon frivolous or unimproving oc- 
 cupations. Every morning, for a long period of his life, with 
 the assistance of his flint and steel, he had lighted his candle, 
 and was busy in the work of self-improvement during hours 
 which most students think themselves entitled to devote to 
 repose. And when professional avocations used to call him to 
 the country, the quantity of reading he was able to get through 
 upon the road communicated to these journeys an especial de- 
 gree of enjoyment. 
 
 A circumstance of primary importance, as we conceive, in 
 consolidating in his mind the extensive and varied information 
 which he possessed, was his persuasion that knowledge is not to 
 be seized by a sudden onset, but must be regularly approached 
 through her portals. To whatever subject his studies were di- 
 rected, therefore, his first concern was to make himself familiar 
 with its elements. He had gained for himself a ready access 
 to the knowledge contained in the writings of foreign authors, 
 by the diligent cultivation of a considerable proportion of the 
 European languages ; and in French, Italian, and German, he 
 had acquired such facility in correct and even elegant extempore 
 translation, that when, in his lectures, he had occasion to read a 
 passage from a book in one of these languages, it was not un- 
 common for his students to go away under the impression that 
 he had been reading from a translation, and not from the origi- 
 nal edition of the work he had quoted. 
 
 Another leading feature in his character as a student, was his 
 intolerance of imperfect information, and the resolution with 
 which, when, in the course of reading, a term occurred, or a 
 fact was adverted to, of which his knowledge was deficient, he 
 would, before allowing himself to proceed, seek to obtain, at 
 whatever expense of time and labour, an explanation of the 
 difficulty that had presented itself. From these two chai^acter- 
 istics it arose, that not only were the shelves of his library along-
 
 74 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 side liis habitual cliair, and tlie table beside his bed, loaded, but 
 the pockets of his carriage were stuffed with Grammars, Ele- 
 ments, Manuals, and Dictionaries, of all descriptions, readily 
 available for strengthening the foundations of his knowledge, 
 and for aiding him in its extension. 
 
 Did space permit, abundant illustrations might readily be ad- 
 duced to exhibit Dr Thomson as not less amiable in disposition 
 than vigorous in intellect. Considering, indeed, that he was not 
 in the exercise of any public patronage, the number of persons on 
 whom, in the course of his life, he conferred essential obliga- 
 tions, and particularly the number of young men whom he was 
 able effectively to advance in their career, prove the kindly in- 
 terest which he took in the welfare of others, while it evinces 
 the judgment with which he made his friendly offices bear upon 
 their peculiar circumstances and qualifications. Acts of this de- 
 scription originated less frequently in applications addressed to 
 him, than in the spontaneous suggestions of his own mind ; for 
 he was ever anxious to discover opportunities of rendering ser- 
 vices to those whom he esteemed ; and desirous to see placed, 
 in situations of responsibility, the persons by whom their duties 
 would be most efficiently discharged. 
 
 Plis own disposition to advance in the career of improvement, 
 caused Dr Thomson to take especial pleasure in the society of 
 the young. In him the author of any train of original investi- 
 gation was sure to find a warm sympathiser ; one ready to go 
 over with him, and to authenticate his observations, to suggest 
 additional modes of illustration, and to trace out any correlative 
 facts that had been previously recorded. 
 
 From the wide range of his information, his readiness in bring- 
 ing it to bear on the subject in hand, and the animation with 
 which he was ever disposed to enter on the topic that might be 
 uppermost in the thoughts of those who came in contact with 
 him, Dr Thomson's conversation could not fail to be most im- 
 proving. But it had also, in a singular degree, that quality 
 which, more than any other perhaps, tends to render conversa- 
 tion agreeable, its being conducted, as nearly as possible, on the 
 principle of intellectual equality between those engaged in it ; 
 never manifestino- anv intolerance of listening, nor dictated by
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 75 
 
 any love of display ; but indicative of a genuine desire to acquire 
 as well as to convey information, so that the opposite party had 
 the gratification of feeling, along with his consciousness of 
 deriving, that he was also conveying improvement, — that the 
 advantage was at all events not wholly upon one side, however 
 unequally it might be divided. 
 
 We have already adverted to the great interest which Dr 
 Thomson took in the prosperity of the Medical Society. The 
 winter session after the publication of his Lectures on Inflamma- 
 tion, the Medical Society raised him to the rank of an honorary 
 member ; and when it is considered that the list of those to 
 whom this compliment had been paid for a succession of years 
 previously to its being rendered to himself, presents, in un- 
 broken line, the names of Jenner, Vauqelin, Cuvier, Abernethy, 
 Davy, Werner, Pearson, Playfair, Berzelius, and Astley Cooper, 
 it will be admitted that this honour, which the society always 
 showed great judgment and scrupulousness in conferring, had, 
 as it reached him, lost none of its value. Dr Thomson did not, 
 till a late period, become a fellow of tbe Royal College of Phy- 
 sicians ; but soon after his joining that body, its members called 
 upon him to accept, greatly out of the order of college seniority, 
 the office of president. He was a fellow of the E-oyal Societies 
 of London and Edinburgh, and of many other learned bodies in 
 this country and on the Continent. 
 
 Dr Thomson was of a large and apparently robust frame of 
 body ; but he had suffered from asthma and rheumatism to a 
 considerable extent in middle life, so much so that these com- 
 plaints more than once threatened to prevent his continuing 
 in practice. In later life, they had in a great measure yielded 
 to the careful regimen which he pursued, but they left his con- 
 stitution somewhat enfeebled, or at all events, they had ren- 
 dered him peculiarly liable to attacks of illness from exposure 
 to cold. In the last years of his life the body seemed rather 
 to suffer from the gradual loss of its nutritive powers than 
 from any specific disease, and death appeared at last to be the 
 effect of natural dissolution from advanced age. The mind re- 
 mained, however, perfectly entire, and in his last moments, as 
 is related of Haller, he watched with calmness, and indicated
 
 76 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 to those around him the gradual extinction of the vital func- 
 tions, and the encroachment of those signs so well known to 
 him which marked the actual invasion of the fatal change. 
 The features of Dr Thomson's face were strongly marked. In 
 middle life his complexion was sallow, and his hair jet black, 
 hut in fhe last twenty years of his life a more ruddy complex- 
 ion and a silvery whiteness of his hair, combined with the 
 kindly smile, and the thoughtful and intelligent expression of 
 his brown eyes, rendered his countenance peculiarly attractive 
 and agreeable. 
 
 An excellent portrait of him, painted by Geddes, was pre- 
 sented to him in 1822 by the Medical Officers of the Army 
 and Navy who had attended his lectures. From this painting 
 a very correct engraving was published soon afterwards. A 
 very characteristic marble bust, copied from one executed by 
 Angus Fletcher about the year 1829, is placed in the hall of 
 the Library of the University of Edinburgh. 
 
 Dr Thomson died at Morland Cottage, on the 11th October 
 18-16, in the 82d year of his age. 
 
 Dr Thomson was twice married; first in 1793, to Margaret 
 Crawford, second daughter of John Gordon, Esq. of Carroll in 
 Sutherlandshire, who died early in 180-1; and a second time, 
 in 1806, to Margaret, third daughter of Professor John Millar, 
 whose lectures on jurisprudence and government long shed 
 much lustre uj^on the University of Glasgow. By his first 
 marriage, Dr Thomson had three children. The eldest of 
 these, John Gordon Thomson, died in the beginning of the 
 winter of 1818, at the age of 19, when he had already given 
 evidence of the possession of excellent abilities, and of a sound- 
 ness of understanding rare at his period of life, embellished by 
 uncommonly prepossessing manners. He was studying anatomy 
 under the superintendence of the late Dr Gordon, w^ho was 
 desirous that he should be prepared as speedily as possible for 
 taking his own 'place as a teacher of anatomy, an occupation 
 in which a rapidly increasing practice warned him that it 
 would be impossible for himself long to persevere. While the 
 pupil was declining under the eifects of a slow malady, the 
 instructor was cut off by a sudden and rapid disease ; and
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 77 
 
 within a few months Dr Thomson foiin-l himself deprived, as 
 it were, of two sons. 
 
 His eldest daughter, who died in 18-24:, at the age of 23, had 
 for a number of years been her father's companion in those scien- 
 tific pursuits which constituted his relaxations from professional 
 duties and studies, a part for which she was singularly well fit- 
 ted by talents of a very high order, most sedulously cultivated 
 by an education that comprehended almost every branch, not 
 only of polite learning, but of general science, and accompanied 
 by that entire freedom from display that disarms the censui'e 
 even of those who are most jealous of female learning. 
 
 The survivor of Dr Thomson's first family, Dr William 
 Thomson, was appointed Professor of Medicine in the Univer- 
 sity of Glasgow in 1841, and died in 1852. Of his family by 
 his second marriage, two only outlived the age of childhood, 
 both of whom still survive, a daughter and a son, the Editor 
 of the present notice. 
 
 The foregoing Notice of the principal events of Dr Thomson's 
 life has been derived almost entirely from a biographical notice 
 from the united pens of Dr Craigie and Dr William Thomson, 
 which was inserted in the 170th number of the Edinburgh 
 Medical and Surgical Journal, published in 1847, and has 
 undergone only such alterations in the present reprint as the 
 change of circumstances, arising out of the lapse of time, 
 seemed to require. We are tempted to subjoin to it a fev/ 
 extracts from a character of Dr Thomson drawn by a friendly 
 hand in the Scotsman newspaper, a few days after his death. 
 
 " We fear that we are not competent to form a just appreci- 
 ation of those powers and qualities which enabled Dr Thomson 
 to raise himself from a very humble condition of life to a dis- 
 tinguished place in the first rank among the practitioners of 
 so honourable a profession, and the cultivators of so extensive 
 and difiicult a science as medicine. And yet we are reluctant 
 that the occasion should be allowed to pass over without some 
 attempt being made in our pages to pay a tribute to the 
 memory of one whose talents, acquirements, and energy of
 
 78 BIOGEAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 character, have for a long time largely contributed to maintain 
 
 the reputation of the ^ledical School of Edinburgh. 
 
 ***** 
 
 '• Till he reached the age of twenty, whatever cultivation his 
 mind received was obtained under difficulties which nothing, 
 perhaps, could have enabled him to overcome but the conscious- 
 ness of the mental powers that nature had bestowed upon him, 
 and the inward conviction that, by the steady exercise of these, 
 he would be able to place himself in a position more favour- 
 able than a mechanical employment, for the gratification of 
 that thirst for information which seems to have be^en an inher- 
 ent element of his mental constitution. 
 
 '* At the age when he succeeded in overcoming his father''s 
 reluctance to his embarking on what, in his circumstances, was 
 a perilous enterprise, he at once entered on the cultivation of 
 that branch of knowledge in which he was destined in aftei- life 
 to attain so much eminence, — as an ardent student, an acute 
 observer, a sound reasoner, a skilful practitioner, and an en- 
 thusiastic and impressive teacher. 
 
 •■' As a practitioner, successively, of the two departments of 
 medical science, surgery and physic, in each of which he may be 
 said to have acquired the highest confidence of his professional 
 brethren and of the public, Dr Thomson was particularly 
 distinguished by the acuteness and promptness of his discrim- 
 ination — by the rapidity with which he detected the actual 
 position of his patient, and traced the phonomena of disease 
 which presented themselves, or which his discriminative sagacity 
 enabled him to bring to light, to those inward changes in the 
 economy on which they depended. 
 
 " In proceeding to adapt the mode of treatment to be pursued 
 to the conception which he had formed of the nature of the 
 particular case, Dr Thomson's first object may be said to have 
 been to determine in his own mind what assistance could fairly 
 be expected from those natural processes by the agency of whicli, 
 in so many instances, the state of disease more or less quickly 
 disappears, and is replaced by the state of health. It was with 
 him a fundamental principle to secure, as he was wont to say.
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 79 
 
 " fair play to nature." But the same sagacity which enabled him 
 to detect what was amiss in the economy, singularly assisted him 
 in judging how far, in the particular circumstances, nature might 
 be relied upon ; and where such reliance seemed doubtful or hope- 
 less, the remedial measures which he considered appropriate were 
 prosecuted with a vigour that bore no indication of inertness or 
 indecision. At the same time, these measures were eminently 
 characterised by their simplicity, as he was strongly impressed 
 with the conviction that the practitioner will eft'ect a larger 
 amount of good by the employment of a limited number of 
 means, with the use of which he is familiar, than by that of a 
 wider range of remedies, of the action of which, from their very 
 number, he can have only an imperfect knowledge. As an 
 operative surgeon, as well as in the character of a prescribing 
 physician, he ever aimed at simplicity in the instruments he 
 employed ; and it was a favourite expression of his, that, in 
 their long careers as practitioners, as well as improvers, of their 
 respective departments of the healing art, Mr Hunter had never 
 invented a new instrument, nor Dr Cullcn introduced a new 
 remedy. 
 
 "His intercourse with the sick was singularly agreeable, bring- 
 ing into exercise not only the vigour of his understanding but 
 the kindly dispositions of his heart. The interest which he 
 manifestly took in the individual circumstances of his patients, 
 speedily inspired them with the confidence that their ailments 
 were duly considered, and understood as far as science and skill 
 would allow ; and that nothing would be neglected that could 
 contribute to their cure or relief. In a profession singularly 
 distinguished for the unremunerated work wdiich it performs, 
 Dr Thomson's liberality was conspicuous. 
 
 "The duties of a consulting practitioner,- — the form in which 
 Dr Thomson, both as a surgeon and as a physician, had princi- 
 pally occasion to exercise his profession, — are apt to place him in 
 a position of great delicacy, as between the sick or their friends, 
 and their ordinary medical advisers. Dr Thomson's professional 
 brethren had a perfect assurance that in his hands their reputa- 
 tion was safe; — that, where the measures which had been adopted 
 previously to his being consulted appeared to liim to have been
 
 80 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 proper, he would cordially bear testimony to the fact ; and where 
 it might seem to stand in need of correction, that he would sedu- 
 lously guard them from blame ; and that while every justice 
 would be done to their patients, no change would be made in the 
 mode of practice, merely to create or strengthen an impression of 
 the expediency of his assistance or advice having been had re- 
 course to. 
 
 " Regarded as a cultivator of medical science, a leading feature 
 in Dr Thomson's character was his desire to know everything 
 relative to the subject under consideration that had been pre- 
 viously ascertained, and his honourable anxiety to vindicate for 
 every author of an original observation or opinion the claim 
 which it might appear to give him to the gratitude of men of 
 science. For proofs of his talents for original observation and 
 inquiry, we may refer with confidence to his published works, 
 as well as to the writings of several of his pupils, to whom he 
 was ever ready, in suggesting topics for investigation, to transfer 
 the fruits of his own, frequently laborious, inquiries. A fosti- 
 diousness in respect of publication, arising out of the difficulty 
 he had in satisfying himself with his own intellectual perfor- 
 mances, limited the number of his published works much below 
 what might have been expected, and could have been desired, 
 from one so capable of conveying instruction in an agreeable 
 and impressive manner. 
 
 *' As a teacher, he was singularly successful in engaging the 
 attention of his audience by tlie judicious selection of materials 
 which he laid before them, as well as by his power of generaliz- 
 ing the results of his observation, reading, and reflection, and 
 of presenting these results in a clear and simple form ; and 
 above all, perhaps, the interest he himself evinced in the subject 
 under discussion had a powerful influence in stimulating the 
 enthusiasm and energy of his pupils. Another striking feature 
 in his character as a teacher was the rapidity with which he 
 discriminated the several capabilities of his students, and di- 
 rected their energies into those channels in which they might 
 be most usefully employed. To this early direction of their 
 thoughts and pursuits, many of his more distinguished pupils 
 have been known in after life gratefully to ascribe much of their
 
 OF DR THOMSON. 81 
 
 worldly success, and of the scientific reputation which they had 
 acquired. 
 
 " Considering the wideness of the range of professional subjects 
 which Dr Thomson embraced in his course of stud}^ and the la- 
 borious manner in which he conducted his inquiries into each of 
 them ; and considering also the impediments and interruptions 
 arising to the prosecution of his studies, not only from his entire 
 dependence on the fruits of his own toil, but also from the uncer- 
 tain state of health which he experienced during a considerable 
 portion of his life, it might have been supposed that even for his 
 ardent mind the investigation of these subjects would furnish am- 
 ple occupation. But this was far from being the case. Indeed, 
 so varied were his studies, that no work, in almost any depart- 
 ment of learning, came amiss to him ; and so accurate and exten- 
 sive was his information, that he never came in contact with any 
 person, of however difl'erent occupations and pursuits from his 
 own, from whom he did not extract, or to whom he did not con- 
 vey, information in the particular department of business or study 
 which his companion had made the occupation of his life. 
 * «• * * » 
 
 " To the cultivation of moral science, also, he devoted much 
 time and labour, and was extensively read in the writings that 
 have emanated from the different schools of metaphysics. In- 
 deed, even if his own tastes had drawn him less powerfully in 
 that direction, his ardent admiration for Mr Dugald Stewart, and 
 his hereditary affection for the present distinguished occupant of 
 the chair of logic, would, in themselves, have supplied powerful 
 motives to maintain and extend his acquaintance with this depart- 
 ment of knowledge. As a portion of medical science, too, he felt 
 a deep interest in the natural history and treatment of those mo- 
 difiications to which both the mental faculties and moral feelings 
 are subject in the state of disease ; and in various journeys which 
 he made both at home and abroad for the improvement of his own 
 professional knowledge, asylums for the reception and treatment 
 of the insane formed an object of primary interest. 
 
 " That a well-educated physician should possess some general 
 acquaintance with several, if pot with all, of the branches of know- 
 ledge to which we have referred, — and thev are far from exhaust-
 
 82 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF DR THOMSON. 
 
 ing the catalogue of Dr Thomson's studies, — is what the public 
 is prepared to expect ; but that he should possess a familiar ac- 
 quaintance with their principles, doctrines, and details, so as that 
 those who had made any one of them the object of their special 
 study should be led by his conversation to conclude that in him 
 they had encountered a fellow-labourer in their own department, 
 is well calculated to excite surprise. 
 
 '' At an early period of life, and when in an humble sphere, Dr 
 Thomson was led to adopt political opinions favourable to popu- 
 lar constitutional rights. These opinions he continued to retain 
 through life ; and not conceiving that any one who lives under 
 and enjoys the benefits of a free constitution, is entitled to with- 
 hold whatever support it may be in his power to render to free 
 institutions, he never shrank from avowing the opinions which he 
 entertained, and that at a time when such avowals not only closed 
 the doors of official preferment on those who made them, but 
 caused them to be looked on by the great body of the wealthy 
 with suspicion, distrust, or aversion. He was no admirer, how- 
 ever, of extreme opinions even in favour of popular rights. He 
 was strongly impressed with the persuasion that the gradual ame- 
 lioration of political institutions is not only safer than that which 
 is effected by sudden convulsions, but affords more security for 
 their permanence, and that the extension of political privilege 
 should go hand in hand with, or rather should follow in the wake 
 of, intellectual cultivation — a persuasion which heightened all 
 the more the interest he took in everything calculated to promote 
 the education of the people. 
 
 "Though ten years have elapsed since the state of Dr Thomson's 
 bodily health obliged him to relinquish his duties as a practitioner 
 and teacher, his mental faculties remained to the latest unen- 
 feebledj and his zeal for knowledge unabated. Up to his very 
 last days he continued to hear with the most lively interest of 
 what was passing both in the scientific and in the political world ; 
 and it will be agreeable to his many friends to know, that in the 
 full conviction which he entertained, for some weeks previously to 
 his decease, that his period of earthly existence was hastening to 
 a close, he contemplated the approach of death with all the digni- 
 fied calmness which the consciousness of a well-spent life could 
 inspire."
 
 PUBLISHED WOEKS OF DE JOHN THOMSON. 
 
 1. The Elements of Chemistry and ^^atural History ; to which is 
 pretixed The Philosophy of Chemistry, by M. Fourcroy, 5th edition, 
 Translated, with Kotes, by John Thomson, Surgeon, Edinburgh, in 
 three volumes. Vol. i., 1798 ; vol. ii., 1799 ; vol. iii., 1800. 
 
 2. Outlines of a Plan for the Regulation of the Surgical Department 
 of the Royal Infirmary, 1800. 
 
 3. Critical Notices of Camper's Icones Herniarum, Heberden's 
 article Ileus, and Mr Hey's Chapter on Strangulated Hernia, with 
 some other papers in the early volumes of the Edinburgh Review. 
 
 4. Observations on Lithotomy ; being a republication of Dr James 
 Douglas's " Appendix to his History of the Lateral Operation for the 
 Stone," &c., with a proposal for a new manner of Cutting for the Stone. 
 Edinburgh, 1808. 
 
 5. Notice of a particular species of Counter-Fracture of the Base 
 of the Cranium, in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, April 
 1812. 
 
 6. Lectures on Inflammation, exhibiting a view of the general doc- 
 trines, pathological and practical, of Medical Surgery. Edinburgh, 
 1813. 
 
 A translation of this work into the German language was published 
 by Dr Peter Krukenberg, in two volumes, at Halle in 1820 ; an 
 Italian translation, by Dr Benedetto Barozzi, was published, in two vol- 
 umes, at Pavia in 1819-22 ; and a translation into French was pub- 
 lished, in two volumes, by MM. Jourdan and Boisseau, at Paris in 
 1827. 
 
 An American reprint was published soon after the appearance ot 
 the Edinburgh edition, and was again published in 1831, at Philadel- 
 phia, by Carey and Lea. (American Journal of Medical Sciences for 
 August 1831 and February 1832.) 
 
 7. Report of Observations made in the British Military Hospitals in 
 Belgium after the battle of Waterloo, with some remarks upon Am- 
 putation. Edinburgh, 1816.
 
 84 PUBLISHED WORKS OF DR JOHN THOMSON. 
 
 8. An Account of the Varioloid Epidemic which has lately prevailed 
 in Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland, with Observations on the 
 identity of Chichen-pox with modified Small- pox, in a letter to Sir 
 James M'Gregor, &c. &c. London and Edinburgh, 1820. 
 
 9. Historical Sketch of the Opinions entertained by I\Iedical Men 
 respecting the Varieties and the Secondary Occurrence of Small-pox, 
 with Observations on the Nature of the Security aiforded by Vaccina- 
 tion against attacks of that disease, &c. &c. London and Edinburgh, 
 1822. 
 
 10. Letter to Dr Duncan, junior, with respect to the Test-pock, &c., 
 in Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. xxi. 
 
 11. Hints respecting the Improvement of the Literary and Scientific 
 Education of Candidates for the degree of M.D., &c. Edinburgh, 1824. 
 
 12. The same, with Observations prefixed, addressed to the Royal 
 University Commissioners. Edinburgh, 1826. 
 
 13. Additional Hints, &c. 
 
 14. The Works of William Cullen, M.D., &c. &c., containing his 
 Physiology, Nosology, and First Lines of the Practice of Physic ; with 
 numerous Extracts from his manuscript papers and from his Treatise 
 on the Materia Medica, in two volumes. Edinburgh, 1827- 
 
 15. Letter to the College Bailie on the Pathology Chair, 1831. 
 Remarks on the Memorial of the Town-Council to Lord John Russell 
 on the same subject, 1837. 
 
 16. Syllabus of Lectures on General Pathology. Edinburgh. 
 
 17. An Account of the Life, Lectures, and Writings of William 
 Cullen, M.D., &c. &c. First volume, 1832 ; Second volume, 1859. 
 
 18. The article "Animal Magnetism," in the 7th edition of the 
 Encycloptedia Britannica, 1841.
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 DR WILLIAM THOMSON 
 
 William Thomson was born at Edinburgh on tbe 3d day of 
 July 1802, and received his early education at the High School 
 of that city, where he, while yet very young, exhibited that 
 decided taste for literary pursuits w^hich distinguished him 
 through life. He was originally intended for the legal pro- 
 fession ; but his plans were changed in 1818, in consequence 
 of the death of his elder brother. He accordingly began his 
 medical studies at the University and in the private school of 
 Edinburgh in the session of 1818-19, and joined the Royal 
 Medical Society as a member in April 1819. 
 
 In 1821-22 he passed a winter session at the University of 
 Glasgow, in the farther prosecution of medical and philoso- 
 phical studies. In 1822 he accompanied Mr Cars well to the 
 Continent, and, during some time, assisted him in the observa- 
 tion and dissection of those cases of disease in the hospitals of 
 Paris and Lyons which were the subjects of the drawings pre- 
 pared by Mr Carswell for the illustration of Dr Thomson's 
 Lectures. He extended his tour through Germany and Italy, 
 in company with his friends the late Dr Patrick Macfarlane of 
 Perth, and the amiable and learned Dr Ferdinand Becker, 
 whose distinguished career as a physician and professor in 
 Berlin was too soon cut short by his early death. 
 
 On returning from his second Continental tour in 1825, he 
 settled in Edinburgh as a medical practitioner and teacher. 
 He joined the Boyal College of Surgeons as Fellow at this 
 period, and was shortly afterwards elected one of the surgeons 
 
 /
 
 88 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 
 
 of the Xew Town Dispensary. His first course of public lec- 
 tures was on the Institutes of Medicine in 1826-27, which he 
 repeated in the two following years ; but at that time, or in 
 1828, he was associated w^ith his father in his Lectures on the 
 Practice of Physic, and, in 1830, he came to assume the whole 
 duties of that course. 
 
 William Thomson was the constant companion and assistant 
 of his father in all his later literary labours ; and among the 
 works of which, at the period now referred to, he assisted in 
 the preparation may be mentioned Dv Thomson's various writ- 
 ings on the subject of medical education, the Life of Cullen, 
 and the materials for the course of Lectures on General Path- 
 ology, the professorship of which was instituted in 1830. 
 
 Dr Thomson had carefully directed the education of his son 
 towards the various topics comprised in the departments of 
 General Pathology and Pathological Anatomy, and it was to 
 him a source of great disappointment that his son did not ob- 
 tain the chair at its first establishment, nor afterwards when 
 he resigned the professorship. The opposition with wdiich the 
 institution of the chair had been received by a portion of the 
 medical professors in the University, and a variety of other cir- 
 cumstances, concurred to interfere with William Thomson's 
 promotion to the chair, notw ithstanding his acknowdedged high 
 qualifications for the performance of its duties ; but he con- 
 tinued to assist his father in the lectures ; and afterwards, 
 when Dr Thomson's health failed, he delivered several of the 
 entire courses, until his appointment, in 1841, to the Profes- 
 sorship of the Practice of Physic in the University of Glasgow, 
 
 In 1831 William Thomson obtained the degree of Doctor 
 of Medicine, on examination, from Marischal College and Uni- 
 versity of Aberdeen, to which he was obliged to resort in con- 
 sequence of his not having studied the period required by the 
 statutes within the University of Edinburgh. In 1833 he 
 joined the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh as Fellow ; 
 and in 1840, a year before he finally quitted Edinburgh, he 
 was appointed and acted as one of the Physicians of the Royal 
 Infirmary. It was at this time, during his attendance on the 
 wards of the hospital, that he suftered from an attack of rheu-
 
 DR WILLIAM THOMSON. 87 
 
 matic fever, which, though it did not appear at the time to have 
 left any very ohvious injurious effects, had very prohably laid 
 the foundation of the cardiac disease of which he died twelve 
 years afterwards. 
 
 During the fifteen years of Dr William Thomson's settlement 
 in Edinburgh, his attention was not exclusively absorbed by 
 professional pursuits. His energy of character, and liberal 
 and enlightened principles, led him to take a keen interest and 
 active part in measures of public utility, as well as of professional 
 improvement. He acted as Secretary and Director of the 
 School of Arts for a number of years after the departure from 
 Edinburgh of Mr Leonard Horner, whose name was so long 
 and well known in connection with that Mechanics' Institution. 
 He took an active share in the proceedings of the Medico-Chi- 
 rurgical Society, of which he was for a time one of the secre- 
 taries ; and he also engaged zealously in the management of 
 the affairs of the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons. 
 
 It is indicative of the confidence placed in his integrity and 
 judgment by the members of these colleges, that he was de- 
 puted on two occasions, first in 1833, and again in 1834, to pro- 
 ceed as their delegate to London, to watch over the proceedings 
 in Parliament connected with medical legislation. On the first 
 of these occasions, he acted as delegate from the College of Surr 
 geons ; and on the second, as joint delegate along with the late 
 Mr William Wood and Professor Christison, from the Royal 
 Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons and the University, to 
 endeavour to secure the interests of these several bodies in 
 connection with the bills proposed in Parliament for regulating 
 the education and privileges of the medical profession. It 
 cannot be doubted, that although the conflicting interests and 
 vested rights of the various licensing boards then opposed, and 
 for a long time retarded, the satisfactory accomplishment of le- 
 gislative enactment on this subject, the sound and enlightened 
 opinions entertained by Dr William Thomson and his coadju- 
 tors contributed to exercise a powerful influence in checkino- 
 the introduction and continuation of abuses, and in elevatino- 
 the character of the measures proposed and discussed on these 
 and various later occasions in regard to medical reform.
 
 88 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 
 
 During tlie subsequent eleven years of lils life, in whicli he 
 resided in Glasgow College, Dr William Thomson devoted 
 himself to the careful extension and improvement of his lec- 
 tures on the practice of physic, and gave a large share of his 
 time to the management of the internal affairs of the College 
 and University, a task for which he was admirably suited by 
 his accurate habits of business and sound judgment. He acted 
 as Clerk of Faculty, or Secretary of the College, during six or 
 seven years, and was thus necessarily closely engaged with all 
 affairs appertaining to the management of the institution. 
 
 By his office of Professor of Medicine in the University, Dr 
 William Thomson was a permanent Director of the Royal In- 
 firmary, and also of the large Asylum for Lunatics at Gart- 
 navel, near Glasgow; and he was unceasingly engaged, with 
 assiduity and vigour, in sharing the management of these estab- 
 lishments. During the greater part of the same time he acted 
 as Physician of the Glasgow Koyal Infirmary, and in his turn 
 gave the usual courses of clinical lectures in the hospital. 
 
 During the winter of 1848-49, when the office of physician- 
 superintendent in the asylum had been suddenly left vacant, 
 Dr William Thomson, actuated by a desire to relieve the In- 
 stitution from the embarrassment which threatened it, undertook 
 the arduous duties of that office. These duties were rendered 
 more than usually anxious and laborious by the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances which had led to the vacancy, and by the preva- 
 lence of Asiatic cholera in the asylum to a great extent at the 
 time. So virulent was the disease that it carried off more than 
 forty inmates of the asylum during the period of Dr Thomson's 
 attendance as physician. 
 
 The exertions of body and mind which Dr William Thomson 
 was thus required to make during five months, in addition to 
 his other occupations, proved too great for a constitution not 
 naturally strong, and which, there is reason to believe^ had 
 already suffered from the inroads of the disease which ulti- 
 mately proved fatal. Very soon after the conclusion of this 
 laborious session, the symptoms of cardiac disease manifested 
 themselves in irregularity of the heart's action, and tendency 
 to dyspnsea on any unusual exertion. These symptoms con-
 
 DR WILLIAM THOMSON. 89 
 
 tiimed gradually to increase, and within the last year of his life 
 the signs of organic disease of the mitral valves of the heart 
 became more and more decided. 
 
 Notwithstanding the many painful accompaniments of his 
 disease, Dr William Thomson continued his occupations and 
 performed his duties till within a few days of his death. He 
 had just concluded his eleventh session in the University, when 
 the congestion of the lungs and the difficulty which the blood 
 experienced in returning to the left side of the heart caused 
 intense feelings of painful anxiety and a total inability to sleep, 
 at first in the recumbent, and afterwards in any posture. Hav- 
 ing gone to Edinburgh on the lOtli May 1852, partly with the 
 view of consulting some of his old medical friends, the sudden 
 increase of these symptoms proved fatal on the morning of the 
 12th of May of same year. Dr Thomson retained the use of all 
 his faculties till within an hour of his death ; and being fully 
 aware of the signs of its approach, met it with that serene calm- 
 ness and firm courage which were characteristic of his whole life. 
 
 Though in its public aspects Dr William Thomson's life may 
 be said to have presented few striking events, it was not without 
 important influences in the sphere in which he moved. He 
 belonged to a class of men whose merits are apt not to be fully 
 acknowledged. In him, as in all men of well constituted minds, 
 the desire of fame was ever subordinate to higher and nobler 
 impulses. He was too modest and unobtrusive in his nature 
 to vindicate his claim to that share of approbation which he 
 had justly earned ; and he was much too honourable and high- 
 minded to desire any other. 
 
 In the early part of his career he had enjoyed the privilege 
 of a long and most intimate intercourse with his father ; and no 
 one knew better how to profit by the example, wisdom, and 
 learning of his master. His education had been most carefully 
 conducted in its literary and philosophical, as well as in its 
 professional departments. His mind, already well stored, was 
 ever on the alert to acquire new information ; a sound judg- 
 ment; a spirit hopeful, firm, and courageous ; a charitable view 
 of the motives and actions of others ; a ready sympathy, and a 
 wise and judicious suggestion of measures at once liberal, prac-
 
 90 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 
 
 tical, and enlightened ; a mild temper, amiable and affectionate 
 feelings, and most unselfish disposition, combined to form his 
 character, in itself admirable, but so unostentatious that those 
 only who thoroughly knew him were fully aware of the genuine 
 value of its excellence. 
 
 Among his friends and acquaintances Dr William Thomson 
 was affectionately loved. He communicated his own spirit of 
 fairness and dignity to all the proceedings with the management 
 of which he was connected, and though not by nature given to 
 what may be called the popular arts of pleasing, he yet secured 
 the confidence, respect, and esteem of all who vfere brought into 
 contact with him in public or private life. These qualities, 
 joined to his active disposition, gave to Dr William Thomson 
 the power of benefiting materially those institutions with the 
 management of which he was more particularly engaged ; but 
 he also busied himself occasionally with more public measiu-es, 
 and as might be supposed from his education and disposition, 
 he was a decided liberal in his political opinions, and took an 
 active share in the discussion and promotion of all those public 
 measures which he conceived to be for the political or social 
 improvement of the people at large. 
 
 With medicine in general, and more especially with the 
 literary and philosophical departments of medical knowledge, 
 he was intimately conversant by extensive reading and study. 
 He was not much given to speculative inquiry, preferring rather 
 to attempt at all times the establishment of great generalized 
 truths, to the discussion of hypothetical views however ingenious. 
 He was an accomplished master in the exposition of complicated 
 observations and reasoning on medical topics, and in the logical 
 deduction of sound inferences from the most intricate and con- 
 flicting statements. Indeed, there can be little doubt that in 
 the legal profession he would have greatly distinguished him- 
 self by his power of discriminating the essential and the real 
 from the irrelevant and the false parts of any argument or body 
 of evidence. 
 
 Dr William Thomson's style in writing was characterized by 
 that union of correctness, clearness, and elegance which is only 
 to be acquired by long practice and attentive study in the art
 
 DR AVILTJAM THOMSON. 91 
 
 of composition. Though not naturally fluent, he had thus ob- 
 tained the power of expressing his thoughts both orally and in 
 writing with facility and clearness, and his acquaintance with 
 general and medical literature gave at once elegance and copious- 
 ness to his style. 
 
 These qualities will be found to pervade his writings, a list 
 of the more important of which will be found below. 
 
 Besides numerous pamphlets on controversial and other sub- 
 jects, they consisted chiefly of original articles, and of carefully 
 prepared digests of important subjects for encyclopaedias and 
 medical works. His Essays *' On the Black Deposit in the 
 Lungs of Miners," and on " Sloughing of portions of the In- 
 testinal Tube," and some of his contributions to the '• Ency- 
 clopsedia Britannica," are deserving of special attention. His 
 contributions are all full of well-arranged information on the 
 subjects of which they treat ; they are valuable as correct and 
 judicious records of the state and progress of professional 
 opinion, and more especially as bringing out more prominently 
 those great general principles which appeared to be established 
 on a sound induction of observation. 
 
 Dr William Thomson was married in December 1827 to 
 Eliza Hill, second daughter of the late Mr Ninian Hill, Writer 
 to the Signet in Edinburgh. The widow and six children sur- 
 vive him. 
 
 PUBLISHED WORKS OF DR WILLIAM THOMSON. 
 
 1. A Probationary Essay (for the Fellowship of the Royal College 
 of Surgeons of Edinburgh) " On the Extraction of Calculi from the 
 Urinary Bladder." Edinburgh, March 1825. 
 
 2. The following Contributions to the " Edinburgh IVIedical and 
 Surgical Journal," viz. : — '' Case of Spontaneous Luxation of the Ver- 
 tebra dentata," No. 121 ; " Abstract of Cases in which a portion of the 
 Alimentary Canal, comprising all its Coats, has been discharged by 
 Stool," kc, No. 125; Appendix to the same. No. 127; "Abstract of 
 Cases in which Pseudo-meinbranous Substances have been discharged 
 from the Bowels," No. 128 ; "Historical Notices of the "Occurrence 
 of Inflammatory Atfections of the Internal Organs after Injuries and 
 Surgical Operations/' No. 1-1 1.
 
 92 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF DE W. THOMSON. 
 
 3. The following Articles in the 7th edition of the " Encjclopsedia 
 Britannica," viz. : — The Article "Medicine," being a General View 
 of Medical Science and Practice ; the Article " Practice of Physic," 
 being a General View of the Sources of Difficulty and Fallacy in 
 Diagnosis ; the Article " General Pathology," being a General View of 
 the Proximate Causes of Disease, Organic and Dynamic ; the article 
 " Plague." 
 
 4. " On Black Expectoration and the Deposition of Black Matter 
 in the Lungs, particularly as occuring in Coal Miners," in the "Trans- 
 actions of the Medico- Chirurgical Society of London," Yol. xx. 
 London, 1837. 
 
 Second part of the same. Ibid., Vol. xxi. London, 1838. 
 
 5. A Letter to the Fellows of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and 
 Surgeons of Edinburgh, respecting the Proposal to Abolish the Chair 
 of General Pathology in the University. Edinburgh, 1837. 
 
 6. The Articles "Diseases of the Liver," and "Diseases of the 
 Mesenteric Glands," in '^Dr Tweedie's Library of Medicine."- 
 
 7. ''A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Liver," &e. Edin- 
 burgh, 1841.
 
 LIFE 
 
 WILLIAM CULLEN, M. D 
 
 Dr Cullen was bom at Hamilton on the 15tli 
 day of April 1710. His father, who was a wTiter or 
 attorney by profession, and factor to the Duke of Ha- 
 milton, was proprietor of a small estate in the ad- 
 joining parish of Bothwell, which had been in the pos- 
 session of his ancestors for many generations. His 
 mother was a daughter of Mr Roberton of Whistle- 
 berry, a younger son of the family of Roberton of 
 Ernock. Dr Cullen w^as the second son of a family 
 which consisted of seven sons and two daughters ; his 
 father died soon after the birth of the youngest, and 
 his mother was afterwards married to Mr Nasmyth, 
 writer in Hamilton, by whom she had two children. 
 His eldest brother, who had received a classical educa- 
 tion in the University of Glasgow, and studied law at 
 Edinburgh, died at an early period of life. None of 
 his other brothers appear to have followed any of the 
 learned professions. 
 
 VOL. I. A 
 
 '5/
 
 2 LIFE OF Ml CULLEX. 
 
 Dr Cullen received the rudiments of his literary 
 education at the grammar-school of Hamilton, under 
 the tuition of Mr Findlater, who enjoyed much re- 
 putation as a teacher. In this school, as I have been 
 informed by one who had also been a pupil of Mr 
 Findlater, young Cullen was particularly distinguished 
 by the liveliness of his manner, by an uncommon 
 quickness of apprehension, and by a most retentive 
 memory ; — qualities which he continued to possess, in 
 an eminent degree, to the latest period of his life. 
 
 From the grammar-school in Hamilton, Dr Cullen 
 was sent to prosecute his studies at the University of 
 Glasgow. I have not been able to ascertain how many 
 years he studied there, or what courses of lectures he 
 followed, as the names of the students were at that 
 period usually entered in the books of the University 
 for only one of the classes which they attended. His 
 name, however, is to be found in the list of students 
 who attended the mathematical lectures of the cele- 
 brated Dr Simson, in the year 1727. 
 
 On commencing his medical studies, Dr Cullen 
 was bound apprentice to Mr John Paisley, member 
 of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons at Glasgow, 
 and in extensive practice in that city. At that time, 
 to serve an apprenticeship was almost the only way in 
 which a knowledge of medicine could be acquired in 
 Scotland. Professorships for teaching some of its 
 branches had been established in our universities, but 
 in none of them, except in that of Edinburgh, had 
 a regular school for teaching medicine been as yet 
 formed. In Glasgow, though a professorship of medi- 
 cine had been instituted in 1714, and a professorship
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 3 
 
 of botany and anatomy in 1719, it does not appear 
 that the persons appointed to these offices had, at the 
 time Dr Cullen studied there, ever delivered any 
 lectiu*es upon the subjects they were respectively ap- 
 pointed to teach. It happened, fortunately for Dr 
 Cullen, that his master, though engaged in exten- 
 sive practice, was of a studious turn of mind, and had 
 collected a large and valuable medical library. That 
 the pupil availed himself of the advantages of his si- 
 tuation, and that his conduct was such as gained for 
 him the approbation and esteem of his master, may be 
 presumed, from the great friendship which ever after- 
 wards subsisted between them. As a proof of this it 
 deserves to be mentioned, that when Dr Cullen, 
 many years after the time of his apprenticeship, be- 
 came a lecturer in the University of Glasgow, the li- 
 brary of INIr Paisley was thrown open to all his stu- 
 dents — a fact of which I was informed by the late Dr 
 Wallace of Glasgow, who told me that he had availed 
 himself of this privilege, while attending Dr Cvdlen's 
 lectures. In this way, Mr Paisley was pleased to 
 mark his regard for his pupil, and to give an example 
 of liberal conduct towards students, which Dr Cullen, 
 not more to his own credit than to the advantage of 
 the public, followed closely in every future period of 
 his life. 
 
 I have not been able to obtain any satisfactory in- 
 formation with regard to the persons with whom Dr 
 Cidlen chiefly associated during the time he prose- 
 cuted his studies in Glasgow ; but that, even at this 
 period, he had felt that desire of distinction which is 
 so often the indication of superior talents, and the best 
 
 A 2
 
 4 IJFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 pledge of future improvement, appears from a circum- 
 stance related of him by one of liis early friends, the 
 late Mr Thom, minister of Govan, This gentleman 
 used to mention, that if Dr Cullen happened to he 
 in the company of his fellow students when any sub- 
 ject of speculation or debate was started with which he 
 was imperfectly acquainted, he took very little share in 
 the conversation ; but when they met again, if the 
 same discussion happened to be introduced, he never 
 failed to shew, that, in the interval, he had acquired a 
 more useful knowledge of the question, in all its bear- 
 ings and details, than the best informed of his com- 
 panions could pretend to. 
 
 On finishing his medical studies at Glasgow, Dr 
 Cullen went to London, towards the end of the year 
 1729, with the view of obtaining a situation in which 
 he might enjoy opportunities of acquiring a practical 
 knowledge of his profession. Soon after arriving there, 
 he had the good fortune to be appointed surgeon to a 
 merchant ship, the Captain of which, Mr Cleland 
 of Auchinlee, was a relation of his own. His appoint- 
 ment to this situation is mentioned in the following 
 passage of a letter from his eldest brother to his mo- 
 ther, dated Edinburgh, 9th December 17^9.—" Mr 
 Hamilton of Dalserf got a letter last day from Lon- 
 don from his brother Alexander, wherein he tells 
 him that he was present with Captain Cleland when 
 Commissioner Cleland * solicited him very strongly 
 in favour of one Mr Cullen a son of Saughs, and used 
 
 * The friend of Mr Pope, and author of a letter prefixed to the 
 Dunciad in the edition of Pope's Works, printed at Edinburgh in 
 1767, vol, iii.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. O 
 
 Very strong arguments with him to take care of him ; 
 and, among the rest, that he was a cousin of the Cap- 
 tain's. So the Captain promised to provide for him ; 
 but Wilham desires that Dalserf would write to the 
 Captain and thank him for it, for he said it was much 
 owing to his letter. — I assure you every body thinks 
 my brother very lucky ; for Mr Alexander writes also, 
 that the Captain has had a levee, like a General's, 
 every day, and there have been many solicitations for 
 that very appointment. However, for any thing I can 
 find, William has been pretty active in the affair, and 
 I believe has half teazed them into it." — It appears 
 also, from a letter written many years after by a younger 
 brother of Dr CuUen's, that, on obtaining this appoint- 
 ment, he imderwent a medical examination, and ac- 
 quitted himself so much to the satisfaction of his exa- 
 miners, that they were pleased to pay him some very 
 flattering compliments, and to encourage him strongly 
 to persevere in that diligence which it was evident to 
 them he had employed in the study of his profession. 
 
 The vessel to which Dr Cullen was appointed sur- 
 geon, was engaged in trading to the Spanish settlements 
 in the West Indies, and remained during her voyage 
 for six months at Porto-Bello, a circumstance incident- 
 ally mentioned by himself in one of his lectures on the 
 Practice of Physic. To a mind like his, every change 
 of situation was calculated to afford instruction. In 
 this voyage he had an opportunity of seeing new scenes 
 of life, and manners different from those he was accus- 
 tomed to contemplate at home ; and, what was to him of 
 greater moment^ an opportunity of observing the gene- 
 ral effects of diversity of climate on the human consti-
 
 6 
 
 IJFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 tutioii, and of marking the symptoms and progress of 
 some of the diseases which prevail in our West Indian 
 settlements, and which in particular seasons prove so 
 highly fatal. In the course of his lectures, Dr Cullen 
 occasionally referred to the observations which he had 
 made, and to the diseases he had seen in this voyage, 
 but always with that diffidence and distrust with which 
 he was aware that the observations of a medical prac- 
 titioner so young and inexperienced as he then was, 
 ought to be relied on by himself or received by others. 
 
 After retm*ning from the West Indies, Dr Cullen 
 remained for some time in I^ondon, and during his 
 stay there attended the shop of Mr Murray, apothe- 
 cary in Henrietta Street. This gentleman informed a 
 friend of his, the late JMr Mather of Hamilton, that 
 he had never seen a young man so diligent as Mr Cul- 
 len, for that every moment of his time, which was 
 not employed in the business of the shop, was devoted 
 to reading and study. It was during this period, there 
 is reason to believe, that his attention w^as first turned 
 in a particular manner to the study of INIateria Me- 
 dica, a subject which he seems to have had always 
 great pleasure in investigating. 
 
 Dr Cullen retmiied to Scotland in the end of the 
 year 1731, or in the beginning of 1732. His eldest 
 brother having died during his absence, the duty de- 
 volved upon him of arranging his father's affairs, and 
 of providing as far as was in his power for the educa- 
 tion and settlement of his younger brothers and sisters. 
 In these circumstances, he was invited by his friend 
 Captain Cleland to reside with him at his family es- 
 tate of Auchinlee, in the parish of Shotts, and to take
 
 LIFE or DR CULLEX. 7 
 
 charge of the healtli of his son, who was affected with 
 a lingering disorder. This situation was peculiarly 
 convenient for Dr CuUen in commencing the practice 
 of his profession. It w^as near to Hamilton, the place 
 of his birth, and in the vicinity of the residences of 
 many of the most considerable families in the county 
 of Lanark. It was in the neighbourhood also of his 
 patrimonial property, the lands of Saughs, and of ano- 
 ther small farm which belonged to his family in the 
 parish of Shotts. Whilst residing there, he seems to 
 have combined with his medical practice the most un- 
 remitting application to his studies. Captain Cleland 
 was often heard to say, that nothing could exceed his 
 assiduity at this period ; for when not engaged in vi- 
 sitmg patients, or in preparing medicines for them, his 
 time was wholly occupied with his books. 
 
 After having practised medicine for nearly two years 
 in the situation described, Dr CuUen, on succeeding to 
 a small legacy by the death of a relation, resolved to de- 
 vote his attention exclusively to his studies for a certain 
 period, preparatively to fixing himself as a medical prac- 
 titioner in the town of Hamilton. With this view, he 
 lived some time, how long I have not been able to as- 
 certain, at the village of Rothbury, near Wooler, in 
 Northumberland, where he resided with a dissenting 
 clergyman, and was chiefly occupied with the study of 
 general literature and philosophy. I was informed by 
 the late Dr Charles Stuart, physician in Edinburgh, 
 who at an early period of his life enjoyed much of Dr 
 Cullen's company and friendship, that he sometimes 
 in conversation, referred, with apparently very agree- 
 able recollections, to the time he had spent in this re- 
 tirement.
 
 8 LIFE OF DPt CULLEN. 
 
 Dy Cullen passed tlie winter sessions of 1T34-35 
 and 1735-36 at Edinburgh, in attendance on the me- 
 dical classes, and in the prosecution of his general 
 studies. The foundation of a new and extended me- 
 dical school had been laid a few years before this time 
 in Edinburgh, by the appointment of Dr Monro to 
 the Chair of Anatomy in the University, and by the 
 judicious arrangements which that excellent anatomist 
 and experienced surgeon afterwards made with Drs 
 Kutherford, Sinclair, Innes and Plummer for the 
 regular and stated delivery of lectures on the differ- 
 ent branches of medicine. Previously to this arrange- 
 ment, almost the only regular lectures given upon any 
 subjects connected with medicine in Edinburgh, were 
 those which had been delivered in the Hall of the 
 College of Surgeons, the chief medical school in that 
 city from the first institution of the College, in the 
 year 1505, till the transference of the anatomical 
 class into the University in 1725. In reference to 
 these lectures, Dr Grgeme, in an " Essay for reform- 
 ing the modern way of practising Medicine in Edin- 
 bm-gh," printed in 1727, observes, " There has of 
 late been taught here, and with some considerable 
 success, at the Surgeons' Hall, the whole art of me- 
 dicine in a systematical way ; in which course, with all 
 imaginable care of the performers, nothing has been 
 omitted which to them seemed necessary, either to 
 demonstrate the theory, or illustrate and explain re- 
 gular practice, as drawn from certain experience and 
 unquestionably just observations. This they have 
 done, with all due regard to the great names of those 
 who have furnished the world with a vast treasure of
 
 LIFE OF DIl CULLEX. \) 
 
 practical observations, and of those whose great indus- 
 try and accurate geniuses, have confirmed and improved 
 the theory by many valuable discoveries ; and with no 
 less deference to the great person (Boerhaave), who, 
 from vast volumes, has collected all relating to the one 
 or the other, into such an exact order, and into such 
 bounds, that what concerns either of them can be ex- 
 plained in the course of a seven or eight months' col- 
 lege ; which task they own themselves unable to have 
 performed without the aid of so great a master." 
 Though scarcely ten years had elapsed from the first 
 establishment of a regvdar school of medicine in the 
 University of Edinburgh when Dr CuUen became a 
 student there, the reputation of that school was begin- 
 ning to be every where acknowledged, and had already 
 attracted to it, not only a great portion of those who 
 were preparing themselves for the profession of medi- 
 cine in the British dominions, but many students from 
 foreign universities. The state of the Edinburgh me- 
 dical school at this period has been delineated by Dr 
 Fothergill, in his essay on the character of the late 
 Dr Alexander Russel, in a manner so lively and mi- 
 nute, as to render it sufficient to refer to his account 
 of it *. 
 
 During the time that Dr Cullen studied at Edin- 
 burgh, a number of medical students, distinguished by 
 their diligence and ardour in the pursuit of knowledge, 
 formed themselves into a society for the purpose of 
 mutual improvement. They met weekly, to read es- 
 says on subjects connected with their studies, and to 
 
 * See Appendix, Note A.
 
 10 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 discuss, in the freedom of debate, the various topics 
 and questions which arise in the progress of the natu- 
 ral sciences to engage the attention of those who are 
 foremost in their cultivation, and which afterwards 
 serve in some measure to mark the successive periods 
 of discovery or improvement in these sciences. That 
 Dr Cullen did not neglect to avail himself of the 
 advantages to be derived from the intercourse of such 
 associates, and that he was one of the original founders 
 of this excellent institution, we learn by the following 
 letter, addressed by him, in the 78th year of his age, 
 to Dr James Cleghorn, Professor of Anatomy in the 
 University of Dublin, in reply to a letter from that 
 gentleman, enclosing an address which had been voted 
 by the Dublin ISIedical Society to Dr Cullen, upon 
 the enrolment of his name in the list of its honorary 
 members : 
 
 " Dear Sir, Edinburgh, January 1788. 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you for the favour you have 
 done me in transmitting the letter from the Secretary of the 
 Dubhn Medical Society. I consider your doing this as a 
 mark of your particular politeness and attention to me, and 
 I sincerely thank you for it. 
 
 " Your Uncle * and I are, I believe, the only surviving 
 members of a society which existed at Edinburgh in the 
 year 1T35, and which laid the foundation of the Medical 
 Society, which became more formally incorporated the year 
 after, and as you know has flourished ever since, to the great 
 advancement of medical science in this University. Tell 
 your worthy uncle that I have what I consider, and I believe 
 he would consider, as a curiosity. It is a manuscript book, 
 
 * Dr George Cleghorn, author of a well known work on the Diseases 
 of Minorca, and Professor of Anatomy hi the University of Dublin.
 
 LIFE OF BR CULLEN. 11 
 
 in which the discourses of the society, in 1735, are recorded ; 
 and there are 1 believe some of his juvenile performances to 
 be found in it. At our breaking up in the spring 1735, we 
 drew lots for this book, and the fortunate lot fell upon 
 Douglas, the surgeon of the Welsh Fusileers. This gentle- 
 man, after travelling about for some years, came at length 
 to Glasgow, and died there, leaving me this book as a legacy. 
 " I am very much obliged to you for your attention to 
 Mr Black ; and, wdth most affectionate and respectful com- 
 pliments to your uncle, I have the honour to be, with the 
 utmost regard, Sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 " William Cullen/' 
 
 Nothing is now known of the talents which Dr Cul- 
 len exhibited in the JVIedical Society as one of its 
 early members ; but it will, I believe, be universally 
 acknowledged, that no one ever connected with that 
 institution has supplied it with a larger fund of valu- 
 able materials for discussion, or contributed more by 
 his example, opinions and writings, to keep alive and 
 to cherish in the minds of its members, that spirit of 
 liberal investigation and desire of improvement, which 
 first called this society into existence, and which have 
 so long continued to be its distinguishing characteris- 
 tics. 
 
 On leaving Edinburgh, in the spring of 1736, Dr 
 Cullen commenced business as a surgeon in Hamil- 
 ton, and, in a very short time, as is ascertained by his 
 legers or shop-books which have been preserved, was 
 employed not only by the Duke and Duchess of Ha- 
 milton as their ordinary medical attendant, but by al- 
 most all the families of any consideration in that 
 neighbourhood.
 
 1^ LIFE OF DR CULLEiV, 
 
 In the course of his attendance on the family of 
 Hamilton, the Duke having heen attacked hy an 
 alarming disease, which resisted the effects of the re- 
 medies first employed, Dr John Clerk was sent for 
 from Edinhurgh. This learned and judicious physi- 
 cian was so much satisfied with Dr CuUen's manage- 
 ment of the Duke's case, and pleased with his in- 
 telligent conversation, that he formed a high opinion 
 of his talents, and emhraced every future opportunity 
 to cultivate his friendship. An intimate correspon- 
 dence on professional and literary suhjects ensued, 
 which was chiefly kept up, on the part of Dr Clerk, 
 through his son Dr David Clerk, who, if we may judge 
 from his letters to Dr Cullen, seems to have inherited 
 his father's zeal for the improvement of his profession, 
 to have been an excellent classical scholar, and well 
 acquainted with medical literature. Upon the death 
 of Dr John Clerk, which happened in 1757, Dr Cul- 
 len took occasion to evince his esteem for this excellent 
 physician, by endeavouring to commemorate his vir- 
 tues and talents, in a short Account of his Life and 
 Character, which he read to a numerous meeting of 
 their mutual friends assembled in the Hall of the Royal 
 Infirmary of Edinbui'gh ^, 
 
 Soon after he settled in Hamilton, Dr Cullen be- 
 came the friend and medical preceptor of the late Dr 
 William Hunter, whose dispositions, genius, and love 
 of study, were every way congenial with his own. 
 Their intercourse soon gave rise to a friendship that 
 continued uninterrupted till the death of Dr Hun- 
 ter, in the year 1783. During a great part of this 
 
 * See Appendix, Note B.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEX. 13 
 
 period, Dr Culleii and Dr Hunter had the mutual sa- 
 tisfaction of seeing each other placed, by the unani- 
 mous suffrages of their medical brethren, and by the 
 opinion of the public, at the head of the respective 
 schools of medicine to which they belonged. The fol- 
 lowing account which Dr Hunter's biographer, the 
 late Dr Foart Simmons, has given of the origin of 
 the connexion between these two distinguished teach- 
 ers, is, 1 have reason to believe, strictly correct. 
 
 " Dr Hunter, who had been educated at the University of 
 Glasgow, was intended for the church ; but beginning to en- 
 tertain doubts with regard to some of the articles of faith, 
 which, as a clergyman, it would have been necessary for him 
 to subscribe, he resolved to abandon the study of theology. 
 In this state of mind, he happened to become acquainted 
 with Dr CuUen, the present celebrated professor at Edin- 
 burgh, who was then just established in practice at Hamil- 
 ton, under the patronage of the Duke of Hamilton. Dr 
 Cullen's conversation soon determined him to lay aside all 
 thoughts of the church, and to devote himself to the profes- 
 sion of physic. 
 
 " His father^s consent having been previously obtained, 
 Mr Hunter, in 1737, went to reside with Dr Cullen. In 
 the family of this excellent friend and preceptor, he passed 
 nearly three years ; and these, as he has been often heard to 
 acknowledge, were the happiest years of his life. 
 
 " It was then agreed that he should go and prosecute 
 his studies in Edinburgh and London, and afterwards re- 
 turn to settle in Hamilton, in partnership with Dr Cullen. 
 Dr Hunter, after prosecuting his studies for a winter at 
 Edinburgh, went to London, where he was introduced to Dr 
 James Douglas, who was at that time engaged in the com^ 
 position of a great anatomical work on the bones, and look- 
 ing out for a young man of abilities and industry whom he
 
 14 LIFE OF Bll CULLEN. 
 
 might employ as a dissector. This induced him to pay par- 
 ticular attention to Mr Hunter ; and, finding him acute and 
 sensible, he desired him to make another visit. A second 
 conversation confirmed the Doctor in the good opinion he 
 had formed of Mr Hunter ; and, without any further hesi- 
 tation, he invited him into his family to assist in his dissec- 
 tions, and to superintend the education of his son. Mr Hun- 
 ter having communicated this ' offer to his father and Dr 
 Cullen, the latter readily and heartily granted his concur- 
 rence to it ; but his father, who was very old and infirm, and 
 expected his return with impatience, consented with reluc- 
 tance to a scheme the success of which he thought preca- 
 rious." 
 
 Dr Himtcr retained to the latest period of his life a 
 lively impression of the obligations he lay under to Dr 
 Cullen, and seems never to have omitted an opportu- 
 nity of acknowledging how much he owed to his at- 
 tentions and friendship. JSIany warm expressions of 
 this are to be found in his letters to Dr Cullen. 
 These two eminent men do not appear to have en- 
 joyed an opportunity of personal intercourse, after their 
 first separation, except during a visit of a few wrecks 
 which Dr Hunter made to his relations in Scotland, 
 in the summer of 1750; but they always continued 
 to maintain an intimate and familiar correspondence. 
 Their letters relate chiefly to the interchange of mu- 
 tual acts of friendship, and contain much confidential 
 communication with regard to their professional pro- 
 jects and prospects in life *. Dr Hunter found an ad- 
 ditional motive for his gratitude in the continued kind- 
 ness that was shewn to his family by Dr Cullen, Du- 
 
 • See Appendix^ Note C.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 15 
 
 ring a severe and lingering illness with which his mo- 
 ther was attacked in the year after her son's visit to 
 Scotland, Dv Cidlen's attentions were unremitting, 
 and his letters to his friend, giving a detailed account 
 of the progress of Mrs Hunter's disease and of its fatal 
 termination, evince a concern and kind consideration, 
 highly honourahle to his dispositions and character. 
 
 Though, by the circumstance of Dr Hunter's re- 
 maining in London, Dr Cullen was deprived of the 
 pleasure he had promised to himself, of having his 
 friend and pupil associated with him as a partner in 
 business, who w^as to have relieved him from the prac- 
 tice of surgery which he disliked, he still carried iuto 
 execution his intention of acting only as a physician. 
 With this view, he took the degree of Doctor of Medi- 
 cine at Glasgow in 1 7-10, and in the following year en- 
 tered into a written contract with ]Mr Thomas Hamil- 
 ton, Sm'geon, on terms similar to those which had been 
 formerly agreed upon between him and Dr Hunter. 
 
 During his residence in Hamilton, Dr Cidlen w^as 
 twice elected a magistrate of that place, first in the 
 year 1738, and again in 1739, in conjunction with a 
 relation of his own, Mr Hamilton of Fau-holm*. 
 
 * Considerable disturbances were about this time occasioned in 
 Scotland by the scarcity and high price of grain, and a riot took 
 place at Hamilton, in which the leaders of the mob broke into the 
 granaries of a farmer in the neighbourhood, forcibly carried his 
 meal to Hamilton, where they sold it at a reduced price, and de- 
 livered over the money which they had received for it to Dr Cul- 
 len, as chief magistrate. This farmer, in bringing an action of 
 damages against the rioters, accused the magistrates of having con- 
 nived at the irregular and disorderly conduct of the mob ; but the 
 Judges of the Supreme Court of Scotland, before whom the cause
 
 16 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 
 
 While in the magistracy, and for several years after- 
 wards, he appears to have taken an active share in the 
 agricultural improvements beginning at that time to 
 be introduced into the west of Scotland. He fre- 
 quently attended the meetings of the trustees appoint- 
 ed for the improvement of the high-roads, and was 
 much consulted by them on the different matters which 
 came under their consideration. Some of his papers 
 relative to these objects, exhibit singular proofs of ha- 
 bits of arrangement and accuracy in transacting busi- 
 ness, and a knowledge of rm*al and agricultural affairs, 
 which must have rendered his advice particularly valu- 
 able. 
 
 In November 1741, Dr Cullen married Anna 
 Johnstone, daughter of the Reverend Mr Johnstone, 
 minister of Kilbarchan, in the county of Henfrew, 
 a woman of great mental endowments, whose society 
 he had the happiness to enjoy for a period of forty-six 
 years. The intelligent, varied and lively conversation 
 of Mrs Cvdlen, and her agreeable and fascinating 
 manners, were, like those of her husband, the admira- 
 tion and delight of all who were admitted into their 
 family circle. She became the mother of seven sons 
 and four daughters, several of whom inherited, in a 
 
 was brought, declared, by an unanimous decision, that " William 
 Cullen and Charles Hamilton, Magistrates of Hamilton, instead 
 of having any accession to, or concern with, the mob, had on the 
 contrary done all in their power to prevent it, and to discharge 
 the duties of their office, so far as the nature and circumstances of 
 the case would admit ; and that they had even followed out the 
 pursuer's own directions in relation to the management of the 
 mob, and in doing what they could to secure the meal, or the 
 price <tf it, to the proprietor,"
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 17 
 
 remarkable degree, the talents and accomplishments 
 by which their parents were distinguished. 
 
 After his marriage, Dr Cullen continued to prac- 
 tise as a physician in Hamilton till the autumn of 
 1744, when he removed with his family to Glasgow. 
 This change of residence had been suggested to him 
 two years before, by an invitation which he received 
 from several respectable families in Glasgow and its 
 neighbourhood, to settle there, on the death of Dr 
 Brisbane, a physician who had been in great employ- 
 ment ; and, it appears, that he had even taken a house 
 in that city, and made the necessary preparations for 
 his removal. But he was prevented at that time from 
 carrying his intentions into execution by the Duke of 
 Hamilton, who held out various prospects of advan- 
 tage to induce him to remain at Hamilton. Besides 
 an annual salary, he was to have a chemical labo- 
 ratory fitted up for him, and the superintendence of a 
 botanical garden attached to the Palace. Indeed, 
 both the Duke and Duchess seem to have been fully 
 sensible of Dr Cullen's merits, and desirous to attach 
 him to Hamilton by every thing which could render 
 his situation there agreeable. These arrangements, 
 however, were not put in execution ; the Duke soon 
 after this fell into a tedious illness, during which, for a 
 period of four months, he required the constant atten- 
 dance of Dr Cullen, who accompanied him in the 
 summer of 1742! to the Isle of Arran, and, in winter, 
 in a journey to London. His Grace died in the end 
 of the following year, an event by which Dr Cullen 
 was prevented from receiving the rewards due to his 
 services. 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 18 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 From the nature and variety of the studies and pur- 
 suits in which Dr Cullen was engaged during the 
 seven years he resided in Hamilton, there is every rea- 
 son to beheve that he was industriously employed in 
 qualifying himself to occupy a situation more favour- 
 able for the exercise of his talents. Besides the study 
 of theoretical and practical medicine, the sciences of 
 chemistry, natural philosophy, and natural history, 
 seem to have engaged much of his attention. In proof 
 of this, I find among his papers several commissions, 
 not only for the most approved books upon these 
 sciences, but also for apparatus and philosophical in- 
 struments necessary for their practical illustration. 
 Some of these commissions evince, in a remarkable 
 manner, the persevering ardour with which he endea- 
 voured to procure, from all parts of Europe, those 
 sources of information, and means of instruction, which 
 could in any way tend to his improvement in know- 
 ledge. His library, even at this period, contained a 
 number of the most rare and valuable works on medi- 
 cine, some of which appear to have been occasionally 
 borrowed from him by such of his acquaintances as 
 were occupied in pursuits similar to his o^vn. I find a 
 curious example of this in a letter addressed to him as 
 " Bailie Cullen, Surgeon in Hamilton," from the 
 late Dr William Smellie, who, as I have been told, 
 at that time united the occupations of cloth-mer- 
 chant and practitioner of midwifery in Lanark : *' I 
 have kept your book on Consumption too long, but I 
 shall send it next week. Send me up Dr Clifton's 
 History of Medicine ; I want to see some things in 
 him. I could not get that book from Glasgow or
 
 LIFE OE DR CULLEN. 19 
 
 Edinburgh, but I have sent to London for it." When 
 we remember the eminence to which Dr SmelHe 
 afterwards arrived as a teacher and writer, as well as 
 practitioner of midwifery in London, it is agreeable to 
 perceive the laudable pains he was taking, in the ob- 
 scure situation in which he was placed, to enlarge his 
 general knowledge of medicine, and to qualify himself 
 to fill that station in society to which the conscious 
 possession of talent prompted him to aspire. 
 
 A variety of circumstances combined to render Glas- 
 gow a situation pecidiarly eligible for Dr CuUen. He 
 had many connections and friends there ; the popu- 
 lation of the place afforded an extensive field for prac- 
 tice ; and the University presented to him a theatre 
 in which he was aware that he might have full scope 
 for the display of his knowledge and talents. That 
 his thoughts had already been directed to this object, 
 and that he was even prepared to teach medicine be- 
 fore he left Hamilton, may be presumed from the hints 
 contained in the following extract of a letter, dated 
 Glasgow, 7th May 1744, addressed to Dr Cidlen by 
 Mr Thom, who was at that time tutor in the family 
 of JNIr Hamilton of Wish aw : ''I thought before 
 now to have passed a night with you at Hamilton, 
 which 1 never do without a great deal of pleasm'e and 
 improvement ; but now I am afraid I shall not see you 
 till we come to the country. What you were so good 
 as to hint to me in confidence, I was mindfid enough 
 to keep a secret ; but I reheard it talked of in several 
 companies, that you are to be here, and to teach medi- 
 cine next winter. On this occasion, your friends can- 
 not help expressing that esteem of you, which a man of 
 
 B 2
 
 20 LIFE OF DR CUI.LEN. 
 
 distinguished abilities in science justly deserves. If 
 you are determined to come, and make no secret of it, 
 I should be content to know it. Nothing can give me 
 greater joy than your success ; and I think there is a 
 probability you will meet with more, at least in teach- 
 ing, than you could have had for some years past, as a 
 good many have applied to anatomy this season, some 
 of them foreigners, who, I know, design to study me- 
 dicine." It appears, indeed, by the following letter 
 from Dr Hunter, that Dr Cullen commenced lectur- 
 ing immediately after his removal to Glasgow. 
 
 " Dear DoCTOE, London, 2(jth February 174&. 
 
 " I could not let slip the opportunity of thanking you for 
 your kind letter; and, in answer, I wish I could say any 
 thing that might convince you of my sense of your goodness 
 in every thing, but particularly of your friendship in this 
 case. You haAe interested yourself warmly in my brother's 
 (James) health all along * ; and, in the hurry of business and 
 
 * The following account of Mr James Hunter is given bj Sir Eve- 
 rard Home, in his Life of Mr John Hunter ; — " James Hunter was 
 born in 1715. He was brought up to the law, as a Writer to the Signet 
 in Edinburgh, but, in the year 1742, went to London on a visit to his 
 brother AVilliam, who was at that time a teacher of anatomy, and so 
 much was he captivated with the pursuits in which he found his brother 
 engaged, that he purposed to follow them himself, and become a practi- 
 tioner in physic. His health, however, was so much impaired by his ap- 
 plication to anatoni}", that he was obliged to return to Long Calderwood, 
 where he died of a spitting of blood, in the 28th year of his age. He was 
 a young man of uncommonly pleasing address, and of very quick parts. 
 The late Dr Hunter has been heard to remark, that if he had lived to 
 practise physic in London, nothing could have prevented him from rising 
 to the top of his profession." 
 
 There is still preserved among Dr Cullen's papers a copy of a letter 
 written by him to ^Ix James Hujiter, in the Latin language, upon the
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 21 
 
 lecture-reading, have taken time to write me of him. In- 
 deed, it was kind ; I thank you in his name, and I thank 
 you for myself. You see I pretend to gratitude ; so love 
 me, God, as I am sincere. 
 
 " The accounts Mr Macauly gives me of your situation at 
 Glasgow, afford me a deal of joy. Macauly talks much of 
 your lectures, too ; but that does not surprise me, for I knew 
 you before. 
 
 " Well, how does the animal economy appear to you, now 
 that you have examined it, as one may say, with precision? 
 I have good reason to put the question to you, because, in 
 my httle attempts that way, since I begin to think for my- 
 self, Nature, where I am best disposed to mark her, beams 
 so strong upon me, that I am lost in wonder, and count it 
 sacrilege to measure her meanest feature by my largest con- 
 ception. Ay, ay, the time will come when our pert phi- 
 losophers will blush to find, that they have talked with as 
 little real knowledge, and as peremptorily of the animal 
 powers, as the country miller who balances the powers of 
 Europe. But, if I follow out this train of thought, I shall 
 become as pert as those I blame ; therefore. 111 drop the 
 point. * * * I must end, by assuring you, once more, 
 that I am, Sir, yours devotedly, 
 
 " William Hunter/' 
 
 I have not been able to ascertain whether the Lec- 
 tures to w^hich Dr Hunter alludes in his letter were 
 again delivered in the winter session of 1745-46, or 
 whether this was prevented by the disturbed s^tate of 
 the country at that time ; but that Dr CuUen was 
 busily engaged during this period in preparing and im- 
 proving his lectures, appears from the following letters 
 
 choice of a profession ; from which it appears that Mr Hunter was at the 
 time in doubt whether he should become a soldier or a painter.
 
 22 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 which passed between Dr Hunter and him, in the 
 summer of 1746. 
 
 " Dear Doctor, ' London, May 1746. 
 
 " I cannot say that I am fond of a very close correspon- 
 dence ; for a man may find sufficient employment for himself, 
 from January to December, if he writes often to any number 
 of friends. But really I think ours grows too remiss ; and I 
 insist upon your writing once in the twelvemonth, if it was 
 for no other reason than keeping up the right of an old pri- 
 vilege. I have nothing to prompt me at present but that 
 very motive. I have nothing to inform you of, nothing to 
 entertain you with ; but while I write, and have nothing to 
 say, I mean to signify the continuance of my regard and 
 esteem for you. I thought to have had the pleasure of be- 
 ing with you long before this time ; and I hope still that 
 Providence will indulge me in my greatest wish before the 
 summer is over. 
 
 " I see your sister Mrs Almack often ; she is always 
 complaining of your silence, and I always taking your part 
 when we meet. But the conflict is not equal; for, setting 
 aside the greater abilities of my antagonist, I must own that 
 I have the worst side of the argument to manage. All your 
 friends here are making frequent inquiries after you. Dr 
 Smellie, Dr Armstrong, and Dr Pitcairn, particularly, al- 
 ways desire to be remembered to you. 
 
 " I beg the favour that you will take care of the enclosed 
 
 to my mother. * * * My best respects to Mrs Cul- 
 
 len, and all friends ; and beheve me always, your sincere 
 friend, and devoted servant, 
 
 *' William Hunter.'' 
 
 " P. S. — Among many things that take up my time at 
 present, I labour most at a compendious System of Ana^ 
 tomy and Physiology, which will be necessary to be before 
 me in the winter, should I at last enter upon my old scheme.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. ^^ 
 
 But, good heavens ! What pains is required to do any 
 thing with tolerable accuracy ! Have you not found it so, 
 for you have been employed pretty much in the same way ?^' 
 
 Dr CuLLEN to Dr Hunter. 
 
 " Dear Willie, • Glasgow, mh Jum 1746. 
 
 " Your last to your mother I delivered precisely in the 
 manner you desired, and now return you the answer enclosed. 
 I am extremely sorry our correspondence is not more fre- 
 quent, and I should have dunned you oftener within this 
 twelvemonth, if the situation of the country had not made 
 me forget myself as well as my friends ;— but that is now 
 over— and I remember you and your correspondence, with 
 anxious wishes for the renewal of it. I am now busy in pre- 
 paring for next winter in the same way as you are. I wish 
 you would send your plan for the Physiology, and you shall 
 have mine afterwards. If you hke it, we may exchange our 
 opinions on particular points ; but you will perhaps think 
 this an unfair proposal. I may be the better for your hints, 
 and you may be the worse by my pre-occupying the students. 
 The first I acknowledge, but I think there is httle danger 
 from the last. You will have enough of advantages to en- 
 gage students that have been with me ; and I am persuaded 
 you cannot be disappointed with respect to the Anatomy, 
 even by the Edinburgh College, much less by any thing that 
 can be done here ; and if I ever have any students here that 
 are to go to London, I expect rather to be useful than hurt- 
 ful to you. 
 
 " Nothing could make me happier than seeing you in 
 Scotland. I have a thousand things to say that I can say to 
 nobody else. Make my comphments to Drs Smellie, Arm- 
 strong, Pitcairn, &c. &c. I am quite ashamed of never 
 having wrote Dr Armstrong since I had tlic honour of his
 
 214 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 compliment. I am, Dear Willie, yours most affection- 
 ately, 
 
 " William Cullen/' 
 
 In the summer of 1746, Dr Ciillen made arrange- 
 ments with Dr Johnstone, Professor of Medicine in 
 Glasgow, which enabled him to deliver, during the 
 following wdnter, a com'se of lectures on the theory 
 and practice of physic in the University. To be the 
 founder of a Medical School at Glasgow, similar to 
 that which had been established at Edinburgh, w^as a 
 design w^orthy of the active and enterprising genius of 
 Dr Cullen, and he appears to have engaged in it with 
 all the ability, diligence and ardour, necessary for the 
 accomplishment of so important an object. 
 
 The most accurate and authentic information which 
 I have been able to procure respecting Dr Cullen's 
 lectures, at this period, is contained in the following 
 letter, which I received from the late worthy and re- 
 spectable Dr Wallace, surgeon in Glasgow, to whom, 
 a few months before his death, I had the good fortune 
 to be mtroduced by that accomplished physician the 
 late Dr Cleghorn. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Glasgow, Uh July 1811. 
 
 " I had the favour of yours, and shall endeavour to give 
 you every information with regard to Dr Cullen in my power, 
 while he resided at Glasgow. 
 
 " He settled here in the end of the year 1744, or begin- 
 ning of 1745. Dr Johnstone was at that time Professor of 
 Medicine in the University, but did not give lectures. Dr 
 Robert Hamilton was Professor of Anatomy and Botany, but 
 gave no lectures on Botany. He had been appointed Pro-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 25 
 
 fessor only a few years before, upon the death of Dr Thomas 
 Brisbane, who never gave lectures. Dr CuUen, I suppose with 
 the concurrence of Dr Johnstone, began his first course of lec- 
 tures * on the Theory and Practice of Physic, in the ^vinter 
 of 1746, which continued for six months. I attended that 
 session and the succeeding one. The University having fitted 
 up a laboratory, Dr Cullen, in the session 1747, besides 
 lectures on Physic, gave lectures on Materia Medica and 
 Botany, along with a Mr John Carrick, surgeon, I suppose 
 with the concurrence of Dr Hamilton, to whom Mr Car- 
 rick was assistant. Both of these courses I attended. Dr 
 Cullen continued annually to give lectures on Physic and 
 Chemistry, while he remained at Glasgow. Mr Carrick died' 
 soon after this, and the lectures on materia medica and bo- 
 tany were given up. 
 
 " The number of students in the Physic Class and Mate- 
 ria Medica were very few, not above twenty. But in the 
 Chemistry, the number was considerable ; the lectures being 
 calculated not only for the medical students, but for the ge- 
 neral students of the University, and for gentlemen engaged 
 in any business connected with chemistry. Dr Cullen, in 
 the Ph3^sic Class, never read lectures, but only used notes ; 
 in the Chemistry, he sometimes read, but very seldom. To 
 the medical students, as a short text-book, he gave out occa- 
 sionally a manuscript half- sheet, to be copied and circulated 
 from one to another ; and in his lectures he delivered the 
 same opinions with regard to the Theory of Fever, the Hu- 
 moral Pathology, and the Nervous System, which have since 
 appeared in his writings. His pupils were very much at- 
 tached to him ; indeed it could not have been otherwise, as 
 every attention on his part was paid to their improvement. 
 He had seemingly much pleasure in communicating his ewn 
 
 * By the First Course, Dr Wallace must here mean, the first course 
 which Dr Cullen delivered in the University, as it appears from Dr Hun- 
 ter's letter that he was employed in lecturing in the session of 1744-45.
 
 26 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 extensive knowledge to the students under his care. In the 
 following year the number of students greatly increased. 
 
 " Some years after Dr CuUen came to reside here, Dr 
 Johnstone resigned, and Dr Cullen was appointed Professor 
 of Medicine. Dr Johnstone survived several years after- 
 wards. Dr Cullen very soon got into a most extensive busi- 
 ness, which continued with him while here ; indeed he was 
 considered as the first physician in this part of the country. 
 
 " I recollect nothing further, only that I may mention, 
 that the Doctor lived in great cordiality with the gentlemen 
 of the profession. I am, with much respect, Dear Sir, your 
 most obedient servant, Robert Wallace. 
 
 " To Professor Thosison, Edinburgh." 
 
 The notes are still preserved in Dr Cullen's hand- 
 writing, from which he appears to have delivered the 
 lectures introductory to his first course on the Theory 
 and Practice of Physic in the University of Glasgow. 
 These notes bear the dates of the 4th and 5th of No- 
 vember 1746, and exhibit some of those comprehensive 
 views of medical science, and much of that talent for 
 generalization which were afterwards recognised as 
 forming the peculiar character and charm of Dr Cid- 
 len's lectm-es. They are curious as containing the 
 first outlines of those historical and critical disquisi- 
 tions with which he was afterwards accustomed to in- 
 troduce his lectures on the Theory and Practice of 
 Physic in Edinburgh*. 
 
 In the first lecture on medicine which Dr Cullen 
 delivered in the University of Glasgow, he explained 
 to his audience his reasons for not adopting as text- 
 
 * See Works of Dr Cullen. Edinburgh 1827, vol. i. p. 365. 
 to p. 464.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 27 
 
 books the Institutions and Aphorisms of Boerhaave, 
 works which were then very generally employed for 
 that purpose in the different medical schools of Europe. 
 While he acknowledged the great merit of these writ- 
 ings, he pleaded, as an apology for this innovation, the 
 example of Boerhaave himself, referring to a passage in 
 the preface to the Institutions of that celebrated author, 
 where he points out the advantages enjoyed by a teacher 
 who explains to his students his own ideas and writings, 
 instead of commenting upon those of others. After 
 reading this passage, which he has introduced also in- 
 to the preface to his First Lines of the Practice of 
 Physic, Dr CuUen added, — " I ought to give a text- 
 book myself, but shall not attempt it till after a little 
 more experience in teaching. In the mean time, I 
 shall endeavour to supply its place by an easy, clear 
 order and method, so that the want of it may be less 
 felt." This was probably the first public expression 
 of his intention with regard to a work which has now 
 been so long the guide of scientific practitioners, and 
 which, notwithstanding all the improvements that have 
 been made in medical science since its publication, still 
 continues to hold in this country the first place among 
 systems of medicine. That from the time Dr CuUen 
 first endeavoured to sketch for himself those outlines of 
 his lectm-es, which were circulated in manuscript pa- 
 pers among his students at Glasgow, he had kept 
 steadily in view the composition of his First Lines of 
 the Theory and Practice of Physic, is evident from 
 the numerous corrections and improvements which ap- 
 pear by his notes to have been successively introduced 
 into those simple and accurate descriptions of diseases,
 
 28 LIFE^OF DR CULLExV. 
 
 and comprehensive generalisations of medical facts, 
 which constitute the great merit of that work, and have 
 contributed so much to the lasting fame of its author. 
 In allusion to his attempting to lecture from notes, 
 Dr Cullen remarked, " Written lectures might he 
 more correct in the diction and fluent in the style ; but 
 they would have taken up too much time, that may be 
 rendered otherwise useful. I shall be as correct as 
 possible, but perhaps a familiar style will prove more 
 agreeable than a formal one, and the delivery more 
 fitted to command attention." 
 
 In entering upon the duties of a teacher of medi- 
 cine, Dr Cullen ventm-ed to make another change in 
 the established mode of instruction, by laying aside 
 the use of the Latin language in the composition and 
 delivery of his lectiu-es. This was considered by many 
 as a rash innovation ; and some, desirous to detract 
 from his reputation, or not sufficiently aware of the 
 advantages attending this deviation from established 
 practice, have insinuated that it was owing to Dr Cul- 
 len's imperfect knowledge of the Latin that he was in- 
 duced to employ the English language. But how en- 
 tirely groundless such an insinuation is, must be appa- 
 rent to every one at all acquainted with his early educa- 
 tion, com'se of studies, and habits of persevering industry. 
 When we reflect, too, that it was through the medium 
 of the Latin tongue that he must have acquired his 
 extensive knowledge of medical science, it seems ab- 
 surd to suppose that he was not qualified, like the 
 other teachers of his time, to deliver, had he chosen it, 
 his lectures in that language. We are not left, how- 
 ever, to conjecture with regard to this point ; for that
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 29 
 
 Dr Cullen had been accustomed, from an early period 
 of his life, to compose in Latin, appears not only from 
 letters written by him in that language to some of his 
 familiar friends, first draughts of which have been pre- 
 served, but also from the fact, that, whilst he taught 
 medicine at Glasgow in his vernacidar tongue, he 
 delivered, during the same period, several courses of 
 lectures on Botany in the Latin language. The notes 
 of these lectures still remain among his papers ; and I 
 find also, written with his own hand, in the same lan- 
 guage, two copies of an unfinished text-book on Che- 
 mistry. The numerous corrections of expression which 
 are observable in the first sketches of Dr Cullen's La- 
 tin, as well as of his English compositions, show a con- 
 stant attention on his part to the accuracy and purity 
 of the language in which his ideas were expressed, and 
 a mind always aiming, in whatever it engaged, at a 
 degree of perfection higher than that which it con- 
 ceived it had already attained. 
 
 Regarding the institution of a course of lectiu^es on 
 Chemistry as essential to the plan which he had formed 
 of establishing a regular JNIedical School in the Uni- 
 versity of Glasgow, Dr Cullen made proposals to the 
 Faculty of the University, that lectures should be 
 permitted to be given on that branch of science by 
 himself and Mr John Carrick, brother cf the late 
 Robert Carrick, Esq. Banker in Glasgow, who was at 
 that time assistant to Dr Hamilton, the Professor of 
 Anatomy. The Faculty approved of these proposals ; 
 and, as is stated in the records of the University, or- 
 dered, in January 1747, that a sum of money (£ 52) 
 should be appropriated for the pm*chase of apparatus
 
 30 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 and the erection of furnaces, &c. necessary for the teach- 
 ing of chemistry, and directed that Dr Cullen and INIr 
 Carrick should be consulted with regard to the mode 
 in which this money w^as to be expended in the fitting 
 up of a suitable laboratory and class-room. From an 
 account kept by Dr Cullen, it appears that the sum of 
 £l36 was expended upon the chemical laboratoiy, 
 dming the sessions of 1747 and 1748, and that £20 
 were afterwards allowed annually to keep it in repair. 
 That considerable difficulties were experienced at that 
 time in procuring chemical apparatus, even in London, 
 is seen by a letter from Dr CuUen's brother-in-law% 
 My Walter Johnston, dated London, 8th December 
 1747, to whom he had given a commission to procure 
 for him certain articles, along with the chemical writ- 
 ings of Beccher, Stahl, Bohn, and Pott, as well as a 
 German dictionary and grammar. 
 
 The lectures on chemistry were begun by JNIr Car- 
 rick ; but, in consequence of his becoming indisposed al- 
 most immediately after their commencement, Dr Cul- 
 len found himself under the necessity of supplying 
 his place. The following part of the address which he 
 made, on introducing himself to the chemical class, 
 points out the occasion on which he first came forward 
 to lecture on chemistry, and the measures he was pre- 
 pared to take for the instruction of his students. 
 
 " Gentlemen, Your chemical lessons have been a little 
 interrupted by Mr Carrick's indisposition, which, unluckily 
 both for you and him, still continues. To prevent any far- 
 ther delay in the course, I am come to give you two or three 
 lectures, which may possibly need some apology, as they are
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 31 
 
 on a subject I did not expect to be so particularly employed 
 in. I suppose you have been told in what light you are to 
 consider the course in which we are engaged. At least, I 
 think it necessary to request you to notice, that this course 
 is not offered by us as very experienced masters in the art, 
 but as an attempt by us, for want of more able performers, 
 to supply students in some measure with the rudiments of 
 such an useful and necessary piece of knowledge ; and both 
 in consideration of the smallness of our pretensions, and that 
 this, too, is a first attempt, we desire and expect a good deal 
 of indulgence and favour."" * * * 
 
 " As our lectures on this subject will comprehend a great 
 many different particulars, which are not easily recollected, 
 I have here made out such a plan as I hope may be useful 
 to you. In that paper, as well as in our lectures, you will 
 notice a great many terms that may seem affectedly pedantic. 
 I am quite sensible of it ; but the first chemists were not only 
 persons of a low taste, but they also affected to be myste- 
 rious, and, therefore, introduced a number of uncouth terms 
 which cannot now easily be got quit of, and it is quite ne- 
 cessary you should be acquainted with the meaning of 
 them." 
 
 It is evident by the notes from which his lectures 
 of this session appear to have been spoken, that instead 
 of two or three lectures only, as proposed in his ad- 
 dress, Dr Cullen delivered the whole of the remaining 
 part of the course ; and these notes shew that he was, 
 even at that time, extensively and minutely acquaint- 
 ed with the writings of preceding chemists ; and that, 
 in selecting and employing for the purpose of instruc- 
 tion the more valuable facts which they contain, he 
 exercised that discrimination and talent for arrange- 
 ment, which manifested themselves in every matter of 
 speculation or action in which lie engaged.
 
 32 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 
 
 That Dr Cullen's attention at this period was occu- 
 pied with the other collateral branches of medicine be- 
 sides chemistry, appears from the following extract 
 from a letter addi'essed to him by Dr George Thom- 
 son of Belfast, dated the 21st of October 1747. 
 
 " I was favoured with yours of the 5th of September, by 
 which I am glad to find that your endeavours are so great 
 for promoting the study of medicine. I hope to see the 
 College of Glasgow flourish in that part of science as it does 
 in many others. I insist on the performance of your pro- 
 mise of sending me some specimens of thB medicines you are 
 introducing into the shops before not kno^\^l, and shall be 
 glad to hear from you of any thing curious occiu-ring in 
 practice. I beg all your medical news, and should be glad 
 to know what is to be expected from the Edinburgh Society. 
 I keep up a correspondence with Dr Rutty, a quaker physi- 
 cian at Dublin, who writes me that one Dr Jenkins has been 
 these ten years preparing a Botanicum Hibernicum. I do 
 not know when it will be pubhshed, but when it is you shall 
 see it." 
 
 In the summer of 1748, Dr Cidlen, in conjunction 
 with ISIr Carrick, gave lectm-es on JNIateria JNIedica 
 and on Botany — branches of medical study which had 
 not, any more than Chemistry, been previously made 
 the particular subjects of academical prelection in the 
 University of Glasgovr. The lectures on Botany, as 
 has been already observed, were delivered by Dr Cid- 
 len in the Latin language, which he w^as probably in- 
 duced to employ on account of the difficidty of finding 
 English words to express the terms used by botanists 
 in the description and nomenclatm'e of the different 
 parts of plants ; a difficulty which, it must be confessed,
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 33 
 
 lias not yet been fully obviated. In these lectures, 
 after giving an account of the principles upon which 
 the different systems of botany had been founded, and 
 explaining particularly that of Tournefort, he followed 
 the system of Linnaeus, the outlines of which had been 
 first given to the public in the Sy sterna Xaturge, pub- 
 lished at Leyden in 1735. In the adoption of this 
 system, which was strongly opposed by many contem- 
 porary botanists, Dr Cullen's superior sagacity enabled 
 him to perceive how much that great naturalist has fa- 
 cilitated the study of botany, by establishing his ar- 
 rangement of plants upon the number, proportion, re- 
 lative situation, and connexions of the parts concerned 
 in their reproduction. Indeed, in every view that can 
 be taken of the analogies in external form, or in inter- 
 nal structure, existing among the different tribes of the 
 vegetable kingdom, the Sexual System of Linnaeus, 
 must, from the universal occm'rence, uniformity and 
 importance of the parts on which it is founded, ever 
 continue to be studied and admired by the scientific 
 botanist. In pointing out the advantages of method 
 in treating of diseases, in his lectures introductory to 
 the practice of physic, Dr CuUen observes, with refer- 
 ence to the Linnsean system, " When, a little more 
 than thirty years ago, I first got a sight of the botani- 
 cal system of Linnaeus, the language in which it was 
 expressed appeared to me a piece of the most uncouth 
 jargon and minute pedantry that I had ever seen ; but, 
 in length of time, it became ns familiar to me as my 
 mother-tongue ; and, with whatever difiiculties this 
 system was received in most parts of Europe, it has 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 34. LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 now surmounted these, and its utility has reconciled 
 every person to the study of it." 
 
 That Dr CuUen was not, however, disposed to ad- 
 here servilely to any system of Botany, is evident from 
 the general remarks which he introduced into his lec- 
 tures on the advantages and disadvantages attending 
 the different modes of arranging vegetables in classes^ 
 orders, and families, kc. Some of his criticisms upon 
 the writings of botanists evince a knowledge of plants 
 which could have been obtained only by a long and 
 persevering study of them, and which surprises us the 
 more when we remember the variety of other pursuits, 
 in the midst of which it must have been acquired. As 
 a specimen of the manner in which he was accustomed 
 to sum up his general observations on the various classes 
 of plants, I shall subjoin, in the Appendix, his remarks 
 on the arrangement of the compound flowers which 
 form the class Syngenesia in the System of Linnseus*'. 
 
 Of the lectures which Dr CuUen delivered on Ma- 
 teria Medica at Glasgow, only a few fragments of notes 
 have been preserved, and these are not sufficient to af- 
 ford a precise idea of the general plan which he fol- 
 lowed. The lectures on Botany and on Materia Me- 
 dica were again delivered in 1749 ; how long they were 
 continued after that period I have not been able to as- 
 certain. It might be supposed, from Dr Wallace's 
 letter, that they were given up in consequence of the 
 death of JNIr Carrick, which happened in 1750, after 
 the delivery of only a very few courses ; but Dr Cul- 
 len's " Summer Lectures" are referred to in his corre- 
 
 * See Appendix, Njte D.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 35 
 
 spondeiice so late as 1754 ; and the following part of a 
 letter, dated the same year, from Dr Christrom, a 
 Danish physician, who had visited Glasgow a short 
 time before, makes it evident that he still continued to 
 take a keen interest in botanical pursuits. '* Since my 
 return to London, is arrived an answer of Dr Linnaeus 
 to my questions put according to your orders, to this 
 purpose, that Air a is Gramen 3IUiaceum, Medicago 
 is Medicago sylvestris. As to Peloria, the Doctor says 
 he has none, and that the seed never ripens. But in- 
 stead of these, he has sent for yom* service the enclosed, 
 which I transmit just as they came, with this expres- 
 sion, that he is sure they will be an hundred times 
 more welcome to you than all the former ones, and that 
 Vicia biennis is worth an hundred ducats." AVhat 
 intercourse was kept up after this communication be- 
 tween Linnaeus and Dr Cullen does not appear ; but 
 I find a letter from one of his pupils, Dr Spry, dated 
 Sidney College, Cambridge, 21st June 1774, request- 
 ing the introductory letters which Dr Cullen had pro- 
 mised him for Linnaeus. 
 
 In commencing his second course of Chemistry, Dr 
 Cullen printed and distributed among his students, 
 " The Plan of a Course of Chemical Lectures and Ex- 
 periments, directed chiefly to the improvement of arts 
 and manufactures, to be given in the Laboratory of 
 the College of Glasgow, during the session 1748." A 
 comparison of the arrangement of subjects followed in 
 this plan, with that to be found in any of the chemical 
 works then extant, coidd not fail to give a favourable 
 impression of the talents of its author, and to procure 
 
 C 2
 
 36 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 for him the attention and respect of those who were 
 engaged in prosecuting the study of chemistry. 
 
 It was only a short time before this period that che- 
 mistry had begun to assume a systematic form, and to 
 be recognised as constituting a distinct branch of natu- 
 ral science. The chemical facts discovered by those 
 engaged in the practice of the arts, in the pursuits of 
 alchemy, and in the preparation of medicines, were be- 
 come so numerous as to render some arrangement of 
 them necessary, and to induce philosophers to seek for 
 some common principles by which they might be con- 
 nected and explained. In this country, the experi- 
 mental investigations of Mr Boyle, and of some emi- 
 nent individuals whom he associated with him in his 
 labours, had led to the discovery of many valuable facts, 
 and had given nev/ and usefid directions to chemical 
 researches. But the suggestion by Mayow and by 
 Newton, that the phenomena of chemical combination 
 depend upon peculiar attractions, which exist between 
 the minute particles of different bodies, ought perhaps 
 to be regarded as the first successful attempt to lay the 
 foundation of chemistry as a science, and to distinguish 
 it from the other branches of natural philosophy. 
 
 The encouragement and facilities afforded to the ac- 
 quisition and communication of scientific knowledge by 
 the establishment of learned societies in different coun- 
 tries of Europe, had given an impulse to chemical pur- 
 suits, and contributed to free them from mucli of that 
 mystery in which they had been involved by their 
 earlier cultivators. The attention given to chemistry 
 by some of the more distinguished members of the 
 Academy of Sciences at Paris, the delivery of lectures
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 37 
 
 on this subject in the French language by the elder 
 Lemery; the curious experiments of Homberg on 
 phosphorus, metals and salts ; the discovery of the re- 
 markable effects produced upon various bodies by the 
 burning glass ; and the ingenious method conceived by 
 Geoffroi of framing tables, which should exhibit the 
 relative degrees of chemical affinity between different 
 substances, — had all contiibuted to render the pursuits 
 of chemistry more generally popular in France than 
 they appear to hav€ been at the same period in any 
 other country of Europe. 
 
 Several of the chemical arts, and particularly that of 
 metallurgy, had long been practised in Germany, and 
 lectures on chemistry had for some time been given in 
 the different medical schools of that country and of 
 Holland. Stahl, v/hose bold and original genius led 
 him to attempt the reform of all the sciences which he 
 cultivated, had been peculiarly successful in improving 
 chemistry. He had simplified many of its processes, 
 had enriched it with several new and valuable facts ; 
 and^ in examining every part of the science with acute- 
 ness and precision, had given to its general doctrines a 
 more systematic form than they had ever before ex- 
 hibited. In following out the speculations of Beccher, 
 he had also endeavoured to generalize the phenomena 
 of combustion by his theory of 'phlogiston, which, 
 though resting on a principle completely imaginary, 
 was implicitly adopted by chemists, and long regarded 
 as in every respect legitimate and philosophical. In 
 framing this theory, however, Stahl overlooked entire- 
 ly that function of the air in combustion which had 
 been previously pointed out by Dr Hooke, in passages
 
 38 IJFE or Dll CULLEN. 
 
 of his iNlicrographia which contain a very remarkable 
 anticipation of one of the fundamental doctrines of 
 pneumatic chemistry *. 
 
 The reputation enjoyed by Boerhaave as a teacher 
 of chemistry, was scarcely inferior to that which he had 
 acquired as a lecturer on medicine. He had given a 
 new interest to chemical science by his fiiU and me- 
 thodical account of the eflPects of heat and cold upon 
 bodies, and by the enlightened views which he had 
 taken of the numerous important relations of chemistry 
 to natural philosophy, medicine, and the useful arts. 
 In those parts of his " Elementa Chemias" wdiich treat 
 of air, fire, light, and the uses of the thermometer, he 
 had, in the great number of facts which he collected 
 from his own experiments and observations, as well 
 as from those of others, presented to succeeding che- 
 mists a rich store of materials for specidation and re- 
 search. 
 
 After Boerhaave's decease, the lectures on chemistry 
 were continued at Leyden by his pupil Gaubius, whose 
 lectures on that subject seem to have been circulated 
 extensively in manuscript, and to have been much 
 sought after by Dr Cullen. In a letter from Dr David 
 Clerk to Dr Cullen, dated Edinburgh, November I9. 
 1751, he says : " I understand now that I cannot pur- 
 chase Gaubius for you, though at the same time I sup- 
 pose you will be as well pleased. Austin tells me that 
 he is to purchase all Elliott's papers and manuscripts, 
 without their being put up to sale ; and upon my ask- 
 ing the use which he had for Gaubius, he hinted to me 
 
 * See Hooke's Micrographia; fol. Lond. 1665, p. 103.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 30 
 
 that he intended to pursue the chemistry, and at the 
 same time told me that he would give you a reading of 
 Gaubius, which I suppose is all you want." About a 
 month subsequent to the date of Dr Clerk's letter, INIr 
 John Roebuck writes to Dr Cullen from Edinburgh, 
 sending him a small part of an imperfect copy of Dr 
 Gaubius's Lectures on Chemistry, and offering, if Dr 
 Cullen was willing to pay for transcribing the rest, to 
 have it done for him. In the Catalogue of Dr Cul- 
 len's Library, printed at the time of his death, there is 
 a copy of " Gaubius' Chemical Lectures, in ]MS, 
 4 vols. 4to, half-bound, interleaved, Latin." 
 
 While these advances were making in chemistry on 
 the Continent of Evu'ope, the attention of scientific 
 men in Britain w^as in a great measure attracted to 
 other pursuits ; and, for a considerable time before Dr 
 Cullen began to lectm'e on chemistry, its cultivation 
 had been confined almost exclusively to those engaged 
 in partial applications of its phenomena to medicine, 
 and to some of the practical arts. Dr Shaw had been 
 usefully employed in facilitating the study of chemistry 
 in England by his excellent translations of the chemical 
 works of Stahl and of Boerhaave, as well as by his own 
 writings and lectures on that subject. About the year 
 1726, chemical lectures were begun to be delivered in 
 the University of Edinburgh, by Dr Andrew Plum- 
 mer, who had been a pupil of Boerhaave, but who 
 seems to have directed the attention of his students 
 chiefly to that branch of chemistry which treats of the 
 preparation and chemical properties of medicines. 
 " The great and tempting field of philosophical che- 
 mistry," as has been observed by one well acquainted
 
 40 
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 with the histoiy of its progress, and who has most ably 
 contributed to promote it, *' lay unexplored when it 
 was entered on with ardour by Dr CuUen, who first 
 perceived its value, and whose genius and industry, 
 had they not been turned into another channel, would 
 in all probability have been crowned with the richest 
 discoveries =^." 
 
 Some of the difficulties which Dr Cullen had to en- 
 counter in attempting to give a comprehensive account 
 of chemical phenomena, are well described by himself 
 in the following fragment of one of his earliest lectures 
 on chemistry. 
 
 " Chemistry is an art that has furnished the world with a 
 great number of useful facts, and has thereby contributed to 
 the improvement of many arts ; but these facts lie scattered 
 in many different books, involved in obscure terms, mixed 
 with many falsehoods, and joined to a great deal of false phi- 
 losophy ; so that it is no great wonder that chemistry has not 
 been so much studied as might have been expected with re- 
 gard to so useful a branch of knowledge, and that many pro- 
 fessors are themselves but very superficially acquainted with 
 it. But it was particularly to be expected, that, since it has 
 been taught in universities, the difficulties in this study should 
 have been in some measure removed, that the art should 
 have been put into form, and a system of it attempted — the 
 scattered facts collected and arranged in a proper order. 
 But this has not yet been done ; chemistry has not yet been 
 taught but upon a very narrow plan. The teachers of it have 
 still confined themselves to the purposes of pharmacy and 
 medicine, and that comprehends a small branch of chemistry; 
 and even that, by being a single branch, could not by itself 
 be tolerably explained. I do not choose the invichous task 
 
 * See Dr Thomas Thomson's Historv of the Roval Society.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 41 
 
 of derogating from established reputations ; but were it ne- 
 cessary, I could easily show that the most celebrated at- 
 tempts towards a system or course of chemistry are extremely 
 incomplete, as examining but a few of the objects of chemis- 
 try; that of those examined a very scanty and imperfect 
 account of their relations to other bodies is given ; and that, 
 even what is given, is in a method inconvenient and faulty. 
 Now this is the case with the generality of the books on che- 
 mistry ; but I must take notice, however, that Dr Stahl is 
 one who has endeavoured to avoid these faults ; he has 
 taught chemistry with a more general view, and attempted 
 to collect the chemical facts, and to range them in a better 
 order. * * * Perhaps we have the substance of 
 
 Dr Stahl's lessons, in a book published by a disciple of his, 
 Dr Juncker of Halle, under the title of Conspectus Chemise, 
 &c. This is the fullest collection that I have met with, and 
 I have made a good deal of use of it, and you may do so 
 too ; but I must notice at the same time, that it is written in 
 such a clumsy manner, is mixed with so much pedantic, 
 trifling philosophy, and is often so inaccurate and superficial 
 in describing experiments, that it will not contribute much 
 to the propagating of chemical knowledge. 
 
 " From what I have now said, you will judge of the state 
 of chemical learning, and what a difficult task I undertook 
 when I engaged to teach chemistry ; and it is very necessary 
 to tell you, that I did not engage in it from any confidence 
 of my abilities, but because it was thought proper to be un- 
 dertaken, and nobody else was found to do it ; and if I can 
 be so lucky as to engage you to apply to the study, I dare 
 say that the more you become acquainted with it, the less 
 will my performance need an apology with you." 
 
 Though the general arrangement of subjects which 
 Dr Cullen followed in his chemical lectures, did not at
 
 42 LIFE OF DR CULLExV. 
 
 any period differ very essentially from that observed in 
 the plan which he originally formed, yet he always 
 seems to have found something to amend, and some- 
 thing new to insert in each succeeding com'se, acting 
 in this respect in conformity with a sentiment expressed 
 by himself in an introductory address to his chemical 
 students, delivered several years subsequent to his re- 
 moval to Edinburgh. — " After teaching," says he, " for 
 so many years, it might be supposed that my plan was 
 exactly fixed and sufficiently known ; but truly I am 
 yet far from being satisfied with the perfection of my 
 plan, and very certain that it is neither so complete, 
 nor so exactly suited to your purpose as 1 could wish. 
 It will, therefore, be a long time yet — I hope at least 
 it will be long ; for it will only be when the languor 
 and debility of age shall restrain me, that I shall cease 
 to make some corrections of my plan, or some additions 
 to my course." Accordingly, we find that Dr Cullen 
 seldom, if ever, repeated the same introductory lecture 
 to any two courses of chemistry ; and different copies 
 remain of the notes of his chemical lectm-es in which 
 the relative times of their composition are easily dis- 
 tinguishable by the progressive improvements that may 
 be observed in them. In every succeeding year he 
 endeavoured to communicate to his pupils the informa- 
 tion afforded by the latest chemical works of the time ; 
 and indeed few teachers in any department of science 
 ever more thoroughly kept pace with the progress of dis- 
 covery than Dr Cullen seems to have done in chemistry. 
 The following quotation from one of his introductory 
 lectures may serve as a specimen of the manner in which 
 he was accustomed to point out the merits, and to cha-
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 43 
 
 racterize the writings, of contemporary chemists. In 
 speaking of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, he says : 
 
 " This academy has constantly enjoyed a number of ex- 
 cellent chemists, nay families of chemists, such as the Boul- 
 ducs, Bourdelins, Lemerys, GeofFrois, &c. It still possesses 
 Reaumur, Du Hamel, Hellot, Macquer, and several others. 
 These have annually produced new sets of experiments. 
 They have cultivated chemistry in its whole extent, and 
 have been particularly employed in the improvement of arts. 
 Of this, Reaumur's work on iron, and Hellot's on dyeing, are 
 excellent instances. The French academicians have had this 
 special merit of being accurate in experiments, of being al- 
 ways full and perspicuous in communicating them, and par- 
 ticularly of being free from that narrow, selfish temper of the 
 chemists, which affects a mysterious secrecy. The French 
 chemists have often discovered, by their own industry, and 
 published freely to the world, what was too carefully kept 
 secret in other countries. They have sometimes bought a 
 secret in England, and immediately published it in France 
 to all the world. I hope this account of the French chemists 
 will not be thought improper here. They are, I imagine, an 
 example fit to be held up for the imitation of young students. 
 I shall not now detain you with an account of the other aca- 
 demies of Europe. They have all of them contributed more 
 or less to the increase of chemical knowledge. Germany, as 
 a country abovmding in mines, and, perhaps, from the parti- 
 cular genius of its inhabitants, has at all times produced ex- 
 cellent chemists. Of late it has enjoyed the Academy of 
 Berlin, which deserves our special notice. This society has 
 possessed some of the best chemists in Europe. Neumann 
 and Pott have gone through surprising labours. It at pre- 
 sent enjoys M. Margraaf ; and, if I were now to point out a 
 model for the imitation of the students of chemistry, I could 
 prefer none to this excellent chemist. The curiosity of his 
 researches, his judgment in the choice of experiments, the
 
 44 
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 accuracy of his execution, the perspicuity with which he nar- 
 rates them, and withal his temperance in theory, are quahties 
 that deserve to be much admired and constantly imitated.*" 
 
 Dr Cullen was accustomed to divide his course of lec- 
 tures into the General and the Particular Doctrines 
 of Chemistry. Under the first division, he explained 
 the laws of Combination and Separation, processes to 
 which lie regarded all chemical changes as referrible. 
 In treating of these, he entered into a very full consi- 
 deration of the sources of heat, the laws of its commu- 
 nication, and the various effects which it produces up- 
 on bodies. His second division comprehended the che- 
 mical history of bodies, which were arranged by him 
 under the five classes of Salts, Inflammables, Waters, 
 Earths, and Metals. To these divisions he added a 
 view of the various properties of Vegetable and Animal 
 substances, concluding his com'se with an account of 
 the application of chemistry to some of the more useful 
 practical arts. 
 
 From the time of his commencing to teach chemis- 
 try, Dr Cullen appears to have been fully aware of the 
 advantages to be derived from representing in tables 
 similar to those originally constructed by GeofFroi, the 
 relative affinities of different substances ; and accord- 
 ingly it was with him a favomite object to enlarge and 
 improve these tables, both from his own experiments 
 and from those of others. Some of the tables of sim- 
 ple elective attractions which he afterwards put into 
 the hands of his pupils, extended to thirty-one columns. 
 The subject of double elective attractions also occupied 
 much of his attention ; and he appears to have been 
 
 4 
 
 I
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 45 
 
 the first who employed diagrams in order to ilkistrate 
 this important but obscure part of chemistry. By the 
 assistance of these diagrams, and by the use of alge- 
 braical characters, to represent the relative forces of at- 
 traction between the principles both of the original and 
 of the resulting compounds, he was enabled to explain, 
 with greater facility and clearness than had previously 
 been done, the cases in which a mutual decomposition, 
 and new combination, of compound bodies can be ef- 
 fected ^. 
 
 The extensive and original views of several parts of 
 chemical science which Dr Cullen gave in his lectures, 
 the diligence and ardour with which in private he pro- 
 secuted his experimental investigations, the peculiar 
 art which he possessed of gaining the affections of his 
 students, and of imparting to them a portion of his own 
 zeal, and the facilities of familiar intercourse with him- 
 self, and of ready access to his laboratoiy, which he so 
 liberally afforded, soon had the effect of engaging seve- 
 ral of his pupils in the ardent cultivation of his favour- 
 ite science. Among these, there was no one to whom 
 he became more attached, and certainly no one more 
 deserving of his attentions and friendship, than the 
 late Dr Joseph Black. The modesty and reserve of 
 his pupil did not prevent Dr Cullen from perceiving 
 his predilection for chemical pursuits, and the accuracy 
 and diligence with which he executed the chemical 
 operations or experiments that were entrusted to his 
 care, made his preceptor desirous to give him every fa- 
 cility and encouragement to persevere in the cultiva-i 
 
 * See Appendix; Note E.
 
 46 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 tioii of the science to which the bent of his genius 
 seemed so decidedly to incline. 
 
 The general character of Dr Cullen's lectures at 
 this period, and the success which attended his en- 
 deavours to excite among his pupils an ardour for che- 
 mical piu-suits, have been described with great felicity 
 by a distinguished and scientific philosopher, the late 
 Professor Robison, in his interesting memoir of the 
 life of Dr Joseph Black. 
 
 " It was fortunate for Dr Black that, when he began his 
 medical studies at Glasgow, the celebrated Dr Wilham Cul- 
 len had just entered upon his great career, was become con- 
 scious of his own strength, and saw the great unoccupied 
 field of philosophical chemistry open before him. It had 
 been treated hitherto only as a very curious and useful art, 
 which was indeed susceptible of much improvement by means 
 of rational inquiry and discussion. But Dr Cullen saw in it 
 a vast department of the science of nature, which ^must be 
 founded on principles as immutable as the laws of mecha- 
 nism, and which may be one day formed into a great system 
 of doctrines of various degrees of subordination and depen- 
 dence. He was determined to attempt this mighty task, and 
 promised himself great reputation by its accomphshment. 
 Nor was he altogether disappointed. He qmckly succeeded 
 in taking chemistry out of the hands of the artists, the me- 
 tallurgists and pharmaceutists, and exhibited it as a liberal 
 science, the study of a gentleman. He carried into his me- 
 dical lectures the same ideas of a great system of nature, and 
 made his pupils perceive something of that affinity by which, 
 as Cicero finely obser\'es, all the sciences are connected, ten- 
 dering to each other a midual illustration and assistance. 
 His pupils became zealous cheinists, as well as refined phy- 
 siologists. No professor took a more lively interest in tlie 
 progress of an emulous student than Dr Cullen. It was his 
 
 I
 
 LIFE OF DR CUIXEN. 47 
 
 delio^ht to encourage and assist their efforts r and therefore 
 he was not long in attaching Mr Black to himself in the 
 most intimate co-operation ; insomucli that the latter was con- 
 sidered as his assistant in all his operations, and his experi- 
 ments w^ere frequently adduced in the lecture as good autho- 
 rity. Thus began a mutual confidence and friendship, which 
 did honour both to the professor and his pupil, and was al- 
 ways mentioned by the latter with gratitude and respect*.^ 
 
 Dr Black, after having passed nearly six years at 
 Glasgow College, during the latter part of which pe- 
 riod he enjoyed the advantage of living in habits of 
 intimate and daily intercourse with Dr Cullen, went 
 to Edinburgh, in the beginning of 1752, to complete 
 his medical education, and to procure the degree of 
 Doctor in Medicine. Previously, however, to going to 
 Edinburgh, he visited his father, who had, a short 
 time before, returned from Bordeaux to Ireland, his 
 native country. The pleasure which the old man re- 
 ceived from this visit of his son, and the gratitude 
 wiiich he felt towards Dr Cullen, are well described in 
 a letter which he wrote to him a few days after his 
 son's arrival. The value of the upright and honom-able 
 sentiments which this letter contains, is in no degree 
 diminished by the little admixture of old spelling and 
 foreign idiom in which they are expressed. 
 
 " Most worthy Sir, 
 *' After my fifty-two years weary abode at Bordeaux, set- 
 tling there, in my business, my eldest and seventh son, I 
 came here some months agoe for my winter retreate, and by 
 some rest and refreshment to prepare my fatigued southern 
 
 • See Professor Robison's Preface to his edition of Dr Black's Lectures, 
 p. 21.
 
 48 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 constitution for other incumbent dutys to my numerous dis- 
 persed family ; and, as I had nott for many years seen, or 
 but seldom heard from your pupil, my son Joseph, his bro- 
 ther George at Belfast acquainting him of my desire to have 
 a little of his good company, I was, about eight or ten days 
 agoe, most agreeably surprized to see him, who, butt a young 
 stripling boy when he left France, was become soe tall and 
 promising a personage ; and above all soe properly endowed 
 with principles of a generous education, for which, as he of- 
 ten testifies, he is in the greatest measure beholden to you. 
 Permit me, dear and very worthy Sir, to expresse with him 
 our most gratefull sense of all your goodnesse to him, which, 
 I assure you, I and all mine will ever retaine a most thank- 
 full remembrance of, humbly entreating the continuance of 
 your soe honourable and distinguished patronage, which, as 
 in duty, so I am persuaded he will ever study more and 
 more to deserve, by a humble and obedient deference and re- 
 spect for yourself, your good family, and all your com- 
 mands. 
 
 " I have told him, I will ever, by the grace of God, en- 
 deavour to be a careful stewart of the small competency 
 that kind Providence has entrusted me with for the use of 
 my thirteen children, in an equall and as impartiall as possi- 
 ble distribution amongst them of what it hath pleased God 
 to bless us with, giving them all to understand that it has, 
 and ever shall be, my constant endeavour to lay a good and 
 solid foundation ; and that it is for them to contribute, by 
 their piety, virtue and industry, to raise the superstructure, 
 which I pray God may enable them to doe for his glory and 
 their own happinesse. Recommending, in the most earnest 
 manner, to my son Joseph, to bear with me the most sincere 
 acknowledgment of your goodnesse to us ; and to assure you, 
 that I will ever remaine, with the most sincere sentiments of 
 respect, most worthy and dear Sir, your most gratefull and 
 obedient John I3lack ," 
 
 " Blamont, dth December 1751."
 
 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 49 
 
 Dr Culleii kept up a frequent and intimate corre- 
 spondence with Dr Black during the whole of the time 
 that he studied in Edinhurgh. Several of their letters 
 have been preserved, and these show how much the at- 
 tention of both was at this time turned to chemical 
 pursuits, and the unreserved confidence with which 
 they were accustomed to communicate to each other 
 the results of the investigations in which they were 
 engaged *. During this intercom*se, however, Dr Cvd- 
 len seems to have been careful to avoid entering on any 
 field of inquiry in which he anticipated that his pupil 
 might reap distinction. In reply to a letter, in which 
 Dr Cullen had described some experiments that he 
 had made on calcareous substances, Dr Black writes : 
 ** I received your packet of chemistry, which rejoiced 
 me extremely. A new experiment gives me new life ; 
 but I wonder at the reserve and ceremony you use 
 with respect to me. Did I learn chemistry from you, 
 only to be a bar to your inquiries ? The subject is 
 not so limited as to be easily exhausted, and your ex- 
 periments will only advance me so much farther on." 
 
 Dr Black, on graduating during the summer of 1754, 
 embraced the opportunity which presented itself of ex- 
 pressing publicly the sense he entertained of the obli- 
 gations he owed to Dr Cidlen, in the dedication to 
 him of his celebrated Thesis, which contains the origi- 
 nal account of his discovery respecting the cause of the 
 mildness and causticity of earths and alkalies, and 
 which points out several of the properties that he had 
 observed oi fixed air, or, as it is now termed, carbonic 
 acid gas. The precise time of his first observing one 
 
 * See Appendix, Note F. 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 of the more remarkable properties of this substance, 
 viz. that of extinguishing fiame, is marked by the fol- 
 lowing passage in a letter from him to Dr Cullen, 
 dated 3d January 1754. " I fully intended to have 
 wi'ote last post, but really I happened to be intent up- 
 on something else at the proper time, and forgot it. 
 It was, indeed, an experiment I was trying that amused 
 me, in which I had mixed together some chalk and 
 vitriolic acid at the bottom of a large cylindrical glass ; 
 tlie strong effervescence produced an air or vapour, 
 which, flowing out at the top of the glass, extinguished 
 a candle that stood close to it ; and a piece of bm-ning 
 paper, immersed in it, was put out as effectually as if 
 it had been dipped in water : yet the smell of it was 
 not disagreeable." — Previously to the publication of his 
 thesis, Dr Black submitted it to the revisal and cor- 
 rection of his friend and former preceptor ; and, from 
 a fragment of a scroll, containing remarks by Dr Cul- 
 len on that dissertation, it is evident vnth. how much 
 attention he had considered every part of it. 
 
 Soon after the printing of his Thesis, Dr Black ad- 
 dressed the following letter to Dr Cullen :— 
 
 " Deae Doctor, Edin-burgh, I8ih June 1754. 
 
 " Your letter, which I received just now, surprises me 
 not a little. If I understand it right, you have been told 
 that I was ailing ; but upon what grounds I cannot guess ; 
 for I enjoy as good health at present as I remember to have 
 done these ten years. I am not, however, the less obliged to 
 you for your anxiety about me ; and, if any thing of moment 
 should ail me, you may depend upon it, I am neither so ce- 
 remonious with respect to you, nor so careless of my own 
 health, as to hesitate in the least about consulting you imme- 
 diately.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 51 
 
 " I sent you on Thursday last a dozen copies of my Thesis, 
 which you will find to be less altered from the sketch you 
 saw before than you expected. The truth is, I was quite 
 tired of it before I gave it out of my hands. There are 
 many things in the first part which do not at all please me, 
 but I was obliged to write it, and I shall be satisfied if it 
 passes without much notice. The style through the whole 
 is excessively dry and awkward, but my subject did not al- 
 low much elegance ; and, though it had, I confess myself so 
 imperfect in the Latin, that I really could not have attempted 
 to beautify it. I perceive that the Professors here think my 
 experiments new, and seem pleased with them, particularly 
 Alston and Rutherford, the latter particularly, because he 
 looks upon himself as the introducer of magnesia into prac- 
 tice here ? What do you think of printing the experimental 
 part in the Physical Essays here ? If the experiments are 
 w^orth any thing they wqll be stolen by others ; but yet I 
 would rather have it so than make them public, unless you 
 think it would be of some sort of service to me. I am hur- 
 ried away, and must bid you farewell. Yours, 
 
 " Joseph Black." 
 
 An account of Dr Black's experiments upon mag- 
 nesia was inserted into the second volume of the Phi- 
 losophical and Literary Essays, published in 1755. 
 That essay laid the foundation of his reputation as a 
 chemist, and has ever since been regarded as a fine ex- 
 ample of the happy union of ingenious experiment, and 
 accurate reasoning, in chemical inquiry. 
 
 Of the different matters which were made the sub- 
 ject of prelection by Dr Cullen, while he taught che- 
 mistry at Glasgow, none appears to have occupied his 
 attention more closely and uninterruptedly than the 
 general doctrines of heat. Besides giving in his Icc- 
 
 D 2
 
 52! LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 tures a full and miiiiite accovmt of the facts that had 
 been ascertamed with regard to heat, and in particular 
 of Boerhaave's labours on this subject, he contributed 
 several original experiments of his own to this branch 
 of chemical science. In particular, he endeavoured to 
 arrange, under a fev/ general heads, in tables of heat- 
 ing and cooling mixtures, the variations of temperature 
 that result from different chemical combinations. In 
 one of these tables, he cites, as an instance of the pro- 
 duction of cold by solution, that which arises from the 
 melting of ice in water — " which," he remarks, " is ex- 
 tremely curious ; for, if the Vv^ater be heated to 50°, and 
 the ice be at 32°, the thermometer will sink to 32° du- 
 ring the solution." Having discovered this remarkable 
 fact, it is singular that Dr Cidlen should not appear 
 to have examined what the result would have been on 
 employing water at temperatures higher than 50°, — a 
 train of investigation which could not have failed to 
 lead him to a more general conclusion than is contain- 
 ed in his essay. 
 
 In attempting to discover some general law with re- 
 gard to the changes of temperature occasioned by the 
 combination of various subst-ances, Dr Cidlen fomid 
 that cold is also produced by the solution in water of 
 certain salts in their crystalline state ; but that, by the 
 addition of water to the same salts, deprived of their 
 water of crystallization, or in what he termed their 
 state of deliquescence (efflorescence), heat is generated. 
 In explaining these phenomena, he pointed out two 
 kinds of union ; — " one of which," he observes, " is 
 properly mixture (combination) — the other solution 
 only ; and it is probable," he suggests, " that when a
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 53 
 
 deliquescent (efflorescent) salt is added to water, a part 
 of this water is united to it in the way of mixture (com- 
 bination) ; but that, when a crystalline salt is added to 
 the same, it is united with it by solution only." From 
 these, and other observations, he inferred, that " every 
 mixture generates heat, and every solution cold." And 
 he farther suggested, as an explanation of this difference 
 of effect, that " possibly in every mixture there is a 
 condensation, and in every solution a rarefaction." " In 
 many cases," he adds, '' it is so, though not easily ex- 
 amined in all." 
 
 To account for the cold which occurs during the 
 combination of certain kinds of acids with volatile al- 
 kali, a fact which seemed to contradict his general in- 
 ference of mixture (combination) generating heat, and 
 solution cold, he mentioned his having observed, that 
 when the acid is concentrated, heat is constantly gene- 
 rated during the mixtm'e ; but that cold is produced 
 when the acid has previously been much diluted. *' In 
 such experiments," he remarks, " a double effect seems 
 to have occurred ; that is, the generation of heat by 
 the mixture of the acid and alkali ; and the generation 
 of cold, by the solution of the alkali in a watery fluid ; 
 — the last, however, being the most considerable, ap- 
 pears as the result of the whole experiment." 
 
 These observations, some of which have usually been 
 supposed to belong to a later period, and to other in- 
 dividuals, were mentioned by Dr Cullen in his lec- 
 tures, and were also made the particular subject of an 
 essay which he read before the Literary Society in the 
 College of Glasgow. This essay has not been pre- 
 served, but it is referred to in a paper in his own hand
 
 54 LIFE OF DR CULLEN 
 
 writing, entitled, " Some farther Remarks on the Ge- 
 neration of Heat and Cold hy mixture^." Various 
 other papers, on subjects connected with heat, are also 
 to be found among Dr Cullen's manuscripts, that seem 
 to have been communicated to his friends, or read to 
 different societies of which he was a member. The 
 only one of these which has been published is his " Es- 
 say on the Cold produced by evaporating Fluids f ", &c. 
 read to the Edinburgh Philosophical Society, May 1. 
 1 755. He was led, as he informs us, to investigate 
 this subject, in consequence of one of his pupils, Dr 
 Dobson, whom he had employed to examine the heat 
 or cold produced by the solution of certain substances 
 in spirit of wine, having observed that when a thermo- 
 meter, tlie bulb of which had been immersed in spirit 
 of wine, was suspended in the air, the mercury always 
 sunk two or three degrees. This recalled to Dr Cul- 
 len's mind some experiments made by M. Mairan, the 
 perusal of which had led him to suspect that water, and 
 perhaps other liquids, in evaporating, produce some de- 
 gree of cold. In endeavouring to verify this supposi- 
 tion, he found, that, on repeatedly moistening with 
 spirit of wine, and afterwards exposing to the air, the 
 bulb of a thermometer, the mercury sunk from 44° of 
 Fahrenheit's scale to below the freezing point ; and 
 that, by employing some other fluids, he could produce 
 a degree of cold much more considerable. He ex- 
 amined the degrees of cold produced in the evaporation 
 of a variety of other fluids, and found them to be nearly 
 
 * See Appendix, Note G. 
 
 t Edinburgh Philosophical and Literary Essays, vol. ii. p. 145» 
 to p. 175.
 
 LIFE or DR CULLEN. 55 
 
 in proportion to the volatility of the liquid employed, 
 and to be increased by whatever hastened the evapora- 
 tion, — by a rise of temperature in the surrounding me- 
 dium, — ^by fresh currents of dry air on the evaporating 
 surface, and also by the removal of atmospheric pres- 
 sure. " I was ready to conclude," he observes, " that 
 all fluids whatever would, in evaporating, produce 
 cold. But I have found a seeming exception. When 
 the ball of the thermometer is moistened with any of 
 the fossil acids, a considerable degree of heat is pro- 
 duced. It is, however, to be doubted if this alFords an 
 exception. We know that these acids attract water 
 from the air ; and also, that these acids, mixed with 
 water, always produce heat. It may, therefore, be sup- 
 posed, that the heat produced by moistening the ball 
 of the thermometer with these acids, is to be imputed 
 rather to their mixing with the water of the air, than 
 to their evaporation singly." In confirmation of this 
 ingenious suggestion, he found, by experiment, that 
 sulphuric acid, when largely diluted with water, pro- 
 duces cold during evaporation. 
 
 In prosecuting his experiments on the evaporation 
 of fluids in an exhausted receiver, several new and cu- 
 rious phenomena presented themselves to Dr Cullen. 
 " A thermometer," he observed, " hung in the receiver 
 of an air-pump, sinks always two or three degrees upon 
 the air's being exhausted. After a little time, the ther- 
 mometer i7i vacuo returns to the temperature of the air 
 in the chamber ; and, upon letting air agatti into the 
 receiver, the thermometer always rises two or three de- 
 grees above the temperature of the external air." — 
 *' When a vessel containing spirit of wine, with a ther-
 
 5b LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 mometer immersed in it, is set under the receiver of 
 an air-pump, upon exhausting the air, the mercury in 
 the thermometer sinks several degrees. This experi- 
 ment, with spirit of wine, was often enough repeated, 
 to show clearly that the evaporation of the spirit in va- 
 cuo produces a greater degree of cold than the evapo- 
 ration of the same in the air."—" In an experiment 
 made with the nitrous «ther, when the heat of the air 
 was ahout 43°, we set the vessel containing the aether 
 in another, a little larger, containing water. Upon 
 exhausting the receiver, and the vessel's remaining for 
 a few minutes in vacuo, we found the most part of the 
 Vv'ater frozen, and the vessel containing the aether sur- 
 rounded with a thick and firm crust of ice." Several 
 ingenious variations upon these experiments, and ad- 
 ditions to them, have since been made by philosophers, 
 who have strangely neglected to refer to Dr CuUen's 
 Essay, or to acknowledge the originality of the disco- 
 veries which it contains. 
 
 It seems impossible to peruse the passages I have 
 quoted from Dr Cullen's manuscript lectures and pa- 
 pers, and from his Essay on Evaporation, without per- 
 ceiving that his investigations with regard to the heat 
 and cold occasioned by the combination, liquefaction 
 and evaporation of bodies, must not only have assisted to 
 direct the attention of his pupil Dr Black to similar in- 
 quiries, but must also have furnished him with several of 
 the data from which his simple and comprehensive the- 
 ory oi Latent Heat was afterwards so philosophically de- 
 duced. That Dr Black was fully aware of the value of 
 Dr Cullen's observations on the cold produced by eva- 
 poration, appears from the following part of a letter.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 57 
 
 which he wrote to Dr CuUen, in the beginning of 1755 : 
 — " I have looked over yonr paper with the highest 
 pleasure, and wish with all my heart you would prose- 
 cute the subject : it seems to be a copious and import- 
 ant article in the history of Heat. It immediately 
 brought to my mind the sensation of cold which spirit 
 of wine, but especially aether, gives when dropt upon 
 the skin. As for improvements, I assure you I see 
 none to be made in it, but what must necessarily fol- 
 low the trying of new experiments, and this is a labour 
 in which I cannot engage myself at present, having 
 already bestowed too much of my time on my own che- 
 mical inquiries." The duties of the Professor's chair 
 in Edinburgh to which Dr Cullen was subsequently 
 appointed, and the multifarious distractions of private 
 practice in which he was engaged, seem, after this pe- 
 riod, to have left him but little if any leisure for expe- 
 rimental researches. It was reserved for Dr Black 
 himself to accomplish the wish expressed in his letter, 
 and to acquire lasting fame by the discovery of the ge- 
 neral law that connects and explains the phenomena of 
 the production of heat and cold, occurring in the com- 
 bination, liquefaction and evaporation of bodies ; — phe- 
 nomena, several of the more important of which were 
 first observed in the investigations so happily commen- 
 ced by Dr Cidlen. 
 
 In the end of the year 1753, Dr Cullen transmitted 
 to the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh a paper en- 
 titled " Some Reflections on the Study of Chemistry, 
 and an essay towards ascertaining the different species 
 of Salts, being part of a letter addressed to Dr John 
 Clerk," &c. This paper, intended to afford a specimen
 
 58 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 of an Elementary work on Chemistry, which he pro- 
 posed to puhlish, contains more extensive and precise 
 information, with regard to the general properties and 
 relations of the different species of salts, than is to be 
 found in any chemical work of the time. In particular, 
 the distinctive characters and peculiar compounds of 
 Soda — a substance at that time not generally admitted 
 in this country to differ specifically from potash, but 
 which had always been treated of as such by Dr CuUen 
 in his lectures, — are described with a minuteness and 
 accuracy which evince how intimately he was acquaint- 
 ed with the progress of discovery in Chemistry. 
 
 The following letter from Dr Black affords some 
 notion of the different lights in which this paper was 
 viewed by the members of the Edinburgh Philosophi- 
 cal Society, before which it was read. 
 
 " Dear Doctor, Ebinburgh, Jaymary 1745. 
 
 " I did indeed trust to Dr David Clerk's giving you an 
 account of the reception of your paper on the different 
 species of Salts ; but I find he wants to have some chat 
 Avith Dr Plummer in private before he writes to you. Mr 
 Russell* tells me it was read aud approved of, but that no 
 particvilar observations were made upon it. Lord Kames 
 afterwards took notice that there were some errors in the 
 composition, which you were not vised to fall into, and offer- 
 ed to undertake the correction of it himself, and I believe 
 would have had it printed immechately ; but I thought it 
 most proper to send it back to you again. Dr David Clerk 
 seemed to intimate that the introduction was generally thought 
 to be rather too bold, and the whole wrote in too careless and 
 prohx a style — for I must tell you all the truth. But I 
 believe few of them understood the meaning of it thorough- 
 
 • Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 59 
 
 \y. He objected against your making but one species of 
 Volatile Alkali, whereas you divide the fixed into Vegetable 
 and Mineral ; for, said he, it flatly contradicts some experi- 
 ments of Dr Plummer's on the analysis of pit-coal, in which 
 a fossil volatile alkali shewed itself. I perceived he did not 
 understand you, and explained your meaning ; but he still 
 objected that there had not been a sufficient number of ex- 
 periments made on this fossil alkali (soda) to ascertain whether 
 it really was exactly the same with, or different from, the 
 animal and vegetable. I am afraid it would require a course 
 of Chemistry almost to make them fully sensible of the truth 
 of your observations that are to follow. 
 
 " My former letter was very long, and had very little in 
 it ; but I chose to give you a full account of the matter to 
 which it refers, so far as I knew, to let you see whether or 
 not you had any thing to fear from another edition of Syden- 
 ham, which might injure yours. I am, Dear Doctor, yours 
 sincerely, ' J. Black." 
 
 It was the singular good fortune of Dr Cullen, not 
 only to foster the genius and talents, and to guide the 
 early studies, of Dr Hunter and of Dr Black, but to 
 continue, during a long series of years, to attach to him- 
 self in intimacy and friendship almost all those of his 
 pupils who were in any way distinguished by their ar- 
 dour or diligence in the pm*suit of knowledge. Many of 
 their letters to him have been preserved, and are inter- 
 esting from the views they present of the state of science 
 at the times at which they were written, as well as from 
 their shewing the familiar intercourse in which he in- 
 dulged his pupils, and the attachment and respect which 
 they entertained for him as their preceptor ^. 
 
 The reputation which Dr Cullen acquired by liis lec- 
 * See Appendix, Note H.
 
 60 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 tures on Chemistry, and by the success with which he 
 prosecuted chemical researches, procured for him the ac- 
 quaintance of several persons, both at home and abroad, 
 who were distinguished for their talents and love of 
 science. Among the most eminent and zealous of 
 these, was the late Lord Kames, then Mr Home, ^\ith 
 whom he was led, by an interchange of ideas on sub- 
 jects of chemistry, agriculture and philosophy, to form 
 an intimate friendship. Their acquaintance seems to 
 have originated in their mutual friend Mr Arthur 
 Martine, brother to Dr JMartine, the author of " Es- 
 says on the construction and graduation of Thermome- 
 ters, and on the heating and cooling of Bodies," &c. 
 having in ]748, transmitted to Dr Cullen the draught 
 of an essay by Mr Home on Evaporation, with a re- 
 quest that he would state his opinion of the hypothesis 
 which it maintained, and assist in performing such ex- 
 periments as might serve for its elucidation. In that 
 essay, which was published in the Transactions of the 
 Edinburgh Philosophical Society "* more than twenty 
 years afterwards. Lord Kames supports with great in- 
 genuity the opinion that the process of evaporation is 
 owing to an attraction between air and water, and that 
 water is dissolved by air in a manner analogous to what 
 takes place in all solutions. This hypothesis, which 
 had been pre\iously suggested by Dr Halley, was for 
 some time very generally supposed to account for all the 
 phenomena attending evaporation ; but the discovery 
 by Wallerius, that this process takes place in vacuo, 
 gradually led philosophers to question the justness 
 
 * Physical and Literary Essays and Observations, vol. iii. 
 p. 80. 1771.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 6l 
 
 of the opinion ; and the information which has since 
 been afforded by the experiments of later philosophers, 
 has shewn that the vaporization of liquids at low as 
 well as at high temperatures, is entirely independent 
 of the presence or absence of air. 
 
 In reply to Mr Martinets communication, Dr Cul- 
 len entered at considerable length into the subject of 
 the Essay, and pointed out a variety of facts which he 
 at that time regarded as tending to illustrate and con- 
 firm the hypothesis supported by Lord Kames, though 
 he was afterwards led to doubt of its validity, as ap- 
 pears from the account which he has given of the pro- 
 gress of his experiments on the cold produced by eva- 
 porathig fluids. " When I had proceeded," says he, 
 " thus far, I began to consider whether the cold pro- 
 duced in the above experiments might not be the effect 
 of the mixture of the several fluids with the air ; and 
 that, therefore, to a list of cooling mixtures and solu- 
 tions which I w^as then making up, I should now add 
 the several solutions of the air. By one who supposes 
 the evaporation of fluids to depend upon the action of 
 the air as a menstruum, this would be easily admitted ; 
 but as I knew that fluids evaporate in vacuo as well as 
 in the air, I resolved to suspend my opinion till I 
 shoidd repeat my experiments in an exhausted recei- 
 ver. 
 
 From the commencement of their acquaintance. 
 Lord Kames always manifested the greatest esteem for 
 Dr CuUen, and appears to have taken on every occa- 
 sion a most friendly interest in his welfare. They had 
 few opportunities of personal intercourse while Dr Cul- 
 
 * Physical and Literary Essays, Sec, vol. ii. p. 152. Edhi. 1756.
 
 62 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 len remained at Glasgow ; but they maintainecl a fre- 
 quent and familiar epistolary correspondence on subjects 
 connected with chemistry, and in particular on agri- 
 culture, to which they had given much attention, and 
 for which each of them may be said to have retained a 
 passion to the end of his life^. In a letter written in 
 1749, T)i' Cullen requests Lord Kames to favour him 
 with his advice respecting some agricultural experi- 
 ments which he intended to prosecute, and makes men- 
 tion of a few lectures on agriculture which he had intro- 
 duced into his course of Chemistry. " As the course," 
 he observes, *^ was intended to teach the elements of a 
 chemistry applicable to arts in general, agriculture 
 claimed a place ; and though I was not well prepared 
 on that subject, yet I thought it was proper to make a 
 beginning, and at least to open young gentlemen's 
 views on the subject." 
 
 Lord Kames seems to have been delighted to find 
 in his new acquaintance an able and zealous cultivator 
 of his favourite pursuit ; and, in the progress of their 
 intercourse, he became extremely desirous to engage 
 Dr Cullen in the composition of a vvork on agriculture. 
 " I live in the faith," says he in one of his early letters 
 (17th November 1749), " that you are going on briskly 
 with your experiments, and that no concerns of interest 
 make an avocation. I propose you as a member in our 
 Philosophical Society, and indeed we greatly want 
 members of activity and genius. I expect to hear 
 from you, as you give me hopes in your letter, and 
 hope for the favour of any discoveries you make from 
 time to time, even those of the smallest consequence. 
 
 * Appendix, Note I.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 63 
 
 Every thing from you will be acceptable." In another 
 letter, dated 23d December 17^9, he says, "Don't 
 think I have forgot a promise you have made me, or 
 at least a hint you gave me, of sending me some of 
 yoiu: lucubrations, of which I shall always be fond, 
 however slovenly drest. — In short, my sedate purpose 
 is, that your name shall be carried down to posterity 
 by a treatise on agriculture, better than the world ever 
 yet saw." 
 
 The following extract of a letter from Lord Karnes 
 to Dr CuUen, dated Edinburgh, 26th December 1752, 
 cannot fail to be interesting to the lovers of agriculture, 
 from its containing the first hint of an attempt, which 
 Lord Kames was making at the time, to convert peat- 
 moss into manure, a process which was afterwards so zeal- 
 ously and successfully prosecuted in the formation of 
 compost-dunghils, by the late Lord ISIeadowbank *. 
 " Do not forget your letter upon husbandry ; having 
 been entertained with no theory now for a long while, 
 I am sinking into a mere practical farmer. I have 
 not a single new^ thing at present, except one experi- 
 ment I am making to convert moss into dung, by en- 
 deavouring to rot it in a dunghil, by mixing it with 
 fresh horse-dung. I shall let you know the residt. 
 If I succeed, I shall be able to multiply my manure 
 greatly." 
 
 In continuing to urge Dr Cullen to publish on agri- 
 cultm'e. Lord Kames made to him the friendly offer 
 contained in the following letter : — 
 
 # * * * " I no sooner get a moment's leisure than 
 
 • See Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland, 
 vol. ii. p. 130.
 
 64 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 I think of my old project for yoii about agriculture. I 
 would not be surprised if you were offered L. 200 for the 
 copy. I have many notes and useful remarks, gathered in 
 the course of several years, which might find a place. Were 
 we together three days, you might pick out what might serve 
 your purpose. This might be here in September or October 
 next, or in Edinburgh ; and, at worst, if your business will 
 not admit, I shall cause to be transcribed what may be use- 
 ful and send it you ; but this only after you fall seriously 
 to work. In the mean time, I give you no consent to relax 
 your application in behalf of our Philosophical Society. I 
 think of enlarging my paper about evaporation, which I can 
 do by your help, and of giving it in to be published with 
 the others. I am certain we shall make a good collection to 
 fill a first volume. 
 
 " I expect a great budget when my friend Dawson returns; 
 for I long to hear how affairs go on in your College. Muir- 
 head, I hope, and Smith, will both contribute to fill this 
 same budget, besides what I am to have from Simson and 
 Dick. Yours affectionately, 
 
 « Kames, 2bth March 1753." " HeNRY HomE." 
 
 Tliat Dr Ciiilen had at this period made some pro- 
 gress in the composition of a work on agriculture, ap- 
 pears from a manuscript, part of which is in his own 
 handwriting, entitled '* Reflections on the Principle of 
 Agriculture." In this treatise, which is frequently 
 alluded to in his correspondence with Lord Kames, and 
 which contains proofs of the information, ingenuity and 
 acuteness so conspicuous in his other writings, he endea- 
 voured to investigate the nature and application of the 
 nourishment of plants, and states, with regard to these 
 subjects, opinions nearly the same with those w^hich 
 he taught in a course of lectures on agriculture, after- 
 wards delivered in Edinburgh, in the siunmer of 1768.
 
 IJFE OF DU CULLEN. 65 
 
 Among Dr Cullen's papers there is also an essay, writ- 
 ten with his own hand, " On the Construction and 
 Operation of the Plough," which apparently was com- 
 posed ahout the same period, and read before some pub- 
 lic society, most probably the Philosophical Society in 
 the College of Glasgow. The object of this essay was 
 to explain, as he himself informs us, " the mechanical 
 principles on which ploughs have been constructed, to 
 find out what is the importance and effect of each part, 
 and to examine what variation each or all of them re- 
 quire, according to the difference of soil in which they 
 are employed." An allusion to this essay is made by 
 Lord Karnes in a letter to Dr CuUen, in which he 
 says, " A thought has struck me in the head within 
 these few days relative to you7^ engine, the plough," 
 &c. It is also referred to in a letter from Mr Patrick 
 Alison, an intelligent farmer in Forfarshire, who, in 
 proposing to substitute iron for wood in the construc- 
 tion of the plough, addresses himself to Dr Cullen, as 
 being " the first person in Scotland who has attempt- 
 ed to account for the structure of that machine upon 
 mathematical principles." 
 
 Dr Cullen never published any of the results of his 
 inquiries or of his practical experience in agriculture ; 
 but Lord Kames, as is w^ell known, had. himself the 
 merit of producing, many years after the idea of it had 
 been first conceived by him, a treatise upon agriculture, 
 in his work entitled the " Gentleman Farmer," which, 
 by its great usefulness and popularity, has justly se- 
 cured to his Lordship that claim on posterity which he 
 was so desirous should belong to his friend. 
 
 The attempts which Dr Cullen made at Glasgow 
 
 YOL. E
 
 6G LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 to connect chemistry with agriculture, gave rise to a 
 correspondence between him and JNI. Du Hamel de 
 JMonceau, so well known throughout Europe by his 
 writings as an able vegetable physiologist, an indefa- 
 tigable experimenter, and a zealous cidtivator of all the 
 branches of natural knowledge which have any relation 
 to the improvement, rearing, and preservation of the 
 productions of the soil. It is to be regretted that only 
 a small portion of this correspondence has been preserv- 
 ed. The following letter to Dr Cullen from M. Dan- 
 geuse, an intelligent foreigner*, who visited Glasgow 
 in October 1752, shews the opinion which he enter- 
 tained of the kindred tastes and studies of the indivi- 
 duals between whom he wished to open a friendly inter- 
 course. 
 
 " Rue St Andre a Paris, le 8 Mars 1753. 
 " Je n''ai point oublie, Monsieur, les agremens et les avan- 
 tages que j'ai recontres dans votre conversation, lors de nion 
 passage a Glasgow; et j'ai juge par moi-meme que je ren- 
 drois service a M. Duhamel de lui procurer Thonneur de 
 votre correspondance : vous vous amusez quelquefois de Te- 
 tude de Tagriculture, et lui aussi. II vient de donner au 
 public un Nouveau Traite de la conservation des grains ; et 
 on vient de reimprimer en deux volumes son Agriculture sui~ 
 vant les principes de Tidl avec diverses experiences : II m"'a 
 charge de vous les presenter, et de vous les faire tenir ; ces 
 trois volumes seront remis dans les premiers jours d'Avril, 
 chez Vaillant bookseller in the Strand at London, avec votre 
 adresse dessus ; Vaillant les donnera a celui qui viendra les 
 retirer avec un mot de votre part : M. Duhamel demande en 
 
 * Author of a Treatise, published in 1754, under the name of Sir John 
 Nickol, "On the Advantages and Disadvantages of France and Great 
 Britain in respect to Commerce."
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 67 
 
 revanche que vous aiez la complaisance de lui communiquer 
 les experiences que vous avez faites, et que vous ferez. Rien 
 n'instruit mieux que la comparaison des experiences, et c''est 
 ainsi que les savans tirent de leur fonds de presents plus pre- 
 cieux que Tor ou les pierreries : ma recompense a moi, ce sera 
 d'avoir forme entre vous une liaison surement agreable a vous 
 deux, et qui pent etre utile a la societe des hommes : Lorsque 
 vous aurez quelque chose a lui faire tenir, vous pouvez de 
 meme le lui adresser chez le Sr Vaillant qui le lui fera par- 
 venir. 
 
 " Comme M. Moor et M. Black ont Thonneur d'etre de vos 
 amis, Monsieur, j'espere que vous me permettrez de faire 
 mention d'eux ici : La politesse, le savoir, Temulation qui 
 regnent dans T Academic de Glasgow m'en rendront le sou- 
 venir a jamais agreable; mon grand plaisir seroit de leur 
 pouvoir rendre en France le bon accueil que j'ai eprouve chez 
 vous, et de pouvoir vous prouver le veritable attachement 
 avec lequel j'ai Thonneur d'etre, Monsieur, 
 
 " Votre tres humble and tres obeissant serviteur, 
 
 " Uangeuse/' 
 
 The first letter of M. Dii Hamel to Dr Cullen is 
 lost, but the answer to it has been preserved, and is 
 interesting chiefly as affording a specimen of Dr Cul- 
 len's manner of describing chemical phenomena^. 
 
 Dr Cullen's opportunities of prosecuting agricultu- 
 ral experiments, were increased by his undertaking in 
 1752 to manage and to improve the farm of Park- 
 head, situated about eight miles from Glasgow, which 
 he had pmxhased for his brother Robert Cidlen, Esq. 
 who was at the time employed in a mercantile situa- 
 tion in the West Indies. The following letter to 
 his brother, relative to the purchase of land in Scot- 
 
 * Ste Appendix, Note K. 
 
 E 2!
 
 68 LIFE OF T>R CULLEN. 
 
 land, evinces much of the good sense and clear judg- 
 ment which Dr CuUen carried inta the ordinary affairs 
 of life. 
 
 " Dear Robin, 
 
 " Yours of the 8th of April came to my hand in July last- 
 I am sorry to find trade at present in such a had way with 
 you, but hope it will mend, and, in the mean time, tliink 
 you are quite right in launching no farther till what is on 
 hand can be disposed of I am extremely glad to find your 
 ambition so moderate, and have constantly my fears with re- 
 gard to the climate you live in. I think as soon as your 
 own wishes are satisfied, you have no temptation to spend 
 any more of the best of your days in an uneasy situation, or 
 to break your constitution so far, as to render the rest of 
 your hfe infirm and valetudinary. I had a prospect of some 
 benefit from yonr present situation, both to myself and your 
 other friends ; but though that expected advantage were 
 much greater, I would earnestly advise you not only to drop 
 these views, but also to moderate as much as possible your 
 own ambition, and think of returning to your native climate. 
 With regard to the purchase you write of, I have no diffi- 
 culty about gratifying you. There will be little difficulty 
 in making such a purchase, and even of Wliistleberry* it- 
 self ; and I must tell you, farther, that I am glad to find 
 your taste agree so much with my own. That place where 
 I spent so much of my infancy, I have always had a particu- 
 lar affection for ; but before you are engaged in any such 
 purchase, I must take care to inform you fairly of the circum- 
 stances of it, and leave you then to judge for yourself First, 
 then, w'hat remains of this httle estate that can be purchased, 
 is not above thirty acres of ground. This is too small on seve- 
 ral accounts ; — too little to serve a family ; — too httle to give 
 a man employment ; — too little to be conveniently laboured.. 
 
 * The Property of their grandfather.
 
 LIFE OF BR CULLEN. 69 
 
 To explain this better, I think a man ought to have as much 
 ground as he may labour by himself ; that is, as much as 
 may employ four horses, or what we call a plough-gang, &c. 
 — I also think, a man retiring from the hurry of business, 
 if he sit down entirely without employment, is apt to be- 
 come uneasy and splenetic, and very ready to fall into amuse- 
 ments that are either trifling or hurtful to health. I would, 
 therefore, recommend to every body to avoid idleness ; and 
 I don't think you could be happy in a country life without 
 something to do; and though I would not advise you to 
 enter deeply into the employment of farming, which you 
 have not been bred to, yet if you purpose to live in the coun- 
 try you may safely, and ought to have some employment in 
 that way." * ******* 
 
 " Upon the whole of this affair, I have a farther advice to 
 offer you ; that is, if you bring any money to this country, 
 you should lay it out on a purchase of knd. Your money 
 in this way will be better secured. The lands of this coun- 
 try are mostly improveable, and are really improving, and 
 their value will rise, while it is as probable that the interest 
 of money will soon sink. All this I cannot now explain at 
 greater length ; but I could show, that whoever purchases 
 land with any discretion in this country, must soon find a 
 benefit in it. * * I must likewise acquaint you 
 
 with another affair: — I have been these several years strug- 
 gling to get the lands of Saughs cleared of encumbrances 
 and into my own possession. It was this engaged me in an 
 otherwise unprofitable attendance on the Family of Hamil- 
 ton ; and it would take too much time to tell you what diffi- 
 culties I have met with from the late Duke's death, the mi- 
 nority of the present, the Rebellion and other accidents, that 
 have put me off a long time ; hoAvever, the young Duke is 
 just now returned from Lisbon very well recovered, and I 
 am making a strong push, with very good hopes of succeed- 
 ing. Now, have you any inclination to be possessed of these 
 lands''? &c.
 
 70 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 Towards the end of the year 1749, T)y Ciillen had 
 the good fortune to he introduced to Archihald Duke 
 of Argyll, who at that tune had much influence in the 
 direction of political affairs in Scotland. The various 
 anecdotes related of Dr CuUen's having hecome ac- 
 quainted with that nohleman at an earlier period, and 
 of his having afterwards heen recommended hy him 
 to the Family of Hamilton, are totally without foun- 
 dation. The precise time of his heing introduced to 
 the Did^e, is marked hy the following passage of a let- 
 ter from JMr Martine, dated Edinhurgh, August 
 1749 : — " Mr Lind, at Mr Home's desire, talked very 
 particularly ahout you to the Duke of Argyll ; and 
 your friends here desire that you will wait on his Grace 
 upon his arrival at Glasgow, which will he to-morrow 
 evening. When you are introduced to him, it is pro- 
 bahle, on your mentioning Mr Lind's name, that he 
 will he more particular with you." The more imme- 
 diate object of Dr CuUen's heing introduced to the 
 Duke of Argyll at this time, was to obtain his Grace's 
 consent and patronage to his succeeding Dr Johnstone 
 as Professor of JNledicine, an event which took place in 
 consequence of an agreement between them in Octo- 
 ber 1749, though Dr Cull en was not formally admit- 
 ted into the university till the 2d of January 1751. 
 It does not appear what circumstances occasioned this 
 delay in Dr CuUen's appointment by the Crown ; but 
 that the Duke of Argyll had interested himself in 
 hastening it, is evident from various papers relating to 
 the subject, and also from the following letter address- 
 ed by this nobleman to Dr Cidlen.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 71 
 
 ^* Sir, 
 
 " I have been in such a hurry of business of late, joyned 
 with the distemper of cold raging here, that 1 thought I had 
 better delay writing to you till I was a little at leisure. I 
 was very sorry that your affair was so long delayed, which 
 I had good reason to believe would have been finished half 
 a-year sooner. I shall be very glad to hear what you are 
 doing, and what experiments are going on. People are 
 greatly surprised at the metal you gave me that melts in hot 
 water. Pray send me the proportion of the ingredients, for 
 I have forgot them. If you want to be informed of any 
 thing passing here in your way, I will make my friend Dr 
 Mitchell write to you, 1 am, Sir, your obedient humble ser- 
 vant, Argyll." 
 
 " London, March 7- 1751. 
 
 A few days after Dr CuUeii's admission as a pro- 
 fessor in the University of Glasgow, Dr Adam Smith 
 was appointed, by the Faculty of that University, to 
 the chair of Logic there. These two eminent men, 
 each pursningwith indefatigable ardour his own branch 
 of study, soon conceived a great esteem for one another, 
 and continued ever after to live in habits of the most 
 intimate and friendly intercourse. By the election 
 of men of such genius and talents, the respective 
 Patrons of the vacant chairs seem on this occasion to 
 have vied with each other in endeavoiu-ing to promote 
 the true interests of the institution ; and it must be al- 
 lowed, that the same concern for the advancement of 
 science and philosophy was evinced in the choice that 
 was made of their successors, when we remember that 
 Dr Black was nominated by the Crown to succeed Dr 
 Cullen, and Dr Reid* chosen by the Faculty to suc- 
 " * See Appendix, Note L.
 
 72 
 
 LIFE or DH CULLEX. 
 
 ceed Dr Adam Smith. Appointments like these 
 must always be regarded as doing more honour to those 
 who bestow them than to the men on whom they are 
 conferred. 
 
 Dr Smith having been appointed, on the death of 
 Professor Craigie, which happened in November 1751, 
 to succeed him in the chair of Moral Philosophy, that 
 of Logic became vacant. For this situation, three 
 candidates offered themselves, David Hume, Edmund 
 Burke, and JMr Clow. The latter was the fortunate 
 candidate. It appears from the following, as well as 
 from other letters*, that, on this occasion, Dr Cullen 
 had taken a very warm interest in Mr Hume's success. 
 
 " SiK, 
 
 " The part which you have acted in the late project for 
 my election into your college, gave me so much pleasure, that 
 I should do myself the greatest violence did I not take every 
 opportunity of expressing my most lively sense of it. We 
 have failed, and are thereby deprived of great opportunities 
 of cultivating that friendship which had so happily commen- 
 ced by your zeal for my interests ; but I hope other oppor- 
 tunities will offer ; and I assure you, that nothing will give me 
 greater pleasure than an intimacy with a person of your merit. 
 You must even allow me to count upon the same privilege of 
 friendship, as if I had enjoyed the happiness of a longer cor- 
 resjx)ndence and famiharity with you. For as it is a com- 
 mon observation, that the conferring favours on another is 
 the surest method of attaching us to him, I must by this rule 
 consider you as a person to whom my interests can never 
 become altogether indifferent. Whatever the reverend gen- 
 tlemen may say of my religion, I hope I have as much mo- 
 rality as to retain a grateful sentiment of your favours, and 
 
 * See Appendix, Note M-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN, 73 
 
 as much sense as to know whose friendship will give greatest 
 honour and advantage to me. I am. Sir, your most obedient 
 and most humble servant, 
 
 " EDI^'BURGH5 2\st January 1752. David HdmE."" 
 
 It might aiford cmioiis matter of speculation to con- 
 jee tm*e what effect the appointment of JMr Hume, or 
 of JMr Burke, to the Chair of Logic in Glasgow, would 
 have had upon the character of that University, or 
 upon the metaphysical, moral, and political inquiries of 
 the age in whicli they lived ; and what consequences 
 were likely to have resulted from the influence which 
 the peculiar genius and talents of either of these great 
 men, had they been exerted in that sphere, must neces- 
 sarily have had in forming tlie minds of such of their 
 pupils as w^ere to be afterwards employed in the pursuits 
 of science, or in the conduct and regulation of human 
 ajflPairs. It seems difficult to conceive how, as instruc- 
 tors of youth, they could either of them, without a con- 
 siderable modification of their opinions, have taught 
 Philosophy upon the Sceptical or the Berkeleian sys- 
 tems which they had respectively adopted ; while the 
 strict purity of their moral characters,* and the great 
 reverence which they both entertained for established 
 institutions, give the fullest assurance, that, had either 
 of them been appointed to the Chair of Logic, their 
 academical duties would have been executed with an 
 unceasing regard to the improvement of their joupils, 
 and to the reputation of the Society into which they 
 had been admitted. The interest which Dr Cullen 
 took in Mr Hume's canvass, laid the foundation of a
 
 74? IJFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 friendship which continued without interruption till 
 the death of Mr Hume, and was the source of many 
 marks of mutual regard and esteem *. 
 
 During his residence in Glasgow, Dr Cullen was as- 
 siduously engaged in endeavouring to apply the princi- 
 ples of his favourite science, Chemistry, to the elucida- 
 tion and advancement of some of the useful arts. Sub- 
 sequent improvements have now rendered the results 
 of his inquiries unimportant to the practical chemist, 
 but they still possess a value in the examples they af- 
 ford of the activity and zeal with which he at this 
 period pursued experimental and practical knowledge. 
 In the following letter. Lord Kames alludes to an Essay 
 which Dr Cullen had written upon Bleaching, and to 
 an improvement which he had proposed in the manu- 
 facture, or rather purification, of common Salt. 
 
 ^' Dear Sir, 
 " By this opportunity of Mr Crawford, which relieves you 
 of postage, I assume the privilege of writing you a letter, 
 without warranting that there shall be any thing in it. But 
 I find myself inclined to converse with you a little, and no 
 matter for the subject. I have got back your paper from 
 Lord Deskford, and by his directions I am to send for John 
 Chrystie (bleacher at Ormiston), and to see what he has to 
 say upon the hints you suggest. This may be of some use ; 
 and, if any thing come out worth your notice, I shall be sure 
 to acquaint you. — I think Bleaching a great object for this 
 country ; and now that a rational account is set on foot, I 
 wish to have it carried to the utmost length. Pray, what 
 are you doing about your project for refining Salt ? If you 
 are sure it can be made a manufactory, you must be entitled 
 
 • See Appendix, Note N.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEX. 75 
 
 to a premium for your discovery in one shape or other. I 
 am willing for my part to bustle for it ; and therefore, if you 
 think I can be of use, pray employ me. Remember also to 
 contribute to the Philosophical Society, about which I am 
 turned extremely keen, now that I have got in a good measure 
 the management of it. Yours, 
 
 " Edinburgh, 2Gth December 1752. ~ Henry HoaiE.'"' 
 
 The improvement in the manufacture of Salt, allud- 
 ed to in Lord Karnes* letter, consisted in precipita- 
 ting the earthy ingredients contained in the brine of sea 
 water, by a sohition of common potash, and in this 
 way obtaining from it a salt more pure and better fitted 
 for preserving food than that prepared in the ordinary 
 manner. The method of purifying common salt pro- 
 posed by Dr CuUen, does not appear ever to have 
 been extensively practised ; the quantity of potash re- 
 quired to separate the magnesia and other substances 
 contained in sea water, being such as to render the 
 process too expensive for general use. In giving an 
 account of this proposal to the Duke of Argyll, Dr 
 Cullen says, " You will not be surprised to find a che- 
 mist become a projector. I have hitherto kept pretty 
 clear of this character ; but, like many other chemical 
 enthusiasts, having spent more time and money than 
 I could well afford, I begin now to wish that my che- 
 mical labours would afford me some returns. If your 
 Grace shall find that my proposed improvement is like- 
 ly to be of any use, I shall consider it as a mark of the 
 greatest goodness to have your opinion in what manner 
 I may best avail myself of the discovery — a very sim- 
 ple one indeed, but if real, I think the simplicity very 
 much increases the value of it."
 
 76 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 In his essay entitled Remarks on Bleaching, a copy 
 of which remains among his manuscript papers, Dr 
 CuUen gave a full account of the different operations 
 of this process, and suggested some improvements with 
 regard to the manner of conducting these operations, 
 and the choice and application of the substances em- 
 ployed in them. This essay was not published, but 
 a copy of it appears to have been presented to the Board 
 of Trustees for the Encouragement of Fisheries, Arts, 
 and JNIanufactures in Scotland. In the records of that 
 institution for June 1755, it is mentioned that " three 
 suits of table-linen had been given as a present to Dr 
 William Cullen for his ingenious Observations on the 
 Art of Bleaching." 
 
 Conyinced that great advantages would result to the 
 bleachers of this country from their being furnished 
 with a steady supply of alkaline substances, Dr Cullen 
 at various times instituted experiments to prove that 
 these might be prepared at home, both from the com- 
 bustion of wood, and from the lixiviation of kelp. His 
 views with regard to this subject are explained by him- 
 self in the following letter to Lord Kames. 
 
 " My Lord, Glasgow, February 1753. 
 
 " Your letter of the 15th came to my hand only on Fri- 
 day last. I am much obliged to Lord Deskford for the 
 remarks he has made. From some of them I have received 
 new information ; by others I am properly corrected, and I 
 am very sensible of the defects his Lordship has pointed 
 out. One of them concerning the examination of Water I 
 shall give my opinion of very soon. The other, the exami- 
 nation of Ashes, I cannot properly direct without many ex- 
 periments, which I could not hitherto possibly find time to 
 make.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN^. 77 
 
 " John Chrystie's notes give me great satisfaction. If he 
 is not very complaisant, I must be better pleased with my 
 own piece than I could be before. I am glad to find a man 
 of judgment and experience agreeing with me in so many 
 particulars. The most part of the instruction I had received 
 on the subject, I had got from his directions ; and from his 
 notes on my remarks I have learned a good deal more. In 
 some particulars he seems to differ from me, and I am ready 
 to beheve he is in the right. If there be any thing about 
 which I am in doubt, it is not to be discussed by conjectures 
 and reasoning, but must be referred to experiment ; and on 
 this footing I would let the whole affair rest for some time. 
 But I must now own to your Lordship, that I have so far a 
 good opinion of my first attempt on this subject, that I have 
 a very strong inchnation to prosecute it. It is a pretty wdde 
 field for experiments, and my fancy grasps at the whole ; but 
 I know well that my hands can only comprehend a small 
 part of it. After the hints I have given, I would leave the 
 experiments to be made in the bleaching-field by persons who 
 have more skill and better opportunities for these ; and I 
 would choose to confine my views at present to the subject 
 of ashes. The more I consider this subject, the more fully 
 I am persuaded that all kinds of ashes, and all kinds of alka- 
 lies, may be made in Scotland ; in what quantities and at 
 what expense, I cannot judge but by trial. These trials I 
 have an inclination to make but cannot afford the expense. 
 If your Trustees have so far an apprehension of the utility 
 of such an inquiry as to hazard a little money upon it, I 
 shall hazard my pains, and, what may be a much more expen- 
 sive article to me, my time, upon it. Favour me with your 
 opinion on this subject. If the trustees are not likely to be 
 very prompt in this affair, I would not have it mentioned. 
 I shall not pretend to be disinterested. On the contrary, I 
 should be very glad to find my interest connected with 
 schemes of this kind ; but at present I would be hurt by any 
 suspicions of interested views. I have a great ambition to
 
 78 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 establish Arts, — I have not avarice enough to practise them. 
 If you do any thing in this affair, some memorial or plan 
 may be necessary, and you shall have it on demand. * * 
 
 " I have a great iiichnation to have a little conversation 
 with your Lordship, at least once a-year. Whether I can 
 be so happy before your session rises, I am uncertain. Be 
 pleased to let me know if you can have a Saturday afternoon, 
 and a Sunday, to bestow upon me, or if you will be still at 
 Edinburgh on Sunday se'nnight. Excuse this freedom in 
 one who considers your Lordship's acquaintance as one of the 
 most fortunate accidents of his life. I remain, your Lord- 
 ship's faithful and obechent servant, 
 
 " William Cullen." 
 
 In reference to the proposal suggested by Dr Cul- 
 len to be made to the Board of Trustees, Lord Karnes 
 writes, (3d March 1753) : — '' I could not think of doing 
 better than to put your letter into Lord Deskford's 
 hands. If the Trustees do not grasp at your offer, by 
 defraying the expense of experiments, I shall not be 
 at a loss to form a judgment of them." And, in a 
 letter to Dr CuUen, written a few days after this, 
 (11th March,) he says : — " But for the expectation of 
 seeing you, I had left the town yesterday. I walk off 
 to-morrow at six, without other regret than that I 
 cannot manage between you and the Trustees. I have 
 delivered to Lord Milton a letter from Deskford upon 
 your proposal, and what I may call generous offer, re- 
 commending the matter to him warmly. But great 
 bodies move slowly, and a certain habit of business 
 leads some people into a slow and regular train, which 
 no peculiarity of circumstances can provoke them out 
 of. You will perhaps reckon it too sanguine an ad- 
 vice to go on with your experiments, with a reasonable,
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 79 
 
 or rather certain, prospect of a retribution. But this 
 you may safely venture, to set out with the cheapest 
 experiments, to give notice to Lord Deskford that 
 you have done so by my advice, and that you are ready 
 to go on if he gives you encouragement." 
 
 Dr Cidlen seems to have followed the advice given 
 him by Lord Kames, of continuing to prosecute his 
 experiments on the preparation of alkaline substances. 
 He had trials made at different bleachfields of the ashes 
 which he had prepared, and there still remain several 
 papers containing his directions to the bleachers with 
 regard to the manner of using these ashes ; and also their 
 letters to him, giving an account of the success which 
 they had had in employing them in bleaching. So late 
 as the summer of 1762, Dr Cullen instituted an ex- 
 tensive series of experiments to ascertain the quanti- 
 ties and qualities of the alkaline salts obtained by 
 buiTiing ferns and different kinds of wood. These ex- 
 periments, in which he was assisted by a pupil, Dr 
 David JMillar, from Hamilton, for whom he appears 
 to have entertained a particular regard*, were made 
 in Perthshire, on one of the estates in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Rannoch, which had been forfeited to the 
 Crown after the rebellion of 1745 ; and an account of 
 them appears to have been di'awn up by Dr Cullen, for 
 the information of the Commissioners for the manage- 
 ment of the Annexed Estates. 
 
 During the time that Dr Cullen taught the Theory 
 and Practice of JNledicine at Glasgow, he formed the 
 design of pubhshing an edition of the works of the cele- 
 brated Dr Sydenham, with an account, in Latin, of his 
 
 * See Appendix, Note O.
 
 80 LIFE OF DU CULLEN. 
 
 life and writings. In a letter addressed to Dr Cullen, 
 in 1751, Dr Hunter says, — " I see proposals for pub- 
 lishing Sydenham at Edinburgh : — An idle scheme I 
 think ; a mere edition, it seems, for fourteen shillings. 
 Pray have you dropt your scheme ? I had told your 
 plan to Mr Sydenham ^ here, and two or three other 
 people. Everybody approved of it. Every body dis- 
 approves of the Edinburgh scheme. Let me soon know 
 what you are to do in it. Pitcairn desires it." To 
 this inquiry, Dr Cullen replied : — " 1 have not dropt 
 my scheme with regard to Sydenham. It has been de- 
 layed partly on account of my hurry, and partly for the 
 sake of a new type, which Mr Wilson is now about. 
 The Edinburgh edition will not do us much harm ; 
 ours shall be a more splendid one ; and at the same 
 time have other advantages. I propose to join to it at 
 least two dissertations ; one De Autoiis Vita et Scrips 
 tis et MetJiodo 3Iedendi; and another, De Causis 
 3Iorborum Epidemicorum. I expect some anecdotes 
 from your friend Sydenham ; I expect the original edi- 
 tions from Dr Pitcairn ; and I expect your judgment 
 upon my composition to be sent to you, and your ad- 
 vice with respect to the conduct of the whole." 
 
 How far Dr Cullen had proceeded in this w^ork, and 
 for what reason it w as ultimately abandoned, are points 
 about which I have not been able to obtain any satis- 
 factory information. There remains, indeed, a short 
 scroll, in his own handwriting, containing the princi- 
 pal dates and facts with regard to Sydenham's life, but 
 without any general reflections such as Dr Cullen 
 
 * Mr Floyer Sydenham, Translator of several of the writings of 
 Plato. 4
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 81 
 
 could not have failed to make, had he persevered in 
 the undertaking, and which, notwilhstanding the nu- 
 merous editions of Sydenham's works, and the univer- 
 sal estimation in which they were held hy the medical 
 world, must have given to them an additional interest. 
 The opinion, however, which he entertained of Dr Sy- 
 denham's character as a physician, and the value which 
 he attached to his writings, may he learned from the 
 interesting account which he has given of him in his 
 Introductory Lectures to the Practice of Physic^. 
 It does not appear whether Dr CuUen had ever writ- 
 ten the dissertation which he proposed on Epidemic 
 Diseases ; hut the suhjcct was one which, in his lec- 
 tures on the Practice of Physic, formed a particular 
 ohject of his consideration. 
 
 From his appointment to he a Professor of Medicine 
 in the University of Glasgow till the end of the year 
 1755, Dr Cullen, in addition to his lectures on Che- 
 mistry, continued to deliver annually a course of lec- 
 tures upon the Theory and Practice of Physic. His 
 private practice during this period, though extensive, 
 does not appear to have heen lucrative ; and, as a con- 
 siderahle portion of it lay in the country, he had hut 
 little time left for the prosecution of his scientific 
 pursuits. These circumstances seem to have induced 
 some of his friends to propose his removing to Edin- 
 hurgh, a scheme which is mentioned hy himself in a 
 letter to Dr Hunter, written in August 1751. 
 
 " I am quite tired of my present life ; I have a good deal of 
 country practice, which takes up a great deal of time, and 
 hardly even allows me an hour's leisure. I get hut little 
 
 ■ See W^orks, Edinburgh 1827, vol. i. p. 402. 
 VOL. I. F
 
 82 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 money for my labour ; and indeed by country practice, with 
 our payments, a man cannot make money, as he cannot over- 
 take a great deal of business. On this account, I have some 
 thoughts of acceding to a proposal that was lately made to 
 me of removing to Edinburgh. Dr Plummer, Professor of 
 Chemistry, is a very rich man, has given up practice, and 
 had proposed to give up teaching in favour of Dr Elliot ; 
 but this gentleman died about six weeks ago, and, upon this 
 event, some friends of mine, and along with them some gen- 
 tlemen concerned in the administration of the Town of Edin- 
 burgh, have proposed to use their influence with Dr Plum- 
 mer to induce him to resign in my favour. As the income 
 of that office cannot be very considerable, and my success in 
 the way of practice is uncertain, I have hesitated about 
 agreeing to their proposal ; but, provided they can make 
 the establishment such as will afford me a livelihood, the 
 situation and manner of life there will be so much more 
 agreeable than at 'present, that I resolve to hazard some- 
 thing, and have agreed to accept the invitation when made 
 to me in a proper way. However, Plummer's consent, and 
 some other circumstances, are still in doubt ; and this, with 
 other reasons, requires the affair to be kept as secret as pos- 
 sible. In the mean time, I shall beg to have your opinion 
 and advice." 
 
 Whether the proposal alluded to in this letter was 
 ever actually made to Dr Plummer, or, if made, what 
 his objections to it were, do not appear. LordKames, 
 however, in a postscript of a letter to Dr Cullen, 
 dated 26th December 1751, says, — " The project 
 about Dr Plummer I find is not yet ripe, but I keep 
 my eye close upon it." And, in the beginning of 
 1753, his Lordship, upon an occasional illness of 
 Dr Sinclair, took occasion to write to Dr Cullen 
 in the following terms : — " Since my last to you, mat-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 83 
 
 ters more drumly (muclcly) to me, seem to clear for 
 you more and more. Poor Sinclair, I am afraid, will 
 scarce be alive when this comes to your hand, and Dr 
 Lewis, another physician of note, is in a very bad way. 
 In short, your presence here, which I formerly thought 
 w^ould be useful to yourself, will shortly be necessary 
 for the benefit of the town." — " I have got no return 
 as yet from the persons I employed upon Dr Plummer. 
 Do not expect from the Town any thing fi^^^rbher than 
 countenance. Had I the leaders only to deal with, I 
 believe I could operate more than you expect. But 
 the Town is poor, and such factions in the Coimcil, 
 about calling of ministers and candidates for Parlia- 
 ment, that there is no such thing as venturing any ex- 
 traneous business." In allusion to the same proposal, 
 Mr Arthur Martine, in a letter to Dr Cullen, dated 
 19th February 1754, says, " But one thing is thought 
 proper, that you come to town on Friday, as that is 
 the time most convenient for you, and lay the affair 
 before Drs Clerk and Sinclair, as a proposition of your 
 friends, which you think of acceding to with their good 
 will. At the same time, we shall think of measm'es 
 to treat with Plummer or Alston about a resignation." 
 In the autumn of 1754, on the death of Dr Dundas, 
 -Lord Kames again endeavoured to persuade Dr CuUen 
 to remove to Edinburgh, by representing to him the 
 favom-able prospect of success, both as a medical prac- 
 titioner and teacher, which seemed to await him there. 
 
 '* My Dear Sir, Edinburgh, September 17. 1754. 
 
 " Upon occasion of Dr Dundas''s death, I must be want- 
 ing to the friendship I have for you not to resume my former 
 topic. Sinclair is as good as gone, and Clerk is valetudi- 
 nary. Pray, whom have Ave ? Scarce one physician of any 
 
 F 2
 
 84 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 considerable character. It is my serious opinion you can 
 never have a more favourable opportunity to exert yourself. 
 It will be neglecting your own interest not to lay hold of it. 
 In all appearance you cannot fail of coming soon into busi- 
 ness here ; and, in the interim, you may give what may be 
 called a private college (Course of Lectures) of Chemistry, 
 which will be successful, and will make you a favourite of the 
 College of Physicians, because it will increase the number of 
 students. In a word, the opportunity is so favourable that 
 it is needless to bestow words upon it. Dr Dundas had a 
 world of business, not only in the town, but in all the towns 
 about it. You may naturally take his place till multiplicity 
 of business confine you Avithin the city. In the mean time, 
 you may find leisure to publish a treatise upon husbandry. 
 A word to the wise is sufficient. Yours, 
 
 - " Henry Home.'' 
 
 In answer to this proposal, Dr Cullen appears to 
 have explained the different circmnstances which at 
 this period rendered his removal to Edinburgh hazard- 
 ous to himself and to his family ; upon which Lord 
 Karnes again wrote to him in the following terms : — 
 
 " My Dear Sir, Kames, 30//^ September 1754. 
 
 " You see I am in no hurry with my answer ; and indeed 
 it is, to me at least, extremely difficult to come to any posi- 
 tive resolution upon your case. I have carefully weighed 
 the circumstances on both sides ; and, putting myself in your 
 situation, all I can make of it is, that at present I scarce 
 would have courage for so bold a step. Twenty years ago 
 I would not have had the smallest difficulty. In a word, 
 I have not the least doubt that the change I propose will 
 turn out to your advantage ; but if your resolution is not 
 great, it may fail you in the execution, and spoil all. Yours, 
 
 " Henry Home.'" 
 
 Dr Cullen having resolved not to incur the hazards
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 85 
 
 necessarily attendant upon his removal at this time 
 from Glasgow, his zealous friend, though acquiescing 
 in the propriety of his resolution, took occasion to rally 
 him upon the suhject in the following letter : — 
 
 " My Dear Sir, 
 
 " You'll think it now too late for me to observe that the 
 last epistle I had from you appeared to me extremely whim- 
 sical. A plan formed, — difficulties struggled with and over- 
 come, — every thing ready for execution, — and, when the 
 hour was come, given up without saying why or wherefore. 
 I was really so well entertained with the oddness of the ad- 
 venture, that I did not chuse to be undeceived by having a 
 rational cause assigned. Now that the humour is over, I 
 should be glad, if you write an answer, that you clap in a 
 word or two upon the subject by way of postscript. 
 
 " Change now the scene to the Philosophical Society, of 
 whose works a second volume is preparing. A demand was 
 made upon me for your paper upon Salts. I either dreamed 
 it, or it was said to me, that you reserved that paper to make 
 part of a greater work. If not, transmit it to me ; and if 
 you reserve it, I must insist upon some other paper from 
 you in its stead. You told me you had one upon Remitting 
 Fevers, the publishing of which may do you some service 
 here, if you have not altogether abandoned your project. I 
 insist upon one paper or another ; and I insist upon it as a 
 point of right. 
 
 " What are our friends doing in the College (of Glasgow) 
 farther than teaching ? Are there any discoveries ? Is there 
 any progress in science ? Are they all voa^ et prcBterea nihil ? 
 I hope better things of them. But I want facts, and would 
 not rest upon hopes. How goes on your farming scheme, 
 in particular ? In this science facts would be delightful. 
 Your friend, at least your correspondent, Du Hamel is a 
 ninny. Yours affectionately, 
 
 " Henry HomEo"
 
 86 LIFE or DR CULLEN. 
 
 In the coiu'se of the summer of 1755, Dr Plummer 
 having suffered a shock of palsy, by which he was ren- 
 dered incapable of continuing his lectures, several can- 
 didates for the Chemical Chair immediately presented 
 themselves, or wxre put in nomination by their friends. 
 Among these were Dr Francis Home, Dr Black, and 
 Dr CuUen. Dr Home had the warm support of his 
 relation and friend Lord JMilton, one of the Senators 
 of the College of Justice, who at that time possessed 
 considerable political influence in Edinburgh, and in 
 particular with the Town- Council. Dr Black had 
 distinguished himself by his experiments on magnesia, 
 quicklime, &c. and was justly considered as a person 
 eminently qualified to assist and succeed Dr Plummer ; 
 and, to the Medical Faculty, it was an additional and 
 no small recommendation of his pretensions, that he 
 had never been employed in the practice of physic, and 
 was therefore not likely to become their rival in the 
 emoluments of their profession. Dr CuUen, again, 
 was not only regarded as a teacher of great scientific 
 attainments, but also as a skilful and judicious medical 
 practitioner, whose agreeable manners and engaging 
 address could not fail to obtain for him the esteem and 
 confidence of those who consulted him professionally. 
 
 In the commencement of the canvass for the Che- 
 mical Chair, Dr Black appears, from the following let- 
 ters, to have taken the earliest opportunity of informing 
 Dr Cullen of Dr Plummer's illness, and of expressing 
 his resolution not to allow any wishes or engagements 
 of his own to interfere with the views of his friend and 
 preceptor.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 87 
 
 " Dear Sir, Tuesday Night. 
 
 " I write this to inform you of a piece of news, which, 
 though it may be of no consequence to you, I thought it not 
 amiss to acquaint you with. Dr Pkmimer was lately seized 
 with an apoplexy, which has terminated in a hemiplegia and 
 total loss of speech ; so, if you have not abjured Edinburgh, 
 now is your time. Yours in haste : 
 
 '' Joseph Black." 
 
 About ten days after writing this letter, Dr Black 
 wrote again to Dr CuUen in the following manner: 
 
 "' Dear Doctor, " Saturday Night: 
 
 " You have been misinformed with respect to Dr Plummer. 
 He is not dead, but in the state I told you. Dr Whytt left 
 him on Wednesday with a palsy in his tongue, and one side 
 of his body ; and it is not the opinion of the physicians that 
 his life is in immediate danger. As long as he is in this way, 
 the affair cannot come before the Town-Council, but some- 
 body will be appointed by his colleagues to teach for him 
 this winter. What interest you will have among them is 
 hard to tell. You know there is an evident ruh in the way 
 with respect to practice. From some hints I have received, 
 I have reason to suspect that I am not excluded the possibi- 
 lity of an offer ; but I assure you. Doctor, I am absolutely 
 resolved to refuse it, if there is any hopes of its being of any 
 advantage to you. 
 
 " For God's sake, do what you can as soon as possible, and 
 let me know if I can do any thing for you. Yours, 
 
 " Joseph Black." 
 
 Lord Karnes, conceiving that he had now an oppor- 
 tunity of realizing the plan he had formed of bringing 
 Dr CuUen to Edinburgh, entered warmly into this 
 canvass, and wrote immediately to Provost Drummond,
 
 88 
 
 IJFE or Dll CULLEN. 
 
 urging Dr Cullcn's claims to be Dr Plummer's suc- 
 cessor ; — to Dr Wliytt, recommending him for a col- 
 league; — and to Lord Milton, pointing him out as 
 the fittest person in Em-ope to fill the Chemical Chair, 
 and as the candidate who would be most acceptable to 
 the Duke of Argyll. 
 
 The following letter from Mr Martine to Mr Wil- 
 liam Wilson of Howden, Writer to the Signet, one 
 of Dr Cullen's early friends, evinces how zealous and 
 active he had been in endeavouring to promote Dr 
 Cullen's interests on this occasion. 
 
 " Dear Sir, " Canongate, Friday, 6 o'clock. 
 
 " Since parting with you, I have had conferences with 
 Drs Sinclair, Porterfield, Macfarlane, and Monro, and said 
 what I thought proper to each upon the subject in question. 
 I find from Mr Russel, that Dr Black will be no sanguine 
 antagonist. It is from Lord Milton's influence with the 
 Town-Council that any danger is to be apprehended. I 
 have had two full conferences with Mr Kincaid, who is very 
 hearty and active. He has spoken to the Justice-Clerk, and 
 is to speak to all his friends in Council, and to exhort them 
 all earnestly not to give any promises but agreeably to the 
 Duke of Argyll's pleasure. Till the elections in the Town- 
 Council are over, he says it will not be easy to judge how 
 things may go. He suggests, and that very properly, that 
 it would be of use to apply to Baron Maule to get the Duke 
 to write to his friends in Edinburgh. I go this morning to 
 Fife, where I shall expect to receive your commands. I think 
 I perceive a jealousy in some of the Doctors here of our friend, 
 which I am not ill pleased to observe. I have not wrote to 
 the Doctor. Please to communicate this to him, with my 
 best wishes. Till meeting, my dear Sir, yours, 
 
 " A. Martine.''
 
 LIFE OF DPv CULLEN. 89 
 
 During the continuance of Dr Plummer's indisposi- 
 tion, his relations, and the Professors of the other 
 branches of medicine, prevailed upon Dr Black to agree 
 to teach the Chemistry class for the subsequent winter. 
 It appears from a passage of a pamphlet, published at 
 Edinburgh nine years after this, that in the canvass 
 which took place for the Chemical Chair, an applica- 
 tion had been made to Dr Cullen for a character of 
 Dr Black. The anonymous author of this pamphlet, 
 who was believed to be one of the JNIedical Professors, 
 and who was probably very well acquainted with the 
 nature of the opposition which had been made to Dr 
 CuUen's introduction into the University of Edinburgh, 
 says : — " Dr Black is said to have been a candidate 
 along with you when Plummer fell sick, and your let- 
 ter points him out as the ablest chemist of the two ; 
 yet you w^re chosen." It is much to be regretted that 
 no record of Dr CuUen's letter has been preserved, as 
 it could not have failed to afford an interesting testi- 
 mony of his regard for Dr Black, and of the high opi- 
 nion he entertained of those talents and attainments 
 which afterwards procured for him so great distinction 
 as an investigator and teacher of chemical science* 
 Dr Cullen had the pleasure also, a short time after 
 this, of giving a similar testimony of his opinion of Dr 
 Black's merits in recommending him to the Duke of 
 Argyll as a fit person to succeed himself as lecturer 
 on Chemistry in the University of Glasgow. 
 
 The following extract of a letter from Dr Hunter, 
 dated 13th December 1755, exposes one of the means 
 which had at that time been employed to produce in
 
 90 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 the mind of the Duke of Argyll a prejudice unfavour- 
 ahle to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " You know that I rejoice at every thing that turns to 
 your advantage ; and I do hope that I shall yet have a great 
 share of joy on your account. » * * » 
 
 Well, then, all I have to tell you is, the Duke is most sin- 
 cerely your friend. He has not yet received yours and the 
 Edinburgh recommendation of Mr Black. I did every thing 
 I could to give him a good opinion of young Hamilton for 
 Anatomy, and I did justice to Mr Black's character. Any 
 thing I have been able to do, I need not tell you, was by 
 Dr Stewart ; for I have not the honour of being personally 
 known to the Duke. Some of your friends were kind enough 
 to represent you as a Jacobite : but it did you service ; for 
 the Duke looked upon it as a piece of underhand malice. I 
 wish you success, and beg to hear from you soon." 
 
 It happened, fortunately for Dr Cullen's success, 
 that the Duke of Argyll arrived in Edinburgh during 
 the canvass for the Chemical Chair. Finding the wishes 
 of those who had the right to nominate a successor to 
 Dr Plummer divided chiefly between the other two 
 candidates, his Grace was under the necessity of em- 
 ploying the whole weight of his influence in favour of 
 Dr Cidlen ; and but for the exertions of that public- 
 spirited and intelligent nobleman upon this occasion, 
 it seems doubtful whether Dr Cullen would ever have 
 obtained a seat in the University of Edinburgh. 
 
 The arrangement which had been made with Dr 
 Black by the relations of Dr Plummer and the Pro- 
 fessors of INIedicine, was not altogether agreeable to the 
 Town-Council, who, as patrons of the University, 
 thought themselves entitled to the principal direction
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 9 I 
 
 ill an affair of this kind. Some months, however, 
 were allowed to elapse, that it might appear what 
 com'se Dr Plummer's distemper would take. At 
 length, on the 19th of Novemher 1755, when the ses- 
 sion was about to open, and when it was generally be- 
 lieved that Dr Plummer would not recover, the Town- 
 Council appointed Dr Cullen joint Professor of Che- 
 mistry during the life of his colleague, with the suc- 
 cession in the event of his death, reserving at the same 
 time to Dr Plummer all the rights and privileges of a 
 Professor, and particularly that of teaching, whenever 
 the state of his health would admit of it. 
 
 Immediately on being informed of this appointment, 
 Dr Cullen addressed the following letter to Dr Black : 
 
 " Dear Jo, 
 
 " I find at length the Town-Council of Edinburgh have 
 elected me a professor. As the conditions are not yet com- 
 municated to me, and there are some little difficulties in the 
 way, I have not declared my acceptance ; but it is very pro- 
 bable I shall accept, and, with your assistance, I shall get 
 over every difficulty. I want, therefore, to have a little cor- 
 respondence with you, and to know particularly what influence 
 this election is to have on your measures. While you could 
 expect to be elected a professor, I approved of every step you 
 could take for that purpose, though in direct opposition to 
 myself; but now that I fancy your hopes of that kind are 
 over, I do not expect opposition ; I do expect your favour 
 and concurrence. By this I do not mean that you should 
 pass from any engagements you have come under for this 
 winter ; nay, I shall be very well pleased that these go on ; 
 but I am now told you are really not to teach. I have not 
 this, indeed, from any certain authority, but am apt to be- 
 lieve you may shrink from the toil of making up an entire
 
 92 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 course of lectures in the hurry you would be put into. Pray 
 let me know from yourself what is in all this. I am pressed 
 from Edinburgh to come to teach this winter ; but this, par- 
 ticularly on account of my engagements here, I would avoid 
 if possible ; however, if you really have dropt your former 
 engagements, and would now in any shape concur with me, 
 I think I could make the matter easy to us both. In short, 
 if you can be concerned with me in teaching, I shall ease 
 you of a great part of the labour, — I want no part of the 
 profits. It would be making too much haste to explain fur- 
 ther a scheme, which, perhaps, in every form you will reject, 
 so I wait your answer. I shall only say further, that I hope 
 my election is no great disappointment to you : certainly at 
 your time of life, and in your situation, I should not think 
 it such. You have certainly something much better to ex- 
 pect ; and I now flatter myself, that, instead of fretting at 
 my success, you will rather embrace the opportunity of this 
 critical situation of my affairs, to assist as far as you can in 
 establishing me and my family for life. My breast is full, 
 but I can say no more. I am, Dear Jo, yours affectionately, 
 
 " William Cullen." 
 " Glasgow, 2lst Nov. 1755." 
 
 Previously to his having received this letter, Dr 
 Black appears to have w^ritten the following to Dr 
 CuUen : 
 
 " Dear Dr, 
 " As I have now an opportunity of returning your com- 
 pliment, I sincerely wish you joy and success in your new 
 employment, and should have done it by last post, but that 
 I expected to have seen you here before now. It is indeed 
 very proper you should come as soon as possible, in order to 
 settle matters with respect to the teaching for this winter, as 
 I am afraid you will receive but little help or encourage- 
 ment from the Professors. They all seem to be very much
 
 LIFE OF DPv CULLEN. 93 
 
 out of humour at the Town-Councirs having managed this 
 affair with so httle ceremony, and as if the College had no 
 sort of concern in the matter. Plummer himself will cer- 
 tainly be highly incensed ; and as the laboratory is entirely 
 his property, you need not expect to obtain the use of it for 
 this winter ; but you may probably get Scott's. His appa- 
 ratus is probably very imperfect for a course of Philosophic 
 Chemistry, but you need not be anxious, provided your 
 course be better than Plummer's, which it is impossible for 
 it not to be. I had lately the honour of dining with Lord 
 Deskford, who spoke very favourably of you. He asked me 
 if I had seen 's new book upon Bleaching, and in- 
 timated that the whole, or greater part of it, was stolen from 
 a paper of yours. I am, Dr. Dr, yours, 
 
 "J. Black. 
 " Edinburgh, 22d Nov. 1755." 
 
 The medical professors objected to the appointment 
 of Dr Cullen, that it had been made without the con- 
 sent or demission of Dr Plummer, who upon this 
 ground had resolved to protest against Dr Cullen's ad- 
 mission into the University ; and they stated that the 
 Senatus Academicus would therefore decline receiving 
 Dr Cullen into their body until he should either ob- 
 tain Dr Plummer's demission, and purchase his labo- 
 ratory, or until the point at issue between the Senatus 
 and Town-Council should be determined in a com-t of 
 law by a declaration of privileges. 
 
 Dr Cullen being well aware that Dr Plummer's re- 
 covery was considered by his medical attendants as 
 hopeless, accepted the office to which he had been no- 
 minated by the patrons of the University, and entered 
 upon the duty of teaching chemistry in the beginning 
 of January 1756. Whether he actually took any steps 
 on his coming to Edinburgh to obtain a formal admis-
 
 94 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 sion into the University does not appear ; but that 
 this was delayed for some time, and that he consulted 
 on the subject his friend George Drvmimond, Esq., at 
 that time Provost of Edinburgh, is evident from the 
 following letter, highly characteristic of the good sense, 
 superior talents for business, and public spirit, which 
 distinguished the civic administration of that intelli- 
 gent and patriotic magistrate. 
 
 " My Dear Sir, London, 3d Feh-uary 1756. 
 
 " I have got your favour of the 27th ultimo. It is very 
 obliging in you to mention the part I took in bringing you 
 into the University of Edinburgh in the manner you are 
 pleased to do. But indeed. Sir, I cannot claim any merit in 
 it. I had the opinion of the man on earth to whose judg- 
 ment, in matters of that kind, I pay the greatest deference, 
 that you were the man in the island best qualified to fill the 
 vacant professor's chair; and I thought myself hajjpy to 
 have any share in bringing you to it. 
 
 '^ I observe the manner in which the medical people talk 
 to you about your admission into the University, and that 
 they have proposed your taking the laboratory off Plum- 
 mer's hands, at the price put upon it when he purchased 
 their shares of it from Sinclair and Rutherford, as the con- 
 dition on which they will in a manner undertake that Plum- 
 mer will resign along with you, in order to your being elect- 
 ed joint professors, as Monro and his son were lately, and 
 then the admission will be unanimous. 
 
 " You are pleased to ask my advice what you should do 
 in this matter ; whether to push the admission, or harken to 
 Monro's proposition, and therefore I will tell you how I 
 think of it, not as a present magistrate, but without reserve, 
 with the openness of a friend who is warmly devoted to serve 
 you. 
 
 " I have before me a hst of the members of the Univer-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 95 
 
 sity, marked off in three classes : — eight who have declared 
 against admitting you, unless the proposition is complied 
 with ; seven who have declared they will admit you ; and the 
 names of such of them as have not yet explained themselves 
 either way, seven, whereof three do not attend meetings. 
 
 " It is probable that, by proper application to them, a 
 majority might be got for the admission ; this is only to be 
 got by bringing three of the four of the last seven who at- 
 tend over to us, which at this distance I am uncertain 
 about ; for that reason I am averse to put things upon that 
 issue. 
 
 " I am quite sensible that there is a mde difference be- 
 tween the situation the professors of Medicine were in at the 
 time they were established in the University and yours. At 
 that time, we were only making a trial, and were somewhat 
 uncertain abovit its success ; and yet they thought themselves 
 favoured by the Town-Council in giving them a preference 
 in our choice to another set who petitioned us to appoint 
 them. At that time I should have cheerfully come in to 
 the Town's accommodating them with a laboratory, if our 
 finances would have admitted of it. Your case is different. 
 Every body is now sensible that the Medical College is an 
 immense benefit to the community, and must continue to be 
 so as long as the Town-Council do justice to the Town, by 
 filling up vacancies, when they happen, wath professors of 
 established reputation. Such is the present case. You 
 don't court us to choose you ; we court you to come to us ; 
 and, of course, I certainly am of opinion that sooner or later 
 the Town should accommodate you with a laboratory, and 
 I should be for doing it now, if I did not think that difKcul- 
 ties might arise in it from the present state of their rev^enue, 
 which would determine the Council not to come into it at 
 this juncture. As to the sum the Town has a claim of up- 
 on Plummer's laboratory, I am apt to think the Council 
 will not demand it in any other event but their seeing the 
 house was to be used for any other purpose but a labora-
 
 96 
 
 LIFE OF DR CUI.LEN. 
 
 tory ; so that the purchase-money will not exceed i?120, and 
 the professor who purchases it will have that sum refunded 
 to his family from his successor, I think easily and certainly, 
 as its situation, so near the Infirmary, is the most convenient 
 spot that could be got for it. 
 
 " I should not approve of the Town-Councirs entering 
 into a treaty with the Professors about getting over the dif- 
 ficulty they have created to your admission; and yet, I 
 think they would not do a thing below themselves if, upon 
 your and Plummer's resignation, they re-elect you jointly. 
 
 '^ I am sensible, at this distance, I may be a stranger to 
 some of the circumstances in this affair, for want of knowing 
 the sentiments of my friends in the Council about it, from 
 my having nobody here to advise with in it, and from my 
 being obliged to give most of my attention at present to 
 some matters of consequence which I am in some sort charged 
 with the care of: Yet, hurried as I am, I was unwilling to 
 suffer your letter to lie before me a single post. I have said 
 all that occurs to me upon it ; yet have the goodness, if you 
 differ from me in the advice I have taken the liberty to of- 
 fer, to acquaint me, and act according to your own judg- 
 ment ; for, I do assure you, if I were upon the spot, after 
 laying it before two or three of my friends, who I know are 
 heartily yours, I would go through every measure that you 
 thought for your service ; for I am, with great truth. Sir, 
 your faithfuland obedient humble servant, 
 
 " Geo. Drummond, L, P." 
 
 The measure proposed by Dr Monro 'primus, and 
 approved of by Provost Drummond, in the foregoing 
 letter, appears to have been soon afterwards carried in- 
 to effect, and Drs Plummer and CuUen were, by a 
 commission, signed on the 10th March 1756, elected 
 joint Professors of Chemistry in the University of 
 Edinburgh. On Dr Plummer's death, which hap- 
 pened in the month of July following, Dr Cullen was
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 97 
 
 elected sole Professor of Chemistry, — a situation which 
 he continued to occupy for ten years. 
 
 Several years after he was appointed Professor of 
 Chemistry in Edinburgh, Dr Cullen, in reviving an 
 ancient but neglected custom of the University, de- 
 livered a I^atin oration in presence of the Patrons, the 
 Members of the Senatus Academicus, and the Students, 
 on the nature and objects of the branch of science he 
 had been appointed to teach, in which he took an op- 
 portunity of publicly expressing his obligations to Mr 
 Drummond, who then held, for the foiu'th time, the 
 office of Chief JNIagistrate, for the share he had taken 
 in introducing him into the University. 
 
 By a list of the names of his chemical students, kept 
 by Dr Cullen, it appears, that during the first course 
 of lectures the number amounted only to seventeen. 
 During the second course it rcse to fifty-nine ; and 
 it went on gradually increasing so long as he continued 
 to lecture on chemistry : — the greatest number that 
 attended during any one session was 145. In looking 
 into this list, it is curious to observe that several of 
 those pupils, who afterwards distinguished themselves 
 by their acquirements or writings, had attended three, 
 four, five, or even six courses of Dr CuUen's chemical 
 lectures. 
 
 Dr Cullen had foreseen that he would have many 
 difficulties to contend with in removing from Glasgow 
 to Edinbm'gh. In making this change of residence, 
 he had to submit for a time to an almost complete loss 
 of income. There being no salary attached to his pro- 
 fessorship, the fees of the students were the only cer- 
 tain resource to which he could trust for the main- 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 98 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 tenance of his numerous family, till he should be able 
 to establish himself as a medical practitioner. That 
 he met the difficulties of his new situation with a cheer- 
 ful and sanguine disposition, appears from the follow- 
 ing account which he gives to his brother-in-law Major 
 Johnstone, of the manner in which he spent the first 
 months of his residence in Edinbiugh. 
 
 " Dear Captain, 
 " I am very glad to learn, by yours of the second current, 
 that Mrs Johnstone and you, with your two sons, are in good 
 health. Of i\Ir George, I give you joy with all my heart. I 
 have intended to write every day these six months, but by 
 some accident or other I have been in perpetual hurry, and 
 since my change of situation do not yet know where I am. I 
 came in here to teach in the month of January, and was 
 obliged to be very busy that I might overtake the session. 
 My hurry was much increased by the frequent interruptions 
 which my wife's illness gave me by calling me to the west 
 country. She has had a long and tedious illness this spring, 
 which, however, I hope is now well over. Just when I was 
 leaving Glasgow, about four weeks ago, I got a broken shin, 
 which was a small matter at first, but being therefore ne- 
 glected and very ill used, it has since given me a great deal 
 of trouble, and confined me to the house, and almost to my 
 bed, ever since I came to Edinburgh. My family are still 
 at Parkhead, and to continue there for the rest of the sum- 
 mer. My wife has been here to attend me ; but now I begin 
 to go abroad, she went west on Thursday to see the children, 
 among w^hom there are some small ailments. 
 
 " As to the effects of my change of situation, I really as 
 yet can say nothing. The hurry I was kept in by my teach- 
 ing during the time I was here in the spring, did not allow 
 me to take the measures for getting practice that may be 
 necessary. The business of my removing from Glasgow, 
 and other affairs in the west, have still hindered me from
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 99 
 
 doing any thing here. My sore leg has now spent a great 
 part of the summer session, and in the harvest vacation there 
 is nothing to be done ; so that, upon the whole, I shall not 
 tliink myself settled here till -s\dnter, and even then I must 
 lay my account ^\dth business coming slowly. Some time 
 must pass before I can either know myself, or tell my friends 
 how I am to fare in tliis place. Only I shall tell you that I 
 live in good hopes. Yours affectionately, 
 
 " William Cullen." 
 
 Part of the smnmer of 1756 appears to have been 
 employed by Dr Ciillen in extending and improving 
 his lectiu'es on chemistry, and in preparing, as an in- 
 trodnction to his com'se, a history of that science. This 
 history occupied no fewer than seven lectures, which, 
 instead of being spoken from short notes, as was his 
 usual mode of lecturing, were written out in full, and 
 appear to have been afterwards interlined with various 
 additions and corrections. These lectm'es contain so 
 many general remarks, and exhibit so just a specimen 
 of Dr Cullen's manner of composition for his lectm-es, 
 that I have judged it right to insert portions of them 
 in the Appendix ^, belienng that they may still be 
 read with interest by the lovers of chemistry. 
 
 It must have been mth a view to relieve himself 
 from the pecuniary embarrassments which he either felt 
 or apprehended at this period, that Dr Cidlen proposed 
 to undertake the translation of Van Swie ten's Commen- 
 taries on Boerhaave's Aphorisms ; a labour in which 
 it would seem he expected to have the assistance of Dr 
 Hunter and of Dr Black. His prospects of success in 
 medical practice in Edinburgh, however, soon became 
 
 * See Appendix, Note P. 
 Cx2
 
 100 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 SO promising as to render the execution of this scheme 
 unnecessary ; but it is agreeable to record such unequi- 
 vocal proofs as are contained in the following letters, 
 of the interest which his two favourite pupils took in 
 the success of the undertaking which he had projected. 
 
 a Dear Sir London, IGlh November 1756. 
 
 " I had the pleasure of a letter from you just the next 
 day after I had sent off one for you. Though I cannot give 
 you a more agreeable account of matters now, yet, consider- 
 ing the anxiety you show in that last letter, I thought a 
 second push with the booksellers was indispensable on my 
 part. I have been this day with Messrs Clark and David- 
 son, but have found them tenacious of their former opinion, 
 that there is nothing at present in the medical way they 
 should choose to engage in. I spoke of Van Swieten's Com- 
 mentaries, but he said it was too expensive to print such a 
 book, except (which may happen) it should have in time an 
 universal good character. I daresay you do not suspect my 
 inclination to serve you, even were my interest excluded from 
 the point. It is therefore with great reluctance and concern 
 that I must declare my diffidence in the booksellers here. I 
 wish you may be able to do something with Kincaid. My 
 bargain with Clark was to have a guinea every printed sheet. 
 This may help you to determine your price. I hope if you 
 were once well known to Kincaid, you may be very fortu- 
 nate. I have found a specific, in the author of the Geor- 
 gics, against the Spleen that is occasioned by Pauperies, 
 which has been a wonderful palliative cure, at least with me, 
 and has almost reconciled me to charms ; as I liave no doubt 
 of its efficacy, in every case where there is faith enough, I 
 will communicate it to you. 
 
 ' Labor omnia vincit 
 ' Improbus, et duris urgens in rebus egestas.' 
 
 " You have my eternal best wishes, 
 
 " William Hunter.'"
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 101 
 
 From Dr Black to Dr CuUen. 
 
 <c Dear Dr, Glasgow, 8th June 1757* 
 
 " I own my last letter was wrote in a hurry, and I forgot 
 many things which I intended to say ; but you may remem- 
 ber I formerly told you I was willing to try the half of the 
 translation, though I am afraid it will save you very little 
 trouble, as you will be reduced to the necessity of correcting 
 my language, so far as that the book may appear of a piece : 
 But are you ripe yet for the attempt ? Are you sure that 
 you won't be prevented in London ? And is any bookseller 
 in Edinburgh wiUing to purchase the copy, or will they even 
 venture upon it if they get it for nothing ? 
 
 " As for myself, I shall take what part you please, and 
 will begin immediately, if you are resolved upon it. 
 
 " My compliments to all friends, and believe me yours, 
 
 '' Joseph Black." 
 
 Dr Cullen's design of translating Van Swieten's 
 Commentaries seems to have been relinquished, and 
 his attention directed in a particular manner to medi- 
 cal pursuits of his own, by his being engaged, soon af- 
 ter his removal to Edinburgh, in delivering lectures on 
 Clinical Medicine. In this country, the merit of first 
 •proposing to explain, in clinical lectures, the nature and 
 treatment of the cases of patients admitted into a pub- 
 lic hospital, belongs to Dr John Kutherford, Professor 
 of the Practice of Physic, to whom this privilege was 
 granted by the Managers of the Royal Infirmary of 
 Edinburgh, in the year 1748. In the follomng year 
 the same privilege was extended to the other Profes- 
 sors of Medicine in the University, though none of 
 them, besides Dr Rutherford, appear to have availed 
 themselves of it till the session of 1757, when Dr Cu]-
 
 1 02 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 len undertook to deliver clinical lectures in the Infir- 
 mary. His colleagues, Drs Whytt and Monro, were 
 induced to join liim in the performance of that duty, 
 which Dr Rutherford, probably on account of the infirm 
 state of his health, declined any longer to discharge. By 
 this arrangement, a new and strong impulse was given 
 to the teaching and study of practical medicine in 
 Edinburgh, and clinical lectures have ever since been 
 delivered annually in the Infirmary by the medical 
 professors, with a diligence, ability, and zeal, which 
 have done the greatest honom* to themselves; while 
 their lectures in this department have contributed, per- 
 haps more than any other circumstance, to extend and 
 maintain the reputation and usefulness of the medical 
 school. 
 
 Few, if any, traces of the useful and important 
 mode of teaching practical medicine by example are to 
 be found in the early records of physic. Hippocrates, 
 indeed, we are told by Galen, was in the use of con- 
 ducting his numerous pupils to the bed-sides of his 
 patients, for the purpose of instruction ; and from a 
 well known epigram of JVIartial (which, on accomit of 
 the warning it contains ought never to be forgotten by 
 clinical teachers or their pupils) it appears that in his 
 time a similar practice was followed by one at least of 
 the physicians of Rome. 
 
 Languebam ; sed tu comitatus protinus ad me 
 
 Venisti centum^ Symmaclie^ discipulis. 
 Centum me tetigere manus, Aquilone gelatse, 
 
 Non habui febrem^ Symmache ; nunc habeo. 
 
 Lib. V. Ejyig. 9. 
 
 Some centuries after the introduction of the Chris-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 103 
 
 tian religion, the conjunction of hospitals for the re- 
 ception of the sick poor, with medical schools, is said 
 to have been effected in the schools of Alexandria in 
 Egypt, of Gandisapora in Persia, and of Edessa in 
 Mesopotamia ; and in the great seminary of learning 
 which flourished at Bagdad, attendance on hospitals is 
 said to have formed a constituent and important part 
 of the system of medical education. 
 
 In modern times, the practice of giving lectures on 
 the cases of patients admitted into public hospitals ap- 
 pears to have been begun in Italy, in the schools of 
 Padua and Pavia, about the middle of the sixteenth 
 centmy ; but it seems, after a time, to have been for- 
 bidden, and, consequently, suspended in that country. 
 Before the middle of the seventeenth century, however, 
 clinical lectures had been introduced into the medical 
 schools of Holland, by Stratten of Utrecht, and Otho 
 Heurnius of Leyden ; and in 1658 they were zealously 
 resumed in the latter of these schools by Sylvius de le 
 Boe, the successor of Heurnius in the chair of Practi- 
 cal Medicine *. It was in the same school that, at the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century, the method of 
 clinical instruction was so successfully pursued by the 
 illustrious Boerhaave, by whose pupils, Drs Rutherford 
 and De Haen, it was introduced into the medical 
 schools of Edinburgh and Vienna ; into the former, as 
 already mentioned, in 1748, and into the latter in 
 1754. For a considerable time after this, clinical 
 
 * Dr Beddoes* Letter to Sir Joseph Banks, 1808. Hildeii- 
 brand Annales Scholse Clinicse Medicee Ticinensis, t. i. p. 4-28« 
 Brera Prolegomeni Clinici, pp. 9. & 13.
 
 104 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 teaching seems to have been confined chiefly, if not en- 
 tirely, to these two schools. The labours of De Haen 
 were continued uninterruptedly for a period of more 
 than twenty years in Vienna, and the exertions of Dr 
 CuUen dming eighteen years of the same period in 
 Edinburgh, assisted by those of his colleagues Drs 
 Whytt, Gregory, and Home, contributed powerfidly 
 to excite a general interest in clinical instruction, and 
 rendered the benefits of this mode of teaching medicine 
 so apparent, as to lead gradually to its introduction 
 into other medical schools in various parts of Europe. 
 Indeed, after the advantages of this practice have been 
 so fully demonstrated in all the situations in which it 
 has been followed, it seems remarkable that the regu- 
 lar delivery of clinical lectures on physic and surgery 
 should not everywhere be regarded as a fundamental 
 and necessary part of the medical constitution of all 
 hospitals for the reception of sick and diseased poor, 
 that are erected and maintained at the public expense. 
 That the primaiy object of such institutions is the re- 
 lief and cure of the patients admitted into them is un- 
 questionable ; but it seems to be still very imperfectly 
 understood how great the advantages are that would 
 residt to all classes of the community were the oppor- 
 tunities of professional improvement, which attendance 
 upon hospitals is calculated to afford, extended to as 
 great a number of those engaged in the study and 
 practice of physic and surgery as may be consistent 
 with the main objects of such establishments, where it 
 is intended by the public that the poor shall receive 
 every advantage which money can procure for the rich, 
 from the attentions, skill and humanity of able phy-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 105 
 
 sicians and surgeons. While clinical lectures are in 
 an eminent degree useful to practitioners and to stu- 
 dents, it is not less certain that they must indirectly 
 benefit the patients who are the subjects of them ; for 
 if there be any thing which can induce the rash prac- 
 titioner to pause, the inconsiderate to reflect, or the 
 ill-informed to seek for instruction, it is the necessity 
 of explaining the grounds of his practice, and his opi- 
 nions of disease, to an audience composed of well-edu- 
 cated medical students. 
 
 The residts of De Haen's observations and expe- 
 rience in the clinical school of Yienna were published 
 by him from time to time in his " Ratio JNIedendi," 
 a work consisting of sixteen small volumes, — which 
 may be said to constitute an era in the history of prac- 
 tical medicine, not only on account of the accurate de- 
 scriptions and cases of diseases, with the numerous 
 post-7norte7?i examinations which it contains, but also 
 on account of its being the first medical work in which 
 the results of the observations made, and the expe- 
 rience obtained, in a great clinical school, have been 
 communicated to the public. It is not easy from these 
 volumes to ascertain upon what particular plan De 
 Haen conducted his clinical lectures. That he was at 
 great pains, however, to instruct his pupils in what he 
 regarded as the Hippocratic method of observing and 
 of treating diseases, is obvious from every page of his 
 writings ; but if his daily instructions were at all simi- 
 lar to his writings, they certainly can by no means be 
 regarded as having been adapted to those who were 
 just entering upon the study of clinical medicine. No- 
 thing, indeed, can be conceived less elementary in
 
 106 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 their conception, arrangement, and execution, than the 
 clinical reports of De Haen. These reports consist, in 
 the greater part, of the histories of rare and curious 
 cases, many of them more of a surgical than of a medi- 
 cal character, and of learned dissertations, historical, 
 critical, and controversial, altogether foreign to, and in- 
 consistent with, the proper business of a course of clini- 
 cal instruction. Indefatigable industry, much learning, 
 accuracy of observation, and fidelity of statement, are 
 qualities every where evident in the Ratio 3Iedendi of 
 De Haen ; but there is a want of method, connection, 
 ^nd alliance, in his observations, which, however valu- 
 able they may be in themselves, renders them so many 
 detached and isolated facts, — the discordia semina re- 
 rum. His dissertations, however, on critical days, on 
 the temperatiue of the human body, and on the buffy 
 coat of the blood, on the different kinds of fever, acute 
 and malignant, on death from drowning and hanging, 
 as well as his historical and detailed account of parti- 
 cular diseases, such as dropsy, colica pictonum, epilepsy, 
 tetanus, scurvy, and plague, must be regarded as valu- 
 able contributions to medical science. Of his patholo- 
 gical observations, those are the most numerous and 
 important which relate to pleurisy, to dropsy, to rup- 
 ture and iliac passion, to the diseases of the kidney and 
 urinary bladder, and to those of the heart and larger 
 bloodvessels, with the histories of a few cases of apo- 
 plexy. The accounts given of the diseases of the other 
 organs of the body are so few in number, as to occasion 
 sm*prise how De Haen's attention could have been con- 
 fined for so long a period to the pathological effects of 
 so limited a number of diseases. He has given, for
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 107 
 
 example, only one instance of the inspection of the 
 body after death from fever. 
 
 Besides giving clinical instruction in the hospital, 
 where he seems to have had it in his power to select 
 for the observation of his students whatever cases of 
 disease he chose for the subject of clinical remark, De 
 Haen was occupied as a Professor in the University in 
 teaching pathology and therapeutics. In this course, 
 he employed as his text-book the Institutions of Boer- 
 haave, which he followed very closely, though not ser- 
 vilely, in almost every point of doctrine, as may be 
 seen by comparing his posthumous lectures with the 
 last volume of Boerhaave's Preelection es Academicce, 
 as published by Haller. 
 
 Dr Cullen possessed in a remarkable degree the qua- 
 lifications necessary for a clinical teacher. To a mi- 
 nute and extensive knowledge of all the auxiliary 
 branches of medicine, and to the great experience which 
 he had acquired by private practice, he added a pecu- 
 liar talent for the observation and accurate description 
 of diseases, accompanied with a strong desire, and the 
 ready powder of communicating his knowledge in the 
 most interesting manner to his pupils. During the 
 whole of the eighteen years that he was occupied in 
 lecturing on clinical medicine in the Royal Infirmary, 
 he bestowed much time and most uncommon pains on 
 the proper performance of that duty. Of the notes 
 from which he spoke his clinical lectm-es, those of the 
 first five years and of the eighth year have by some 
 accident been lost ; but those of the other twelve years 
 have been preserved. In these notes, constant refer- 
 ence is made to the case-books and the daily reports of
 
 108 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 his patients, shewing how closely he followed, and what 
 use he made of these in his lectures. Besides having 
 the histories of the cases of his clinical patients care- 
 fully drawn out by his assistants, and giving himself 
 daily reports of their progress, and of the medicines 
 prescribed (all of which, conformably with the practice 
 of the hospital, were inserted into journals open for 
 the inspection of his students), it appears from his ma- 
 nuscript clinical lectures that he was accustomed to 
 write down, previously to lecturing, full notes of all 
 those particulars respecting each individual case, the 
 symptoms of the disease, its diagnosis, prognosis, and 
 probable causes, and the effects produced vipon it by 
 the remedies employed, which appeared to him to re- 
 quire or deserve attention ; together with an account 
 of the morbid appearances observed after death in those 
 cases which had a fatal termination ; in short, to take 
 notice of every circumstance which could tend in any 
 way to awaken the observation, and to extend the 
 practical knowledge of his students. Even his mis- 
 takes and errors in practice, as well as his skill and 
 success, Dr Cullen never failed to render available to 
 these pm'poses. Of his candour in this respect, the 
 following passage, taken from a clinical lecture de- 
 livered on the 21st April 1772, may serve as an ex- 
 ample : " It is not improperly said that the earth 
 hides the faults of the physician. If every patient 
 that dies were opened, as ours has been, it would but 
 too often discover the frivolity of. our conjectures and 
 practice. In these lectures, however, I hazard my cre- 
 dit for your instruction, my first views — my conjec- 
 tures — my projects — my trials — in short, my thoughts
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 109 
 
 — which I may correct, and if necessary change ; and 
 whenever you yourselves shall be above mistakes, or can 
 find any body else who is, I shall allow you to rate 
 me as a very inferior person. In the mean time, I 
 think I am no more liable to mistakes than my neigh- 
 boiurs, and therefore I shall go on in telling you of 
 them, when they occur. AVith regard to the present 
 case, I might go back to consider the symptoms, and 
 from them endeavour to account for my own ignorance ; 
 but I choose rather to acknowledge my mistakes, and 
 to consider the case on the footing which we have now 
 learned from dissection." 
 
 Besides possessing high qualifications as a clinical 
 lecturer, Dr Cullen had the strongest motives to em- 
 ploy all the powers of his mind in this new field of 
 professional exertion. His lectiu-es on clinical medi- 
 cine afforded the most favourable opportunity that 
 could be desired of exhibiting publicly in Edinburgh 
 his talents as a teacher of medicine, of evincing his 
 skill and experience as a practical physician, and of es- 
 tablishing by those means a claim to the chair of the 
 practice of physic, when it shoidd become vacant by 
 the resignation or demise of his colleague Dr Ruther- 
 ford. 
 
 Endowed with these qualifications, and animated 
 by these motives, Dr Cullen speedily obtained great 
 reputation as a teacher of clinical medicine, acquired 
 the esteem and admiration of his students, and gained 
 by his attention and kind manners the universal con- 
 fidence of his patients. His lectures were distin- 
 guished by that simplicity, ingenuity, and compre- 
 hensiveness of view, which marked at all times the
 
 110 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 pliilosoj)liical turn of his mind ; and, as I have been 
 informed by several eminent medical men who had an 
 opportunity of attending them, and more particidarly 
 by one who acted as his clinical clerk in 1765 ^, were 
 delivered with that clearness and copiousness of illustra- 
 tion with wiiich in his lectures he ever instructed and 
 delighted his auditors. It is to be regretted that the 
 benefits of Dr Cullen's clinical experience were for 
 many years in a great measure confined to his own stu- 
 dents ; and that, from his other engagements and pur- 
 suits, he was prevented from giving the results of this 
 experience in a more direct manner than that in which 
 w^e now possess it in his works on Nosology, Materia 
 INIedica, and the Practice of Physic. Had these results 
 been presented to the public in the form of clinical re- 
 ports, like those of his contemporary De Haen, it is im- 
 possible that the erroneous assertion so often ignorantly 
 repeated of Dr Cullen's being merely a speculative teach- 
 er of practical medicine, could ever for a moment have 
 been entertained by the foreign medical public. No 
 teacher of practical medicine, as I shall have frequent 
 occasion to shew in the course of this narrative, was ever 
 at more pains than Dr Cullen to distinguish between 
 well ascertained matters of fact and the assumptions 
 and conclusions of hypothetical reasoning. In leading 
 his students to reflect and to reason, it was his constant 
 endeavour to teach them to observe the course of Na- 
 ture in diseases, to discriminate between their uniform 
 and essential symptoms and their merely accidental 
 combinations, and to ascertain, as far as is possible by 
 
 * The late Dr John Fleming, lung a member of the Medical 
 Board of Calcutta. 
 
 2
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 11 1 
 
 observation and analytical reasoning, the respective in- 
 fluence of the remedies employed by art, and of the 
 operations of nature in the cure of diseases. " There 
 is nothing," he observes in one of his clinical lectures, 
 " I desire so much as that every disease we treat here 
 should be a matter of experience to you ; so you must 
 not be surprised that I use only one remedy when I 
 might employ two or three ; for, in using a multiplicity 
 of remedies, when a cure does succeed it is not easy to 
 perceive which is most effectual ; but I wish that you 
 may always have some opportunity of judging with 
 regard to their proper effects." In another lectm'e he 
 remarks : " Every wise physician is a dogmatist, but a 
 dogmatical physician is one of the most absurd animals 
 that lives. We say he is a dogmatist in physic who 
 employs his reason, and, from some acquaintance with 
 the nature of the human body, thinks he can throw some 
 light upon diseases, and ascertain the proper methods of 
 cure ; and I have known none who were not dogmatists 
 except those who seemed to be incapable of reasoning, 
 or who were too lazy for it. On the other hand, I 
 call him a dogmatical physician who is very ready to 
 assume opinions, to be prejudiced in favour of them, 
 and to retain and assert very tenaciously, and with too 
 much confidence, the opinions or prejudices which he 
 has already taken up in common life, or in the study 
 of the sciences. Now, I profess to be a dogmatist, but 
 I should be sorry if any person thought me dogmati- 
 cal ; for there are but few theoretical opinions which I 
 have received or offered to communicate, with regard 
 to diseases, concerning which 1 am not ready to doubt, 
 and to admit grounds for doubting, as soon as they are
 
 112 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 offered to me. I know that there are no universal 
 rules in the practice of physic, but there are general 
 rules, which all admit of, with more or fewer excep- 
 tions, in theory and practice." To ascertain these ge- 
 neral rules was the constant aim of Dr CuUen, in all 
 his observations, speculations, and re?/:jnings, — the 
 great end which he proposed to himself in all his la- 
 bours. Indeed, though professing to follow dogma- 
 tism, he was, in every thing which related to the prac- 
 tice of physic, a strict empiric. " The foundation of 
 this," he every where asserts, " is fact and experi- 
 ment." " Dogmatism and empiricism in medicine are 
 equally founded on experience." " All our knowledge 
 of nature, indeed, consists in experience." 
 
 In the selection of cases for the observation of his 
 students, he was at great pains to make choice of dis- 
 eases which are of daily occurrence, and an accurate 
 and scientific knowledge of the treatment of which is 
 of fundamental importance to the student of medicine. 
 The different forms of febrile, inflammatory, and erup- 
 tive diseases, as they occur in the progress of the sea- 
 sons, and their resemblances and differences, as they 
 present themselves in different individuals, were with 
 him favourite subjects of observation and remark ; and, 
 in the consideration of these, as well as of the more 
 frequent forms of chronic diseases, such as nervous dis- 
 orders, consumption, and dropsy, he made a constant 
 reference to the clinical labours of De Haen, and to 
 the writings of the best practical authors of his own 
 and of former times. Every disease, however slight, 
 seems to have been made by him the subject of ob- 
 servation ; and the marking of its symptoms as they
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 11^ 
 
 appeared in concourse and succession — of its chief dia- 
 gnostic characters — of its accidental combinations — of 
 its spontaneous changes — and of those effected by the 
 remedies employed — were constantly pointed out as 
 objects to be particularly attended to by his students. 
 Any discussions relative to the causes by which the 
 disease was produced, or to those states of the func- 
 tions or structure of the body upon which its principal 
 ]3henomena were supposed to depend, — which Dr Cul- 
 len regarded as the proximate causes of diseases, — 
 w^ere either intermixed as incidental remarks, or made 
 the subject of a separate discussion, and even occasion- 
 ally of a distinct lecture. 
 
 In adhering to the greatest simplicity in the use and 
 prescription of medicines in the treatment of his clini- 
 cal patients, and in employing only those which he 
 deemed to be necessary and efficacious, Dr CuUen was 
 at all times disposed to avail himself of the opportuni- 
 ties which a clinical institution affords of trying and 
 of verifying the medicinal powers of any new remedy 
 recommended by practitioners of credit and experience. 
 There can be little doubt that it is to trials made by 
 him in the clinical wards of the Royal Infirmary that 
 we owe, in a considerable degree, the introduction into 
 general practice in this country of various powerful ar- 
 ticles of the materia medica which are now in daily 
 use, such as Cream of Tartar, Hyosciamus, Cicuta, 
 James's Powder, or the Pulvis Antimonialis, and Tar- 
 tar Emetic, the last of which he was accustomed to 
 employ in all febrile affections accompanied with in- 
 flammatory action, in doses of several grains, given in 
 the course of a few hours, either subsequently to blood- 
 VOL. I. H
 
 11 4 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 letting, or, in other instances, as a substitute for that 
 remedy. In a chnical lecture delivered 5th April 1768, 
 Dr Cullen mentioned the effects which seemed to have 
 been produced by this remedy in several cases of inter- 
 mittent fever, in which he had administered it as a 
 substitute for the Peruvian bark. The cases of inter- 
 mittents, which he seems to have considered as most 
 advantageously treated by emetic tartar, were those in 
 which the intermission was so slight as to give much the 
 appearance of a remittent, or even of a continued fever, 
 and those in which there existed some local inflamma- 
 tory affection. In the same lecture he gives an account 
 of some cases of continued fever, in which he had em- 
 ployed the emetic tartar, with a view^ to diminish in- 
 flammatory action, and as a substitute for bloodletting. 
 The doses in which he employed this remedy, in these 
 instances, seem to have varied from a quarter to half a 
 grain, and to have been frequently repeated. In another 
 clinical lecture, delivered 8th January 1773, he re- 
 marks : " Most of our patients are affected by vomit- 
 ing or purging by a grain of emetic tartar or less. In 
 this case, three grains given in the course of the day 
 had no sensible effect. This might be owing to the 
 peculiar constitution of the patient ; but it often arises 
 from an insensibility produced by the disease. Where 
 we depend upon this remedy, the dose must be in- 
 creased, but with caution, as it will purge though it 
 may not nauseate or vomit." 
 
 Another great purpose of clinical instruction, which 
 Dr Cullen held constantly in view, was the inspection 
 of the bodies of those who died while under his treat- 
 ment. In a clinical lecture which he delivered 20th
 
 LIFE OF DE CULLED. 115 
 
 Decembsr 1768, in speaking of the difficulty of ar- 
 riving at any general theory of epilepsy, and obs3rviiig 
 that an attempt toAvarcls establishing a proximate cause, 
 so far as we can be guided by dissection, is always the 
 first step in framing such a theory, Dr Cullen took an 
 opportunity of earnestly recommending industry in 
 opening morbid bodies, — a study, he remarks, but little 
 attended to ; — and of pointing out the best guides 
 which students at that time possessed for prosecuting 
 this branch of medical science. 
 
 " This study ,^' he remarks, " lies particularly in three 
 books — Bonetus, Morgagni, and Lieutaud. 
 
 " The first is a great and useful compilation, but with 
 many faults. Much of it is before the age of good anatomy, 
 inaccurate and superficial. Even of that age, some things 
 are omitted. The histories are inaccurately abridged ; posi- 
 tive errors are committed; many cases are repeated; and, 
 upon the whole, no pains are taken to guide the student. 
 
 " At length IMorgagni's work has appeared. It renders 
 Bonetus"* work more useful, by correcting his errors, point- 
 ing out his inaccuracies, and marking his repetitions ; but 
 especially by supplying his omissions and defects by so many 
 new cases from his own observation, and from that of 
 Valsalva and other authors. To all this matter of fact he 
 has added much reflection, offered ingenious speculations 
 and valuable conjectures. This book, however, I do not 
 find read, though I have often regretted that it was not 
 published in my younger days. I can see some reasons 
 why it is not perused, and can tell how it ought to be. 
 Whoever reads Morgagni's work in the order in which 
 it lies, immediately meets with many disjointed particulars 
 that no memory is equal to. Nobody can read it in that 
 manner but one who has already formed to himself some 
 
 h2
 
 116 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 system to which he can apply the particulars : but few of 
 you are in this condition, and you can only read and consult 
 it occasionally as you proceed in the system ; and you may 
 proceed much faster if you will attempt a system out of this 
 very work. For this purpose there is the assistance of the 
 indea^ morhorum and the index visorum ; but they are both 
 of too general titles : the supplying this should be the bu- 
 siness of the student. Under each title of disease^ every 
 reference should be marked by the morbid state that Avas 
 found : and, under each title of the visa^ the reference should 
 mark the disease or symptoms connected with it : and all this 
 should be united by some systematic views ; that is, the dis- 
 ease should bring together the same morbid states, et e con- 
 trario. 
 
 " Lieutaud has been sensible of the propriety of tliis, and 
 has given his work on this very plan, and has very properly 
 extended it beyond Morgagni. He has united Bonetus^ 
 Morgagni, and all the other dissections he could acquire ; so 
 that this, for the present, is an instar omn'mm. But it dis- 
 appoints our expectations in many respects. The first part 
 is by Lieutaud himself; he has abridged the cases and dis- 
 sections very much, and in many cases ^vith little judgment ; 
 so that it can serve but as an index, and even not as this, as 
 he has not referred to the work, or part of the work, from 
 which he has taken his facts, an omission which, with re- 
 gard to large works, is intolerable. The second part is by 
 a young physician^ is more abridged, and not more judicious 
 or accurate."" 
 
 In commencing annually his clinical lectures, till 
 a sufficient number of patients should be collected, 
 Dr Cullen was accustomed to give one or more ge- 
 neral lectures explanatory of the nature and object of 
 clinical instruction, and of the manner in which he in- 
 tended to conduct his lectm'es. Sometimes in place
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 117 
 
 of these, he gave one or more general lectures upon 
 some subject of pathology, nosology, or general thera- 
 peutics. During the first nine years in which he 
 lectured on clinical medicine, and while he remained 
 Professor of Chemistry, he deemed it proper to give 
 occasionally throughout the com'se general remarks or 
 discussions arising out of the consideration of the cases 
 under treatment, and which were rendered necessary by 
 the pecidiar views of the animal economy, that he him- 
 self had adopted. But after he became Professor of the 
 Theory of Medicine, on the death of Dr Whytt, he 
 seems to have in a great measure abandoned giving 
 general discussions of any kind in the course of his 
 clinical lectures, and to have confined himself strictly 
 to the consideration of the different circumstances of 
 the cases actually under the observation of his pupils ; 
 presuming that they had been made acquainted with 
 the views which he took of the animal economy, and 
 in particular of the functions of the nervous system, 
 in the states both of health and disease, and of the ac- 
 tion of remedies, by their attendance upon his Lectures 
 on the Institutions of Medicine. 
 
 The novelty of many of the views which Dr Cullen 
 took of the animal economy, when he first began to de- 
 liver clinical lectures, particularly those respecting the 
 influence of the nervous system in the production and 
 modification of diseases, while it attracted the attention 
 of his auditors, and heightened the interest which they 
 took in his lectures, seems to have had the effect of 
 exciting in some, whom education and habit had ren- 
 dered partial to the more established doctrines of the 
 mechanical and humoral pathologies, that keen opposi-
 
 118 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 tion which the dread of innovation, and the fear of 
 being excelled in professional reputation, are so apt to 
 occasion in weak minds. Dr Cullen gives himself an 
 account of this opposition in the following passage, 
 taken from a IMS. lecture, introductory to his course on 
 the practice of physic, delivered in the session 1783-4. 
 
 " When I studied physic in this University, about forty- 
 eight years ago, I learned the system cf Boerhaave ; and, 
 except it may be the names of some ancient writers, of Sy- 
 denham, and a few other practical authors, I heard of no 
 other names or writers on physic ; and I was taught to think 
 the system of Boerhaave to be very perfect, complete, and 
 sufficient. But when I retired from the University, being- 
 very much addicted to study, I soon met with other books 
 that engaged my attention, particularly with Baglivi's Spe- 
 cimen De Fibra Motrice et Morhosa, and at length with the 
 works of Hoffman. Both of these opened my views with re- 
 spect to the animal economy, and made me perceive some- 
 thing wanting and to be added to the system of Boerhaave. 
 I prosecuted the inquiry ; and, according to the opportuni- 
 ties I had in practice and reading, I cultivated the new ideas 
 I had got, and formed to myself a system in many respects 
 different from that of my masters. About twenty years after 
 I had left this University, I was again called to it to take a 
 Professor's Chair, when I still found the system of Boerhaave 
 prevailing as much as ever^ and even without any notice 
 taken of what Boerhaave himself, and his commentator Van 
 Swieten, had in the mean time added to his system. Soon 
 after I came here, I was engaged to give clinical, that is 
 practical, lectures ; and in these I ventured to give my own 
 opinion of the nature and cure of diseases, different in several 
 respects from that of the Boerhaavians. This soon produced 
 an outcry against me. In a public college, as I happened 
 to be a Professor of Chemistry, I was called a Paracelsus, a
 
 LIIE OF DR CULLEN. 119 
 
 Van Helmont, a whimsical innovator ; and great pains were 
 taken in private to disparage myself and my doctrines. This 
 w^ent so far, that my friend and patron, the late George 
 Drummond, whose venerable bust you see in the hall of the 
 Infirmary, came to me, requesting seriously that I would 
 avoid differing from Dr Boerhaave, as he found my conduct 
 in that respect was likely to hurt myself and the University 
 also. I promised to be cautious ; and upon every occasion 
 I spoke very respectfully of Dr Boerhaave. I have continued 
 always to hold the same language as I expressed in my last 
 lecture; and I shall still do it most sincerely, as I truly 
 esteem Dr Boerhaave as a philosopher, a physician, and the 
 author of a system more perfect than any thing that had gone 
 before, and as perfect as the state of science in his time would 
 permit of. But with all this, I became more and more con- 
 firmed in my own ideas ; and especially from hence, that I 
 found my pupils adopted them very readily. I was, how- 
 ever, no violent reformer; and, by degrees only, I ventured 
 to point out the imperfections, and even the errors, of Dr 
 Boerhaave's system ; and I have now done the same in the 
 preface which I have given to the new edition of the First 
 Line?;^ 
 
 That the prejudices excited against Dr Ciilleii, in 
 consequence of his relinquishing the doctrines of Boer- 
 haave, and adopting those of Hoffmann, as the basis 
 of a system of medicine which he endeavoured to frame 
 for himself, and the inclination manifested during his 
 lifetime to represent him as a merely speculative teacher 
 of practical medicine, should have been adopted by his 
 professional rivals, or by those unacquainted with that 
 constant reference to observation, and to the results of 
 experience, which he observed in all his inquiries and 
 reasonings, will not surprise any one conversant with
 
 120 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 medical history; but that these prejudices should have 
 been imbibed, retained, and propagated, long after his 
 death, by no less distinguished a medical philosopher 
 than M. Pin el, who was himself so well acquainted 
 with Dr Cullen's writings, must be matter of equal 
 surprise and regret.* 
 
 There can be no doubt that the reputation which 
 Dr Cidlen acquired by his clinical lectures, and the 
 opposition which he encountered, contributed each of 
 them to bring him rapidly into the notice of the pub- 
 lic, and to procm'e for him that high estimation, both 
 as a teacher and practitioner, which had been antici- 
 pated by his friends. " Nor," as is remarked by Dr 
 James Anderson, who, both as a pupil and friend, had 
 
 * " Un des professeurs de medecine pratique les plus celehres 
 de I'ecole d'Edimbourg, le Docteur Cullen, etoit trop partisan des 
 theories subtiles sur Torganisme animal et sur le developpement 
 des causes prochaines des maladies^ pour s'astreindre a suivre dans 
 ses le9ons publiques une methode severe, et ne prendre d'autre 
 base que I'histoire fidele des maladies particulieres observees el 
 decrites avec soin dans les infirmeries depuis leur invasion jusqua 
 la terminaison entiere. Une grande habilete dans Tart insidieux 
 de lier les faits a des hypotheses ingenieuseS;, et de donner ainsi a 
 ces dernieres toutes les apparences de la verite, une certaine gra- 
 vite imposante, et Tidee specieuse de fonder une nouvelle doctrine 
 sur les debris de celle de Boerhaave, lui firent preferer une autre 
 methode plus rapprochee de Tenseignement dogmatique ; il ne se 
 propose que de former un corps regulier de doctrine medicale ele- 
 mentaire, sans cesse perfectionnee dans ses cours publics, et dont 
 toutes les parties bien coordonnees et liees entre elles par certaines 
 dispositions generales, pussent lui acquerir une sorte de stabilite a 
 I'abri de toutes les vicissitudes : ce qui semblait lui garantir dans 
 un age avance une reputation eminente." — Diction, des Sciences 
 Medicoles, Article Cliniqub.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 12!l 
 
 enjoyed much of his intercourse, " could it well be 
 otherwise : Dr Cullen's professional knowledge was al- 
 ways great, and his manner of lecturing singularly 
 clear and intelligible, lively, and entertaining ; and to 
 his patients, his conduct in general, as a physician, was 
 so pleasing, his address so affable and engaging, and 
 his manner so open, so kind, and so little regulated by 
 pecuniary considerations, that it was impossible for 
 those who had occasion to call for his medical assist- 
 ance, ever to be satisfied on any future occasion without 
 it. He became the friend and companion of every 
 family he visited *." 
 
 Many expressions of congratulation on his success at 
 Edinburgh are contained in the letters of Dr Cullen's 
 correspondents. In August 1757, Dr Hunter writes 
 to him ; — " I give you joy of your success at Edin- 
 burgh. Every body that I see flatters and pleases me 
 on that subject." And in a letter, dated January 
 1758, he says, '' It makes me very happy to hear of 
 you. Go on and prosper. Get the world of your side, 
 as I find you do, and your rivals will humble themselves 
 and confess your merit. I am glad you are at Edin- 
 burgh, because there is more intercoiuse with this 
 place. I do assure you I have never found any thing 
 in business so pleasing to me as to hear my patients 
 telling me, with approbation, what Dr Cullen had 
 done for them, and to hear my pupils speaking with 
 the reverence and esteem of Dr Cullen that is so na- 
 tural to young minds." Another letter from Dr Hun- 
 ter, dated September 1759, contains similar expressions 
 
 * The Bee, or Literary Intelligencer, vol. i. p. 9.
 
 122 
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 of congratulation. ** You and I have long got over 
 ceremony with each other. We write short letters, 
 thank God ! I say so only thinking of my own. I 
 hate writing a long letter to any body, just as much as 
 I love reading a long one when it is from you, I hear 
 of you often ; from ]Mr Town sh end and Lady Dalkeith 
 last. He talks extravagantly, you know, upon all sub- 
 jects ; his theme now^ is Scotland. I dare say you 
 Scotchmen must have flattered him abominably. I 
 hear with immense pleasure that you carry every thing 
 before you. When do you come to London as your 
 last stage ? If these were the days of Augustus, you 
 w^ould leave your bones in Rome. I wish extremely 
 to spend the last years of life near you." 
 
 Dr CuUen's high reputation as a teacher in the Uni- 
 versity of Edinburgh was not confined to his clinical 
 lectures. The extensive and philosophical views which 
 he opened to his students in the science of chemistry, 
 strongly excited their attention, and procured for him 
 the attachment and esteem of several who afterwards 
 became distinguished, not only in medicine, but in 
 other departments of science and literature. One of 
 those who, by his assiduity in study, early attracted 
 the particular regard of Dr Cullen, was Dr George 
 Fordyce, afterwards so well known as a teacher and 
 practitioner of medicine in London, where he gave 
 lectm-es successively on chemistry, on agriculture, and 
 on the theory and practice of physic ; thus appearing 
 to emulate his preceptor in the variety of subjects 
 which he taught, as well as in the originality and in- 
 dependence of his manner of treating them. The fol- 
 lowing letters, written about a year after Dr Fordyce
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 123 
 
 had left Edinbiu'gh to prosecute his medical studies in 
 liOiulon, afford an example of the lively interest which 
 Dr Cullen took in the progress of the studies of his 
 pupils, as well as of the habits of famihar intimacy in 
 which he was accustomed to indulge them. 
 
 " Dear Sir, London-, Septv. i\st 1759. 
 
 " I feel myself much to blame in not having wrote you 
 long before this time, only that I waited to send the enclosed 
 paper. I have been intending it every post these six months, 
 as I expected to have finished it then, but various interrup- 
 tions, and a number of experiments that occurred, in order 
 to satisfy myself thoroughly that the theory I had laid down 
 was true in practice, have prevented me till now. It is, you 
 see, an attempt to shew in what cases double elective attrac- 
 tions take place ; likewise to show what combinations will 
 take place when three or more compounds are mixed. I 
 propose to give it in to the Royal Society, but would not 
 take any measures for that end till« I first consulted you. 
 I should be much obliged to you if you would be so good 
 as read it over, and let me know what you think of it ; and 
 it would be doing me a great favour if you could do it in 
 two or three posts, as I believe I shall set out for Holland in 
 about a fortnight or little more. You may keep the copy if 
 you choose, as I have another here which I can give Dr 
 Pringle, who will be so good as communicate it to the Royal 
 Society, if you approve of it ; if not, I can let it lie by me, 
 as nobody has yet seen it but my Uncle and Dr Balfour 
 Russel. I proposed at the same time to have given in a 
 Table of Elective Attractions, but as I heard you had pub- 
 lished one, I have given over making experiments till I see 
 it. The experiments upon that subject are extremely nice, 
 difficult, and fallacious. The principal experiments I have 
 made are upon the nitrous acid, and are as follows : Fixed 
 Alkalies, Absorbent Earths — I am not sure if earth of alum
 
 124 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 should or should not be accounted amongst them ; zinc, tin, 
 lead, iron, bismuth, copper, quicksilver, silver : I have left 
 out the volatile alkali, as I have not yet determined its place. 
 I have done nothing else in chemistry since I left Edin- 
 burgh, except some trifles for other people, such as enamel- 
 ing some stones for the Duke of Argyll, and giving direc- 
 tions for some furnaces. I should not even have meddled 
 so far, contrary to your advice, but that something of that 
 kind would please my Uncles, and furnish me with a pre- 
 tence for being a candidate for the Royal Society, of which 
 they wish I should be a member. 
 
 " In the winter I attended both Dr Hunter^s courses, 
 and I dissected three bodies ; so that I believe, except you 
 advise me otherwise, I have done with anatomy. After his 
 course was over, I went out to Chelsea, and have attended 
 the gardens there during the summer, which, with a little 
 physiology, has been my principal employment this summer . 
 and this puts me in mind of the death of Sir Charles Lin- 
 naeus, of which, however, I am not quite certain ; but Mr 
 Millar heard it from a gentleman to whom the Swedish am- 
 bassador had told it. I have got about a thousand speci- 
 mens of species of plants, which, I flatter myself, are amongst 
 the best preserved of any, as I got a lady to take the trouble 
 of pasting them on the paper, and drying them, who I think 
 has done them very neatly. If I can prevail upon my Un- 
 cles, my last journey shall be to Edinburgh, where I could 
 wish to spend a summer with you ; in that case, I shall be 
 able to shew you both them and what I may be able to pick 
 up abroad. I do not at present know what I shall do with 
 myself after this winter ; I should be much obliged to you 
 if you would advise me. I cannot well go to Germany for 
 armies ; and if it is true that Linnaeus is dead, it is not worth 
 while to go to Sweden, 
 
 " I have taken a good deal of pains to see collections of 
 fossils, most of which here are of petrifactions ; and this,
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 125 
 
 assure you, is the worst place in the world to buy them, as 
 there are so many people of fortune deal in them and shells. 
 I have seen a bit of copper-ore sell for two guineas, and a 
 bit of common lead-ore for half a guinea. In short, people 
 do not mind what they give for any thing they have a mind 
 to. 
 
 " I have got a specimen of earth of alum, which was dug 
 
 pure out of the ground, half of which I shall send you if I 
 have an opportunity before I go ; if not, I shall leave it with 
 Dr Russell. I have likewise got a specimen of pure nitre, 
 with the fixed vegetable alkali, from an efflorescence from a 
 wall. I have not above two drachms left after making ex- 
 periments with it, but hope to get some more. If I can 
 make Edinburgh my last stage, I shall bring every thing 
 with me, and you shall be extremely welcome to what you 
 please. 
 
 " I hope to have several commissions from you for Hol- 
 land, &c. It will give me the greatest pleasure to execute 
 them, as I shall never be able to repay the obligations I am 
 under to you. I ought to ask your pardon for troubling 
 you with so long a letter ; and more, for encroaching upon 
 your time with the paper. I beg my compliments to Mrs 
 CuUen and all the family ; I hope they are all well. I am 
 much obliged to Mr Robert for taking care of my Diploma, 
 which I have received of Dr B. Russell. I am, Dear Sir, 
 your much obliged humble servant, 
 
 " G. FORDYCE.^'^ 
 
 To this letter of Dr Fordyce, Dr CuUen had begun 
 a reply in which he appears to have been interrupted, 
 but which he resumed as soon as his avocations per- 
 mitted him. 
 
 " Dear Fordyce, 
 '' Your letter last night was very welcome. I suspected 
 that your laziness had banished you from me for ever. I
 
 126 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 won't tell you with what regret I felt that ; but the sight of 
 your hand was extremely agreeable. I have been often 
 vexed that I had not wrote to you ; and that I might not be 
 vexed in the same manner again, I have now sat down to 
 answer you in course, though it may be less to the purpose 
 than if I had taken a fortnight to consider of it. As I sus- 
 pect your Essay to have been your chief purpose in writing 
 now, I shall make it the chief purpose of my answer," &c. 
 
 " Dear Fordyce, Edinb. Oct. 4. 1759. 
 
 " The death of my patient has set me at liberty, and I 
 have again sat down to consider your piece. After studying 
 it with all the attention possible, I must tell you that it is 
 very difficult to be understood. Perhaps that is my fault, 
 but I think not entirely ; for even those parts that I do un- 
 derstand are by no means expressed with the perspicuity 
 they are capable of ; and I have consulted one or two of the 
 best judges here, and they also complain extremely of your 
 obscurity. I once intended to have been particular in my 
 criticisms, but I now find that this would take more time 
 than either you or I can spare at present. I must therefore 
 be contented to give you my opinion in a general way. 
 
 " Now for your letter as it lies in order. I doubt very 
 much of the propriety of giving your Essay to the Royal 
 Society ; but though you do not, it should not lie by you. 
 Shew it to some persons of patience, judgment, and candour. 
 Every body needs the corrections of his friends, and every 
 body should consult them before he appears in public, I 
 think it would have been very proper for you to have given 
 in something to the Society. It would have been of use 
 both abroad and at home ; and if I was with you, I am sure 
 I could render your Elective Attractions fit for them. My 
 having published a Table should be no hinderance ; for, in 
 the first place, I have not really published. Instead of let-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 127 
 
 ting my pupils transcribe from my board, I have printed 
 what I used to put upon it, but I by no means intended it 
 for the pubHc. There are many things doubtful in it ; there 
 are some things absolutely improper ; but such as they are, 
 both were necessary as a text to me. Certainly Fourie (Dr 
 Balfour Russell) had a copy of it ; but as it seems he has not, 
 I send it you enclosed. I shall expect your corrections. 
 
 " Unless your designs are very much towards Surgery, 
 I think you have done enough in Anatomy. Your study 
 of Botany may be continued, because it may be of use after- 
 wards as a profession ; but you must not bestow too much 
 time on it, lest it interfere with your Chemistry and Physic^ 
 which must be your dependence ; and I believe it is a surer 
 scheme to take one thing than to grasp at more. I have so 
 much aversion to believe the death of Linnaeus, that I will 
 doubt of it till you can be more positive. I shall be glad 
 to see your specimens, and more so to see yourself, when 
 you have been an exotic. What you are to do after this 
 winter it may be time enough to determine when this winter 
 is done. Perhaps a peace will lay open Germany, into 
 which you must plunge headlong. If there should be no 
 peace, though Linnaeus were gone, I still think Sweden of as 
 much use to a chemist and fcssilist as ever. The Museum 
 Tessineanum, &c. &c. still subsist ; and from the preface of 
 Wallerius, you will find there are persons in Sweden that 
 may be of more use to you than Linnaeus. You have been 
 well employed in seeing collections of fossils, and, besides pe- 
 trifactions, London certainly contains a great deal. I wish 
 you had given me some observations upon what you have 
 seen. You know I was intent on a method of fossils, and 
 thought it best to make a beginning, though very imperfect. 
 You have a copy, and I have long expected your correc- 
 tions. Are the talcs and gypsums different in their com- 
 position ? Are they to be distinguished otherwise than by 
 calcination, and how ? How are the crystalline bodies to
 
 128 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 be distinguished from one another ? Is there any difference 
 in the crystaUine bases ? Have you formed any system of 
 the ores ? Are there any other fundamental ores of silver be- 
 sides the vitrea and cornea ? Is tin as much native to its 
 crystals as lead is to the galena ? Has Fourie found any 
 fundamental ore of copper but the pyrites ? What is the 
 fundamentally native state of iron ? I expected answers to 
 these questions, and many others, both from you and Fourie 
 long ago ; but let me beg of both of you to write me, whe- 
 ther you have any thing to say or no. I shall always con- 
 sider the loss of your friendship as a much greater misfor- 
 tune than the want of your informations. Pray, could I 
 myself learn a great deal from the British Museum ? I 
 have a strong inclination to be in it. I shall be obliged to 
 you for your specimens of alum and nitre, or for any thing 
 of the same kind you can spare. I see that I cannot afford 
 to buy at London, but abroad perhaps I might ; and in 
 either place I would attempt nothing but what was neces- 
 sary to my system. Things pretty in their form, or even 
 merely rare and cvu^ious, I would absolutely reject. If I 
 can possibly command my time and attention, I will send 
 you a note of some things to be got, either in London or 
 Holland. 
 
 " Wherever you go, your business is to accumulate know- 
 ledge ; and let me advise you to study, too, how to commu- 
 nicate it to others. Study the German language, if you 
 please, for the first, and more assiduously the English, for 
 the other purpose. Study a more clear, full, and even dif- 
 fusive expression. For your own sake, you should force 
 yourself to write oftener to your friends ; and let me serious- 
 ly repeat my old advice of improving your writing. I thank 
 you for the pains you have taken in this respect in your 
 last letter ; and I am the more obliged, as I perceive it is 
 not yet quite easy to you. You will perceive marks of hur- 
 ry in this letter, and you wiU not be mistaken in your judg- 
 ment ; but I was determined to write ; and if you will give 
 
 4
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 1^9 
 
 me a little encouragement, you may always depend upon 
 such letters as I can afford you. Believe me, most affec- 
 tionately yours, 
 
 " William Cullen." 
 
 Dr Balfour Russell, who is alluded to in the prece- 
 ding letters, was a young man of very promising talents, 
 and the brother of Drs Patrick and Alexander Rus- 
 sell ; the former well known as the author of the most 
 complete treatise which has ever been published on the 
 Plague ; and the latter, as the author of the Natural 
 History of Aleppo, of Indian Serpents, &c. JDr Bal- 
 four Russell, after finishing his medical studies at Edin- 
 burgh and London, went out as a physician to Algiers, 
 where he died, after a short residence, in 1761. That 
 he was a pupil for whom Dr Cullen entertained a par- 
 ticular regard, is evident from the following letter, 
 written to him some time before his setting out for 
 Africa. 
 
 " Dear Fourie, Edinb. Octr. 4. 1759. 
 
 " I shall always be glad to have your letters, when they 
 inform me of your own success and happiness, though they 
 tell me of nothing else : your letter therefore was very agree- 
 able, and I hope you shall never want enough to say to me. 
 I should have answered you sooner, but must retort your 
 own excuse. I have always so much to do, that I am ready 
 to put off writing. However, I am determined for the fu- 
 ture to be pretty punctual with some people, and you shall 
 be of the number. I have this day finished a letter to For- 
 dyce that might, though I shall not insist upon it, excuse me 
 for two years to come. He has puzzled me these eight da3^s 
 with his compounded — I had almost said confounded — at- 
 tractions ; and you should have saved me, by tclHng him 
 VOL. I. I
 
 130 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 honestly how difficult his piece was. If you did not find it 
 so, I admire your quickness. I am sorry I have been 
 obliged to check him a little, for I expect much good of 
 him at last ; and T excuse your complacency in saying it 
 was all very clear, but you must shew him what I have said 
 to you. 
 
 " I find nothing in your letter that requires a particular 
 answer, except with regard to your studies in Africa. Of these 
 you should now be a better judge for yourself than I can be, 
 but I shall not for this season decline advising. I tliink you 
 should always be engaged in two kinds of studies ; one that 
 you should make a regular task of; and the other as a plea- 
 sure, when opportunity offers and inchnation prompts you. 
 The first kind should be for perfecting yourself in some sys- 
 tem. Few people but professors do so ; but every one that 
 would appear in the learned world ought to do it. The 
 system may be what you please ; but I would prefer the 
 Practice of Physic, as connected with your daily employ- 
 ment ; I do not mean Boerhaave's system, or Hoffrnann's 
 system, or any other, but a system which you are to make 
 for yourself out of all of them. You will not find it possi- 
 ble to separate practice from theory altogether ; and there- 
 fore, if you have a mind to begin with the theory, I have no 
 objection. I think a systematic study of the Pathology and 
 Methodus Medendi will be necessary previously to the prac- 
 tice, and you may always have in view a system of the whole 
 of Physic. Of this study, you should endeavour, as I have 
 said, to make a duty, and, as far as you conveniently can, 
 a regular task ; but, at the same time, for amusement, you 
 may pursue the natural history of the country, and the pro- 
 secution of some more particular inquiry, experimental or 
 literary, as conveniency, opportunity, or inclination, shall 
 lead you. 
 
 " I still insist upon some London intelHgence, — some ac- 
 count of the hospital practice, — some account of medicines
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 131 
 
 we do not deal in, — and some doses that we do not venture 
 on. Tell me any thing of the present state of physic and 
 quackery. What does your brother* think of James's 
 Powder ? After all I have heard or seen, I want the opinion 
 of a man of candour. Have you met with nothing in che- 
 mistry or mineralogy to tell me of ? I refer you to Fordyce's 
 letter for a specimen of questions that you should have an- 
 swered, or endeavoured to answer, before now. In the same 
 hands, you will find, too, an account of your laziness. You 
 may think that I make great demands ; but it is a secret 
 with some politicians, to demand a great deal, that they may 
 be certain of getting a little. I would fain play off Fordyce 
 and you against each other. Fordyce set out with as hand- 
 some a margin as you gave me, but he has very discreetly 
 filled it afterwards. I expect no margins from you here- 
 after, especially after so long a letter as this is. I mean to 
 show you that one may write a long letter to a friend with- 
 out saying any thing. I may perhaps show you that I can 
 send a letter to another quarter of the globe, with no more 
 in it than what I would say in yawning at my own fireside. 
 Tell your brothers I love them, because they are good bro- 
 thers, and wish J- knew them better. I hope I shall love 
 you always. Farewell, 
 
 " W. C." 
 
 " P. S. — I find nothing more to say at present. If you 
 had given me some account of your own deliberations and 
 doubts, I might have said more. Let me beg of you to 
 have no scruple with regard to what you should write. I 
 do not expect new discoveries in every line, and I would 
 rather bear with twenty old and common things, than miss 
 one new fact or observation. I am sure you have met with 
 many things in St U'homas's that I would be glad to have 
 
 * Dr Alexander Russell, Physician to St Thomas's Hospital. 
 
 I 2
 
 13^2 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 your remarks upon. I hope you do not suspect that I would 
 be either severe myself, or expose your remarks to others, if 
 I thought it could be to yom* prejudice. Pray mind this, 
 that I know nothing about Algiers or the rest of Barbarj 
 at all, and therefore take full scope in geographical, political, 
 religious, commercial, &c. &c. communications. Let me hear 
 from you before you go. I am," &c. 
 
 The readiness with which Dy Culleii entered into 
 all the circumstances of the situation and views of his 
 young friends, and the pains which he took to correct 
 even the minutest defects he had remarked in their 
 characters or manners, were discernible in all his inter- 
 course and correspondence with them. Besides the 
 examples already adduced of his habits and powers of 
 giving advice, I find another agreeable instance of these 
 in the following letter addressed to one of his sons, a 
 young lad then leaving home for the first time : — 
 
 " Dear Jamie, Edixburgh, llth November 1765. 
 
 " I am afraid you do not consider the anxiety we have 
 abovit you, or you would have contrived to give us a letter 
 from Glasgow ; but I hope you will mind better for the fu- 
 ture to take every opportunity of giving us accounts of you. 
 We received your letter to-day, and Mr Leitch and your 
 brother Patrick came home before dinner. Your letter is a 
 little concise, and I beg you will be always as full as you can, 
 for we wish to know every particular that happens to you. 
 Keep memorandums of what you may write ; so that, when 
 you sit down, your materials may be ready. It is common 
 in sea journals to set down occurrences, though not relating 
 to the reckoning. I wish you would mark as many as you 
 can, if not in your journal, at least in another book. One 
 cannot begin too early to make remarks on every thing. It 
 is a very improving exercise, and, througli life, attention
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 1S3 
 
 and observation are the foundation of success, and distinguish 
 the able and wise from the weak and foolish. 
 
 " I hope you have got every thing necessary, and a pro- 
 per chest to put them in. I beg you will study to keep it al- 
 ways in good order, and all your clothes in good condition ; 
 and particularly, I expect to observe that while you have 
 perused your books, you have also kept them clean. As I 
 hear that Mr Kippen is not well, if he is not able to go with 
 you, it will pretty certanily take you into the store at An- 
 tigua, which I shall think very lucky ; but I tremble for 
 your handwriting, and I beg of you, in the most earnest 
 manner, to take pains on that article. If you have any re- 
 gard to my satisfaction you will ; and, for your own sake, 
 consider that nothing so much gives the appearance of mean 
 and low bred as bad writing. Take every opportunity, 
 therefore, to practise with attention, and, if possible, never 
 without it. As you are not to go to Ireland, you may find 
 the two dissertations an agreeable present to some doctors 
 in the West Indies. I find Mr Anderson refuses to take 
 your money, but press him to it again, and at least to keep 
 it, to lay out for you. If he declines it in every shape, I 
 desire you may leave it with Mr Hamilton, as I have much 
 use for it. In the mean time, let me know what he lays out 
 for you. Dear Jamie, I hope to write you again, and, per- 
 haps, to send you letters for Virginia. I shall be glad to 
 know what letters you get from your uncle. I hope few ad- 
 vices are now necessary. Study your trade eagerly, decline 
 no labour, recommend yourself by briskness and diligence, 
 bear hardships with patience and resolution, be obliging to 
 every body whether above or below you, and hold up your 
 head both in a literal and figurative sense. I trust that 
 honour, truth, and discretion, shall always guide you, and 
 give the utmost comfort to, my dear Jamie, 3'our affectionate 
 father, 
 
 '' William Cullen."
 
 134 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 It is impossible, I believe, to give a jiister account 
 of the general manner in which Dr CuUen conducted 
 himself towards his pupils, than has been given by Dr 
 Aiken, who had himself been one of them. " He was 
 cordially attentive to all their interests ; admitted them 
 freely to his house ; conversed with them on the most 
 familiar terms ; solved their doubts and difficulties ; 
 gave them the use of his library ; and, in every respect, 
 treated them with the affection of a friend and the re- 
 gard of a parent. It is impossible for those, who per- 
 sonally knew him in this relation, ever to forget the 
 ardour of attachment which he inspired *." This re- 
 presentation of Dr Cullen's conduct in private towards 
 his pupils, is well exemplified in the account which Dr 
 Anderson has given of his first interview with him. 
 
 " Being then young," says he, " and of exceeding small 
 stature for my age, on presenting myself, the Doctor very 
 naturally took me for a child ; and when he understood that 
 agriculture was the profession intended, he conceived that it 
 must have been some childish whim that had hastily laid 
 hold of the imagination, and thought it his duty to dis- 
 courage it. He, therefore, began to dissuade me from 
 thinking of pursuing that idea any farther ; but finding I 
 had reflected on the subject, and had finally adopted a line 
 of conduct from which I would not depart, for reasons then 
 assigned, he at last was brought to acknowledge, that if I 
 had steadiness and assiduity to apply properly to the study 
 of chemistry, it might in the end prove conducive in pro- 
 moting the knowledge of the principles of agriculture ; and 
 said, if I was determined to exert myself, he should do all 
 in his power to forward my views. As his public lectures 
 had then been for some time begun, he ordered me to at- 
 
 * Aiken's General Biography, vol. iii. p. 255.
 
 T.IFE OF Dll CULLEN. 135 
 
 tend a private class, with some others in the same predica- 
 ment, to be instructed in those parts of his course already 
 past, till we should overtake those in his public class, which 
 was a common practice with him at that time. 
 
 " In these private lectures, as well as in his public class, 
 Dr Cullen was always at pains to examine his students, from 
 time to time, on those parts of his course that had already 
 been delivered ; and wherever he found any one at a loss, he 
 explained it anew, in a clear, familiar manner, suited to the 
 capacity of the student. On these, and on other occasions, 
 he frequently desired, that whenever any one was at a loss 
 as to any particular, they would apply to him freely for a 
 solution of their doubts and difficulties. In this proposal he 
 was serious ; and it was understood by me in the most strict, 
 literal sense of the word. And being very anxious to lose 
 nothing, I had no hesitation in complying with his request 
 with as much frankness on my part, as it was made with sin- 
 cerity on his part. It thus happened, that, for a long time 
 at the beginning, there was scarce a day that I did not run 
 after liim on the dismission of his class, to ask an explanation 
 of one particular or another that I did not understand ; nor 
 was I to be satisfied in any case till it was made quite plain. 
 Thus was he incessantly teased with the little prattle of a 
 child, but without ever discovering the smallest degree of 
 peevishness or impatience. Often have I since that time 
 wondered at the mild condescension of that great man, who^, 
 pressed as he was for time, in the prosecution of such exten- 
 sive business, was not only not offended at the frequent in- 
 terruptions, but seemingly was rather well pleased with the 
 turn of mind that occasioned them ; kindly entering into 
 discussions that were suited to my years, and listening with 
 patience to the arguments that were dictated by youth and 
 inexperience, and patiently removing those difficulties that 
 perplexed me. ^'^ 
 
 * The Bee, vol. i. p. 61.
 
 13G LIFE OF Dll CULLEX. 
 
 The kind interest which Dr Cullen took in the pur- 
 suits and studies of young persons was not confined to 
 his pupils alone. Various instances of this have heen 
 mentioned to me by those who had experienced it. 
 The late Mr Dugald Stew^art, in particular, informed 
 me that, during a sHght indisposition, which confined 
 him for some time to his room, when a hoy of fourteen 
 or fifteen years of age, he was attended by Dr Cullen. 
 In recommending to his patient a little relaxation from 
 his studies, and suggesting some light reading, the 
 Doctor inquired whether he had ever read the history 
 of Don Quixote. On being answered in the negative, 
 he turned quickly round to Mr Stewart's father, and 
 desired that the book shoidd be immediately procured. 
 In his subsequent visits to his patient, Dr Cullen 
 never failed to examine him on the progress he had 
 made in reading the humorous story of the great pat- 
 tern of Chivalry, and to talk over with him every suc- 
 cessive incident, scene, and character in that history. 
 In mentioning these particvdars, Mr Stewart remarked 
 that he never could look back on that intercom-se 
 without feeling surprise at the minute accuracy with 
 which Dr Cullen remembered every passage in the life 
 of Don Quixote, and the lively manner in which he 
 sympathized with him in the pleasure he derived from 
 the first perusal of that entertaining romance. In what 
 decree of estimation Mr Stewart continued to hold that 
 work may be seen by the inimitable character which he 
 has given of it in his Dissertation on the progress of 
 jVletaphysical, Ethical, and Political Philosophy *. 
 
 * Encyclop. Brit, /tb edit. First Preliminary Dissertation^ p. 96.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 137 
 
 After coming to Edinburgh, Dr Ciillen appears to 
 have taken much interest in the proceedings of the 
 Philosophical Society. In writing to a correspondent, 
 in 1760, he says, 
 
 " There are just now many favourable appearances, of a 
 revival of the spirit of that society. The meetings are regu- 
 lar and well attended. At each of them, of late, we have 
 had sufficient employment, and are at present secure of em- 
 ployment at every meeting for a twelvemonth to come. At 
 the meeting in June next, it is proposed that as many 
 members as possible shall engage to read a paper or papers 
 to the society, at one or other of their meetings in the course 
 of the year 1761, but each member shall fix a particular day, 
 so that every meeting of the year may be regularly pro- 
 vided for ; and every member has at least six months to pro- 
 vide for it. There does not at present appear to be any 
 doubt about the execution of this plan, and it is proposed 
 that we shall continue hereafter, I hope, for very many years, 
 at the meeting in June, to provide regular employment for 
 the following year. This, however, is by no means to hin- 
 der any member from making as frequent incidental com- 
 munications as possible ; and particularly, every member is 
 desired to bring to every meeting as much literary news as 
 he can, either from new books, letters, or even conversation.'' 
 
 Among Dr Cullen's manuscript papers, I find an 
 Analysis of the Essai de Cosmologie, par M. de 
 Maiipertuis, which appears to have been read by him 
 to the Philosophical Society, in conformity with the 
 plan to which he alludes in the preceding extract. The 
 introduction to this Analysis would lead us to sujipose, 
 that if Dr Cullen was not the first to suggest to the 
 Society this mode of diffusing information, he was at 
 least the first to put it in execution.
 
 138 LIFE OF Dli CULLEN. 
 
 " In my studies," he says " I find it of great use to be 
 acquainted with the books that ai'e now daily published in 
 different parts of Europe. I do not doubt but other gen- 
 tlemen of this company know the. benefit, and are equally 
 desirous of being acquainted, with new book^. As all of these 
 cannot occur to every one, nor can the reading of all of them 
 be undertaken by any one person, I have always been of 
 opinion, that a principal advantage to be obtained by a fre- 
 quent communication between a number of persons devoted 
 to study, is that of being more certainly and sooner informed 
 of new books, and being better directed in the choice of them. 
 I wish that this company may be particularly intent on ob- 
 taining such advantage, and that each member of it may 
 zealously endeavour to be useful in this way. As the com- 
 pany are not otherwise engaged for this evening, I propose 
 to lay before them an account of a new book. My discretion 
 may perhaps be blamed, but I hope my zeal will not. The 
 book I am to give you an account of, is a small duodecimo, 
 printed at Leyden 1751, and is entitled " Essai de Cosmo- 
 logie, par M. de Maupertuis."" The purpose of the book is 
 to give a new and more satisfying proof of the Existence of 
 God, whence his motto is, " Mens agitat molem.' The 
 work is partly metaphysical, partly mathematical ; in either 
 respect it falls improperly under my cognizance, and works 
 of this kind I shall hereafter put into other hands ; but I 
 had a mind to set on foot such labours; and not the subject, 
 but the book's being the last occurring to me, determined my 
 choice."" 
 
 Of the utility of the mode of diflTusiug information 
 which Dr Cidlen recommended, there can be no doubt ; 
 but the multiplication of literary and scientific maga- 
 zines, journals, reviews and newspapers, which of late 
 years has taken place, has in a great measm-e superseded 
 its necessity ; and their circulation now communicates to
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 139 
 
 all classes of society, advantages which, even so late 
 as the time of Dr Cullen, could he enjoyed compara- 
 tively by a few only. 
 
 Besides the Philosophical, Dr Cullen became also 
 a member of several other societies in Edinburgh. 
 We find his name in the list given by Dr Carlisle of 
 the members composing the Select Society, in the year 
 1759. He was afterwards a member of the " Poker 
 Club," instituted, as is mentioned by Mr Mackenzie, 
 in 1762, " at a time when Scotland was refused a 
 militia, and thought herself affronted by the refusal." — 
 " The name of this club was chosen from a quaint sort 
 of allusion to the principles it was originally meant to 
 excite^." I find also a diploma dated 1756, admit- 
 ting Dr Cullen a member of the old Kevolution Club. 
 
 Dr Cullen had the happiness to become personally ac- 
 quainted with Dr Franklin during a visit which that 
 distinguished philosopher and statesman made to Edin- 
 burgh in the autumn of J 759. The pleasure of their 
 intercourse must have been greatly heightened by the 
 interest which they took in each other's philosophical 
 pm'suits. Dr Franklin's curiosity, in particular, had 
 been strongly excited, previously to his leaving Ameri- 
 ca, by an account of Dr CuUen's experiments on the cold 
 produced by evaporation, which had been communicated 
 to him by Dr Simson, Professor of IVlathematics at 
 Glasgow! . We learn from the following letter, ad- 
 dressed by Dr Franklin to Dr Cullen, that the doc- 
 trines of heat or fire had been a subject of conversation 
 between them during his stay in Edinburgh. 
 
 * Life of Mr John Home, p. 26. 
 
 t See Dr Franklin's Works, Lond. 1800. vol. ii. p. 75.
 
 140 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 " Dear Sir, London, 21s/, October 17C1. 
 
 " I hear, that since I had the pleasure of seeing and con- 
 versing with you on the subject, you have wrote some of 
 your sentiments of Fire, and communicated them to the Phi- 
 losophical Society. If so, as it may be some time before 
 their publication, I should think myself extremely obliged 
 to you if I could be favoured with a copy, as there is no 
 subject I am more impatient to be acquainted with. It 
 should go no further than my own closet without your per- 
 mission. 
 
 [3 I thank you for the civilities you were so good as to 
 shew my friend Mr Shippen, whom I took the liberty of re- 
 commending to your notice the last year. Give me leave to 
 recommend one friend more to your advice and countenance. 
 The bearer, Mr Morgan, who purposes to reside some time 
 in Edinburgh for the completion of his studies in Physic, 
 is a young gentleman of Philadelphia, whom I have long 
 known and greatly esteem ; and as I interest myself in what 
 relates to him, I cannot but wish him the advantage of your 
 conversation and instructions. I wish it also for the sake of 
 my country, where he is to reside, and where I am persuad- 
 ed he will be not a little useful. I am, with the greatest 
 esteem and respect, Dear Sir, your most obedient and most 
 humble servant, B. Franklin." 
 
 Dr Morgan, who is mentioned in the foregoing let- 
 ter, appears to have fully realized the expectations of 
 his friend Dr Franklin. He distinguished himself 
 while in Edinburgh by a diligent application to his 
 studies ; — published, on receiving the degree of Doctor 
 of Medicine, an excellent inaugural dissertation on the 
 subject of Suppuration ; — and visited the principal 
 hospitals of France and Italy before returning to his 
 native country. After his return to America, he took
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 141 
 
 an active share in the institution of Lectures on dif- 
 ferent Branches of JNIedicine in the College of Phila- 
 delphia, and in the establishment of a Dispensary and 
 of a Medical Society in that city. The progress of 
 these institutions is minutely described in his letters 
 to Dr Cullen, towards whom he ahvays appears to have 
 felt and expressed a very grateful attachment. In one 
 of his letters, dated London, November 10. 1764', Dr 
 Morgan gives the following very agreeable account of 
 the great Italian pathologist : — " INIorgagni, at Rome, 
 treated me like a brother or son, gave me the only fine 
 copy he had left of the second edition of his work De 
 Caiisis et Sedibiis 3Iorbo?mm, and paid me a hand- 
 some compliment, which he wrote in it with his own 
 hand. He is in his 83d year, has never used spectacles, 
 is very hearty, and more lively than a young man. 1 
 never talked with him but I thought from his conver- 
 sation, and his openness of behaviour and winning dis- 
 position, that I was with my good Dr Cullen." 
 
 In the winter session of 1760-61, a new opportunity 
 was afforded to Dr Cidlen of evincing to the public 
 the great extent of his medical knowledge, and his 
 powers as a teacher. Dr Alston, the Professor of Ma- 
 teria Medica, dying soon after he had commenced his 
 lectures for that session, and there being no person im- 
 mediately appointed to supply his place, the students 
 of medicine presented a petition to Dr Cullen, request- 
 ing him to undertake this duty. He readily complied 
 with this request, and entered upon a course of lec- 
 tures on the Materia ISIedica in the beginning of Ja- 
 nuary 1761. It was undoubtedly the circumstance of 
 his having previously given lectures on that branch of
 
 142! LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 medical science, as well as on the Theory and Practice 
 of Physic, at Glasgow, which enabled him to come 
 forward so readily and so advantageously upon this oc- 
 casion. 
 
 In commencing his course of lectures on the Materia 
 Medica, Dr Cullen put into the hands of his students 
 a catalogue, containing an enumeration of the differ- 
 ent articles of Food and of Medicine which he was to 
 treat of in his lectm'es. These articles were arranged, 
 partly according to the sensible effects w^hich they pro- 
 duce upon the body, and partly according to the di- 
 visions which they occupy in systems of Natural His- 
 tory. By the simple, comprehensive and scientific ar- 
 rangement that was followed, — by the extensive and 
 original views that were taken of the animal economy, 
 and of the action of remedies upon it, — by the judi- 
 cious selection that w^as made of topics for discussion, 
 —by the numerous minute practical remarks that were 
 intermixed with the general descriptions, — by the re- 
 jection of useless and inert remedies, — and by the 
 rounded and systematic form that was given to these 
 lectures, — Dr Cullen excited for the subject which he 
 taught, a degree of interest that has seldom, if ever, 
 been produced by any other com'se of lectm*es on ]Ma- 
 teria Medica. This was shewn, not only by the warm 
 applause which his lectm'es received from those who 
 heard them, but also by the eager cmiosity with which 
 manuscript notes taken by his students were long 
 sought for, multiplied and circulated amongst the 
 medical profession, in all parts of Europe. It must 
 have been in some measm*e to gratify this curiosity 
 that, ten years after the period at which they were dc-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 143 
 
 livered, an incorrect edition of these lectures was, with- 
 out Dr Cullen's knowledge, published in London from 
 the manuscript notes of some of his pupils ; and not 
 only translated into several of the languages of the 
 Continent, but republished in Dublin and in Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 The unwarrantable liberty which had been taken 
 by the publication of his lectures, induced Dr Cullen 
 to apply to the Coiut of Chancery for an injunction 
 to stop their sale, which was immediately granted. 
 His agent in London, in informing him of this, writes 
 (13th December 1771). 
 
 " Mr Solicitor-General (Mr Wedderburn, afterwards creat- 
 ed Earl of Rosslyn), after giving you the character which 
 he thinks you justly deserve, moved the Lord Chancellor 
 for an injunction against Lowndes.* His Lordship, after 
 mentioning the great consequence of this affair to the Pro- 
 fessors of every science, and the similarity of the case to 
 that of Sir William Blackstone's Lectures, published with- 
 out his knowledge, ordered the injunction immediately. 
 Mr Solicitor-General has entered warmly into this business, 
 and thinks it a matter of great consequence to you, as any 
 of your publications must sell well; and he says, that as 
 you are almost certain of success, you had better incur the 
 expense of a Chancery-suit, than suffer yourself to be depriv- 
 ed of your property and the fruits of your study, genius, 
 and industry. He also says, he would be very well plead- 
 ed to have a reading of the book during the Christmas holi- 
 days." 
 
 As, on inquiry, it appeared that the physician who 
 
 * The Bookseller.
 
 144 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 had furnished the bookseller with the manuscript of the 
 lectures was sensible of the error he had committed, 
 and had had no pecuniary object in view by their publi- 
 cation, and as a considerable number of printed copies 
 had already got into circulation, Dr Cullen at length 
 agreed to allow of the sale of the remaining copies, on 
 condition that he should receive a share of the profits, 
 and that the grosser errors in the work should be cor- 
 rected, by the addition of a supplement. The unsanc- 
 tioned publication of his opinions is an evil to which 
 every public teacher is necessarily exposed, and this 
 evil is rendered doubly severe, when the editor, in con- 
 cealing the source from which they are derived, ap- 
 propriates the merit of these opinions, whatever it may 
 be, to himself. But though on this occasion a great 
 injury was done to Dr Cullen's feelings, there was ap- 
 parently none intended, and there certainly happened 
 none by it to his professional reputation *. 
 
 The high character which Dr Cullen acquired as a 
 teacher of Practical M edicine by his Clinical labours 
 in the Infirmary, as well as by the course of lectures 
 which he had given on Materia IMedica, soon procured 
 for him, not only a considerable share of private prac- 
 tice in Edinburgh, but also numerous consultations from 
 medical practitioners in all parts of Scotland ; so that, 
 in the advanced years and declining health of Dr 
 Rutherford, the Professor of the Practice of Physic, he 
 was very generally regarded as the person in this coun- 
 try best qualified to succeed to the Chair of Practical 
 ISIedicine when it should become vacant. Unfortu- 
 
 * See Appendix, Note Q. 
 5
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 145 
 
 iiately, however, for the accomplishmeut of this object, 
 Dr Rutherford had hubibed prejudices, which, though 
 he was desirous to retire from the University, rendered 
 him unwiUing to resign in favour of Dr CuUen. 
 
 In these circumstances, Dr John Gregory, who had 
 held for several years the professorship of Physic in the 
 King's College, Aberdeen, but who had not had occa- 
 sion in that capacity to deliver any lectvu^es on Medi- 
 cine, was invited by his friends to come to Edinbm'gh 
 and to offer himself as a candidate for Dr Rutherford's 
 Chair. On its being understood that Dr Rutherford 
 w^as disposed to resign in his favour, the friends of Dr 
 Cidlen endeavoiu*ed to prevent this arrangement by an 
 appeal to the public, in which they stated the various 
 successful efforts which Dr Cullen had made to pro- 
 mote the science of Medicine, and the great services 
 which he had rendered to the ISIedical School of Edin- 
 burgh in particular, as claims which in their opinion 
 entitled him, in the choice of the electors, to a prefe- 
 rence over any less distinguished candidate. This ap- 
 peal did not long remain without various replies, in 
 which abuse and ribaldry supplied the place of argu- 
 ment. The following extract, taken from one of these 
 publications, entitled a " Letter from a Citizen of 
 Edinburgh to Dr Puff," while it exhibits a specimen 
 of the spirit and manner in which the opposition to Dr 
 Cullen was conceived and conducted, contains, at the 
 same time, what must now be regarded as a just and 
 well merited, though unintentional, tribute to the 
 great powers which he actually evinced as a lecturer on 
 Medicine. The author of this letter seems to have 
 been little aware, that what he had written in derision 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 146 LIFE OF DR CULI>EX. 
 
 might, at a future period, serve to elevate the charac- 
 ter of hhn whom it was meant to injure. , 
 
 " It is now time,"" says he, " we should come to the point, 
 and consider your particular fitness for the Medical Chair in 
 question, which gives rise to our present correspondence. 
 Upon this chapter, it is said, ' That you taught this branch 
 of the profession at Glasgow many years ; that you have a 
 happy talent in communicating your thoughts ; and that a 
 man in the practice of teaching, is preferable to one Avho has 
 not been used to it.' This seems to be the import of what 
 is urged to support your preference. With respect to this 
 plea, it must be acknowledged a very uncommon instance of 
 genius, to be ready to fill every vacancy that may happen in 
 the Medical department, as any one branch of it is thought 
 sufficient for most men ; and allowing that your students at 
 Glasgow formerly applauded your lectures on this branch of 
 Physic, does it follow that therefore you are fitter than any 
 other person ? By-the-by, I cannot help observing here, 
 how mucli you are to blame in not informing us, in what 
 language these lectures were given. Here they are dehvered 
 in Latin, to the study of which, I am told, you have applied 
 since your settling in this town ; so far undoubtedly there is 
 some merit in making up the deficiencies of youth. But as 
 it seldom happens that people in years are endowed with 
 the gift of tongues, which they had not imbibed when young, 
 it is to be regretted, that, in enumerating all your other ac- 
 complishments, this, which is said to be the key to science, is 
 not once mentioned. Surely it was highly necessary to inform 
 us with respect to this point, that we might the better judge 
 what chance you had to draw foreigners to this class. 
 
 " Well, but it is said that the students at Glasgoxv ap- 
 plauded these lectures. And is this any thing remarkable, 
 that a professor, possessed of popular talents, and who lays 
 himself out to engage the good will of his scholars, should
 
 LIFE OF BR CULLEX. 147 
 
 obtain that end ? But in a competition, whether your lec- 
 tures, or those of another, are preferable, the only way we 
 can judge is, by your publishing them to the world, by 
 which every man of knowledge will have an opportunity of 
 giving his opinion, and of judging what part thereof is your 
 own, and what may be borrowed from others, so that justice 
 may be done both to yourself and creditors, if you have any. 
 If this advice is followed, I may likewise venture to assure 
 you, that you will in all probability procure as honest a 
 friend as Bias of Santilane was to the Archbishop of Gre- 
 nada ; though it is not impossible but the friend might incur 
 the same censure from you as that faithful servant did from 
 his master. 
 
 " Further, if you are so exceedingly fit for this Chair, as 
 is averred, pray, what reason can be assigned why Dr 
 R d, who, every body must allow, is a man of discern- 
 ment to discover the fitness of a successor, and of probity 
 not to be influenced by any selfish motives, should be so 
 blind, not only to reject your repeated solicitations, but like- 
 wise to prefer another ? 
 
 " However, in order to obtain a change, Dr B k is 
 
 next brought on the stage, as one of the dramatis personcB, 
 and recommended as a person proper to succeed you. The 
 Doctor's skill in chemistry nobody will controvert. But is 
 this a reason why the medical chair should suffer .? Dr 
 
 R d certainly thinks the interest of his class depends 
 
 on the choice he has made. Ought not his recommendation 
 to have as much weight in the scale as yours ?^'* 
 
 In reference to these publications, Dr Hunter writes 
 to Dr CuUen, in February 1765. 
 
 " I have heard of all that has been passing at Edinburgh, 
 from a variety of different hands, and always to your honour.'' 
 — " Mr Oswald thinks as I do, that no power of politics 
 
 K 2!
 
 148 LIFE OF DK CULLEN. 
 
 could or should prevent your wish wlien Rutherford resigns," 
 — " Wherever I can, I bring in the subject, and talk strong- 
 ly upon it. Among other things, I say that the love of my 
 country, and of increase of knowledge in the profession, for 
 the sake of the sick and the lame^ makes me of all things 
 long to see so happy a change, at the same time that my 
 private views would incline me powerfully to have you and 
 Black mortified upon the occasion. I have read the Citizen's 
 letter with pleasure ; and since that, the letter to Dr Puff, 
 with great mortification to myself. Good God ! that my 
 friend should by any mortal be put into any sort of balance 
 or comparison with the author of such a puerile performance. 
 I hope and presume it never gave you pain of any kind. 
 Were I in your place, I should be very proud of it." 
 
 Whether the publication to which Dr Hunter al- 
 ludes really gave any uneasiness to Dr Cullen cannot 
 now be known ; but it is certain that this, as well as 
 every other attempt to asperse his character or to ridi- 
 cule his doctrines, was met by him with that silent 
 neglect which is in general the most effectual repeller of 
 injurious and malevolent personal attacks. As a proof 
 how little the strictures made on his opinions influenced 
 Dr Cullen's conduct towards those from whom they were 
 in general believed to emanate, we have the following 
 testimony of Dr Anderson : " Dm'ing three years that 
 the writer of this article attended his public lectures, 
 and for upwards of thirty years that he has been in- 
 dulged with his private acquaintance, he can with 
 truth aver, that neither in public nor in private did he 
 ever hear a single expression drop from Dr Cullen that 
 tended, directly or indirectly, to derogate from the pro- 
 fessional character of any of his colleagues, or that
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 149 
 
 could induce a student to think lightly of their talents 
 as professors, or of their abilities as physicians *." 
 
 The following letter from Dr Hunter, so characte- 
 ristic of his vivacity of feeling and desire of professional 
 distinction, was written about this time, when it woidd 
 appear that Dr CuUen had lost the expectation of suc- 
 ceeding to the Chau- of the Practice of Physic. 
 
 " Dear Sir, ^/>»«^ i- 1765. 
 
 " Your friend Dr Pitcairn has had an opportunity of do- 
 ing his best offices with Mr Oswald, but to no purpose. He 
 at their first meeting had the pleasure to hear Mr O. begin 
 upon the subject, and say almost every thing he could have 
 wished : that is, Mr O. talked in the strongest terms, and 
 was well acquainted with the subject, of the propriety of do- 
 ing what you desire, and of the cruelty and absurdity of en- 
 deavouring to do otherwise, &c. &c. ; but still persisted in 
 the resolution he told me he had taken, viz. not to inter- 
 meddle, except Lord Bute or Mr Mackenzie should give 
 him an opening or opportunity. In that case, he would not 
 only speak his mind freely, but give advice strenuously : 
 but, at the same time, he said he hardly expected such an 
 occasion, and rather imagined it would be avoided ; because 
 he believed his way of thinking was too well known, and that 
 it was their own way of thinking, likewise, though politics 
 obliged them to seem to be of another opinion ; which deli- 
 cate situation would make them shy upon the subject. 
 ****** 
 
 *^ Nothing is to be done here, at least at present. Go on 
 with the applause of those whose good opinion you can be 
 proud of You have it universally. If you mind the en- 
 vious and the wrong-headed herd, you have not so nuich 
 manliness as I thought you possessed of The more oppo- 
 
 * The Bee, or Literary Intelligencer, vol. 1. p. 9.
 
 150 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 sition you meet with, the more you should exert yourself ; 
 and you will always find contempt for your adversaries a 
 most excellent cordial. You know that you triumph over 
 the poor things in the minds of all men who can judge. 
 
 " With this I have sent you another letter which will 
 startle you. I have a great inchnation to do something con- 
 siderable at Glasgow some time or other. If you think pro- 
 per (and you are the best judge), you may talk of the scheme 
 as a great secret with two or three different people, and then 
 you know all the town will know it. God bless you. I am, 
 Dear Sir, most faithfully yours, 
 
 " William Hunter.'' 
 
 " Dear Sir, 2d April 1765. 
 
 " I have felt disappointment myself; and therefore can 
 easily imagine what you must feel in meeting with such op- 
 position to a scheme which I know to be of so much more 
 consequence to the public than it can be to yourself. Mine 
 was to have founded a perpetual school for Anatomy here. 
 I will one day or other send you a copy of my Memorial to 
 the Ministry. In short, without asking any thing for my- 
 self, but, upon the contrary, declaring I would have no- 
 thing, I only asked a piece of ground to build upon, and 
 offered to lay out £ 7000 immediately on a building, with 
 every convenience for anatomy, and obliging myself to give 
 it to the public the moment it was built : and said, further, 
 that I meant, but would not now oblige myself, to give like- 
 wise my preparations and books. My library has already cost 
 me I presume between ^£^3000 and =£^4000; and my anato- 
 mical museum is of more worth to the public, because they 
 are things that cannot be bought. I am resolved never to be 
 much richer than T now am. I am independent, and wish 
 to do something that shall be mentioned when the few years 
 which I have to live are gone. Now, you shall see to what 
 purpose all this — I should like to be joined with you in the
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. l5l 
 
 end of life as in the beginning. You have been ill-used at 
 Edinburgh, as I have been at London. Could you make a 
 sacrifice of the few more guineas you would receive by prac- 
 tice at Edinburgh, and join with me to raise a School of 
 Physic upon a noble plan at Glasgow ? I would propose to 
 give all my Museum and Library, and build a Theatre at 
 my own expense : and I should ask nothing for teaching 
 but the credit of doing it with reputation. You and Black 
 and I, with those we could chuse, I think could not fail of 
 making our neighbours stare. We should at once draw all 
 the English, and, I presume, most of the Scotch, students. 
 Among other reasons, I should not dislike teaching anatomy 
 near my two friends, the Monroes, to whom I owe so much. 
 " I will say no more at present upon this subject. I mean 
 only to throw it out to you for your consideration, and shall 
 be glad to have your thoughts in general upon the plan. I 
 would not have you say any thing of it to any person, ex- 
 cept in confidence to any sensible friend whose opinion you 
 may choose to take. I shall explain myself further when- 
 ever vou please. Let me now only say, before I put my name 
 to this, neither of us have been well used ; and it is in our 
 power to do ourselves immortal honour. I am, as you well 
 know, dear Sir, always your most obliged 
 
 " William Hunter.*" 
 
 « 20ih Aprill765, 
 <« P. S. — This letter was really begun almost three weeks 
 ago.' 
 
 The advantages likely to result from engaging Dr 
 Cullen in teaching the practice of physic, appear to 
 have been anticipated, not only by the public at large, 
 but also by the Patrons of the University, who, though 
 they omitted the opportunity presented by the resig- 
 nation of Dr Rutherford, in February 1766, of elect-
 
 152 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 ing Dr Ciillen to that Chair, seem to have imagined 
 that they might still have this in their power at no 
 very distant period. That such at least was the im- 
 pression of some of Dr Cullen's friends in the Town- 
 Council, appears by the following letter from Lord 
 Kames, written about a month after Dr Gregory had 
 been admitted Professor of the Practice of Physic, and 
 a few days after the Chair of the Theory of Physic 
 had become vacant by the death of Dr Whytt, on the 
 loth of April 1766. 
 
 '*^ My Dear Sir Edinburgh, 18^^ Apiil 1766. 
 
 " It is vexatious to find the Town-Council acting so loosely 
 as to suffer themselves to be disappointed by Dr Gregory. 
 I was assured by Millar, that the purpose in choosing Gre- 
 gory was to remove the obstruction made to you by Ru- 
 therford ; and that the Chair should be yours so soon as 
 Gregory should be otherwise provided for ; and I had not 
 the opportunity of conversing with any other upon the sub- 
 ject. Most heartily I wish you success ; not so much for 
 your sake as for that of the Town of Edinburgh. Yours, 
 
 " H. Home." 
 
 " p. *S'.— If you be at home on the 29th of this month, 
 I shall have the pleasure to sup with you.'' 
 
 Of the existence or nature of the arrangements al- 
 luded to by Lord Kames it is impossible for me to 
 speak, without more precise and authentic information 
 than any I have been able to acquire. The residt of 
 the opposition so unjustifiably made to the pretensions 
 of Dr Cullen, was his exclusion for some years from 
 the Chair of the Practice of Physic. It was fortunate, 
 however, for the interests of the University, that in
 
 LIFE or DR CULLEN. 153 
 
 the interval its duties were allotted to a physician who, 
 to an excellent understanding and cultivated taste, 
 united much practical skill in his profession, and who 
 had shortly before distinguished himself by a popular 
 work on the State and Faculties of Man, compared 
 with those of the Animal World. 
 
 Dr Cullen was so much disgusted with the conduct 
 of the Patrons of the University, and mth the treat- 
 ment he had received in relation to the Chair of the 
 Practice of Physic, that, on the death of Dr Whytt, 
 he seems to have wished to remain Professor of Che- 
 mistry, and to have at last consented to accept the 
 Chair of the Theory of Physic, rather in compliance 
 with the wishes of his friends, and in order to give the 
 electors an opportunity of bringing Dr Black into 
 Edinburgh, than from any desire of his own to occupy 
 that situation. The opinions which were entertained 
 of Dr Cullen's merits by his medical colleagues, and 
 by the students of medicine attending the University 
 of Edinburgh at that period, and the wishes which 
 these two bodies respectively and publicly expressed 
 in relation to his appointment to the Chairs of the 
 Theory and Practice of Physic, are recorded in the two 
 following documents. 
 
 " To Dr Cullen. 
 " The Professors of the several branches of Medicine in 
 this University, after maturely considering the present criti- 
 cal situation of the School of Physic here, and the great im- 
 portance to the Town and University, that the profession of 
 the Theory of Physic, vacant by the death of the late very 
 ingenious Dr Whytt, be taught by a physician of extensive 
 genius, learning, and estabUshed reputation, and who has given
 
 154 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 unquestionable proofs of his talents as a teacher ; and fully 
 convinced that their colleague Dr CuUen possesses all these 
 qualifications in the most eminent degree, and that he is also 
 thoroughly master of this subject, think it a duty they owe 
 the Town, the University, and the Students of Physic, and 
 themselves, to request of him, in this most public and earnest 
 manner, that he will resign the professorship of Chemistry, 
 and offer himself to the Honourable Patrons of this Universi- 
 ty, as a candidate for the profession of the Theory of Physic. 
 " Besides the many and great advantages which they 
 think will directly arise from the nomination of Dr CuUen 
 to that Chair, they are hopeful that, freed from the burden 
 of an experimental college, and which a person otherwise less 
 engaged in business might prosecute with still greater bene- 
 fit to the art and to the students, he would have more leisure 
 and attention to bestow on the Clinical Lectures given in the 
 Royal Infirmary. And as this is an object of the utmost 
 consequence in the study of Physic, and a branch in which 
 Dr Cullen has already given very high satisfaction, they 
 are of opinion, that it would be so much for the improvement 
 of the students, that he were engaged still farther in explain- 
 ing to them this immediately useful and practical part, and in 
 pointing out to them the application of the theory and prin- 
 ciples of medicine in the treatment of the sick, that they 
 think it their duty to request of him also, that, on the event 
 of his being elected Professor of the Theory of Physic, he 
 will bestow as much time on the Clinical Lectures as his 
 other avocations will admit. 
 
 " Alex. Monro, Med. ^ Anat P. 
 '' Alex. Moxko jun. Med. c^ Anat. P. 
 " Jo. Hope, Med. c§' Bot P. 
 '' Thos. Youkg, Art. Ohst, P.' 
 
 " Edinburgh, 24^^ Ainil 176G."
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 155 
 
 " Address of the Students of Medicine to the Right 
 Honourable the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Town- 
 Council of the City of Edinburgh, 1766. 
 
 " The following address is presented with the sole view 
 of promoting the good of the University and City of Edin- 
 burgh. When such is its intention, there is no occasion to 
 sohcit, from the guardians of the welfare of both, a candid 
 consideration of its contents, nor to entreat, that, what is 
 meant only to declare the sentime7its and wishes of those 
 who are more immediately interested in your determination 
 of the point to be considered, should not be construed into a 
 vain and ill-judged attempt to infringe any of your undoubt- 
 ed rights. 
 
 " We who make this application are Students of Medi- 
 cine in your University. By the death of the late Dr 
 Whytt, we have been deprived of a truly learned and justly 
 celebrated preceptor. By the resignation of Dr Rutherford 
 we can no longer enjoy the instructions of a man, whose 
 years and long services have justly entitled him to retire, with 
 honour, from the burden of Academical duties. We are 
 sensible that, from the manner in which their seats are sup- 
 plied, the reputation of the University and Magistrates, and 
 our hopes of farther improvement here, must entirely de- 
 pend. 
 
 " We are humbly of opinion, that the reputation of the 
 University and Magistrates, the good of the city, and our 
 improvement, will all, in an eminent manner, be consulted, 
 by engaging Dr Gregory to relinquish the Professorship of 
 the Practice for that of the Theory of Medicine, by ap- 
 pointing Dr Cullen, present Professor of Chemistry, to the 
 Practical Chair, and by electing Dr Black Professor of Che- 
 mistry. 
 
 " As Students of Medicine, we are led to adopt these senti- 
 ments from the following considerations ; — 
 
 " The first is, the merits and abilities of Dr Cullen.— How
 
 156 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 much that Gentleman has contributed to the advancement 
 of almost every branch of Medical Science, whoever is in 
 the least acquainted with the Medical Annals of your Uni- 
 versity, abundantly knows. To pretend to enumerate in 
 detail how much we owe to him, how far he has contributed 
 to diffuse an ardour for improvement and spirit of liberal 
 inquiry in Medicine, were to waste your time and our own. 
 We cannot, however, forbear to mention, that Chemistry, 
 formerly little studied here, has been by him new-modelled, 
 and raised to the highest reputation ; so that his plan has 
 been successfully followed in different parts of the British 
 dominions, and that here there are now more Students en- 
 gaged annually in the pursuit of this collateral branch of 
 Physic, than in any other part of it, except Anatomy. — 
 More particularly, it tends to our present purpose to observe, 
 that all who have attended the Clinical Lectures in the 
 Royal Infirmary, have, in them, heard him give proofs of his 
 profound knowledge in the Practice of Physic, and candidly 
 deliver the result of an experience of more than thirty years. 
 There, from the justness and importance of his observations, 
 from the accuracy and chastity of his reasoning, from his ex- 
 tensive knowledge of the practice of other countries, from 
 the wideness of his views, from the perspicuity of his method, 
 from the ease and elegance of his delivery, every hearer has 
 obtained the most thorough conviction of his abilities as a 
 Practical Professor, and conceived the most ardent desire of 
 hearing his instructions from that Chair. 
 
 " Nor is this our opinion of Dr Cullen meant, in the least, 
 to detract from the merits of Dr Gregory. On the contrary, 
 a principal motive to our expressing the sentiments we do, 
 on this occasion, is the high opinion we entertain of that 
 Gentleman's capacity. By a late very elegant and ingenious 
 performance, by every body attributed to him, we imagine 
 it is evident what advantages the University must reap from 
 Lectures on the Theory of Medicine, delivered by a thinker 
 so just and original, and so universally acquainted with hu-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 157 
 
 man nature. With pleasure, too, we reflect, that his charac- 
 ter is not less respectable as a man, than as a philosopher ; 
 we therefore cannot suppose, that, were the public emolu- 
 ment to be obtained, even at the expense of his private inte- 
 rest, he would not rejoice to make the honourable sacrifice, 
 far less that he would, in the least, hesitate to favour a 
 scheme for promoting the public utility, when his private 
 advantage is consistent with it. 
 
 " That the public utility will highly be promoted, by 
 agreeing to an exchange, which leaves room for Dr Black's 
 being elected Professor of Chemistry, will hardly be denied. 
 Dr Cullen in his lectures on Chemistry, will always be heard 
 with attention and applause. Those numerous experiments, 
 however, which he is almost daily pointing out to us, as ne- 
 cessary to be made, for attaining farther excellence in that 
 science, require, for their performance, such a long and un- 
 wearied attention, as is perhaps only consistent with an almost 
 total abstraction from other avocations. How much Dr Cul- 
 len does in this way, even amidst the constant distractions of 
 other business, is not easy to say. But the prosecution of 
 the science still more amply upon thai plan, may, with confi- 
 dence, be expected from Dr Black, a man whose name as a 
 Chemist is justly celebrated throughout all Europe, and 
 whose reputation, at present, supports the fame of an inferior, 
 but rival University. In him, the vigour and enterprise of 
 youth, is conjoined to a well known and peculiarly prefer- 
 able attachment to Chemistry, He, we apprehend, is the 
 only person, who, in the Chemical Chair, can acquit himself 
 with the same applause, that the present Professor has done 
 for a number of years. 
 
 " Such are the considerations, that, as Students of Medicine^ 
 engage us to entertain these sentiments, with regard to the 
 disposal of the Professors' seats : but were we for a moment 
 to consider ourselves as Citizens of Edinburgh, additional 
 motives would crowd upon us : the honour of the University ; 
 the honour of the Citv, intimately connected witli it ; tlie
 
 158 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 great advantages arising from the confluence of students ; the 
 certain diminution of that confluence upon decay of the Uni- 
 versity's reputation ; the necessity of raising that reputation 
 to the highest pitch, in order to attain pre-eminence over 
 rivals in other Universities ; the fame of having contributed 
 to that additional repvitation ; the disagreeable reflexion of 
 having lessened it, would then be a few of the many argu- 
 ments, on which we would enlarge to our Representatives 
 and Governors, as incitements to their adopting the scheme 
 we propose. 
 
 " But, without considering ourselves in that, to us, ima- 
 ginary relation, we presume to hope we have suggested ar- 
 guments, which will induce the Council to do every thing in 
 their power to bring our proposal to execution. 
 
 " We end, by again assuring the Right Honourable Lord 
 Provost, Magistrates, and Town-Council, that our intention 
 here is only to inform them of the sentiments and xoishes of the 
 Students ; that we are entirely sensible that our opinion, un- 
 less from its tendency to public benefit, should have no in- 
 fluence on the unquestioned independency of the Council's 
 conduct ; and that it is alone from the conviction of such 
 being its tendency, that we have been prompted to make this 
 address. What other motives could prompt us ? We have 
 no private enmity to gratify, nor successful rival to oppose. 
 Though we should profess to have been guided only by pri- 
 vate interest, our private interest, in this affair, is intimately 
 and inseparably connected with the pubhc good. 
 
 '' Finally, whatever be the success of our endeavours, we 
 are happy in having this opportunity of publicly express- 
 ing ovir gratitude to our Professors, and regard to the City. 
 
 " We, therefore, whose names are hereto subjoined, unani- 
 mously concur in declaring to The Right Honourable Lord 
 Provost, Magistrates, and Town-Council of Edinburgh, 
 that Ave are thoroughly convinced, that Dr Gregory's relin- 
 quishing the professorship of the Practice for that of the The- 
 ory of ^Medicine, that the appointment of Dr Cullen to the
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 159 
 
 Practical Chair, and the election of Dr Black as Professor of 
 Chemistry, will add to the reputation of the University and 
 Magistrates, and contribute highly to the good of the City 
 and of the Students of Medicine. 
 
 " Possessed of this conviction, we therefore also unani- 
 mously concur in entreating the Right Honourable Lord 
 Provost, Magistrates, and Town-Council of Edinburgh, in 
 the most humble and earnest manner, to do every thing in 
 their power to put in execution the scheme above proposed. 
 
 {'' The above was sigyied hy one hundred and sixly Students.") 
 
 " Since the above address was approved and signed, a plan 
 of arranging the professorships has been communicated to us, 
 of which, thus late, it is still thought necessary to make men- 
 tion. By this plan it is proposed, that Dr Cullen and Dr 
 Gregory should be appointed conjunctly and severally Pro- 
 fessors both of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, and Dr 
 Black be elected to tlie Chair of Chemistry. 
 
 " Guided only by the faint light of our own prudence in 
 our ardour for the public cause, proceeding with the most 
 reverential deference for established forms, intending to pro- 
 pose no change but what might be effected by the compli- 
 ance of one man, and which our exalted opinion of his cha- 
 racter gave us the most just grounds to expect ; there is no 
 wonder that we should not have ventured to suggest an alte- 
 7'ation in teaching the Theory and Practice of Physic, which, 
 however expedient, has hitherto been inexperienced in this 
 University. 
 
 *' But when we consider the conformity of that plan with 
 our own, in so far as producing an arrangement, by which 
 Chemistry, Theory and Practice, are taught by Dr Black, Dr 
 Gregory, and Dr Cullen ; when we reflect, while choice is 
 still left to the student, of prosecuting physic in the manner in 
 which it was formerly taught, that, at the same time, pecu- 
 liar advantages arise from its being in his power to learn the-
 
 IGO LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 ory and practice from the same person ; when we foresee the 
 immense and rapid progress to be expected in sciences thus 
 taught by two men of genius, contesting with noble emula^ 
 tion the prize of fame ; finally, when we consider the sanction 
 this proposal has received, by taking its rise among the Pro- 
 fessors of Medicine themselves, we cannot but most heartily 
 approve and sincerely admire it. 
 
 " Without, therefore, enlarging on a scheme, the propriety 
 of which will doubtless be urged to you by a w eight of argu- 
 ment worthy of that illustrious body where it took its rise, 
 we whose names are subscribed, with the most perfect unani- 
 mity, declare our concurrence with it, and that the execution 
 of it will be to us equally agreeable and advantageous as of 
 that which we have before suggested. 
 
 (" The above was signed by one hundred andjifty-one Students.") 
 
 '' A report having been malignantly propagated, that the 
 framing and presentation of this address were suggested and 
 conducted, not by the Students of Medicine themselves, but 
 by one of the Professors of Medicine ; we, the committee ap- 
 pointed for presenting it, who have had access to be ac- 
 quainted with the particulars relative to these matters, hereby 
 declare, in the most solemn manner, that such report is en- 
 tirely without foundation. 
 
 " James Maddocks, M. D. 
 
 " Thomas Smith. 
 
 " Alexander Monro Drummond. 
 
 ^' James Blair." 
 
 Dr Cullen having consented to become a candidate 
 for the Chair of Dr Wliytt, was elected to that office, 
 and admitted Professor of the Institutes or Theory of 
 Medicine on the 1st November 1766; and on the 
 same day, Dr Black was admitted into the University
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. l6l 
 
 as his successor in the Professorship of Chemistry. 
 The proposal suggested by some of the Professors in 
 the University, and approved of by the Students in 
 the latter part of their address, having been adopted 
 and urged on the consideration of the Patrons and Pro- 
 fessors, by succeeding students, Dr Gregory, after de- 
 livering three com'ses of lectures on the Practice of 
 Physic, during the mnter sessions of 1766-7, 67-B 
 68-9, was at length induced to comply with the ge- 
 neral wish of those interested in the prosperity of the 
 University, that Dr Cullen should be permitted to lec- 
 tm'e upon that subject. Accordingly, we find that, 
 with Dr Gregory's permission, Dr Cullen delivered 
 a short course of lectures on the Practice of Physic, in 
 the summer of 1768*, and dming the remainder of 
 Dr Gregory's life, Drs Cullen and Gregory continued 
 to give alternate courses of the Theory and Practice of 
 Physic. On Dr Gregory's death, which happened on 
 the 10th February 1773, Dr Cullen was appointed 
 sole Professor of the Practice of Physic. 
 
 Such were the difficulties to be overcome, and such 
 the exertions required to procure, first, a place in the 
 University of Edinburgh, and afterwards the proper 
 situation in it, for the man whose genius, talents and in- 
 dustry shed such a lustre over the Institution, and con- 
 tributed in so remarkable a degree to extend and to per- 
 petuate the fame of its Medical School ! 
 
 * See Appendix, Note R. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 1C>2 LIFE OF DR CUFLEN. 
 
 At the period v;heii Dr CuUen first began to de- 
 liver lectures on medicine in Glasgow, there prevailed 
 in the medical schools of Europe three great systems 
 of physic, those of Stahl, Hoffmann, and Boerhaave, — 
 teachers not less distinguished by their peculiar and 
 original powers of intellect, than by their attainments 
 in literature and philosophy, their proficiency in the 
 mathematical and experimental sciences, and their 
 extensive knowledge of theoretical and of practical me- 
 dicine. The lectures and writings of these eminent 
 men, besides affording usefid summaries of all that 
 was known in medicine before the beginning of the 
 eighteenth centmy, laid open various new and interest- 
 ing views of the animal economy. Stahl and Hoffmann, 
 in particular, recognised more distinctly, and recom- 
 mended more emphatically, than had been done by 
 any of their predecessors, the study of the living powers, 
 and the laws by which they are governed, as the pro- 
 per and legitimate objects of medical investigation. 
 
 The ancient doctrines of the four elements and their 
 corresponding temperaments— of the separate functions 
 of the vegetative, sentient, and rational souls — and of 
 the agency of the natm'al, vital, and animal spirits — 
 had continued to be taught in the schools of medicine 
 with very little variation, fi'om the time of Galen till 
 after the middle of the seventeenth century. It was, 
 indeed, but a short time before Stahl, Hoffmann and 
 Boerhaave, began to lectm'e on medicine, that a solid 
 fovmdation had been laid for the extension and im- 
 provement of medical science, by the introduction of 
 the experimental and inductive method of prosecuting 
 philosophical inquiries, so well explained and strenuous-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 163 
 
 ly inculcated in the writings of Lord Bacon, — by the 
 clear, precise, and logical distinction made by Descartes 
 between mind and matter, as the respective subjects 
 of properties essentially different from each other, — by 
 the accurate analysis which had been given by Locke 
 of mind and its operations, in his Essay on the Human 
 L^nderstanding, and his recognition of sensation and 
 reflection as distinct sources of knowledge, — by the 
 discovery by New ton of the universal law by which the 
 motions of masses of matter placed at sensible distances 
 from one another are regulated, and his distinction of 
 this class of motions from the chemical changes which 
 the different species of matter produce upon one ano- 
 ther when their minute particles are brought into im- 
 mediate contact, — by the application (though at first 
 necessarily imperfect, and in many respects erroneous) 
 of the principles of natural philosophy and of chemis- 
 try to the investigation of the phenomena of the ani- 
 mal economy, — by the discovery of the circulation of 
 the blood by Harvey, and of the absorbent system by 
 Asellius and Pecquet, — by the minute examination 
 of the structure, distribution, and functions of the ner- 
 vous system by V\^illis, Vieussens, Baglivi and others, 
 — and by the development by Glisson of the contrac- 
 tile or irritable power inherent in muscidar fibres, by 
 the operation of which the various motions of the ani- 
 mal economy are performed ; — advances in knowledge 
 all tending to facilitate the proper investigation of the 
 vital susceptibilities and energies inherent in organized 
 bodies, and of the operation of the external agents by 
 which these susceptibilities and energies may be ex- 
 cited, modified or destroyed. 
 
 l2
 
 164 
 
 LI^E OF DIl eULLEN. 
 
 St A HI. *, in professing to adopt the ancient hypo- 
 thesis of the absolute incapacity of matter to move or 
 to be moved without the immediate iniiuence of mind, 
 and the opinion so expUcitly stated by Plato that the 
 body is the organ of the soul, was led, in the formation 
 of his Theoria Medica Vera, to ascribe all the organic 
 changes or motions that occur in the human economy, 
 involuntary as well as voluntary, to the direct operation 
 of the rational soul, which he supposed to be endowed 
 with the power not only of producing these motions, 
 but also of governing and directing them according to 
 their various final destinations f , 
 
 To the very obvious objection which presents itself 
 to this theory — that, in the organic motions of the hu- 
 man economy, upon which the functions of circulation, 
 nutrition, secretion, &c. depend, we are not only un- 
 conscious of any exertion or interference of the mind, 
 but have no perception whatever of these motions 
 themselves, and infer their existence solely from the 
 effects which result from them, — Stahl replied, that it 
 was by no means necessary to the truth of his theory 
 that the soul should be conscious of these organic 
 motions, or that, in producing them, it should always 
 act by reflection ; for the mind, he remarked, is not con- 
 scious of many of its most indubitable acts. Corporeal 
 motions are performed in the human economy, he al- 
 leged, firsty by a certain kind of necessity inherent in 
 
 * Stahl was born in 1660 ; appointed Professor at Jena in 1684, 
 and at Halle in 1694 ; went to Berlin in 1716, and died in 1734. 
 
 t Platonis Operum editio Bipont. Alcihiadcs, l"ius^ Xqxtl. v. 
 p. 59; P/uedon, torn. i. p. 181, Sec. Stahl, Theoria Medica Vera, 
 edit. Halae, I7O8. De JMechanismi et Organismi Diversitate, p. 43, 
 seqq. ; p. 51. Physiologia, pp. 18, 19, 37, and 325.
 
 LIFE OF BR CULLEN. 165 
 
 the soul, which he denominated logos, or reason ; and, 
 secondly, hy reflection, which he termed logismos, or 
 reasoning. In ilhistration of this distinction, he re- 
 ferred to the actions which w^e perform hy instinct, and 
 to those which we at first perform from intention, but 
 afterwards come to perform from hahit, without being 
 conscious of them. But it is evident that, in adopting 
 this mode of defending his theory from the objection 
 made to it, Stahl w as chargeable with an unw^arrantable 
 liberty in the use of language, in employing the w ords 
 Reason and Reasoning as synonymous in their mean- 
 ing with Instinct and Habit, and with a palpable in- 
 fringement of a fundamental rule of logic, in substi- 
 tuting motions or actions that are voluntary, and there- 
 fore mental, in their origin, in place of the purely ma- 
 terial and organic functions of plants and animals, to 
 which alone the objection that had been urged relates *. 
 Besides the influence which the rational soul is uni- 
 versally allowed to exercise in the production of volun- 
 tary motions, Stahl adduced likewise, as proofs of the 
 action of that principle upon the corporeal organs, those 
 palpitations of the heart and irregular distributions of 
 the blood in the system of circulation, which are occa- 
 sioned by the emotions of fear, shame, anger, &c. ; the 
 convulsive motions excited in the nervous and muscular 
 systems by those emotions of the mind which produce 
 particular or universal tremors, such as epilepsy, hy- 
 steria, &c. ; the changes produced in the action of the 
 various secretory and excretory organs of the body by 
 the influence of the passions ; and the fainting, nausea 
 
 De Median, ct Organ. Div. Argiwicnlum. Pliysiologiu- 
 
 24.
 
 166 
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 and vomiting, which occur from the perception, or 
 even from the recollection, of disagreeable objects. It 
 must be acknowledged that, in all these instances, mo- 
 tions are produced in the body by causes operating 
 through the mind ; but it is at the same time certain, 
 that, neither in the occurrence of these motions, nor in 
 the action of the purely organic functions of the eco- 
 nomy, are w^e conscious of any- influence whatever pro- 
 ceeding from the foresight, intelligence, or intention 
 of the mind ; and, therefore, the conclusion that such 
 an influence is exerted cannot be deduced from any 
 knowledge of which we are possessed*. 
 
 The abstract notions of the inactivity of matter, and 
 of the activity of mind or soul, on which Stahl's theory 
 was made to rest, seem to have been adopted by phy- 
 siologists in the very infancy of their science. Con- 
 scious that the locomotion of their own bodies was ef- 
 fected by the influence of the mind, they were natu- 
 rally led to believe that motion in all other bodies 
 must be produced by the operation of a similar active 
 and intelligent cause. Accordingly, the doctrine that 
 the functions of organized and living bodies are pro- 
 duced, maintained and regulated, by the influence of 
 vivifying, animating, and governing principles, — ema- 
 nations from the aninia mundi, or soul of the universe, 
 — was taught by the ancients ; and, under different 
 modifications, and various forms of expression, is to be 
 found incorporated with almost every system of phy- 
 siology and metaphysics, from the time of Plato f and 
 Aristotle to that of Stahl. Indeed the doctrines upon 
 
 * Physiologia, pp. 24, bQ, 203-208, 
 + De Legibusj lib. x. vol. ix. p. 89.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. l67 
 
 this subject taught by physiologists and metaphysicians, 
 since the time of Aristotle, will, I am convinced, on a 
 careful examination, be found to differ from those con- 
 tained in the writings of that philosopher less in the 
 novelty of the ideas which they convey, than in the 
 variety of the terms in which they have been succes- 
 sively expressed. 
 
 Aristotle, in his Treatise on the Soul, the first re- 
 gular treatise on Psychology that has come down to 
 modem times, divided natm'al bodies into those which 
 have life, the organic, and those that are without life, 
 the inorganic ; the former he denominated Animated, 
 and the latter Inanimate bodies. Soul, generically 
 considered, he defined to be the vivifying principle, 
 entelecheia, or vital energy, common to all natural 
 organic bodies, distinguishing this principle as it exists 
 in plants, in animals, and in man, into the vegetative, 
 the sentient, and the rational soul*. The organic 
 functions of nutrition and generation, as they occiu* 
 in plants and in animals, Aristotle attributed to the 
 agency of the vegetative soul ; the animal functions of 
 sense and of voluntary motion, appetite, and passion, 
 he attributed to the operation of the sentient soul ; 
 and the exercise of those powers of intellect by which 
 
 * Aristotle's threefold division of the Soul into the Vegetative, 
 Sentient^ and Rational^ has been attributed by Nemesius to Plato, 
 and he has been followed in this misconception by the late Dr 
 Barclay. Plato likewise made a threefold division of the soul^ but 
 it was into the Appetites, the Passions, and the Cognitive Fa:culty> 
 (Timeeus, vol. ix. p. 387) ; and it was to these, and not to the 
 vegetative, sentient, and rational souls, that he assigned separate 
 residences in the belly, chest, and head. — See Barclay on Life and 
 Organization, pp. 7; 8* 1
 
 168 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 man is distinguished from other animals, he attributed 
 to the agency of the rational soul. The vegetative 
 soul, which Aristotle denominates the first and most 
 common faculty of the soul, or the power by which all 
 organized beings live, exists in plants, he conceived, 
 without the sentient faculty, and the sentient soul in 
 animals, without the rational faculty ; but the rational 
 soul cannot exist in man without the sentient faculty, 
 nor the sentient soul in animals \nthout the vegetative 
 faculty *. 
 
 These great generalizations of Aristotle appear to 
 have been the result of his extensive observation, read- 
 ing, and reflection wdth regard to the functions of or- 
 ganized and living beings, and of his well directed and 
 laborious endeavours to ascertain the nature and dis- 
 tinctive characters of those primary powers or princi- 
 ples in the constitution of plants, of animals, and of 
 man, upon which the phenomena of life, of sense and 
 voluntary motion, and of intellect or reason, more im- 
 mediately depend. They form one of the more inte- 
 resting of the many remarkiible monuments which that 
 philosopher has raised to his own fame ; and, whatever 
 defects or errors may now appear in them, they must 
 continue to be useful land-marks to physiologists and 
 metaphysicians in their inquiries into the phenomena 
 and functions of vegetable and animal life, and into 
 the attributes, modifications, and operations of mind 
 
 * Aristotelis Opera Omnia, a J. Pacio edita, 1597 • De Anima, 
 Lib. ii. Theses 3, 13-27. Ibid. Lib. ii. Thes. 24, 42. Magna 
 Moralia, Lib. i. Cap. 4, 5. De Anima, Lib. ii. Tiies. 31, 32, 34. 
 Ibid. Lib. i. Thes. 95. De Moribus, Lib. i. Cap. 13.
 
 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 169 
 
 in the different orders of beings in which that principle 
 is perceived to exist. 
 
 The classification, by Aristotle, of the vital and 
 purely organic phenomena of vegetable and animal 
 bodies, under the general functions of Nutrition and 
 Generation, and his attributing the production of these 
 phenomena to the operation of a principle specifically 
 distinct from the sensitive and intellective faculties of 
 the soul, was unquestionably a great and important 
 step in physiology. But it may be doubted how far 
 his extension of the term Soul (-^v^yi) to the cause of the 
 vital and purely organic phenomena of plants and ani- 
 mals was correct in itself, or has been fortunate in its 
 physiological applications. The ancients, as he himself 
 informs us, all concurred in regarding sense, voluntary 
 motion, and incorporiety, as the peculiar characters of 
 mind or soul, and in viewing the body merely as the 
 mechanical or organic instrument of this sentient, self- 
 moving, and incorporeal principle. Several of his more 
 immediate predecessors, and particularly Hippocrates, 
 had employed the w^ord Nature to indicate the vital and 
 organic functions of plants and animals, though, as not 
 altogether exclusive of sense and voluntary motion, and 
 consequently in a meaning less definitely restricted than 
 that in which Aristotle employed the term Vegetative 
 Soul. It must be allowed, therefore, that Aristotle's 
 generic definition of Soul, as a term synonymous with 
 life, or the principle of life, besides being an innovation 
 in language, has proved the source of much confusion in 
 the notions adopted by succeeding philosophers respect- 
 ing the cause of life or animation in organized beings, 
 and has given occasion to the invention and personifi-
 
 170 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 cation of numerous imaginary vital and archseal prin- 
 ciples in the science of physiology *. 
 
 Galen seems to have heen the first medical philoso- 
 pher w^ho perceived that the ohjectionable part of Aris- 
 totle's physiological generalizations of vital phenomena, 
 consisted chiefly, if not solely, in his comprehending, 
 under the generic term Soul, the phenomena and 
 functions of organic or vegetative life, along with those 
 functions that are peculiar to sentient and intelligent 
 beings, — functions which he regarded as essentially con- 
 nected with, or dependent upon, the presence of a ner- 
 vous system f . In the commencement of his Treatise 
 on the Natural Faculties, Galen observes that, to feel 
 and to be moved voluntarily arc properties peculiar 
 to animals, but to be nourished and to grow are com- 
 mon to them with plants ; the former are operations of 
 the soul, the latter the work of nature. Instead, there- 
 fore, of comprehending the vegetative, sentient, and 
 voluntive faculties of the mind, as had been done by 
 Ai'istotle, under the common term Soul, Galen thought 
 it more conformable to the ordinary use of language to 
 designate the first of these faculties by the term Na- 
 tm'e, and the second by that of the Sentient or Ani- 
 mal Soul ; and, accordingly, under the appellation of 
 the natural faculties, he has given a full account of the 
 phenomena of nutrition and generation. 
 
 From the preceding statement, it would appear that 
 the distinguishing peculiarity of the theory of Stahl, 
 consisted in his ascribing to the rational soul those 
 vital and pui'ely organic functions which had been at- 
 
 * De Anima, Lib. i. Thes. 19, 33, 34. 
 
 t De Motu Musculorum, lib. i. cap. i. torn. iv. p. 372, edit. 
 Kuhnii.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 171 
 
 tributed by Aristotle to the agency of the vegetative 
 soiil, and by Hippocrates, Galen, and others, to the 
 operation of nature *. But, in using the term Rational 
 Soul to designate the cause of all the vital phenomena 
 of the human economy, Stahl has nowhere explained, 
 in a satisfactory manner, why the faculty of reason 
 should be required, in this economy, for the execution 
 of its organic or vegetative functions ; while functions 
 in every respect analogous are performed in plants and 
 in brute animals without the agency of that principle. 
 These functions, however, could not have escaped his 
 notice, and we must therefore believe either that Stahl 
 employed the w^ords Rational Soul, as a generic term, 
 impl}dng necessarily, as Aristotle had conceived, the 
 co-existence and co-operation of the vegetative and sen- 
 tient faculties along with the intellective, or that he 
 used the words rational soul in a sense little if at all 
 different from that in which Aristotle had employed 
 the term Vegetative Soul. This last supposition ap- 
 pears to be in some measure justified by the account 
 which he has himself given of the reasons that induced 
 physicians to make use of the term Spirits, and by a 
 passage in his preface to Juncker's Co7ispectus Medi- 
 cincE, in which he states that the introduction of the 
 rational soul into his medical theory was not at all 
 
 * Opinions regarding the operation of the soul in the animal 
 economy, in some respects similar to those of Stahl, are to he 
 found in the writings of Borelli and of Perrault ; but these authors 
 admitted the operation of other principles, both mechanical and 
 chemical, besides the soul, in the explanation of vital phenomena. 
 Borelli, de Motu Animalium, p. 1, 2, 3; et Pars secunda, Propos. 
 80. — Perrcmltj La Mechanique des An'wiaux, Avertissement ; Des 
 Sens Exterieurs, Ire Partie, &c. &c.
 
 172 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 necessary to its validity ; and assigns, as a reason for 
 having recourse to that principle, his fear of being sus- 
 pected to maintain that corporeal motions or actions 
 could be performed without an agent *. Besides, Stahl 
 himself informs us, in various parts of his writings, 
 that his anima or rational soul was the same principle 
 with the nature of Hippocrates f , a principle which, 
 from the particular phenomena and functions of orga* 
 nized beings that have been unifomily ascribed to it by 
 a long succession of physiologists, must be regarded as 
 the same in every respect, except in name, with the 
 vegetative soul of Aristotle, the natural faculties of 
 Galen, Fernelius, and Sennertus ; the archseus of Pa- 
 racelsus and Van-Helmont ; the formative, organizing, 
 and plastic power of Harvey, Glisson, and Cudworth ; 
 the vis essentialis of Wolff; the life of Mr Hunter ; 
 the nisus formativus of Blumenbach ; and the vital 
 principle of Barthez, and of other modern authors. 
 
 Of the physiologists w^ho have adopted Aristotle's 
 doctrine of a vegetative soul or vital principle, some 
 appear to have regarded this soul merely as a term sig- 
 nificative of the organic constitution of plants and ani- 
 mals, and of the vital functions which they perform ; 
 others as indicating the existence of a distinct substance 
 or principle, superadded to vegetable and animal orga- 
 nizations, which possesses properties different from the 
 physical and chemical qualities of matter, and of a na- 
 tm-e intermediate, as it were, between the properties 
 of matter and the attributes of mind. But whether 
 for the production of the organic and vital phenomena 
 
 * Physlologia, p. 22. Juiickeri Conspectus MediciiicC, p. 8. 
 t Stahl, Ad Alieiia a Medica Doctrina arcendum, p. 25.
 
 LIFE OF T>Vv CULLKX. 173 
 
 of plants and animals, any other properties have heen 
 conferred upon the elementary molecules of which they 
 are fonned, in addition to the physical and chemical 
 properties which these molecules possess when they 
 enter into the composition of unorganized masses of 
 matter, is a point concerning which the researches of 
 past physiologists do not appear to afford any satisfac- 
 tory information. By some physiologists, however, it 
 has heen maintained that the production of the orga- 
 nic and vital phenomena of plants and animals must 
 depend on the operation of properties quite different 
 from those with which the constituent elements of un- 
 organized matter are endowed ; while other physiologists, 
 again, have heen led by various considerations arising 
 out of the progress of discovery in the sciences, to believe 
 that the vital properties which are perceived to exist 
 in the elementary textures of plants and animals, and 
 the changes occasioned in them by the operation of 
 external agents, may be the results of chemical com- 
 bination in organized structures, which can only be re- 
 garded as the infinitely diversified products of a Divine 
 Architect. 
 
 The following observations of Boerhaave, which had 
 professedly the Archaeus of Paracelsus and Van Hel- 
 mont for their object, are still applicable, it is con- 
 ceived, to the different modifications which have since 
 been proposed of the doctrine of vital principles as ex- 
 istences distinct fi'om the organizations in which they 
 inhere. 
 
 " These philosophers conceived it to be necessary to 
 admit the existence of a certain being that directs all the
 
 174 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 functions of the body in the states of health and of disease, 
 —which is neither the cogitative mind, nor dull and com- 
 mon matter, but an agent of an intermediate nature, — from 
 thinking it impossible that so many different functions, mu- 
 tually depending upon one another, as are carried on in 
 organized bodies, could be properly performed, unless they 
 were all regulated by some intelligent director. They were 
 unwilling to attribute that office to the iimnortal (or rational) 
 soul, because in that case we must be conscious of those 
 things that take place within us, and even be able to regu- 
 late the functions which we call vital. There seems to be 
 no need of a serious refutation of this hypothesis. I can 
 scarcely believe that Helmont was so insane as to credit 
 all those things which he wrote about the Archseus ; and 
 as often as he says that the archaeus desires, selects, digests, 
 and expels food, he seems to have meant nothing more 
 than that food is desired, selected, digested, and expelled 
 by some unknown power. For what diiference is there be- 
 tween confessing that you are ignorant of the cause of a 
 particular action, and attributing it to an obscure and fic- 
 titious agent, of which you cannot ascertain either the ex- 
 istence, or the nature, or the properties, or the mode of ope- 
 ration ? We know, indeed, many mechanical causes of the 
 functions, and we likewise know in general that life, health, 
 and all the functions of the human economy depend on in- 
 numerable physical causes, so combined into one organic 
 body by the First ]Mind, that the body can preserve and re- 
 store itself ; nor does it stand more in need of any subordi- 
 nate mover than a clock, after it is once set in motion, re- 
 quires a new principle of motion during the whole of the 
 time for which the different wheels, that enter into its struc- 
 ture, suffice for carrying round the index *.'''' 
 
 Were any additional evidence required to shew that 
 
 * Boerhaave's Physiolon;}^ § 107- Note 5. 
 
 3
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 175 
 
 the rational soul of Stahl was but another name for the 
 vegetative soul of Aristotle, it might easily be obtained 
 from a review of the particular functions which he has 
 every where assigned to that principle. Indeed, his 
 dissertations on the differences that exist between me- 
 chanism and organization, and on the peculiar proper- 
 ties and functions which distinguish living from inor- 
 ganic bodies, and the accurate account which he has 
 given in his Physiology, of life as resulting entirely 
 from motion, of vital activity, and of vital actions, of 
 digestion, circulation, secretion, &c. as concerned in the 
 vegetative functions of nutrition and generation, can 
 be considered in no other light than as an exposition 
 of the properties and functions of the vegetative soul 
 or vital principle, more full, correct and definite than 
 any which had been previously given, and as complete, 
 in all its parts, as the state of the natural sciences, and 
 the knowledge of organic structure, and of vital func- 
 tions at the time he lived, could possibly admit of. 
 Stahl seems to have insisted the more strenuously on the 
 doctrines of organization, vitality, and vital actions, in 
 consequence * of the very novel and singular view which 
 had been taken of the animal economy by Descartes, 
 particularly in his posthumous work, the Tractatus de 
 Homine et de Formatione Foetus. This philosopher 
 had endeavoured to prove that all the functions of or- 
 ganized bodies, animal as well as vegetative, result 
 entirely from the mechanical disposition of their or- 
 gans, in the same manner as the motions of a clock, or 
 of any other automaton, arise from the arrangement of 
 
 * Stahl, De INfechan. et Organ. Div. p. 31.
 
 176 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 its springs, weights and wheels ; and, therefore, that 
 it was unnecessary to attribute these functions to the 
 operation of a vegetative or sentient soul, or, indeed, to 
 any other principle of motion or life besides the heat 
 of the blood and animal spirits, which operates unceas- 
 ingly during life in the brain and heart. In reject- 
 ing the generalizations of vital phenomena w^hich had 
 been made by Aristotle, and in maintaining that the 
 animal functions, as well as the purely organic, are 
 performed in brute animals without the interference of 
 a conscious mind, merely from the automatic constitu- 
 tion or internal mechanical arrangement of their bodily 
 organs, Descartes was led to conclude, that though 
 these animals possess a nervous system and sensitive 
 organs, similar in their structure to those of man, they 
 are nevertheless altogether devoid of sense, memory, 
 knowledge and desire, — a conclusion obviously not less 
 absurd than that to which Stahl, in rejecting the same 
 generalizations, was conducted in imagining that the 
 organic, as well as the animal functions of all living 
 beings, are begun, carried on, preserved, and governed, 
 by the exercise of an intelligent, rational, and yet un- 
 conscious soul ^. 
 
 By admitting with Descartes only two substances 
 in the human system, an organized body and a rational 
 soul, and by supposing that the soul acts directly upon 
 the body without the concurrence of any intermediate 
 agent, Stahl was enabled, in the view which he took 
 
 * Descartes, De Homine (Amstelodami, 1677)^ § 105, 6. De 
 Formatione Fcetiis, §1,5. De Homine, § 14. De Passionibus, 
 Art. 8, 16. De Form. Foetus, § 7, seqq. Responsioiies Quartae (Me- 
 ditationes 1663), p. 126. Resp. Sext. p. 157- De Methodo, § 5. 
 
 I
 
 IJFE OF DR CULLEN. 177 
 
 of the functions of the human economy, to lay aside all 
 explanations founded on the operation of such imagi- 
 nary principles as natural, vital, and animal spirits, 
 which had formed so large a portion of the physiological 
 and pathological doctrines of the schools, and had so 
 long diverted the attention of philosophers from the 
 proper objects of physical and medical inquiry. He 
 rejected also all explanations founded on the chemical 
 composition of the fluids, and on the alterations to 
 which they are subject in diseases, and considered the 
 different theories of putrescency and of fermentation, 
 of acrimony and of cacochymy, of acid and of alkali, &c. 
 as utterly irreconcilable with the soimd state of the 
 blood in the living body, and with the operation of 
 those vital motions by which that state is preserved 
 amidst all the causes of variation to which it is ex- 
 posed. The only changes in the blood which Stahl 
 recognised as occurring during life, are those that relate 
 to its quantity and consistence *. 
 
 As Health, according to Stahl, depends on the sound 
 state of the vital organs, and on the due performance 
 of their respective functions under the governing influ- 
 ence of the rational soul ; so Disease arises from the 
 efforts of this soul, to resist whatever either immediately 
 or remotely tends to injure the composition or structure 
 of these organs. In conformity with this opinion, Stahl 
 considered diseases as arising from the combined opera- 
 tion of two distinct causes \ first, from the direct action 
 of noxious powders upon the body ; and, secondly, from 
 the reaction of the organic system itself, consisting in 
 
 * Physiologia, p. 22. Ad Aliena, &c. p. 18, seq. Physiologia, 
 p. 152, 3. 
 
 VOL I. M
 
 178 IJFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 the vital and tonic motions excited in it by the soul, in 
 order to oppose and counteract the effects which the 
 noxious powers produce, and to purify, preserve, and 
 repair the system. Diseases, accordingly, were regard- 
 ed by Stahl as not in themselves pernicious, but as apt 
 to become so, from the mistakes of the sovl in the 
 choice of the motions which it excites for their removal, 
 or from errors in the proportion and degree of these 
 motions, and in the time of their production. Even 
 death itself did not appear to Stahl to arise from any 
 inevitable cause in the structure of our bodies, but 
 merely from the indolence of the soul leading it to 
 desist from its vital motions, and from its unwilling- 
 ness to continue its painful and troublesome functions 
 in the corporeal derangements arising from the opera- 
 tion of noxious powers ^. 
 
 The term Nature had been used by Hippocrates to 
 express the cause, not only of all the healthy operations 
 that take place in the animal economy, but also of those 
 actions of the organic system by which diseases are spon- 
 taneously cvu'ed. Stahl made these actions the parti- 
 cular subject of his consideration ; and in his celebra- 
 ted thesis De Autocrateia Naturce, has given a very 
 full enumeration of the salutaiy effects they produce in 
 repairing the injuries, and in mitigating and curin*g 
 the diseases to which the body is liable. Though it 
 be undoubtedly an ancient opinion, that nature cures 
 diseases, yet Stahl was, so far as I know, the first 
 pathologist who explicitly stated and maintained, that 
 diseases, such as fevers, inflammations, haemorrhages, 
 
 *• Pathologia^ p. 37-4L De Scriptis suis, p. 65.
 
 LIFE OF DPt CULLEN^. 179 
 
 spasms, &c. proceed chiefly from the reaction of the 
 organic system, excited by the operation of noxious 
 powers, and are to be considered as salutary efforts of 
 the soul, to defend the vital economy from the dangers 
 that threaten it. This view of pathology w^hich repre- 
 sents morbid actions as efforts of nature to avert some 
 greater evil, led Stahl to consider it to be the principal 
 duty of a prudent and intelligent physician to observe 
 carefully the natural course of diseases, — to superintend 
 and direct the motions which the soul excites in order to 
 effect their cure, — to moderate these motions when they 
 appear to be too strong, — to strengthen them when too 
 weak, — and to employ for these purposes all the means, 
 medicinal, dietetic, and regiminal, which may assist in 
 restoring the diseased economy to the proper integrity 
 of its structure and functions *. 
 
 Dr CuUen has alleged that " both Stahl and his fol- 
 lowers have, in the whole of their practice, been very 
 much governed by their general principle. Trusting 
 much to the constant attention and wisdom of nature, 
 they have proposed the art of curing by expectation ; 
 have therefore, for the most part, proposed only very 
 inert and frivolous remedies ; have zealously opposed 
 the use of some of the most efficacious, such as opium, 
 and the Peruvian bark ; and are extremely reserved in 
 the use of general remedies, such as bleeding, vomit- 
 ing, &c." f This censure of the Stahlian practice must 
 be allowed to be in several respects just, but at the same 
 time it is perhaps too indiscriminating. The remedies 
 which Stahl recommended may be said in general to 
 
 * De Script, suis, p- 64. t Works, vol. i. p. 405, 6. 
 
 M 2
 
 180 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 
 
 have consisted of the antiphlogistic regimen, and the 
 proper regulation of the non-naturals, the former adapt- 
 ed for the treatment of acute, and the latter of chro- 
 nic, diseases. It is often indeed, in the practice of the 
 healing art, a matter of extreme difficulty to say at 
 what point a cautious and prudent abstinence from in- 
 terference passes into ignorant or careless negligence. 
 If trusting to the spontaneous operations of the ani- 
 mal economy leads to a feeble and inert practice, it 
 must be admitted that the neglect of these operations 
 not less frequently leads to a preposterous confidence 
 in the powers of remedies that is the som'ce of much 
 rash and presumptuous empiricism. 
 
 The simple and sublime conception that all the mo- 
 tions of the human body are produced and governed by 
 an intelligent principle inherent in it, was well calcu- 
 lated, by its novelty and by the easy and comprehen- 
 sive generalization of vital phenomena which it seem- 
 ed to afford, to excite and promote the speculative in- 
 quiries of medical philosophers, and to free the science 
 of medicine from many of those erroneous and absurd 
 mechanical and chemical doctrines with which in its 
 progress it had become encumbered. But the adop- 
 tion of this hypothesis led Stahl, in the framing of his 
 system, to be too easily satisfied with the imperfect 
 and erroneous physiological view which he had taken 
 of the human economy, — to neglect the phenomena of 
 life, as they present themselves in the nutrition and 
 generation of plants and of irrational animals, — to 
 content himself in accounting for the phenomena of 
 the organic functions, with applying the term Ration- 
 al Soul to the principle which had been, by almost all
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 181 
 
 former physiologists, denominated the vegetative soul 
 or nature ; and almost wholly to omit in his view of 
 the animal economy, the consideration of the pecidiar 
 and distinguishing susceptibilities and energies of the 
 Nervous System. These errors and omissions prevent- 
 ed Stahl from perceiving the fixed boundary which has 
 been established by nature between the operations of 
 the material and mental faculties of our frame, in that 
 consciousness of unity and personal identity, by which 
 all the various modifications of sense, memory, intellect, 
 and passion appear to be constantly and inseparably ac- 
 companied ; while, at the same time, his ambition to be 
 the founder of a new sect in medicine disposed him to 
 be less just to the merits of his predecessors and con- 
 temporaries than is required of one who undertakes to 
 make any addition to the opinions or to the experi- 
 ence of past ages. 
 
 It is but just to Stahl, however, to acknowledge, that 
 he had the merit of directing the attention of medical 
 practitioners, in a more particular manner than had 
 been done before his time, to that resistance to pu- 
 trefaction which exists in the solid and fluid parts of 
 the body during life, — to the vital activities by which 
 the state of health is preserved, and its functions duly 
 performed, — to the influence which the mind indirect- 
 ly exercises over the different functions of the body, — 
 to the effects of the different passions in exciting dis- 
 eases, — to the natural course of diseases, — and espe- 
 cially to those powers of the animal economy by which 
 diseases are spontaneously cured or relieved. 
 
 This bold and enterprising philosopher continued 
 with an industry and zeal which have rarely been
 
 182 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 equalledj for a period of more than thirty years, to ex- 
 plain and defend his peculiar medical doctrines in his 
 lectures, and in an extensive series of academical pro- 
 lusions and inaugural dissertations. His Tlieoria Me- 
 dica Vera, first published in 1 708, contains a full ac- 
 count of all his medical opinions, and of the improve- 
 ments which he conceived he had introduced into the 
 teaching and practice of physic ; but the abstract me- 
 thod in which he treated every subject, the obscurity 
 of his language, and his studiously avoiding every form 
 of expression, as w^ell as of thought, that he did not 
 believe to be peculiar to himself, have rendered the 
 perusal of this work difficult and disagreeable, and have 
 induced many to seek for information with regard to 
 the system of Stahl, in the "vvritings of his pupils, ra- 
 ther than in those in which his ideas w^re originally 
 communicated and explained. Stahl has had many 
 able and intelligent followers, and though few, if any, 
 physicians now profess to adhere strictly to his doc- 
 trines, yet almost all use in their writings more or less 
 of his phraseology, and of the modes of explanation 
 and reasoning which he employed. 
 
 Hoffmann *, who had studied medicine along with 
 Stahl, under the learned Wedelius, at the University 
 of Jena, and who, in founding the medical school of 
 Halle, had procured for him one of its professorships, 
 was the author of a System of Medicine, differing in 
 many respects from that of his colleague. Rejecting 
 
 * Hoffmann WHS born in 1660; entered on his duties as Pro- 
 fessor of Medicine at Halle in 1693 ; went to Berlin in 1708, as 
 physician to the King of Prussia ; but returned again to Halle in 
 1712: died in 1742.
 
 IJFE OF DR CULLEN. 183 
 
 the hypothesis that matter must, in every instance, 
 be put in motion by the direct agency of an immate- 
 rial principle, Hoffmann believed with Leibnitz that all 
 the sensible motions observable in different masses of 
 inorganic matter, and the changes which take place in 
 the arrangement of their constituent parts, result ne- 
 cessarily from the physical and chemical qualities with 
 which they were endowed in their original formation, 
 and that material bodies act and react upon one an- 
 other without the intervention of any immaterial prin- 
 ciple ^. 
 
 In the human economy, according to Hoffmann, 
 there are three principal agents to be considered, differ- 
 ing from one another in their essence and operations, 
 and requiring to be distinguished by different appella- 
 tions. These are. Nature, or the Organic Body ; the 
 Sentient Soul ; and the Rational Soul ; — a classifica- 
 tion corresponding, as he conceived, to that mentioned 
 in Scriptiire, of Body, Soul, and Spirit. By the term 
 Natm*e, Hoffmann understood the whole of the circu- 
 latory, secretory, and excretory motions occurring in the 
 soHds and fluids, by which the life and health of the 
 body are preserved : — by the Sentient Soul, that prin- 
 ciple common to man and brute animals, by which they 
 perceive, remember, desire, and move : — and by the 
 Rational Soul, or Mind, which distinguishes man from 
 other animals, that noble principle which, being con- 
 scious of its own modifications and operations, learns to 
 
 * Leibnitz, Acta Erudit. Ann. 1694-5-8. See Appendix to 
 " A Collection of Papers which passed between Mr Leibnitz and 
 Dr Clarke/' Lond. 1717, p- 365-383. Hoffmann, Prolegomena 
 de Medicinae Natura, fundamentis, &c. cap. iv. § 14. Scholion.
 
 184 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 compare the ideas arising from these sources, and to 
 judge of their relations, and which has the additional 
 power of beginning and regulating its own actions, ac- 
 cording to its deliberate determinations *. 
 
 From the general resemblance of this enunciation 
 of the three great powers inherent in the human eco- 
 nomy, to the distinction which had been made by Aris- 
 totle of the vivifying principle in plants, in brute ani- 
 mals, and in man, into the vegetative, sentient, and 
 rational souls, one would be led to conceive that Hoff- 
 mann must, with that philosopher, have considered 
 the organic functions of nutrition and generation in 
 plants to be vital processes. But having defined life 
 to consist in the circulatory, secretory, and excretory 
 motions produced by the action of the heart and ar- 
 teries, it became necessary for him to affirm, that since 
 plants are destitute of these organs, life cannot with 
 propriety be ascribed to them ; — an opinion in opposi- 
 tion to that of Aristotle and of most other physiolo- 
 gists, and not very consistent even with the view which 
 he has himself taken of the vegetable economy in the 
 ninth chapter of his treatise JDe optima Philosophandi 
 ratione. That the circulation of the nutritious fluids 
 is in man, and in many other animals, though not in 
 all, connected wdth, and dependent upon, the action of 
 a heart and vessels arising from it, to which nothing 
 analogous is to be observed in plants, must be allow- 
 ed ; but, on the other hand, the processes of nutrition, 
 growth, secretion, and generation, as they occur in 
 plants, bear so many analogies to these processes in the 
 
 * Philosophia Corporis Humani Vivi et Sani, lib. i. sect. iii. 
 cap. 3. § Ij Scholion: cap. 7* § 1? Scholion.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 185 
 
 animal economy, and are so different from any pheno- 
 mena exhibited by unorganized bodies, as to have led 
 to their being justly and almost universally considered 
 as vital operations *. 
 
 Instead of supposing, vdth Stahl, that the organic 
 functions of the human economy depend for their pro- 
 duction on the agency of an intelligent soul, Hoffmann 
 endeavoured to prove that they do not depend upon 
 any immaterial agent whatsoever, but are motions re- 
 sulting from the mechanical and chemical properties 
 of the elements of which the organic body is composed. 
 As the circulatory, secretory, and excretory motions, 
 which he considered to be the functions most essential 
 to life, appear to depend in the human economy on the 
 dilating and contracting powers of the muscidar fibres 
 of the heart and bloodvessels, he conceived these 
 powers to be the true cause of the organic functions, 
 and regarded their action as depending upon the ani- 
 mal spirits, a thin, subtile, elastic fluid which he sup- 
 posed to be contained in the minute tubes of the nerves, 
 and in the blood itself f. 
 
 The faculties of sense, memory, imagination, pas- 
 sion, and volition, which Hoffman ascribed to the Sen- 
 tient or Animal Soul, are precisely the same with 
 those by which this principle had been characterized 
 by Aristotle. The Greek philosopher, in his different 
 treatises on the History, on the Parts, and on the Ge- 
 neration of Animals, as well as in his Treatise on the 
 Soul itself, has enumerated a great many curious and 
 
 * Philos. Corp. Hum. lib. i. sect. i. cap. 2. § 2. 
 t Ibid. lib. i. sect. i. cap. 2. § 21 ; cap. 3. § 25. Prolegome- 
 na, cap. 8. § 11, 12.
 
 186 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 important facts relative to the faculties and operations 
 of the sentient principle, as they are to be observed in 
 the different orders of animals ; and has considered 
 that principle in many of its most interesting physiolo- 
 gical and metaphysical relations. The number of fa- 
 culties included under the term Sentient Soid appeared 
 to him to vary in the different species of animals. All 
 animals, he frequently remarks, have one of the senses, 
 touch ; and with this, the feelings of agreeable and dis- 
 agreeable, and, consequently, of desire and aversion. 
 In some animals the sense of touch seems to be ac- 
 companied with more or fewer of the other senses ; in 
 other animals, again, the senses seem all to be present, 
 in a state little, if at all, less perfect than in man ; and 
 accompanied with certain degrees of memory, imagina- 
 tion, appetites, passions, capacity of acquiring know- 
 ledge from experience and discipline, and the power of 
 acting from the apprehension of immediate good or evil. 
 Aristotle had observed the remarkable fact, that when 
 some of the lower species of animals are divided, the 
 divided portions not only continue to live, like some 
 plants when similarly treated, but seem each to re- 
 tain their powers of sense and voluntary motion ; and 
 from his observation of this fact, as well as of the con- 
 tinued development of the same mental facidties in the 
 successive generations of the same species of animals, 
 he was led to believe that the sentient soul is, as well 
 as the vegetative, essentially connected with, if not the 
 product of, material organization *. Long before his 
 
 • Aristotle, De Anima, lib. ii. Thes. 17, 23, 27, 31. Be 
 Sensu et Sensili, cap. 1. Historia Animalium, lib. i. cap. 2 ; lib. 
 viii. cap. 1 ; lib. ix. cap. 1, 7- De Anima, lib. i. Thes. 68-93.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 187 
 
 time, some of the Greek philosophers had taught that 
 the souls of brute animals are to be regarded as por- 
 tions of the divine incorporeal power, or anhna mundi, 
 by which they supposed the motions that occur in 
 every being contained in the universe, inanimate or 
 animate, to be produced and regulated ; while others 
 maintained, that these soids are individual, immaterial 
 existences, coeval in their origin with matter, and, like 
 it, neither created nor annihilated in the successive ge- 
 nerations of animal systems, but passing by transmi- 
 gration after death from one species of animal to ano- 
 ther. On each of these hypotheses, the incorporeal 
 sentient soul was supposed to manifest different powers, 
 according to the peculiar organization of the animal 
 systems with which it is conjoined. 
 
 But though Aristotle conceived the sentient soul, 
 or soul of brute animals, to be inseparably connected 
 with the organic body in which it resides, and depend- 
 ent upon it for the exercise of all its faculties, he 
 seems to have regarded the human intellect, or rational 
 soul, as a principle of a more divine nature, derived 
 from without, and consequently capable of acting in- 
 dependently of the body, and of existing in a state se- 
 parate from it *. The respective operations of the sen- 
 sitive, representative, intellective, and voluntive facul- 
 ties of the rational soul in man, as united in him in 
 one individual consciousness, are defined, described, and 
 
 * De Anima, lib. ii. Thes. 21, 22. ; lib. iii. Thes. 19, 20. De 
 iMoribus Animalium, lib. vi. cap. 2. De Partibus Animalium, 
 lib. i. cap. ^, b ; lib. iv. cap. 10. Magna Moralia, p. 184, 5. De 
 Generatione Animalium, lib. ii. cap. 3. De Historia Animalium, 
 lib. i. cap. 1.
 
 188 ' LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 physiologically considered by Aristotle in his Treatise 
 on the Soul, and in some of his other writings, with an 
 accuracy that is truly astonishing. His analysis, in par- 
 ticular, of the information afforded by each individual 
 sense, — his distinction of conception, phantasy, or the 
 representative faculty from sense on the one hand, and 
 from understanding on the other, and his account of 
 the order observed in its reminiscences and combina- 
 tions, — ^his description of the analytical, synthetical, 
 and ratiocinative processes of the understanding or in- 
 tellect, and his di\dsion of this faculty into the contem- 
 plative or theoretical, which has truth or error for the 
 object of its study, and into the practical, prudential 
 or moral, which has good or evil for the more imme- 
 diate objects of its consideration, — and his enumeration 
 and description of the appetites, desires and affections 
 which influence the determinations of the will, — ^form 
 indeed some of the most original and important contri- 
 butions that have ever been made to metaphysical 
 science *. 
 
 From the time of Aristotle to that of Hoffmann, 
 and particularly during the progress of the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries, the consideration of the na- 
 ture, properties, and seat of the sentient soul, and of 
 the manner in which this soul is produced and con- 
 tinued in the successive generations of the different 
 species of animals, occupied much of the attention of 
 
 * De Anima, lib, ii. cap. 7-11 ; lib. iii. cap. 3. Thes. 158-162; 
 cap. 5. Thes. 1-16 ; cap. 8. Thes. 27-36. De Memoria et Remi- 
 niscentia passim. De INIoribus, lib. i. cap. 4 ; lib. iii. cap. 3 ; lib. 
 vi. cap. 2. De Animalium Motionibus, cap. 6, 7- Magna Moralia, 
 lib. i. cap. 18. Rhetorice, lib. ii. De Anima, lib. iii. Thes. 40-59.
 
 LIFE OF DPv CULLEN. 189 
 
 physiologists, metaphysicians, and theologians ; and a 
 great interest was given to the discussion of these sub- 
 jects, from its being erroneously supposed that the 
 opinions formed regarding them must have a tendency 
 to uphold, or to undermine, the principles of natm'al 
 and revealed religion. Of the various hypotheses in- 
 vented to explain the origin of sensation, memory, pas- 
 sion, intelligence, and voluntary motion, as they ap- 
 pear in brute animals, three, sufficiently distinct from 
 one another, seem to have been eagerly embraced and 
 strenuously defended by their respective admirers : the 
 first, that these phenomena are not mental phenomena, 
 but mere material changes occurring in animal ma- 
 chines ; — the second, that they proceed from the ope- 
 ration of a principle intermediate in its nature between 
 mind and matter ; — and the third, that they are the 
 necessary results of the action of a principle, purely 
 immaterial, united to animal organizations. 
 
 The hypothesis, that the phenomena usually ascribed 
 to the sentient soul are not mental phenomena, but 
 mere material changes occurring in animal machines, 
 was proposed by no less distinguished a philosopher 
 than Descartes. He seems to have been led to deny 
 the existence and co-operation of a sentient soul, in 
 the production of the animal functions, in some degree 
 from his conceiving, and that justly, that the corporeal 
 part of these functions may be exercised independently 
 of the mental part, and in some degree also from an 
 unwillingness to admit that brutes possess a sentient, 
 thinking, and conscious principle, of the same imma- 
 terial nature as the rational soul of man. It has been
 
 190 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 shewn by Bayle, that Descartes had been anticipated 
 in the hypothesis, that brutes are mere machines, by 
 Pereira, a Spanish physician ; but this absurd and pa- 
 radoxical hypothesis has had few followers, and scarce- 
 ly any of distinction, if we except the names of Paschal 
 and Malebranche 'K 
 
 A very slight observation of the manners and ha- 
 bits of the different species of animals by which man 
 is every where surrounded, must at all times have 
 enabled him to perceive that these beings are provided 
 with organic and sensitive frames, similar to his own ; 
 and that their actions appear to be governed by feel- 
 ings, appetites, and passions, in many respects analo- 
 gous to those by which he is himself influenced. Ob- 
 servations of this kind must have led necessarily to the 
 conclusion, that brutes have souls as well as orga- 
 nised bodies, and that the soul of man can differ 
 from theirs only in one of two respects — either in its 
 nature or essence, or in the number and degrees of the 
 mental faculties with which man and brute animals 
 are respectively endowed. It has, however, been only 
 by slow degrees that metaphysicians have been brought 
 to perceive, that, to determine whether the soul of 
 brutes be in its nature specifically different from that 
 of man, is a problem placed beyond the reach of the 
 human faculties ; and to acknowledge that we neither 
 know nor can know, by the use of our reasoning 
 powers, any thing of matter besides the properties 
 which we perceive in it by our senses, nor any thing 
 
 * Descartes, De Passionibus, prima pars^ art. 16. Bayle, 
 Dictionnaire Historiqiie et Critique;, Art. Pereira.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 191 
 
 of soul or mind besides the different feelings of which 
 we are conscious. For the suggestion of these funda- 
 mental principles of philosophical inquiry, we are par- 
 ticularly indebted to the writings of Descartes ; and 
 for their fuller development and complete demonstra- 
 tion to Mr Locke's excellent account of our complex 
 ideas of substances, of the use of general terms, and of 
 the names of substances. By no author since their 
 times have these important truths been more clearly 
 perceived or more accurately expressed than by Mr 
 Dugald Stewart, in his introduction to the Elements 
 of the Philosophy of the Human Mind ; in his Obser- 
 vations on the Metaphysical Theories of Hartley, 
 Priestley, and Darwin ; and in his statement of the 
 Argument for a Future State, derived from the Na- 
 ture of Mind *. 
 
 But if the principles laid down in the writings which 
 have been referred to are admitted to be just, it woidd 
 seem to follow that, in the present state of our know- 
 ledge, we ought to regard every attempt to demonstrate, 
 by reasoning a priori that the animal functions of sen- 
 sation and voluntary motion must necessarily depend 
 upon the operation of a principle altogether different in 
 its real nature from matter, as no less absurd than it 
 is to attempt to prove that the function of intellection 
 in all its relations is purely the result of material orga- 
 nization. The diffidence and modesty with which Mr 
 Locke has expressed his opinion on the question whe- 
 ther God can confer consciousness or the power of 
 
 * Descartes, Meditatio Secunda. De Principiis Cogitationis 
 Humanse, p. 2. Locke, Essay on the Human Understanding, 
 book ii. chap, xxiii ; book iii. chap. iii. & vi.
 
 192 LIFE OF DR CULLEN* 
 
 thinking upon matter *, form a striking contrast to the 
 presumption with which other metaphysicians have 
 boldly decided this question in the negative ; and, in 
 their ignorance of the real natiu'e of material and men- 
 tal substances, have presumed to set limits to the power 
 of Him by whom these substances were contrived and 
 created. '* Men are not capable," as Boerhaave has 
 justly remarked, " of understanding beings and their 
 natures, like their Creator ; nor were they present at the 
 first formation of things, and yet are they proud enough 
 to judge, censure, and determine in these matters f." 
 How much more usefully might metaphysicians have 
 been employed, if, instead of attempting to resolve a pro- 
 blem, which, from its nature, seems to be insolvable by 
 human reason, they had occupied themselves, like Aris- 
 totle, in observing and comparing the operations of the 
 mental faculties of brutes with those of man. Such an 
 investigation could not have failed to force upon them, 
 irresistibly, the conviction that, between the souls of 
 brute animals and the rational soul of man, there ex- 
 ists a great and an essential distinction ; and that man is 
 better distinguished from brutes by the employment of 
 the faculty of speech as an instrument of thought and 
 a medium of communication with his species ; — by the 
 faculty of perceiving physical, metaphysical, and ma- 
 thematical truths, and judging of their relations ; — and 
 by the power of adapting the operations of mechanical, 
 chemical, intelligent, and moral agents to the attain- 
 ment of his purposes, — faculties all co-operating with 
 
 * Loc. cit. book iv. chap. iii. § 6, and Notes. 
 t Institutions, § 669,
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEK. 393 
 
 his innate desire of immortality, to the progressive im- 
 provement of the human species in knowledge and 
 virtue, — than by any subtle distinctions, founded on 
 incomprehensible speculations regarding the material 
 or immaterial nature of the principles employed by- 
 Divine Wisdom in the production of the mental feel- 
 ings of which man is conscious in himself, and the in- 
 dications of w^hich he perceives in other animals. 
 
 The results of the inquiries of philosophers, with re- 
 gard to the seat of the sentient as well as of the ra- 
 tional soul, and the manner of their union with the 
 body, were not more satisfactory than those had been 
 which related to their nature or essence. Some, with 
 Plato, imagined that the appetitive part of the soul 
 occupies the region of the liver ; the passions, that of 
 the heart ; and the cognitive faculty, that of the head. 
 Some, as Descartes, conceived that the soul occupies 
 only a very small portion of the brain ; others, that it is 
 extended over, and capable of perception, in every part 
 of the nervous system ; and others again, as Leibnitz, 
 imagined that the soul and body, being the one of an 
 immaterial and the other of a material natm*e, are in- 
 capable of being united ; and that in the actions in 
 which they appear mutually to influence each other, 
 they correspond merely, like the movements of two 
 contiguous time-pieces, in consequence of the pre-esta- 
 blished adjustment of their contriver *. 
 
 Whether the sentient soul of animals is produced 
 
 * Descartes, De Passionibus, pars prima, art. 31. seqq. Leib- 
 nitz, Essais de Theodicee ; Disc. Prel. § 55 ; Essais, § 59-65, 
 § 400. See Appendix to Collection of Papers which passed be- 
 tween Leibnitz and Clarke, p. 387- 
 
 vor,. I. N -
 
 194< LIFE OF BFv CULLEN. 
 
 by an immediate creation, or by successive reproduc- 
 tion, had also been the subject of much fruitless con- 
 troversy. The very learned but elaborate ansv/ers 
 given by the Theological Faculties, in eight of the 
 German Universities, to the questions relative to this 
 subject, addressed to them by Sennertus *, seem to 
 contain all the infomiation which their own or for- 
 mer times had collected respecting this inscrutable 
 physiological point ; and are at least sufficient to in- 
 struct those who may be disposed to enter on its re- 
 investigation, what opinions, regarding the generation 
 of the sentient soul of brute animals, may be safely 
 adopted, and v*hat are to be rejected as dangerous ; 
 what may be received as orthodox, and what ought to 
 be proscribed as heretical. 
 
 From the account which Hoffmann has given of the 
 sentient or animal soul, he seems to have been inclined 
 to consider it as a principle of a nature intermediate 
 between mind and matter, being unwilling either to 
 deny altogether the existence of mind in brute ani- 
 mals, or to admit that they possess minds purely im- 
 material. Of what nature the sentient principle is, 
 exceeds, he confesses, the reach of human intellect to 
 ascertain ; but he regarded it as sufficiently distin- 
 guished, by its operations, both from matter and from 
 the rational soul. It belongs, he says, to a higher 
 species of metaphysics than medical inquiry can reach, 
 to determine whether, besides body and spirit, there be 
 not another substance which, as a pm*e, homogeneous, 
 simple element, is fitted to receive the impressions of 
 
 * Sennerti Opera Omnia. Liigduni 1050, vol. i. p. 851.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 195 
 
 external objects, and to produce corresponding reactions. 
 The sensitive sovd, in performing its functions, em- 
 ploys, he imagined, as its principal organ, a fluid se- 
 creted from the blood in the brain, by the motions of 
 which in the nerves all the phenomena of sensation, 
 memory, passion, and locomotion, are produced. This 
 nervous fluid, which Hoffmann supposed to be the or- 
 gan of the sentient soul is, as he himself states, the 
 same in its nature and properties as the animal spirits 
 of the ancients, and the ether of more modern physio- 
 logists *. 
 
 The great and prominent merits of Hoffmann as a 
 medical philosopher, undoubtedly consisted in his ha- 
 ving perceived and pointed out more clearly than any 
 of his predecessors, the extensive and powerfid influ- 
 ence of the Nervous System, in modifying and regu- 
 lating at least, if not in producing all the phenomena 
 of the organic as well as of the animal functions in the 
 human economy, and more particularly in his applica- 
 tion of this doctrine to the explanation of diseases. 
 Galen had recorded many facts which had been ob- 
 served before his time, by Erasistratus, Herophilus 
 and others, relative to the nervous system, considered 
 as the organ of sense and voluntary motion, and to 
 these he had added several new observations and ex- 
 periments of his own. But it was not till the publica- 
 tion of the elaborate works of Willis and Vieussens, 
 that the structure, distribution, and functions of that 
 system seem to have become the objects of very gene- 
 ral attention among medical men. Tliese authors 
 
 * Philos. Corp. Hum. lib. i. sect. iii. cap. viii. § 3. schoHon ; § 7- 
 et scliolion. 
 
 N2
 
 196 LIFE OF UR CULLEN. 
 
 pointed out many examples of sympathies existing be- 
 tween different parts of the human body through the 
 medium of the nervous system, in the states both of 
 health and disease; and JNIayow, Baglivi, and Pac- 
 chioni, endeavoured to account for some of these sympa- 
 thetic actions, by a contractile power which they erro- 
 neously supposed to be lodged in the fibres of the dura 
 mater. It was reserved for Hoffmann, however, to 
 take a comprehensive view of the Nervous System, not 
 only as the organ of sense and motion, but also as the 
 common centre by which all the different parts of the 
 animal economy are connected together, and through 
 which they mutually influence each other. He was, 
 accordingly led to regard all those alterations in the 
 structure and functions of this economy, which consti- 
 tute the state of disease, as having their primary origin 
 in affections of the nervous system, and as depending* 
 therefore, upon a deranged state of the imperceptible 
 and contractile motions in the solids, rather than upon 
 changes induced in the chemical composition of the 
 fluid parts of the body. 
 
 In speaking of the writers w^ho had treated of the 
 pathological doctrine of the nervous system previously 
 to Hoffmann, Dr Cullen has very justly remarked, 
 that " in these writers it was either not extensively ap- 
 plied to diseases, or was still so involved in many phy- 
 siological errors, that it had attracted little attention ; 
 and Dr Hoffmann was the first who gave any tolerably 
 simple and clear system on the subject, or pointed out 
 any extensive application of it to the explanation"of 
 diseases." Hoffmann has himself given an excellent 
 summary of his pathological doctrines in that remark-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 197 
 
 able passage of his Medicina Ratioiialis Systematica, 
 which has been quoted by Dr CuUen in the introduc- 
 tion to his First Lines of the Practice of Physic, and 
 which exhibits a concise, and at the same time a juster 
 and more comprehensive view of the animal system in 
 its morbid state than had been taken by any preceding 
 pathologist. 
 
 The ideas with regard to the nervous origin of dis- 
 eases, which pervade the numerous writings of Hoff- 
 mann, — and which he has explained and illustrated in 
 a very distinct and luminous manner in the fourth and 
 fifth chapters of his Therapeutics, where he treats of 
 the Genealogy of Diseases, and of the Sympathies ex- 
 isting between the different parts of the Nervous Sys- 
 tem, — form the great basis of the pathology at present 
 taught in the schools of medicine ; and which, though 
 at first slowly received, has at length gradually sup- 
 planted the doctrine of the four humom's, and their 
 corresponding temperaments, that had prevailed for a 
 period of two thousand years. It must be admitted 
 that Hoffmann amply realized the expectations ex- 
 pressed by Leibnitz in a letter which he wTote to 
 him in 1699, in which, in complaining of the inat- 
 tention of authors to strictness . of definition, he re- 
 marks : " You appear to me to be one of the few who 
 are at particular pains to speak of things the meaning 
 of which is understood. I expect from you, therefore, 
 at some future period, some elementary principles of 
 rational medicine, not too nearly allied to those theo- 
 retical speculations, remote from practical utility, which 
 prevail amongst the Cartesian physicians ; nor founded 
 on mere sports of the imagination, as is usually the
 
 198 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 case with the doctrines of the chemists ; but such as 
 shall bring to liglit the intelligible causes of sensible 
 things, where this can be done ; and where this is im- 
 possible, shall at least deduce useful residts from those 
 things that are certain in fact, though not yet referrible 
 to their causes*." 
 
 The followers of Stahl have accused Hoffmann of 
 borrowing sometimes, mthout acknowledgment, the 
 opinions of his colleague ; but it may be questioned 
 how far this charge is in any respect well founded ; 
 and it is beyond all doubt that Hoffmann cannot have 
 owed his opinions regarding the nervous origin of dis- 
 eases to Stahl, since this author makes very little men- 
 tion of the nervous system, either in the physiologi- 
 cal or pathological parts of his Tlieoria 3Iedica Vera. 
 The most accurate view which we possess of the dif- 
 ferences existing between the medical systems of these 
 two professors, is that given by Hoffmann himself in 
 his Commentai^ius de differentiis inte7- ejus doctri- 
 nam 3IedAcO'3I echanicam et StaJdii 3IedAcO'Orga' 
 7iicam. This commentary, which was published some 
 years after the author's death, is distinguished by the 
 great extent, minuteness and acciuacy, of the physiolo- 
 gical, pathological, and therapeutical knowledge which 
 it contains, and by the instructive example it affords 
 of the exercise of candour and discrimination in esti- 
 mating the merits and in refuting the doctrines of a 
 rival. Yet it is impossible to read this commentary, 
 without regretting that Hoffmann shoidd have admit- 
 ted into the explanation which he has given of the 
 
 * Hoftmanni Operum Supplementum^ pars Imo, p. 51.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 199 
 
 nervous origin of the phenomena of health and disease, 
 the operation of a principle so hypothetical and imagi- 
 nary as the animal spirits or nervous fluid, which had 
 been entu-ely rejected by Stahl. Hoffmann has, how- 
 ever, it must be allowed, amply atoned for this im- 
 perfection of his system, by the expanded and correct 
 view which he has taken of the true foundations of 
 medical science, and of the legitimate mode of con- 
 ducting medical inquiries, in several paragraphs of his 
 Opusculum de crroribus 3Iedico7^um in theoria et 
 jircecipue in pi^axi medica^ in which a variety of im- 
 portant philosophical maxims are inculcated, that can- 
 not be too deeply impressed upon the minds of those 
 who are employed in cultivating and in endeavouring 
 to improve the science of medicine. 
 
 Instead of regarding Medicine, as had been done by 
 Stahl, as a branch of knowledge separate from, and 
 totally independent of, the other arts and sciences, 
 Hoffmann conceived it to depend upon these in a great 
 measure for its improvement and progress ; and he em- 
 ployed all the powers of his capacious mind, and his 
 extensive learning, in borrowing from anatomy, and 
 from natural philosophy and chemistry, whatever could 
 tend to elucidate the study or improve the practice of 
 medicine. His v/ritings, in six volumes folio, form 
 an immense store-house of theoretical and practical 
 knowledge, collected from his own observations and re- 
 flections, and from all the treasures of ancient and mo- 
 dern learning. This laborious mode of conducting his 
 inquiries, and the anxiety which Hoffmann evinces to 
 do justice to the opinions of his predecessors and co- 
 temporaries, has in some degree obscured the origi-
 
 200 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 
 
 nality which actually exists in his owii compositions, — 
 a quality the semblance of which is not unfrequently 
 given to the speculations of inferior authors, merely by 
 their omitting to refer to the sources from which their 
 ideas have been borrowed or their information more 
 immediately derived. 
 
 Professor Rega of Louvain was the first writer on 
 the continent of Europe, after Hoffmann, who adopted 
 the doctrine of the Nervous Pathology. He has given 
 a useful and somewhat popular view of this pathology 
 in his Tradatus Medicus de Sympathia sen Con- 
 sensu partium coiyoris humani ac prcecipue Ventri- 
 culi in statu inorboso, published at Haarlem in 1721. 
 In this country, it was Dr Cullen who first perceived 
 the value of the doctrine of the Nervous Pathology in- 
 troduced by Hoffmann ; and from the time he began 
 to lecture on medicine in Glasgow, he not only adopted 
 that doctrine, but uniformly endeavoured to render to 
 the memory and writings of its author that commen- 
 dation and applause to which the importance of his 
 improvements in pathology, and in the descriptions of 
 diseases, and his candom* and impartiality to others, 
 gave him so just a claim. 
 
 Shortly after Hoffmann and Stahl had laid the 
 foundation of the JNIedical School at Halle, Boer- 
 HAAVE * began to teach medicine at Leyden. He had 
 been educated originally for the church, but in conse- 
 quence of being unjustly suspected of having adopted 
 the metaphysical opinions of Spinoza, he found it ne- 
 cessary to abandon his intention of entering into the 
 
 * Boerliaave was born in 1668, appointed Professor at Leyden 
 1709; and died in 1738.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 201 
 
 clerical profession, and applied himself zealously to the 
 study and practice of medicine. 
 
 No teacher of medical science ever entered upon the 
 duties of his office with qualifications greater than 
 those which Boerhaave possessed, or performed them 
 with more ability, diligence, and success. His erudi- 
 tion was varied and profound ; he was conversant with 
 the opinions of the different sects of ancient philoso- 
 phers, and with the writings of the Greek and Arabian 
 physicians ; and to this store of learning he added an 
 acquaintance with all that had been discovered in 
 medicine previously to his own time. He was also 
 eminently distinguished by his knowledge of the col- 
 lateral sciences of natiu-al philosophy, chemistry, bo- 
 tany, and anatomy ; and to great mental endowments 
 he united the most indefatigable industry in the ac- 
 quisition of experimental and professional information. 
 It is impossible for any one acquainted with the life 
 and writings of Boerhaave to peruse his oration com- 
 memorating the talents and virtues of his deceased 
 colleague Professor Bernard Albinus, without perceiv- 
 ing that, in delineating the character of his friend, he 
 was all the while unconsciously giving a picture of 
 his own mind, and pronouncing an eulogium which 
 is in every respect justly applicable to himself*. 
 Thoroughly instructed in the modes of investigation 
 and reasoning pursued in the mathematical sciences, 
 Boerhaave, in commencing to teach medicine, endea- 
 voured to simplify its study, by rejecting all vain and 
 useless hypotheses, and by adopting, as the basis of his 
 
 * Boerhaave, Opiiscula Omnia, 4to. j Hagse Comitis, 1738, 
 p. 44.
 
 202 LIFE OF I)li CULLEN. 
 
 reasonings, those facts only which he believed to have 
 been ascertained and verified by observation and expe- 
 rience. After having taught for a few years, he re- 
 duced his medical doctrines to a regular system, which 
 lie published in two separate volumes ; one entitled the 
 Institutions or Theory, and the other the Aphorisms 
 or Practice of Physic. These short treatises, which 
 gave to medicine a more systematic form than it had 
 previously exhibited, are remarkable for brevity, per- 
 spicuity, and elegance of style, for great condensation 
 of ideas, and for the number of important facts which 
 they contain relative to the healthy and diseased states 
 of the human economy. 
 
 The fundamental principle of Boerhaave's Physio- 
 logy consisted in regarding man as composed of two 
 distinct substances, JNIind and Body. The former he 
 defined to be, that within us which feels, thinks, and 
 wills ; the latter, that which has extension, figure, and 
 mobility. It is the essential nature of Mind, he ob- 
 serves, to be conscious, or to think; but to think of 
 this or of that particular thing is accidental to it. 
 The essential nature of Body is to be extended and 
 impenetrable. These attributes of mind and body 
 have, he conceived, nothing in common, nor can any 
 analogy between them be inferred from their existing 
 together in the same class of beings. " When I think 
 of extension," says Boerhaave, " it does not involve 
 any idea of consciousness ; and when I reflect upon 
 consciousness, I cannot perceive any connexion which 
 it has with extension. The idea or definition of body, 
 therefore, has nothing in common with that of mind ; 
 nor has the idea of mind, on the other hand, any thing
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 203 
 
 in common with that of body." But though these two 
 principles differ essentially in their nature, they are 
 capable of mutually influencing each other, and their 
 reciprocal action he regarded as an ultimate fact, to a 
 knowledge of which we are led by observation and con- 
 sciousness, but which does not admit of explanation *. 
 
 Boerhaave considered the study of JNIind to form an 
 important part of physiology ; and, accordingly, in his 
 lectures on this subject, he gave an account of the 
 Mental Faculties under the two distinct heads of the 
 External and Internal Senses — a distinction which 
 had been previously followed by Fernelius and other 
 physiologists, and which has of late years been revived 
 by several metaphysicians, under the appellations of 
 the External and Internal Affections of the Mind f . 
 
 In his explanation of the process of sensation, Boer- 
 haave did not admit, with the Peripatetics, the inter- 
 vention of any sensible species, idea, or image, between 
 the impression produced by an external object upon a 
 sensitive organ, and the affection of the mind by which 
 such an impression is followed. *' Our bodies," he ob- 
 serves, " receive nothing else from sensible objects, to 
 produce sensation, than a change in the surface of the 
 nerve, excited by the contact of the object." — " I do 
 not say that this is to feel, but I say that we feel 
 when this takes place." — " Sensation, therefore, is no- 
 thing either in the object or in the nerve affected, but 
 
 * Institutions, § 27, and Comment. 
 
 t Ibid. § § 481, and 566. Elemeus d'Ideologic par Destutt 
 Tracy, Paris 1804. Lectures on the Philosophy of the Human 
 Mind by the late Dr T. Brown, Edin. 1820.
 
 20 i LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 a certain idea which God has assigned to this particu- 
 lar corporeal change. This is acknowledged hy New- 
 ton in the last edition of his Optics. It must be re- 
 membered, however, that, by a certain law, a definite 
 idea is connected with each corporeal change, so that 
 the same action of the same object, upon thesame or- 
 gan, always produces the same idea." From these, 
 and other passages in his writings, it is obvious that 
 Boerhaave employed the term idea to signify, not cor- 
 poreal images of external objects transmitted from the 
 sensitive organ to the mind — the sense in which it has 
 been understood by some metaphysicians — ^but sensa- 
 tions, conceptions, and thoughts, occasioned sometimes 
 by external and sometimes by internal causes. In- 
 deed, M. Claude Perrault, in his Essais de Phy- 
 sique, had previously pointed out, in a very distinct 
 manner, the equivocal meaning of the term idea or 
 image — the literal, in which a painting, or the impres- 
 sion of a seal, are called images of objects, and the 
 metaphorical, in which speech is said to be the image 
 of thought, and writing the image of speech — and had 
 affirmed that, tliough the word image had been em- 
 ployed in both of these senses by physiologists and 
 metaphysicians, it is only in the metaphorical sense 
 that the expression of the mind preserving the images 
 of objects ought to be understood *. 
 
 But though Perrault and Boerhaave agreed in re- 
 jecting the hypotheses of substantial forms or images, 
 they differed widely as to the part of the body in 
 
 * Boerhaave, § 560, and Comment. ; § 5/0^ Comment. Per- 
 rault, CEuvres de Physique, Amsterdam, 1727> torn. i. p. 268.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 205 
 
 which they conceived the process of perception to be 
 completed by the affection of the sentient mind. 
 Perrault supposed that the mind is united to the 
 whole of the animated body, and is consequently af- 
 fected by the impressions of external objects, in the 
 organ upon which they more immediately act. Boer- 
 haave, again, conceiving, with most other physiologists, 
 the more particular seat of the mind to be in the 
 brain, was led, from the well known effects of the 
 compression and division of nerves in destroying the 
 sensibility of the parts to which they are distributed, 
 to believe that the change produced upon the extre- 
 mity of a sentient nerve must be propagated along the 
 nerve to the brain, before sensation can be produced. 
 Of the two mechanical explanations that had been 
 given of the manner in which the change produced 
 upon the extremity of a sentient nerve is propagated 
 along it to the brain, according to one of which the 
 nerves are to be considered as solid vibratory cords, 
 and according to the other as hollow undulatory canals, 
 Boerhaave adopted the latter, conceiving that the 
 change in the common Sensory can be nothing more 
 than a repulsion of the nervous fluid or animal spirits 
 against their origin in the brain *. 
 
 That different portions of the nervous system are 
 subservient to different functions in the animal econo- 
 my, is an opinion which was entertained by some of 
 the ancient physicians. Erasistratus, as we are in- 
 formed by Rufus Ephesius, conceived that there are 
 
 * Perrault; loc. cit. p. 205-6. Boerlmave, § 568, and Com- 
 ment.
 
 206 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 different nerves for sensation and for motion. The 
 sensory nerves he snpposed to arise from the mem- 
 branes, and the motory from the substance of the brain. 
 Galen, also, believed that the nerves of sensation and 
 the nerves of motion are separate, and have different 
 origins ; and assigns this as the reason why those or- 
 gans of sense which are susceptible of voluntary mo- 
 tions, such as the eye and the tongue, are provided 
 with two sets of nerves. " If," says he, in his Treatise 
 on the Use of Parts, " one of these nerves is at any 
 time injured, the organ loses only that function which 
 the injured nerve performed for it. Thus we often see 
 the tongue in one case impeded in its motion, and in 
 another in its power of recognising and distinguishing 
 tastes." The sensory nerves, Galen supposed to arise 
 from the cerebrum, and the motory, with but few ex- 
 ceptions, from the cerebellum. It is mentioned by Dr 
 Friend, that Gulielmus de Saliceto, " in speaking of 
 wounds in the chest, has a very remarkable passage 
 concerning the nerves of that part ; he says, those from 
 the 6th and 7th pair, which arise from the brain and 
 the nucha, serve for its voluntary motion, the others 
 for the natural or vital motion. I take notice of 
 this," continues Dr Friend, " because it is exactly 
 the notion of the famous Dr Willis, the first inven- 
 tor of the nervous System." Willis considered the 
 cerebrum to be the seat of the intellectual faculties, 
 and the source of that portion of the animal spirits on 
 which the voluntary motions of the body depend. To 
 the cerebellum he attributed the production of those 
 involuntary actions, which go on in the animal econo- 
 my in a regular manner, without our knowledge, and
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 207 
 
 iiidependcntly of our volition. The nerves presiding 
 over the vohmtary motions, therefore, he supposed to 
 arise chiefly from the cerebrum ; and those presiding 
 over the involuntary motions, chiefly from the cerebel- 
 lum or its appendages. Boerhaave agreed with Willis 
 in believing, that the cerebnim presides over the vo- 
 luntary, and the cerebellum over the involuntary mo- 
 tions of the animal economy. But as, in many parts 
 of the body, both of these two classes of motions are 
 performed together, he conceived that the nerves of 
 these parts must be composed of fibres, derived partly 
 from the cerebrum and partly from the cerebellum, 
 and retaining, throughout their whole coiu*se, a pecu- 
 liar function according to the part from which they 
 arise. He was likewise disposed to believe that each 
 of the senses has not only its own peculiar external or- 
 gan, but also its distinct seat in the common sensory 
 or brain ^. 
 
 Boerhaave gave an uncommon degree of interest to 
 his lectures on the External Senses, particularly to 
 those on Seeing and Hearing, by cmious details with 
 regard to the varieties observable in the structure of 
 the visual and auditory organs of man and other ani- 
 mals, and by a happy application of the principles of 
 optics and acoustics to the explanation of the pheno- 
 mena of these functions : and he rendered his lectures 
 
 * Rufus Ephesius, de Partibiis Hominis, p. 65, edit. Clinch, 
 Lond. 1726. Galen de Anatomicis Administrationibus, lib. iii. 
 De Usu Partium, lib. viii. Friend, History of Medicine, part ii. 
 p. 315. Willis, Anatomy of the Brain, chap, xv.-xvii. Boerhaave, 
 § 395, Comment. ; § 600, Comment. ; § 401, Comment. ; § 273, 
 and Comment. ; § 568, and Comment. ; § 570, and Comment.
 
 208 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 on the Internal Senses, and on the states of Sleepmg and 
 Wakmg, no less hiteresting, hy the selection of short, 
 striking and apposite illustrations, borrowed from al- 
 most all the departments of human knowledge. There 
 are, indeed, few portions of medical writing of the same 
 extent as Boerhaave's account of the mental faculties, 
 which exhibit such a happy union of varied, curious, 
 and useful information. 
 
 Conceiving the human body to be a combination of 
 all manner of machines, arranged by its Divine Archi- 
 tect into one compendious system, so as to be capable 
 of maintaining its existence for a long series of years, 
 of repairing the waste it undergoes from its own mo- 
 tions, and of producing systems similar to itself, Boer- 
 haave endeavoured to explain the phenomena of the 
 body, both in its healthy and morbid states, chiefly by 
 the principles of Natui'al Philosophy and Chemistry ; 
 and though he admitted the existence in it of vital 
 and animal powers, he seldom, if ever, had recourse 
 to these powers in his explanations of the functions of 
 the animal economy. Hence his physiological system 
 was represented by some of his contemporaries as found- 
 ed upon principles purely mechanical. He denies, 
 however, the justness of this representation. " It is 
 incorrect," says he, " to attribute to me the opinion 
 that all medical phenomena are to be explained upon 
 mechanical principles. This is certainly very far from 
 being my opinion ; for as I am persuaded that, even in 
 simple bodies, general law^s are insufficient to explain 
 all the individual phenomena, much less do I suppose 
 them capable of accounting for those in the human 
 body, the most complex of all." " But if some portions
 
 LIFE OF DR CUIXEN. J^09 
 
 of the human body,'' he justly remarks, " correspond in 
 their structure with mechanical instruments, they must 
 be governed by the same laws. For all the power of 
 these parts is in the motion which they produce ; and 
 motion, by whatever body it is performed, takes place 
 according to the universal laws of mechanics. There 
 are some who think that those actions should not be 
 explained by mechanical laws, the mechanical causes 
 of which are unknown to us. But this is said without 
 an accurate examination of the matter, for we do not 
 speak of the causes but of the effects as being govern- 
 ed by mechanical laws. There are many and consi- 
 derable motions performed in nature, of the causes of 
 which we are ignorant ; but the motions themselves are 
 governed by supreme and universally diffused laws. 
 I'he magnet, the cause of whose action is wholly un- 
 known to us, performs its motions agreeably to a cer- 
 tain and ascertained law, which, when once known, can 
 be applied, without danger of mistake, to future expe- 
 riments. The human body, in like manner, exhibits 
 motions, the causes of which are unknown to us ; but 
 their effects are the elevation of weights by cords affix- 
 ed to them, the propulsion of fluids through determi- 
 nate vessels, and other effects like those produced by me- 
 chanical causes, and they are not governed by any other 
 laws." — " So that it appears," he adds, " that both par- 
 ties have erred, — the mechanicians, in attempting to 
 define all things from their art, without being suffi- 
 ciently acquainted with the structure of the parts, the 
 powers of which they expressed by numbers, — and 
 those who, hating the very name of mechanics, have de- 
 clared that our body is independent of those very laws 
 VOL. L o
 
 210 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 by which all bodies whatsoever are governed." — " The 
 misfortune is that such physiological subjects are usual- 
 ly handled either by mathematicians unskilful in ana- 
 tomy, or by anatomists who are not versed in mathe- 
 matics*." 
 
 To explain in what manner that contraction or 
 shortening of the muscular fibres is produced, upon 
 which all the sensible motions of the animal economy 
 depend, Boerhaave adopted the hypothesis generally 
 received by the JNlathematical School of Medicine, with 
 the doctrines, demonstrations, and calculations of which 
 he was intimately acquainted, and of which he must be 
 regarded as one of the most able and most discriminat- 
 ing adherents. According to this hypothesis, the 
 mmute fibres of the nerves and of the muscles are 
 continuous tubes, containing a greater or less quan- 
 tity of nervous fluid ; and the contraction of the mus- 
 cular fibres was conceived to depend on their dilatation 
 by an increased influx of this fluid. The sufliciency 
 of this supposed cause of muscular contraction, to ac- 
 count for the immense force which the muscles are ca- 
 pable of exercising, Boerhaave endeavoured to establish, 
 by a reference to the hydrostatic paradox demonstrated 
 by JMariotte, which, as he remarks, shews how consi- 
 derable a weight may be overcome by a small quantity 
 of water, if the moving power be applied through a 
 small tube to the resistance. With these views of the 
 manner in which muscular contraction is produced, and 
 of the nature of its dependence on the nervous system, 
 
 * Institutions, § 19, Comment. ; § 40, Comment; § 29, Com- 
 ment; § 212, Comment.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 211 
 
 it is scarcely to be wondered at that Boerhaave should 
 have noticed Glisson's opinion, that this phenomenon 
 depends on a peculiar power inherent in the muscular 
 fibres themselves, with only a simple expression of dis- 
 sent*. 
 
 The attempt to explain, upon Mechanical prin- 
 ciples, the cause of muscular contraction, now justly 
 considered as a vital phenomenon, must be regarded 
 as a fimdamental mistake on the part of the mechani- 
 cal physiologists, in the employment of their favou- 
 rite science, and as the primary source of many of 
 those erroneous and discordant calculations which have 
 tended to throw discredit on the application of ma- 
 thematical principles to the phenomena of the ani- 
 mal economy. A more legitimate object of inquiry, 
 and one which was piu*sued with the greatest ability 
 and success by Borelli, the founder of the Mathema- 
 tical School of Medicine, was to ascertain the resistan- 
 ces which any given muscle or muscular organ must 
 overcome — or, in other words, the force which it must 
 exert — in order to produce a given effect. And it 
 must be acknowledged, that, in applying the general 
 laws of moving powers to the voluntary motions, these 
 physiologists were extremely successful in determining 
 the circumstances upon which the amount of force ex- 
 erted by the voluntary muscles must depend, and in 
 pointing out the various mechanical contrivances by 
 which their actions are promoted and regulated. By 
 no physiologist have the residts of their labours been 
 more briefly and distinctly stated than by Boerhaave, in 
 
 * Institutions, § 395-407 ; § 411 ; § 415, Comment. 
 
 O 2
 
 252 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 the 410th and 412th paragraphs of his Institutions*. 
 That the attempts of natui'al philosophers to apply 
 the principles of mechanics, and particularly of hydrau- 
 lics, to the motions of the muscular organs subservient 
 to the vital and natm'al functions, should have been 
 far from being equally successful with the application 
 of these principles to the voluntary motions, is to be 
 attributed not to their inapplicability to those motions, 
 as has often been erroneously supposed, but to the 
 difficulty of ascertaining the different elements upon 
 which such calculations must be founded. 
 
 The application of Chemistry to the explanation of 
 the phenomena of the animal economy, though of an 
 earlier date than that of IMechanics, had, at the time 
 when Boerhaave taught, been by no means equally 
 successful. This was a necessary consequence' of the 
 entire ignorance of the chemists respecting the ele- 
 mentary composition of the solids and fluids of the 
 
 * In taking notice of the great increase of strength produced 
 by the multiplication of fibres in muscles of a penniform structure, 
 Boerhaave has omitted to mention the greater extent of motion 
 produced b}^ a given degree of shortening in oblique muscles, as 
 compared with that which is produced by an equal degree of 
 shortening in straight muscles, a fact which had been pointed out 
 by Borelli, in the 110th and 111th propositions of his work, and 
 afterv/ards by Dr Monro primus, in his remarks on the articula- 
 tions, «Scc. of the lower jaw j and of whicli a variety of demonstra- 
 tions have been since given by Heringa, Dr Monro secundus, and 
 Sir Gilbert Blane — demonstrations all tending to shew the advan- 
 tages to be derived from geometrical knowledge in the explanation 
 of the phenomena of muscular contraction. — Dr Monro l^^^, Works, 
 p. 279. Heringa, Dissertatio Inauguralis, Lugduni Batavorum, 
 1741. Dr Monro 2'^"S Observations on the Muscles, 1794. Sir 
 Gilbert Blane, Croonian Lecture, 17^8, Select Dissertations, 
 p. 281.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 213 
 
 human body, and of the effects which may be pro- 
 duced upon these by the operation of different che- 
 mical agents. No physician seems ever to have been 
 more completely aware than Boerhaave of the folly 
 of the attempts which had been made by chemists, 
 to account for all the phenomena of the animal eco- 
 nomy, by the operation of some predominating che- 
 mical element, or of the advantages that may be de- 
 rived from the judicious use of chemical knowledge in 
 all the different branches of the healing art. " We 
 are obliged," he says, " to confess, that there are many 
 truths, and those too of the greatest importance in 
 the whole of medical physiology, a knowledge of which 
 can be acquired only by the assistance of chemistry. 
 But the greatest glory of this valuable art is, that it 
 alone is able to expose and correct those errors, which 
 some whimsical dabblers in chemistry had introduced 
 into medicine, as Boyle, Bohn, Hoffmann, Romberg, 
 and others, have shown by beautifid examples. Those 
 vain trifling chemists were certainly in the WTong, who 
 have pretended by their art alone to explain physio- 
 logy in all its parts ; nor, however, are those less mis- 
 taken, who imagine they can do this ^vithout chemis- 
 try. Let anatomy faithfully describe the parts and 
 structure of the body ; let the mechanician apply his 
 particular science to the solids ; let hydrostatics explain 
 the laws of fluids in general, and hydraulics their ac- 
 tions, as they move through given canals ; and, lastly, 
 let the chemist add to all these, whatever his art, when 
 fairly and carefidly applied, has been able to discover ; 
 and then, if I am not mistaken, we shall have a com- 
 plete account of medical physiology." From this
 
 214 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 statement, it is ob\dous that Boerhaave did not, in his 
 Physiological System, take any very enlarged or cor- 
 rect \iews of the vital properties of organized beings — 
 of the dependence of these properties in animals upon 
 the state of the nervous system, — of the reciprocal or 
 sympathetic action of all parts of the living body upon 
 one another through the medium of that system, or of 
 the more immediate connexion which it has with the 
 exercise of our sentient, intellectual, and moral facid- 
 ties. 
 
 The Pathology of Boerhaave was even more defective 
 than his physiology, from his, if possible, still greater 
 neglect in it of the peculiar vital powers inherent in 
 the human body ; so that, notwithstanding the great 
 caution, and in many respects correct method, which he 
 observed in accounting for its morbid conditions upon 
 mechanical and chemical principles, his explanations of 
 these were, in general, fully more applicable to the 
 body, considered as an inert hydraulic machine, than 
 as an organized, living, and sentient system. There 
 are, however, in the pathological writings of Boerhaave, 
 some passages in which he recognises the existence of 
 vital motions in the animal economy, that cannot be re- 
 ferred to the operation either of mind or of unorganized 
 matter. Thus, in speaking of the sudden and wonder- 
 ful effects of certain vegetable and animal poisons, he 
 observes, " the force which they exert is not mecha- 
 nical, but relative to the animal organs and humours, 
 which makes me at a loss to know what to say concern- 
 ing them." The motions, too, by which diseases are 
 spontaneously cured, he denoimnRtes auto7?iatic, in order 
 to distinguish them from those of simple mechanism.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 215 
 
 These salutary motions occurring in all the diseases to 
 which man and brute animals are subject, and in every 
 stage of their progress, arise, he conceived, from the 
 peculiar constitution of the organic body, without the 
 interference of the mind, which can neither produce 
 nor destroy them. But, as if afraid in maintaining 
 the corporeal origin of automatic motions, that the 
 charge of Spinozism might be renewed against him, he 
 deprecates being accused of believing that the animal 
 machine is guided in its operations by a fatal necessity. 
 " The doctrine of automatic motions," he affirms, " is 
 certain, however displeasing it may be to some philoso- 
 phers *." 
 
 Besides the cures which natiu-e produces by means 
 of the automatic motions, Boerhaave conceived that 
 animals, when affected by disease, are often led by 
 instinct to the use of appropriate remedies ; and that 
 man is impelled, by the constitution of his mind, in 
 the states of pain and of sickness, to seek for relief, by 
 making use of every object in nature that can be sup- 
 posed to possess sanative virtues. These endeavours of 
 the mind to free itself from present uneasiness by fol- 
 lowing the indications of nature, — by availing itself of 
 past experience, — and, in want of this, by making pro- 
 miscuous experiments, — he regarded as the origin of 
 Therapeutical knowledge, and the basis on which all 
 practical medicine must necessarily rest. 
 
 " In forming a system of physic," as has been well observed 
 by Dr Cullen, " Dr Boerhaave seems to have studied dili- 
 
 * § 725, Comment. ; § 1144, Comment. ; § 5, Comment. ; § 4, 
 Comment.
 
 216 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 gently all the several writings of both ancient and modern 
 physicians ; and, without prejudice in favour of any former 
 systems, he endeavoured to be a candid and genuine Eclectic. 
 Wlien he came into the School of Leyden, about the begin- 
 ning of this century, he found that school divided between 
 the chemical system of Sylvius de la Boe, and the mechanical 
 one of Bellini and Pitcairn. His sagacity perceived the 
 general utility of both, and his discernment selected very 
 properly from each. P'rom Bellini he took the doctrine of 
 obstruction, and at the same time the doctrine of lentor, 
 which Bellini had taken from the Cartesians. From the 
 chemists Boerhaave took the doctrine of acid and alkali, 
 but he very properly limited and corrected it. He thus com- 
 bined the doctrines of the Mechanicians, Cartesians, and Che- 
 mists, and also admitted the doctrine of Plethora, the only 
 remains of the Galenical theory, which the discovery of the 
 circulation of the blood tended to support. Possessed of an 
 excellent systematic genius, he gave a system superior to any 
 that ever before appeared. As in the great extent, and 
 seemingly perfect consistency of system, he appeared to im- 
 prove and refine upon every thing that had before been of- 
 fered ; and, as in his lectures he explained his doctrines with 
 great clearness and elegance, he soon acquired a very high 
 reputation, and his system was more generally received than 
 any previous one had been since the time of Galen. Who- 
 ever will consider the merits of Dr Boerhaave, and can com- 
 pare his system with that of former writers, must acknoAv- 
 ledge that he was very justly esteemed, and gave a system 
 which was at that time deservedly valued *." 
 
 The unrivalled celebrity of Boerhaave as a teacher, 
 and the valuable information communicated in the lec- 
 tures, in which he continued, for a period of thirty 
 years, to explain his text-hooks, with a felicity and 
 
 * ^Vorks of Dr CuUeii^ vol. i. p. 411.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 217 
 
 variety of illustration derived from every possible source 
 of knowledge, attracted to Leyden almost all those 
 who, dming that period, were engaged in the scientific 
 study of medicine. Even after the death of this cele- 
 brated teacher, his reputation seemed rather to increase 
 than to decline ; and it was supported, not only by the 
 intrinsic value of his text-books, but by the publication 
 of Commentaries upon them by two of his most distin- 
 guished pupils, Haller and Van Swieten. Haller, who 
 had taken notes of the lectures of Boerhaave during an 
 attendance on them of three years, published the Com- 
 mentaries upon the Institutions of Medicine nearly as 
 they had been delivered, with the addition of a few 
 valuable notes and illustrations of his own. Van 
 Swieten, after having diligently attended for twenty 
 years upon the lectures of Boerhaave, new-modelled 
 the Commentaries of his master upon the Practice of 
 Physic, into those useful but ponderous volumes which 
 are now so well known under his own name. 
 
 The mechanical doctrines of the Simple Solid, and 
 of the Humoral Pathology, as modified by Boerhaave, 
 continued for many years, in the writings emanating 
 from the School of Leyden, and from most of the other 
 Medical Schools of Europe, to afford the greater part 
 of the explanations that were given of the phenomena 
 of the animal economy in its sound and morbid states ; 
 while but little if any notice was taken of the influence 
 which the vital powers, particularly those of the ner- 
 vous system, exert in the production of these pheno- 
 mena. Some portion, however, of the physiological 
 and pathological opinions which had been taught by 
 Glisson, Stahl, and HofTmann, appears to have been in-
 
 218 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 troduced earlier into the medical schools of Holland 
 than into those of most of the other countries of Europe. 
 De Gorter, professor of medicine in the University of 
 Harderwic, was the first distinguished disciple of Boer- 
 haave who attempted to ingraft these opinions upon 
 the system of his master. The principal alterations 
 which he suggested are detailed in his Eocercitatio 
 Medica de Motu Vitali, and in his O/^atio de Animi 
 et Corporis Consensione 7?iirabili tam in secunda 
 quam adversa valetudine. In the former of these es- 
 says, De Gorter distinctly attributes the vital motions 
 of the animal economy to the operation of a contractile 
 power inherent in the living solids, differing in its nature 
 from the powers of unorganized matter, and governed by 
 laws pecidiar to itself A slight examination of the 
 functions which he ascribes to this power, is sufficient to 
 shew that they are the same with those which Glisson 
 had attributed to the principle of Irritabihty, though 
 De Gorter has neither made use of the term irritabili- 
 ty, nor referred to the writings of that author. The 
 most original part of De Gorter's essay on Vital Mo- 
 tion, appears to be that in which he endeavours to ac- 
 count for the production of local inflammations by the 
 increased action of the contractile power inherent in 
 the capillary arteries. The doctrine of the irritabUity 
 of the muscular fibre was soon afterwards formally in- 
 troduced into the School of Leyden itself by Professor 
 Winter, and illustrated, in a succession of medical 
 theses, by several of his more distinguished pupils, but 
 without any reference being made in these to the doc- 
 trines of Glisson *. 
 
 * Winter de Ccrtitudiiie in Medicina Practica, Franeker,
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 219 
 
 A still greater innovation on the system of Boer- 
 liaave was made by his nephew Kaau Boerhaave, in 
 his celebrated work entitled Impetum faciens dictum 
 Hippocrati, &c., published at Leyden in 1745. The 
 title of this work, wliich is the common Latin transla- 
 tion of the To Enonnon of Hippocrates, or the prin- 
 ciple of motion in the animal economy, can be regard- 
 ed only as another name introduced into medical writ- 
 ings for Nature or the Vital Principle ; and, accord- 
 ingly, we find that the term impetum faciens is used 
 by Kaau Boerhaave to express sometimes the functions 
 which had been ascribed to the vegetative, and at 
 other times those which had been ascribed to the sen- 
 tient soul ; sometimes to designate the cause of the 
 contractile power of the muscular fibre, and at other 
 times the source of the sensibility of the nervous sys- 
 tem. In collecting from all sources, from poets, histo- 
 rians, philosophers, physicians, and divines, proofs of 
 the reciprocal action of the mind and body upon each 
 other, and in superadding to these, many curious and 
 original observations with regard to the functions of 
 the nervous system, and the energies and sympathies 
 which this system exercises in the states both of health 
 and disease, one is surprised to find that Kaau Boer- 
 haave should have carefully avoided making any mention 
 of the writings of Stahl and of Hoffmann, with which 
 he must have been familiar, and from which he must 
 have derived much of his information, and several of 
 the improvements which he attempted to make upon 
 the system of his uncle Dr Boerhaave. These im- 
 
 1746. Bicker, De Natura Corporis Humani. Vandcii Bos, De 
 Vivis Corporis Humani Solidis.
 
 220 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 provements, which relate chiefly to the Physiology, 
 were certainly well calculated to promote the medical 
 inquiries of the period at which the Impetum faciens 
 appeared ; but this work is now chiefly remarkable as 
 a monument of the learning, industry, and professional 
 zeal of its author. 
 
 Gaubius, the favourite pupil of Boerhaave, and his 
 successor in the Chairs of Chemistry and of the Theory 
 and Practice of Physic, continued for a period of twenty 
 years to employ, as text-books for his medical lectures, 
 the Institutions and Aphorisms of his master. At 
 length, however, he ventured to compose and to pub- 
 lish his Institutiones Pathologioi MedicinaliSi a work 
 which, from its intrinsic merits, kept possession of the 
 schools of medicine for a long series of years, and has 
 served as a model for most of the systems of general pa- 
 thology which have since been produced. In his Insti- 
 tutions, Gaubius has retained a portion of the mechani- 
 cal and chemical explanations of Boerhaave; but to these 
 he has made several valuable additions in the fuller and 
 juster views which he has taken of the agency of the 
 living solids — of the reciprocal influence of the mind 
 and body upon each other — and of the healing powers 
 inherent in the animal economy. Without falling into 
 the error of supposing, with Stahl, that the purely or- 
 ganic and vital, as vvell as the animal functions, are 
 carried on under the governing influence of the mind, 
 Gaubius has attributed to this principle its full and 
 just share of importance in the production of the mor- 
 bid as well as of the healthy phenomena of the human 
 economy. It is not without some justice, therefore, 
 that he has been said by b.is biograplicr M. Yicq
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 221 
 
 d'Azyr, to have established the true principles of Me- 
 dical Psychology, not only in his Institutions of Pa- 
 thology, but in his two academical orations, entitled De 
 Regimine 3Ientis quod Medicoriun est The merits 
 of Gaubius's Institutions of Pathology first became 
 known in this country, in consequence of the great 
 vise which Dr CuUen made of them in his Lectures 
 upon this branch of the Theory of Medicine. 
 
 But the pupil of Boerhaave, who made the greatest 
 changes upon the system of his master, and perhaps 
 the most important additions to the theory of JNledi- 
 cine that have ever been made by a single individual, 
 was Haller*, of whom it is difficult to say whether 
 WT ought to admire most the universality of his genius, 
 his unremitting industry, or the useful direction of his 
 labours. " For the principal object of his studies," 
 observes the eloquent and scientific Condorcet, " Haller 
 made choice of Physiology, that branch of medicine 
 which, by penetrating into the intimate structure of 
 the different parts of the body, endeavours to ascertain 
 by what laws man is formed, is developed, grows, lives, 
 reproduces his species, decays, and dies ; how each or- 
 gan performs its appropriate motions and fulfils the func- 
 tions for which it is destined ; by what means the or- 
 gans, which the exercise of their functions tends con- 
 tinually to destroy, may be repaired by nourishment 
 and sleep ; by what mechanism a power, the principle 
 of which is unknown to us, sometimes performs, at the 
 command of the will, actions that are necessary for the 
 preservation or for the happiness of man, and some- 
 
 * Haller was born in 1708 ; called as Professor to Gottingen 
 in 1736 ; retired to Berne in 1753 ; and died in 1777.
 
 2S2 LIFE OF Dll CULLEX. 
 
 times produces, independently of volition, operations 
 that are essential to his existence ; how changes in the 
 organs are sometimes the cause and sometimes the 
 effect of derangement of the vital functions ; what the 
 relations are which exist between the derangement of 
 these functions, and the diseases of the parts that per- 
 form them ; — and, finally, how remedies of every kind, 
 may, by acting upon these organs, re-establish order in 
 the animal economy. Haller was aware that the science 
 of Physiology, long abandoned to the spirit of system, 
 had become an object of distrust to natural philoso- 
 phers, and it was with him a principal object to remove 
 this prejudice. He hoped to render physiology a 
 science as certain as any other physical science, a 
 science by means of which philosophers mighc acquire 
 a knowledge of the constitution of man, and physi- 
 cians find a basis upon which to found their prac- 
 tice. For this purpose, it was necessary to establish 
 the foundations of physiology upon the correct ana- 
 tomy of man, as well as upon comparative anatomy, 
 which has so frequently revealed to us secrets respect- 
 ing the animal economy, that the study of man him- 
 self had failed to discover. It was necessary to banish 
 from Physiology, both that kind of metaphysics, which, 
 in all the sciences, has long concealed real ignorance 
 under scientific terms, and those mathematical and 
 chemical theories, rejected by mathematicians and 
 chemists, and always employed with the greater con- 
 fidence, and adopted with the greater respect, in pro- 
 portion as teachers, or their disciples, have been ig- 
 norant of mathematics and chemistry. It was neces- 
 sary to substitute, in place of all these systems, gene-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 22S 
 
 ral facts ascertained by observation and experience ; to 
 have the prudence to be satisfied with these facts, and 
 to submit to remain ignorant of their causes ; and to 
 know that in all the sciences, there are limits beyond 
 which it is doubtful whether the human mind can ever 
 penetrate, and which it certainly can only pass by the 
 aid of time, and a long series of labours ^." 
 
 By his exertions as an experimentalist, a teacher, and 
 an author, Haller gave a most powerful impulse to the 
 study and progress of Physiology. His experimental 
 researches on the formation of the chick in ovo, — on 
 the phenomena attending the growth of bone, — on 
 the circulation of the blood, — and on the sensible and 
 irritable parts of animals, — though forming but a small 
 part of his labours, furnish a series of results unequal- 
 led in number, accuracy, and importance, by those of 
 any other physiologist f . But Haller's claims to the 
 gratitude of posterity rest less perhaps upon the dis- 
 coveries, valuable as these were, which he himself made 
 in the animal economy, than upon that spirit for expe- 
 rimental physiological research which his example con- 
 tributed so powerfully to engender, and to animate in 
 his contemporaries and successors. His zeal and indus- 
 try as a teacher procured for him the warm and steady 
 attachment of a numerous body of pupils, all eager to 
 co-operate with him in his researches, to defend his 
 opinions, and to extend his fame. By bringing to- 
 gether in his Elements of Physiology all that was 
 known of this science,— by adding to the laboiu-s of his 
 
 * Eloge de M. De Haller, GEuvr. Compl. de Condorcet. t. I. 
 p. 379. edit. Brunswick et Paris 1804. 
 
 t Halleri Opera Minora, 3 torn. 4to : Lausannae; 1702-68.
 
 224 LIFE OF DIl CULLEX. 
 
 predecessors the results of his own observation and ori- 
 ginal experimental researches, — and by arranging the 
 materials of this stupendous work upon a plan as strict- 
 ly philosophical as it was entirely new, — Hallerhas ac- 
 quired to himself the title of Father of Physiology, a 
 title by which, in the progress of discoveries, and amidst 
 all the future changes of medical opinions, he must ever 
 continue to be distinguished. 
 
 In the general view which Haller took of the ani- 
 mal economy, he seems to have embraced opinions with 
 respect to mind and matter, their distinctive attributes, 
 and their reciprocal influence upon each other, the same 
 or nearly the same with those of his preceptor Boer- 
 haave. " That the nature of the mind," he remarks, 
 *' is different from that of the body, appears from an in- 
 finite number of considerations, but more particularly 
 from the consideration of those abstract ideas and affec- 
 tions of the mind which have nothing in common with 
 the organs of sense *." 
 
 Of the different theories which had been formed to 
 account for the nature of the connexion existing be- 
 tween mind and matter, Haller informs us that Boer- 
 haave was inclined to adopt the system oi pix-esta- 
 hllshed harmony suggested by Leibnitz, in preference 
 to that oi occasional causes proposed by Descartes; and 
 he owns that he himself felt the same predilection. " It 
 is established," he observes, " as a perpetual law by the 
 Creator, that certain changes made first in the nerve, 
 and then in the common sensory, shall produce certain 
 nevv- correspondent thoughts in the mind, which changes 
 
 * Primac Linese Pliysiologiae, sect 569. 
 
 1
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 225 
 
 and thoughts have an indissoluble connexion with each 
 other ; so that though what we perceive in the world he 
 arbitrary, yet that it is real and not false, appears plain- 
 ly from the perpetual agreement of similar thoughts, 
 arising from similar affections of the sensitive nerves, 
 in all persons at the same time from one object, or in 
 the same person at different times." That LeibnitE 
 himself would readily have admitted this modification 
 of his doctrine, may be presumed, not only from his 
 well known tolerant character in matters of philosophy, 
 but likewise from the pleasure which he seems to have 
 had in regarding the following passage of Mr Locke, 
 as a tacit concession in his favour. " That we cannot 
 discourse and reason about them (the several ways 
 whereby we come by ideas) farther than w^e conceive, 
 is a great truth ; and it would be well if we would not, 
 but would ingenuously own the shortness of our sight 
 where we do not see. To say there can be no other, be- 
 cause we conceive no other, does not, I confess, much in- 
 struct. And if I would say that it is possible God 
 has made our souls so, and so united them to our bodies, 
 that upon certain motions made in our bodies by exter- 
 nal objects, the soul should have such and such percep- 
 tions or ideas, though in a way inconceivable to us, this 
 perhaps would appear as true and as instructive a propo- 
 sition as what is so positively laid down *." Notwith- 
 standing his predilection for the system of Leibnitz, 
 Haller seems to have caught the true spirit of Mr 
 
 • Leibnitz, Examen du Sentiment du Pere Malebranche, 
 CEuvres Philosophiques, Amsterdam et Leipsic, 17^5, p. 501. 
 Locke's Examination of P. Malebranche's Opinion, &c. Works, 
 Lond. 1812, vol, ix. p. 215. 
 
 VOL- I. ^
 
 226 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 Locke's philosophy in an observation, the truth of 
 which cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds 
 of those who engage in psychological speculations. 
 " Those," he remarks, '' have behaved modestly, who, 
 confessing themselves ignorant as to the manner in 
 which the body and mind are united, have contented 
 themselves with proceeding no farther than the known 
 laws which the Creator himself has prescribed, without 
 inventing and supplying us with conjectures unsup- 
 ported by experience *." 
 
 In the account which Haller has given of the pro- 
 cess of perception, he states distinctly that " Thought 
 is not the express image of the object by which the 
 sentient nerve is affected. The idea of redness has no- 
 thing in common with the slightly refrangible ray sepa- 
 rated from the other portions of the whole ray ; and far 
 less is it consistent with optical principles, that an 
 object painted by rays upon a soft white nerve, can be, 
 in a long tract of perfect darkness, conveyed through a 
 very opaque body to the origin of the optic thalami." 
 — " Though a motion occasioned by a body that is per- 
 ceived by sense, is propagated to the brain, the mind 
 neither perceives this motion, nor the tremors of sounds, 
 nor the percussions of the rays of light, but something 
 perfectly distinct from these f ." 
 
 The theory which Stahl had proposed with regard 
 to the necessary agency of the mind in the production 
 and regulation of the natural and vital functions of the 
 
 * Boerliaave, Institutions, § 27- Comment. Haller, Primae 
 Lineae, sect. 556, 571- 
 
 t Primae Lineae, sect. 556.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 227 
 
 human body, having been adopted in various parts of 
 Europe by several of the more active and inteUigent of 
 those who were occupied in investigating the laws of 
 the animal economy, Haller deemed it necessaiy to 
 enter into a refutation of this theory ; and he executed 
 the undertaking in so able and complete a manner as 
 to leave little, if any thing, to be accomplished by his 
 successors. Our not being conscious of the mind's ex- 
 erting any such influence over the organic functions, 
 as that supposed by Stahl, — the impossibility of its at- 
 tending at one and the same time to all the various 
 trains of material phenomena which occur in the hu- 
 man economy, — and the performance of the organic 
 functions with perfect regularity and full effect, in cir- 
 cumstances in which the rational soul is either very 
 feeble or w^holly deficient, as In infants, idiots, madmen, 
 and brute animals, — Haller regarded as sufficient to 
 disprove that dependence of the corporeal functions 
 upon the agency of the mind, which had been supposed 
 to exist by Stahl and his followers. The value of the 
 brief and comprehensive view which he has given of 
 this subject, in his P^nmce LinecB, can be properly es- 
 timated only by those who have perused the historical 
 details aild more enlarged discussion into which he has 
 entered in his Eleinenta P/iysiologice *. 
 
 In adopting the opinion of Galen, that the brain, 
 spinal marrow, and nerves, are the organs of sense and 
 voluntary motion, Haller has, in the 4th volume of 
 his Elements, adduced a great number of physiologi- 
 
 * Primse Linese, sect. 572, seqq. Elcmc nta Physiologiae., Lfb^ 
 w. Rcct V- § 11 ; Lib. xi, sect. iv. § 4. 
 
 V 2
 
 228 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 cal and pathological facts to prove, that there are not 
 any modifications of the faculties of sensation, memory, 
 judgment, or volition, that are independent of the 
 sound and morhid states of the nervous system, and 
 more particularly of its encephalic portion. He has 
 given a very full enumeration of the observations upon 
 record, which tend to shew the connexion between or- 
 ganic alterations of the brain, and an impaired condi- 
 tion of the intellectual faculties, particularly of the 
 memory. At the same time he seems to have been 
 perfectly aware of the difficulty of ascertaining, from 
 pathological observation, the existence of any very fixed 
 relations between the kinds and degrees of the mental 
 derangements, and the particular seat and extent of 
 the cerebral disorganization. 
 
 The part of Haller's labours, however, which has 
 thrown most light upon the functions of the animal 
 economy, is that in which he investigated experiment- 
 ally the respective powers of the Nervous and Muscu- 
 lar systems, — endeavoured to ascertain the various pro- 
 portions in which these powers are possessed by the 
 different textures and organs of the body, into the 
 composition of which the nervous and muscular fibres 
 more or less largely enter, — and attempted to point out 
 the phenomena occurring in living animals that are re- 
 ferrible to these two primary vital powers, called into 
 operation and modified in it by different physical and 
 mental agencies. 
 
 Dr Boerhaave had affirmed that there is no part of 
 the human body which is not sensible, and this opinion 
 had been very generally received. Haller, however, in 
 the course of his experiments, was led to adopt the
 
 LIFE OF DU CULLEN. 229 
 
 opinion of Galen, that the different parts of the body 
 differ very much in the degree of sensibihty which they 
 possess, proportionally to the number of nerves they 
 receive, and that there are some parts, such as bones, 
 cartilages, ligaments, membranes, &c. into which few 
 if any nerves can be traced, and which, therefore, are 
 nearly if not altogether destitute of sensibility. Hal- 
 ler's experiments on sensibility related wholly to the 
 degree of this power possessed by different parts of the 
 body in their natural or healthy state ; and notwith- 
 standing the violent opposition that was made to his 
 opinions on this subject by his contemporaries, — which 
 probably proceeded in a great measiu-e from their not 
 sufficiently distinguishing, in their experiments, be- 
 tween those nerves that everywhere accompany the ar- 
 teries in their distribution, and those which enter, dis- 
 tinct from the arteries, into the composition of differ- 
 ent textures and organs, — his estimate of the sensibili- 
 ty of the different parts of the body is now very gene- 
 rally acknowledged to be correct. It was ascertained, 
 however, in the course of the inquiry, and particularly 
 by Dr Whytt, that some parts which, in their healthy 
 state, are nearly or altogether destitute of sensibility, 
 become exquisitely sensible when they pass into the 
 state of inflammation.* 
 
 Galen, in his treatise on the Motion of Muscles, 
 had considered these organs as being the instruments 
 of voluntary motion only, without seeming to have 
 
 * Galen, de Motu Musculorum, lib i, cap. ii. Haller, Me- 
 moires sur les Parties Sensibles et Irritables du Corps Animal, 
 Lausanne, 1756, Dissert, sur la Sensibilite, t. i. p. 3; t. iv. p. 153. 
 Elem. Physiolog. lib. x. sect, vii, § 2-12.
 
 230 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 been aware of the share which muscular fibres have in 
 the performance of those functions whicli he denomi- 
 nated the Natural and Vital. By the limited view 
 which he took of this subject, he w^as led even to deny- 
 that the heart is a muscle, from its motions being in- 
 dependent of the will. He states explicitly, that the 
 muscles derive their principle of motion from the brain 
 through the nerves ; adducing, in proof of this ojiinion, 
 the difference, in regard to the moving and sensitive 
 powers, of the parts above and below the place where 
 a nerve, or the spinal marrow, has been divided. 
 
 " All the muscles,"" says Galen, " have a communication, 
 and that not an unimportant one, with the brain and spinal 
 marrow; for they must receive, either from the brain or 
 from the spinal marrow, a nerve, which, though small in ap- 
 pearance, is by no means inconsiderable in power. This is 
 shewn by the effects of injury and disease ; for when a nerve 
 is divided, compressed, contused, included in a ligature, af- 
 fected with scirrhus, or otherwise diseased, the muscle to 
 which it goes is deprived of its powers of sense and motion. 
 From inflammation of a nerve, many are attacked with con- 
 vulsions and delirium, in whom these affections cease imme- 
 diately on the nerve being divided ; but the muscles to which 
 the nerve had been distributed remain afterwards insensible 
 and incapable of motion. There is certainly, therefore, 
 some great power in the nerves, flowing into them from their 
 primary origin ; for they have it not of themselves, neither 
 is it innate in them. This is most distinctly proved by the 
 fact, that if you divide any of those nerves, or the spinal 
 marrow itself, the part above the incision, and in continuity 
 with the brain, will still retain the powers of its origin, but 
 the part below will be incapable of producing either sense 
 or motion. The nerves, therefore, like streams from a foun- 
 tain, convey to the muscles their powers from the brain."
 
 IJFi: OF DR CULL EN. 231 
 
 Galen had also observed, that when a muscle is di- 
 vided in a living or recently killed animal, the divided 
 portions retract towards their attached extremities ; 
 and that if one of two antagonist muscles be divided, 
 the other enters into contraction. This species of mus- 
 cular contraction he attributed to a natural pov/er in- 
 herent in them, which he called Tonic Power, and the 
 contraction itself Tonic Action or Energy, in order to 
 distinguish it from that contraction which is produced 
 in muscles by the influence of the mind, communi- 
 cated to them through the nerves, and which he deno- 
 minated their psychical or mental tone or energy. 
 Eut Galen does not appear to have had any notion 
 whatever of the possibility of the contraction of mus- 
 cles being produced by the application of mechanical 
 or chemical stimuli, either to their fibres directly, or to 
 the nerves with which they are supplied ^. 
 
 Glisson seems to have been the first physiologist 
 who applied the term Irritability to the peculiar power 
 of contraction possessed by muscular fibres. He was led 
 to believe that the operation of this power must, in all 
 instances, be preceded by the application of stimuli or ir- 
 ritants to the muscular fibres, either directly, or through 
 the medium of the nervous system ; and that these fi- 
 bres are spontaneously relaxed when the irritation of 
 the stimulus ceases. Muscular fibres may, according 
 to Glisson, be set in motion in three different ways : — 
 1^/, In consequence of the application to the fibres 
 themselves, of external stimuli which do not occasion 
 
 * Galeni Opera Omnia, edit, a Kuhn Lipsiae, vol. iv. p. 367. 
 De IMotu Musculorum, lib. i. cap. iii p. 377-379; cap. i. 370 ; 
 cap. viii. p. 404-5.
 
 232 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 sensation ; 2d, In consequence of a sensation produced 
 by an external agent through the medium of the 
 nerves ; and, Sd, In consequence of an appetite, desire, 
 or volition originating in the brain. The first source 
 of muscular contraction he terms Natural Irritability, 
 or Constitutio Insita ; the second. Sensitive ; and the 
 third. Appetitive Irritability. As examples of the 
 first power, or that in which stimuli operate on the 
 muscles through natural perception, and altogether in- 
 dependently of sensation, Glisson mentions the pulsa- 
 tion of the heart, which, he says, is neither performed 
 nor varied by sensation, — the tremulous motion which 
 continues in the muscular flesh of animals for some time 
 after decapitation, — the peristaltic motions observed in 
 the intestines when the abdomen has been recently 
 opened, and they still retain some degree of warmth, — 
 the contractions occasioned in the muscles of animals 
 recently killed by touching them with acrid and pun- 
 gent fluids, — and the efforts to conti'act made by the 
 hearts of some animals after they have been taken out 
 of the body, and even when cut in pieces. " What 
 need," he adds, " is there of more examples ? From 
 these, it may certainly be sufficiently inferred that the 
 fibres may, without the aid of the senses, perceive irri- 
 tation, and move themselves accordingly." Glisson has 
 not attempted to give any illustration of irritability 
 excited through sensitive perception or sensation. In- 
 deed he expresses himself doubtful whether, in any 
 instance, a sensation produces muscidar contraction 
 directly, or whether it does not primarily tend to the 
 brain, and through that organ excite animal desire. 
 With regard, again, to motions induced by animal ap-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 233 
 
 petite or desire, Glisson remarks that this does not 
 move the limbs directly, but through the medium of 
 the nerves and the muscular fibres. " We do not, 
 therefore," he observes, " call in question whether or 
 not the fibres of the muscles be subjected to the domi- 
 nion of the phantasy and of animal appetite, but we 
 only doubt as to the manner in which the commands 
 of the brain are conveyed to the muscles ; for we allow 
 that the moving fibres of the muscles, when in their 
 natural state, are always moved according to the 
 pleasm'e of the animal appetite or desire ; but we ob- 
 serve that they may be immediately excited by other 
 causes also, as is sufficiently proved by the convulsive 
 motions and spasms, to which they are occasionally 
 subject." He states, likewise, that muscidar action 
 may be either excessive, deficient, or in a middle state ; 
 and these different conditions he refers partly to the 
 different degrees of vigour and of irritability possessed 
 by the muscular fibres, and partly to the different de- 
 grees of intensity of the stimuli. Deficient irritability 
 he calls Toripor. Excessive irritability, he remarks, 
 has no proper name, but it may be termed Restless or 
 Prurient^. That the opinions of Glisson, relative to 
 irritability, should not have attracted a greater share 
 of notice than they appear to have done, from his con- 
 temporaries and immediate successors, is perhaps to be 
 attributed to the obscm*e manner in which several of 
 these opinions are expressed, and to their being in- 
 volved in subtle metaphysical distinctions, which could 
 
 * Tractatus de Ventriculo et Intestinis, Tract. Posterior, cap. v. 
 § 14 ; cap. vii. § 2 ; cap. viii, § 1 ; cap. ix. § 1 . § 7
 
 234 LIFE OF Dli CULLEN. 
 
 be understood only by those who Jiad attentively pe- 
 used his Tractatus cle N'atura Suhstantice Energe- 
 tica, — a work in which he combats, with great ability 
 and success, Descartes' hypothesis of the inactivity of 
 matter, by a most singular union of original philoso- 
 phical reflection and abstruse scholastic argumentation. 
 But though many of the phenomena proceeding from 
 the contractile power of the muscular parts of the body 
 had been observed by Galen, Glisson, Swammcrdam, 
 Steno, Harvey, Lower, and other physiologists previous 
 to the time of Haller, to him certainly belongs the 
 merit of having been the first who made these pheno- 
 mena the subjects of particular and extensive experi- 
 mental research, and who pointed out this property as 
 distinct from all others in the animal economy. It is 
 evident, from his ov/n statement, that Haller had, at 
 an early period, adopted the opinion, that the different 
 motions which occur in the animal economy are depen- 
 dent on a primary vital power peculiar to muscular 
 fibre, by virtue of which this fibre contracts whenever 
 a stimulus is applied to it, and again relaxes sponta- 
 neously. " In my Commentaries/' he remarks, " up- 
 on the Institutions of Boerhaave, published in 1739, 
 I have said that the heart is moved by some unknown 
 cause, which depends neitlier upon the brain nor upon 
 arteries, and which is concealed in the structure of the 
 heart itself. The nature of the thing obliged me to 
 abandon the opinion of my master. Three years after- 
 wards (in the fourth volume of the same work, pub- 
 lished in 174)3), I announced that every muscular fibre 
 when irritated contracts itself, that this character dis- 
 tinguishes it from the vegetable fibre, and that perpe-
 
 LIFE or DR CULLEN. 235 
 
 tiial irritation alone was the cause of the continuation 
 of motion in the vital organs, after the animal organs 
 had ceased to move. In my abridgment of the Phy- 
 siology published in 1747, I have distinctly attributed 
 the motion of the heart to the pov/er of stimulus ; and 
 in the second edition (published in 1751) I have con- 
 firmed, v^ith more precision, the irritability of the mus- 
 cular fibre, and I have taught that it is independent 
 of the nerves, and of every known property. Since 
 that time, numerous experiments have been made con- 
 firmatory of the truths which I have advanced." " Ir- 
 ritability is different, both from elasticity and from 
 the dead contraction common to all fibres : it seems 
 to constitute a power which is quite peculiar to the 
 muscular fibre, and characteristic of it, so that every 
 muscidar fibre may be said to be irritable ; and, on 
 the other hand, every thing which is irritable may 
 be said to be muscular fibre. It is a povv-er distinct 
 from every other power, and to be referred to the 
 sources of motion — of the ultimate cause of whicli we 
 are ignorant "'''"." 
 
 The property which the muscular fibre possesses of 
 contracting upon the application of a stimulus, and ])y 
 which it is distinguished from every other animal tex- 
 ture, Haller with Glisson denominated Irritability, or 
 the Vis I?isila. This property, he ascertained, can 
 be brought into action in both the voluntary and in- 
 voluntary muscles, by the direct application of stimuli 
 to their fibres ; and in the voluntary muscles, though 
 
 * Memoires sur les Parties Sensibles et Irritables du Corps 
 Arximal, Diss, sur I'lrritabilitc, torn. i. p. 07' Elem. Physiol, 
 lib. xi. sect. ii. § !!•
 
 236 
 
 LIFE OF BR CULLEN. 
 
 not in the involuntary, by the appKcation of the same 
 stimuli to the nerves with which they are supplied. 
 The office of the nerves, to excite motions in the vo- 
 luntary muscles, which Glisson had denominated Ap- 
 petitive Irritability, Haller termed their Nervous 
 Power. From the results of numerous and reiterated 
 experiments, as well as from pathological observations, 
 he was led to believe that this nervous power proceeds 
 from the encephalon and spinal marrow through the 
 nerves to the voluntary muscles, and that the irritabi- 
 lity, or vis insita, is not derived from that source, but 
 resides constantly and independently in the muscles 
 themselves. " The will," he observes, " excites and 
 puts a stop to the action of the nervous power, but has 
 no influence over the vis insita. Hence it happens, 
 that in apoplexies and palsies, the voluntary muscles 
 become paralytic, in consequence of being deprived of 
 the influx of nervous power from the brain, while the 
 involuntary muscles of the vital organs, not requiring 
 the same influence of the brain, continue to be excited 
 to contraction by their appropriate stimuli, — the heart, 
 for example, by the blood, and the intestines by air 
 and aliments *." 
 
 The experiments made by Haller, which seem to 
 afford the greatest degree of support to his opinion, 
 that irritability, or the vis insita, is independent of the 
 nervous system, are those in which he found that con- 
 tractions are not excited in the heart and other invo- 
 luntary muscles by the application of stimuli to the 
 nerves with which they are supplied, though these 
 
 * Elem. Phys. lib. xi. sect. ii. ^ 4. § 15. Primse Lineae, § 404. 
 & 410.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN 237 
 
 organs can be readily excited to contraction by the ap- 
 plication of the same stimuli directly to their muscular 
 fibres. " Nor have 1 seen," he observes, " that when 
 the eighth pair of nerves, or any other nerve, was irri- 
 tated, the motion of the heart was accelerated, the 
 pulse became stronger, or the blood spouted out with 
 more force." " Nor has irritation of the spinal marrow 
 appeared to me to recall the motion of the heart." 
 " Nor is it the will only that has no authority over 
 the heart — there is none in the nerves themselves, by 
 which alone the commands of the soul are conveyed to 
 all the muscles ; for when its nerves are irritated, the 
 motion of the heart is not excited ; when they are tied, 
 it is not destroyed. It follows, therefore, that the 
 heart is differently regulated from the voluntary mus- 
 cles, since neither the will nor the nerves have any 
 command over it." — " We possess accurate experi- 
 ments with regard to the heart, but even the nerves of 
 the mesentery when irritated produce no contraction 
 in the intestines of a living animal ; and we have no 
 experiment that proves that the minary bladder, or 
 the stomach, empty themselves, when their nerves arc 
 irritated *." 
 
 Contemporary and succeeding physiologists, in at- 
 tempting to determine whether the stimuli, which pro- 
 duce contractions in muscles, must in all instances act 
 through the nerves, or may produce these motions by 
 their direct action on the muscular fibres themselves, do 
 not seem to have given sufficient attention to the very 
 striking differences mentioned in the foregoing passages 
 
 • Mem. sur les Parties Sens. &c. torn. i. p. 390. Elem. 
 Phys- lib. iv. sect. v. § 2 ; lib. xi. sect. iii. § 7-
 
 ^38 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 by Haller, with regard to the effects which result from 
 the action of stimuli, according as they are applied to 
 the nerves of the voluntai^y or to those of the involun- 
 tary system of muscles. Indeed the doctrine of the 
 dependence of the irritability of muscular fibre upon 
 the nervous system, seems to have been inferred chief- 
 ly from the results of experiments made upon the 
 system of voluntary muscles, in which mechanical, che- 
 mical, or galvanic stimuli are found to act as readily, 
 for as great a length of time, and even more powerful- 
 ly in producing contractions, when applied to their 
 nerves, as when applied to the muscular fibres them- 
 selves. But in the system of involuntary muscles, — as 
 was ascertained by Haller, Fontana, and Caldani, and 
 has been more fully confirmed by experiments since 
 their time, — the application of stimuli to their nerves, 
 and the irritation of the brain and spinal marrowy 
 have not been observed to be followed by any distinct 
 contractions, though such contractions may at all times 
 be very readily produced by the application of me- 
 chanical and chemical stimuli to the muscular fibres. 
 Had physiologists, in entering on this inquiry, per- 
 formed their experiments on the nerves of the invo- 
 luntary, instead of making them on those of the vo- 
 luntary muscles, it seems doubtful whether they coidd 
 ever have been led to the conclusion, that the agency 
 of the nervous system is, in all circumstances, essential 
 to the production of muscular contraction ; for, to sup- 
 pose that when a stimulus is applied directly to any 
 involuntary muscle, it acts only secondarily on the mus- 
 cular fibres, through the intervention of the nervous 
 filaments distributed among them, would be to take it 
 
 3
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 239 
 
 for granted, that these filaments are endowed with a 
 power of receiving impressions from stimuli that is not 
 possessed by the trmik of the nerve from which they 
 are derived *. 
 
 But though Haller had observed that contraction 
 cannot be produced in the heart, or other involuntary 
 muscles, by the application of stimuli to their nervous 
 trunks, he was fully aware that the action of these or- 
 gans may be very materially modified by the different 
 passions and emotions of the mind, and that the influ- 
 ence of these emotions must be conveyed from the 
 brain, to the muscular organs, through the medium of 
 the nerves. " The nerves of the involuntary muscles," 
 he observes, " convey to them from the brain the in- 
 fluence, not of the will, but of those laws assigned to 
 the animated body, in virtue of which certain niotions 
 are produced when certain stimuli are applied. In 
 anger they convey to the heart violent emotions that 
 give rise to palpitations — not in consequence of the 
 commands of the will,' but yet from the brain, and in 
 consequence of a stimulus of a disagreeable nature pre- 
 sented to the mind, from which it desires to be freed 
 as speedily as possible. The nerves, therefore, of the 
 involuntary muscles, are media of communication be- 
 tween the functions of the soul and those parts of the 
 body, although they do not convey the dictates of the 
 willf." 
 
 Haller was led, by the results of his own observa- 
 tions and experimental researches, as well as by those 
 of his disciples and followers, to believe, 1st, That ir- 
 
 * Mem. sur les Parties Sens. S:c. torn. iii. pp. 213. & 470. 
 t Elem. Physiol, lib. xi, sect. iii. § 3.
 
 1240 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 ritability, or the vis insita, of the muscular fibre is a 
 vital property, peculiar to the muscles, of a nature en- 
 tirely different from the sensibility of the nervous fi- 
 bre, and not derived from the nervous system. 2d, 
 That the vokmtary muscles possess, besides the vis in- 
 sita, an additional contractile power, the vis nervosa ; 
 in'tionsequence of which, they can be made to contract 
 as readily by stimuli applied to their nerves, as when 
 applied to the proper fibres themselves. 3d, That the 
 involuntary muscular organs, which, in the living eco- 
 nomy, are excited to action each by its own peculiar 
 stimulus, can all be made to contract readily by the 
 application of certain artificial stimuli directly to their 
 fibres ; but that distinct contractions cannot be pro- 
 duced in these organs, as in the voluntary muscles, by 
 the application of stimuli to the nerves with which 
 they are supplied ** 
 
 The general correctness of the opinions expressed in 
 these fundamental propositions of the Hallerian doc- 
 trine of irritabihty, though strongly contested by a 
 succession of zealous, and some of them very able, op- 
 ponents, seems to be confirmed, in a remarkable de- 
 gree, by the researches of those physiologists who have 
 been more lately engaged in investigating the relations 
 of the nervous and muscular systems, Avith the aid of 
 galvanism — a test of irritability much more delicate 
 than any which Haller, or his more immediate succes- 
 sors, had an opportunity of emplopng in their experi- 
 ments. With the exception, perhaps, of his represent- 
 ing the vis nervosa as a property of the muscular in- 
 
 * Mem. sur les Parties Sens. &c. torn. i. pp. 237-255. 
 
 3
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 241 
 
 stead of the nervous fibre — an inadvertency which has 
 been the source of an apparent inconsistency in his 
 own opinions, and of much misconception in those of 
 his opponents, — Haller's theory of IrritabiHty may, 
 in the present state of our knowledge, be regarded as 
 complete ; and his accurate and philosophical distinc- 
 tion between the irritability of the muscular, and the 
 sensibility of the nervous fibre, must ever continue to 
 form one of the most remarkable epochs in the history 
 of the investigation of those functions which are im- 
 mediately connected with, and indicative of, the exist- 
 ence of animal life. 
 
 The opinions of Haller respecting the Sensibility 
 and Irritability of the different parts of the body, which 
 were so new and indeed so contrary to the doctrines 
 prevailing at the time in the different medical schools 
 of Europe, called forth a host of opponents, some of 
 whom endeavoured to refute his opinions by reasoning, 
 and others by direct experiments. Among these op- 
 ponents no one distinguished himself more by his in- 
 genuity, knowledge, and talents for controversial dis- 
 cussion, than Dr Whytt ^. This eminent physician, 
 who had studied medicine in the schools of Leyden, 
 Paris, and London, was appointed to teach the Theory 
 of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh in the 
 same year in which Dr Cullen began to teach the 
 Theory and Practice of Physic in Glasgow, and he 
 continued to perform this duty, with great vigour of 
 intellect, for a period of twenty years. In commencing 
 
 • Dr Whytt was born in 1714; appointed Professor in 1747, 
 previous to which time he had officiated in the University for Dr 
 Andrew Sinclair ; and died in 1 7<30. 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 242 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 to teach, Dr Whytt adopted, and continued ever after- 
 wards to employ, Boerhaave's Institutions as a text- 
 book in his lectures, though he gradually came to en- 
 tertain opinions with regard to the animal economy^ 
 particularly respecting the causes of its vital and invo- 
 luntary motions, inconsistent in various respects with 
 the views which these Institutions exhibit. His opi- 
 nions on the nature and causes of these motions were 
 first published in 1751, in his celebrated Essay on the 
 Vital and other Involuntary JMotions of Animals ; and 
 were defended by him, in the controversy which he af- 
 terwards carried on with Haller relative to the sensibi- 
 lity and irritability of the different parts of man and 
 other animals, in his Physiological Essays, published 
 in 1755. In this controversy Dr Whytt had un- 
 doubtedly the merit of shewing that several parts of 
 the body, which Haller regarded as insensible, ought 
 to be considered as possessing sensibility in a very slight 
 degree only, rather than as being altogether destitute 
 of that property, since these parts often become ex- 
 quisitely sensible in the state of disease. 
 
 Dr Whytt regarded the Nervous system as the pe- 
 culiar seat of the Mind ; which, with Perrault, he be- 
 lieved not to be confined to any particular region of 
 this system, but to be equally present in the extremities 
 of the nerves distributed throughout the whole body, 
 as in the brain itself In the nerves, he conceived the 
 soul to be only capable of feeling, or simple sensa- 
 tion ; whilst in the brain it exercises the power of re- 
 flex consciousness and reason *. 
 
 In the view which Dr Whytt took of the causes of 
 
 * Observations on Irritability, Works, p. 288. Note»
 
 LIFE OF DPv CULLEN. 243 
 
 the different motions of the animal economy, he agreed 
 with Stahl in regarding matter as a substance incapa- 
 ble, by any condition or arrangement of its particles, 
 of commencing motion, or of performing any of the 
 fmictions- of life. He could not therefore agree with 
 Glisson and Haller in regarding the irritability of the 
 muscular fibre as capable of being called into action 
 merely by the application to it of a physical Rtimulus. 
 " It seems to be improper," he observes, '* to attribute 
 active powers to that which, however modified or ar- 
 ranged, is yet no more than a system of mere matter, 
 powers which are not only confessedly beyond those of 
 mechanism, but seemingly contrary to all the known 
 properties of matter." In order that the application of 
 stimuli to involuntary muscular organs should be fol- 
 lowed by contraction, these stimuli, Dr Whytt ima- 
 gined, must first affect the mind or sentient princi- 
 ple, and this principle, which, he remarks, " in a pe- 
 culiar manner displays its powers in the brain, and by 
 means of the nerves, moves, actuates, and enlivens the 
 whole machine," must react on the muscles, by deter- 
 mining the influence of the nerves into them more 
 strongly than usual ; so that, according to his view of 
 muscular action, the involuntary motions of the ani- 
 mal economy are, as well as the voluntary^ produced 
 by the intervention of the mind. " Such," he re- 
 marks, " is the constitution of our frame and the law 
 of that wonderful union between the soul and the body, 
 that the former, upon any uneasy perception, produces 
 such motions and changes in the latter as naturally and 
 most effectually tend to lessen or expel the irritating 
 cause." Dr Whytt did not, any more than Stahl, think 
 
 Q 2
 
 244 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 it necessary, to the establishment of this doctrine, that 
 we should be conscious of the intervention of the mind 
 in producing involuntary motions, for the mind, he said, 
 may be influenced to continue its actions without our 
 being conscious of it, and even contrary to the will *. 
 
 In attributing the contractions of stimidated muscles 
 to the energy of an active sentient principle, Dr 
 Whytt stated that he did not consider the involuntary 
 motions in man to be owing to a principle distinct 
 from the rational soul ; but that, on the contrary, he 
 considered the sentient and rational souls to be one 
 and the same principle, acting in different capacities. 
 " There is in man," he says, " one sentient and intel- 
 ligent principle, which is equally the som*ce of life? 
 sense, and motion, as of reason, and which exerts more 
 or less of its power and influence as the different 
 circumstances of the several organs actuated by it 
 may require." He considered the mind to act, in 
 producing the voluntary motions, both as a sentient 
 and rational agent ; but he supposed that, in producing 
 the involuntary motions, without our being conscious 
 of its interference, the mind is not influenced by in- 
 telligent or rational views, as had been supposed by 
 Stahl, but merely by the stimuli affecting the several 
 organs : and that in these motions, consequently, the 
 mind is an involuntary agent, acting necessarily and 
 without consciousness of intention, or, in other words, 
 merely as a sentient, not as a rational principle — ac- 
 knowledging that, if reason were concerned in the pro- 
 duction of these motions, we could not fail to be con- 
 
 " On the Vital and other Involuntary Motions, Works, pp. 127> 
 128, 150, 153, 15G.
 
 LIFE OF DR CUIXEN. 245 
 
 scions of it. From this statement, it is obvious that 
 while Dr Whytt denied the separate existence of a 
 sentient soul, he contended for the separate agency of 
 the sentient faculty of the soul in the production of in- 
 voluntary motions *. 
 
 The absurdity of supposing that the soul should car- 
 ry on a number of organic operations requiring the 
 exercise of reason, without its being conscious of doing 
 so, Dr Whytt has ridiculed very freely and happily in 
 his observations on the Prcelectio de Anima Medica 
 of Dr NichoUs. " To imagine," says he, " that the 
 soul should, with the wisest views and in the most 
 skilful manner, at first form the body — a work far 
 above the efforts of human art and contrivance ! — and 
 afterwards, when it is disordered, shoidd, with the same 
 skill and wisdom, often remedy the evil, and restore it 
 to a sound state ; but finding it in the end, or some- 
 times suspecting it only, to be no longer tenable or 
 comfortable, should, instead of repairing, either whim- 
 sically or wisely desert it ; to conceive, I say, of the 
 sold as performing all this, without in the mean time 
 being conscious of such intentions, or of the exertions 
 of its power in pursuance of them, is at least as fanci- 
 ful as to suppose that an architect might raise a state- 
 ly edifice, in which nothing should be wanting that 
 could contribute either to its usefulness or ornament ; 
 that he might frequently repair such damages as it 
 sustains from the weather, or from the decay of any 
 of its materials, and at last, apprehending it to be in 
 danger of falling, might abandon it, without being con- 
 
 • On the Vital ami other Involuntary Motions, Works, pp. 148, 
 152, 169.
 
 246 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 scions of ever having once exercised either his skill in 
 contriving, erecting, and repairing it, or his prndence 
 in quitting it, when, as he thought, it was ready to 
 bury him in its ruins." Yet, notwithstanding this ri- 
 dicule of the doctrine of Stahl, Dr Whytt, in explain- 
 ing his ideas with regard to the agency of the mind in 
 the production of the involuntary motions, found it 
 difficult to avoid relapsing occasionally into the language 
 of that author. Thus, in describing agreeable or dis- 
 agreeable sensations as the immediate causes of the 
 mind's reaction upon organs to which stimuli are ap- 
 plied, he almost invariably speaks of the mind being 
 determined by an ungrateful sensation or stimulus to 
 exert its power in bringing about motions ; and of 
 " the soul endeavouring by all means, and in the most 
 effectual manner, to avoid or get rid of every disagree- 
 able sensation." In general, however, he endeavours, 
 by the introduction of some such phrase as, " without 
 reasoning,"^ or " without ratiocination," to establish a 
 distinction between his own doctrine of the sentient 
 soul and that of the rational soul of Stahl and his 
 stricter followers ; a distinction which has been happi- 
 ly enough expressed, by applying to the doctrine of 
 Stahl the term Animism, and to that of Whytt, 
 Semi-Animism. That a physician so' acute and skil- 
 ful in reasoning as Dr Whytt imdoubtedly was, should 
 not have perceived that the use which he made of 
 the unconscious agency of the sentient soul is liable 
 to all the objections that had been so justly and suc- 
 cessfully urged, by Haller and others, against the use 
 which Stahl had made of the unconscious operation of 
 the rational soul in his explanation of the phenomena
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 247 
 
 of the animal economy, can now be only matter of sur- 
 prise to those who are capable of estimating duly the 
 value of Dr Whytt's physiological labours *. 
 
 In conformity with his general theory, that muscu- 
 lar motions can be produced only through the inter- 
 vention of the sentient soul, Dr Whytt did not hesi- 
 tate to attribute the motions which can be artificially 
 excited in the different parts of animals after they have 
 been separated from the bodies to which they belonged, 
 to the presence of that principle in them, and to its 
 continuing to act for a longer or shorter period in these 
 separated parts. He conceived that the opinion of the 
 soul being present in every part of the nervous system 
 of animals dming life, and of its continuance for a 
 time in parts which have been separated, do not afford 
 any presumption in favour of materialism ; for " may 
 not," he asks, " the soul be extended without being 
 divisible, and may it not continue to act in the sepa- 
 rated parts of animals, and yet be only one mind ?" — 
 " Upon the whole, it appears certain," he observes, 
 " that, after death, or an entire stop of all motion in 
 the bodies of animals, the soul still remains present 
 with them, and can be again brought to exert its in- 
 fluence, by various kinds of stimuli applied to their 
 different parts. May not, then, the same principle 
 continue present with the several muscles after they 
 are separated from the body, and be the cause of their 
 motions when irritated ?" — " If the soid, without ex- 
 tension, be present at one and the same time in diffe- 
 rent places of the brain ; and if, in many animals, it 
 
 * On the Vital and other Involuntary Motions, Works, pp. 146, 
 147, 162, 138.
 
 ^48 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 can act along the spinal marrow for a great while after 
 the head is cut off, why may not it also actuate parts 
 separated from the hody, without heing extended? 
 On the other hand, if we allow the soul to occupy 
 space, I do not see why it may not continue to he pre- 
 sent with the parts of the body after they are separated, 
 as well as when they were united. And, with respect 
 to the divisibility of the soul, which is generally thought 
 to follow from the supposition of its being extended ; 
 why may it not be a substance so perfectly and essen- 
 tially one, as that a separation or division of its parts 
 would necessarily infer a destruction of its essence? 
 Further, if the soul can be present in all or in any 
 considerable part of the body at one and the same 
 time, without being discerptible, its sphere ot existence 
 being so much increased as to act upon the parts, when 
 separated, will not infer its divisibility*." How far 
 these opinions are correct, or are capable of being re- 
 conciled with those maintained by the celebrated Dr 
 Clarke, in his controversy with Mr Collins, which Dr 
 Whytt professes to adopt, and whether the love of phy- 
 sical truth, which is every where apparent in this au- 
 thor's writings, and the respect he at the same time 
 entertained for established metaphysical dogmata, have 
 not sometimes involved him in inextricable difficulties, 
 it may not be easy to determine. In reference to 
 these opinions of Dr Whytt, Haller has made the fol- 
 lowing reflections; — " The soul is that being which 
 feels itself, which represents to itself its body, and by 
 means of its body, the whole universe of things. I am 
 
 * On the Vital and other Involuntary IMotions, Works, pp. 183, 
 200, seqq. Observations on Irritability, Works, p. 287- seqq.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 249 
 
 myself, and not another, because that which is called / 
 experiences changes in all the variations which occur to 
 the body which that / calls his own. If there be a 
 muscle, or an intestine, the changes of which produce 
 an impression on a different soul than mine, and not 
 on mine, the soul of that muscle is not mine, it does 
 not belong to me. But a finger cut from my body, a 
 bit of flesh taken from my limb, has no connexion with 
 me. I do not feel any of its changes ; they do not 
 produce in me any idea or sensation. It is not, there- 
 fore, inhabited by my soul, nor by any of the parts of 
 that sold. If it were, I should feel its changes. I am 
 not in that limb ; it is entirely separate, both from my 
 soul, and from that of all other men. Its amputation 
 has not occasioned the smallest injury to my volition ; 
 this remains quite entire. My soul has lost nothing of 
 its powers, but it has no longer any command over that 
 limb, and yet that limb continues to be irritable. Irri- 
 tability, therefore, is independent of the soul and of 
 volition." 
 
 In opposition to the opinion of irritability being a 
 property of the muscular fibre, independent of the ner- 
 vous system, and regulated by laws peculiar to itself, 
 to which Haller had been led by his observations and 
 experiments, Dr Whytt endeavom-ed to shew that the 
 motions of stimulated muscles proceed from their sen- 
 sibility, or are closely connected with it. In proof of 
 this hypothesis, he remarked, — 1^/, That we almost 
 always observe the irritability of the muscles, or mus- 
 cular organs of the body, to bear a proportion to their 
 sensibility ; 2d, That whatever increases the sensi- 
 bility of the muscles, or moving organs of the body.
 
 250 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 also increases their irritability ; 3d, That whatever 
 lessens or destroys the sensibility of the muscles of ani- 
 mals, also lessens or destroys their irritability ; 4^/^, 
 That, when a cold-blooded animal is pricked with the 
 point of a knife, some time after being deprived of its 
 head, heart, and other viscera, it moves not only the 
 muscles whose fibres are touched, but also the other 
 muscles of its body which have no connexion with those 
 that are stimidated ; 5th, and lastly, he remarked that 
 It will appear probable that the motions of irritated 
 muscles are owdng to the sensation excited by the sti- 
 mulus applied to them, if we consider that we are in 
 fact conscious of many involuntary motions in our bo- 
 dies proceeding from a particular sensation, either in 
 the organs moved, or in some neighbouring part. In 
 illustration of each of these very doubtfid propositions, 
 Dr Whytt adduced a number of well-known and cu- 
 rious phenomena ; but many of them, it must be con- 
 fessed, are not very relevant to the question at issue ; 
 and others are of so uncertain and equivocal a nature, 
 as not to fiunish any satisfactory data for its determi- 
 nation *. 
 
 In the introduction to his Treatise on Nervous Dis- 
 orders, Dr Whytt directed his attention in a particu- 
 lar manner to the doctrine of Sympathy, with which, 
 as well as with Sensation and the power of JNIotion, he 
 conceived that we are endowed by means of the Nerves. 
 The term Sympathy has been employed by metaphy- 
 sicians and physiologists in two veiy different significa- 
 tions. By metaphysicians it has been used to denote 
 our fellow-feeling with the passions of others, or the 
 
 * Observations on Irritability, Works, p. 295, seqq.
 
 LIFE OF BR CULLEN. 251 
 
 springing up in the mind of a bystander of emotions 
 corresponding to what he imagines should be the sen- 
 timents of the sufferer on any occasion of grief or of 
 joy. This is properly termed Mental Sympathy. By 
 physiologists the term Sympathy is properly employed 
 to denote certain sensations, motions, or other vital 
 changes arising in the animal economy, suddenly and 
 without the intervention of the will, from impressions 
 made upon, or irritations excited in, parts distinct or 
 at a distance from those in which these sensations, 
 motions or changes, actually occur, this being what con- 
 stitutes Corporeal Sympathy. Corporeal sympathy, Dr 
 Whytt remarked, " is either geneird, and extended 
 through the whole system, every sensible part of the 
 body having a sympathy with the whole ; or it is par- 
 ticular, and confined in a great measure to certain 
 parts." Hippocrates seems to have been well aware of 
 that general sympathy which Dr Whytt has described 
 as extending through the whole system, and has ex- 
 pressed it in his celebrated maxim, Cojifluocio una, 
 conspiratio una, consentientia omnia ; and in various 
 other passages of his writings *. That this general 
 sympathy had not been lost sight of by medical men 
 since the time of Hippocrates, has been she^vn by 
 Rega in his second chapter De Consensu Partium 
 generatim, a chapter w^ell deserving the attention of 
 those who may wish to trace the origin of the modern 
 doctrines of the susceptibility of constitutional affec- 
 tions from local impressions ; or of the production of 
 diseases by local Irritations. Rega has justly re- 
 marked, that the term Particular Sympathy, or consent 
 * De Alimentis. De Locis in Homine.
 
 252 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 of parts, had generally been employed by medical men 
 in a double signification, 1st, To denote a concurrence 
 of several parts co-operating in the performance of some 
 particular action ; and, 2d, A certain co-suffering, or 
 con-dolence of different parts, in consequence of which, 
 when one part is morbidly affected, some different part 
 is at the same time affected, either in the same or in 
 some different but painful manner. To the former 
 kind of sympathies Rega gave the name of Consensus 
 actionum ; they seem to comprehend the class of phe- 
 nomena which Stahl designated by the term Synergia 
 or Co-operation, — a term which has been revived by 
 some late continental physiologists. To the morbid 
 sympathies, again, Rega gave the name of Consensus 
 passio7ium ; and it appears to be this class of pheno- 
 mena which medical men now generally wish to com- 
 prehend under the title of Sympathies. In conformity 
 with this division of the particular sympathies existing 
 between the several parts and organs of the body, Dr 
 Whytt observed, that, " by means of sympathy many 
 operations are carried on in a sound state ; and pain, 
 convulsive motions, and other morbid symptoms, are 
 often produced in such parts as have no near connec- 
 tion with those that are immediately affected." 
 
 A very slight analysis of the various phenomena 
 enumerated by Dr Whytt as examples of particidar 
 sympathies, would be sufficient to shew that many of 
 these phenomena bear too little resemblance to one 
 another to admit of being included under a general 
 term or explained on one general principle. Some of 
 them are examples of sympathies existing, not between 
 different parts of the same body, but between different
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 253 
 
 animal systems, as when yawning, vomiting, or convul- 
 sive affections are induced by instinctive imitation. 
 Some of them cannot be referred to the head of sym- 
 pathy under any of the various significations of that 
 term, being the effects of those peculiarities of indivi- 
 dual constitution which have been denominated idio- 
 syncracies, predispositions, and diatheses ; such, for ex- 
 ample, as " when one eye is affected with an inflam- 
 mation, a cataract, or the gutta serena, the other be- 
 ing often soon after attacked with the same disease." 
 Others of these phenomena are obviously effects of the 
 influence of the mental emotions or of the appetites 
 on the different functions of the body ; — on the Na- 
 tural functions, as when grief, vexation, or fear are said 
 to lessen the secretion of the saliva, destroy the appe- 
 tite, and sometimes occasion a diarrhoea, and the sight 
 or smell of grateful food to occasion an uncommon flow 
 of the saliva in a hungry person ; — or on the Vital 
 functions, as when it is said that the great consent 
 between the brain and the heart appears from the sud- 
 den and remarkable effects of the passions on the lat« 
 ter. Many, again, are examples of motions performed 
 in obedience to the will, but in which the interference 
 of that faculty is apt to be overlooked in consequence 
 of the rapidity of its determinations, or in consequence 
 of the motions we perform being contrary to om* usual 
 inclinations,, or even extremely disagreeable to us. Of 
 this kind are, it is conceived, two of the motions men- 
 tioned by Dr Whytt as instances of sympathy, viz. 
 our shutting both eyelids as often as any thing threat- 
 ens to hurt either eye ; and the convulsions into which, 
 " not only the muscles of the legs, but those of the
 
 254 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 whole body, may be thrown by tickling the soles of the 
 feet." It is, likewise, to the head of ^^oluntary mo- 
 tions that many of those cases of motions denominated 
 Sympathetic are to be referred, in which a sensation 
 occurring in one part of the body has been supposed -to 
 occasion motions in a distinct part or organ ; for though 
 a sensation may act as the indirect cause of a muscu- 
 lar motion by giving rise to some other mental affec- 
 tion, capable of exciting muscular contraction, such 
 as a volition or an emotion, there seems no reason to 
 believe that a sensation acts in any instance of itself as 
 the immediate cause of such a motion, mthout the in- 
 terposition of a desire or an emotion. Whether some 
 of the later writers upon sympathy have been more for- 
 tunate than Dr ^^^hytt in enumerating the phenome- 
 na that ought to be included under the term Corporeal 
 Sympathies, or in assigning definite characters, by 
 which this class of phenomena may be distinguished 
 from others bearing a more or less close degree of re- 
 semblance to them, appears to be very doubtful. 
 
 In endeavouring to discover some general principle 
 or principles capable of accounting for the phenomena 
 of Sympathy, medical men had been led to believe that 
 sympathetic connexions exist principally between parts 
 bearing a close resemblance to one another in their struc- 
 ture, or having a community of function, and between 
 parts connected with one another by means of vessels 
 and nerves, or situated in the ^dcinity of one another. 
 Finding that the two former of these circumstances, 
 resemblance of structure, and similarity of function, 
 did not lead to any satisfactory explanation of the phe- 
 nomena of Sympathy, attention was more particularly
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 255 
 
 directed to the two last of the cnxum stances mentioned, 
 especially to the communication existing between parts, 
 whether near to, or remote from, one another, through 
 the medium of the nerves. It was soon observed, that 
 there are four ways in which a connexion may be esta- 
 blished between distinct or distant parts, through the 
 medium of nerves ; 1st, The same nerve may, in its 
 course, pass through different parts ; 2d, A nerve may 
 send branches to different parts ; 3d, Two or more 
 nerves going to different parts, may arise from the same 
 portion of the central part of the nervous system, — the 
 brain and the spinal marrow ; and, 4th, Two or more 
 such nerves, though arising from different portions of 
 the common sensory, may be connected with one ano- 
 ther in their course by anastomosing branches. These 
 different possible modes of nervous communication sug- 
 gested to physiologists the further inquiry, whether, 
 when a sensation, motion, or other vital action arises in 
 some part of the body, in consequence of an impression 
 made on some other distinct part, the impression must 
 first be communicated from the part primarily affected, 
 to the brain, and from thence be transmitted to the 
 part in which the resulting sensation or action occurs ; 
 or whether the impression may pass directly from the 
 part on which the external agent operates, to the part 
 ultimately affected, without passing through the brain. 
 Dr Whytt extended his hypothesis of the necessity 
 of the intervention of the sentient principle in the pro- 
 duction of muscular motions, to those phenomena of 
 Spnpathy, in which organs are put in motion by the ap- 
 plication of stimuli to remote parts. To account for 
 these phenomena by connexions existing between dif-
 
 256 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 fereiit parts of the body, through the medium of nerves, 
 appeared to him to savour too much of Mechanism, or 
 in other words, of Organization ; and, accordingly, he 
 maintained that the sentient principle is the only 
 channel through which impressions made on one part 
 of the body can occasion muscular contractions in a 
 distant part. Regarding the nervous system as the 
 organ through which the sentient principle acts, he of 
 necessity allowed to this system an important share of 
 influence in the production of sympathetic motions ; 
 but he did not deem it necessary for the explanation 
 of Sympathy, that it should be possible to trace in the 
 brain any anatomical connexion between the nerves of 
 the organ to which the stimulus is applied, and those 
 of the part of the body in which the resulting action 
 takes place. The agency of the sentient principle of 
 the sold he considered to be sufficient, independently 
 of such a connexion, to account for the mutual influ- 
 ence of diffisrent parts of the body upon one another. 
 *' All sympathy or consent," he observes, " supposes 
 feeling; and therefore must be owing to the nerves, 
 which are the sole instruments of sensation." — " If the 
 various instances of sympathy cannot be accounted for 
 from any union or anastomosis of the nerves, in their 
 way from the brain to the several organs ; and, if there 
 are many remarkable instances of consent between parts 
 whose nerves have no connexion at all, it follows that 
 all sympathy must be referred to the brain itself and 
 spinal marrow, the source of all the nerves." — " If it 
 should be objected, that it is as difficult to account for 
 a sympathy between the nerves, at their origin in the 
 brain, as in their coiu-se to the several parts where they
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 257 
 
 liappen to be connected ; I answer," says Dr Whytt, 
 " that the purpose of these observations is not to ex- 
 plain how the different parts of the body can be en- 
 dowed, by means of the nerves, either with a sentient 
 or a sympathetic power ; but, to endeavour to trace 
 the sympathy of the nerves to its true source, which I 
 take to be the brain and spinal marrow. It would be 
 in vain to inquire further into this matter, imless we 
 knew the minute structiue and connections of the se- 
 veral parts of the brain, and were better acquainted 
 with the laws of union between the body and soul, to 
 whose sentient power the sympathy of the nerves at 
 their origin, must be at last referred. For, if consent 
 or sympathy supposes feeling, and if feeling cannot, 
 any more than intelligence, be a property of matter, 
 however modified, it must follow that sympathy de- 
 pends upon a principle that is not mechanical, and that 
 to suppose it may be owing solely to the particular 
 situation, arrangement, or connexion of the medullary 
 fibres of the brain, or to the union of the nerves pro- 
 ceeding from it, is as unreasonable as to imagine that 
 thought may be the result of a motion among the par- 
 ticles of the animal spirits, or other subtile matter in 
 the brain =^." 
 
 However questionable and unsatisfactory Dr Whytt's 
 doctrine of the interference of the unconscious sentient 
 soul, in the production of the animal motions usually 
 denominated Sympathetic, may be, still it would be un- 
 just to his memory not to acknowledge that his writ- 
 ings have contributed povv^erfully to the progress of 
 
 * On the Vital and other Invohmtary Motions, Worl<s, p. 97. 
 98. On Nervous Disorders; Works, p. 510. 
 
 VOL. I, K
 
 258 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 medical science ; and a late re-perusal of them has only 
 tended to confirm me in an opinion which I ventured 
 to express some years ago in alluding to his excellent 
 observations on Nervous Disorders ; that, " notwith- 
 standing any errors in theory which he may have com- 
 mitted, the writings of this author display an extensive 
 acquaintance with the phenomena of health and dis- 
 ease, habits of accurate observation, and a talent for 
 abstract reasoning and philosophical analysis not sur- 
 passed by any of those who have been employed in in- 
 vestigating the laws by which the economy of living 
 systems is governed." It has been gratifying to me 
 since to find that Dr Cullen entertained a similar opi- 
 nion of Dr Whytt's merits. In his notes of a clinical 
 lecture for the month of December 1765, in alluding 
 to the progress which had been made in the investiga- 
 tion of the laws of the Nervous System, in the states 
 of health and disease, and to the share wluch Dr 
 Whytt had taken in it, he observes, " Helmont, Wil- 
 lis, Baglivi, Wepfer, Hoffmann, Haller, and Gaubius, 
 have all done something, but Dr Whytt more than 
 them all, though he has not exhausted the subject, 
 nor removed every difficulty." 
 
 Dr Cullen, in succeeding, in 1766, to the Chair 
 that had been so ably filled by his colleague Dr 
 Whytt, entered on the duty of teaching the Institu- 
 tions of Medicine with a reputation which it required 
 the fullest exertion of his talents to support. To an 
 intimate acquaintance with the theoretical and practi- 
 cal writings of his predecessors and contemporaries, he 
 was known to unite a vigorous and discriminating
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 259 
 
 understandiug, matured by long- continued observation 
 and experience, with the most fehcitous powers of 
 exciting the curiosity and directing the pursuits and 
 studies of his pupils. The success with which he 
 taught the Institutions of IMedicine during the time 
 he held that Chair, redounded so much to the honour 
 of the University and to his own fame, that his friends 
 and admirers had ultimately more reason to rejoice at, 
 than to regret, the temporary disappointment he had 
 experienced in not obtaining the Chair of the Practice 
 of Physic, which had been so long the object of his 
 ambition. 
 
 Dr Cullen arranged the different subjects of which 
 he had occasion to treat in his lectures on the Institu- 
 tions of Medicine, under the three general divisions of 
 Physiology, Pathology, and Therapeutics, comprehend- 
 ing the consideration of Health, Disease and Hemedy. 
 The consideration of Hygiene and Semeiotics, or the 
 general doctrines of the preservation of health and the 
 signs of diseases, which, from the time of Galen, had 
 usually been treated of as distinct branches of Medical 
 Science, he introduced under Therapeutics and Patho- 
 logy ^. In explaining the general objects of the course 
 on which he was about to enter, Dr Cullen observed, 
 " The Practice of Physic, is the art applied to parti- 
 cular diseases and cases; but before considering this 
 art in its application to particular diseases, certain Ge- 
 neral Doctrines are necessary to be premised which we 
 call the Institutions of Medicine. Some are pleased to 
 call our present course the Theory of Physic. With 
 
 * See Works, vol. i. p. 4. 
 
 11 2
 
 ^60 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 regard to the common notion affixed to the term 
 Theory, I must say that I mean to deliver nothing 
 in this course but what is applicable to the cure of dis- 
 eases, which is the idtimate end of all our studies : 
 what we are to deliver in this course will be applicable 
 to practice." " When gentlemen call this course a 
 course of Theory, if they mean by that term, a deduc- 
 tion of reasoning, and that founded upon hypothesis, 
 we refuse the appellation ; but if by Theory, they 
 mean the general doctrines of the art of Medicine 
 founded upon experience and observation, I allow you 
 to call this course the Theory of Physic." " My ge- 
 neral doctrines are to be only so many general facts." 
 
 The definition which Dr Cullen has given of Phy- 
 siology, in the 4th paragraph of his Institutions, ap- 
 pears to me to be one of the most accurate and com- 
 prehensive which has yet been proposed. " The Doc- 
 trine," he says, ''which explains the conditions of the 
 Body and of the JSIind necessary to life and health, is 
 called Physiology, or the doctrine of the Animal 
 Economy." In pointing out the consideration of the 
 phenomena of Mind as forming so important a part of 
 Physiology, he seems to have thought some explanation 
 necessary. " I must take notice," he remarks, " that 
 to many of you I may appear to deal in Metaphysics ; 
 and I acknowledge that in so far as some analysis of the 
 faculties of the human mind, some account of its gene- 
 ral operations is to be so called, I must necessarily 
 speak in the language of JNIetaphysics ; and I think you 
 will perceive that there is hardly any phenomenon of 
 the Nervous system in which the operations of the 
 mind are not more or less concerned ; if, therefore,
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 261 
 
 you will call the consideration of these operations 
 Metaphysics, their use is altogether unavoiclahle. I 
 employ Metaphysics, because every physiologist has 
 employed them ; they have been employed to corrupt 
 and destroy Physiology to a great degree, and they 
 are not to be counteracted but by means of their o^vn 
 weapons. — I think that every part of the history of 
 the human mind may be, upon one occasion or other, 
 useful in Physic. The physician must at times be 
 the moral philosopher also; and he mil sometimes 
 practise with little success, unless he can apply him- 
 self to the mind." 
 
 Dr Cullen divided the Physiological part of his 
 course into seven sections, — The first, comprehend- 
 ing an account of the general facts known with regard 
 to the Solid matter of which every organ of the body 
 consists ; the second, an account of the Nervous sys- 
 tem ; the third, of the ISIotion and Circulation of the 
 Blood ; the fourth, of the functions employed in sup- 
 porting and repairing the several solid and fluid parts 
 of the Body ; the fifth, of the Organs employed in 
 receiving and modifying the impressions of external 
 bodies necessary to Sensation ; the sixth, of the JNIo- 
 tions of the several parts of the body which depend 
 upon the Action of Muscles ; and the seventh, of the 
 Functions peculiar to the Sexes *. 
 
 The great number and variety of the facts and 
 reasonings requiring to be stated and explained, rela- 
 tive to the different subjects that ought to be treated 
 of in a Course of Lectures on Physiology, and the li- 
 
 * See WorkS; vol. i. p. G. seqq.
 
 S!62 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 mi ted period of time allotted for this purpose, render- 
 ed it impossible for Dr Cullen to go through each of 
 these subjects in the way of detail, and obliged him 
 to give only general views of some of them, and en- 
 tirely to omit the consideration of others. Though he 
 devoted nearly one-half of the winter session to the 
 consideration of the Physiological part of the course, 
 it does not appear that he had ever been able to over- 
 take more of this than the subjects included under his 
 first four sections. This defect he endeavoured to sup- 
 ply by referring his students to the Primce Linece and 
 Element a Physiologice of Haller, which he justly re- 
 garded as works containing all that was known in Phy- 
 siology at the time they were written. As a proof of 
 the estimation in which Dr Cullen held the writings 
 of Haller, it deserves to be mentioned, that, in 1766, 
 the year in which he commenced his lectm'es on the 
 Institutions of Medicine, a Latin edition of the Pri- 
 mce Linece was published at Edinbm*gh under his in- 
 spection, the value of which was considerably increased 
 by the addition of a copious, accurate, and well digest- 
 ed index, planned and executed by him, with the as- 
 sistance of two of his pupils and friends, Dr Alexan- 
 der Monro Drummond, and Dr John Fleming, late of 
 the Medical Board of Calcutta. 
 
 In commencing his lectures on Physiology, after 
 giving a short but comprehensive sketch of the His- 
 tory of IMedicine ^, Dr Cullen seems to have thought it 
 necessary, in conformity with the doctrines which were 
 then prevalent, to premise some general observations on 
 
 * Works, vol. i. p. 365 to p. 415.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 263 
 
 the Simple Solids, and on the diseases to which they are 
 liable. The ancients had distinguished the different 
 solid parts of animal bodies into Simple or Similar, and 
 Compound, Dissimilar, or Organic parts, — a distinction 
 the same, or nearly the same, with that which is now 
 made of the solid parts of the body into textures and or- 
 gans. By Gaubius, the solid parts of the body had been 
 distinguished into Simple and Vital ; and Dr Cidlen, as 
 he himself informs us, in adopting these terms, inclu- 
 ded, under the simple or inanimate solids, all those 
 textures and organs of the body, the physical proper- 
 ties of which are the same in the dead as in the living, 
 and the same in the animated as in many inanimate 
 bodies. His observations on the properties of the so- 
 lid matter of which every organ of the body consists, 
 certainly evince great knowledge and ingenuity ; but 
 the manner of considering this subject has of late 
 years been so completely changed by the discoveiy of 
 the constituent parts of animal matter, and by the 
 more accurate examination of the chemical and physi- 
 cal properties of ^ach of the solid parts composing the 
 bodies of man and of other animals, as to render it now 
 as unnecessary as it would be uninteresting to detail 
 his particular opinions upon these subjects. It may 
 be remarked, however, that he was aware that all ani- 
 mal matters may be ultimately traced to a vegetable 
 origin ; and he observes, that, if we would inquire into 
 the production of animal matter, we must first inquire 
 in what manner vegetable matter may be converted 
 into animal. The justness of this observation, and 
 the general accuracy of the statements respecting the 
 animal Mixt, or animal matter, contained in the 10th
 
 £64 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 11th, 12 til, and 13th paragraphs of his Physiology *, 
 have been fully confirmed by the singular discove- 
 ries of Pneumatic Chemistry. But that the ani- 
 mal mixt is formed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and 
 nitrogen, and is capable of being resolved, in its ul- 
 timate analysis, into these principles, was a discovery 
 reserved for the genius of M. BerthoUet, and to which 
 he was naturally enough led by the discoveries that 
 Lavoisier and others had made with regard to the com- 
 position of vegetable matter. In the ingenious expe- 
 riments by which M. BerthoUet proved, that the ad- 
 dition of nitrogen to vegetable matter converts it into 
 an animal substance, he may be justly said to have 
 laid the foundation of Animal Chemistry. 
 
 After finishing his account of the Simple Solids, Dr 
 Cullen proceeded to the consideration of the Nervous 
 System. The investigation of the functions of this sys- 
 tem, he regarded as constituting the fundamental and 
 most important part of the study of the animal econo- 
 my. " The animal economy," he remarks, " is a sys- 
 tem consisting of many parts mutually necessary to one 
 another, and to the subsistence of the whole ; but I 
 shall have occasion to shew, that there is some diffe- 
 rence in the importance of these parts ; that the most 
 important part to the economy is the Brain, compre- 
 hending, as I do, under this term, the whole medullary 
 substance within the cranium and vertebral canal ; that 
 upon the functions of this organ life depends, and that 
 its energy, therefore, is necessary to the whole." 
 
 In combining the information relative to the Ner- 
 vous System, contained in the writings of his contem- 
 
 * Works, vol i. p. 11-
 
 IJFE OF DR CULLEN. 265 
 
 poraries, Haller, Whytt, and Gaubius, with the opi- 
 nions which he had early adopted from the works of 
 Hoffmann, Dr Cullen seems to have constantly endea- 
 voured to extend, improve, and methodize his know- 
 ledge of the functions of this system ; and, certainly, in 
 no part of his labours do the powers of his mind ap- 
 pear to have been more successfully exerted. His spe- 
 culations with regard to the different functions of the 
 Nervous system, but more particularly with regard to 
 that of the Animal Power or Energy of the Brain, were 
 incorporated with every opinion which he taught con- 
 cerning the phenomena of the animal economy, the 
 causes of diseases, and the operation of medicines; and 
 they may be said to constitute a most important part, 
 if not the sole basis, of that system of the Practice of 
 Physic, which he made the subject of prelection, as well 
 as of study, for a period of nearly forty years before he 
 ventured to give it to the public. 
 
 Dr Cullen divided the Nervous system into four 
 parts : — 1st, The Brain or Medullary substance con- 
 tained in the cranium and vertebral cavity, " the whole 
 of which," he says, *' seems to consist of distinct fibres ;" 
 2d, The Nerves ; 3d, The Extremities of the Nerves 
 distributed upon the different organs of sense, — these 
 he calls the sentient extremities of the Nerves ; and 
 4<t/t, The Moving or JMuscular fibres ; — these, Dr Cul- 
 len was disposed to regard as a continuation of the me- 
 dullary substance of the brain and nerves, and he 
 therefore termed them the Moving extremities of the 
 nerves. To each of these parts of the Nervous system 
 Dr Cullen ascribed a distinct function. To the Sen- 
 tient extremities, that of receiving the impressions of
 
 2166 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 external bodies, which, by motions conveyed along the 
 nerves to the Brain, give rise to sensations ; to the 
 Brain, the susceptibility of those motions with which 
 sensation and the consequent operations of thought are 
 connected ; to the Moving extremities, the faculty of 
 contraction, and of having this contraction excited by 
 an energy communicated to them from the Brain ; 
 and to the Nerves, the power of conveying motions 
 from the sentient extremities to the Brain, and the 
 commands of the will from the Brain to the moving 
 extremities. 
 
 In mentioning the opinions of Boerhaave, with re- 
 gard to diflPerent functions being assigned to different 
 portions of the nervous system, it has been stated 
 (p. 205-7) that several Anatomists, previously to his 
 time, had been led by observations to entertain the 
 belief that the nerves of sensation and of motion are 
 connected with different parts of the common sensory. 
 This opinion was greatly discouraged by the authority 
 of Haller, who, though aware of the fact, that in pa- 
 ralytic affections motion is frequently destroyed while 
 sensation remains, and that in other cases, sensation is 
 lost while motion continues, thought that these occm*- 
 rences might be explained without supposing that the 
 nerves of sensation and motion are different. Dr Cul- 
 len supported the same opinion as Haller respecting 
 the identity of the sensory and motory nerves ; and 
 maintained, that we must either allow these nerves to 
 be the same, or suppose that there is nowhere a nerve 
 of motion which is not accompanied with a nerve of 
 sense that is inseparable from it ; which he regarded as 
 a gratuitous supposition. The opinions of Haller on
 
 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 267 
 
 this subject were ably combated by M. Pouteau, in a 
 memoir to be found in the second volume of his Post- 
 humous Works, entitled, " Researches on the differ- 
 ence to be established between the Nerves of Sensa- 
 tion and the Nerves of Motion ; suggested by some 
 Observations on that rather uncommon species of Pal- 
 sy, which deprives a limb of all sensation without de- 
 priving it of the use of motion." In this memoir M. 
 Pouteau was led to conclude that the nerves of sensa- 
 tion arise in the cerebrum, and those of motion in the 
 cerebellum, though in the spinal marrow, he observes, 
 the two appear to be confounded, in runnrng pele mele 
 alongside of each other. " The confusion of the pe- 
 duncles of the cerebrum and cerebellum in forming 
 the medulla oblongata is, however," he remarks, " only 
 apparent. The feebleness of our vision does not allow 
 us to trace them further ; for we must suppose that all 
 that is in common to the nervous filaments coming 
 from these two sources, the cerebrum and the cerebel- 
 lum, is their being enclosed in common sheaths, fur- 
 nished by the dura and by the pia mater, and their 
 contributing more or less to the formation of every vi- 
 sible nerve." In speaking of the portio dura and por- 
 tio mollis of the seventh pair as two nerves that ani- 
 mate the ear, and both of which come nearly from the 
 same origin, viz. the medulla oblongata, where the ner- 
 vous filaments furnished by the cerebrum and by the 
 cerebellum are confounded, M. Pouteau remarks, 
 " In all other parts Nature has always bound, under 
 common sheaths, the filaments furnished in different 
 proportions by the cerebrum and by the cerebellum ; 
 here, on the contraiy, they are separate in all animals."
 
 268 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 It appears from the statement of M. Pouteau that M. 
 Lecat had previously adopted the distinction between 
 the nerves of sensation and of motion ; and in the 44th 
 voknne of the Journal de Medecine for 1775, there is 
 a paper by M. Morin, in which it is remarked, that 
 " our observing in palsy the diseased part preserve its 
 sensibility without mobility, and vice versa, proves 
 that there are two different species of nerves." The 
 anonymous editor of the " Clinical Lectures delivered 
 by Dr Cullen during the years 1765-66," also remarks 
 in a note, " It is surprising that, when the nerves that 
 go off together from the sensorium are the cause of 
 both sensation and motion in a muscle, yet the one 
 shoidd be destroyed and the other remain entire ; this 
 affords a proof that these nerves are distinct, even in 
 the sensorium *." 
 
 These incidental notices of the opinions of preceding 
 authors, like the quotations from Prochaska referred 
 to by Sir Charles Bell in the last edition of his work 
 on the Nervous System, shew " how much importance 
 may be now given to passages which heretofore had 
 little interest attached to them ;" while they in no de- 
 gree detract from the singidar merit of the physiologist 
 who first established by experiment the diversity of the 
 sensory and motory nerves, and who has applied this 
 important discovery with so much ingenuity and pre- 
 cision to the explanation of many phenomena of the 
 animal economy in the states of injury and disease. 
 
 Though Dr Cullen rejected the hypotheses of the 
 
 * Haller, Primse Linese, § 384. Elementa Physiologiae, lib. x. 
 sect. viii. § 22. Cullen, Comment, on § 116. of his Physiology. 
 Pouteau, CEuvres Posthumes, torn. ii. p. 480. Paris, 1783.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 269 
 
 communication of motions through the different parts 
 of the Nervous System by means of vibrations of the 
 nerves, or of a fluid secreted in the Brain, he seems to 
 have conceived with Hoffmann and others, that the 
 agency of some subtile fluid in this system is neces- 
 sary, in order to fit it for the communication of impres- 
 sions from one part to another. This fluid he termed 
 the nervous fluid ; but without meaning, as he him- 
 self informs us, to determine any thing with regard to 
 its source, nature, or manner of acting. " By nervous 
 fluid," he says, " I mean nothing more, than that there 
 is a condition of the nerves which fits them for the 
 communication of motion." 
 
 It is difficult to comprise, in a narrow compass, the 
 various and extensive views which Dr Cullen was ac- 
 customed to take of the functions of the Nervous sys- 
 tem ; but the general results of his speculations upon 
 this subject may perhaps be comprehended under the 
 following heads : — 1^^ Of the Nervous system consi- 
 dered as the connecting medium between the soul and 
 body, or the Immaterial and the Material parts of man ; 
 — 2flf, Of the Nervous system considered as the organ 
 of Sensation ; — 3^/, As the organ of our Intellectual 
 operations. Memory and Judgment ; — ^th, As the 
 organ of the Voluntary, Involuntary, INIixed, and Sym- 
 pathetic motions of the animal economy ; — 5th, Of the 
 different conditions of the Nervous system in the states 
 of Sleeping and Waking, and the doctrine of Excite- 
 ment and Collapse ; — Qth, and lastly, The effects of 
 Custom upon our corporeal and mental functions. 
 
 I. The Nervous system considered as the connect-
 
 270 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 ing medium between the Immaterial and the Mate- 
 terial parts of man, — In considering Mind and Mat- 
 ter as respectively endowed with qualities essentially 
 different, Dr CuUen regarded the Nervous system as 
 the connecting medium between the mind, or immate- 
 rial thinking part of man, and the different organs of 
 which his body is composed ; and believed, that certain 
 motions or unknown changes excited in this system 
 give occasion to thought, and that thought, however 
 occasioned, produces new motions or changes in the Ner- 
 vous system ; or, in other words, that certain changes in 
 the state of the Nervous system, and certain affections 
 of the mind, are, during life, reciprocally the invariable 
 antecedents and consequents, or causes and effects, of 
 each other. " This mutual communication or influ- 
 ence," he remarks, " we assume with confidence as a 
 fact ; but the mode of it we do not understand nor pre- 
 tend to explain ; and, therefore, we are not bound to ob- 
 viate the difficulties that attend any of the suppositions 
 which have been made concerning it." In expressing 
 his opinions upon these subjects, Dr CuUen was parti- 
 cularly careful to guard himself from the charge of ma- 
 terialism ; — a charge which has been so often rashly 
 and ignorantly preferred against those who have been 
 engaged in tracing the order of succession of the mate- 
 rial and mental phenomena of the animal economy, 
 and the reciprocal influences established by Nature be- 
 tween them. 
 
 " With regard to the question,*" he observes, " whether 
 our intellectual part depends on a certain constitution of 
 matter, or upon an immaterial substance connected with our 
 material part, we are of the latter opinion, and think it fully 
 proved, by observing, that there are laws of the animal eco-
 
 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 271 
 
 nomy absolutely incompatible with the ordinary powers of 
 matter and motion. But, on this subject, I refer you en- 
 tirely to Dr Whytt, who, in his book on the Vital and In- 
 voluntary motions of Animals, has put the matter beyond all 
 doubt. I will only add one argument, which is, that the 
 association of ideas, a very fundamental part of all our in- 
 tellectual operations, cannot be explained upon any supposed 
 organization of matter." " The existence of a soul being 
 admitted, we must next inquire into the circumstances of 
 its operating in the system. With respect to this, we find 
 that the notion of the souFs governing the whole animal 
 functions is very ancient, as we meet with it in the Timgeus 
 of Plato. It has since been revived, in different shapes, by 
 Helmont, Wepfer^ and Doloeus, and especially by Stahl, 
 who plainly maintains, that the soul, as in a great measure 
 independent of the body, and as in itself a rational being, 
 presides over and directs most of the animal functions. In 
 this he has been followed by many physicians in Germany, 
 by Dr Nichols in England, as appears from his dissertation, 
 entitled Anima Medica; and our countryman Dr Porter- 
 field has also shewn a strong bias to the same opinion. We 
 cannot, however, join in this opinion with these respectable 
 persons, as we neither find that it is founded in truth, 
 nor that it can have any good influence on the theory 
 or practice of physic. Although the soul is certainly a 
 distinct substance from the body, it appears highly pro- 
 bable that the soul, while connected with the body, sel- 
 dom acts, but in consequence of motions first excited in 
 the latter; and that it is generally true, that " Nihil 
 est in intellectu, quod non prius fuerit in sensn^'' Even 
 our reflex sensations are always necessary consequences 
 of previous impressions. The impossibility of a perpetual 
 motion or automaton being demonstrated with respect to 
 matter, is considered as a proof that the seeming automaton 
 in a living animal must depend upon a soul animating all its 
 motions. That the soul is constantly necessary to the mo-
 
 272 LIFE OF DR CULI.EN. 
 
 tions of the body we readily admit ; but the argument is 
 pushed loo far, when it is supposed that all of these motions 
 are supported by the power of the soul alone ; for it appears, 
 that motions excited by the impulse of external bodies are 
 absolutely necessary to that support. Take away all im- 
 pri^ssions on the external senses, and most persons will fall 
 asleep, and that sleep would probably continue and end in 
 death, were it not for impressions being renewed. The 
 power of the soul appears, especially in what are called the 
 voluntary motions ; but these, properly considered, do not 
 show that power exerted in an arbitrary manner, or with 
 any attention directed to the motions of the body. The soul 
 is indeed a necessary part of these motions, but it cannot be 
 said to direct and govern them independently of the conditions 
 of the body. This is still more clear with respect to the in- 
 ternal and what are called involuntary motions, with which 
 physic is more especially concerned. The Stahlians would 
 have us believe that the increased action of the heart and ar- 
 teries which appears in fevers, does not arise from the physi- 
 cal powers of the causes of fevers, but from hence, that the 
 soul, perceiving the noxious tendency of some matters present 
 in the system, excites the action of the heart and arteries as 
 a means of expelling such noxious matters. This cannot be 
 proved ; and it appears to us more probable that, analogous 
 to a general law of the system, the material causes of fevers 
 have a physical power of exciting those motions that are fitted 
 to expel them out of the body. In short, whatever share the 
 soul may have in supporting the motions of the body, we 
 can have no art of physic, but in so far as we suppose that 
 the causes operating upon the body act by a physical neces- 
 sity ; and that, by a knowledge of such causes, we can pro- 
 duce certain changes in the state of the matter and organi- 
 zation of the body." 
 
 I have introduced into the first volume of Dr Ciil- 
 len's Works, pp. 18. and 103, his commentaries upon
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 273 
 
 the 31st and llTtli paragraphs of the Physiology, as 
 expressing his opinions with regard to the mutual re- 
 lations of the mind and hody, and as affording a speci- 
 men of his general manner of lecturing upon physiolo- 
 gical suhjects, as well as a proof of the great pains 
 which he took to make his pupils acquainted with the 
 opinions of other teachers. 
 
 II. The Nervous System as the Organ of Sensa- 
 tion. — Dr Cullen agreed with Boerhaave in believing 
 that the brain, and not the nervous system generally, 
 as Perrault and Whytt had supposed, is the imme- 
 diate organ of the mind in the function of sensation. 
 
 " The Stahlians and some of the physiologists,'" he re- 
 marks, " have taken a fancy that the soul has no seat, no 
 particular part of the body with which it is connected more 
 immediately than with the rest ; they conceive that it is co- 
 extensive with the nervous system, perceives in the organs 
 of sense, independently of any communication with the brain, 
 and operates in the muscles without any motions being pro- 
 pagated to them from the brain. But in saying this, they 
 cannot but be stumbled by the fact, that if a ligature or 
 compression be appHed to a nerve of sense, no sensation will 
 be produced by any application between the ligature or com- 
 pression, and the sentient extremity of the nerve ; though, if 
 we can go beyond the ligature, and apply a puncture between 
 it and the brain, this will occasion a sensation. Since, there- 
 fore, the impulse or impression of bodies on the sentient ex- 
 tremities of a nerve does not occasion sensation, unless the 
 nerve between the sentient extremity and the brain be free, 
 we conclude that sensation, so far as it is connected wilh 
 corporeal motions, is a function of the brain alone ; and we 
 presume that sensation arises only in consequence of external 
 impulse producing motion in the sentient extremities of the 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 274 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 nerves, and of that motion being thence propagated along 
 the nerves to the brain/'' 
 
 According to Dr CuUen, our Sensations may be 
 considered as of two kinds : 1 st, Those which arise 
 from the impulse or impression of external bodies, 
 which he therefore names Sensations of Impi^ession, 
 2d, Those which arise from the mind's being conscious 
 of its own actions, and of the motions which it excites ; 
 and these he names Sensations of Consciousness. In 
 enumerating the sensations of Impression, Dr CuUen 
 distinguished those of Sight, Hearing, Smell, and 
 Taste, from those of Touch ; each of the first four sen- 
 ses constituting a genus, the particular sensations of 
 which, though various, possess something in common, 
 arise from impressions made upon one part of the body 
 only, and are produced by the action of one kind of ex- 
 ternal bodies, or rather by the action of one and the 
 same quality, as by that of light, tremor, volatility or 
 solubility. No such characters, he remarks, concur in 
 establishing one genus of the sensations referred to 
 Touch. These, therefore, he attempted to distinguish 
 into different genera, such as sensations from mechani- 
 cal impulse — from chemical acrimony — and from heat 
 and cold. 
 
 The term Sensatiotis of Consciousness was, as Dr 
 Cullen remarks, a new term in physiology ; and it must 
 be allowed that some such term was necessary, in or- 
 der to comprehend under it a variety of feelings of the 
 mind of which we are conscious, but which we are not 
 able to trace to the impression of bodies external to the 
 Nervous system. " It is first asserted by Boerhaave,'* 
 he observes, " and in a great measure by Gaubius,
 
 LITE OF DR CULLEX. 275 
 
 that there is no mental operation whatever that has not 
 some state of the body corresponding to it ; and that 
 om* sensations are merely reflections of some changes 
 that go on in our corporeal parts, — so that sensations 
 of consciousness should not be separated from those of 
 impression. But I hold the general proposition to be 
 doubtful ; and whatever may be in it, it is certain 
 tliat, in the examples which I am to give of sensations 
 of Consciousness, we neither perceive nor are conscious 
 of any such changes in tlie state of the body ; so that 
 we must take them as they appear in the mind only," 
 " The sensations of consciousness," Dr CuUen remarks, 
 " may be referred to the following heads: — 1st, Those of 
 Apperception, by which we are in general conscious of per- 
 ceiving, remembering, judging, and willing, and thereby of 
 our existence and identity ; 2d, The sensations arising from 
 the particular state of thinking, according as perception, me- 
 mory, and judgment are more or less clear, ready, or exact ; 
 3d, The sensations arising from the particular state of voli- 
 tion, and its various modes ; 4th, The sensations arising 
 from the general state of muscular action, as vigorous or 
 weak, easy or difficult. An example of this," he observes, 
 " is, the sense of alacrity and of weight in moving the limbs, 
 also the sense of lassitude. I find that I cannot move my 
 limbs with the same force as I used to do. I find that I 
 cannot continue their action so long as I have been able to 
 do. I find a sense of weight and uneasiness in endeavour- 
 ing to do it. This, it is plain, is merely a sense of an af- 
 fection of the mind, and without any thing that can be called 
 external impression ; 5th, The sensations arising from parti- 
 cular actions, or a consciousness of the actions excited, and 
 of the motion of the different parts of the body. These also 
 probably take place with regard to all the internal functions. 
 The action of the heart and arteries, for instance, is in gene- 
 
 s 2
 
 2176 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 ral obscurely, but sometimes very clearly perceived, as is al- 
 so the state of respiration, or the action of the lungs ; and 
 still more evidently the actions of the stomach and intes- 
 tines, which we cannot consider, with any propriety, without 
 having thus distinguished the sensations of consciousness. I 
 own that this head ^^dll admit of some doubt, whether these 
 sensations belong to those of consciousness or to those of im- 
 pression. I am willing to allow that they are sensations of 
 impression, in so far as the action of the muscles overstretches 
 certain parts ; but sometimes they are without any such im- 
 pression, and we are conscious only of the degree to which 
 our motions are exerted. Thus I judge of the distance of a 
 body, which I measure by stretching out my arm to come 
 into contact with it, which gives only the consciousness of 
 the degree of motion excited ; but I am not conscious of the 
 agency of the several muscles which are put into motion to 
 produce this action. I am sensible of this only when these 
 muscles are exerted with some unusual violence, or with 
 spasmodic contraction. Internal motions also may come to 
 be perceived when they are performed with a spasmodic 
 force. Thus we take no notice of the action of the heart, 
 unless when any cause excites it in an unusual manner, 
 which we call a palpitation ; or, when there is an interruption 
 or intermission of the pulse, which many persons can mark 
 in the heart. And so with respect to respiration, the usual 
 train of which we are not conscious of willing or directing ; 
 but when it is performed with unusual frequency or force, 
 we are. — 6th, The sensations arising from the diminution or 
 absence of impressions. I will not say that darkness is vi- 
 sible, but it is a positive sensation. The sensation of dark- 
 ness or blackness is the absence of impression : it takes place 
 when no rays of light fall on our e3'es, so that the sensa- 
 tion of consciousness may be here separated from that of im- 
 pression.*" 
 . It is evident from the 40th and 61st paragraphs of
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 277 
 
 his Physiology, that Dr Cullen occasionally employed 
 the word Sensation as a general term, synonpnous with 
 feeling of the mind ; and, accordingly, in the 62d pa- 
 ragi'aph, where he says, " We are disposed to combine 
 our sensations as miited in one object, and thus form 
 what are called complex ideas," he uses the word Sen- 
 sation as synonymous with the term Conception ; and, 
 again, in the 63d paragraph, *" We compare our seve- 
 ral sensations, and from thence acquire new sensations 
 of relation," he uses the word sensation as synonymous 
 with the act of judging, or with what Hobhes and 
 Malebranche formerly, and more recently M. Destutt 
 Tracy and Dr Thomas Brown, have denominated a 
 feeling of relation. Though it may be doubted how 
 far our consciousness of perceiving, of remembering, of 
 judging, and of willing, and of the greater or less fa- 
 cility with which these mental operations are performed, 
 can with propriety receive the appellation of Sensa- 
 tions, which Dr Cullen has given to them, there can 
 be no question that we ought to regard as sensations 
 the bodily feelings which arise from the various emo- 
 tions and passions of the mind, as well as those that 
 accompany the various motions arising from volition, 
 which Dr Cullen justly remarks is a very fruitful 
 source of sensations ; — feelings the more deserving of 
 our attention, that they appear to be the natural means 
 or signs by which we are made acquainted with the 
 magnitude, figure, and distance of external bodies. 
 
 In tracing the relations of the corporeal and mental 
 phenomena of sensation, Dr Cullen appears to have 
 been particularly desirous to ascertain and to point out 
 the general circumstances or laws of that process ; — an
 
 278 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN". 
 
 attempt which had been previously made by Boer- 
 haave, in the 575th, 6th, 7th, and 8th paragraphs of 
 his Institutions ; — and he has certainly succeeded in 
 stating the most important of these laws with greater 
 brevity, perspicuity, and accuracy, than had been done 
 by any preceding physiologist. He states, that the 
 different parts of the body are sensible only by means 
 of the nerves present in them ; — that particular sensa- 
 tions arise from impressions on certain parts only ; — 
 that no sensations arise originally in the mind, without 
 a previous change in the state of the body ; — that, in 
 order to produce sensation, a certain limited force and 
 a certain duration of impression are required ; — that a 
 certain degree of attention of the mind is necessary to 
 give an impression its full effect ; — that the mind seems 
 to be determined to attention by the force of impres- 
 sion, by the pleasure or pain arising from it, by the 
 degree of emotion or passion produced by these, and 
 by the emotion's being more or less related to the per- 
 son feeling ;— that the mind can attend to one sensa- 
 tion only at one time, but that several impressions, 
 producing sensations of the same genus, if they occur 
 either simultaneously or in succession, may unite in 
 producing a single sensation different from either of 
 the separate sensations ; — that sensations remain for 
 some time after the external impressions that pro- 
 duced them have been withdrawn ; — that the sensa- 
 tions, produced by particular impressions, are modified 
 not only by the original constitution and accidental 
 state of the organs of sense, but also by the different 
 degrees of force with which the impressions act, and 
 by the degree of impression to which the organ had
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 279 
 
 been immediately before accustomed ; — that the same 
 impression, after it has been often repeated, does not 
 produce the same strength of sensation as at first ; — 
 that different sensations are accompanied with differ- 
 ent judgments concerning the bodies making impres- 
 sion, and the part of the body upon which it is made ; 
 — that sensations are referred either, 1st, to the place 
 where the impression is made, or, if this be an internal 
 part to the incumbent external part ; 2d, to a part 
 sympathizing with the part where the impression is 
 made ; or, 3d, to the nervous extremities from whence 
 the sensation w^as in use to arise ; — that sensations are 
 pleasant or painful according to the quality of the im- 
 pression from which they arise, and the degree of its 
 force ; — that sensations, at first painful, may, by repe- 
 tition, be changed into pleasant, and the pleasant into 
 insipid and uneasy ; and that impressions and sensa- 
 tions are often rendered the objects of desire or aver- 
 sion, by combination, succession, and relation. Each 
 of these laws of sensation Dr CuUen endeavoured to 
 establish and illustrate in his lectures by numerous and 
 apposite examples ^K 
 
 III. The Nervous System as the Organ of our 
 Intellectual Operations. — Of the intellectual faculties 
 or internal senses, Dr Cullen took occasion to refer 
 principally to those of IMemory and Judgment f . Of 
 Memory he points out three modifications, under the 
 names of Reminiscence, Memory, and Imagination. 
 By Reminiscence, he understands the rcnev>'al of sen- 
 sations formerly experienced, by the same objects that 
 
 * Works, vol. i. pp. 31-49. t Works, vol. i. p. 46.
 
 S80 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 produced them, accompanied with the consciousness of 
 their having been formerly perceived ; by JMemory, the 
 renewal of perceptions formerly received, without the 
 presence or action of the objects which had given occa- 
 sion to them, attended with the consciousness of a dif- 
 ference between the \ividness of the two perceptions, 
 and particularly of the absence of the original objects ; 
 such a renewed perception, he says, is called an Idea ; 
 and, lastly, by Imagination he understands the renewal 
 of perceptions formerly received, also without the prcr 
 sence of the original objects, but in such manner that 
 the mind does not perceive any difference between the 
 renewed and the original perception, so that such re- 
 newal is always attended with the persuasion of the 
 presence of the object. " The term Imagination," he 
 remarks, " has been very variously applied ; and parti- 
 cularly to that mode of memory which renews ideas 
 with more vivacity than we commonly experience in 
 our remembrance of sensations. But it is necessary 
 for us to confine the term, as we have done, to that re- 
 newal of perceptions, without the presence of the ob- 
 ject, that is equal in its effects to what the presence of 
 the object itself would give, as in the case of dreams 
 and delirium." 
 
 Judgment Dr Cidlen defines to be " that faculty 
 by which we compare om- several perceptions, and from 
 thence acquire new sensations or feelings of relation." 
 ** When any two sensations," he observes, " imme- 
 diately succeed one another — that is, are presented 
 nearly together — we form a comparison of them, and 
 perceive resemblance or difference between them, in 
 various respects ; hence a new feeling arises in the
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. ^^^81 
 
 mind, which is called a sensation of relation, or a per- 
 ception of the judgment." Dr Cullen has pointed out, 
 in different parts of his lectures, how much the ex- 
 ercise of memory is dependent on the associations that 
 are formed between our different perceptions, between 
 perceptions that are present and perceptions formerly 
 experienced. " What are the various relations ob- 
 served, which connect the perceptions of sense, of me- 
 mory, and of judgment, I leave to the metaphysicians 
 to determine. They may perhaps be referred to a few 
 heads ; but under each of these are comprehended 
 a great number of particulars; and the slightest dif- 
 ferences are sufficient to form a relation ; and it is 
 enough to our purpose to observe, that every relation 
 marked forms an association for the purposes of me- 
 mory. So that every sensation renewed by impres- 
 sion, does at the same time renew the idea or concep- 
 tion of a sensation formerly associated with it by some 
 relation that has been marked ; and this renewed idea 
 is also capable of renewing others that had been asso- 
 ciated wdth it in the same manner ; and thus one sin- 
 gle impression can renew a great number of ideas for- 
 merly received. This is the ordinary cause and opera- 
 tion of memory." 
 
 With respect to the mutual dependence of percep- 
 tion, memory, and judgment upon one another, and the 
 circumstances upon which may depend the similarity 
 or dissimilarity of the judgments formed upon the 
 same subjects by different individuals in a sound state 
 of mind, Dr Cullen gives the following explanation : 
 
 *' The external perceptions of men are nearly similar ; and 
 for this reason, there is also a similarity in their internal per-
 
 282 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 ceptions, or perceptions of relation. Simple internal percep- 
 tions and their relations are the materials on which the in- 
 tellect is exercised. They are laid up in the mind by asso- 
 ciations, and it is in following these associations that the 
 mind brings back before it the relations which it is to judge 
 of. But if the perception of relations is similar, so will the 
 associations be in common, with the most part of men ; and 
 as the perceptions, relations, and associations, are founded 
 on the nature of things, so the judgments of men will be si- 
 milar, and in the exercise of this faculty they will follow the 
 same trains of associations. Notwithstanding this similarity, 
 there may be a great diversity in the judgments of men, — 
 from want of some perceptions, — from some difference in 
 perceptions, especially in such as are complex, — from a great 
 difference in the number of relations marked, and their ex- 
 actness, — and, lastly, from the number and variety of asso- 
 ciations ; whence a different state of the mind in different in- 
 dividuals, or in the same individuals at different times. But, 
 at the same time, there are so many circumstances of human 
 life in common to all men, that there must be so much simi- 
 larity as to establish a common sense ; that is, perceptions, 
 relations, associations and judgments, in which all agree ; 
 and when any particular man differs from all others in these 
 respects, we say he is not in his senses, but insane *." 
 
 That the Brain is the organ of the intellectual fa- 
 cidties, Dr Cidlen conceived to be proved not only 
 from our naturally referring the operations of memory 
 and judgment to the Encephalon, but also from the ef- 
 fects that are produced upon these faculties by injuries, 
 by temporary diseased states, and by permanent mor- 
 bid alterations of that organ. 
 
 " Though there are,'' he observes, '• cases of derange- 
 ment of the intellectual faculties, cases even where a deli- 
 rium or mania had subsisted for a great part of life, the 
 causes of which we cannot find upon dissection, in any 
 * Works, vol. ii. pp. 510, 511.
 
 IJFK OF DR CULLEN. 283 
 
 change of the state of the brain, yet in ninety-nine instances 
 of the hundred of such affections, we can perceive a change 
 in the organization of the brain, — we can perceive causes that 
 act there, and there only ; and if in the remaining hundredth 
 I cannot account for it, it will not disturb the conclusion. 
 I am averse to establish universal propositions, but this, 
 which is general enough, I insist upon, to prove that the 
 brain is the Sensorium Commune, the seat of our intellec- 
 tual faculties ; or, if we use the language of an organ of the 
 soul, that the brain is such an organ. We may perhaps be 
 told that the brain may be taken away, and the intellectual 
 faculties remain ; and it certainly may be taken away en- 
 tirely without immediately destroying vitality; we know 
 that a bird will run the length of the room, and show some 
 signs of a pretty lively vitality, after its brain has been re- 
 moved. But in none of these cases is there any certainty 
 that the intellectual faculties are not entirely destroyed ; or if 
 these remain after the brain has suffered any lesion, I say that 
 it amounts only to a lesion of a certain extent. This cer- 
 tainly makes it difficult to say what portion of our brain is 
 necessary to our intellectual faculties, for in several vitiated 
 states of that organ they do continue, if the causes producing 
 the lesion operate slowly ; but if you affect the brain with a 
 certain degree of pressure, you will at length destroy them. 
 In hydrocephalus, though a fatuity has ensued, the senses 
 have often remained to a surprising degree ; but none of 
 these instances amount to so much as to disturb the general 
 conclusion, that the brain is necessary to sense, and that its 
 organization, and the intellectual faculties, are immediately 
 connected with one another.'^ 
 
 In adopting, however, in common with most authors 
 who have treated of the faculties of the human mind, 
 the opinion that all the operations of thought are car- 
 ried on in tlie brain, and are modified by its various 
 conditions, Dr Cullen was well aware of the difficulties
 
 284 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 which present themselves to the physiologist, in at- 
 tempting to ascertain what those particular parts and 
 states of the brain are, upon which depend either the 
 different degrees of intellect that different men are 
 originally endowed with, or those various modifications 
 of the intellectual faculties that are observed to occur 
 in the same individual during the progress of life, from 
 age or from disease. " Although," he remarks, " w^e 
 cannot doubt that the operations of our intellect always 
 depend upon some motions taking place in the brain, 
 yet these motions have never been the objects of our 
 senses, nor have we hitherto been able to perceive that 
 any particular part of the brain has more concern in 
 the operations of our intellect than any other. Nor 
 have we attained any knowledge of what share the 
 several parts of the brain have in that operation ; and, 
 therefore, in this situation of our science, it must be a 
 very difficult matter to discover those parts and states 
 of the brain that may give occasion to the various states 
 of our intellectual functions." These remarks of Dr 
 Cullen have obviously a reference to the attempts 
 which had been made, at different times, to discover 
 the more immediate seat of the soul, or Sensorium 
 Commune, as it has been termed, and to the experi- 
 mental researches undertaken with a view to this ob- 
 ject by Haller and his disciples. 
 
 IV. The Nervous System as the organ of the Vo- 
 luntary, Involimtary, 31icced, and Sympathetic Mo- 
 tions of the animal economy. — Dr Cullen agreed 
 with Haller in regarding the muscular fibres as the 
 organs of motion in all parts of the body ; and though
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 285 
 
 he conceived them to he a portion of the nervous 
 system, he was disposed to attribute the power of con- 
 tractility which they possess, and which, he observes, 
 is not possessed by any other portion of this system, 
 to some pecuharity of their organization, without pro- 
 fessing to explain in what this peculiarity consists, 
 or on what physical change in the condition of mus- 
 cular fibres, their contraction depends. He seems to 
 have clearly perceived the fallacy of one of the arguments 
 by which Haller's distinction between Sensibility and 
 Irritability had been opposed, viz. that muscular fibres 
 cannot contract unless they feel the stimuli applied to 
 them, and that muscular contractility is therefore im- 
 mediately dependent upon, if not the same power with, 
 nervous sensibility. " Very generally indeed," he re- 
 marked, '' the motions of the animal economy begin 
 in sensation ; but it is not necessary, as some have sup- 
 posed, that they should always do so ; for there are 
 powers which, when directly applied to the moving fi- 
 bres, excite their action without any previous sensation 
 being excited, or without any intervention of the brain ; 
 which appears clearly from hence, that the motion of 
 moving fibres can be excited so long as the living princi- 
 ple subsists in them, though they are entirely separated 
 from the rest of the body, and entirely, therefore, re- 
 moved from all sense *." To express the constant ten- 
 dency which muscular fibres have to contract, when the 
 powers stretching them are taken off, Dr Cullen em- 
 ployed the term Tone, which had been originally ap- 
 plied to that tendency by Galen. " In respect of the 
 causes by which it may be excited," he observes, " the 
 
 * Treatise on the IMateria Medica, 17^0, vol. ii. p. 131.
 
 286 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 contractility of muscular fibres has been called Irrita- 
 bility ; but there are two qualities of this property, 
 which it is of importance to distinguish from each 
 other, 1st, The Force with which the contraction of 
 muscular fibres can be performed ; and, 2d, The Facu 
 Uty with which it can be excited. These two circum- 
 stances are indeed variously combined in different 
 cases ; and, in many cases, it is extremely difficult to 
 mark how far they are combined or separated. But 
 we observe that the facility with which the contraction 
 of muscular fibres can be excited, is often increased in 
 the same proportion as the force with which they are 
 contracted, is diminished ; and, upon that ground, 
 they ought to be distinguished by particular terms." 
 These two states, which plainly correspond with what 
 Glisson had termed the Robur jihrarum and the dif- 
 ferentm Irritahilitatis graduales, Dr Cullen termed 
 respectively the Vigom* and the Mobility of muscular 
 fibres. 
 
 Dr Cullen employed the Hallerian terms of Vis 
 Insita and Vis Nervosa, not to signify, as Haller had 
 done, two different powers of contractility, one pos- 
 sessed by muscle, in virtue of its own organization, 
 and the other communicated to muscle by the nerves, 
 in which it originates, — but to denote the two ways in 
 which muscular irritability can be called into action, — 
 by stimuli applied directly to the muscular substance 
 itself, or by stimuli obviously acting through the me- 
 dium of the nerves. " Dr Haller," he remarks, " has 
 taken a partiality for a doctrine of which he thinks 
 himself the author, viz. that the vis nervea and the 
 vis insita of muscular fibres are totally distinct powers."
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 287 
 
 " Whether the contraction be excited by applications 
 made to the muscles themselves, or to the nerves con- 
 nected with them, the effects of such application are 
 so exactly the same, as to allow us to conclude that 
 the nervous and the inherent powers are somewhat of 
 the same nature. A very ingenious gentleman, Dr 
 Thomas Smith, a pupil of mine, has written an inau- 
 gural dissertation to demonstrate this very fact. He 
 applied to muscles and to nerves every variety of 
 powers, mechanical or chemical, which are supposed to 
 act upon them. He employed a great variety of diffe- 
 rent substances in this way ; and he could alternately, 
 and in circumstances well suited for comparison, apply 
 them to both nerves and muscles. The general residt 
 of his experiments is, that the same matter applied to 
 the muscle or nerve, constantly produces either con- 
 tractions or insensibility, and shews either stimulant or 
 sedative powers ; and this equally, whether applied to 
 the nerve or to the muscle itself ; and in no one in- 
 stance did any diversity appear. The experiments were 
 nicely executed, and indeed they required a great deal 
 of nicety and attention *." These observations, it de- 
 serves to be remarked, Haller had ascertained to hold 
 good only in the case of stimuli applied to the volun- 
 tary muscles and their nerves — the involuntary muscu- 
 lar organs not being excited to contraction by stimuli 
 applied to the nerves with which they are supplied. 
 
 Though Dr CuUen acknowledged it to be possible 
 
 that the property of irritability may, as Haller and 
 
 others had believed, reside entirely in the muscular 
 
 fibre itself, independently of any influence derived from 
 
 * Works, vol. 1*. pp. 07- 7^'
 
 288 LIFE OF UR CULLEN. 
 
 the nervous system, yet he maintained that, in the pro- 
 duction of all the voluntary, involuntary, and mixed 
 motions of the animal economy, the muscular fibre is 
 always more or less influenced by an energy derived 
 from the nervous system. " The vigour of the inhe- 
 rent or contractile power of tlie muscles," he observes, 
 " cannot be evident in a living animal, because we can- 
 not be certain of its acting entirely without the ner- 
 vous power ; and, with regard to the strength with 
 which a muscle contracts, I can undertake to show that, 
 in dilFerent conditions of the body, as it is weakened by 
 disease or by various other causes, or as it is increased 
 by powers which have that effect, this contraction will 
 be perceived to be manifestly different ; and I shall 
 have many occasions to prove that the tone of the in- 
 herent power is increased or diminished by causes act- 
 ing upon the brain, and upon the brain alone." To 
 this influence of the nervous system upon the muscular, 
 involuntary as well as voluntary, Dr Cidlen gave the 
 name of the " Animal Power or Energy of the Brain." 
 ** This term," he observes, " has not been common in 
 our systems of physic ; but if, in all the communica- 
 tions that take place between the different parts of the 
 body, much depends upon the present state of the 
 brain, w^e will not be in any difficulty in lodging a par- 
 ticular power there, of which we shall speak under the 
 name of Animal Power, or Energy of the Brain." 
 " This animal power we suppose to be seated in the 
 brain, and only there seated. Whether you consider it, 
 as Dr Whytt did, as a sentient principle, or as an auto- 
 matic vital energy, depending upon the peculiar organi- 
 zation of all the several parts of the nervous system, it is
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 289 
 
 probably the fundamental part of the system, without 
 which the functions cannot long remain." " It is high- 
 ly probable that in the brain, as being the principal seat 
 of the nervous system, to which all the other parts are in 
 some measure united, there is a common centre of mo- 
 tion and power ; from whence, in consequence of cer- 
 tain circumstances, the nervous fluid is determined with 
 greater force, and perhaps in larger quantity, into some 
 parts than into others. This is what I would term the 
 Action or Energy of the Brain ; and it is particularly 
 evident in the operations of the nervous power in the 
 case of voluntary motions." 
 
 Believing that the motions of the several parts of 
 the body, whether voluntary, involuntary, mixed, or 
 sympathetic, arise from the action of the brain upon 
 the muscular system, Dr CuUen has enumerated under 
 seven distinct heads, the causes by which that organ 
 seems to be excited to produce these motions, viz. 1st, 
 The Will ; 2d, Emotions and Passions ; 3d, The 
 Principle of Imitation ; 4th, Appetites ; 5th, Propen- 
 sities ; 6th, Certain Internal Impressions occurring na- 
 tm^ally in the economy ; 7th and lastly. Various occa- 
 sional impressions of external bodies, and various occa- 
 sional states of the general system, or of its particular 
 parts. 
 
 1. It is in the exercise of the Will, Dr Cullen re- 
 marks, that the power of the soul over the body chiefly 
 aj)pears. 
 
 " The organs of voluntary motion have this in common, 
 that their actions are in consequence of a peculiar action of 
 the brain, which excites them, while the vital functions need 
 only that general energy which is constantly operating in 
 the system. In consequence of their dependence on the ex- 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 290 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 ertion of the animal power, the organs of vokuitary motion 
 are subject to lassitude and debility, and require a state of 
 rest and of sleep. Hence, also, various irritations of the 
 brain exciting its action, are especially exerted in producing 
 convulsive motions of the organs of voluntary motion ; hence 
 palsy takes place in the same organs, and many of their dis- 
 eases are explained by this their peculiar connexion with the 
 brain.'' 
 
 Of the voluntary motions, Dr Ciillen made two di- 
 visions. 
 
 "Volition," he remarks, " anses in two ways; 1st, When 
 sensations, arising either without or with very little reflex sen- 
 sation, give occasion to the exercise of the judgment in mark- 
 ing their various relations, and their consequent fitness or 
 imfitness for human affairs, they thereby give occasion to va- 
 rious desires, and therefore to volitions for producing those 
 motions of the body that are suited to the ends desired. A 
 second case of vohtion, excited and exciting, is, when the 
 sensations, either altogether without or with very little intel- 
 lectual operation attending them, produce those various 
 modes of volition which we distinguish by the names of Ap- 
 petites, Propensities, and Emotions or Passions." " The 
 voluntary motions of the body," he remarked, at another 
 place, " may be considered either as Rational or as In- 
 stinctive. They are said to be rational when, in conse- 
 quence of a certain train of reasoning, one end or purpose is 
 chosen in preference to another ; and they are to be consi- 
 dered as 7'atio7ial also, when the means are selected that are 
 best fitted to obtain the ends proposed. They are instinc- 
 tive, again, in two respects ; first, When they arise, without 
 any reasoning, in consequence of sensations producing a de- 
 sire, and have for their end merely the gratification of that 
 desire ; secondly, When, though they may be calculated to 
 accomplish some end, they do not arise in consequence of 
 the perception of that end. Every volition, therefore, arises
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 291 
 
 from direct sensation, or from the perception of relation. 
 When tlie volition is from direct sensation, it is said to be 
 instinctive ; when it is from the perception of relation, and 
 especially from a relation perceived by the intervention of 
 many others, it is said to be rational. In most of the vo- 
 luntary motions, we are conscious of willing the end pro- 
 posed rather than the motions excited ; and, of the motions 
 produced, we are conscious chiefly of those of a whole mem- 
 ber, or, in other words, of the general effect^ and but very 
 little of the many particular motions that concur to produce 
 it. We are never conscious of the action of the particular 
 muscles employed. In many cases of voluntary motion we 
 have an end in view, and we likewise choose the means ; but, 
 in the motions of our body, by which we are to obtain the 
 ends, there is a mixture of the instinctive, since they often 
 follow from a conception of the end without our being con- 
 scious of willing the particular means. Custom enables us 
 to perform motions with more or less agility, without our 
 willing any more than the efFect.'** 
 
 2. Emotions and Passmis. — Dr Cullen agreed 
 with Haller in dividing our sensations and ideas, ac- 
 cording to the nature of the reflex feelings by which 
 they are accompanied, into those the repetition of which 
 we desire, and those to the repetition of which we are 
 averse. These reflex feelings or peculiar qualities of 
 sensations, when arising from other bodies, he named 
 agreeahle and disagreeahle ; when from our own 
 body, pleasant, painful, and uneasy. The painful 
 and vuieasy, he conceived to differ from one another, 
 in the former being always sensations of impression 
 referred pretty accurately to a particular part of the 
 body ; whilst the uneasy are sensations of consciousness, 
 and are cither referred to the whole body, or to some 
 considerable part of it — as to tlie head, thorax, or abdc- 
 
 T 2
 
 292 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 men. Of this latter kind, he remarks, are the sensa- 
 tions of dehility, lassitude, difficulty in exertion, and 
 particularly the sensation which we term anxiety, and 
 which we refer ohscurely to internal parts. Without 
 attempting any enumeration of the particular sensations 
 belonging to each of these classes, Dr CuUen has shortly 
 pointed out some of the circumstances upon which their 
 agreeable or disagreeable, pleasant, painful, or uneasy 
 character depends— such as the degree of force in the 
 impressions producing them, their novelty, their peculiar 
 qualities, and the associations that are connected with 
 them. " Every reflex sensation being necessarily at- 
 tended with desire or aversion, these two general modes 
 of volition are accompanied," he remarks, " by different 
 emotions and passions, according to the causes from 
 which they arise, or .the objects to which they are di- 
 rected. When the mind is under the influence of the 
 more violent emotions or passions, the consciousness of 
 willing the particular motions produced is always very 
 indistinct, as in actions performed under the influence 
 of anger or of fear." Besides the voluntary motions 
 succeeding to emotions and passions, these states of 
 the mind, in many instances, produce motions inde- 
 pendently of any exercise of volition. Involuntary 
 motions of this kind may occur either in muscles usu- 
 ally obedient to the will, as is the case in the examples 
 referred to by Dr Cullen, of the expressions of the 
 passions in the countenance and gestm-e, as wtII as in 
 trembling from fear ; or they may occur in muscular 
 organs not subject to the will, as in the heart in pal- 
 pitation, and in the arteries in blushing ; or, lastly, 
 they may occur in that class of muscles by which re-
 
 LIFK OF BR CULLEN. ^93 
 
 spiration is performed, and which, though suhject to 
 the will, usually carry on their operations independent- 
 ly of its interference, as in laughing, crying, sighing, 
 &c. " As the exertions of the energy of the brain," 
 Dr Cullen observes, " are especially under the influence 
 of the will, so it is well known that those modifications 
 of the will which are named Passions and Emotions 
 have a powerfid influence on the energy of the brain in 
 its actions upon the heart, either in increasing or di- 
 minishing the force of that energy. Thus, anger has 
 the former, and fear the latter effect ; and thence it 
 may be understood how terror often occasions a syn- 
 cope, sometimes of the most violent kind, named As- 
 phyxia, and sometimes death itself*.'* 
 
 3. P7^inciple of Imitation. — The third circumstance 
 mentioned by Dr Cullen as exciting the brain to pro- 
 duce motions, is the disposition of human nature to 
 imitation. As in the case of the emotions and pas- 
 sions, the motions to which imitation gives rise may 
 be voluntary or involuntary. In many of the volun- 
 tary motions arising from imitation, to which we may 
 refer the acquisition of speech by children, and the va- 
 rious species of mimickry, Dr Cullen conceives that we 
 are often conscious of willing the general purpose only, 
 and not the particular motions produced ; or if we will 
 these, it is only, he says, as a general effect. That our 
 ordinary voluntary motions may be modified by imita- 
 tion without any consciousness or intention on our part, 
 is rendered obvious, he observes, by the similarity of 
 voice and gesture which prevails in families and coun- 
 tries, and by the proneness of strangers to catch the 
 
 * First Lines, § 1180, Works, vol. ii. p. 366.
 
 294 LIFE OF DR CULLEJ^. 
 
 tones and gestures of persons among whom they may 
 happen to reside for some time, even although they 
 may be desirous to avoid this. As an example of an 
 involuntary motion arising from imitation, Dr Cullen 
 referred to the difficulty which every one experiences 
 in resisting yawning, when practised before him by an- 
 other ; and he remarks that we have many instances of 
 involuntary imitation going still further in convulsive 
 diseases. 
 
 4. Appetites. — The fourth class of causes w^hich Dr 
 Cullen mentions as exciting the brain to produce mo- 
 tions, are the appetites. As a proof that the motions 
 arising from the appetites are instinctive, he refers to 
 the action of deglutition. Though we have, says he, 
 an arbitrary power over this action, yet most persons 
 are as ignorant of the different successive motions that 
 occm* in its performance, as they are of the motions of 
 the stomach and intestines. They cannot be said, 
 therefore, to will those particular motions, but merely 
 the general effect of swallowing. He also points out, 
 as marking how strictly this class of motions is con- 
 nected with the desires that excite them, the difficultv 
 which a person without appetite experiences in at- 
 tempting to swallow food, or even a person with appe- 
 tite, in attempting to swallow what he nauseates. 
 
 5. Propendties. — The term Propensities is employed 
 by Dr Cullen in a meaning somewhat peculiar, to sig- 
 nify our desires to remove uneasy or painful sensations, 
 in consequence of which motions of a mixed nature are 
 excited in the economy that are not directed to external 
 objects, like those arising from the appetites, but con- 
 fined to the bodv itself Of motions of this kind, the
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 295 
 
 greater part consist of irregular and temporary actions 
 of the respiratory muscles, such as those of sneezing, 
 coughing, sighing, hiccuping, voiding urine and faeces, 
 yawning, and vomiting, if this last action be, as it has 
 been supposed to be, perfoimed by means of the dia- 
 phragm ; others occur in the muscles usually subject to 
 the will, as that of stretching (pandiculatio), and those 
 motions of restlessness and inquietude which pain and 
 uneasiness produce, and which have been usually termed 
 the fidgets. These motions, Dr Cullen conceived to 
 be instinctive ; but, in all of them, he remarked, as well 
 as in those arising from the appetites, some volition is 
 concerned. This is proved, he says, not only by the 
 fact that they can often be prevented by another voli- 
 tion presenting itself, but also by the circumstance that 
 the several motions which occur in executing these pro- 
 pensities, are more or fewer, and more or less forcible, 
 according to the vehemence of the propensity or effort ; 
 in many instances, however, the stimidus to these pro- 
 pensities is irresistible. 
 
 6. Certain Internal Impressio?is occurring natu^ 
 rally in the JEconomy, — The class of motions com- 
 prehended by Dr Cullen under this head, are the in- 
 voluntary motions concerned in the performance of the 
 vital and organic functions, and of which, in ordinary 
 health, the mind is altogether unconscious. To their 
 production he considers the brain to be excited by cer- 
 tain internal impressions which do not occasion either 
 sensation or volition. It is only, he remarks, when 
 they are exercised in an unusual manner, or in an in- 
 ordinate degree, that we are conscious of the occurrence 
 of these motions. That they arc not the mere phy-
 
 296 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 sical effects of the action of their several causes upon 
 the inherent power of muscular fibres, hut also depend 
 upon an energy or action of the brain, is proved, Dr 
 Cullen conceived, by the influence which the passions 
 exercise over many of these motions, as well as by the 
 effects that result from the destruction or compression 
 of the nerves that connect the muscular organs, by 
 which they are produced, with the brain. 
 
 It was from the automatic motions of the heart and 
 of the stomach that Dr Cullen principally derived his 
 illustrations of the dependence of the vital and organic 
 functions upon a nervous energy. " Though the mus- 
 cular fibres of the Heart," he observes, " be endowed 
 with a certain degree of inherent power, or vis i?isita, 
 they are still, for such action as is necessary to the mo- 
 tion of the blood, very constantly dependent upon a 
 nervous power sent into them from the brain. At 
 least this is evident, that there are certain powers act- 
 ing primarily, and perhaps only in the brain, which 
 influence and variously modify the action of the heart. 
 I suppose, therefore, a force very constantly during life 
 exerted in the brain, with respect to the moving fibres 
 of the heart, as well as of every part of the body ; which 
 force I shall call the Energy of the Brain ; and which 
 I suppose may be, on different occasions, stronger or 
 weaker with respect to the heart ^." The influence of 
 the emotions and passions over this organ had been 
 long known. " Fear," says Dr Cullen, " is allowed 
 to weaken the action of the heart as much as anger 
 can increase it ; and, when these operate so immediate- 
 ly upon the heart, it must be regarded as a proof that 
 
 * First Lines, § 1175, Works, vol. ii. p. 363.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 297 
 
 the action of that organ depends upon some energy 
 derived constantly from the brain." As proofs of the 
 same energy, Dr Cullen referred to the slow pulse oc- 
 curring in cases of compression of the brain, and to the 
 quick and irregular motions of the heart in various 
 states of disease. The cessation of the heart's action 
 taking place some time after the par vagum and inter- 
 costal nerves are tied or divided, is another fact which 
 Dr Cullen adduced to prove the dependence of that ac- 
 tion upon an influence derived from the cerebral organ. 
 " It is true," he remarks, " that the action of the heart 
 may, in some degree^ subsist after all communication 
 between that organ and the brain is destroyed; that 
 there is an inherent power to this extent we readily 
 allow, and in a living and entire animal, with a very 
 few nerves, or, if you will, with none at all, that power 
 may give some action. But this does not disprove that 
 the nerves are constantly necessary to the action of the 
 heart ; for, in these experiments its actions were disor- 
 dered, and the pulse became intermittent. The slight 
 palpitations which continue in the heart after it is se- 
 parated from the nervous system, are not that vigorous 
 healthy action which is necessary to the functions of 
 life*." But as it has been found by many experi- 
 ments that the heart continues to propel the blood for 
 some time after the division of these nerves, provided 
 respiration be artificially maintained, it may be doubted 
 whether their direct influence or nervous energy be not 
 exerted chiefly upon the respiratory organs rather than 
 upon the heart. The other Muscular part of the San- 
 guiferous system, viz. the Arteries, Dr Cidlen consi- 
 
 * Works, vol. i. p. 81.
 
 298 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 tiered to be also constantly under the influence of the 
 energy of the brain. " The tone and action of the 
 arteries, as a muscular part," he remarked, " may be 
 increased by stimuli immediately applied to them, or 
 by the increased force of the nervous and animal powers 
 with regard to them ; and they may be diminished by 
 sedative powers applied, or by weakening the nervous 
 and animal powers*." 
 
 " The action of the Stomach," according to Dr Cul- 
 len, " is not so constant as that of the heart and organs 
 of respiration, but it is pretty constant. It differs, how- 
 ever, in this, that it is subject to a great variety ; the 
 difference between the action of a full stomach and one 
 almost empty is very considerable ; and this organ must 
 be exposed to all the variety of states between its strong- 
 est and weakest action, llie variety of its action de- 
 pends upon the energy of the brain, which indeed con- 
 stantly operates, but must admit of some inequality : 
 in the stomach the influence of the brain is greater 
 than in any other part of the system ; and the brain, 
 as it is liable to any variety of its energy, must more 
 especially affect this organ f ." ** That the stomach 
 requires the constant energy of the brain is proved," 
 Dr Cullen observes, " by its immediately becoming 
 paralytic when its nerves are destroyed. This effect, 
 was commonly found to occur in the experiments made 
 upon the heart, by cutting the par vagum : the appe- 
 tite was destroyed, the contents of the stomach stag- 
 nated, and were variously corrupted." As additional 
 proofs of the influence of the state of the brain upon 
 the muscular organs of the alimentary canal, Dr Cul- 
 
 * Works, vol. i. p. 162. . t Ibid. p. 150.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 299 
 
 leu mentions the difficulty of exciting vomiting in 
 mania, and of producing purging in compression of the 
 cerebrum. 
 
 Dr Cullen was aware that the Secretory organs are 
 also in a considerable degree susceptible of being in- 
 fluenced in their actions through the medium of the 
 nervous system. In the notes of a clinical lecture, de- 
 livered 25th March 1762, I find the following hint 
 written down for commentary : " Instances of the ner- 
 vous power exciting various secretions, such as saliva, 
 and others. This an important fact in physiology, and 
 the same applies to inflammation and haemorrhage." 
 In his Outlines of Physiology he remarks, " It woidd 
 seem that no other secretion but those of perspu'ation 
 and sweat are manifestly increased by the increased 
 action of the heart and arteries, and that most of the 
 other secretions are increased only by stimulants ap- 
 plied to their organs. These stimulants may be either 
 such as are immediately applied externally or inter- 
 nally to the excretory, or perhaps to the secretory ves- 
 sels ; or they may be such as are applied to the Senso- 
 rium, or to distant parts of the nervous system, which, 
 by the laws of the animal economy, have a connexion 
 with the organs of secretion *." 
 
 '' From all these considerations," adds Dr Cullen, 
 " I think it should appear that some energy of the 
 brain is required even in the involuntary motions, 
 where it appears to be less necessary, and wliere a re- 
 newed action docs not indeed always concur, as in the 
 voluntary muscles." 
 
 7. Tlie seventh and last class of causes mentioned 
 * Physiology, § 202, Works, vol. i. p. 207.
 
 300 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 by Dr Cullen, as exciting the brain to produce mo- 
 tions, are various occasional impressions of external 
 bodies, and various occasional states of the general 
 system, or of its particular parts. To this head he 
 referred the effects produced upon the animal economy, 
 by noxious powers or morbific causes, and by thera- 
 peutic powers or remedies. 
 
 Among the noxious powers acting upon the different 
 muscular organs through the medium of the nervous sys- 
 tem, Dr Cullen pointed out, 1st, The effects of Heat 
 and Cold in increasing and diminishing the sensibility 
 of the nerves and the energy of the brain, as evinced 
 by an increased temperature giving rise to an increased 
 action of the heart and arteries, and affecting the dis- 
 tribution of the blood through the different parts of 
 the body ; and by a reduced temperature diminishing 
 the mobility of the voluntary muscles, weakening the 
 action of the heart and arteries, inducing sleep, and 
 when carried beyond certain limits, idtimately extin- 
 guishing the vital functions of the brain ; 2d, The ef- 
 fects of Food and of Drinks containing alcohol, the 
 first operation of which upon the voluntary, vital, and 
 organic muscular systems, Dr Cidlen considered to 
 be, in many instances, so instantaneous as not to ad- 
 mit of its being supposed that it can be produced in 
 any other way than through the immediate agency 
 of the energizing influence of the brain ; 3d, The ef- 
 fects of Poiso7ious substances, the speedy and univer- 
 sal influence of which upon the animal, vital, and na- 
 tural functions of the body, when they are taken into 
 the stomach, must, he conceived, depend on their ope- 
 ration being communicated to the brain ; 4th, The
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 301 
 
 effects of Contagions, as evinced in the phenomena 
 produced upon the different muscular organs of the 
 animal, vital, and natural functions, by the contagion 
 of typhous fever, and in the very peculiar state of the 
 nervous system and of the voluntary muscles, produced 
 by the poison of rabid animals ; and, 5th, The effects 
 of Emotions and Passions in producing, through the 
 medium of the nervous system, irregular actions of the 
 voluntary muscles and of the vital and organic muscu- 
 lar organs, as manifested in the production, by these 
 causes, of epilepsy, palpitation of the heart, and syn- 
 cope. 
 
 With regard to the action of Therapeutic powers or 
 remedies upon the animal economy, Dr CuUen re- 
 marks that it is sufficiently probable that the peculiar 
 action of medicines depends upon the sensibility and 
 irritability of the human body ; or, in other words, 
 that it universally depends upon motions excited 
 and propagated in the Nervous system. " What is," 
 he continues, '* the nature of the matter in which 
 these motions take place, or in what manner it is in- 
 herent in the Nervous system, is not well known, but 
 we think it may be justly held as existing there, and 
 that we may speak of it under the appellation of the 
 Nervous or Animal Power. As it appears only in the 
 living, and disappears entirely in the dead state of the 
 body, it may be othervsdse properly enough termed the 
 Vital Principle of animals." The remedies capable of 
 increasing or diminishing motion in the animal econo- 
 my, Dr Cullen divided into those which operate on 
 the system more generally, including Stimulants and 
 Sedatives, and those operating upon particular parts.
 
 302 LIFE OF DPv CULLEN. 
 
 as Emetics, Cathartics, Diuretics, Diaphoretics, &c. 
 In speaking of Stimulants taken into the stomach, Dr 
 Cullen expresses his belief that the most common and 
 very general manner in which they operate is by their 
 stimulus being communicated to the Brain ; and that 
 by exciting its energy, the various effects which follow 
 their administration are produced in the different 
 parts of the system. Of the class of Sedatives which 
 act more immediately upon the Nervous system, viz. 
 Narcotics, Dr Cullen observes that their operation ex- 
 tends to every function depending upon the Energy of 
 the Brain, manifesting in all of them a sedative power ; 
 in the Animal functions by inducing sleep, in the Vital 
 functions by weakening the force and diminishing the 
 frequency of the pulsations of the heart and arteries, 
 and in the Natural functions by diminishing the acti- 
 vity of the alimentary canal, the chief organ of this class 
 of functions. " All of these powers," he remarks, 
 " noxious and salutary, operate not only upon the parts 
 to which they are applied, but also upon distant parts 
 of the system, and that by the intervention of the 
 Brain ; and these causes are therefore to be considered 
 as exciting the action of that organ." 
 
 After having enumerated the various causes by 
 which the action of the Brain in moving the several 
 parts of the body is at different times excitetl, Dr Cul- 
 len observed, that 
 
 " In all or any of these cases in which the action of the 
 brain takes place, we cannot perceive the manner, that is, 
 the mechanical means, by which the several causes produce 
 their effects; and we perceive only an institution of our 
 Maker, establishing a connexion between the several causes 
 and the motions that ensue. At the same time we, for the
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. S03 
 
 most part, perceive that the connexions estabhshed are suited 
 to the purposes of the animal economy, and particularly to 
 the purpose of supporting the system in a certain condition 
 for a certain time, and of averting what might hurt or de- 
 stroy it. This constitution of the animal economy we call 
 Nature, or the reaction of the system ; and everywhere in the 
 economy we perceive the Vires Conservatrices and Medica- 
 tnces NaturcE^ so justly celebrated in the schools of physic*." 
 " There is in the animal economy a power capable, in many 
 cases, of obviating or redressing its own morbid deviations, 
 or, as has been observed at every period since the beginning 
 of physic, there is a Vis Medicatrix Naturce. Some impute 
 this power to the mechanism or organization of the body 
 alone ; others, such as the Stahlians, impute it to the exertions 
 of a rational soul, independent of the organization of the 
 body, perceiving such things as have a noxious tendency, and 
 obviating their operation in order to restore the body to a 
 healthy state. Now, whether this power is to be imputed to 
 the body or mind it is not necessary to inquire here ; the fact 
 is enough, that there are motions which may be imputed to 
 a Vis Medicatrix Naturae, to a tendency in the animal eco- 
 nomy to redress its own deviations. It is in consequence of 
 this constitution, that not only impulse, and other causes, 
 which may be supposed to produce motion, do accordingly 
 excite motions in the animal economy ; but that also many 
 causes which seem calculated to diminish motion, do, however, 
 produce an increase of motion in animal bodies. Thus several 
 passions which, in their first tendency, diminish motion, seve- 
 ral propensities arising from debility and difficulty of action, 
 the absence of usual impressions, evacuations, and other causes 
 of relaxation, cold and narcotic powers, are all of them 
 causes of considerable motions arising in the animal system. 
 They do not, however, excite contractions by their direct ap- 
 plication to the moving fibres, but as applied to the system 
 
 * Physiology, § 120; Works, vol. i. p. 111.
 
 304 LIFE OF DR CULLEN". 
 
 in general so as to affect the brain ; and if they excite the 
 animal power it must be in this manner. The first of these 
 classes of agents may be called the Direct, the last the In- 
 direct Stimulants." 
 
 As an additional illustration of the difference which 
 Dr Cullen conceived to exist between direct and indi- 
 rect stimulants, " a doctrine," he remarks, " which I 
 have first started," I may quote his observations on 
 vomiting as a symptom of dyspepsia. 
 
 " Vomiting, as an increased action, has been commonly 
 supposed to be always occasioned by a direct stimulus ap- 
 plied to the fibres of the stomach ; and it may often be so : 
 but I maintain that it is more frequently occasioned by a 
 disagreeable sensation exciting such motions as are proper to 
 throw off the cause. Such sensations often excite motions, 
 without any irritating matter being apphed to the part 
 moved ; at least, without any matter being applied that has 
 any direct tendency to excite motion, or that can produce 
 this effect except in consequence of a sensation being carried 
 to the brain, and from thence exciting the motion. But as 
 a motion is thus excited, we name the power of such a sen- 
 sation a stimulus ; but, to distinguish it from the proper di- 
 rect stimulus, we call it an indirect stimulus. The opera- 
 tions of such indirect stimuh are frequent in the system, 
 both in health and sickness ; and, as they are often exerted 
 for salutary purposes, they are considered as evidences of a 
 Vis Mcdicatrix Naturas. *." 
 
 With regard to the connexions established in the 
 General system, through the medium of the Brain, Dr 
 Cullen considered it as of great consequence in Patho- 
 logy, to be observed, that 
 
 " Certain parts of the body which have a common func- 
 tion and peculiar constitution have thereby a pecuhar rela- 
 
 Works, vol. i. p. 270.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 305 
 
 tion to the brain, so as to be more liable to be affected by 
 its different states, and, in their turn, by the difference of 
 their condition, to affect the brain. Such are especially the 
 organs of voluntary motion ; the alimentary canal, and espe- 
 cially the stomach ; the circulatory system, and particularly 
 the extremities of the vessels on the surface of the body ; 
 the generative organs, and of these particularly the Ute- 
 rus in females."" " With regard to these," he adds, " re- 
 member that the facts are certain, and therefore an object of 
 our attention and curiosity ; the reasons are doubtful : I do 
 not pretend to explain them either certainly or completely." 
 
 That property of the nervous system, in consequence 
 of which impressions made upon one part affect the 
 whole system, has, Dr Cullen remarks, been called 
 General Consent or Sympathy. But it has besides 
 been alleged, he continues to observe, 
 
 " that there are certain parts which have a particu- 
 lar connexion with one another more than with other parts ; 
 and though they may be situated at a distance, or remote 
 from one another, motions or changes excited in the one 
 part produce motions or changes in the other. It is in- 
 stances of this kind that have especially given occasion to 
 the terms of Particular Consent or Sympathy." " I need 
 not tell you that this consent or sympathy has been very 
 much spoken of, as you will see in Dr Hoffmann's Works, 
 in the Tractatus Medicus de Sympathia of Dr Rega, and in 
 Dr Whytt's Essay on Nervous Diseases. Employed as a 
 term for this fact, as expressing a communication between 
 particular parts of the body, I am willing to admit of it; 
 but as it was used formerly it imphed an occult quality — it 
 implied that such a phenomenon took place without the 
 communication of motion. Every term which is like esta- 
 blishing a power between bodies at a distance, without con- 
 tact and motion, and therefore a term for an occult qualit}^, 
 is now properlv rejected ; I would wish, therefore, that the 
 
 VOL. I. U
 
 306 LIFE OF DPv CULLEN. 
 
 terms Sympathy and Consent were rejected from our sys- 
 tem." " As long as we ha\e no idea on what the connexion 
 depends, the term may be used ; but if we can find out its 
 foundation, and the means of communication — which ought 
 to be attempted — the term will be no longer proper. Thus, 
 it would be absurd to talk of a sympathy between the pen- 
 dulum of a clock, and a finger that points the time ; because 
 here we understand the means of communication between 
 them. In the same manner here, if a sentient principle is 
 interposed, or if the motions follow, not indeed by a mecha- 
 nical power, as in the clock, but by a physical or automatic 
 necessity, all occasion for supposing occult qualities, and con- 
 sequently for using this term, immediately ceases.'*' " Our 
 modern physiologists, that is for these hundred years past, 
 have attempted to account for these particular sympathies 
 by a particular connexion of the nerves of the diiferent parts, 
 either in their course or from their having their origin in 
 the same part of the brain; but we, with Dr Whytt, are of 
 opinion that the communications of motion between the se- 
 veral parts of the nervous system which have been mentioned 
 as instances of a particular sympathy between these parts, 
 are very seldom to be explained by any contiguity or con- 
 tact, either in the origin or in the course of the nerves of 
 the communicating parts. Dr Whytt has, in his last Trea- 
 tise, destroyed the very foundation of particular sympathies, 
 by shewing that they are not owing to any direct communi- 
 cation of particular nerves with one another, but that they 
 come through the intervention of the Sensorium Com- 
 mune *." 
 
 In endeavouring to reduce as much as possible the 
 number of phenomena that ought to be regarded as 
 particular sympathies requiring to be explained by a 
 communication of nerves, Dr Cullen took occasion to 
 point out that many of what had been regarded as such 
 
 * Printed Clin. Lect. p. 29.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 307 
 
 were in fact instances of the general consent or sympa- 
 thy improperly understood, which must he explained 
 by supposing that the primary impressions of external 
 agents act on the brain, and that it is in consequence 
 of the reaction of this organ, that the secondary or sub- 
 sequent motions are produced in some other part of the 
 system ; and that others are examples of a connexion 
 between several parts, the action of which is necessary 
 to produce one effect, which connexion also, he con- 
 ceived, is established through the intervention of the 
 brain. For examples of general sympathies mistaken 
 for particular ones, Dr Cullen refers to the list given 
 by Dr Whytt, who, he remarks, 
 
 " has made this list much larger than I would have 
 
 wished, and has brought in a number of instances that are 
 more easily explained upon the principle I have mentioned. 
 Thus, he says that Hippocrates has observed that the unex- 
 pected sight of a serpent will make a person pale ; and he 
 considers this as an instance of sympathy between the eyes 
 and other parts, particularly the face. But 1 say that it is 
 no instance at all of any such connexion, but only shews 
 that fear may be excited by objects of sight, as it may also 
 be by objects of hearing and of touch. The touch would, 
 in many persons, equally produce the paleness of the face ; 
 and even the description of some of the pernicious effects of 
 serpents would produce the same general effect of paleness. 
 These, then, are all different means of producing fear, and 
 the paleness of the countenance is an expression of that emo- 
 tion. The same operation goes on in many others of the 
 instances of particular sympathy adduced by Dr Whytt."" 
 " The motion of particular parts, in consequence of such 
 impressions, depends only on the intervention of the senso- 
 rium commune, and the ])articular irritability of the part *."" 
 
 * Clinical Lectures, p. 'M). 
 
 u 2
 
 308 LIFE OF DR CULLEK. 
 
 " A second way," continues Dr Cullen, '• of accounting 
 for some of those phenomena which have been considered as 
 particular sympathies, is this, — When the action of several 
 parts, together or successively, is necessary to produce one 
 effect, these parts concur, though the stimulus exciting the 
 action of the brain is applied to one single part only ; and 
 commonly no other cause of communication can be assigned, 
 but the several motions being necessary to the execution of 
 the'propensity, desire, volition, &c. arising from the stimulus. 
 Thus Dr Whytt, in enumerating the instances of the consent 
 of the nose, has said, that acrid substances applied to this 
 organ bring into consent the diaphragm, intercostal muscles, 
 and other parts. But they will have the same effect if ap- 
 plied to the glottis or to the trachea, to the parietes of the 
 stomach, or to the extremity of the rectum ; and, in like 
 manner, the same muscles will be brought into convulsive 
 motions by acrimony of the urine or distention of the blad- 
 der. But this, in my opinion, establishes no particular con- 
 nexion : it is to be explained merely upon the principle that 
 has just been mentioned. By the laws of the animal econo- 
 my, which we cannot further explain, certain impressions 
 produce certain propensities and volitions, which again pro- 
 duce the concurrent action (Synergeia) of certain muscles ; 
 so that it is by the intervention of the brain, or, as Dr 
 Whytt says, of the sentient principle, that the connexion in 
 these instances is established. I do maintain that you will 
 find no other explanation of what may be strictly called 
 sympathy or consent, namely, the necessary concurrence of 
 several actions to a propensity or volition, and the conciu'- 
 rence of several motions of the system produced through the 
 intervention of the brain, in consequence of propensities and 
 volitions " 
 
 Besides the principles that have been already stated, 
 as aiFording an explanation of a large share of those 
 phenomena, which have been referred by many phy-
 
 LIFE OF DPv CULLEN. 309 
 
 siologists to the head of Particular Sympathies, Dr 
 Cullen thought that, for the explanation of some of 
 these phenomena, it may he necessary to admit the 
 doctrine of nervous communication, though, he re- 
 marks, 
 
 " These are exceptions to the rule with which we set out, 
 that the sympathies are very seldom to be explained by commu- 
 nication of nerves. Dr Why tt, in enumerating the instances of 
 consent between the ear and the teeth, mentions the disagree- 
 able sensation experienced in the teeth, in consequence of the 
 noise of a file and other sharp sounds. In this instance, the 
 Connexion between the nerves of the teeth and those of the ear 
 does evidently appear. Whether this is an objection to what 
 we have said with regard to there being no communication 
 between nervous fibrils, I dare not say. There is a com- 
 munication of motion between parts whose membranes are 
 contiguous^ such as between the neck of the bladder and ori- 
 fice of the urethra, and between the kidneys and orifice of 
 the urethra ; between the intestines and the abdominal mus- 
 cles ; and, perhaps, between the internal ear and the glottis, 
 where irritation of the ear produces coughing. There are 
 many instances of these motions being carried along conti- 
 nuous membranes, but the contiguity of parts is also to be 
 taken into account for the particular sympathy and consent. 
 You will be able, I think, to distribute such instances in the 
 manner I have pointed out, and be relieved from much con- 
 fusion and appearance of mystery which this language of 
 sympathy has introduced into our system of physic.*' 
 
 V. The different conditions of the Nervous Sys- 
 tem in the states of Sleeping and JVaJdng, and the 
 doctiine of Eoccitement and Collapse, — The natural 
 states of Sleeping and Waking, as well as those con- 
 ditions of the animal economy, which he was accustom- 
 ed to comprehend under the terms of Excitement and
 
 310 IJIE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 Collapse, Dr CuUen conceived to depend upon the 
 more or less eoc citable state of the Nervous system. 
 His speculations upon this subject, which pervade all 
 parts of his writings, are, in many respects, original, 
 and must be regarded, I conceive, as the foundation of 
 those doctrines which have since been considered as 
 peculiar to the IMedical School of Edinburgh, and 
 usually designated, by Continental waiters, under the 
 appellation of the Theory of Excitement. 
 
 Boerhaave and Haller, with most preceding physio- 
 logists, in adopting the hypothesis of Animal spirits, 
 imagined that, during the w-aking state, these spirits 
 are gradually exhausted, whilst, during sleep, on the 
 other hand, they are recruited ; and that these alter- 
 nate states of the exhaustion and accumulation of the 
 Animal spirits act as the immediate causes of the 
 states of Sleeping and Waking. " This," Dr CuUen 
 observes, " has been the opinion of the learned and of 
 the vulgar ; it has been the most common one in every 
 System of Physic, with very few exceptions, but it is 
 embarrassed with many difficulties ; there are many 
 circumstances in the states of Sleeping and Waking, 
 that will not correspond with it." In rejecting this 
 hypothesis, Dr Cullen seems to have been led by the 
 great deference which he entertained for the genius of 
 Sir Isaac Newton, to conceive a partiality for the ex- 
 planation of the phenomena of Sense and Motion, by 
 the operation of an Ethereal medium, which Sir Isaac 
 had . suggested ; and he endeavoured, accordingly, to 
 account for the alternate exercise and suspension of 
 sense and motion which occur in the states of Sleeping 
 and Waking, by an increased or diminished mobility.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 311 
 
 or a more or less excited state of this medium. But, 
 in giving this explanation, he regarded it as hypothe- 
 tical, and wished it to he received as such hy his stu- 
 dents ; for, in speaking of it, he says — 
 
 " I take it for granted, that when you consider the weak- 
 ness and manifest mistakes of any other hypothesis, you 
 will readily, with me, think that the condition of the nerves 
 fitting them for the communication of motion, consists in 
 some state of the matter of the nervous fluid itself, and of 
 its having more or less mobility ; in some cases being capa- 
 ble of being moved with more ease and vigour, while in 
 other cases it is unfit for either. Now, I say, merely to 
 avoid long expressions, I shall choose shorter ones, and shall 
 speak of the moveable state of the nervous fluid, or of that 
 condition of the nervous system which fits it for the commu- 
 nication of motion, under the term of its Excitement^ and a 
 deficiency or lesser degree of this I shall call its Collapse. 
 Now, you must merely consider these as terms employed for 
 what I take to be matters of fact, the increased or diminished 
 force of the animal power or energy of the brain, and not as 
 importing matters of theory, or as expressing any thing with 
 regard to the nature of the nervous fluid, or wherein these 
 different states of the nervous system consist. Whatev el- 
 hypotheses I may have fancied to myself, I consider these 
 as hypotheses still, and dare not trust you with them, unless 
 you take them as they pass in my mind, and be very certain 
 never to apply them in particular cases." 
 
 In the explanation of his doctrine of Eoccitement 
 and Collapse, that is, of the increased and diminished 
 Energy of the Brain, Dr Cullen assumed the waking- 
 state of a man in health as the standard point from 
 which the higher and lower degrees of excitement are 
 to be estimated, though he acknowledges that there 
 are difficulties in fixing these degrees.
 
 312 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 " I have been a little at a loss,'' he observes, " in the ap- 
 plication of the terms of Excitement and Collapse. There 
 is nothing more manifest than that the degree of excitement 
 is very different upon different occasions ; if we take the 
 lowest, every higher degree than that must be called a de- 
 gree of excitement ; and if we take the highest degrees, and 
 consider the lower degrees that may take place while life still 
 subsi&ts, every lower may be called a degree of collapse. 
 The same ambiguity occurs ^vith regard to the terms of 
 Heat and Cold, which may be absolutely applied to the 
 same individual state of bodies ; and philosophers have not 
 yet agreed where they should begin with applying the terms 
 Heat and Cold ; and so it may be with regard to the terms 
 Excitement and Collapse. In saying that, in the ordinary 
 state of waking men in health, the excitement is total with 
 respect to the functions of the brain, but readily admits of 
 diminution so as to produce the state of sleep, I mean," 
 continues Dr Cullen, " to settle the matter a little more ex- 
 actly. I would call those states, states of excitement, where 
 the excitement is total with regard to the functions of tlie 
 brain, where there is in every part the general exercise of 
 sense and volition. I know that there are many cases where 
 there is a mixture of the excitement and the collapse, or of 
 the increased and diminished energy of the brain, but I hold 
 that to be the state of waking and of excitement, when the 
 whole of the functions of the brain can be exercised ; and, 
 upon the contrary, whenever these functions are for the most 
 part suspended, that I would call, more strictly, a state of 
 collapse ; and so upwards and downwards as it may occur. 
 A degree of collapse, or diminished energy of the brain, 
 takes place in the case of natural sleep ; we call it a state of 
 collapse when the excitement is partial, when the collapse 
 prevails so far as to suspend very entirely the exercise of the 
 functions of sense and volition, so that such a collapse takes 
 place in sleep as is sufficient to weaken the general activity 
 of the brain.'^
 
 LIFE OF mi CULLEN. 313 
 
 Dr Culle'n supposed that the Delirium or Reverie 
 which appears in the state intermediate between sleep- 
 ing and waking, arises from the brain being in a state 
 of partial collapse ; and that dreaming, in which the 
 animal functions are obviously not entirely suspended, 
 is owing to the collapse, or diminished energy of the 
 brain, being in a less complete degree than in the state 
 of natural sleep, and that, in proportion as the degree 
 of collapse is less or greater, the dreaming is more or 
 less active. " There are," he observes, " intermediate 
 states between sleep and waking, and the sensibility is 
 greater or less, as the tendency to either happens to 
 prevail ; and we particularly observe such intermediate 
 states in the application of narcotics, when they pro- 
 duce a degree of drowsiness or stupor, and therefore 
 the sensibility of the brain is diminished by the opera- 
 tion of narcotics." 
 
 In allusion, apparently, to an observation of Hal- 
 ler, that sleep is sometimes produced by mechanical 
 causes occasioning compression of the brain, Dr CuUen 
 points out in what he considers the state of coma re- 
 sulting from compression, to differ from sleep. 
 
 " A certain compression of the brain can produce a state 
 of the system resembling sleep with very great exactness, as 
 we learn from the histories and dissections of cases in which 
 such preternatural sleep had appeared. This has occasioned 
 the supposition that some such state occasions sleep, and the 
 removing it, a contrary state ; but Httle attention is to be 
 paid to this theory. The state produced by compression is, 
 in some respects, different from that of ordinary sleep, and 
 the difference chiefly consists in the state of excitabUiti/, 
 We find that natural sleep can be interrupted by moderate 
 stimuli, whereas, this artificial sleep is not to be interrupted.
 
 314 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 unless by removing the cause. At the same time,*" he con- 
 tinues, " I must say that there are certain states of sleep 
 produced by the causes that produce natural sleep, that are 
 to such a degree, that persons in them are hardly more ex- 
 citable than in those states depending upon compression. 
 Thus, in a man dead drunk, where I suppose the sleep pro- 
 duced by a similar cause with that which produces natural 
 sleep, the eocc'itahilihj is here hardly in a greater degree than 
 in cases of compression. ""* 
 
 In extending his application of the doctrine of Ex- 
 citement and Collapse to the Morbid phenomena of the 
 animal economy, Dr Cullen made choice of mania and 
 syncope, as two affections calcnlated to illustrate his 
 opinions respecting these opposite states of strength 
 and weakness, vigour ani de])ility, sthenia and asthe- 
 nia of the nervous system ; the first. Mania, being an 
 example of a disease in which the excitement is in- 
 creased above the natural standard ; and the second, 
 Syncope, of one in which the excitement is reduced be- 
 low that standard, or in which a degree of the state of 
 Collapse or diminished energy of the brain takes place. 
 
 " In the case of mania,'' he remarks, " it is well known 
 that men can exert a force vastly greater than any which they 
 could have exerted in their ordinary health, and that not 
 from a more violent passion or emotion of mind, but in every 
 trifling exertion ; even when in a calm and placid state their 
 strength is greater, and it continues greater when various 
 means, such as cold, hunger, and evacuations have been 
 employed to weaken it ; and this can be referred to nothing 
 but the state of the brain, the primary seat of the disease. 
 In maniacs, I say, that the force, the power producing excite- 
 ment, is the strongest, because the animal power, or energy 
 of the brain, is in a condition of resisting most powerfully 
 all the causes that diminish motion, such as the causes of
 
 IJFE OF DR CULLEN. 315 
 
 sleep; so that I conclude from this that an extraordinary 
 degree of the power of excitement takes place, and because 
 the uncommon degree of strength which maniacs frequently 
 manifest, must imply an uncommon degree of excitement in 
 the brain. Syncope is a state of collapse or diminished energy 
 of the brain, in which not only the animal functions, but also 
 the vital, concerned in the circulation of the blood, are sus- 
 pended. Here the collapse may be very considerable, but 
 there still remains some degree of excitability while the brain 
 can be acted on by stimuli, which act only on vital powers, 
 and while its usual excitability is still recoverable by stimuli ; 
 — That is to say, while life subsists there is a state of the 
 brain, of the nervous system, that is different from the state 
 of animal germs, and from the state we call death : the state 
 we speak of depends upon a certain state of excitability still 
 subsisting, but when that is gone, and the collapse is more 
 complete and irrecoverable, it is a state of death." " Gau- 
 bius in his 197th section, certainly enters into an idea that 
 life and death depend upon an excitement and collapse." 
 " If we are right in supposing excitement to be necessary to 
 life, if we take with Gaubius the definition of the vis vitalis, 
 ' qua id ad contactum irritamenti se contrahit, crispat,"" if 
 we take this that it is to be acted on by stimuli, we say that 
 that indeed is vitality ; and that, however the functions may 
 seem to cease, there still remains some degree of excitability 
 while the brain can be acted on by stimuli, which can act 
 only on the vital powers." " The unavoidable death of old 
 persons proceeds chiefly from the decay and total extinction 
 of the excitability or vital power of the nervous system." 
 
 " Our system," Dr CuUen continues, " is not a mere auto- 
 maton, supported in its duration by any powers, whether of 
 mind or body, subsisting within itself. It appears that we 
 have constant need of some external assistance, of the impres- 
 sion of external agents ; and if these could be removed, we 
 would not only certainly fall asleep, but we would very soon 
 become dead. I have endeavoured to prove that there is not
 
 316 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 a muscular fibre in the system which does not depend, more 
 or less, for its power upon the sufficient vigour of the energy 
 of the brain, and that without it the muscular actions are 
 much more languid and weak. But though the energy of 
 the brain is the proper vital function, it again depends upon 
 certain other exercises and functions of the animal economy ; 
 and both together certainly depend upon the power of exter- 
 nal impressions. The energy of the brain requires the exter- 
 nal support of a certain degree of heat, and of the circulation 
 of the blood, perhaps as one means of supporting the heat 
 of the system ; and it requires likewise a certain degree of 
 tension in the vessels of the brain, by means of the blood sup- 
 plied by the action of the heart. Heat seems to be the vivi- 
 fying power with respect to all animals, that which first pro- 
 duces the vital powers, and it seems equally necessary for the 
 subsequent support of the animal power, or energy of the 
 brain; so that heat increases the motions that are the most 
 peculiar and fundamental to the living animal. In whatever 
 w^ay animal heat may be produced, it is probable that it is con- 
 nected particularly with the blood, and is distributed to the 
 different parts by the blood ; for we find, that, upon subtract- 
 ing the circulation, the heat ceases as soon as it would do in 
 a body of the same bulk that has acquired it. A determi- 
 nation of blood to the brain seems to be necessary to its 
 functions ; for, by withdrawing that, as happens in the de- 
 liquium animi, the functions of the brain and sensations dis- 
 appear. I think it probable that a certain tension is given 
 to the substance of the brain by the blood determined in 
 such quantity to its arteries *." 
 
 To those who take an interest in tracing the origin 
 and progress of medical opinions, it may be satisfactory 
 to see, pointed out by Dr Cullen himself, the source 
 from which the language he employed to express his 
 
 * Works, vol. i. p. 41-42.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 317 
 
 opinions relative to the Energy of the Nervous Sys- 
 tem, or, in other words, his theory of Excitement, was 
 derived. 
 
 " I will give you,*" he says, " some little illustration of 
 what led me to the use of the terms Excitement and Col- 
 lapse. There is seemingly diffused over the whole of nature, 
 a quantity of electric matter. In the ordinary state of most 
 bodies, this matter shews no disposition to a particular mo- 
 bility or tendency to pass from one body to another. But 
 we can, by certain artifices, accumulate this electric matter 
 in more considerable quantities on the surface of certain 
 bodies, in consequence of which it can be put in motion from 
 one body to another, exhibiting the various phenomena of 
 electricity. It is agreed upon among philosophers to call 
 this Excitement, and to say that Electricity is excited, and 
 that such bodies are excited Electrics ; and all bodies may 
 assume this state, either by being excited themselves, or by 
 Imving such bodies as are excited applied to them. So, in 
 our medullary or nervous system, there is a fluid, — it Avas 
 present in tiie germ, but was not excited, — and it is in the 
 excited state of this fluid that I suppose Life to consist, and 
 when it is no longer eocc'itahle in any degree, we call this a 
 state of Death. I can suppose that, as in Electricity, this 
 fluid may be excited in different degrees ; it can pass through 
 various degrees, till it is entirely collapsed or disappears al- 
 together, and so we can say that there is more excitability in 
 one case than in another, and that the collapse may jjroceed 
 to different degrees. These are some hints and analogies 
 which may in some measure illustrate the matter ; but there 
 must be a concurrent view, and a consideration of many 
 other phenomena, before we can apply this doctrine more 
 strictly or specially to our nervous system ; and though I 
 have thus thrown out a conjecture, which every time I take 
 a view of the nervous system seems to me to approach nearer 
 to probability, yet I do not say that it will, in the present
 
 318 LIFE OF DR CULLE.V. 
 
 state of our knowledge, apply to all the phenomena with 
 any consistency."" 
 
 The comparison of the different conditions of the 
 animal power, or energy of the brain, to the different 
 states of an electrical jar, was perhaps suggested to 
 Dr Cullen by the attempt which Sauvages had made 
 to establish an analogy or identity between the sup- 
 posed nervous fluid and electricity, an opinion pro- 
 pounded by that author in 1 749, and which seems to 
 have been adopted by several contemporary physiolo- 
 gists, as by Lacaze, Laglii, and Wrisberg. Indeed, 
 Dr Cullen himself, in assigning his reasons for believ- 
 ing that the motion excited in the sentient extremity 
 of a nerve in the process of sensation, must be of the 
 oscillatory or vibratory kind, suggests that it may 
 somehow depend upon an electric tremor ^. 
 
 The term Collapse Dr Cullen had probably derived 
 from Eoerhaave, who, in stating what he conceived to 
 be the proximate cause of sleep, says, that in so far as 
 the solids are concerned, it is the compression or col- 
 lapse of the smallest vessels of the brain, in conse- 
 quence of which they cannot transmit their fluids. 
 
 VI. The effects of Custom upofi our Corporeal 
 and 3Iental Functions, — The influence which Cus- 
 
 * Sauvages, Dissertation sur la Rage, 1749 ; OEuvres Di verses, 
 torn. ii. p. 47-51, 12mo, Paris, 1771 ; Hemiplegia per Electrici- 
 tatem Sanata, 1749; Elementa Physiologise, p. 131-2, 1755; De 
 Suffusione, 1760. Lecaze, Idee de THomme, p. 78, 1755. See 
 Fontana's Reply to Laghi, in the 3d volume of Haller's Memoires 
 sur les Parties Sensibles, &c. Wrisberg, Note to the 379th Sec- 
 tion of his edition of Haller's Primee Linea\ Cullen, Works, i. 38.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 319 
 
 torn exercises upon the Corporeal and Mental Func- 
 tions, is a subject which seems to have occupied much 
 of Dr Cullen's attention. There are still preserved^ 
 in his own handwriting, fragments of an essay on this 
 subject, which appear to have been written at an early- 
 period, and in which he has endeavoured to generalize 
 the effects of custom as exerted, 1st, on the Simple Fi- 
 bres ; 2d, on the Nerves, as organs of sense ; 3d, on the 
 Motion of the Nervous Power ; and, 4th, on the Cir- 
 culation of the Blood, and functions depending upon 
 it ; and to point out some uses of this doctrine in the 
 Practice of Medicine. INIost of the materials of this 
 essay were, at a subsequent period, given to the pub- 
 lic by his son Dr Henry CuUen, in the Inaugural Dis- 
 sertation De Consiietudiney which he published on 
 graduating in 1780 ; and of which, as Dr Cullen men- 
 tions in his Treatise of the Materia Medica, it was his 
 son's intention to publish another edition, in a still 
 more complete form, in the English language. 
 
 In the view which Dr Cullen took in his Physiolo- 
 gical Lectures, of custom and habit as frequently de- 
 termining and regulating the action of the brain, he 
 directed his attention chiefly to their effects on sensa- 
 tion, and on the action of the moving fibres. " By 
 custom," he says, " every one understands the frequent 
 and ordinary repetition of any thing that the body 
 does or suffers. But here we shall consider only the 
 effects of those repetitions by which the state of the 
 body, as it is different in different persons, is deter- 
 mined ; by which the body is more or less disposed 
 than it would otherwise have been, to bear certain ap- 
 plications, or to perform certain actions ; or, in short.
 
 320 LIFE OF DPv CULLEN. 
 
 by which the body, m performing its various functions, 
 is subjected to certain laws, which, without such cus- 
 tom, would not have obtained." 
 
 The effects of custom on sensation, Dr Cullen re- 
 duced to the following principles or laws : — 1st, That 
 a sensation proves strong or weak only as it is stronger 
 or weaker than the sensation which had immediately 
 preceded it, or than that degree of force to which the 
 nerves had been immediately before accustomed. In 
 illustration of this law, Dr Cullen refers to the differ- 
 ence in the sensations of temperature experienced when 
 a part of the body is exposed to a given heat, accord- 
 ing to the degree of temperatm^e to which the part 
 had previously been subjected ; and to the variations 
 in our power of discerning visible objects according to 
 the intensity of the light that may have previously 
 acted on the retina. 
 
 2d, That the same impression soon repeated does 
 not produce the same strength of sensation as before ; 
 and that hence all new impressions are, cceteris pari- 
 bus, strongest ; and moderate impressions, frequently 
 repeated, produce no sensation unless their force is con- 
 siderably increased. Hence it is, also, he remarks, 
 that many impressions, at first strong and painful, be- 
 come, by frequent use, easy and tolerable, and very 
 often pleasant, as has been observed of those of wine, 
 coffee, tobacco, ^c, and that moderate and pleasant 
 sensations, by repetition, become insipid, and affect us 
 very little. Hence it is, too, that such medicinal sub- 
 stances as when taken into the body act directly on the 
 nerves, by repeated use lose their force, and require to 
 be given in increased doses, in order to produce their
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 321 
 
 effects. This may be observed in the operation of 
 some emetic, cathartic, and narcotic substances, and of 
 several other kinds of medicines. 
 
 3d, That actions, which at first produce a sensation of 
 consciousness, as being accompanied with volition, come, 
 by repetition, to be performed, without any sensation ; 
 or they produce it only when they are performed with 
 uneasiness, pain, or imusual force. When voluntary 
 actions are seldom repeated, Dr Cullen remarks, the 
 mind is conscious, as often as they occur, of its volition 
 j^roducing them ; but if they are very frequently re- 
 peated, the mind will at length nearly, or altogether, 
 lose the consciousness of the exercise of its volition ; 
 and a motion of this kind will now be excited by ex- 
 ternal agents, or by any state of the body that formerly 
 occasioned a volition of the mind, without any con- 
 sciousness of the will being concerned in producing the 
 motion, or at least without any subsequent recollection 
 of the will having been exercised. 
 
 4th, That, as sensations usually arise from impres- 
 sions made upon the extremities of the nerves, and are 
 referred to these, so when impressions are made on the 
 nerves in their course, the sensations they produce are 
 sometimes referred to the extremities from which they 
 had commonly arisen. " Here," he observes, " I have 
 rather given the fact than the explanation. But the 
 fact is well known, that, in persons who have suffered 
 the amputation of a leg or an arm, the sensations re- 
 ferred to the toes or fingers remaiu; so that, in injuries 
 occasioned by explosions of guns, and such things as 
 can affect the body strongly, the uneasy sensations are 
 often referred to the place of the toes and fingers that 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 322 LIFE OF DP. CULLEN. 
 
 have been removed, and not to the only proper re- 
 mainhig feeling part." 
 
 5th, That the association of Perceptions, on which 
 memory depends, is formed in part hy the freqnent re- 
 petition of these perceptions immediately after one an- 
 other. 
 
 With regard to the influence of Custom on the ac- 
 tion of the IMoving fibres, Dr Cullen observed, 1st, 
 That the contraction of muscles — within certain bounds 
 with respect to force, frequency, and duration — by be- 
 mg repeated, is performed with more facility and force. 
 '' Hardly any one," he observes, " has entered upon 
 the learning of a new exercise, who does not know that 
 the first attempts are what we call awkward. It is 
 only by repetition that we acquire the command over 
 certain muscles, and are enabled to unite and accom- 
 modate various motions to one and the same action ; 
 and there is nobody who has not observed, that whether 
 the actions are more simple or complex, we are con- 
 stantly improving in the facility of performing them. 
 Even some of the involuntary motions, by repetition, 
 are performed with more facility, so that their organs 
 can be excited to the same contractions with the ap- 
 plication of perhaps a tenth part of the force of stimulus 
 that was at first required. If the exhibition of an 
 emetic, or of any other medicine whose effect is mus- 
 cular contraction, be frequently repeated, a less and 
 less dose is found to be necessary. We have many in- 
 stances of the same kind, with regard to purgatives, of 
 persons at first reqidring a certain dose, but who, in 
 consequence of repetition, are moved by a smaller dose. 
 This effect will not be disputed ; but it gives difficulty
 
 LIFE OF DIl CUI.LEN. SQ,3 
 
 when contrasted with a law of sensation formerly men- 
 tioned, (p. 320) — that, viz. of onr becoming more in- 
 sensible to an impression in consequence of its being 
 frequently applied. In a person who is at first excited 
 to vomiting by a small dose, if that is repeated, the 
 stomach sometimes becomes less sensible, and the dose 
 must be increased ; and this event is perhaps more fre- 
 quent than the other ; but they are both equally true, 
 and perhaps no rule can be made which will determine 
 the result, as it frequently depends upon a tempera- 
 ment, and perhaps upon an idiosyncrasy." 
 
 2d, That custom determines the degree of tension 
 necessary to the action of muscular fibres. Every 
 workman, observes Dr Cullen, knows that his actions 
 are steady only if they are performed with a certain 
 degree of tension, and that, in the exercise of his trade, 
 he requires tools of a given weight. So Fencers know 
 that a difference in the weight of their foils will make 
 a difference in the steadiness of their action, which 
 shews that tension is necessary, and that habit regu- 
 lates the degree. 
 
 3d, That custom associates motions with sensations, 
 which are not otherwise their causes ; so that the re- 
 newal of the sensation, or of its idea, renews also the 
 motion. Thus if a man has taken a nauseous draught, 
 and he should next day see the same or smell it, or 
 even see the cup or glass out of which he drank it, he 
 may be affected with a nausea or vomiting. 
 
 4th, That custom associates different motions, so 
 that they cannot be separately performed, though not 
 originally nor necessarily connected. The uniform 
 motion of the two eyes is not of any necessity connect- 
 
 X 2
 
 3:24- IJFE OF Dll CULLEX. 
 
 eel ; many can avoid it, but in most people they come 
 to be associated by frequent repetition, so that we have 
 not the power to disunite them. The same thing is 
 observed in the childish play of rubbing the body with 
 one hand and striking it with the other : the motions 
 of the hands are so intimately associated by custom, 
 that they cannot easily be separated. 
 
 5 th, That custom determines the degree of force and 
 velocity with which motions can be performed ; and 6th, 
 That custom determines the order of succession in as- 
 sociated motions, and the velocity with which they shall 
 succeed one another. 
 
 The following are stated by Dr Cullen as laws of 
 Custom, equally applicable to sensations and to mo- 
 tions : — 
 
 l6'/. That custom establishes the periodical return of 
 certain sensations and motions, not originally necessary 
 to the animal economy ; and, 2^, That custom fixes an 
 exact period for the return of certain sensations anel 
 motions, which, by the laws of the animal economy, 
 are disposed to return at intervals otherwise undeter- 
 mined. " The whole of the animal economy," he re- 
 marks, " is under this power of habit with regard to its 
 functions. This is particularly observable in the case 
 of sleeping and waking, and in the return of our appe- 
 tites, and of several excretions. Few people eat only 
 when they are hungry, or sleep only when they are 
 weary ; but many people follow periods, and the appe- 
 tite will return at the stated time ; and with this sin- 
 gular circumstance, that if the person does not get his 
 meal at the usual time, the appetite goes off, and he 
 can want food very well till the next period. In the
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. ^^^ 
 
 same way, many persons who are disposed to be good 
 companions cannot easily keep awake at the liour they 
 have been accustomed to go to sleep, but if they get 
 past the ordinary period, they can sit up all night 
 long." 
 
 Of the other parts of Dr Cullen's Physiological lec- 
 tures, besides those which relate to the Nervous Sys- 
 tem, it seems to be unnecessary to take any notice, as 
 there was but little in them unconnected with his 
 views of the automatic and universal agency of this 
 system in the animal economy, that can be consi- 
 dered as peculiar to himself. In passing from the 
 physiological to the pathological portion of his course, 
 Dr CuUen observed, that " the study of physiology, 
 even considered as a piece of pure speculation with re- 
 gard to the vital mechanism or organization of animal 
 bodies, must be acknowledged to be a curious and in- 
 teresting subject ; but, when considered as capable of 
 a very useful application, it becomes a subject of the 
 greatest importance. This application is to explain 
 the nature of the diseases of the human economy, and 
 the operation of remedies upon it, and thereby to lead 
 to a more certain means of curing diseases than we 
 could otherwise attain ; and the soundness and value 
 of physiology is only to be ascertained by its being ca- 
 pable of this application." 
 
 In conducting his lectures on Pathology, Dr 
 CuUen professed to make use of Gaubius's Institutions 
 of Pathology as a text-book ; and, though far from fol- 
 lowing servilely these institutions as a guide, he did 
 not suffer a single paragraph in tliem which he con-
 
 326 
 
 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 ceived to contain any useful fact, or new view, to escape 
 the notice of his students. On one occasion, some of 
 his students having seemed to think that he spent too 
 much time in commenting upon Gaubius, Dr Cullen 
 took an opportunity of expressing the opinion vvdiich 
 he entertained of the value of that author's writings. 
 
 " When you have got to the end of all your academical 
 studies,"' he observed, '•' it will be proper for you, in your 
 practice, to look back into the General Pathology ; and you 
 must consult especially Dr Gaubius. He is infinitely the 
 best writer upon the subject ; he is more full and compre- 
 hensive, discovers a greater erudition, and a greater know- 
 ledge of medical opinions and facts, than any other patholo- 
 gist ; he displays a great degree of judgment, and he has 
 rectified the common notions, and put them upon a much 
 better footing. If, at the same time, he is a little defective, 
 or perhaps erroneous, his faults are to be excused, and even 
 studied ; and, as was generously said by the late Lord Bo- 
 lingbroke of the Duke of Marlborough, after his death, to 
 whom lie had been an enemy during his lifetime, — when he 
 was asked his opinion of him in a company who were speak- 
 ing unfavourably of his character — that his virtues were so 
 great that he truly forgot all his faults ; so I would say, 
 with regard to Gaubius, that his merits are too great for any 
 body to disparage him for his faults ; and, if it cannot be 
 denied that he has some, we may say, — ' Vitiis nemo sine 
 nasc'ittir; optimus ille est qui minirnis urgetur C — but I add 
 that it is even useful to study his faults. Thus, if ever you 
 are to converse upon medical subjects, or would wish to 
 know the systems of others, and particularly the prevailing 
 opinions in medicine, I would recommend to you to study 
 Dr Boerhaave ; for, though I am of opinion that his system 
 is defective, and perhaps erroneous, yet it is still the prevail- 
 ing system in Europe, and a man would be a very imperfect 
 judge of the v/ritings on Physic, if he did not know that sys-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 327 
 
 tern ; and, in like manner, I say Gaubius's is the best system 
 of pathology, and if he has faults, these ought to be known 
 as well as his excellences *." 
 
 In explaining in what respects the view of diseases 
 taken in a Course of Lectures on the Institutions 
 should differ from that taken in a Course on the Prac- 
 tice of Medicine, Dr Cullen observed, that — 
 
 " Pathology is the consideration of diseases, but as 
 forming a part of the Institutions of Medicine it has a 
 limited meaning ; it is that branch which delivers only the 
 General doctrines concerning diseases. To understand what 
 I mean by general and particular doctrines concerning 
 diseases, I must remark that I constantly suppose that 
 every disease, as it actually occurs in individual cases, 
 consists of a congeries, in concourse and succession, of phe- 
 nomena, or, as they are called, symptoms, which certainly 
 depend upon causes, and sometimes on the concurrence of 
 several causes. Now, the particular symptoms of which 
 this congeries is formed, are, many of them, common to 
 many different diseases. Thus pain is a symptom that is 
 one of the congeries in many instances, and therefore is com- 
 mon to many different diseases. In like manner diseases de- 
 pend upon different causes : Pleurisy, for example, may 
 depend upon obstruction of the arterial vessels, but it may 
 
 • It is agreeable to learn from the following extract of a letter, written to 
 Dr Monro by Professor Gaubius in 1774, on his being elected an Honorary 
 Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, what opinion he, 
 on his part, entertained of Dr Cullen's writings : 
 
 " Itaque ut tibi vir humanissime, quern inter discipulos meos numeras- 
 se etiam nunc gaudeo, pro tacto nuncio gratissimum testor animum ; sic 
 illud insuper abs te peto obsecroque ut lllustri Praesidi Cullenio quern 
 ex scriptis ut prseceptorem meura diligo venerorque, et cseteris collegis, 
 suae singulis doctrinae laude florentibus, meis verbis significes, nihil mihi 
 aut jucundius aut honorificentius unquam in vita mea contigisse quam pub- 
 licam istam suae erga me benevolentiae testificationem ; nee me defuturum 
 omni officiorum genere quoad potero universes et singulos demereri." — 
 Leid. Bat. Aug. 20.
 
 328 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 likewise depend upon an increased impetus of these vessels. 
 If, then, we consider the several symptoms that constitute 
 any disease, — if we take these separately, and consider them 
 abstractedly from the diseases in which they occur, this con- 
 sideration may be said to be a general doctrine. Thus, if 
 1 consider pain in all its different modes and causes, without 
 considering it as occurring more in one disease than in ano- 
 ther, that is said to be a general doctrine with regard to 
 pain. In the same way, if I consider obstruction in the 
 abstract, in all its various modes and causes, this vdW con- 
 stitute a general doctrine of obstruction very different from 
 the consideration of it in a certain concurrence of symptoms. 
 This has given occasion to the distinction of Pathology into 
 general sindi particular or special ; the first forms a part of 
 the Institutions or Theory, the latter the whole of what we 
 call the Practice of Physic.'' 
 
 In attempting to arrive at a general notion of Dis- 
 ease, Dr CuUen, whilst he made occasional references 
 to the definitions of that state given by Boerhaave and 
 Hoffmann, confined himself piincipally to a commentary 
 upon the definition of Gaubius, " Status ille corporis 
 humani viventis, quo fit, ut actiones, komini propj^ice, 
 non possint apposite ad leges sani talis ex er cert J' 
 To this definition he objected, in the first place, that, 
 by the introduction of the term " status corporis,'' it 
 limits the notion of disease to a state of the body only. 
 '' Whether or not,"" says he, " any disease may reside in 
 the mind entirely, I would not positively determine, though 
 I am persuaded that no one does, and that there is no irre- 
 gularity of the mind that does not depend upon certain 
 changes in the condition of the body ; but the Stahlians 
 would not agree with me in this opinion ; they refer many 
 diseases to pure affections of the mind, and it is not enough 
 that I entertain a contrary opinion; a general definition 
 should not be liable to dispute, upon any system whatever."
 
 LIFE OF Dii cullp:n. 329 
 
 Another objection which Dr Cullen made to Gau- 
 bius's definition of disease, is, that it does not distin- 
 guish those interruptions to the performance of the 
 functions which are produced by external impediments, 
 from those which depend upon the condition of the 
 body itself But his principal objection was, that it 
 represents disease as the cause of the symptoms that 
 occur. 
 
 " With regard to the causes of the symptoms by which 
 we commonly discover the existence of disease,'' he remarked, 
 " they are very seldom evident ; different physicians are 
 very seldom agreed about them, and we learn nothing of the 
 form of the disease by taking the cause into the definition : 
 every thing in nature implies a cause, and it is doing little 
 towards defining any thing to say, it is such an event aris- 
 ing from such a cause. It is not proper to define any 
 thing by circumstances that are not evident or agreed ujion, 
 and their having employed a definition of this kind, em- 
 barrasses both Gaubius and Boerhaave, in distinguishing 
 between what we call a disease and its proper cause." — " In 
 order to explain this a httle, I must remark, that the doctrine 
 of disease has been named sometimes Pathology and some- 
 times Nosology ; and these terms were considered formerly 
 as of one and the same meaning ; but of late they have been 
 applied with different meanings, and have been differently 
 limited. When we speak of the Pathology of a disease in 
 the Institutions or in the Practice of Medicine, the disease 
 is considered in its symptoms, causes, and effects ; whereas 
 when we speak of a disease in Nosology, we abstract from the 
 causes, and consider it only as evident from certain external 
 appearances ; and we distinguish diseases from one another, 
 merely by the differences in their external appearances, and 
 by the different concurrences of tlieir symptoms. It is al- 
 lowed by all, that it would be of very great service if we 
 
 5
 
 330 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 could establish a nosology by considering the external a})- 
 pearances alone, and could determine how diseases are to be 
 distinguished by these. But if that is to be a proper foun- 
 dation of our study of the practice of physic, we must give 
 a definition of disease that is suitable to it. It must be de- 
 fined as consisting of a certain concourse of phenomena, and 
 without any reference to the cause ; we must not define it, as 
 Boerhaave and Gaubius have done, by what is the proximate 
 cause or supposed nature of the disease, for this is often con- 
 jectural." 
 
 " But admitting these difficulties with regard to Gaubius's 
 definition, to be removed,"" continues Dr Cullen, " there are 
 others still remaining. What are the leges sanitatis of which 
 Gaubius speaks ? What are the objects of practice with re- 
 gard to the body as well as to the mind ? We can imagine a 
 standard of health, but that perfect standard exists nowhere 
 in any one person. Physicians have been long sensible of 
 this, and therefore they have invented a term, latitude of 
 health. They suppose that health may deviate on either side 
 from the standard, without passing to the opposite state, that 
 of disease." — " If I were to attempt to establish a standard 
 of health, it would consist in a certain size in the conforma- 
 tion of the body — in a certain vigour of action affixed to a 
 certain time of life, &c. — and young persons not arrived at 
 that period, or old persons who have gone from it, though 
 they cannot rightly perform their actions, are still considered 
 as not under the state of disease. But there is not only this 
 latitude of health with respect to age, &c. It may be con- 
 sidered with respect to every individual. No man has the 
 same degree of vigour for two hours together, yet there are 
 variations occurring either in different men, or in the same 
 person at different times, that are not to be considered as 
 diseases. Gaubius has nowhere attempted to define what is 
 the latitudo sanitatis, and it is only to be defined by the com- 
 mon sense of mankind. Natura non Jit per saltum, as the 
 naturalists say, but she passes by a gradual transition from
 
 LIFE OF mi CULLEN. 331 
 
 one state to another — so that it is difficult to know to what 
 side any state of life belongs. We must often be content- 
 ed with knowing things that are widely different. In the 
 case of colours, we know blue and red perfectly well, but 
 they may be blended together in an infinite variety in form- 
 ing a purple colour, where it may be impossible to say where 
 the red and where the blue prevails ; and yet this does not 
 hinder us from obtaining a very distinct conception of blue 
 and red. So with regard to the latitude of health, I must, 
 in the main, leave it in that condition, and you will seldom 
 commit any great error though left in this uncertainty, as, 
 till a disease is sufficiently evident, it is not an object of 
 the physician's practice." — '* I would thus point out," adds 
 Dr Cullen, " the many difficulties that occur in attempting 
 to give a comprehensive, and at the same time a tolerably 
 accurate definition of disease. I imagine that most of these 
 difficulties, though perhaps not all of them, may be obviated 
 by defining disease somewhat in this manner : ' Morbus est 
 functionis Icesio, permanens, molesta, a mutationibus in ipso 
 corpore ortis.'' By lasio it is understood that it is a lasio 
 evidens ; its being permanens w411 exclude those little transi- 
 tory changes that are constantly taking place in every indi- 
 vidual ; and its being molesta will exclude those Tiirpitudi- 
 nes et Deformitates that do not affect the economy, and are 
 not, therefore, considered as diseases or objects of medical 
 practice." 
 
 After thus endeavouring to give a general notion of 
 disease, Dr Cullen proceeded to consider the import of 
 tbe term, Causes of diseases, or etiology, and the di- 
 visions of these causes which medical men have esta- 
 blished. 
 
 «' Almost every event in nature," he observed, " may be 
 considered as part of a chain or series of causes, which have, 
 in that series, produced one another ; and of which, conse- 
 quently, every part may be said to be a cause of the last ef-
 
 332 LIFE OF DP. CULLEN. 
 
 feet. Thus a man on board a ship of war applies a lighted 
 match to the touch-hole of a loaded cannon ; this kindles the 
 gunpowder ; this produces an explosion ; this explosion pushes 
 with great rapidity the bullet ; this bullet, striking upon the 
 timber of another vessel, shivers it into splinters ; one of these 
 splinters happens to hit, with great force, the head of a man 
 standing by, and instantly kills him. Now this death may be 
 easily traced from any one of the series or chain of causes ; and 
 the same is the case with regard to most other effects or events 
 in nature. It is common to apply the term cause to each of 
 these actions or motions, but there is often a necessity for 
 distinguishing them as more immediate or more remote in 
 relation to their ultimate effect. In the case supposed, the 
 stroke of the splinter was the immediate cause of the man's 
 death, and all the rest of the series were remote causes. 
 This distinction is very necessary ; it has been much em- 
 ployed in physic, and has given rise to the terms Hemote 
 and Proximate Causes." 
 
 But the term Immediate cause, or Causa Proocima of 
 disease, Dr Cullen conceived, may be always defined in 
 the way that Gaubius defines disease itself, as being 
 the condition or conditions of the body upon which the 
 several phenomena or symptoms that constitute the 
 disease immediately depend. " I say condition or 
 conditions," he remarked, " for they. may be different, 
 and in different parts of the body ; but, if they all con- 
 cur to produce the disease, they all make a part of the 
 proximate cause ; for physicians have not limited 
 themselves to taking the very immediate cause as the 
 proximate. This will be best understood by an exam- 
 ple. Pain in a joint constitutes the disease we call 
 Rhevimatism ; if we endeavour to trace the cause of 
 this disease we shall find that the pain is owing to an 
 over-distention of sensible fibres, to an overstretching
 
 LIFE OF DR CULT.EK. 333 
 
 of the bloodvessels ; we shall again find that this over- 
 stretching is owing to the increased impetus of the 
 blood, to a stimulus applied to these vessels, often to 
 the whole system, often to particular vessels ; and that 
 this has had for its cause the application of cold. Now 
 the last may be said to be the only proper remote or 
 exciting cause ; while the stimulus, the increased impe- 
 tus, and the over-distention, we may consider as all be- 
 longing to the proximate cause. To understand thisj" 
 continues Dr Cullen, " we must observe that a scien- 
 tific practice of medicine is founded upon a knowledge 
 of the Indications, that is, of the changes that must be 
 produced in the body, in order to cure a disease ; and 
 whatever furnishes the indication, that is to say, every 
 condition of the body which requires to be changed, 
 quidquid petit ahlatmiem vel viutationem sui, is a 
 part of the proximate cause." " The only good defini- 
 tion of a Proximate cause," he adds, " is that given 
 by Dr Boerhaave in the 740th paragraph of his Insti- 
 tutions : — ^ Causa proxima morhi appellatur iota ilia 
 siimd, quce totum jam prcesentem di?^ecte constituit ; 
 hcec semper est integra^ sufficiens, prcEsens, totius 
 7no7'bi, sive simplex fuerit, sive composita. Hujus 
 prcesentia ponit, coidinuat morbum ; kujus absentia 
 eum tollit' This is the notion that may be taken of a 
 Proximate cause, — the whole of the internal conditions 
 of the economy that occasion and maintain the several 
 phenomena or symptoms of the disease, whether they 
 are a series of conditions producing one another, or se- 
 parate conditions acting in concurrence." 
 
 With regard to the Remote causes, Dr Cullen ob- 
 served, that they are all those Agents or circumstances
 
 334 LIFE OF 13U CULI.EN. 
 
 which in succession or in concuiTence produce the proxi- 
 mate cause, and then cease to act farther on the body. 
 " The Hmits between Remote and Proximate causes, 
 however, are very often difficidt to assign ; a remote 
 cause may continue to subsist in the body, and to act 
 as a part of the series of causes, in which case it is to 
 be considered as a part of the proximate, though, before 
 the production of that, it was properly a remote cause 
 only. Thus a Plethora is commonly considered, and 
 may be considered as the remote cause of Haemorrha- 
 gy ; but whenever the plethora continues along with 
 and supports the hsemorrhagy, it is to be considered 
 as a part of its proximate cause/' 
 
 Dr Cullen took notice of a proposal made by some 
 physicians, among whom he enumerated Gaubius and 
 Sauvages, to restrict the appellation of Cause in Medi- 
 cine to what has been defined as the Proximate cause^ 
 and to introduce, from the Wolffian philosophy, the term 
 Principium in place of that of Remote Cause. '' The 
 tenn Cause, they say, is only properly applied to that 
 circumstance upon which the existence of the effect 
 immediately and constantly depends ; and every other 
 remote series of causes, which might have taken place 
 without the effect immediately under consideration 
 being produced, are not properly considered as Causes, 
 but merely as Principia. Thus of the series of causes 
 which I formerly mentioned, the blow of the splinter 
 alone acts as the immediate cause ; all the other cir- 
 cumstances, the kindling and explosion of the gunpow- 
 der, and the very shivering of the timber, might have 
 taken place without producing the man's death, had 
 not one splinter struck upon his head."
 
 LIFE OF DU CULLEN. 335 
 
 In proceeding to consider the other distinctions that 
 have been laid down with regard to the Kemote causes 
 of diseases, Dr Cidlen remarked, that they may he 
 Simple or Compound. 
 
 " I call them Simple,"' says he, " when they operate upon 
 every man, or upon those conditions of the economy that are 
 in common to every man, because these common states are 
 always given, and we have only to consider the agents which 
 affect them. But the causes are very frequently Compound, 
 as where the effect is produced by a particular agent acting 
 upon a condition which in kind or degree is pecuhar to one 
 man, or exists in a greater degree in one man than in another : 
 here the accent would have no effect if it did not meet with 
 that peculiar condition ; nor would this condition, on the other 
 hand, produce any disease, if the agent did not happen to 
 act upon it, so that the effect or disease is the compound re- 
 sult of the operation of the agent and of the peculiar condi- 
 tion of the body acted upon. Thus, in the kindling of gun- 
 powder by a spark produced by the collision of two bodies, 
 this can only be produced by the collision of two cer- 
 tain bodies, flint and steel ; the collision of flint upon soft 
 iron will not produce it at all ; there is therefore a concurrence 
 of causes necessary for producing the effect. In the produc- 
 tion of disease the subject is the human body itself, and we 
 know that this is at different times in different conditions 
 with regard to its fitness for being acted upon by particidar 
 agents. A condition of the body rendering it peculiarly 
 liable to be acted on by the exciting causes of disease, is 
 called a Diathesis, Predisposition or Predisponent cause. 
 The term Predisposition, therefore, implies some peculiarity 
 in the constitution or condition of the body. Thus, any 
 man whatever, if he falls from a certain height, may have 
 an Hoemoptoe ; but in a man singularly plethoric, an haemop- 
 toe may be produced by a slight fall, that would not have been 
 sufficient to produce it, without the concurrence of the pk^- 
 tlu)ric state ; in this case, therefore, the plethora mav be con-
 
 336 LlFi: OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 sidered as a predisponent cause of the hasmoptce. A term 
 of tliis kind has been long admitted in physic, but Predis- 
 position is a Latin term, and has not this signification in the 
 Latin language, and Gaubius would therefore wish to substi- 
 tute another term, that of Seininium, in its place.*" 
 
 " Whenever we consider Agents, again, as acting upon 
 such a predisposition, as producing their effects only under 
 certain conditions, they are called Occasional or Exciting 
 causes. For this term, Dr Gaubius has substituted that of 
 Noxious Powers — a term,*" Dr Cullen remarks, " which may 
 with more propriety be employed to comprehend the whole of 
 the Remote Causes of diseases, whether Simple or Compound. 
 Predisponent and Exciting Causes, therefore, are always to 
 be considered as relative terms, and are not otherwise to be 
 employed. We make mention of a predisponent cause only 
 when the disease is excited by an occasional cause ; and, on 
 the other hand, those causes of disease which operate upon 
 the Seminia communia^ or conditions of the economy that 
 are in common to all mankind, are not properly termed Oc- 
 casional ; they are not to be so called but when they have 
 relation to a predisposition. It is not to be supposed, however, 
 that peculiar Predispositions cannot produce a disease with- 
 out the concurrence of an Occasional cause ; for a predispo- 
 sition may of itself, by arising to a certain degree, produce a 
 disease, without the concurrence of any obvious external cause. 
 Thus, plethora may be sufficient of itself to occasion hfemop- 
 toe. In many instances, on the other hand, there are Re- 
 mote Causes which operate independently of predispositions." 
 
 With regard to the proper signification of the term 
 Symptom, Dr Cullen observed, that, 
 
 " Every phenomenon that can be perceived as different from 
 the natural and ordinary state of the human body is a symp- 
 tom. This term should be applied only to the phenomena 
 of diseases, and it is very improper to speak of the symp- 
 toms of health. A symptom, therefore, is a very evident 
 deviation or alienation from the healthy state, as ascertained
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 337 
 
 by common apprehension. Now every disease nosologically 
 considered, consists of a concurrence, in concourse and suc- 
 cession, of more or fewer symptoms, and every separate phe- 
 nomenon so called may be considered separately.^' 
 
 " For a long time past. Symptoms have been divided 
 into three kinds, Symptomata Morbi, Symptomata Causce, 
 and Symptomata Symptomatum. The Symptomata Morbi 
 are those evident phenomena that constitute a disease — the 
 immediate effects of the proximate cause. The Symptomata 
 Causes are produced by the accidental concurrence of a se- 
 parate, and generally a less severe affection, arising from the 
 agency of the same external or remote cause which produces 
 the primary disease, and ought not to be called symptoms, 
 which would imply that they form part of the same disease. 
 The Symptomata Symptomatiim are secondary effects of the 
 other two kinds of symptoms, arising in the progress of a dis- 
 ease, though not necessarily forming a part of it. To illustrate 
 these different kinds of symptoms we may observe, that in 
 Pleurisy there occur the symptoms of pain, fever, and cough, 
 which are all immediate consequences of inflammation of the 
 pleura, and consequently are all symptomata morh'i. If the 
 inflammation has arisen from cold, this cause may at the 
 same time have produced Coryza, either singly, or in concur- 
 rence with a Rheumatic, or several other affections; these, how- 
 ever, are not constant parts of the primary disease, Pleurisy ; 
 though from their arising from the same remote cause, their 
 symptoms would be called symjHomata causa. Now the 
 Pleurisy may continue to subsist by itself, or by the violence 
 of the cough it may produce an Haemoptoe. There would 
 then exist two separate diseases — the Pleurisy and the Hae- 
 moptoe ; but as the same proximate cause continues to act, 
 the haemoptoe is considered not as a new disease, but as a part 
 of the primary affection happening in a series, and its symp- 
 toms are termed symptomata symptomatum. Though the 
 symptoms of this last class are not necessarily to be consi- 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 338 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 dered as parts of die primary disease, they are necessary 
 parts in the history of every disease ; for the history of a dis- 
 ease is not complete until the several series of succeeding 
 symptoms that may happen to arise from the same proxi- 
 mate cause have been marked, and the symptomata symp- 
 tomatum are useful, inasmuch as they mark the force of the 
 proximate cause, and therefore the violence of the disease.''^ 
 
 In apologizing for the minuteness of these prelimi- 
 nary details, Dr Cullen observed — " The use of such 
 generalities will not be immediately obvious, but some 
 accuracy and correctness in your ideas and language w^ith 
 regard to them, you will find on many occasions to be of 
 consequence. It is proper that you should be sometimes 
 exercised informing abstract and general notions. With- 
 out these you may think of acquiring a greater number 
 of particular facts ; but till the terms in which these 
 particular facts are expressed are accurately defined, 
 and till the facts themselves are digested into a sys- 
 tem, they will not be very useful, nor admit of much 
 practical application." After having made these and 
 other general remarks on the nature, causes, and symp- 
 toms of diseases, Dr Cullen proceeded to explain the 
 general plan which he proposed to pursue in his lec- 
 tures on Pathology. 
 
 " Former Systematics," he observes, " as Boerhaave and 
 Gaubius, have marked out four divisions of Pathology ; but 
 there is some fallacy in their divisions, owing to their defini- 
 tions of disease being definitions of the proximate cause of 
 disease. Their first head, ' De Natura Morhorum^ treats of 
 the various possible Proximate causes ; it is an explanation 
 of these only, and therefore is not a separate title from the 
 head of Causes. With regard to their second head, ' De Dif- 
 Jerentiis Morhorum^'' part of it falls more properly to be con-
 
 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 339 
 
 sidered under the doctrine of Causes, and part in the Course 
 of the Practice of Physic. The Pathology that I am to de- 
 liver, is properly to be referred to two heads, that of Causes 
 and that of Symptoms, to the j^tiologia and SymptomatolO' 
 g-ia of Dr Boerhaave. The first head is to be considered as 
 comprehending the Proximate and Remote causes. Contrary 
 to the usual order, however, I shall delay the consideration 
 of the Remote causes till I have considered the Symptoms, 
 in order to put them next to the doctrine of Therapeutics, as 
 they truly belong to both heads ; for the same Agents that 
 are upon one occasion the Causes of diseases, are upon ano- 
 ther equally employed as the Remedies of it. Thus, heat 
 and cold may be considered as Remote causes of diseases, 
 but upon innumerable occasions we find that they are most 
 useful Remedies ; and so with regard to other agents, ac- 
 cording to the condition of the body to which they are 
 applied." 
 
 In conformity with the plan proposed, Dr Cullen 
 entered, in the first place, on the consideration of the 
 Proximate causes of diseases. 
 
 " The knowledge of proximate causes," he remarks, " is 
 the great desideratum in, and the necessary foundation of, 
 the Dogmatic System of Physic ; but, from the imperfection 
 of our physiology, from our ignorance of the nature and 
 manner of operation of the various powers that can operate 
 upon the human body, this is a knowledge which it is ex- 
 tremely difficult to acquire. I acknowledge that it is diffi- 
 cult, and that it may, therefore, in many instances be fallaci- 
 ous : and, indeed, if you take the whole history of Physic to- 
 gether, from the time of Hippocrates to the present, the doc- 
 trines with regard to Proximate causes have been more errone- 
 ous, perhaps, than any other part of medical science. But this 
 does not affect the foundation of a Dogmatic system ; its being 
 liable to certain abuses is not sufficient to cause it to be re- 
 jected altogether. I do maintain, that a great deal tolerably 
 
 Y 2
 
 340 IJFE OF DR CULI.EX. 
 
 certain can be affirmed with regard to the Proximate causes^ 
 or Morbid states of the body, in particular diseases ; but to 
 put what we know of this matter into a complete system of 
 Pathology is, I believe, by no means possible in the present 
 state of our science. We obtain many advantages, however, 
 from attempts to generalize any subject, and we can never 
 hope to succeed in this but by making repeated attempts. 
 There is a particular reason for attempting it in the present 
 instance, in order to examine what is sound and what is falla- 
 cious and erroneous in the theories that have been advanced 
 on this subject ; for there is no man that practises physic, let 
 him call himself a Dogmatic or an Empiric, that does not 
 make use of more or less of a General pathology. Thus the 
 Apothecary will practise physic, and will say, ' This man i& 
 too full of blood, and must have some drawn out of his 
 veins ;"* and, on another occasion, he ^v^ll say, ' That man's 
 blood is foul, and he must be purged in order to purify it.' 
 Whether he is right in this it may not be easy to determine ; 
 but so it is in this and in every other department of know- 
 ledge — men deceive themselves in imagining that they avoid 
 Theory ; it is only the man who knows its fallacy that can 
 properly avoid it."" 
 
 " Proximate causes, or morbid states, are generally com- 
 poimd, consisting of different conditions in different parts of 
 the animal economy, which all concur together in the case 
 of actual diseases as they affect individuals ; and in a course 
 of lectures on the Practice of Physic, proximate causes may 
 be considered in this concurrence, but here, in the Pathology, 
 we must take them separately ; and such a consideration has 
 given what pathologists have called the Morbi simpUciores, 
 As the proximate cause of a disease may consist in a fault 
 either in the solid or in the fluid parts of the body, the dis- 
 eased states are divided into those of the Sohds, and those of 
 the Fluids. The diseases of the Solids are of two kinds ; 
 those of the solids as they are in common to the whole of the
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 341 
 
 body, and those of the same solids as formed into various or- 
 ganic parts. This gives again what may be considered as the 
 Morbi solidi simplicis, and the Morbi organici. That the 
 Fluids have a share in the performance of the natural func- 
 tions and that their deviations have a share in diseases, is true. 
 The vitiajluidorum are, therefore, agreeably to both ancients 
 and moderns, properly considered in a view of General pa- 
 thology, as proximate causes of diseases. But diseases pro- 
 perly consist in the actiones Icbscb, and consequently there 
 may be a great many deviations in the state of the fluids, 
 from their most healthy state, without diseases being pro- 
 duced ; it is only, as Gaubius says, when the solids are at 
 length affected, that they form diseases. The pathologists, 
 therefore, have been very improperly employed in considering 
 only the affections of the fluids. Physicians have been accus- 
 tomed so long to talk upon this subject, that they do not ap- 
 prehend the mystery, as I would call it, in which it is invol- 
 ved ; but it is still involved in a greal deal of obscurity, and 
 I think I cannot do better than to consider the subject as it 
 lies in Gaubius, under the two' heads of Morbi Humorum 
 Absoluti and Morbi Humorum Relativi, the former compre- 
 hending changes in the coherence of the fluids^ their vitiated 
 qualities, and the vitiated states of the secretions ; the latter 
 changes in the quantity, in the place, and in the motion of the 
 fluids. In commenting on Gaubius's divisions, I shall often 
 have more to object to than to illustratej but I could not at- 
 tempt a system for myself, and it is to be presumed that Dr 
 Gaubius, who is a man of uncommon discernment and great 
 erudition, has put the matter in as clear a light as is possible, 
 and that in considering what he has written, we shall see at 
 least the present state of our knowledge on this subject." 
 
 In his lectures on Physiology, Dr Cullen had point- 
 ed out the distinction of the common or fundamental 
 solid parts of the body into the Simple Solid more 
 strictly so called, and the Vital Solids comprehending
 
 34^ ' LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 the Nervous and Muscular systems ; and as it ap- 
 peared to him that the pathology of the Simple Solid 
 cannot be properly separated from its physiology, he 
 introduced into that branch of his Course a short view 
 of its various morbid conditions ^. In his lectures on 
 Pathology, therefore, he proceeded immediately to the 
 consideration of the different morbid states or condi- 
 tions of the Vital Solids. 
 
 " Under the Morbid affections of the Vital Solids," says 
 Dr CuUen, " I intend to treat of what is pecuhar to every 
 part of the Nervous system — of the Medullary fibre, with 
 the peculiar properties that it possesses in the living animal. 
 The doctrine of the Vital Solids has been very little attempt- 
 ed in the Systems of Medicine, and never in its full extent. 
 The first who attempted it was Willis. He was followed by 
 Baglivi, with more extended views, and more accuracy in his 
 principles. Hoffmann, too, has considered this subject ; 
 but he has done it very imperfectly, and with the admixture 
 of a good deal of manifest error. Dr Boerhaave, one of the 
 most valuable of our systematics, has hardly taken in the con- 
 sideration of the Vital SoHds. He has, indeed, treated De 
 Morbis Nervorum, but not either in his Institutions or in 
 his Aphorisms ; nor has he treated of their laws in his Phy- 
 siology. Gaubius is the last who has attempted the subject ; 
 but his views have been too limited. He considers, under 
 the title of Solidum Vivum, only the irritable muscular fibre, 
 and his views are, therefore, confined to the state of motion. 
 He has had some view indeed to the state of sense ; but he 
 has confounded SensibiUty and Irritability together, and he 
 is, in several respects, not only confused, but deficient in his 
 explanations." " Every one, who is at all conversant with 
 the science of Medicine, begins now at length to perceive that 
 the greatest part of the morbid affections of the human system 
 
 * Works, vol. i. p. 13.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 343 
 
 depend on affections of the Nerves. But the laws of the Ner- 
 vous system are very difficult to be perceived or properly un- 
 derstood, being entirely peculiar to the Animal kingdom, and 
 not admitting of illustration from the consideration of other 
 departments of nature. There is within us a strange mixture 
 of the operations of the material and immaterial parts, and 
 these are liable to very great irregularities. Hence the laws of 
 the Nervous system are not even tolerably ascertained. We 
 work on detached parts of it ; but, with regard either to the 
 whole or to any part of it, we speak obscurely, and take shel- 
 ter under general terms."' — " And here," observes Dr CuUen, 
 " I must premise the general apology, that some parts of 
 this subject we, I hope, see clearly, so as to be able to apply 
 them ; but to bring the whole into one complete and coherent 
 system I do not pretend, nor can I make it tolerably perfect 
 to my own satisfaction." 
 
 In entering upon the consideration of the General 
 Pathology of the Nervous system, Dr Cullen conceiv- 
 ed it necessary, in the first place, to explain what the 
 pathology of this system properly comprehends, and 
 to determine what are strictly called Nervous diseases. 
 
 " Dr Whytt,'' he remarks, " who has treated this subject 
 ex professo, observes the difficulty there is in limiting the 
 subject, as all diseases may, in a certain sense, be called affec- 
 tions of the Nerves. Every preternatural state, either of 
 sense or motion, depends upon the Nervous system, so that 
 the nerves are more or less concerned in every disease ; and 
 this title might consequently comprehend the whole of diseases. 
 But some diseases are more strictly called Nervous, and some 
 limits have been tacitly assigned or conceived in the minds of 
 physicians. Those diseases, the symptoms of which appear 
 only or chiefly in the Nervous system itself, which appear 
 purely in the functions of Sense and Motion, and in which 
 the Sanguiferous system is not necessarily or is only occa- 
 sionally affected, such may be called more strictly Nervous
 
 344 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 diseases ; so that the whole of the Febrile diseases, however 
 much they may be said to consist in affections of the Ner- 
 vous system, are, by this limitation, excluded." 
 
 To render his definition still more precise, Dr Cul- 
 len added, that " those diseases only are to be called 
 Nervous which arise primarily in the Nervous system, 
 and in consequence of a change in the general states of 
 the Sensibility and Irritability ;" and that " though dis- 
 eases do consist chiefly in affections of the Nervous sys- 
 tem, yet if they have arisen from causes that affect mere- 
 ly the organs with which the Nervous system is con- 
 nected, without any indisposition of the general Ner- 
 vous system itself, none of these are to be called Ner- 
 vous diseases." After making some comments on Dr 
 Whytt's limitation of Nervous diseases, and on the 
 illustrations by which he explains it *, Dr CuUen re- 
 marks, " I am not to limit the pathology of the Ner- 
 vous system to the pathology of what may be strictly 
 called Nervous diseases ; but I am to take in the pa- 
 thology of the Nervous symptoms, and therefore of the 
 Nervous system, so far as it is concerned in producing 
 the morbid phenomena or symptoms of the animal eco- 
 nomy ; in short, I am to consider the several deviations 
 in the state of the Nervous system, in its different parts, 
 from the standard of health." 
 
 In attempting to communicate to the reader some 
 idea of the view Dr Cullen gave of the Pathology of 
 the Nervous system, his observations may be advanta- 
 geously arranged according as they relate to the three 
 great and generally recognized functions of that system, 
 —Sensation, Intellection, and Motion. 
 
 * Whytt's Works, 4to, p. 528-9,
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 345 
 
 1. Morbid states of the function of Sensation. — 
 " Sensibility," Dr Cullen observes, " consists in a certain 
 fitness to be acted upon by impressions — to be moved by the 
 impulse of external bodies, so as that a motion may be pro- 
 pagated to the Brain, and produce sensation and its various 
 consequences. Now, the Force of impression being given, the 
 effects are different in different persons, and in different cir- 
 cumstances of the same person, according to the degree of 
 susceptibility of impressions, or fitness to be acted upon by 
 them. We must suppose, however, that there is a degree of 
 sensibility that is suited more especially to the economy of 
 every person, — always making allowance for the latitude of 
 health, which is manifestly within the hmits of certain degrees 
 that are suited to the purposes of the Animal economy; — and 
 if the sensibility be either more or less than this, it may be 
 considered as morbid under the general title of Sensibility in 
 excess or in defect. But besides the degree of force with 
 which they act, impressions likewise differ in another respect, 
 to which I have applied the new term of Quality of impres- 
 sion. Upon several occasions the quaHties of impressions 
 produce unusual and irregular effects, which must depend on 
 some preternatural state of the organ of sense. The morbid 
 states of Sensibility must be considered, therefore, both under 
 the head of SensibilHy in excess or defect, and under that of 
 alteration of quality, or of irregularity and depravity of 
 Senser 
 
 " The Causes of the several morbid degrees of sensibility 
 are to be sought for in the operation of the same causes or 
 powers which upon different occasions affect the sensibility 
 of persons in health, and may consist either, 1st, in particu- 
 lar states of the Sentient Extremities of the Nerves, or, 2d, 
 in particular states of the Sensorium or Brain itself. To the 
 first may be referred differences in the state of the medium 
 through which the external impressions act upon the medul- 
 lary substance of the sentient extremities,- — the different states 
 of that Medullary substance as given to it in the original sta-
 
 346 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 mina, natural constitution, or primary organization, — the dif- 
 ferent states of vascular tension in the sentient extremities, 
 — the different states of their temperature, — the effects pro- 
 duced upon them by custom and habit, — and, lastly, the 
 causes of Excitement or Collapse directly applied to them.'"* 
 
 Of causes of Collapse operating directly upon the 
 sentient extremities, so as to diminish their sensibility, 
 Dr Cullen observed, that we have examples, in the 
 operation of sedative and narcotic substances applied to 
 them. Thus opium diminishes the energy of every 
 portion of the nervous system to which it is applied. 
 With regard to causes of Excitement operating direct- 
 ly on the sentient extremities, so as to increase their 
 sensibility, he acknowledged that he was uncertain if 
 any such exist, though since there are powers of Collapse 
 so operating, he thought it probable that there are ana- 
 logous powers of Excitement. 
 
 The different states of the Brain which have an 
 effect in increasing or diminishing sensibility, Dr Cul- 
 len conceived to consist, 1st, In that organ being more 
 or less free ; 2d, In its being more or less excited ; and, 
 3d, In its being more or less under the influence of the 
 causes of Attention. 
 
 1. "Sensation or Perception," Dr Cullen observes, " arises 
 only when a motion propagated from the nervous extremi- 
 ties arrives at the Brain, and produces a corresponding mo- 
 tion or change there ; but if from any cause the freedom of mo- 
 tion is interrupted, no sensation can take place. We have fre- 
 quent instances of this where the Brain is under compression, 
 —which is the most evident cause of interruption to the free- 
 dom of motion, — whether the compression be produced by 
 external force, or by fluids effused into its ventricles or over 
 its surface. It is difficult to say what degree of compression
 
 lAFE OF DR CULLEN. 34,7 
 
 is necessary in order to produce the effect in question. Ex- 
 periments have been made upon dogs and other brute ani- 
 mals, from which it appears that a strong and considerable 
 degree of compression is necessary to take away sense and 
 motion in these animals : but in the human body, the loss of 
 sense and motion has been seen to take place when the com- 
 pression appeared to be very slight and partial. A disten- 
 sion of the Ventricles of the Brain with water may produce 
 this effect ; but in several instances where the effect has ap- 
 peared, the cause has not been discoverable ; and there are va- 
 rious instances of very inconsiderable tumours that have had 
 the effect of producing palsy, apoplexy, and death. In some 
 instances we find that partial compression produces only 
 partial effects, as in compression of the optic nerve, where 
 it has only the effect of producing a loss of sight ; but in other 
 instances we find that a less degree of compression in other 
 parts of the Brain, has the appearance of producing a total in- 
 sensibility. Several questions relative to this circumstance are 
 not ascertained; as, for instance, to say what extent of compres- 
 sion is necessary to produce different degrees of loss of sense. 
 We have many instances where the loss of motion is pro- 
 duced, and not the loss of sense ; in Palsy this is more ge- 
 nerally the case, and every pathologist has sought for the 
 cause of it. Dr Haller has alleged that more force or a 
 greater degree of freedom is necessary to the active than to 
 the passive powers of the Brain, and that this organ is active 
 with regard to motion, but passive with regard to sense ; but 
 he has not attempted to adduce any proof of this, nor said 
 wherein the activity of the Brain consists. I have had occasion 
 to observe, that in the production of every voluntary motion 
 there is an increase of Excitement in the Brain; whereas in the 
 case of sense, there is no particular exertion of the Brain ne- 
 cessary — no special Excitement takes place in it, so that we 
 can vmderstand why sense, which only requires the Brain to 
 be capable of its usual motions, may remain when the power
 
 348 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 of motion is entirely gone. Take these little touches of theo- 
 ry by the way, and with the cautions I was just now giving."" 
 " 2, I say the Brain gives more or less of Sensibility, as 
 it is more or less excited. To explain myself, I need only 
 repeat what I formerly said on the subject of Sleeping and 
 Waking, from which I chiefly take my proofs of the Brain's 
 being liable to different states of Excitement and Collapse, 
 or of Sensibility and Stupor, states which are different from 
 those of being compressed or free. But taking these prin- 
 ciples for granted, I say there are intermediate states be- 
 tween sleeping and waking ; and the sensibility is greater or 
 less as the tendency to either happens to prevail. We par- 
 ticularly observe such intermediate states in the application 
 of Narcotics, when they produce a degree of drowsiness or 
 stupor ; and, therefore, the Sensibility of the Brain may be 
 diminished by the operation of Narcotics and by other causes. 
 There are, however, cases in which our Narcotic medicines 
 have an opposite effect — that is, produce waking and increas- 
 ed sensibility. This is commonly explained by a supposed 
 combination in these substances of a stimulant and a seda- 
 tive power, and perhaps there is some foundation for this 
 supposition ; but I shall shew hereafter that such a combi- 
 nation is not very clearly explained, and that the fact is ex- 
 plicable upon a principle different from that of two powers 
 in the same medicine. I go on to mention another piece of 
 theory that is more evident — that Sensibility is increased by 
 an increased distention of the vessels of the Brain. Nothing 
 indeed is more evident than that the Energy of the Brain, 
 that is, its action in determining the Nervous power into the 
 rest of the system, depends very much upon the fulness and 
 tension of its bloodvessels ; and it is, therefore, to me pro- 
 bable, that the degree of Sensibility in the Sensorium will, 
 in some measure, depend upon the same circumstance. It 
 may perhaps be started as an objection to this, that a certain 
 excess of fulness in the bloodvessels of the Brain, seems to
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 349 
 
 have the effect of destroying sense altogether ; and that any 
 preternatural fulness might have, in some measure, the effect 
 of impairing the Sensibility of the Sensorium. But still this 
 will not destroy the opinion otherwise so well supported, 
 that while the motion of the Nervous power remains in a cer- 
 tain measure free, a certain degree of fulness is necessary to 
 the Energy of the Brain, and therefore that a certain degree 
 of it may increase Sensibility. Thus we observe that Phre- 
 nitis or inflammation of the Brain, is constantly attended with 
 an increase of sensibility. I need not say that the same rea- 
 soning which we use with regard to phrenitis will apply to 
 those fevers that are attended with a remarkable increase of 
 sensibility, for we observe that they also are attended with 
 an increased impetus of blood into the vessels of the Brain.*" 
 " 3. The degree of Sensibility depends upon the several 
 causes which regulate the degree of Attention that we pay 
 to particular impressions, and which are enumerated in the 
 47th paragraph of the Physiology * ; and these are circum- 
 stances which we are not a little concerned with in Physic. 
 The first cause I there mention, namely, the force of impres- 
 sion, I pass over, as not connected with the Brain ; the rest 
 of them, namely, the pleasure or pain arising from the im- 
 pression, the degree of emotion or passion produced, and 
 the emotion''s being more or less related to the person feelino- 
 it, depend upon states of the Brain. Thus the matter may 
 be viewed in general, but it is worth while to observe that 
 emotions and passions not only give an increased sensibility 
 to impressions in general, but to some impressions more than 
 to others. I shall have occasion to speak of the different 
 tones of mind with regard to courage or timidity, gaiety or 
 sadness ; and according as one or other of these tones pre- 
 vails and is indulged by us, our attention is very much 
 guided, so as to receive such impressions as are favourable 
 to the prevailing tone, as our poet mentions with regard to 
 jealousy — 
 
 * Works, vol. i. p. 3.5.
 
 3^0 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 ' Trifles light as air 
 Are, to the jealous, confirmations strong 
 As proofs of holy wiit.' " 
 
 After having considered the different causes of mor- 
 bidly increased or diminished Sensibility, Dr Cullen 
 next proceeded to consider the Errors or Depravities of 
 Sense, as they arise sometimes from particular states 
 of the Sentient extremities, and sometimes from parti- 
 cular states of the Brain. These he refers to three 
 classes: 1st, The Perception of things that do not 
 exist, or, the supposing things to exist that have no 
 real existence ; 2d, The Perception of things that really 
 exist without us, otherwise than they truly exist ; and, 
 3dly, The Perception of the qualities of bodies in an 
 unusual manner. 
 
 1. The first class of the Errors of Sense— the false 
 supposition of external existence — is, says Dr Cullen,. 
 what we call more strictly Imagination. As an ex- 
 ample of Imagination, or false perception, depending 
 on a particvdar state of the sentient extremities, he re- 
 lated the case of a lady, who, when labouring under 
 Hysteria, imagined that she was surrouuded with gob- 
 lins and spectres, which followed her from one part of 
 the room to another, but which were found to disappear 
 upon covering one of her eyes. As other instances of 
 false perceptions referrible to this class, Dr Cullen enu- 
 merated the appearance of lucid stars produced by 
 shutting the eye and rubbing it — the Muscas volitan- 
 tes which patients sometimes see floating in the air, in 
 the shape of the darting of lightning, of lucid ribbons, 
 &c. — the peculiar sounding in the ear, termed Tinni- 
 tus Aurium, and similar deceptions with regard to the 
 other organs of sense. 2
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 351 
 
 " I will add," says he, " another illustration of the power 
 of Imagination in exciting the same state of a part that was 
 previously produced by an impression made upon it. If 
 you tickle a man's upper lip with a feather, you may throw 
 him into convulsions ; and, if you have done so once or twice, 
 you need only, the third time, approach him with the feather 
 — for, before you come within an inch of his lip, he feels the 
 same tremor in it as before ; so that, from the influence of 
 Imagination, he has this false perception, that he thinks the 
 feather touches his lip when it does not. — Another instance 
 of Imagination or false perception, is the noted case of am- 
 putated limbs, where the sensation is referred to toes or fingers 
 that no longer exist. — And another case that may be referred 
 to the same class, is when sensations are referred to other 
 parts than those on which the impression is made. Thus, 
 we make a false judgment with regard to the place upon 
 which the impression is made in calculous complaints ; for 
 here an impression made upon the neck of the bladder causes 
 pain at the orifice of the urethra. Theses last cases, how- 
 ever, are different from the cases of Imagination previously 
 mentioned in this respect, that though they are false judg- 
 ments with regard to the place of impression, they are not 
 so with regard to the place to which the sensation is referred, , 
 as we presume that there is a motion actually existing in that 
 part and giving occasion to the sensation.'' 
 
 Ill attempting to ascertain some general principles 
 to enable us to decide whether particular instances of 
 Imagination or false perception depend upon the state 
 of the Sentient extremities of the Nerves, or upon the 
 state of the Brain, Dr Culleii remarks, that — 
 
 " Whenever the Sensation is of a very simple kind, as the 
 starry light which arises from rubbing of the eye, or the 
 muscae volitantes, or when the false hearing is a simple tin- 
 nitus aurium ; — in these cases the false perception may de- 
 pend upon the state of the organ, and in the case of the eye
 
 352 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 we can sometimes explain it. But whenever the perception 
 is of a more complex kind, where, for example, we not only 
 discern colour but complex figures, &c., few of these false re- 
 presentations depend upon the organ ; and, I say for certain, 
 where the perception is complicated and takes in different 
 organs, — as when we not only fancy that persons are speak- 
 ing to us, but that we see them, — it is a false state in two or 
 three organs at the same time, and the presumption is, that 
 such erroneous representations or false perceptions depend 
 upon the state of the Brain. My reason for supposing that 
 such suppositions of false existence depend upon the state of 
 the Brain, is that, for the most part, we can perceive an orga- 
 nic affection of the Brain present at the same time ; thus, there 
 are few instances of Mania but where, upon dissection, we find 
 some organic disease of the Brain, and in other instances there 
 is a special and singular affection of the Brain for the time. It is 
 proper, therefore, to consider the state of the Brain as chiefly 
 concerned in producing the supposition of false existences/' 
 
 With regard to the manner m which those causes 
 operate, which by their action on the Brain give rise 
 to imaginations, or false perceptions, Dr Cullen con- 
 ceived that it must be by producing such a state of 
 this organ, as does not admit of a proper communica- 
 tion between its several parts, and therefore does not 
 admit of the mind's recovering the several relations that 
 are necessary to determine the identity or presence of 
 any object. 
 
 " Our ideas,'' he remarks, " are for the most part com- 
 plex, but we shall find that in the case of false perceptions 
 they are commonly not accompanied with all the circum- 
 stances that usually accompany them ; and that several cir- 
 cumstances, which should check them by determining the 
 presence or absence of objects, are not at the same time ap- 
 plied. Thus, in the Berhn Memoirs, we are told of a per~
 
 LIFE OP BR CULLEN^ 
 
 55on who had received a contusion and wound on the head, 
 by which he was rendered speechless and insensible ; but he 
 heard distinctly those around him mentioning to what depth 
 the wound had reached, and what was supposed by the Sur- 
 geons to be the state of the Brain. As he felt no pain, he 
 never thought of applying what they said to himself; but 
 imagined they were talking of some other person. Here, I 
 say, the patient, from not having a feeling of pain, had no 
 means of establishing the full relation of what they were 
 talking about. There are many other instances which prove 
 that it is not enough to have a few parts of a complex idea, in 
 order to judge properly, but that we must have the whole of 
 its relations. We have frequent illustrations of this in the 
 case of Delirium ; a person in a fever is kept from light and 
 noise, and therefore the imagination that arises in his mind 
 has no circumstances to correct it. Thus, if he imagines 
 that he is not in his own bed, he has no images in his cham- 
 ber but what his imagination supplies, and as these are of 
 another chamber, he is in the right. But upon letting in the 
 light, he sees his own bed, &c. and he recovers himself, and 
 I have tried the experiment upon myself. Now, there is no 
 more in this than that the patient wants the several external 
 circumstances that should enable him to ascertain where he 
 actually is. This error, therefore, evidently depends upon the 
 want of a great many parts of the complex idea — on the 
 want of the external circumstances that serve to determine 
 the identity of the several objects." 
 
 2. With regard to the second class of the Errors of 
 Sense, where the supposition of the external existence 
 is well founded, but w^e judge of it otherwise than it 
 really is, Dr Cidlen remarked, that — 
 
 " If we admit the philosophy of Bishop Berkeley, we say 
 that the whole of the perception of external existence is pure- 
 ly ideal, is purely an operation of the mind, and that the 
 supposition of body is altogether false ; and even the Scep- 
 
 VOL. I. Z
 
 354 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 tics who do not carry the matter so far, allege that we have 
 no certainty that in any one case we perceive external 
 things such as they really are. We can condescend, it 
 is true, upon many instances of our mistakes in this respect, 
 and from these we may extend the possibility of our being in 
 error, to the whole ; but we are not to be disturbed by any 
 subtilties of this sort ; it is enough that by the constitution 
 of our nature, we unavoidably suppose and conclude the ex- 
 istence of external objects, and that we do distinguish them 
 in different cases by our different senses. This is the una- 
 voidable practice of the human mind ; and it is enough to 
 say that our perceptions are erroneous, when we perceive at 
 any time in a different manner from what we do at almost 
 every other time, or when the perceptions of one sense do not 
 correspond to those of another. Most of the False judg- 
 ments which we make with regard to things really existing, 
 probably depend upon the state of the organs of Sense, but 
 thev may also in part depend upon the state of the Brain. 
 We consider them to depend on the Brain when there is a 
 want of steadiness in viewing objects which makes us hesitate 
 about their reality ; or when we see more vivid colours, as 
 when in fevers, the eyes throw a red colour upon every ob- 
 iect ; or when a well-known figure appears to be distorted. In 
 like manner, False judgments will arise if the causes operat- 
 ino- upon the Brain in producing false perceptions have im- 
 paired the powers of reminiscence and memory, in consequence 
 of which persons may feel the want of several circumstances 
 that are necessary to ascertain the identity of objects, and to 
 o-ive the proper complex idea. It is certain that the state of 
 the Brain may be such as to affect the Sentient Extremities, 
 and give occasion to Hallucinations, so that we become uncer- 
 tain with regard to the number, distance, &c. of objects; 
 and I myself, when liable to any degree of feverishness, see 
 every object as through a telescope, — every thing appears as 
 if it were fifty times the distance from me that it is, and as
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 355 
 
 if it was diminished in proportion, which certainly depends 
 on a state of the Sentient Extremities communicated to them 
 from the Brain." 
 
 3. " The third class of Errors of Sense are those in which 
 we perceive the qualities of bodies in a very unusual manner, 
 or in which these qualities have a very unusual effect upon 
 us. I say the qualities of bodies affect us in a very unusual 
 manner when our judgment of these qualities is totally chang- 
 ed ; as, when we consider Assafoetida to have an agreeable 
 odour, and the odour of Musk to be remarkably disagreeable; 
 instances of both of these occur, but they are certainly contra- 
 ry to the most general state of sensation among mankind. In 
 the same way, when a small portion of the white of an egg 
 — which is a bland, mild, substance — on being taken into 
 the stomach of a particular individual, produces violent pain 
 and other disorders, this may be reckoned among the unusual 
 effects of substances applied to our nerves. Many of those 
 singularities mentioned by physicians under the title of Idio- 
 syncrasies, are of the same kind — are to be considered as 
 Errors of sense, and have been called Depravities of sense. 
 As to the nature of that peculiar condition of the Sentient 
 Extremities, or of the Sensorium upon which idiosyncrasies 
 depend, I can say," observes Dr Cullen, '' that we know 
 nothing of the matter. I have said that Ave know of no ne- 
 cessary connexion between Impression and Sensation, and 
 that, for aught we know, the substances which act upon our 
 smell, might have been made to give the idea of colour ; 
 and it will be difficult to say when the condition on which 
 idiosyncrasies depend, is in the Nervous Extremities, and 
 when it is in the Sensorium ; we can only say, that the one is 
 probable in one case, and the other in another case." — " You 
 may, however, take this means of judging of it ; where it is 
 a jDure and single idiosyncrasy with regard to the person and 
 part of his body, we say it depends upon a certain modifica- 
 tion of the Sentient Extremities in such a part ; but where it 
 
 z 2
 
 356 LIFE or Dll CULLEN. 
 
 is connected with the whole of the temperament, or with a 
 certain disease, or is the immediate consequence of a disease, 
 I would suspect that it depends upon the state of the Brain ; 
 as when, in an hysteric woman, the odour of a rose is disa- 
 greeable and that of assafoetida is particularly agreeable ; and 
 where this change of the agreeable and disagreeable, for in- 
 stance, pretty constantly takes place in a certain tempera- 
 ment, or when perhaps hysteric symptoms are present, I im- 
 pute it to the state of the Brain/' 
 
 II. 3Iorbid conditions of the Intellectiud Faculties, 
 — Though Dr Cullen did not deem it necessary to di- 
 late, in the physiological part of his course, upon the 
 operations of the Intellectual Faculties in the sound 
 state, but contented himself with referring his pupils 
 for information on these subjects to the WTitings of 
 Metaphysicians, and more especially to those of Mr 
 Locke, of whom, if not an implicit follower, he was at 
 least a great admirer, he took an opportunity, in his 
 lectures on Pathology, to enter pretty fully into the 
 consideration of the Deranged states of the intellectual 
 faculties, under the two heads of Imbecility and Error, 
 and of the several corporeal causes by wdiich these two 
 states seem to be produced. 
 
 " The first. Imbecility,"^ Dr Cullen remarks, " is also call- 
 ed Fatuity ; where the mind has not the power of retaining 
 impressions, nor of recalling others that have a relation to 
 them, which is the foundation of all our judgments. In Er- 
 ror, or Delirium, there is always some partial affection of the 
 Brain, rendering it unfit for the communication of the va- 
 rious relations and associations of our thoughts."' " Gaubius 
 considers all the Lcesiones Sensuum Internorum^ or deranged 
 states of the Intellectual Faculties, under the genera] title 
 of Delirium, but with no great propriety. He is sufiicient- 
 Iv aware of the different morbid states of the intellect as
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 35? 
 
 they might he distinguished, and he does mention them in 
 the course of his work ; but it is a little incorrect to compre- 
 hend the whole under the title of Delirium. I say there are 
 two distinct cases of derangement of the Intellectual Facul- 
 ties, which I mark under the titles of Fatuity and Delirium. 
 Fatuity is imbecility, weakness, or imperfection of thought 
 and judgment. In this state the feelings of the mind are im- 
 perfectly excited, and still more imperfectly retained. From 
 the first circumstance the relations of bodies are not marked, 
 and from the second they are not recollected ; so that there 
 is but little, if any, exercise of thought, of judgment, or of 
 will, as Judgment consists in viewing the relations of our 
 perceptions, and the Will depends on the judgment we form 
 of these relations : there is therefore a certain weakness in 
 the exercise of thought that is to be distinguished from the 
 errors or false exercise of it, which alone are properly called 
 Delirium. With regard to this fatuity, we may observe that 
 there are two different cases of it, the Fatuity of hifancy and 
 the Fatuity of Old Age. We must imagine, since these do 
 very constantly occur at particular periods of life, that they 
 must be connected with some particular state of the cerebral 
 organs for the time." 
 
 *' In his definition of Delirium," continues DrCullen, "Gau- 
 bius has pointed out three modifications of this state, which 
 correspond with False Perception, Erroneous Judgment, and 
 Irregular Passion ; the three principal operations of Thought 
 being. Perception, Judgment, and Will, the Delirium is 
 distinguished as it consists in error of one or other of these. 
 The first kind of Delirium I have sometimes called False 
 Imagination, in complaisance to common language ; but in 
 the Physiology I have said that it is strictly called Imagina- 
 tion, when sensations that usually arise from external objects 
 arise without the presence of these." 
 
 The second kind of Delirium, Error in Judgment, 
 Dr Cullen endeavoured to explain in the following 
 manner : —
 
 358 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 " Judgment depends upon memory — upon the power we 
 have of recalling the ideas of a great number of things that 
 are for the time not present ; but Memory depends upon 
 associations of certain kinds, and particularly in a certain 
 order, and we must trace the relations of bodies through a 
 great number of intermediate ones. If, therefore, when cer- 
 tain ideas are presented to us, we cannot follow the usual 
 order of associations, there will be a want of intermediate 
 ideas, and consequently there will be an erroneous judgment 
 with regard to them ; the person will, from the want of the 
 affines or intermediate ideas, separate such as are nearly re- 
 lated, or compound those that are quite distinct, so that in 
 this case his error of judgment will depend upon some fault 
 of the memory chiefly. But the error of judgment will be still 
 more considerable, if not only the ordinary train of our as- 
 sociations is disturbed, but at the same time tlie imagination 
 so far prevails as to obtrude upon the mind ideas that do not 
 belong to the train we are pursuing. You will, therefore, 
 perceive wherein Erroneous Judgment cliiefly consists, — in 
 disjoining ideas that ought to be joined, or in joining those 
 that ought not to be joined. It may, therefore, be referred 
 to the heads of incoherence and inconsistence ^ with regard to 
 the proper connexion of ideas. But there is in this respect, 
 in the marking of relations, and in disjoining or separating 
 ideas, a considerable difference even in men in health. The 
 objects about which men are conversant are for the most part 
 the same, and there is so much similarity in the operations 
 of the human mind, that the same relations are marked ; 
 there is thus a sameness of judgment established among dif- 
 ferent men, in which they generally agree, so that we are 
 most seciu'e in ascertaining an error of judgment when there 
 is a considerable deviation from the common sense of man- 
 kind ; and such a deviation may then be considered as a dis- 
 ease. But there is a certain latitude admitted in judgment, 
 — men may differ greatly from one another in their judg- 
 ments, without any of them being reckoned delirious, so that.
 
 LIFE OF BR CULLEN. 359 
 
 to constitute delirium, v/e must say further that the person 
 is also deviating from his ordinary judgment, and from his 
 usual train of thinking. I perceive that all this might be 
 l^rosecuted with some curiosity, as to inquire what is meant 
 when men speak of a weakness of mind, without there being 
 delirium ; when they explain errors in judgment by calling 
 them mistakes and blunders ; when they distinguish between 
 wrong-headed and wrong in the head; and when they distin- 
 guish between whim, folly, and madness. These distinctions 
 might have some curiosity and use, but they are matters of 
 too much subtlety, and it is enough to leave them to common 
 apprehension." 
 
 " The third manner in which Delirium appears is an Er- 
 roneous Will — that is, when the Emotions are not suited to 
 their objects or proportioned to them ; when they arise in a 
 manner that is either uncommon to mankind in general, or 
 that is unusual to the person who is the present subject of 
 them. There occurs a difficulty in settling the limits be- 
 tween that folly and vice which it is the business of the Mo- 
 ralist and Divine to correct, and the delirium and madness 
 that is only to be cured by the art of the Physician. We 
 may observe that emotions and passions not proportioned to 
 their objects will readily follow the state of delirium last con- 
 sidered, viz. errors of judgment. Errors in judgment and 
 in sensation frequently produce errors in emotion and passion ; 
 but the sensation and judgment being given, the emotion 
 may be rendered different from other circumstances, as from 
 the Tone of mind that prevails in the m»an for the time. I 
 have taken pains to shew that the mind is in different tones 
 in this respect, that there is one tone of mind which appears 
 in gaiety, and another in sadness; one which appears in 
 irascibility, and another in timidity. Now the causes of 
 Madness more frequently depend upon these tones of mind 
 than upon errors of sense or judgment, and it is sufficiently 
 evident that irregular emotions or passions seldom occur, ex- 
 
 3
 
 360 LIFE OF DK CULLEN. 
 
 cept when a particular tone of mind is joined to the false 
 perceptions and to the errors in judgment." 
 
 In inquiring into the circumstances on which the 
 different Tones of mind depend, which exert so much 
 influence on the degrees of the emotions and passions, 
 Dr CuUen observed that — 
 
 " The same Vigour and Debihty of the Brain, which 
 have effects upon the whole of the body, have also effects 
 upon the Mind in producing its opposite states, such as 
 those of Courage and Timidity, of Joy and Sadness, of 
 Hope and Despair, with a variety of other states that can 
 be thus opposed and contrasted. Not only do these states 
 occur occasionally, but there are in certain men, through 
 the whole of life, or at least through a great part of it, ma- 
 nifestly dispositions on the one hand, to Courage, Joy, 
 Gaiety, and Hope, or on the other, to Timidity, Sadness, 
 Seriousness, and Despair : and when these dispositions sub- 
 sist and make a part of a temperament, we call it a certain 
 Tone of mind, and these tones are produced by moral causes 
 and by physical, as by states of the body. Some late philoso- 
 phers, such as the Abbe du Bos, have maintained that the 
 different states of genius and taste that have prevailed in dif- 
 ferent ages (as for example in the reigns of Augustus and of 
 Louis XIV.), have not depended on the state of the arts, or 
 on the munificence and liberality of Princes, &c. but have 
 been owing to the operation of certain physical causes in 
 giving men more taste, — which is to be sure sufficiently ex- 
 travagant. Others impute these diversities in genius and 
 taste, partly to moral and partly to physical causes ,* but there 
 is an Author,* on the Character of Nations, who has main- 
 tained that physical causes have no share in producing them, 
 and that they depend solely on moral causes. Now it belongs 
 to physicians to consider and determine this question, and I 
 
 • Mr Hume, Essays, ]Moral, Political and Literary ; Works, Edin. 
 1825, vol. iU. p. 224.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 36l 
 
 shall endeavour to give you a sketch of it, with regard to 
 the states of Courage and Timidity in different men." 
 
 " A state of Courage may be owing to the want of a sense 
 of danger, in consequence of which people go on headlong, 
 like the blind mare in the mire, as the proverb says. Ano- 
 ther state of courage is produced by the power of habit. 
 The courage of the sailor and soldier, for example, is to be 
 explained in no other way, but by their having the impres- 
 sions of danger so often repeated that they lose their force. 
 We have instances of the same thing in other parts of human 
 life. Let us observe the difference between the inhabitants 
 of a rude and uncultivated country, and those of a civilized 
 and polished nation, in respect to the general character of 
 Timidity and Intrepidity. The inhabitants of the former 
 are obliged to w alk along the narrow brink of the precipice, 
 to stem the foaming torrent, and to encounter every vicissi- 
 tude of the weather and season, — whereas in the cultivated 
 country if the inhabitants are obliged to travel, roads are 
 prepared for them ; if they pass by a precipice, it is guarded 
 by a parapet ; they cross the river by a bridge, and are guard- 
 ed against the more severe attacks of the weather : they are 
 therefore liable to a great degree of timidity, while the others 
 become hardy and bold. The contrast is equally remark- 
 able, if we compare Women in a state of simplicity and in a 
 state of refinement. Among the more rude nations they are 
 obliged to take part in all the hardships of the men, and 
 meet with less indulgence from the men who are of less deli- 
 cate feelings ; while in the refined state, they are carefully pro- 
 tected and guarded against every thing that may hurt or even 
 shock them. And accordingly in the one state they will shew 
 timidity in excess, the smallest troubles will throw them into 
 fits ; while, in the other state, such appearances are unknown. 
 A third state of Courage may arise from the fear of any par- 
 ticular event being counteracted by the fear of a greater evil, 
 as the fear of death by the apprehension of infamy ; and in 
 most animals courage may be produced by strong emotions.
 
 362 LIFE OF Bll CULLEX. 
 
 as by those of love and anger. Now, these are so many 
 moral causes of courage ; and it has been commonly alleged 
 that courage, as depending upon such causes, is always artifi- 
 cial, and that intrepidity is in no case natm^al to man. I am 
 disposed, however, to think, that intrepidity is a natural con- 
 sequence of the state of vigour in tlie body, and that the 
 state of debility, on the contrary, is a cause of timidity. 
 Thus^ in the Brute creation, if you compare the sexes, 
 which differ in regard to their vigour, the courage is con- 
 fined to the male. It may sometimes exist in the female, 
 when the whole tenor of Hfe requires an equal exertion of 
 vigour on her part as on that of the male ; but when 
 courage appears in other females, it is of the artificial kind, 
 — it arises in consequence of emotions of love or anger. The 
 influence of the state of vigour on the state of courage can 
 be the more clearly proved in the brute creation, from the 
 courage being greater or less according to the treatment of 
 the animal in regard to exercise and diet. Whoever under- 
 stands the breeding of game-cocks, will know that diet, exer- 
 cise, and practice, whilst they produce vigour, produce a pro- 
 portional degree of courage ; and that the exertion of a cock 
 — ^liis state of courage as well as his force — depends upon his 
 state of weight ; and the same animal Avhich, when half fed, 
 will appear timid, will, when well fed, have an insurmount- 
 able courage. But, even in the human species, there is 
 hardly any man who has felt the vicissitudes of vigour and 
 weakness of body, but has felt that the mental feelings of 
 resolution and fear do accompany these corporeal states, as 
 in the case of sickness and health. I have been in use to 
 quote here the unusually discerning Shakespeare ; who makes 
 Cassius disparage the mind of Caesar, by pointing him out 
 when lying on a sick bed, and whining like a sick girl, — 
 
 ' Alas !' he cried, 
 ' Give me some drink, Titinius.' 
 
 It is, therefore, a state of the Brain which produces those 
 suites of mind on which courage and timidity depend ; and
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 363 
 
 these tones of mind may therefore be considered as marks of 
 the state of the body.'' 
 
 After having attempted to point out the different 
 forms of Delirium, Dr Cullen proceeded to inquire into 
 the causes of that state. These, he conceived, may be 
 reduced to the three following : — 1st, What may be 
 strictly called a different state in the condition of the 
 Brain ; 2d, A different state of the circulation of the 
 Blood in the Brain ; and, 3d, The effects of various 
 stimuli applied to the Nervous system — to the Brain, 
 either directly, or through the intervention of some 
 others parts of the system. 
 
 " From observations made by dissections,*" he remarks, 
 " we can ascertain the action of all these different causes 
 in the production of delirium. The Brain is certainly in 
 different states, according as a person is awake or asleep, 
 that is, it is in the different states of thinking fully and 
 completely, or of not thinking at all. I know that this 
 last proposition will be disputed by many who are fond 
 of maintaining that the mind always thinks when we sleep, 
 but it is not necessary to enter into that discussion here. 
 It is enough to our purpose, that, in Dreaming, whicli 
 is the state of thinking in sleep, the mind does not think 
 with regularity — that it does not think to the purposes of 
 Hfe — that it approaches to delirium; so that there is a con- 
 siderable difference in the thinking of the mind when the 
 body is awake and when it is asleep. These states of the 
 Brain, I have said, may be called the states of Excitement 
 and Collapse, by which terms I do not point at any theory ; 
 I employ them merely to express matters of fact, that in that 
 state of Collapse or diminished energy of the Brain, which 
 takes place in sleep, the mind does not pursue its usual or 
 ordinary train of thinking — such a train as is necessary to 
 sound judgment. We have, in Dreaming, false perception, 
 incoherence, and inconsistency of judgment, wliich again.
 
 364 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 are all the marks of Delirium. In whatever way it is to be 
 explained, we observe, in fact, that between the states of 
 sleeping and waking, there is always delirium, and in the pas- 
 sage from the one state to the other, when the delirium occurs, 
 there is an unequal state of the Brain ; one part is still excit- 
 ed, while another part is under a Collapse. This is the founda- 
 tion of Dreaming, and therefore the foundation of Deli- 
 rium.^' — " I have thus brought the subject of Delirium to a 
 general principle, to a want of communication between the 
 several parts of the Brain, or at least to an unequal communi- 
 cation of cerebral influence, and this may arise either from 
 organic affections, or merely from some difference in the 
 states of Excitement and Collapse which are connected with 
 the states of Sleeping and Waking. This opens up a parti- 
 cular view ; it does not leave the whole of the Causes of De- 
 lirium resting upon the causes which Gaubius has assigned 
 — some considerable change in the state of the organization of 
 the Brain ; — and it points out that very considerable degrees 
 of Delirium, some of the most violent instances of Mania, 
 can be relieved, and the mind restored to its former state, al- 
 most as easily as Sleeping and Dreaming can be put a stop 
 to, and the person restored to a state of Waking." 
 
 III. Morbid conditions of the function of Motion, — 
 "As it was proper,'"* observes Dr Cullen, " to consider the 
 healthy action of Muscular fibres, with regard to the 
 Force and the Facility with which they contract, so it is ne- 
 cessary to consider their morbid states likewise, in these two 
 points of view — that is, in regard to what I have termed 
 their Vigour and their Mohility. These two circumstances 
 are, indeed, variously combined, and in many cases it is ex- 
 tremely difficult to mark how far they are combined or sepa- 
 rated. But we frequently observe, that the Facihty with 
 which the contraction of Muscular Fibres can be excited, is 
 increased in the same proportion as the Force mth which they 
 are contracted is diminished ; and upon that ground they 
 ought to be distinguished by particular terms. The excess
 
 LIFK OF DR CULLEN. 365 
 
 of vigour I name Increased Tone ; and the defect of vio-our 
 I call, with every body else indeed, Debility of the Muscu- 
 lar fibre ; on the other hand, the excess of mobility I name 
 Irritability, and the defect Torpor ;'' — terms which obviously 
 correspond with the IrritaUlHas nimis acuta, irrequieta seu 
 pruriens, and the Irritah'ilitas deficiens, stupor seu torpor of 
 Glisson. " I begin," continues Dr Cullen, " with consider- 
 ing the two opposite states of Increased and Diminished vi, 
 gour. Dr Whytt has alleged, that ' a greater degree of that 
 power in the nerves which is necessary for motion, can only 
 give more force and steadiness to the muscles when they all 
 possess it in an equal degree ; the increase, therefore, of this 
 power is hardly to be accounted a distemper *.' Perhaps, 
 when the vigour is increased equally over the whole system, 
 and therefore is suited to the general tenor of the economy to 
 which it belongs, it is not to be considered as a disease, but 
 as the most perfect state of health. But I think Dr Whytt 
 has forgotten to observe, that if this vigour is in any re- 
 spect partial, it certainly does constitute a disease ; and I 
 say that even when it affects the whole system equally, in- 
 creased vigour is a Seminium, diathesis, or predisposition ; 
 and predispositions, when they amount to such a degree as 
 to expose certain persons to be acted upon more readily than 
 others by occasional causes, constitute, universally, parts of 
 the proximate causes of diseases. With regard to partial 
 excess of vigour, it is not easy to establish it clearly, but 
 I think we have an instance of it in the Diathesis Phlogis- 
 tica. From the causes and remedies of this state, and se- 
 veral circumstances attending it, I conclude that it consists 
 in an increased tone of the arterial system, and there is no 
 doubt that, in this instance, the excess of vigour is partial, 
 for commonly there is a diminished tone of the other muscle?, 
 particularly of those of voluntary motion, and often also of 
 the muscular coat of the alimentary canal. Here, therefore? 
 is an instance of partial excess of vigour constituting a 
 • Work?, 4to, p. 527. 
 5
 
 366 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 disease ; and though, when the vigour is increased propor- 
 tionally over the whole system, as in the case of Mania, 
 this circumstance does not of itself constitute the disease, it 
 certainly makes a part of it ; and in other cases, it is evi- 
 dently a seminium or predisposition, and thereby becomes 
 a part of the disease. Thus, vigour of the general system 
 does dispose men to have inflammatory diseases produced 
 in them by the action of cold and of other occasional causes."" 
 " Of the several causes which can increase or diminish the 
 Vigour of the voluntary and involuntary muscles," Dr CuUen 
 observed, " we know a great deal already from experience 
 and observation. But the theory has not been attempted, 
 and therefore there remains a number of circumstances re- 
 lative to the subject which we do not understand. In at- 
 tempting to elucidate this subject, I hope to give you mat- 
 ters of real use and application." 
 
 The different states of the Vigour of the Muscular 
 fibres, may, it appeared to Dr CuUeii, depend on the 
 following circumstances : — Isf, On the state of the 
 Simple Solids ; or, at least, he says, it is intimately 
 connected with this. 2r/, Upon the Bulk of the mus- 
 cle. 3cf, Upon the state of Tension of the muscidar 
 fibres. 4^A, Upon causes of Excitement or Collapse, 
 applied directly to the moving fibres themselves, in- 
 cluding Exercise. And, oth, Upon the state of the 
 
 Brain. 
 
 1^.^, With regard to the dependence of the vigour 
 
 of the moving fibres upon the state of the simple 
 solids, Dr Cullen remarked — 
 
 " It is certain that in comparing animals of different sexes, 
 and of different temperaments when of the same sex, the 
 energy of the Brain being given, the vigour of the body cor- 
 responds in some measure to the density and rigidity of the 
 simple solids. The simple solids are more rigid in the
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. S67 
 
 male sex than in the female, in the melancholic tempera- 
 ment than in the sanguineous; and in wild and furious 
 animals than in those that are domesticated." 
 
 " 2d, In men of the same stature the strength is manifestly 
 as the bulk of the muscles. Painters know this very well, 
 and express their Hercules by the swelling they give to the 
 several muscles ; and nothing serves to prove better the con- 
 nexion between the vigour and the bulk of the muscles, than 
 that when exercise gives an increase of strength, it at the 
 same time always gives an increase of bulk in the muscles. 
 We had many years ago, in this country, a very strong man of 
 the name of Topham, whose feats of strength were mostly 
 performed by his arms, whilst his legs were little employed. 
 I, along with several anatomists, examined him ; and we 
 found that while his legs were soft, and rather resembled 
 those of a woman, the bulk of every muscle in his arm was 
 very remarkable."" 
 
 Sd, With regard to the dependence of the vigour of 
 the muscular fibres on their state of Tension, Dr Cul- 
 len remarked, that 
 
 " The principal means of Tension in our system, is that 
 which is given to the arteries by the blood propelled into 
 them, and this can be communicated to every fibre of the 
 system. The Tension of the arterial system is absolutely 
 necessary and constantly operates, and this is the foundation 
 of that aphorism of SanctoriTls, pondus addil robur, tliat 
 the body is stronger in proportion to its fulness ; and hence 
 the difference of force in different men according to the quan- 
 tity and quality of their diet. Hence it is, too, that evacua- 
 tions weaken the system."'"' 
 
 ^th. In considering the different states of vigour as 
 depending upon causes of Excitement or Collapse ap- 
 plied directly to the moving fibres themselves, Dr Cul- 
 len remarked that the same difficulties present them- 
 selves as in judging of the influence of these causes on
 
 368 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 the Sensibility, when they are applied to the sentient 
 extremities. 
 
 " The operation of Narcotics and Sedatives in diminishing 
 the vigour of the moving fibres is sufficiently obvious, but 
 we do not clearly perceive any agents operating in this way 
 as causes of increased tone. With regard to Stimulants, 
 we do not perceive any thing more than their operation in 
 producing contraction ; we do not perceive that they pro- 
 duce any increase of vigour or irritability, but these being 
 given they produce contraction. But, as I said before in 
 regard to Sensibility, it is in general probable that there are 
 powers of Excitement as well as of Collapse ; and that of the 
 Stimulant powers, such as foods and drinks, some are powers 
 of Excitement, especially with regard to the Moving fibres. 
 But however it may be with Stimulants, there are other 
 powers that seem to increase the tone of the Muscular fibres, 
 such as those we call Astringents and Tonics.'"' 
 
 " 5tli, The Vigour of the ]\Ioving extremities will be diffe- 
 rent according to a difference in the state of the Brain, which 
 may be communicated to them. In the case of Voluntary 
 motion, we, as I think very speciously, allege that in every 
 contraction of the muscles, an action of the Animal power 
 or Energy of the Brain constantly takes place ; but in what 
 are called the Involuntary motions — whether they are ori- 
 ginally involuntary, or are so in consequence of habit, — it 
 has been supposed that no such exertion of the Animal power 
 occurs, but that the contraction is in consequence of a stimu- 
 lus acting upon the Inherent power, which is agreeable to the 
 common doctrine of Dr Haller. I have already pointed out 
 what limits this doctrine requires. I have said that the Invo- 
 luntary muscles are likewise under the influence of the Brain, 
 and depend upon its constant Energy, and that this is proved, 
 not only from various stimuli applied to the Brain, having 
 a considerable influence upon the action of every Muscular 
 fibre, but from the muscular fibres being liable to Palsy, in 
 consequence of compression of the Nerves : so that we infer
 
 IJFE OF DR CULLEN. 369 
 
 that the Inherent power of every muscular fibre is constant- 
 ly dependent for its state of vigour upon the Energy of the 
 Brain ; and, consequently, that the Inherent power, and the 
 vigour of muscular fibres, are greater or less, according to 
 the state of the Brain, communicating its power constantly or 
 occasionally. Thus, in the case of Mania, where the tone is 
 increased to a considerable degree ; and in the case of Fever, 
 where it is as remarkably diminished, we seek for the causes 
 of both only in the present state of the Brain." 
 
 " There is no doubt, therefore, that the vigour of the body 
 is dependent upon a state of the Brain either occasional or 
 constant, and we consider this condition of the Brain as mak- 
 ing at first a part of the temperament, as something constant, 
 and we say that it depends upon the state of the Original 
 Stamina, or primitive organization. I need not here apply 
 the proofs of it ; whatever is the tenor of the whole course of 
 life must depend upon an original conformation, or, accord- 
 ing to the language which I use, upon original stamina. In 
 the next place, I say, that the state of the Brain on which 
 the vigour of the body depends, does itself depend upon the 
 state of the Simple Solids. In so far as I have rendered it 
 sufficiently probable that there is a particular connexion be- 
 tween the state of the Medullary fibre and the state of the 
 simple solids, this must be the case. The state of the Brain 
 will depend, too, on Exercise ; as that strengthens the simple 
 solids, so it may strengthen the moving fibres themselves, 
 and this increased strength may be communicated to the 
 whole Nervous system. It also depends upon the Tem- 
 perature to which men and other animals are accustomed ; 
 a certain degree of heat, approaching to excess, relaxes 
 and weakens the system, and a certain degree of cold in- 
 vigorates and strengthens it, and may, therefore, increase 
 the vigour of the Brain. Another cause influencing the state 
 of the Brain may be assigned, which is more exactly applied 
 to the Brain itself, viz. that it depends upon a certain ten- 
 
 YOL. I, A a
 
 370 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 sion of the bloodvessels of the system, and upon a certain 
 Fulness and Tension of the bloodvessels of the Brain. This 
 appears in the case of Deliquium coming on in consequence 
 of the erect posture, and if the influence of this cause ap- 
 pears in this occasional way, there can be no doubt that, to a 
 certain degree, it may operate through the whole of life. At 
 the same time, it is proper to remark, that we have many 
 proofs that the tension of the system depends upon certain 
 circumstances, which we cannot easily refer to the tension of 
 the bloodvessels. Thus a man with a moderately full Sto- 
 mach, is capable of more vigorous exertions than when it is 
 entirely empty. The distention of the stomach has indeed 
 some effect in extending its own vessels, and in allowing them 
 to take in a larger quantity of blood, but this will not ex- 
 plain the tension of the bloodvessels of the system in gene- 
 ral, and we may suppose this to depend on a Nervous com- 
 munication and a Nervous tension. The same is the case in 
 regard to the Genital organs. I will not deny that the diffe- 
 rences in the state of these organs at different times, may de- 
 pend upon the fulness of their bloodvessels ; but allowing 
 tliat this serves to produce the appetites belonging to them^ it 
 will not be easy to say why it should give a considerable 
 degree of vigour and tension to the w^hole system. We see 
 that the state of the genital organs in men is connected 
 with more or less fulness of the Vesiculae seminales, and 
 it is not easy to shew how that depends upon the San- 
 guiferous system ; and we have many observations which 
 shew that the state of the genitals in females, produces a 
 variety of nervous disorders : we find also, that unless 
 the genital system is evolved, the vigour of the body is 
 less, and eunuchs, cceteris 'paribus^ are weaker than other 
 men. There is, therefore, a balance of the Nervous system 
 in which the state both of the Stomach and of the Genitals 
 has a considerable share. 1 can trace it no farther, but un^ 
 doubtedly in the whole of the Nervovis system, its Energy 
 being more vigorous or weak depends greatly on the state of
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 371 
 
 vascular tension. Lastly, I am ready to allow that the vi- 
 gour of the Brain, and of the system depending upon it, 
 may be increased by the application of certain Stimulant 
 powers producing contraction ; and we not only have con- 
 tractions produced in consequence of the application of Sti- 
 mulants, but these contractions are more vigorous than they 
 otherwise would be. Thus Diet is a stimulus applied to the 
 Nervous system ; and as present in the stomach, the differ- 
 ence of food gives more or less stimulus ; and wine as a part 
 of diet supports the vigour of the system to a certain degree, 
 and may be considered as a cause of increased vigour."" 
 
 " The causes of Debility of the Moving fibres, that operate 
 through the medium of the Brain, are the converse of the 
 causes of the state of vigour already mentioned. Thus, I 
 mentioned exercise as a cause of vigour — as improving the 
 vigour of the inherent or contractile power of the muscular 
 fibres, and the Energy of the Brain ; so indolence is a cause 
 of debility. Another occasional cause of debility, is the with- 
 drawing of blood from the vessels of the Brain ; and as the 
 vigour of the Brain depends upon the state of tension in the 
 whole of the system, debihty may be produced by the want 
 of nourishment, by evacuations, by relaxation, and by the 
 absence of habitual stimulants. I formerly said, that, among 
 the causes of increased vigour, the application of stimulants 
 may be admitted ; and when these are daily applied, as in 
 the case of wine, the system comes to depend upon them for 
 its degree of tension, and, therefore, the absence of these has 
 a remarkable effect in inducing debility. Thus, in the case 
 of persons who use the habitual stimulus of a dram, when 
 that stimulus should have been renewed, what a sense of de- 
 bility, what tremor occurs, till the tension is reproduced by 
 the application of the dram to the stomach. There are 
 causes of Collapse, which, in like manner, induce debility, 
 as certain sedatives, or, as we may call them. Poisons. Thus, 
 a man intoxicated with wine, or opium, has not liis usual vi- 
 gour ; and though the quantity may not be sufficient to kill, 
 
 A a 2
 
 0/2 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 it leaves the body under a considerable degree of debility* 
 In like manner, the excess of heat or of cold produces debi- 
 lity. AVe have most experience of the effect of the excess of 
 heat in this respect ; but we also observe, that there is not 
 that extreme vigour in the colder seasons as in those of a 
 
 o 
 
 more temperate kind. 
 
 " I may here mention likewise the causes of Fatigue, 
 though I cannot explain them. We know that a very fre- 
 quent repetition of certain actions, or an unusual exertion in 
 regard to force, if continued for too long a time, will induce 
 fatigue, which is manifestly a state of debility. There is one 
 easy explanation of this that has been proposed — that a cer- 
 tain quantity of animal spirits, secreted in the Brain, is 
 poured into the muscles at every time of contraction. What 
 becomes of these spirits has not been said, but it has been 
 supposed that they are wasted or exhausted ; and, according 
 to this hypothesis, we can understand, why a certain amount 
 of exercise should produce debility. But you will remember 
 that I have taken a great deal of pains to shew, that no fluid, 
 concerned in muscular motion, is secreted in the Brain, and 
 we must seek for some other explanation. We may, I believe, 
 find it in this, that such is the constitution of the Nervous 
 system, that every unusual degree of Excitement is followed 
 by a proportional degree of Collapse, — that such is the na- 
 tural course of the animal economy, so that we can see the 
 necessity of the alternate states of action and rest, and we 
 presume that they induce one another." " I leave you,'*' 
 continues Dr Cullen, " to consider this explanation at your 
 leisure. It is with the fact that we are especially concerned, 
 with the theory much less ; but the question apphes to an 
 important consideration in Pathology, How is the debility of 
 fevers occasioned, and how is it continued ? It may, per- 
 haps, in some instances, be considered as the effect of the con- 
 tagion, and referred to the head of poisons acting as seda- 
 tives ; and there are many circumstances in the doctrine of 
 fevers which lead to that supposition ; but, on the other
 
 LIFE OF Br. CULLEN. 373 
 
 liand, there are inflammatory fevers, produced by the operaj- 
 tion of cold, without any degree of contagion concurring, 
 which, nevertheless, are accompanied or followed by debi- 
 lity. Indeed most purely inflammatory diseases, in pro- 
 portion to the degree of fever accompanying them, leave a 
 state of debility subsisting in the general system for a long 
 time after ; — and in cases in which the introduction of a con- 
 tagion into the system may be regarded as the first cause of 
 the debility, when this is seemingly entirely removed, and its 
 symptoms have passed away, but some circumstances have 
 occasioned a repetition of the paroxysms, a debility is induced 
 that sometimes proves fatal. If we are to admit of any such 
 explanation in the case of the debility of fever, it must be 
 the same as in the case of debility induced by exercise, — • 
 that the repeated excitements do at length wear out the vi- 
 gour of the system. To conclude this subject I must add, 
 that Compression of the Brain may entirely destroy the 
 power of the muscles ; and there is no sort of doubt that 
 it operates in producing all the intermediate degrees of Palsy, 
 Atony, and a mere degree of Debility.'' f 
 
 After having pointed out the different causes whicK 
 produce an increase or diminution of the Vigour of the 
 moving or muscular fibres, Dr Cullen proceeded, in 
 the next place, to consider these fibres with regard to 
 their greater or less degree of Mobility. 
 
 " I need not say," he observed, " that this view of the 
 moving fibres has occupied Pathologists much more than that 
 of their vigour, but the subject has been treated imperfectly. 
 It has been common to consider every convulsive or spasmo- 
 dic aff'ection as an instance of increased mobility ; now, in 
 many instances, the spasm or convulsion produced is the 
 eflect not of the greater mobihty of the moving fibres, but of 
 the strength of the stimulus apphed to them, which may be 
 capable of producing this effect in any person, though of
 
 3T4j life of dr cullex. 
 
 course it will operate the more readily where there exists a 
 certain degree of mobility.'" 
 
 The causes of Increased Mobility, or of what he calls 
 morbid IrritabiHty of the Moving fibres, mentioned by 
 Dr Cullen, are, Isf, Increased Sensibility ; 2d, A state 
 of Debility in the Moving fibres ; 3d, Such causes as 
 give Excitement greater in Elasticity than in Density, 
 including Heat and Tension ; 4ith, Habit ; and, 5t/i, 
 The state of the Brain. 
 
 1. " Increased Sensibility and increased Mobility," he 
 remarks, " are so commonly conjoined, that the state of in- 
 creased mobihty has been considered, though improperly, 
 as being the same with that of increased sensibility ; but it 
 is necessary to remark, that increased sensibihty is not the 
 sole cause of increased mobility; and that they may and 
 ought to be considered as different affections. Sensibility 
 and Irritability are not always in the same condition in the 
 same person. I conclude this from observing, that these two 
 properties are often under different laws. With respect to 
 Sensibility, it is well known that the force of impressions in 
 exciting sensations is by repetition constantly diminished ; 
 whereas, by a like repetition of motions, the readiness with 
 which these motions are repeated, the Mobility, or what may 
 be called the Irritability of the parts, is generally increased. 
 In certain cases indeed, where motions are frequently repeated 
 in consequence of the appHcation of the same impression, 
 sometimes the one of the laws mentioned takes place, and 
 sometimes the other ; so that sometimes to produce a repeti- 
 tion of the same motion, the force of the impression employed 
 must be gradually increased ; and in other cases the motion 
 may be repeated, though the force of the impression be gra- 
 dually diminished. These are cases with which physicians 
 are well acquainted ; but in what circumstances the one 
 or the other law takes place, I cannot with certainty deter- 
 mine."
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. •> / '^ 
 
 2. *' That tlie Mobility of children and women is greater 
 than that of adult men, may depend on their having more Sen- 
 sibiUty as well as upon their constitutions being weaker ; but 
 there are many instances of persons weakened by occasional 
 causes, as by fatigue, evacuations, preceding diseases, &c. 
 where the Mobility is very evident, while there is no ob- 
 servable change in the Sensibility, so that we infer that the 
 state of debility in the Moving fibres is a cause of mobihty;' 
 
 3. The third cause of mcreased Mobility which Dr 
 CuUeii assigned, viz. such causes as give excitement 
 greater m elasticity than density, he acknowledged to 
 be a subtile and theoretical one. 
 
 " Here,'' says he, "I assume the hypothesis of an aethe- 
 rial or electrical fluid in the Nervous system, but if it ex- 
 plain the phenomena you may indulge it. I mentioned an 
 increase of heat as giving an increase of Sensibility, and it is 
 equally probable that it is as remarkable a cause of increased 
 mobihty as it is of increased sensibility ; and it certainly 
 operates upon elastic fluids by increasing their elasticity, 
 while it diminishes their density." 
 
 4. " A fourth cause of increased Mobility is to be found 
 in the effects of Habit. This operates in consequence of the 
 law mentioned in the 114th paragraph of the Physiology, 
 which is, that the repetition of motion gives a greater facility 
 of motion — that is, gives mobility or morbid irritability. I 
 have once and again mentioned the illustration of this law in 
 distinguishing Sensibility from Irritability. I have to add a 
 matter of more curiosity— that motions frequently repeated 
 often put on the appearance of being spontaneous ; that is 
 when they are associated with sensations or with motions 
 which, by the laws of our system, return periodically. In 
 explaining the subject of habit formerly, I took notice of 
 this ; and in that way particularly, I explained how the daily 
 revolutions in our system are produced, and liow various other
 
 37i> 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 circumstances will continue to recur in consequence of an 
 association with other things that do occur in a diurnal 
 or periodical circle. With regard to the application 
 of this law to Pathology, it serves to explain how se- 
 veral diseases that depend upon a state of irritability, or 
 increased mobility, as Epileptic, Hysteric, and Asthmatic 
 affections, become periodical. The power of habit in giving 
 such laws, in producing periodical revolutions, is especially 
 remarkable in diseases that are most certainly periodical, 
 such as Intermittent fevers. It appears from the most ex-, 
 act observations, that Intermittents continue their disposi- 
 tion to recur at the usual period even when no paroxysms 
 take place, so that though they should cease for a fortnight 
 together, when they do recur, it is not only upon the day 
 but at the hour they were in use to do so. I must add an- 
 other observation that is of use and curiosity, that such is 
 the apparent spontaneity with which motions that have been 
 frequently repeated take place, that the slightest associations 
 serve to renew them, and even the recollection of them is 
 sometimes sufficient to bring them back. Thus, a person who 
 has taken Ipecacuanha and vomited with it, though he cannot 
 recal the particular taste of it, can renew the disagreeable sen- 
 sation, the nausea which it occasioned, and this will, in many 
 persons, give rise to Vomiting. This may serve to explain 
 w hat appears very marvellous, that persons can recal at plea- 
 sure both Epileptic and Hysteric fits. It has been questioned 
 whether this Epilepsia Simulata, as it has been termed, is real. 
 I believe the fits are as real as the original ones, and are only 
 simulated in so far as regards their cause, as we know to be 
 the case when they are cured by exorcisms. It might be ex- 
 pected that in those cases in which real associations bring on a 
 variety of Convulsive affections, as, for instance, in the case of 
 fear, and particularly where it is produced by surprise, these 
 associations should have less and less effect the more frequent- 
 ly they are repeated, conformably with the law of Sensibili-
 
 LIFE OF BR CULLEN. 377 
 
 ty being diminished by repetition of impression ; but, in 
 some instances, they seem, on the contrary, to gain strength. 
 This, I think, may be explained in the following manner : — 
 It is the nature of the human mind to indulge every present 
 emotion or passion, and this would not be prevented from 
 going to excess if it was not counteracted by some other sen- 
 sation, consideration, or motive. Now, where our emotions 
 and passions are thus counteracted, and in some measure 
 checked, there the law of Sensibility takes place, and the im- 
 pressions have gradually less and less effect upon us. But 
 where there is no such temptation to check these emotions, 
 and where they are consequently freely indulged in, by every 
 repetition they gain ground and acquire more strength. 
 There is another case in which habit has an effect in giving 
 more Mobility, viz. as the manner of life has been more 
 strictly uniform ; for, as new impressions are, cceteris pain- 
 bus, always the strongest, persons who have least experience 
 of such impressions, will be most susceptible of their influ- 
 ence, and will thereby be rendered most irritable, so that the 
 strictius regimen gives the appearance of Mobility." 
 
 5. " Lastly, the different states of the Mobility of the 
 Muscular fibres depend upon the state of the Brain commu- 
 nicated to them. And here I would repeat the same reason- 
 ing that I used with regard to Sensibility and Vigour be- 
 ing communicated from the Brain. As a communication 
 exists between every part of the Nervous system, the condi- 
 tion of one part will be communicated to every other, and 
 therefore the different states of Mobility in tjie Brain must 
 affect the state of the IMobility of the Muscular Fibres. 
 Now the state of Mobility in the Brain is remarkably diffe- 
 rent on different occasions. 1st, It will depend upon the de- 
 gree of Sensibility, and, consequently, upon the various 
 causes already mentioned as affecting this. 2d, It will de- 
 pend very much upon the state of Reflex Sensation, or the 
 feelings of pleasure or pain with which most of our sensa- 
 tions are accompanied. These form a part of Sense, but are.
 
 378 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 in a great measure, dependent upon the Brain ; and when 
 we consider that pleasure and pain are the immediate causes 
 of Desire and Aversion, which in their different modes pro- 
 duce all the different states of Emotion, Passion, and Voli- 
 tion, it must be sufficiently evident that these states of reflex 
 sensation will give a greater or less degree of Mobility to all 
 the actions depending upon them. In so far as the train of 
 Sensations, and the Passions, &c. depend upon the tone of 
 mind, the state of Reflex Sensation must depend upon the 
 Brain ; and the actions of the body must depend on the tone 
 of mind. Thus a degree of Vividity, of Alacrity, and Levity, 
 or a disposition to change, — or a state of Dulness, Slowness, 
 and Tenacity, can only be considered as states of morbid Ir- 
 ritability or increased Mobility, or of Torpor in the Brain ; 
 and, in the same way. Gaiety or Sadness, Complacency or 
 Peevishness, &c. are tones of mind merely affecting the state 
 of Mobility, or depending upon it. Nothing, therefore, is 
 more evident, than that the state of Reflex Sensation, as agree- 
 able or disagreeable, arises from certain modifications of the 
 Brain. What these are I do not pretend to explain ; though 
 they are circumstances for inquiry, and are never to be re- 
 moved from the mind and attention of the physician. I 
 must next observe, that our volitions — every instance of mo- 
 tion, and, therefore, of more or less mobility — depend also 
 upon our intellectual operations more purely considered, — 
 upon the peculiar state of Genius prevailing in different men. 
 In some there is a certain dulness of apprehension that may 
 save them from timidity, while in others there is a greater 
 vivacity of apprehension that collects the view of dangers 
 that are imaginary. This vivacity of apprehension. I would 
 call Genius ; and it would be desirable to inquire, upon what 
 states of the Brain the different states of Genius depend. It 
 has been attempted, but with no success. We can make a 
 few observations which shew some connexions between these 
 states of the mind and certain bodily state,^ but this goes 
 a small way only.''
 
 LIFE OF DR CULI.EN. 379 
 
 Such being the general view which Dr CuUen took 
 of the different ]\lorhid conditions of the muscular or 
 moving fibres, as Proximate causes of diseases, and of 
 the various circumstances by which these morbid con- 
 ditions may be produced, he was led to refer the diffe- 
 rent morbid phenomena or symptoms to which they 
 give rise in diseases to the two heads of Increase and 
 Diminution of JNlotion. 
 
 " The former, the Increase of Motion,"" he observes, " has 
 been treated of by Pathologists in general under the title of 
 Spasm, and the latter, the Diminution of Motion, under 
 that of Palsy. Under the term Spasm, Gaubius compre- 
 hends every irregular motion, but this general view is not 
 sufficient for our purpose. There is not a term now more 
 frequent in our Pathology than that of Spasm ; it is as old 
 as any writings in Medicine, and has been on many occasions 
 employed with very different meanings, so that it is necessary 
 to limit its sense. As the word was originally used to ex- 
 press contraction in general, every kind of contraction might 
 be called a spasm or drawing together ; but it is necessary 
 to have different terms to express the different modifications 
 or states of contraction."" 
 
 Dr Cullen, therefore, divided the irregular motions 
 of the muscular system into two orders, Spasm and 
 Convulsion. Spasm, he defined to be a state of the 
 contraction of muscles, that is not disposed sponta- 
 neously to alternate with relaxation, and in which, too, 
 the fibres do not easily yield to extending powers ap- 
 plied to them. Convulsion he defined to consist in the 
 muscles being excited to contraction by preternatural 
 causes, and contracted with unusual velocity and force ; 
 and especially in the contractions, alternating with re- 
 laxation, being frequently and preternaturally repeated. 
 " Where Pathologists," he observes, " have used the
 
 380 Lll E OF Dil CULLEN. 
 
 term Spasm according to the ancient meaning, they 
 have distinguished the Spasmi into Tonic i and Clo- 
 nici, which, in my opinion, is more difficult language 
 than that of Spasm and Convulsion." 
 
 The Causes of Spasm and Convulsion may, Dr Cul- 
 len conceived, be referred to three classes : — 1st, What- 
 ever disturbs the ordinary measure and order in the 
 exertions of the Animal power; 2d, Direct Stimu- 
 lants; and Sd, Indii^ect Stimulants. — With regard to 
 the first class of causes, he observed, that — 
 
 '* In all men custom has established a measure in the ve- 
 locity and force of every action, and in the order of every 
 series of actions ; and, though this measure has a certain la- 
 titude, which is different in different men and in different 
 actions, yet in every man that latitude has its limits, and if 
 the mind is urged beyond the established limits of velocity 
 and order, the muscular organs commonly lose their measure, 
 and readily run into the states of Convulsion and Spasm. In 
 most violent exertions, we readily throw the muscles into 
 spasms, but still this is most remarkable with regard to the 
 exertions of the animal power in the Brain. There, all 
 hurry in the emotion or passion produces a general effort or 
 epilepsy ; and hence the effects of surprise, and indeed of all 
 strong impressions that are sudden, in throwing moveable 
 systems into Convulsion and Spasm, or through them into 
 Delirium, or irregularity in the motions of the animal power. 
 Persons who stammer or suffer a considerable interruption 
 from convulsive motions arising in speaking, sing quite 
 easily without any interruption at all. This appears to be 
 owing to the circumstance, that in singing, they have their 
 ear to determine both the measure and order, and therefore 
 they go on without any interruption ; but when they are 
 exerting the organs of speech by the power of their own will, 
 without any such measure, they fall into stammering from 
 some accidental bashfulness, and generally from some hurry.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 381 
 
 If any person who stammered was at the same time a very- 
 exquisite mimic, I think that in his imitating the sound and 
 voice of other people, the case would be the same as if he 
 were singing, though in his own exertions he has no such 
 means of governing himself. This shews that it is the loss 
 of measure that throws us into Convulsive and Spasmodic 
 motions.*' " It is a sure mark of vigour when we can give a 
 certain duration to the contraction of muscles ; but when that 
 vigour is wanting, the relaxation comes to alternate too quick- 
 ly, which is the state of Convulsion. This is illustrated par- 
 ticularly by Tremor, which is a frequent alternation of con- 
 tractions and relaxations, both of them weak and of little 
 duration, aiKl which is therefore a mode of Convulsion. Tre- 
 mor takes place in debility, and is justly considered as a mark 
 of that debility, and it is produced by the passion of fear 
 which immediately debilitates the system.'" 
 
 The class of Direct Stimulants which operate in 
 producing Spasm and Convulsion, Dr CuUen considered 
 under the same arrangement as Gaubius, viz. Mecha- 
 nical and Chemical Acrimonies applied to the Brain, 
 either directly or through the intervention of other 
 parts, — Pain, — and immoderate Repletion, particular- 
 ly of the vessels of the Brain. In speaking of pain, he 
 remarked, that — 
 
 " While pain sometimes produces Convulsion and Epilepsy, 
 it at other times produces Syncope. When it produces 
 Convulsion, I would refer this to its stimulant powers, but 
 when it acts by producing Syncope, it seems to operate as 
 a very strongly sedative power. Here, however, I would 
 not rashly conclude that the effects are opposite in these 
 two cases, for they may be the same, only in different 
 degrees ; and it may be made a question whether pain 
 producing Syncope is not an instance of violent Excite- 
 ment producing considerable Collapse, and whether, in its 
 power of producing opposite effects, it does not resemble
 
 382 LIFE OF BR CCLLEiV. 
 
 Electricity, which is capable both of exciting action and of 
 producing Death." With regard to immoderate repletion, 
 as a direct stimulant liable to produce spasm and convulsion, 
 Dr Cullen observed, " I have endeavoured to shew that a 
 certain fulness of the vessels of the Brain is necessary to its 
 Excitement ; and that a certain increase of that tension and 
 fulness is a strong stimulus, which will continue the Excite- 
 ment and prevent the state of Collapse from coming on. 
 Accordingly, there is not a more frequent occasional cause 
 of Epilepsy than a little increase of fulness in the vessels of 
 the Brain. I need not add here, that the effect of the deter- 
 mination of blood to the Brain in producing Epilepsy, ap- 
 pears from this, that convulsions often happen where we 
 have proof of an increased impetus, and where there is a de- 
 gree of inflammation, as in Phrenitis." 
 
 Under the class of Indirect Stimulants, Dr Cullen 
 mentioned as causes of Spasm and Convulsion, im- 
 moderate Evacuations, Narcotic sedatives, particular 
 Odours, and the emotion of Fear. 
 
 " I observe,*' says he, " what has been but little taken no- 
 tice of before, that causes of Debility are frequent causes of 
 Convulsion ; whereas our pathologists have supposed that 
 convulsions are commonly ovving to the application of a 
 trongar irri tation ; but the irritation seems to be only the 
 indirect stimulus, producing the action of the Vis Medlcatrix 
 Natura. It is evident that convulsions depend upon causes 
 of Collapse, which operate by producing this exertion of the 
 Animal power, or what I have been induced to call the Re- 
 action of the Brain. The chief proof of immoderate eva- 
 cuation acting as an indirect stimulant, i? taken from H^emor- 
 rhagy. Dr Hales was much occupied in experiments, which 
 led him to bleed animals to death, and he constantly found 
 that no animal died in this way without being affected with 
 Epilepsy. Our butchers have evidence of the same fact every 
 day. There is no other explanation of this fact than to con- 
 sider the loss of blood as a cause of considerable Collapse of
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 383 
 
 the Brain, which produces an exertion of the Vis Medicatrix, 
 which, however, under that debiHty, has no measure, and 
 therefore produces convulsions. Another proof that Epi- 
 lepsy may be brought on by causes of debility, is that no- 
 thing is more common than for Syncope, particularly from 
 bloodletting, to be attended with Convulsion, so that these 
 states must be imputed to one and the same cause. Many 
 Sedatives, too — such as are most powerfully Narcotic, and 
 therefore most capable of producing a state of Collapse, par- 
 ticularly opium, — do not kill without producing Convulsion. 
 And it is very probable, since Poisons have so universally 
 the effect of producing Epilepsy and Convulsive motions, 
 that more of them are of the sedative kind than has been 
 imagined, though, at the same time, some of them may ope- 
 rate by their stimulant power, and by the inflammation 
 which they produce." 
 
 With regard to the effect of Odours in producing 
 Convulsion, Dr Cullen remarked, that they probably 
 have this effect only in so far as they give rise to a dis- 
 agreeable sensation ; and with regard to the emotion 
 and passion of Fear, which is so frequently the cause of 
 Epilepsy, he observed, that its operation is to be ex- 
 plained, not only by its direct sedative effects, but 
 from its disturbing the measure of the Animal pow^r. 
 
 " With regard to all these three classes of Causes of In- 
 creased motions,"' Dr Cullen added, " we must remember 
 that the causes of Convulsion and Spasm are generally com- 
 pounded of Predisponent and Occasional or immediately Ex- 
 citing causes. Those we have been enumerating are the oc- 
 casional causes, but we must take into our account the pre- 
 disposition, which is generally more or less of Mobility in 
 the system." 
 
 Dr Cullen next proceeded to consider the causes of 
 Diminished motion under the general title of Para- 
 lysis : —
 
 38 i LIFE OF DU CULLEX. 
 
 " I must observe,^' says he, " that it has been usual with 
 physicians to consider Palsy as an affection of Sense as well 
 as of Motion. Loss of sense and loss of motion are indeed 
 very frequently conjoined, and often depend upon similar or 
 upon the same causes ; but they are not necessarily conjoin-* 
 ed, and the one may occur without the other, the loss of 
 motion without the loss of sense, and the loss of sense with- 
 out the loss of motion. I am, therefore, of opinion, that 
 they should be considered separately, and as accidentally 
 combined; here we are considering motion only, and we 
 shall therefore consider palsy as an affection of motion, which 
 may be called complete though sense still remains." — " The 
 most common idea of physicians with regard to Palsy, consi- 
 dered as an affection of motion, is, that it is a total loss of 
 motion. I must own that there are no exact limits to be set 
 between the slightest deviation from a state of Vigour to a 
 state of DebiUty, and of complete Palsy, so that they may be 
 all considered as only different degrees of the same affection ; 
 but I must here confine myself to the consideration of Palsy, 
 strictly so called, that is, when the loss of motion is complete 
 or nearly so. Gaubius says, that Palsy or extinction of the 
 motive faculty, if it affects the fibres of the viscera and ves- 
 sels, is called Atony. I doubt if this is conformable to the 
 present language of physicians, who commonly apply the 
 term Atony to debility short of palsy ; but I suspect that 
 Gaubius may have a foundation for limiting the term in 
 this way, inasmuch as the consideration of the increase or loss 
 of tone is most commonly taken notice of in relation to the 
 Arterial system, and perhaps it may be proper to confine the 
 term to that view%" 
 
 " Gaubius has referred the Causes of Palsy to three 
 general heads : — The 1st comprehends what we may call 
 vitiations, faults, or defects in the origin of the nerves, 
 and in the nerves strictly so called ; what most people 
 would call faults of the Nervous system, as they do not 
 with me extend that term to the Muscular fibres. The 
 
 3
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 385 
 
 Sd is a fault in the state of the Circulation ; and the 3d, a 
 fault, vitiation, or defect in the Muscular fibres themselves. 
 With regard to the first of these classes, there is, I think, a 
 distinction of some consequence. There is one case of palsy 
 which depends upon an extinction of the moving power, or 
 upon a Collapse of the Brain, and another case which de- 
 pends upon Compression, or some such organic affection, 
 preventing the exercise of the Nervous power, or of the ex- 
 cited state of the Brain. Now, to me this distinction is ab- 
 solutely necessary, with a view to practice. I say that the 
 cases of the first kind, those that are called cases of Collapse, 
 are commonly benefited by stimulants, and are hurt by eva- 
 cuations of all kinds considered merely as such. On the 
 other hand, the cases of Compression, arising from a conges- 
 tion of blood, frequently require evacuations, and may be 
 hurt by every kind of stimulus." 
 
 With regard to the influence of faults in the state 
 of the Circulation in producing Palsy, Dr CuUen ob- 
 served, that — 
 
 " A want of the due influx of blood into the vessels of the 
 Brain from any cause obstructing the blood, brings on a 
 deliquium animi, and, with that, a state of Palsy of the whole 
 muscular fibres of the system. But whether or no any lesser 
 degree of that diminished influx produces Palsy^ or any de- 
 gree of it, without deliqumm occurring at the same time, I 
 do not perceive, and very much doubt. Gaubius, however, 
 has had chiefly in view the state of the circulation in the 
 muscles themselves, — the state of the motion of the blood in 
 the arteries interposed between living fibres. I have former- 
 ly said, that such a motion of the blood seems to be neces- 
 sary to the heat, tension, and sensibihty of the muscular 
 fibres ; but some think it a part of the inherent or contrac- 
 tile power, and explain the state of the inherent power by 
 the state of the circulation in the muscles. But irritability is 
 not strictly connected witli the motion of the blood. A frog, 
 VOL. I. B b
 
 S&6 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 whose heart is cut out, will continue to leap about for an hour 
 or two afterwards ; and when we tie the arteries belonging to 
 particular muscles, we observe that their irritability continues 
 long after the motion of the blood through them is inter- 
 rupted. Nothing is more common than to allege the con- 
 trary of this, — that by tying the Aorta a palsy of the lower 
 extremities is produced; but, supposing that experiment 
 correct, it is doubtful whether it affects the muscles or the 
 spinal marrow. Physiologists have tied the arteries of par- 
 ticular muscles, in consequence of which the muscles have 
 appeared to become paralytic ; but I would conclude, that the 
 motion of the blood has no farther share in the contractions 
 of the muscles, than as it keeps the parts in due condition. 
 Thus, in the case of ligature of the brachial artery, for the 
 cure of Aneurism, it is true that some appearance of palsy 
 comes on, but it is slow, and sometimes does not occur at all; 
 and, when it does, it is liable to be immediately succeeded by 
 gangrene, which shews that the loss of power does not depend 
 on a cause in the Nervous system, but on an impediment 
 external to it."*^ 
 
 Conformably with these views, Dr Cullen reduced 
 the causes of Palsy to four heads. 1 st. The state of 
 Collapse in the Brain, analogous to the state of natu- 
 ral sleep ; 2d, Those Organic causes that give an inter- 
 ruption to the communication between the origin of 
 the nerves and the several muscles of the body ; 3d, 
 The several causes of the loss of Inherent power in the 
 muscular fibres themselves ; and, 4th, Those aflFections 
 of the Brain or Muscles, by compression or otherwise, 
 that prevent the exercise of the Inherent or Animal 
 powers, to which head is to be referred those which in- 
 fluence the state of the Circulation. 
 
 There are two forms of Irregular motion, with re- 
 gard to which it may be difficult, in particular in- 
 stances, to determine whether they should be referred
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 387 
 
 to the head of Increased or to that of Dimmished mo- 
 tion, viz. Tremor and Palpitation. 
 
 " Tremor,"' observes Dr CuUen, " consists in a frequent 
 alternation of contractions and relaxations, and in so far is 
 properly considered as a convulsive motion, and has been 
 placed by Sauvages among his Convulsive affections; but 
 Gaubius very properly observes, that it is to be considered 
 rather in its cause than in the mode of action, that being of 
 little importance. Now in its cause Tremor is to be consi- 
 dered as a state of Debility." — " With regard to Palpitation, 
 Gaubius has observed that it is to be referred to Spasmodic 
 affections. The cause of Palpitation as affecting different 
 muscular fibres, is a matter that we do not well understand ; 
 we understand it only as it is an affection of the heart, where 
 it is to be reckoned among the convulsive motions of that 
 organ, and may arise from a variety of causes ; as from the 
 influx of the venous blood into the cavities of that organ 
 being made with more velocity, and therefore, in the same 
 time, in greater quantity than usual, as is the case in violent 
 exercise ; — from any resistance given to the free and entire 
 evacuation of the ventricles of the heart ; — from a more vio- 
 lent and rapid influx of the Nervous power into the muscu- 
 lar fibres of the heart, as in palpitation from mental emotions ; 
 — from a peculiar irritability or mobihty of the heart excited 
 by irritation in the intestinal canal or other parts of the sys- 
 tem ; — and, lastly, from causes producing a weakness in the 
 action of the heart, by diminishing the Energy of the Brain 
 with respect to it. Now, in this last case, when it depends 
 upon a state of Debihty, we must, as in the case of Tremor, 
 consider the cause much more than the mode of action." 
 
 The numerous extracts which have been given from 
 13r Cullen's manuscript lectures, will be sufficient, it 
 is conceived, to convey to the reader, a tolerably just 
 idea of his general manner of lecturing on Pathology, 
 — of the importance which he attached in this part of 
 
 B b 2
 
 388 IJFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 his Coui'se to the consideration of the derangements of 
 the different functions of the Nervous System, and of 
 the accuracy with which, m his explanation of Diseased 
 states, as well as of the Agents producing them, he at 
 all times distinguished between the vital properties and 
 functions of the Nervous and of the Muscular systems. 
 
 The third part of the Institutions of Medicine, which 
 treats of Remedies, Dr CvUlen denominated Thera- 
 peutics or the Methodus JNIedendi, and defined it to 
 be the General consideration of the Means of prevent- 
 ing and curing diseases. 
 
 " The term Therapeutics has indeed,'"* he remarked, " been 
 hitherto almost entirely confined to the study of those Gene- 
 ral principles which should guide us in the administration of 
 Remedies as Means for curing diseases, while the study of 
 the Means of preventing diseases, has been supposed to con- 
 stitute another branch — that of Hygiene. Now, the preven- 
 tion of diseases consists either in obviating those biases and 
 deviations of the constitution from the most perfect standard 
 of health, which proceeding to a certain degree might prove 
 a disease — that is, in obviating Predisponent causes or Morbid 
 dispositions ; or in avoiding the operation of those powers 
 which induce diseases — that is, in avoiding Occasional and 
 Exciting causes. In so far, therefore, as Predisponent 
 causes are obviated upon the same principles, and by the 
 use of the same Means as are employed for the cure of dis- 
 eases when they are more formally established, Hygiene and 
 Therapeutics must, it is obvious, form one and the same Ge- 
 neral doctrine." 
 
 In teaching the Therapeutical part of the Institu- 
 tions, Dr CuUen, though he referred occasionally to the 
 writings of Boerhaave and of Hoffmann, followed a plan 
 of arrangement in many respects peculiar to himself.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEK. 389 
 
 The consideration of the operation and effects of Me- 
 dicines had been long very familiar to him, not only 
 from the attention he was obliged to give to these in 
 an extensive private practice, and from his having had 
 much occasion to treat of them in his Lectiu-es on the 
 Practice of Medicine at Glasgow, as well as in his Cli- 
 nical Lectures at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, 
 but also from his having delivered a distinct course of 
 Lectures on Materia Medica in Glasgow during his stay 
 there, which he had occasion to repeat and extend in 
 Edinburgh, as has been already mentioned, on the 
 death of Dr Alston in the year 1761. In lecturing on 
 the Institutions, the very small share of the course 
 which he could devote to the consideration of Thera- 
 peutics, obliged him, in treating of this subject, to con- 
 fine himself to the statement of general doctrines, rather 
 than to enter into any minute details ; but the princi- 
 ples which lie delivered, and the general arrangement 
 which he followed, were so nearly the same with those 
 to be found in the different editions of his Treatise on 
 the Materia IMedica, that in giving an account of his 
 Lectures on Therapeutics, it will often be of little im- 
 portance whether the illustrations of his opinions be 
 taken from the manuscript notes of his lectures, or from 
 the publications just referred to. 
 
 " Under the term Means of preventing and curing dis- 
 eases,*" Dr CuUen observes, " I intend to comprehend the 
 consideration of every Power acting upon the human body, 
 and capable of changing its condition. These powers or 
 means of changing the condition of the human body may be 
 considered either as Causes of diseases or as Remedies of 
 them ; and it is obvious that they prove the one or the other 
 only according to the degrees of their action and the state of
 
 390 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 the subjects upon which they operate. In consequence of 
 the different views which Medical men have taken of the pro- 
 per foundations of Medical science, these Means have been 
 differently arranged. According to one plan of arrangement^ 
 the Empirical, the several preventive and curative Means 
 are enumerated, and under each of these Means its several 
 effects are mentioned ; according to another plan, the Dogma- 
 tical, the several effects desired to be produced are considered, 
 and under each of these effects the several Means are arrang- 
 ed by which it can be produced. It may perhaps be proper 
 to consider to what general heads the several Therapeutical 
 means or powers can be referred abstractedly from the effects 
 which they are capable of producing ; but here we are to con- 
 sider Remedies under the several heads of their effects, and 
 therefore as directed by Indications. The general plan of 
 Dogmatic physic, as I have before explained, consists in com- 
 paring the action of the functions in the states of Health and 
 Disease. By knowing what is the state of the body in health, 
 and comparing that with our knowledge of its state in dis- 
 ease, we learn what change must be produced in the body in 
 order to restore it from a morbid to a healthy state, and this 
 perception of the change that is necessary to be produced for 
 restoring health is strictly called an Indication. It is the 
 Indicatio Curatoria of the Systematics, and is more particu- 
 larly explained by its being the Indicatio ad toUendam Can- 
 sam Proximam.'^ 
 
 " Having thus explained the strict sense of the term Indica- 
 tion, as implying the knowledge of the change necessary for 
 restoring the body from a morbid to the healthy state, I 
 must observe, that writers on Therapeutics have not been 
 precise and correct in the employment of this term, but have 
 used it to signify what may more properly be called the con- 
 sideration of some general intention. Accordingly, most 
 Systematics have alleged, that in the cure of every disease, 
 the general Indication is of four kinds, the Conservatory or 
 Vital, as it is termed by Boerhaave, which is said to consist in
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 391 
 
 preserving life, and supporting its powers in general ; the 
 Preservatory^ or Prophylactic, which consists in the removing 
 or guarding against the renewal of those remote and exter- 
 nal causes which either may have produced, or might aggra- 
 vate, the disease ; the Ciwative, which has been already men- 
 tioned as the proper Therapeutical indication, and as appUed 
 to removing the proximate cause of the disease ; and the Mi- 
 tigatory, or Palliative, which is the application of Remedies 
 to particular symptoms, when we do not know the Proximate 
 cause, or when we do not know the means of directly remov- 
 ing it ; or when, from the nature of the disease, or from the 
 circumstances of the constitution, it cannot be removed, 
 whilst, in the mean time, one of the symptoms is extremely 
 urgent, or threatens immediate danger to life." 
 
 With regard to the Conservatory, or Vital Indica- 
 tion, Dr CuUen observes, that — 
 
 " Whether we can add any thing to the powers of life, is 
 to me very doubtful. If they are already sufficient for their 
 purposes, all our attempts to carry them farther must be su- 
 perfluous, and we can have this Indication only in cases in 
 which these powers are for the time deficient. But if there be 
 in any disease a deficiency of the Vital powers, this must be 
 included as a part of the proximate cause of that disease ; 
 the Conservatory Indication, therefore, will necessarily be in- 
 cluded under the Curative, so that there is no particular 
 occasion for treating of it separately. The Preservative In- 
 dication, which is only another term for the Hygiene, may, 
 also, for the reason already assigned in speaking of Hygiene, 
 be comprehended under the Curative Indication. The Pal- 
 liative Indication, in as far as it is not empirical, and may be 
 considered in a general Method us Medendi, will be fulfilled 
 by applying Remedies to the proximate cause or causes of 
 the more urgent symptoms, in the same manner as in the 
 Curative indication. From this view of Indications, results
 
 392 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 the plan that is to be followed in these liectures — that it is the 
 Curative Indications only that are to be considered, and un- 
 der which the consideration of all the several Remedies is to 
 be placed. It is attention to the Curative Indication that 
 estabhshes the difference between the Empiric and Dogmatic 
 plans of practice : the dogmatist seeks out indications, the 
 empiric neglects them, and is entirely directed by what has 
 been found by experience to be beneficial or hurtful in par- 
 ticular cases. The dogmatist always pursues a general plan, 
 and it is this plan, so far as it can be brought under a gene- 
 ral doctrine, that we are to pursue in the Therapeutics." 
 
 " It may be supposed that, in treating of the several kinds 
 of Remedies, I am to speak of the different articles of the 
 Materia Medica individually ; and I allow that the enumera- 
 tion and consideration of these articles may be properly sub- 
 joined to a therapeutical view of remedies, and that there is 
 no better way of delivering it than as a part of the Methodus 
 Medendi."' " The study of the Materia Medica is truly the 
 study of the medicinal virtues, and therefore the plan that 
 arranges the several substances, according to their agreeing 
 in some general virtues, will be the best adapted for ac- 
 quiring the knowledge of these, and will most readily inform 
 the practitioner what different means he can employ for his 
 general purposes. It will also inform him how far the seve- 
 ral similar substances may differ in their degree of power, 
 or how far, from the particular qualities assigned to each, he 
 may be directed or limited in his choice. As it seems pro- 
 per that ev^ery practitioner ought, as far as is possible, to 
 practise upon general Indications ; so it is evident that the 
 purpose of his study of the Materia Medica is especially to 
 know the several means by which these indications can be 
 best fulfilled. Such a plan, therefore, must be the most pro- 
 per for giving a student instruction ; and if, while medicines 
 are arranged according as they answer general Indications, 
 the particular substances be likewise thrown together, as far
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 393 
 
 as possible, according to their sensible qualities and botani- 
 cal affinities, this plan will have the advantage of any other 
 that has been proposed for presenting together the subjects 
 that ought to be considered at one and the same time, and 
 give the best means of recollecting every thing that relates 
 to them.'' " But in these lectures on Therapeutics I am to 
 take only a general view, and to point out what is in com- 
 mon to the several remedies, without entering on the more 
 particular consideration of each of them regarded as ar- 
 ticles of the Materia Medica." 
 
 As a guide to his students in this department of the 
 Course, Dr CuUen printed a short Syllabus, contain- 
 ing the heads of his Lectures on Therapeutics. In 
 this syllabus, remedies are divided into four classes, 
 according as they act : 1st, on the Simple Solids ; 2d, 
 on the Fluids ; 3d, on the Moving Powers ; and, 
 4th, on Extraneous Matters lodged in the body. 
 The substances which act on the Simple Solids are sub- 
 divided according as they serve to supply their matter, 
 to consume their matter, to strengthen their cohesion, 
 or to weaken their cohesion, under the general titles 
 of Nutrients, Corrosives, Astringents, and Emollients. 
 The substances which act more immediately on the 
 Fluids are subdivided according as they serve to dimi- 
 nish their consistence, to increase their consistence, or 
 to correct the state of their mixture, by correcting aci- 
 dity, alkalescency, or acrimony more generally, under 
 the titles of Resolvents, Inspissants, Ant-acids, Ant- 
 alkalines, and Demulcents. The substances which 
 act on the Moving powers are subdivided according as 
 they increase tone, diminish tone, increase motion, or 
 diminish motion, under the titles of Tonics, Atonies, 
 Stimulants, and Sedatives. The class of Stimulants
 
 39^ LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 is further subdivided according as they act on the Ge- 
 neral system, or on Particular parts of it, so as to in- 
 crease the secretions and excretions from those parts ; 
 under this latter head are included Emetics, Cathar- 
 tics, Diuretics, Diaphoretics, Errhines, Expectorants, 
 Sialogogues, Emmenagogues, and Epispastics. And, 
 lastly, to the class of substances acting on Extraneous 
 matters lodged in the body, are referred Anthelmintics 
 and Lithontriptics. 
 
 " I have given here," says Dr Cullen, " a Scheme of Indi- 
 cations. With regard to it, I would observe that any such 
 method, sufficiently comprehensive, and, at the same time, 
 proper, is extremely difficult to be found ; I am far from 
 thinking that 1 have found it, or that the method I have 
 chosen may not lie open to several objections, and to parti- 
 cular corrections. But a very ingenious gentleman has gone 
 farther, and alleged that such an arrangement and order is 
 impracticable. For that gentleman's ingenuity and judg- 
 ment I have the highest regard, but in this I cannot agree 
 with him. Without entering into any dispute upon the 
 point, I would observe that the objections which he has stated 
 against this arrangement of therapeutical means are appli- 
 cable to any arrangement that has been, or that ever will be, 
 attempted. Accurate definition and division are the utmost 
 attainments of science ; they imply the most comprehensive 
 and precise knowledge of a subject ; and till the particulars 
 of the science of remedies have made a greater progress to 
 perfection than they have hitherto made, it is impossible to 
 give an arrangement of the whole that will be absolutely 
 perfect. But though method in all parts of science is im- 
 perfect, it has been highly useful, and, I will not say the 
 worst order, but any order, though considerably imperfect, 
 is better than none." " From the difficulty of rendering 
 any plan of arrangement of the Materia Medica tolerably 
 exact and perfect, some writers have deserted all of them,
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 395 
 
 and have thought it best to throw the several articles into an 
 alphabetical order. If, however, there can be any advan- 
 tage from bringing subjects of some affinity together, this 
 alphabetical order is the most unfit for the purpose, as by 
 separating substances similar in their qualities it must be 
 perpetually distracting to the student. It can, therefore, 
 have no advantage but that of a Dictionary, in referring 
 readily to any particular substance that may be inquired 
 after ; but this advantage can be obtained in every plan, by 
 means of an index, which cannot be saved even in an alpha- 
 betical work, as the different names under which the same 
 substances are known necessarily require an index compre- 
 hending all those different names." 
 
 " In forming a Table of Medicines according to their se- 
 veral operations on the human body, it seemed proper to 
 distinguish them as they operate upon the Simple Solids, 
 which are much of the same nature, and possess similar phy- 
 sical qualities in the dead as in the living body ; and as they 
 operate upon the Sensible and Moving SoHds, which have 
 their qualities and powers only as they exist in a living 
 body. This distinction will on many occasions be necessary 
 and useful; but we cannot follow it throughout; and on these 
 occasions where the medicines at the same time operate up- 
 on both the simple and living solids, the consideration of 
 their operation cannot be taken separately." 
 
 But in establishing a class of medicines which act 
 vipon the simple solids, or, in other words, upon the 
 physical properties of the different textures and organs 
 of the body, Dr Cullen was far from conceiving, as has 
 been erroneously represented in some recent works up- 
 on Materia Medica and Pharmacology, that any con- 
 siderable effects can be produced in the body by exter- 
 nal substances operating upon it as upon a mass of in- 
 animate matter, and indejiendently of any influence 
 upon the vital powers of the animal economy.
 
 396 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 " The^state of laxity or rigidity in the Simple Solids,"*' he 
 remarked in his Lectures on Therapeutics, " has had a 
 great share in our modern pathology, and we think that the 
 consideration is not to be neglected altogether ; but, at the 
 same time, we think that the laxity or rigidity of the simple 
 solids being given, it is not readily or occasionally changed ; 
 and that all sudden and occasional changes in debility or 
 strength, in contractility or flaccidity, are more properly re- 
 ferred to the state of the moving fibres under the influence 
 of the nervous power, quamjhcile mille res turhani.^'' " Most 
 of the powers acting upon living bodies do not act in the 
 same manner, or do not act at all, upon dead bodies, so that 
 their effects depend upon the powers of life, upon the exist- 
 ence of sensibility or irritability in the whole or in the seve- 
 ral parts of the system. It is certain that we must constant- 
 ly consider the subsistence of the vital powers as modifying 
 th^ effects of the several remedies, and unless these subsist, 
 the remedies are to no purpose applied."'* " We adopt the 
 proposition very well established, ' Medicamentum 7ion agit 
 171 Cadaver ;' that is to say, that the operation of medicines 
 does not depend on the laws of matter and motion which 
 take place in inanimate bodies, but on a principle which sub- 
 sists in living animals only.'' " It is to be remarked, as a 
 principle commonly assumed, that few or no medicines act 
 upon the living human body in the same manner, and with 
 the same effects, as upon inanimate matter ; and it is now 
 well known that the operation and effects of substances ap- 
 plied to the living human body, are for the most part alto- 
 gether different from the effects of the same application to 
 the dead body. Few indeed, or none, of those substances 
 which are considered as medicines, have any effects at all 
 upon the dead body ; and, therefore, assuming this as a prin- 
 ciple, when hereafter I shall have occasion to speak of the 
 action of substances upon the body, it inust he constantly 
 understood to be their actio?! on the living body only — at 
 least with very few exceptions, which shall be taken notice 
 of when occasion requires."
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. ^97 
 
 In explaining still farther his opinions upon this 
 suhject, Dr Cullen remarks, that — 
 
 " The peculiar effects of substances in general, or of those 
 substances in particular which we call Medicines when ap- 
 plied to the human body, depend upon their action upon its 
 sentient and irritable parts ; or, in other words, upon mo- 
 tions excited and propagated in the Nervous system. What 
 is the nature of the matter in which these motions take 
 place, or in what manner it is inherent in the nervous sys- 
 tem, is not well known; but we think it may be justly held 
 as existing, and may be spoken of under the appellation of 
 the Nervous Power. As it appears only in the living, and 
 disappears entirely in the dead state of the body, it may be 
 otherwise properly enough termed the Vital Principle of 
 Animals.^"* 
 
 With regard to the action of medicines upon the 
 Fluids of the human body, which has been represented 
 as another fundamental error in Dr Cullen's classifica- 
 tion of remedies, he observed that — 
 
 " This subject has occupied a great part of the writings 
 on the Materia Medica; but, in my opinion, with no advan- 
 tage. The doctrines have been often drawn from mistaken 
 facts— from an imperfect view of things— and have been 
 commonly explained upon mistaken principles." " From the 
 earhest accounts of physic with which we are acquainted, it 
 appears that from the most ancient times down to the pre- 
 sent, physicians have been attached almost entirely to the 
 study and consideration of the Fluids; and, from the sup- 
 posed state of these, have endeavoured to explain the phe- 
 nomena both of health and of disease. In this, however, they 
 appear to me to have been unfortunate ; for, not to mention 
 the imperfection and falsehood of the many speculations, 
 both of Galenists and Chemists, which have formerly pre- 
 vailed upon this subject, I would venture to assert that the 
 doctrine concerning the fluids is still the most imperfect part
 
 398 LIFK OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 of our physiology. Every thing systematical that has been 
 delivered upon it, till within these last forty years, may be 
 totally disregarded; for it is only within the period now 
 mentioned that we have acquired any distinct notions of a 
 fundamental doctrine, or, in other words, of the state of ag- 
 gregation in the mass of blood ; and even with respect to 
 this there still remains much doubt and obscurity." 
 
 '* The supposition of a preternatural Spissitude of the mass 
 of blood,— or, as it may be expressed, of a Lentor, — being 
 a frequent cause of disease, has had a great share in almost 
 all the modem systems of pathology ; but I allege that it has 
 been for the most part hypothetical, and has hardly, so far 
 as I know, in any case been ascertained as a fact. I am dis- 
 posed to maintain, that the supposition is for the most part 
 improbable ; that there is little foundation for the supposi- 
 tion of a preternatural spissitude prevailing in the mass of 
 blood, or of its proving commonly the cause of disease." — 
 " Nothing has been more common among physicians than to 
 suppose, that an Acrimony of the fluids is a frequent cause 
 of disease. It is very possible that it may be so, and upon 
 many occasions it certainly is so ; but it appears to me that 
 the supposition has been too rashly and too frequently ad- 
 mitted, ai^d that it has been for the most part purely gra- 
 tuitous, without any proper evidence of it in fact. The pos- 
 sible species of acrimony have been little understood, and 
 several of them altogether erroneously supposed. Others of 
 them, though possibly occurring, have not been shewn really 
 to take place in any unusual degree; and the phenomena 
 adduced in proof of them may be commonly explained from 
 other causes, and are certainly often produced by causes of 
 a different and even contrary nature. We are only well ac- 
 quainted with two kinds of Acrimony, the acid and the alka^ 
 line. Upon the whole of this subject I would conclude, that 
 the supposition of an acrimony, as the cause of diseases, has 
 been too frequently admitted in our modern pathology, and
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 399 
 
 that it ought not to be admitted, unless when the causes and 
 existence of it are well ascertained." 
 
 " I will not deny, that the state of the Fluids may have a 
 share in distinguishing the different states of the body both in 
 health and in disease ; but at the same time I must maintain, 
 that we know little of the manner in which it may have this 
 effect ; that our theory of the human fluids is still very in- 
 comj^lete and imperfect ; that, while in this condition, it has 
 been employed too rashly and too largely in every part of 
 the system of physic ; and that we have little temptation to 
 do this, as it is highly probable that the state of the fluids 
 depends very much upon other circumstances of the consti- 
 tution, which are more fundamental and more powerful in 
 determining the several conditions of it."" — " Every change 
 in the state of the fluids poured out, has been considered as 
 depending upon the state of the fluids in the vessels, and it 
 may be so in some cases. But as it is probable, that the 
 secreted fluids are chiefly formed in the secretory organs, so 
 it is certain that the state of these fluids is changed by the 
 relaxation or constriction of the Secretory vessels ; and there- 
 fore the fluids poured out are more frequently a mark of the 
 state of the moving powers, than of the general condition of 
 the fluids themselves. Thus the urine, which has been so 
 long considered as a mark of the state of the circulating 
 fluids, is, however, for the most part, no other than a mark 
 of the state of its secretory organ." 
 
 " As it has happened that, ever since the introduction of 
 chemical reasoning, physicians have generally considered the 
 causes of diseases to be depending upon the state of the fluids, 
 so they have considered the operation of medicines chiefly 
 as changing that state ; and this theory still enters, to a con- 
 siderable extent, into the doctrines of the materia medica, while 
 the state of the moving powers, and of the various means 
 of changing them, areas yet but little attended to. I judge 
 this to be very improper. With respect to this, Dr Hoff- 
 mann admitted the general principle, and has made this ob-
 
 400 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 servation : ^* Demum omma quoque exlmice virtutis medico^ 
 menta, non tarn in pai'tes Jluidas, earum crasin ac intempe- 
 7'iem cori'igendo, qiiam potius in soUdas, et nervosas^ earun- 
 dem motus alterando ac moderando^ suam edimt operatlonevi; 
 de quibus tamen omnibus, in vidgari usque eo recepta morho- 
 rum doctrina, altum est silentium.'''' Yet, notwithstanding the 
 expression of this opinion, in treating of particular medi- 
 cines, Dr Hoffmann has himself, for the most part, employed 
 the Corpuscularian philosophy, or a very ill defined Chemis- 
 try, to explain the operation of medicines upon the fluids."" — 
 " The medicines which act upon the fluids do so commonly 
 in consequence of acting on the solids, I do not say that 
 this is the constant, but certainly it is the general case ; and 
 w^e every day see that writers, as Avell as practitioners, incline 
 more and more to the pathology of the living solids."" 
 
 Of the substances capable of altering the conditions 
 of the solid and fluid parts of the body, Dr Cullen 
 regarded Nutrients as the most important ; and, ac- 
 cordingly, he devoted a portion of the therapeutical 
 branch of his course to their consideration. In the 
 general view which he took of these substances, he di- 
 rected his attention chiefly to those Hygienic considera- 
 tions which should regulate their employment for pro- 
 moting the growth, or repairing the waste, of the body 
 in the state of health ; and with this he incorporated 
 a brief account of those Therapeutical principles, which 
 should direct the practitioner in the administration of 
 a full or of a spare diet, and in the choice of aliments, 
 in the different states of disease, according as he may 
 wish to exert a stimulant or a sedative influence upon 
 the system. He treated successively of vegetable and 
 animal matters, as the sources from which nutrients are 
 obtained, — of the products, or, as they are now termed, 
 the proximate principles of vegetables, on which he
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 401 
 
 supposed their nutritious qualities to depend, — of the 
 more general qualities which distinguish the different 
 kinds of animal food, and which render them more or 
 less eligihle as articles of diet, — of those substances, 
 and particularly milk, which he considered as of a na- 
 ture intermediate between animal and vegetable mat- 
 ter, alluding here to the experiments of Beccaria, as 
 affording some grounds for thinking that, from the 
 properties of the gluten which they contain, some of 
 the F^ai^inacea might also be included under this head 
 of intermediate substances, — of the different nutrient, 
 stimvdant, and sedative effects which aliments produce 
 upon the system, and of the circumstances on which the 
 production of one or other of these effects, and the de- 
 gree in which they occur, may be supposed to depend, 
 — of the different kinds of preparation to which nu- 
 trients are subjected previous to their assimilation, 
 both out of the body from the art of cookery, and with- 
 in it from the processes of manducation and digestion, 
 — of the possibility of supplying food temporarily by 
 the use of nutritive glysters, — of the number of meals 
 that should be taken in the course of the day, the 
 times of the day at which they are most properly taken, 
 and the propriety of applying to business, or of sleep- 
 ing after meals, — of the influence of the temperature 
 of our food, and particularly of our drink, in modifying 
 the effects which they produce upon the system, — and 
 of the mischiefs which may arise from the improper use 
 of nutrients. Under this last head he considered the 
 effects resulting from the use of a diet, either excessive 
 or deficient in quantity, — the diversities in the effects 
 of aliments, according as they contain a larger or 
 VOL. I. c c
 
 402 LIFE OF DIl CULLEX. 
 
 smaller quantity of niitritiovis matter, and according as 
 they are more or less accommodated to the state of the 
 assimilating powers of different persons, — the proper 
 proportion of vegetable and animal matter, of which 
 the diet of different individuals shoidd consist, accord- 
 ing to period of life, climate, degree of exercise, &c. — 
 and the proportion that should subsist between the 
 quantities of food and of drink. " We are of opinion," 
 observes Dr CuUen, in his treatise of the JMateria Mc- 
 dica, " that every kind of food taken into the stomach, 
 as soon as it sets this organ at work, increases the ac- 
 tion of the heart, and occasions a frequency of pulse ; 
 and, if vre mistake not, by the energy of the Brain be- 
 ing thus directed to the heart and stomach, a torpor of 
 the animal functions, both of ser se and motion, is pro- 
 duced, often amounting to a degree of sleepiness. 
 These are the effects of food soon after it is taken into 
 the stomach." 
 
 In considering the therapeutical means that change 
 the conditions of the Moving povvers, Dr Cullen gave, 
 in succession, an account of the various effects of Tonic, 
 Atonic, Stimulant, and Sedative remedies. Under the 
 two former of these classes of remedies, he comprehend- 
 ed chiefly those means which appear to increase or di- 
 minish the vigour of the irritable or contractile power 
 of the muscular fibres, without exciting contractions in 
 them ; while, under the tvvo latter, he included those 
 therapeutical agents that act chiefly by increasing or 
 diminishing the vigour of the Animal power or Energy 
 of the brain. 
 
 With regard to Tonics, Dr Cullen observes, that 
 " Tone may be considered as a state of the Inherent
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 403 
 
 or Contractile power of the Moving fibres, but at the 
 same time, the Inherent power is in a very constant 
 dependence upon the Animal, and therefore Tonics in- 
 crease the Inherent power, by increasing the vigour 
 or continual Energy of the Animal power." — Some 
 Tonics, it appeared to him, act, in their primary opera- 
 tion, as Astringents, others as Bitters, some as Stimu- 
 lants, and others as Narcotics. With regard to As- 
 tringents, he remarks, " we can perceive that they 
 have a tonic operation upon the Moving fibres, for 
 they not only operate on the fibres to which they are 
 applied, but affect the neighbouring parts in the same 
 manner ; and we have many reasons to believe that 
 their effects are often propagated in a considerable de- 
 gree over the whole System." With regard to Eitters 
 he observes, that — 
 
 " Their most obvious operation is, that, being taken into 
 the stomach, they increase the appetite for food, and pro- 
 mote the digestion of it. But we take it for granted, that 
 the appetite and digestion depend upon the tone of the 
 muscular fibres of the stomach ; and, therefore, may suppose 
 that their improvement depends upon an increase of tone in 
 those fibres. And, farther, as loss of appetite and indiges- 
 tion can often be distinctly perceived to occur from a loss of 
 tone in the stomach, so Bitters, as they are often effectual in 
 curing these disorders, may be presumed to do it by restor- 
 ing the tone of this organ. But at the same time, their long 
 continued and frequent use is liable to be followed by a very 
 great loss of tone." " The more strict notion of Stimulants 
 is, that they are substances exciting contraction in the Mov- 
 ing fibres ; and so far as regards certain parts of the System 
 that are otherwise exposed to constant stimuli, as the heart, 
 the arteries, and the stomach, Stimulants certainly do act by 
 exciting contractions. But as they seem to increase the Energy 
 of the Brain, I imagine that, in a degree within that of excit- 
 
 C C2
 
 404 LIFE OF DR CCJLLEN. 
 
 ing contractions, they may increase the Animal, and there- 
 by the Inherent, power of particular parts, so that a moderate 
 use of Stimulant substances may be considered as frequently 
 Tonic." — '' Narcotics in their first operation are stimulant, 
 and, in this view, may be considered as Tonic ; but even when 
 they proceed to their Sedative operation, they appear to act 
 as Astringents, suppressing or restraining evacuations. This 
 may in part be imputed to their diminishing the Sensibility 
 and Irritability of the vessels, so as to prevent the irritation 
 that promotes their constant excretion. But as they not on- 
 ly take off spasmodic affections, but are very powerful in pre- 
 venting the return of spasms, it may be suspected that they 
 likewise possess a peculiar tonic power, and produce an 
 effect upon the Nervous power, very different from the atony 
 which is occasioned by their Sedative power."" 
 
 Besides the different kinds of Tonic remedies already 
 mentioned, Dr Cullen conceived that there are other 
 powers, such as Cold, Exercise, and the Passions of 
 the Mind, by which Tonic effects may be produced in 
 the system according to the degree and manner in 
 which they are applied. 
 
 " With regard to the Tonic power of Cold," he observes, 
 " there is no doubt of it ; for, if it acted only as an Astrin- 
 gent, it could only operate upon the part to w^hich it is imme- 
 diately applied ; but it is well known that when Cold is apphed 
 to a small portion of the surface of our bodies, its astringent 
 effects extend over the whole surface : and from its power in 
 producing the Phlogistic Diatliesis throughout the whole Vas- 
 cular system, it would appear that its action extends to the 
 whole internal System. It is probable that it has a peculiar 
 operation upon the fluid on which we suppose the Inherent 
 power of Animal fibres to depend." — " Exercise strengthens 
 the Moving fibre and is likewise a stimulus to the Animal 
 power, and invigorates it ; so that we can perceive how it 
 should prove a remarkable Tonic." — " Passions of the Stimu- 
 lant kind may, like other stimulants, prove tonic, but it is
 
 LIFE OF BH cullen. 405 
 
 passions of the Sedative kind that act more remarkably in 
 this way, — as grief, and certain modes of fear, such as the 
 fear of some impending evil. The former, grief, produces 
 a degree of insensibility, and diminishes the irritability in a 
 considerable degree. Thus persons whose minds are occupi- 
 ed with grief, as in attending a sick friend, if they are expos- 
 ed to cold, resist its power ; but as soon as their grief is over, 
 perhaps the previous apphcation, but especially a fresh ap- 
 plication of cold, though trifling in degree, will affect them 
 considerably. With regard to awe and dread, we know that 
 they can cure Epilepsy and other Spasmodic disorders ; and 
 Charms of various kinds that are effectual in this way, can 
 be supposed to operate on no other principle ; as when a 
 spasmodic disorder is cured by making the patient drink out 
 of a dead man's skull ; or when the Chin-cough has been 
 cured by the application of a dead man s hand, and especial- 
 ly of the hand of a man who was hanged, which is said to be 
 particularly powerful in this respect. The nature of the 
 operation of the Passions it is certainly difficult to explain. 
 It may be imputed to their effect in changing the direction 
 of attention, or to their inducing a degree of insensibility, 
 but it is probably connected with a Sedative power taking 
 off* the mobility of the Inherent and Animal powers."" 
 
 The Occasions on which Tonics are indicated may, 
 Dr Cullen conceived, be considered as of two kinds ; 
 Jst, When Debility, increased Sensibility and Irrita- 
 bility, and increased Evacuations, take place, — under 
 which circumstances the tone may require to be re- 
 stored in the whole of the System, or in Particular parts 
 of it ; and, 2d, When the System is to be particularly 
 enabled to resist the Sedative powers of Cold, Conta- 
 gion, &c. which are soon to be applied to it. 
 
 ^' Under this second head we may comprehend," he remark- 
 ed, " the use of Tonics in obviating the return of Spasmodic 
 affections, as it is upon a state of debility that their recurrence 
 depends ; as in the case of Intermittent fevers, the ^xiroxysms
 
 ^06 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 of which I call Spasmodic affections." " In the Administra- 
 tion of Tonics, the choice of the Matter and Means requires 
 very often a great deal of nicety and discretion, as it is 
 difficult to obtain the Tonic without the Stimulant effects ; 
 or, in the case of Sedatives, to obtain their Tonic without 
 their Stimulant or their Narcotic effects." 
 
 Ill proceeding to the consideration of Atonic reme- 
 dies, Dr Ciillen remarked, that he used the term Ato- 
 ny, as opposed to Tone, as implying that the contrac- 
 tility of the moving fibres is less than it ought to be. 
 
 " There is," he observes, "great difficulty in finding a pro- 
 per distinction between Atonies and Sedatives. This is a 
 difficulty which I cannot surmount ; but I have established 
 Atonies as a separate title from Sedatives upon this view, 
 that they are such remedies as act more upon the part to 
 which they are applied, than upon the whole System, more 
 upon the Inherent or Contractile power, than upon the Ani- 
 mal power, or Energy of the Brain ; while Sedatives act 
 upon the particular part, only in consequence of their gene- 
 ral action ; act more upon the Animal than upon the Inhe- 
 rent power. This distinction will not apply in all cases, but 
 it certainly will very often." 
 
 The ]\Iatter of Atonies Dr Cullen regarded as of 
 two kinds. Emollients and Narcotics. Under the head 
 of Emollients he considered the practice of warm bath- 
 ing more partially or more universally applied, as be- 
 ing, from the conjunction of humidity and heat, the 
 most powerful Emollient, and the most considerable 
 Relaxant ; and he was at much pains in pointing out 
 the ambiguity which attends the use of this remedy in 
 many diseases, from the Stimulating effect produced 
 by a degree of heat higher than that which proves re- 
 laxant. 
 
 " Narcotics," he remarks, " do not act upon the Simple 
 Solids, but upon the Nervous power, and, so far as they act
 
 LIFE or 1311 CULLEN. 407 
 
 upon the part to which they are applied, upon the Inherent 
 power. That they may be comprehended under the title of 
 Atonies is evident, as they have the power of diminishing 
 the Tone, Vigour, and even Mobility of the part, and of ex- 
 tinguishing them altogether. But in what cases Narcotics 
 are properly applicable as Atonies, so as to avoid their am- 
 biguous use from their Stimulant effects, is not ascer- 
 tained.'' 
 
 Under the head of Atonic Means, Dr Cull en entered 
 at considerable length in his lectures into the consi- 
 deration of the effects of Bloodletting, of Evacuations 
 by increased excretions, of Heat, of- Rest, of the Pas- 
 sions, and of the Antiphlogistic Regimen, or the avoid- 
 anc3 of Irritation, in diminishing the tone of the Sys- 
 tem in general, or of particular parts of it. 
 
 From the peculiar views which Dr Cullen had 
 adopted with regard to the influence of the Nervous 
 System in the Animal Economy, he at all times at* 
 tached great importance to the consideration of the ef- 
 fects of Stimulant and Sedative powers upon the vari- 
 ous conditions of the Moving and Sentient fibres. Sti- 
 mulants, he defined to be — 
 
 " All those powers which excite in the different parts of 
 the human body the motions that are peculiar to it. By this 
 definition,'' he adds, " we exclude from the class of Stimulants 
 all external powers, which, though they may operate vari- 
 ously in moving the body, do not excite and increase its own 
 peculiar motions. Stimulants are properly such powers as 
 act upon the Vital Sohds, and not upon the dead body, or 
 at least by no means with the same effects. Tlie operation 
 of Stimulants, either on an extensive or more limited view, is 
 difhcult to be explained ; because our knowledge of the Liv- 
 ing Principle or Nervous power upon wliich they operate, 
 and of the various modifications of tlie (Hfi'erent .states of its 
 mobility, is still very imperfect. At present, it seems enough
 
 -i^OS LIFE OF DR CULLEN^. 
 
 to observe, that we know in general that the Nervous power 
 may be in different states of MobiUty, or susceptibiUty of 
 external or internal impressions from the free communication 
 of this nervous power with the brain ; and that there are 
 substances, some of which, when applied to the nerves, have 
 a power of hicreasing', and others of diminishing^ the mobi- 
 lity of the power contained in them. The former class of 
 substances we name Stimulants, the latter Sedatives." 
 
 " Stimulants may, 'ist, Increase the motion of the Ner- 
 vous power as it occurs in the sentient nerves and sentient 
 extremities, thereby increasing Sensibility ; 2J, They may 
 increase the motion of the Animal power in the brain and 
 nerves ; dd, They may excite the action of the moving fibres 
 wherever they are placed, whether in muscles or around 
 muscular cavities or vessels ; and, 4^/^, They may increase 
 the motion of the blood, and other fluids of the body, by 
 their operation on the heart, and on the secretory organs. 
 But at the same time I must own, that what has been chiefly 
 taken notice of in regard to Stimulants, is their exciting the 
 action of the INIoving or muscular fibres. Nov/, the action of 
 these fibres may be excited either by powers acting directly 
 upon them, or by powers applied to Sentient parts only, 
 which, in consequence of a motion propagated to the brain, 
 excite sensation, which, again, excites the animal power, and 
 directs it into the moving fibres more directly or more power- 
 fully on different occasions."*' 
 
 "Those Agents which excite the action of the IVIoving 
 fibres through the medium of the Brain, m^y be considered 
 as of two kinds. Some of them have a direct and manifest 
 power of increasing motion in the System ; and all such 
 powers, though acting by the intervention of the Sensorium, 
 are probably of the same nature with those which act imme- 
 diately upon the ^Moving fibres ; that is to say, those powers 
 which, when apphed to the Moving fibres, excite their ac- 
 tion, can produce the same effect through the intervention of 
 the Sensorium. These powers we include under the general 
 denomination of Direct Stimulants. But there are other
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. s09 
 
 powers that excite the action of the moving fibres through 
 the intervention of the Brain, that have no such direct and 
 manifest power of increasing motion in the system ; nay, in 
 which in many cases we can observe a tendency to diminish 
 motion in the system, such as a sense of difficulty, of resistance, 
 or of debihty in the exercise of the functions ; and which still, 
 in consequence of a law of the animal economy, do occasion 
 an exertion of the animal power. Thus, sighing manifestly 
 arises from a sense of difficulty in the transmission of the 
 blood through the vessels of the lungs. Coughing often 
 arises from the same sensation, without any direct stimulus 
 being applied to any particular part of the lungs. Vomiting 
 frequently arises merely from a sense of debility, as when it 
 accompanies a syncope, from causes which cannot be sup- 
 posed to operate directly upon the stomach ; and the vomit- 
 ing so frequently produced by narcotics seems to me to be 
 more properly explained by a sense of the debility induced 
 by these substances, than by their affording any direct sti- 
 mulus. We explain in the same manner the yawning and 
 stretching which occur in persons coming out of sleep, and 
 on some other occasions, when no other cause can be sup- 
 posed than a sense of some difficulty in the exercise of volun- 
 tary motions. These phenomena seem to afford unquestion- 
 able proofs of a power in the animal economy to obviate and 
 correct certain deviations from the standard of health ; and 
 both these, with the instances that might be mentioned of 
 direct stimuli producing motions suited to throw off matters 
 applied which give pain and uneasiness, or which may prove 
 noxious to the system, concur in showing that there is in the 
 animal economy a power to obviate and correct, in a certain 
 degree, every thing not suited to the health of the economy, 
 and which has properly enough been named the Vis Naturae, 
 Conservatrix et Medicatrioc. After so many evident in- 
 stances of the exercise of this power, we can hardly doubt 
 that the like powers operate also in the more obscure internal 
 parts, in many cases of disease, which are spontaneously
 
 410 LIFE OF Dll CULLEX. 
 
 cured by the operations of nature, or, in other words, by the 
 inherent spontaneous powers of the animal economy ; and 
 particularly that the state of the circulation is often regulated 
 so as to be excited to a stronger action, merely by the occur- 
 rence of resistance or debility. Ail this particularly applies 
 to render it probable that the effect of sedatives, in exciting 
 the action either of the system in general, or of partictdar 
 parts, may be explained entirely by their being effects of a 
 vis 7nedicatrix natures obviating injuries which threaten the 
 whole system, or particular parts of it. And, to finish this 
 subject, nothing can shew better that active powers can be 
 excited merely by a sense of debility, than this, that if a 
 stimulus accustomed to support the activity of the system 
 happen to be withdrawn, the sense of debility thence arising 
 produces various actions in the system, or in particular parts 
 of it. All these means of exciting the action of the system, 
 or of particular parts, we name Indirect Stimulants." 
 
 In considering the operation of stimulants as applied 
 to the internal parts, which, he remarks, is especially 
 by their being taken into the stomach, Dr Cullen ob- 
 served, that — 
 
 " It is needless to say how readily and constantly all im- 
 pressions made upon the stomach are communicated to other 
 parts of the system, and particularly to the origin of the 
 nerves. It is possible that impressions made upon the sto- 
 mach, may, without the intervention of the brain, be com- 
 municated to several parts of the system, and particularly to 
 the surface of the body, or to parts under disease, and there- 
 fore in a state of uncommon irritability : but the most com- 
 mon and very general manner in which stimulants taken into 
 the stomach operate, is by their stimulus being communi- 
 cated to the brain, by exciting the energy of which, various 
 effects are produced in different parts of the system. Upon 
 these occasions, the operation of stimulants may be especially 
 distinguished as being of different degrees of force. In some 
 cases, it seems to amount to no more tlian the increasingr of
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 411 
 
 the mobility of the nervous power of the brain itself, and 
 thereby rendering the exercise of the intellectual powers 
 more free, easy, and active: Probably at the same time, or 
 at least with some higher degree of force, stimulants render 
 the derivation of the nervous power into the several parts of 
 the system, especially into the nerves of the voluntary func- 
 tions, more free and full, — without, however, producing any 
 uncommon increase of it in particular parts, to which a will 
 or propensity is necessary. Another case of stimulants ap- 
 plied to the stomach, is when the stimulus applied is of a 
 still stronger kind ; and in consequence, a stronger impulse 
 is commvuiicated to the brain, and when, consequently, a 
 stronger exertion of its energy is produced. This, however, 
 without particular determination, may have no effect on the 
 animal functions ; but, as we have said before that the 
 energy of the brain is constantly exerted in supporting the 
 activity of the vital functions of the heart and arteries, so 
 any unusual increase of this exertion may increase the force 
 and frequency of these functions. Thus the effects of cer- 
 tain impressions on the stomach may be to increase the force 
 of the circulation of the blood, and especially its more general 
 determination to the surface of the body, — whence the heat 
 and sweating which commonly ensue." 
 
 " With respect to the whole of the Stimulants applied to 
 the organs of Sense, we have to remark, that the exercise of 
 Sensation, is, in general, a Stimulant power, and is a chief 
 means of supporting the mobility of the living principle in 
 the Nervous system, more especially in what concerns the 
 Animal functions." — " Some sensations arise from chemical 
 and others from mechanical stimuli ; but Sensation, in every 
 shape, is a stimulus to our system in one part or other. All 
 sensations of Impression or Impulse are direct stimuli ; those 
 of Consciousness, too, are sometimes direct, but more fre- 
 quently indirect stimuli. It was proper to mention this, as 
 it is by the application of sensation that the activity of the 
 system is supported ; for withdraw Sensation and the System
 
 -412 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 falls asleep. From this, and many other views, we can see 
 the necessity of Sensation, and that it is the means of support- 
 ing the activity of the System." 
 
 " Narcotics are- the chief of the Sedative powers, and a 
 sedative effect is their direct tendency; sometimes it is their 
 only effect, and they proceed to destroy life altogether. But 
 on many occasions we find them acting as Stimulants, and it 
 is either in consequence of their quantity, or of their further 
 operation, that they prove sedative. The explanation of this 
 has always been found to be difficult. It has been imagined 
 that the same substance, as Opium, may contain both a mat- 
 ter that is stimulant and a matter that is sedative. We know 
 that such a combination takes place in some Narcotics, as in 
 Hyoscyamus; but we cannot perceive it every where, and 
 the more general cases would require some other explana- 
 tion. I have explained it before. The analogy runs through 
 sedative matter, sedative powers, and refrigerant powers; 
 viz. that they are indirect stimuli that excite sensations which 
 produce an exertion of the Animal power, suited to oppose 
 their effects.'"' 
 
 With regard to Electricity, considered as a Stimu- 
 lant power, Dr Ciillen remarks — 
 
 " It appears that by a mechanical force, the Electrical 
 matter can, in its rapid motion, prove a stimulus to the ner- 
 vous system. I think its stimulant power is thus simply ac- 
 counted for, and agreeably to all electrical experiments. But 
 it is remarkable, that, in its operation on the nervous system. 
 Electricity leaves a stupor and some degree of torpor upon 
 the parts it passes along ; and acting more strongly, it can 
 extinguish the powers of life altogether. This has been sup- 
 posed to be but another operation of its stimulant power — 
 that by the violence of its impulse, it destroys the texture of 
 the sensorium. But from collating the whole of the facts 
 upon this subject, as detailed by Dr Priestley, we find that, 
 on innumerable occasions, where examinations have been 
 made, no sort of lesion of the brain has been observed, and
 
 LIFE OF DR CULI.EN. 41 S 
 
 therefore we must seek for another explanation. I am will- 
 ing to explain it in this way, which is analogous to many 
 other phenomena in the animal economy, — that any power 
 exciting the Nervous system in a very considerable degree, 
 is followed by a proportional degree of Collapse, or diminu- 
 tion of the energy of the brain ; and when the excitement is 
 to a certain degree, the Collapse may be fatal," 
 
 The influence of different degrees of Tempera- 
 ture, and of changes of Temperature, upon the condi- 
 tion of the human economy, was a subject to which 
 Dr CuUen paid much attention ; and his speculations 
 regarding it he constantly endeavoured to reduce to 
 general principles. His opinions upon this subject 
 were at different times communicated to the public in 
 the inaugural dissertations of several of his favourite 
 pupils, — as in that De Catarrho, published by Dr 
 George Fordyce, on graduating at Edinburgh, in 
 1758; in that De F7igore, published by Dr Perci- 
 val, on graduating at Leyden, in 1765 ; and in those 
 De Calore, and De Frigore, published, the former 
 in 1772, by Dr Goulding, and the latter in 1780, by 
 his son Dr Archibald CuUen, on taking their degrees 
 at Edinburgh. 
 
 " Heat and cold," Dr Cullen observed in his Therapeu- 
 tical Lectures, " are considerable agents in the operations of 
 Nature, and are necessarily so with regard to the human 
 body, not only from the powers which they possess over it in 
 common with all parts of nature, but in consequence of their 
 producing sensations, and in consequence also of their pecu- 
 liar relation to the power of generating heat that is pos- 
 sessed by animal bodies. Upon that account they are very 
 important objects of oiu' study. I have frequently said that 
 Heat seems to be the vivifying power with respect to ani- 
 mals, — that which first produces the Vital powers ; and it
 
 414 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 seems equally necessary for the after support of the Animal 
 power, or Energy of the brain ; so that heat increases the 
 motions that are the most peculiar and fundamental to the 
 living animal, and may be considered as always a Stimulant 
 power. But its effects are prodigiously varied, accordmg to 
 its different decrees and relations to the different states of 
 the body ; and the difficulty is to explain its different effects 
 as they depend upon different circumstances. Cold is a sub- 
 ject the consideration of which, in this chmate, is even of 
 more importance than Heat, and which, at the same time, is 
 of more difficulty, as the effects of Cold are more diversified, 
 and the circumstances upon which this diversity of effects 
 depends are much more complicated. In this climate, cold is 
 a principal potentia noccns ; but we are often puzzled to per- 
 ceive the occasions on which it acts, and we often do not per- 
 ceive them but by the effects ; and, from the occasions on 
 which it acts not being sufficiently understood, w^ are not in 
 a condition to gviard against its effects. There is a great deal 
 still wanting that is necessary to clear up this matter ; and I 
 am not satisfied either wdth my own views, or my manner of 
 dehvering them." 
 
 " There is, I believe, a degree of temperature, the appli- 
 cation of which to our bodies destroys all sensation ; so that 
 there is a lowest degree in Avhich no sensation takes place, 
 and every increase of temperature above that is felt in its 
 first application as hot, and in some measure as a stimulus ; 
 but it is not permanently so, nor does it become a permanent 
 stimulus till the increase is above the limit of 62° Fahr., which, 
 in this climate, is our medium temperature. Above that, heat 
 is a permanent stimulus, and always more and more stimu- 
 lant till the surrounding temperature is 98°, that is, is equal 
 to the ordinary temperature of the body. Within these li- 
 mits, from 6£° to 98°, in this climate, are the proper and 
 durable effects of heat upon the human body exerted: It is 
 certain, in fact, that such a degree of heat increases first our 
 sensibility, and therefore the force that stimuli of every kind 
 
 i
 
 LIFE OF Dil CULLEN. 415 
 
 have ill producing sensation; and, next, it increases the 
 energy of the brain in the system, at least in so far as that 
 can depend upon a greater degree of mobility, or suscep- 
 tibility of impression, and, therefore, the increased energy 
 of the brain appears in some increase of the action of the 
 heart and arteries, which especially depends upon the con- 
 stant stimulus of the blood ; but, at the same time, the 
 continuance of such a degree of heat constantly weakens 
 the tone of the part, either diminishing the vigour, except 
 in so far as that is supported by the stimulus, or rendering 
 the exertions in any part of the system less durable. From 
 its increasing the action of the heart and arteries, heat has 
 effects upon the distribution of the blood; and every in- 
 creased action of the heart and arteries is especially exerted 
 upon the vessels of the surface, causing an increased perspi- 
 ration. Heat operates in this respect both in consequence 
 of its influence on the distribution of the blood, and of its 
 direct stimulus, applied to the surface of the body, increas- 
 ing the action of the vessels there ; it therefore takes off the 
 determination to the internal parts ; and hence it is that a 
 warm climate is beneficial in diseases of the Lungs. At the 
 same time, an increase of heat diminishes the internal secre- 
 tions, and renders some of them less diluted, and consequent- 
 ly more acrid. Its principal efrect is from the relation be- 
 tween the surface of the body and the alimentary canal ; by 
 supporting constantly the dilatations of the extreme vessels, 
 it prevents the return of appetite so sharp as it is when cold 
 is applied to the surface of the body." 
 
 " I may next proceed to consider how the effects of Cold 
 are produced in a greater or less degree, according as the 
 cold is more or less intense. And, first, I say that, under 
 the ordinary circumstances of our system, if any body of a 
 lower temperature than 98° be applied to it, a sensation of 
 cold is immediately felt ; but if the degree of this tempera- 
 ture does not fall below 62°, as the generating power of heat is 
 equal to such a loss, it is very soon counteracted by communi-
 
 416 LIFE OV 1)R CULLEN. 
 
 cation, and the part of the system affected is immediately 
 restored to its temperature, and the generating power still 
 increasing the heat, the application is immediately felt hot- 
 ter than before. Thus, for example, if a person plunges his 
 body into the warm baths of Buxton, which are of the tem- 
 perature of 81° or 82°, he has a sensation of cold ; but if he 
 remains a few minutes he feels them warm. I have only to 
 add, that this change takes place in proportion to the vigour 
 of the power generating heat within, and probably the sooner 
 from this generating power being increased by the tonic ef- 
 fects of cold. The conclusion, therefore, is, that nothing is 
 felt to be permanently cold, unless it exceeds what the gene- 
 rating power of heat within is able to compensate." 
 
 '' Though the cold is below the medium temperature of the 
 atmosphere — 62° Fahrenheit — if the application is transitory, 
 the heat will soon be recovered, as the cold acting indirectly 
 as a stimulus will increase those motions upon which the gene- 
 rating power of heat depends. But if it is intense in its de- 
 gree, and permanent in its application, so that it becomes an 
 overbalance for the generating power, then more permanent 
 effects are produced, as a constriction of all the vessels upon 
 the surface of the body, and therefore a suppression of Per- 
 spiration. And perhaps, in the same circumstances, or in a 
 higher degree, by producing a stronger contraction in the [Mo- 
 ving fibres, Cold produces the Inflammatory Spasm ; and if it 
 truly lowers the temperature of the parts to which it is ap- 
 plied, it will produce a certain degree of Atony, a loss of 
 Sensation and Mobility. With regard to these three effects 
 of Cold, suppressed Perspiration, Inflammatory Spasm, and 
 Atony, I would observe, that the last is very apt to accom- 
 pany the first, and this is the reason why suppressed Perspi- 
 ration is upon many occasions so difficult to restore ; and I 
 can find nothing else that will exj^lain the necessity for warm 
 bathing, which prevails in the coldest climates we are ac- 
 quainted with. Farther, I would observe, with regard to 
 these effects, that the suppression of Perspiration might be
 
 urE OF Dii ci^i.i.KX. 417 
 
 especially expected from a very general exposure of the whole 
 body to cold ; but the tonic and stimulant effects of the cold 
 applied, actually prevent the change of temperature upon 
 the surface, so that the suppression of Perspiration is more 
 frequently produced from the a})plication of cold to a parti- 
 cular part of the body only. The Inflammatory spasm, like- 
 wise, appears to be more commonly the effect of a partial 
 application of cold. And, further, you will observe that this 
 application seldom produces an inflammation upon the sur- 
 face, because there the contraction of the vessels is attended 
 with a certain degree of atony ; but it produces its effects in 
 the internal parts, as in some of the viscera." 
 
 " As the changes from hot to cold continue to fall below 
 62% they tend still farther to diminish the effects of the ge- 
 nerating power of heat, and are capable of communicating a 
 lower temperature to our bodies, and therefore they come to 
 diminish Sensibility — to produce Torpor — the collapse of 
 Sleep — and may proceed till they extinguish the Vital powers 
 in the whole system, and occasion death ; and these different 
 effects, it will be readily understood, take place in the order 
 I have mentioned. With regard to the effect of such 
 changes in producing death, where the cold is applied to the 
 whole body, the effects will be gradual, and no congelation 
 of fluids will come on before there is a total extinction of the 
 Vital powers ; for so long as these powers subsist, there is 
 such a degree of the generating power of heat as to prevent 
 any such congelation. Gaubius explains the production of 
 death by cold as depending ex encephalo congelescente, &c. 
 but there is no appearance of its being the effect of freezing. 
 In all those animals that pass the winter in a state of torpor 
 resembling temporary death, the action of the Vital powers to- 
 tally ceasing for a time, we observe that life is recoverable only 
 in so far as they have avoided the freezing power by retir- 
 ing to caverns, immersing themselves in masses under water, 
 he. Even in those affections arising from the more par- 
 tial application of cold, I doubt if freezing has any share 
 YOL. I. D d
 
 418 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 in producing them : the vital powers are gradually dimi- 
 nished, sense and mobility are rendered less and less> and the 
 fluids may stagnate in the part, but from their communica- 
 tion with the fluids in the rest of the body they preserve their 
 fluidity, and in some measure their heat ; and it is only from 
 their doing so, that a state of putrefaction and gangrene can 
 arise, which is an aff'ection of a living body, and different 
 from the putrefaction that takes place in the whole, or in a 
 part of a dead one. The body, after death, is more or less 
 disposed to putrefy, in proportion to the quantity of fluids in 
 a fluid state which it contains ; and, as the tendency of the 
 blood in such cases continues longest towards the depending 
 places, it is always there that the putrefaction begins ; but 
 in a dead body, exposed to a considerable degree of cold, 
 perhaps at the freezing degree, putrefaction never takes place 
 at all." 
 
 *' The last of the Stimulant Means to be mentioned, are 
 the Emotions and Passions of the Mind. The greater part 
 of these are manifestly either Diixct or Indirect Stimuli, 
 The ascertaining the effects of particular passions I find a 
 very difficult subject ; I have not yet satisfied myself with re- 
 gard to it, so as to enable me to deliver it as I could wish. 
 The diflSculty arises from the effects of the same passion be- 
 ing different according to its different degrees, and accord- 
 ing to its duration, and the freqviency of its repetition ; and 
 the effects of the passions are in general the more difficult to 
 be ascertained, from their being always very intimately mix- 
 ed -with one another — even those of a contrary nature. It is 
 this very circumstance that prevents our observing the effects 
 of each, and it is, I think, from the most part of writers be- 
 ing inattentive to this intermixture of different passions, that 
 they do not give us the information we expect. Without 
 analyzing the whole, and considering the particulars^, we 
 learn nothing properly, so that I cannot prosecute this sub- 
 ject very fully, and must only give you two general princi- 
 ples that will guide you in judging of particulars. The first
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 419 
 
 is, that all our feelings may be referred to the Agreeable or 
 Pleasant, and the Disagreeable or Uneasy, and that all our 
 pleasant emotions are Stimulant, and all our uneasy emotions 
 are Sedative, in their direct tendency at least, and, if they 
 appear otherwise, it is from a sudden vicissitude to a contra- 
 ry passion. The Stimulant emotions, often repeated, induce 
 debility, and, when in excess, they can extinguish life alto- 
 gether ; the Sedative not only suspend action, but they in- 
 duce stupor, torpor, and even death itself; most of them, 
 however, do not produce this effect immediately, but indi- 
 rectly, by disordering the functions, in consequence of which 
 they bring on death. Secondly, our passions lead to action 
 or restrain from it. All those that lead to action are in their 
 nature Stimulant ; all those that restrain from it are Seda- 
 tive. I can go no farther than to give these rules." 
 
 Of the last class of Therapeutical Agents capable of 
 changing the conditions of the Moving fibres, viz. 
 Sedatives, Dr Cullen observed ; 
 
 " Sedatives are powers which directly and without evacua- 
 tion diminish motion in Animal bodies ; or, considered as 
 Remedies, they are powers which diminish the preternaturally 
 increased motions of Animal bodies. Increased motion may 
 be considered as of two kinds, according to the part of the 
 System which it chiefly affects. Thus, the increased motion 
 may appear chiefly in the Sanguiferous system, and no other- 
 wise in the Nervous system than as it is immediately connected 
 with the Sanguiferous. Or the increased motion may appear 
 chiefly in other parts not necessarily connected with the 
 Sanguiferous system, and may affect it only in a secondary 
 way, and in a transitory manner. This distinction will be 
 readily understood ; and both cases require to be again dis- 
 tinguished in regard to the causes that produce them. Every 
 action, every motion that occurs in the human bodv, may 
 have a comprehended cause ; and the degree of action must 
 be as the stimulus applied, and the mobility of the System, 
 or its susceptibility of impressions, taken together. Increased 
 
 D d 2
 
 420 LIFE OF BR CULLKN. 
 
 action or motion, therefore, may be considered as arising 
 either from the power of stimuli that are unusual, or from the 
 usilal stimuli being increased ; or, the stimulus being given, it 
 may arise from increased Tone or Vigour, or more strictly 
 from increased Mobility. From this general view, the com- 
 plication of the subject will appear, but I must endeavour to 
 separate and arrange it as well as I can.'' 
 
 " First, then, with regard to the increased motion occur- 
 ring in the Sanguiferous system, such as that in which Fever 
 consists : this may be without, but it frequently is conjoined 
 with increased Tone in the Arterial system. Now, in order 
 to diminish such increased motion, we must, 1^^, take away 
 the stimulus producing it ; 2J, we must avoid the concur- 
 rence of other irritations that would increase the power of 
 the stimulus ; and, 3J, we must take off the increased tone. 
 
 " \st. If the increased action of the Sanguiferous system 
 arises from a matter introduced into the body from without, 
 this matter has been supposed to act as a direct stimulus, 
 and, accordingly, the means for taking it away have been 
 those for correcting and expelhng it by Concoction and 
 Crisis. But without discussing this difficult subject, I say 
 that we truly know nothing of the nature of the matter thus 
 introduced ; we know not so much of it as to know how it is 
 to be either corrected or expelled ; and those who have sup- 
 posed it to undergo these operations, have, at the same time, 
 allowed that they must be left to nature. Without remark- 
 ing on that, I say the whole of the inquiry is superseded by 
 this consideration, that this matter which introduces Pyrexia 
 into the system, acts by inducing Atony or Spasm in the ex- 
 treme vessels, which proves indirectly a stimulus, both causing 
 and supporting the increased motion we speak of. The 
 means of taking off the stimulus that can be employed, are 
 truly, therefore, the means of taking off this Spasm. This 
 may, perhaps, be accomplished suddenly by Sudorifics, but 
 their use is somewhat ambiguous. It is commonly accom- 
 phshed more slowly by Diluents, Refrigerants, Emetics, by
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 421 
 
 Warm-bathing, and by Blisters, which are the means of tak- 
 ing off the stimulus subsisting in the system, in the case of 
 Fever or Pyrexia. These remedies, therefore, may be con- 
 sidered as Sedatives. 
 
 " 2d, The increase of stimulus we avoid, by avoiding the 
 concurrent irritations arising from stimuli that are often un- 
 avoidably applied in a greater or less degree to the body. 
 In this consists the Antiphlogistic regimen, — the avoiding 
 the sensations of light and noise; — the avoiding the exercise of 
 the body, and also of the mind, so far as this can be a stimu- 
 lus ; — the rendering the aliment, that unavoidable source of 
 irritation, as little irritating as possible, with respect to its 
 quantity and quality ; — the supporting the excretions, in so 
 far as their retention is irritating, by proper dilution, which 
 especially increases the perspiration and urine, and by glys- 
 ters which increase the evacuation by stool ; — and lastly, the 
 taking off those irritations that are occasionally present, par- 
 ticularly the irritations of the stomach from indigestion or 
 other causes. 
 
 " 3^5 Where the increased motion depends upon the increas- 
 ed tone or vigour of the system, upon the diathesis phlog^is- 
 tica, it is to be diminished by the various Atonies, chiefly 
 by Bloodletting, Purging, and the application of Cold. 
 With regard to the application of Cold as an Atonic, I am 
 at a loss to speak of it decidedly. The practice with regard 
 to small-pox, lately introduced, shews the Atonic or Sedative 
 power of Cold, but to what other cases of the febrile state it 
 is applicable, is not yet ascertained. Probably it is of con- 
 siderable application, and our doubt with regard to it arises 
 from our not knowing with certainty the operation of Cold 
 — whether it acts by diminishing the heat, or directly as an 
 Atonic — and consequently from our not knowing the circum- 
 stances or means by which we may avoid its stimulant or 
 spasmodic power, when we seek only for its Atonic effects. 
 These, then, are the Sedative means in the case of increased 
 motion in the Sanguiferous system.
 
 422 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 " Second, When the increased motion is more entirely in 
 the Nervous system, and only occasionally affects the San- 
 guiferous, and that commonly in a transitory manner, the 
 means to be employed are referred to two heads, 1st, The ob- 
 viating and preventing the increased motion ; and, 2d, The 
 taking it off when it actually occurs. With regard to the 
 first object, it is obtained by avoiding Stimulus or by cor- 
 recting Mobility, from both of which the increased motion 
 may proceed. Now we avoid Stimulus by avoiding external 
 causes such as particular odours or other causes of disagree- 
 able sensations, whether applied to the organs of sense or to 
 the stomach ; and under this head, too, we comprehend the 
 avoiding of all such causes as produce emotions or passions of 
 the mind ; we avoid all hurry or excitement of the Energy 
 of the Brain. Next, we avoid stimulus, and thereby obviate 
 increased action, by removing stimuli inherent in the body, 
 as teething, worms, calculi, and particularly the irritation of 
 the stomach from indigestion and other causes; and we are 
 especially to attend to the fulness of the system, which gen- 
 erally gives rise to both increased Mobility and Irritation. 
 We obviate increased action in the Nervous system, again, by 
 taking off the Mobility or morbid Irritability of the system, 
 which is sometimes original, but is often acquired only by 
 habit, and which has often a greater share in the production 
 of Nervous affections, than the power of the stimuli applied. 
 This Mobility is to be taken off' either by interrupting the 
 course of habit, or by the employment of Tonics, of which I 
 have already spoken. 
 
 " With regard to the second object, — the taking off the in- 
 creased motion when it actually occurs, — this is to be effected 
 by taking away the h'Htation that is present, when it is evi- 
 dent and can be removed. In several cases, when it is evident 
 but cannot be taken away, we endeavour to prevent its effects 
 by cutting off the communication between the part affected 
 and the Sensorium, by cutting through nerves, or by com- 
 pressing them by ligatures ; and, lastly, increased motion, 
 when it occurs, may be diminished by the power of Narcotics,
 
 LIFE OF DK CULLEN. 42,3 
 
 which are substances that have the power of diminishing the 
 Excitement, and, therefore, the activity of the Nervous power, 
 and that to the degree of diminishing the exertion of the 
 Animal power or Energy of the Brain." 
 
 In bis Treatise of the INIateria Medica, Dr Culleii 
 has described the manner in which he conceives Nar- 
 cotic^substances to exert their Sedative influence upon 
 the System. 
 
 " Narcotics," he observes, " are commonly remarkable for 
 inducing that cessation of sense and motion, in which sleep 
 consists ;'^and are, therefore, often named Soporific or Hyp- 
 notic medicines. As their power and operation may be ex- 
 tended so far as to extinguish the vital Principle altogether, 
 they form that set of substances which are properly, and such 
 as may be strictly, called the Poisonous. 
 
 " As the powers of sense and motion chiefly depend upon 
 the state of the Brain, so it has been commonly supposed that 
 the medicines we treat of, act primarily and especially upon 
 that organ ; but as the operation of Narcotics diminishes the 
 motions and powers of motion, especially in the parts to which 
 they are immediately applied, and this, too, in parts^ which 
 are entirely removed from all connexion with the Brain, we 
 must conclude that their operation is upon a matter in com- 
 mon to the whole of the Nervous System — that they dimi- 
 nish the Mobility of the Nervous power, and when in a cer- 
 tain quantity can destroy that Mobility altogether. 
 
 " Although the operation of Narcotics is first and esj)ecial- 
 ly on the Nerves to which they are immediately applied, it 
 is very constantly at the same time communicated to other 
 communicating nerves, more or less, according to the num- 
 ber and peculiar sensibility of the nerves to which they are 
 first applied. The most remarkable and frequent instance 
 of this is in the apphcation of Narcotics to the internal sur- 
 face of the stomach, where both the number and peculiar 
 sensibility of the nerves give occasion to a very extensive and 
 widely diffused operation ; so that it is especially and most
 
 424 1,1 IE OF VAX CUI.LKN. 
 
 commonly from the operation of Narcotics on the stomach 
 and ahmentary canal, communicated to the Brain, that 
 general effects so readily appear in the whole System. It is 
 accordingly these effects, extending from the Sensorium to 
 the whole System, that have been chiefly attended to in the 
 operation of Narcotics. 
 
 " But it is proper to be more particular, and therefore to 
 observe, that the effects of Narcotics, commonly and espe- 
 cially, first appear in those functions in which the mobihty 
 of the nervous fluid or power admits the most readily of a 
 change ; that is, in the animal functions, in the cessation of 
 which sleep consists : and therefore it is that this state is so 
 commonly induced by them. At the same time, the effects 
 appear also iu the vital functions, so far, that the motions of 
 these are weakened, and the frequency of their action ren- 
 dered less; and although this, from considerations to be 
 mentioned afterwards, may not constantly appear, there are, 
 however, innumerable experiments which prove that a dimi- 
 nution in the action of the vital functions is frequently, and 
 even commonly, the effect of narcotics. The power of nar- 
 cotics in diminishing the mobility of the nervous power ap- 
 pears still more considerably, and without ambiguity, in the 
 natural functions. Thus, the activity of the alimentary ca- 
 nal, that chief organ of the natural functions, is always di- 
 minished by narcotics, any how^ thrown into the body. An- 
 other effect of narcotics, relative to the natural functions, is 
 the diminution and suspension of all secretions, and of every 
 excretion except that of sweat."' 
 
 " From all this it appears, that the operation of Narcotics 
 extends to every function depending upon the Energy of the 
 Brain ; with respect to which they show a sedative power ; 
 and though this be various in its degree, and variously mo- 
 dified, both by the different kinds and quantities of the nar- 
 cotic, and by the different conditions of the body to which 
 it is applied, yet the effects are universally and directly seda- 
 tive. There occurs, here, however, a considerable difficulty,
 
 LIFE or Dll CULI.EN. 425 
 
 as it is to be particularly remarked, that narcotics, instead 
 of always proving sedative, or diminishing the action of the 
 heart, often seem to be powerfully stimulant with respect to 
 this organ, and in their first operation often increase the 
 force and frequency of its action. How this may be ex- 
 plained, in consistency with our general doctrine, it is diffi- 
 cult to say. Some have imagined that in the same narcotic 
 substance there is a stimulant as well as a sedative matter ; 
 and that they have some foundation for this opinion appears 
 from this, that the substance of the narcotic is acrid to the 
 taste, and when applied to the skin readily inflames it. 
 That in wine, or other ardent spirits, which commonly act as 
 narcotics, the stimulant matter is in large proportion, may 
 be readily admitted. But, on the other hand, the direct 
 stimulant power is doubtful ; as in many substances the se- 
 dative power appears in masses of so very small bulk, and 
 in that bulk the stimulant matter can hardly be in such pro- 
 portion as to stimulate the heart very powerfully ; as we 
 know no instance of a pure stimulant that in the same bulk 
 will have that effect, even when applied to the stomach or 
 in any other way to the body. Another consideration may 
 be also offered here. There is no ground to suppose that, 
 were a stimulant and sedative power combined in the same 
 matter, the stimulant power should commonly act before the 
 sedative. 
 
 " To explain therefore the stimulant effects that often ap* 
 pear from the exhibition of Narcotics, it seems necessary to 
 assign some other cause than the dir-ectly stimulant power of 
 the substance applied ; and this cause appears to be that re- 
 sistance and consequent activity which the animal economy 
 is suited to oppose to every application tliat has a tendency 
 to hurt it. This power, as we have said before, is well 
 known in the schools of physic under the title of the Vis Con- 
 servatrix et Medicatrlx NaturcB ; which, however difficult 
 to explain, must, as a general law of the animal economy, be 
 admitted as a matter of fact, as we have already, when treat-
 
 426 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 ing of Stimulants, endeavoured to prove very fully. We 
 have no doubt that it might be fairly employed here to ac- 
 count for the stimulant effects which so often appear upon 
 the exhibition of narcotics, which are, indeed, very often evi- 
 dent and considerable ; but they do not imply any directly 
 stimulant power in the narcotic substance, as they can be so 
 well accounted for by considering them as indirect stimu- 
 lants, in the manner we have both here and above explained. 
 
 " I will only add one other illustration on this subject. 
 It is frequently the effect of narcotics to excite that delirium 
 which is well known under the name of Ebriety or Drunk- 
 enness. This often appearing with the same circumstances 
 that are ascribed to a stimulant power, has been frequently 
 supposed to arise from a stimulus applied to the brain ; and 
 it is true that it does in some measure depend upon the sti- 
 mulant operation which here takes place in the manner we 
 have explained ; but, were it proper here, it might be shewn 
 by the laws of the. animal economy, that a stimulus is com- 
 monly insufficient ; and that it is only by the concurrence of 
 a sedative power that the symptoms of ebriety, produced by 
 the exhibition of narcotics can be accounted for. 
 
 " We conclude, therefore, upon the whole, that the opera- 
 tion of Narcotics is always directly Sedative. But before we 
 proceed to illustrate this in particulars, it will be proper to 
 take notice of a circumstance that relates to the operation of 
 Sedatives in general. With respect to them, it is to be re- 
 marked, that when Sedatives thrown into the body do not 
 prove absolutely mortal, their operation is of a certain dura- 
 tion only ; and, therefore, after a certain time, or at least 
 sooner or later, according to circumstances, it entirely ceases, 
 or at least its effects are greatly diminished. It is in conse- 
 quence of this that when, for the purposes of medicine, it is 
 necessary that the effects of Narcotics be continued, this can 
 only be done by a repetition in due time of the Sedative ; 
 and, upon such occasions, it is found that the law of the eco- 
 nomy, by which all impressions Avhich do not excite to action
 
 I.irE or DIl CUIXEN. 
 
 427 
 
 become weaker by repetition, here takes place ; and, there- 
 fore, that, in the repetition of Narcotics, the impression, that 
 is, the dose, must be made stronger than before. This hap- 
 pens very constantly in the repetition of Narcotics ; and to 
 persons acquainted with the powers of Custom, affords an 
 argument, that in most instances those Narcotics act by their 
 sedative rather than by their stimulant powers. This ceas- 
 ing of the effects of Narcotics is difficult to explain ; and, to 
 do it, we must take notice that it is connected with a ques- 
 tion occurring with respect to natui'al Sleep, which is — 
 Whether this, after it has taken place for some time, always 
 ceases from stimuli applied ? or, if it ceases spontaneously 
 upon the System being restored to the state in which it was 
 before the causes of sleep were applied ? The latter account 
 will be adopted by those who suppose the Nervous fluid to 
 be a secretion that may be exhausted and again restored and 
 supplied. But this is a supposition so improbable, that I 
 believe few maintain it at present ; and, if we reject it, the 
 question returns to say — How the state of the Nervous or 
 Animal power, either when natural sleep has subsisted for 
 some time, or when it has been artificially induced by Nar- 
 cotics, returns or is restored to its waking condition ? 
 
 '• Although it may be difficult to explain in what physical 
 or mechanical condition of the Brain the different states of 
 sleep and waking consist, it is highly probable that these two 
 states do truly alternate with each other. That the state of 
 waking does necessarily induce the state of sleep, will be 
 readily admitted ; and it is equally probable that a certain 
 duration of sleep does not only take off the state of sleep, but 
 does also induce the condition necessary to the waking state. 
 If this is admitted with regard to natural sleep, it will be 
 readily allowed that the same means will also operate on the 
 state induced by Narcotics, and will therefore at length na- 
 turally put an end to it." 
 
 I cannot, I believe, conclude the account of Dr Cul- 
 len's coiu-se of lectures on the Institutions of Medi-
 
 ^^^^ IJFK of' 1)11 CULLEX. 
 
 cine better than by introducing the notes from which 
 he seems to have deUvered his valedictory address to 
 his students at the termination of the session 1770-71, 
 of which I find a copy in his own handwriting, headed 
 "Epilogue, 15th May 1771." 
 
 '• With regard to both Pathology and Therapeutics, the 
 best assistances are to be got from writers on the practice ; 
 and we are to conclude with this general advice, that a man, 
 moderately imbued with a system of institutions, may read 
 medical writings of all kinds, but what he is especially to 
 search for is facts, and wherever he finds these he ought im- 
 mediately to think of applying them to the institutions ; that 
 is, to establishing, limiting, or correcting his General princi- 
 ples, and a plan of this kind ought to be constantly in view. 
 
 " I have now told you how you may prosecute your stu- 
 dies, and have only to add a short apology for all my own 
 deficiencies and imperfections. I know they are too many to 
 admit of a fidl excuse, but some apologies may be admitted. 
 The multiplicity of our subjects occasioned some to be omit- 
 ted, and many to be discussed too briefly. Some wonder at 
 my continuing my lectures beyond the usual period, but 
 there is more reason to wonder that I have been able to 
 touch so many subjects, and conclude ro soon. 
 
 " Of the subjects .touched, many of them are imperfect, 
 but 1 plead that the present state of science does not admit 
 of our going farther. I have endeavoured always to point out 
 the most important inquiries. I have attempted to throw 
 new lights upon them, but always, I hope, with due diffi- 
 dence. I have dictated no opinions, but have alwajs led you 
 to the exercise of your own judgment. It is only by this 
 exercise you will be led to inquiry, or can succeed in it. 
 I shall be vain of having erected you into critics upon my- 
 self. If this be upon a full view of the subject, it may lead 
 you to discover my faults ; but I expect it will at the same 
 time dispose you to excuse them, and I shall thus be happy 
 in connecting yoiu' knowledge with my own credit."
 
 I.IFK OF Dll crjLLEy. 4-29 
 
 In the sketch that has been given in extracts from 
 his manuscript lectm'es on the Institutions of ]Medi- 
 cine, of the view which Dr Culien took of the different 
 functions of the Nervous System in the animal economy 
 in the state of health, — -of the universal and constant 
 influence of this system in the production and modifi- 
 cation of the phenomena of diseases, — and of the various 
 effects produced upon it by external agents, — exhibi- 
 ting the general outlines of his Theory of Excitement, 
 — I have had it chiefly for my object to bring under 
 the eye of the reader some of those more original 
 attempts at the generalization of fagts, — or approxima- 
 tions to truth, ashe was accustomed to term them, — by 
 which, in relation to the influence of the Nervous Sys- 
 tem on the different functions of the animal economy, 
 Dr Culien endeavoured to promote the study of the 
 science, and to improve the practice of medicine. 
 
 Some traces of the recognition of the existence of 
 such an Energizing influence of the Nervous System 
 as that which Dr Culien has designated under the ap- 
 pellation of the Animal power or Energy of the Brain, 
 are unquestionably to be found in the writings of some 
 of his predecessors ; but Dr Culien seems to have been 
 the first medical teacher who pointed out the general 
 and automatic agency of this power in all the motions 
 of the animal economy, voluntary, involuntary, and 
 mixed ; and who endeavoured to collect and arrange 
 the principal facts regarding it under distinct heads. 
 '' The subject of the Nervous System," he himself 
 obseiTed, in his lectures on the Institutions, " has been 
 but slightly touched on by any physiologist, and very 
 imperfectly handled ; and I flatter myself that I have 
 brought it more into view than has hitherto been done.
 
 430 LIFE OF DR CUI.LEN. 
 
 You will be greatly at a loss to find much assistance 
 in studying it, in the writings of physiologists." "As 
 it appears to me certain, that the human system can 
 only be viewed in these three respects, that is, as a 
 chemical mixt, as a hydraulic machine, and as an ani- 
 mated nervous frame, I consider our system of physic to 
 be now complete as to the parts which it ought to com- 
 prehend."* How extensively and deeply Dr Cullen's 
 physiological, pathological, and therapeutical specula- 
 tions with regard to the Nervous System have influen- 
 ced the opinions of medical philosophers and practi- 
 tioners from the time they were first delivered in his 
 lectures on the Institutions of Medicine in the Univer- 
 sity of Edinburgh to the present, will be most readily 
 perceived by those who are best acquainted v>'ith the 
 past history, and with the recent progress of discove- 
 ries and improvements in Medical Science, — with the 
 important share which has been allotted to the doc- 
 trine of Innervation or the Influence of the Nervous 
 System, in the physiological and pathological writings 
 that have lately issued from the press, both in this 
 country and on the Continent of Europe, — with the 
 different changes in language and statement which the 
 Excitement Theory of Dr Cullen has undergone, and 
 with its various modifications as it is at present taught 
 in the Medical schools in different parts of the world. 
 Dr Cullen has himself informed us of the use vvhich 
 he wished to be made of these speculations, in the im- 
 provement of a science, which, — from its being the re- 
 sult of observation, experience and critical analysis, 
 and from its dependence on the state of other collateral 
 arts and sciences, — he regarded as being necessarily but 
 
 * Works, vol. i. p. 409. 
 
 I
 
 LIFE OF BK CULL EN. 431 
 
 slowly progressive in its aclvan cement, in the following 
 passage with which he was accustomed to terminate his 
 account of the functions of the Nervous System : — " I 
 do not say that this is the Theory of the Nervous 
 System : I say that these are the chief facts and law^s 
 relative to it ; for in this and every other part of the 
 Physiology I am more anxious to state what happens 
 than to explain how it does happen ; and wherever, in 
 some instances, you may think I have approached to 
 theory, I would wish you to receive every particular I 
 have delivered with great diffidence, till you are per- 
 suaded that the conclusion is established as a matter of 
 fact. If you do so, there will be no danger of misap- 
 plication ; you will be constantly enlarging the number 
 of facts, and be much more fit for the application of 
 them^." 
 
 The learned Professor Sprengel, in observing that 
 " Dr CuUen appears to have been the first who, in 
 combining the opinions of Hoffmann with the new 
 doctrines of the forces of the body, founded a true sys- 
 tem of the living solid," has by some oversight alleged 
 that it w^as late before Dr Cullen perceived the errors 
 of the Boerhaavian system, and has referred to the in- 
 troduction to the First Lines of the Practice of Physic 
 for Dr Cullen's express corroboration of this assertion f. 
 The passage referred to, however, obviously relates to 
 the progress of the opinions of the other Professors in 
 the Edinburgh School of ^ledicine, and not to that of 
 Dr Cullen's own mind, in discovering and pointing 
 out the imperfections and deficiencies of the Boerhaavian 
 
 ^ Works, vol. i. p. 157- 
 
 t Hist, de la Medecine, torn. v. p. 359. Paris 1815.
 
 ^^32 jjYE 0\ DU CUI.LEX. 
 
 system. " \\^hen I iirst applied," says he, " to the 
 study of physic, I learned only the system of l^oerhaave; 
 and even when I came to take a Professor's chair in this 
 University, I fomid that system here in its entire and 
 full force." That Dr Cullen had at a very early pe- 
 riod adopted the views of Hoffmann respecting the Ner- 
 vous System, is sufiiciently established hy the testimony 
 of his pupil Dr Wallace ; and Dr Cullen himself, in 
 the introductory lecture already quoted, explains, in 
 a distinct and ingenuous manner, the circumstances 
 that led him to abandon the medical opinions which 
 he had received from his instructors ^. 
 
 The opinions which Dr Cullen delivered in his Lec- 
 tures on the Institutions of Medicine, respecting the 
 functions of the different parts of the Nervous System, 
 and particularly his doctrines respecting the Animal 
 power, or Energy of the Brain, and the states of Ex- 
 citement and Collapse, attracted, by their ingenuity 
 and novelty, the particular attention of his students, — - 
 became the subjects of daily discussion in their societies 
 for mutual improvement, — were applied, in many of 
 the inaugm'al dissertations issuing from the University 
 to the explanation of diseases, — and gradually found 
 their way into the Medical writings published, both 
 in this country and on the continents of Europe and 
 America, by several of those who had been educated 
 at the University of Edinburgh. In 1772, Dr Cidlen 
 himself communicated to the public a view of his opi- 
 nions respecting the Nervous System, and particularly 
 respecting its functions in the state of health, by the 
 
 * See pp. 24 and 118 of this volume. 
 2
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 433 
 
 publication of his Outlines of Physiology, a work ad- 
 mirably adapted to serve as a model for that form of 
 Text-book which it is so desirable that every Professor 
 should put into the hands of his pupils as a guide in the 
 study of the branch of philosophy or science which it is 
 his duty to teach, — as consisting not of a bare enumera- 
 tion of the topics to be discussed, but of a concise sum- 
 mary of the general principles of the science, in distinct 
 propositions of which it was the purpose of his course of 
 lectures to afford the illustrations and proofs. A second 
 edition of the Outlines was published in 1777, in com- 
 pliance with the wishes of Dr James Gregory, who had 
 by that time succeeded Dr CuUen in the chair of the 
 Institutions of Medicine. A third edition appeared in 
 1785, and in the following year a German translation 
 was published at Leipzig under the title of " Anfangs- 
 griinde der Theoretischen Arzneiwissenschaft." 
 
 The fullest and most circumstantial account, how- 
 ever, that was given, or indeed that has ever been given, 
 to the public of Dr CuUen's opinions relative to the 
 functions of the Nervous System, is that which is to 
 be found in a work entitled, " Analyse des Fonctions 
 du Systeme Nerveux,"by Dr De la Roche of Geneva, 
 printed at that place in 1778. The following letter 
 addressed to Dr Cullen in 1772, explains the circum- 
 stances which gave rise to that publication : — 
 
 « Gekeva, nth July 1772. 
 ** Sir, — Nothing could be more agreeable to me than re- 
 ceiving, as I did some time ago, by Dr Moore, a letter from 
 you, and seeing that I still hold a place in your remembrance 
 and good will. The pleasure this gave me can only be felt 
 by those who, like me, have been so happy as to be pcrson- 
 VOL I. E e
 
 434 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN 
 
 ally acquainted with you, and have conceived that love and 
 regard for you, — I had almost said that enthusiasm, — which 
 is so general among your pupils. But I am afraid lest you 
 should repent of that favour when you see that it has embol- 
 dened me to importune you. ♦ ♦ * * * 
 
 " Among other means of making myself known to the pub- 
 lic as a physician, I have pitched upon one which will be an 
 arduous task : — it is writing a book. I see what credit some 
 physicians have acquired by publishing very mediocre per- 
 formances, and mostly because they were written in their 
 vernacular tongue. I have, therefore, thought on a subject ; 
 and the one I find to suit best my intention is that of Ner- 
 vous Disorders, as it is so rich, and so little has been pub- 
 lished upon it that is any way systematic. But I cannot give 
 any thing interesting on that matter but what I have learned 
 from you, and as it is not my opinions but yours that I wish 
 to offer to the public, I will not undertake any thing towards 
 it till I have your leave of doing it. You must not doubt 
 but that if any honour accrues to me from it, I will, as just, 
 refer it to its legitimate owner, and inform my readers of the 
 source whence I have taken my ideas on the subject. If, 
 notwithstanding that I have set my heart upon this, you 
 should seem to take it amiss, you may depend upon it I 
 shall not think any more of it. But if, on the contrary, you 
 grant the permission I ask, would you be so good as to give 
 me some advice upon a general plan ; I have none well formed 
 as yet. — I remain, with the utmost regard, Sif, your most 
 humble, obedient, and most obliged servant, 
 
 " De La Roche;' 
 
 I have not been able to find any copy or notes of an 
 answer to Dr De la Roche's letter among Dr Cullen's 
 papers, and it is therefore impossible to say whether, 
 in publishing his account of Dr Cullen's opinions, he 
 had obtained his permission to do so ; though, from 
 his not making any mention of such a permission in
 
 LIFE OF DR CULI.EiV. 435 
 
 the preface to his book, it seems probable that he had 
 not obtained it. In that preface, Dr De la Roche 
 certainly acknowledges his obligations to Dr CuUen's 
 lectures, but in a manner calculated at least, if not in- 
 tended, to impress the reader with the belief that the 
 account which he published of the functions of the 
 Nervous System, was intended for the purpose of ex- 
 plaining his own views, rather than the opinions of Dr 
 Cullen. 
 
 " With regard to the plan which I have adopted," he ob- 
 serves, " I should be essentially wanting in what I owe to 
 Dr Cullen, if I did not acknowledge that I have followed 
 the syllabus of his lectures, published at Edinburgh in 1772, 
 under the title of Institutions of Medicine, part I. Physio- 
 logy. This little work, in which the subject of the Ner- 
 vous System occupies from p. 24 to p. 115, has served me as 
 a text ; but I have taken the liberty to make some changes 
 on it, in regard both to form and matter. I have omitted 
 some propositions that have appeared to me too hypothetical. 
 I have added others, with the truth and importance of which 
 I was more struck. In general, in the development of all 
 those which I have preserved, and which form by much the 
 greatest number, I have modified them in my own way, be- 
 cause I have had it less in view to state the opinions of Dr 
 Cullen, than to explain my own."" 
 
 Notwithstanding this declaration on the part of Dr 
 De la Roche, I feel it to be incumbent on me to state, 
 that a careful and repeated comparison of his " Ana- 
 lysis," with the manuscript notes of Dr Cullen*s lectures, 
 has left me no room to doubt that that work, instead 
 of containing opinions pecidiar to its author, consists 
 in most parts of a literal, and in some parts of a free, 
 translation of Dr CuUen's account of the functions of 
 the Nervous System, as given in his lectures on Phy- 
 
 i:e 2
 
 4536 LIFE OF BR CULLEN. 
 
 siology, Pathology, and Therapeutics, to which Dr De 
 la Roche has occasionally added illustrations taken 
 from other sources. That this was the impression 
 which the work produced, at the time of its puhlica- 
 tion, on the minds of Dr Cullen's pupils, is manifest 
 from the following passage of a letter addressed to him, 
 in May 1779, hy Dr Beerenhroek : " Dr De la Roche 
 of Geneva, who some years ago was in Edinhurgh, has 
 published your Physiology under the name of Ana- 
 lyse des Fonctions du Systeme Nerveux. I am told 
 that he has enlarged it, but can give no full account 
 of it, as I have not been able to find it in Paris." 
 
 The " Analyse des Fonctions du Systeme Nerveux" 
 was translated into the German language, sixteen 
 years after its publication, by Dr Merzdorf of Halle ; 
 and has usually, since that time, been referred to by 
 French and by German medical writers, as containing 
 the opinions of Dr De la Roche. Under this impres- 
 sion, the late distinguished Professor Reil, than whom 
 there could be few better judges of the value of these 
 opinions, states in a revievv' of them, which he gave in 
 the first number of his Archives for Physiology (1795), 
 that *' Dr De la Roche has the merit of having been 
 the first who has described properly the peculiar func- 
 tions of the Brain, and who has entered upon the true 
 path of investigation in the Physiology of this the 
 noblest organ of the animal economy." In addition, 
 he observes, that, '•' in his work, equally important to 
 the progress of JMedicine and of Psychology, the au- 
 thor, with the greatest sagacity and the finest spirit of 
 observation, has shewn that the different affections of 
 the mind are dependent upon corporeal changes ; has
 
 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 437 
 
 introduced simplicity and order into the consideration 
 of the phenomena of the animal economy, and has 
 reduced these phenomena to general laws." But 
 whatever degree of praise is justly bestowed on the 
 Analysis of the Functions of the Nervous System, in 
 the character given of that work by Professor Reil, 
 must be transferred to *' its legitimate owner," Dr 
 Cullen, as his Lectures were the source from which 
 the whole of Dr De la Roche's ideas on the functions 
 of the Nervous System, and more particularly those 
 which relate to the operation of the Animal power, or 
 Energy of the Brain, were immediately and undeniably 
 derived. 
 
 During the period that Dr Cullen was occupied as 
 a public teacher in Glasgow and Edinburgh in the 
 study and explanation of the functions of the Animal 
 economy, and in endeavouring to extend and to im- 
 prove the views which had been taken by Hoffmann, 
 Haller, Whytt, and others, of the influence of the 
 Nervous system upon all the functions of that economy, 
 considerable changes were gradually taking place in 
 the doctrines taught in the other medical schools of 
 Europe, though in most of these schools the systems 
 of Boerhaave and of Stahl continued for a long time to 
 predominate. In the school of IMontpellier, in parti- 
 cular, which had existed for upwards of 500 years, and 
 had produced a succession of celebrated physicians and 
 surgeons*, SAUVAGEsf, who was thoroughly imbued 
 
 * Memoires pour servir a I'Histoire de la Faculte de Medeciiie 
 de Montpellier. Par M. Astruc. 4to. Paris, 1767. 
 
 t SauvagevS was born in 1706, appointed Professor at Montpel- 
 lier in 1734; died in 1767-
 
 438 LIFE OF Dii cullj:n. 
 
 with all the medical learning of his own and of former 
 times, adopted, and retained till the time of his death, 
 a system of the animal economy which combined more 
 or less of the doctrines of the mechanical physiologists 
 with the Animism of Stahl. Instead, however, of re- 
 ferring with Stahl, all the motions of the animal eco- 
 nomy to the operation of the rational soul alone, Sau- 
 vages ascribed to this power only those motions which 
 are performed from the dictates of reason. The evi- 
 dent muscular motions that are concerned in the exer- 
 cise of the vital functions of circulation and respiration, 
 and, in some of the natural functions, he referred with 
 Whytt to the agency of the smsitive faculty of the 
 soul, which he denominated Nature ; while he imagined 
 that the functions of nutrition, secretion, digestion, and 
 generation, which are common to animals with plants, 
 might, except in so far as they are in the animal crea- 
 tion connected with or dependent upon muscular mo- 
 tion, be accounted for by the agency of the properties 
 possessed by inanimate matter, such as gravity, cohe- 
 sion, or attraction, elasticity, &:c., which he denomina- 
 ted inanimate forces *. 
 
 But in employing the word Nature to signify the 
 sensitive or animal soul, instead of using it as had been 
 done by Galen and by Hoffmann, as a general term 
 significative of the common cause of organic life, and 
 corresponding with the vegetative soul of Aristotle, it 
 is obvious that Sauvages made a great, unnecessary, 
 and therefore inadmissible, change on the language of 
 preceding physiologists. His supposition that the Or- A 
 
 * Prolegomena in Nosologiam, sect. 152, 154, 208, 210, 235, 
 242, 26L
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 4-39 
 
 ganic functions of digestion, secretion, nutrition, and 
 generation, common to plants with animals, are, ex- 
 cept in so far as they depend on muscular motion, pro- 
 duced by the operation not of animate but of inani- 
 mate forces, — whether, in the progress of natural know- 
 ledge, it shall prove to be well or ill founded, — shews 
 how little foundation there is for the assertion of the 
 historian of the school of Montpellier, M. Berard, that 
 Sauvages w^as the first physiologist in Evu:ope who set 
 aside mechanism in explaining the functions of the ani- 
 mal economy *. It is singular that Sauvages shoidd not, 
 in any part of his writings, have made any reference 
 to the peculiar views which his contemporaries Hoff- 
 mann, Haller, and Whytt, had respectively taken of 
 the functions of the Nervous System. 
 
 The first medical writer of the school of Montpellier, 
 who seems to have taken an extensive view of the or- 
 ganic influence of the Nervous system on the functions 
 of the animal economy, is M. BoRDEuf . This author 
 explained and illustrated his peculiar opinions with 
 much ingenuity, vivacity, and elegance, in a succession 
 of publications which appeared from 1742 to 1776. 
 
 In his thesis De Sensu generice consider ato \, M. 
 Bordeu denied the existence of animal spirits, and 
 maintained the hypothesis that it is the peculiar ar- 
 rangement of the fibrils of the nerves, acting by vibra- 
 tile motions, which fits these organs for the performance 
 
 * Berard, Doctrine IMedicale de I'Ecole de Montpellier, p. 45. 
 & 52. 
 
 t M. Bordeu was born in 1722; settled in Paris in 1752 ; died 
 in 1776. 
 
 + CEuvres Compl. de Bordeu, torn. i. p. 1. Paris 1818.
 
 440 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 
 
 of the corporeal part of sensation. Like Perranlt and 
 Whytt, he considered the soul to be united with the 
 whole of the Nervous system, but the different parts of 
 the body to be possessed of sensibilities that are pecu- 
 liar to themselves ; and, in a scholium annexed to this 
 thesis, he threw out the opinion that the nerves contri- 
 bute to the function of secretion *. This last opinion, 
 however, he afterwards more fully explained and illus- 
 trated in his treatise, entitled Recherches Anatomiques 
 sur les Glandes, published in 1752, in which he en- 
 deavoured to prove that the action of the nerves distri- 
 buted on the bloodvessels is the cause of the increased 
 flow of blood which takes place in these vessels to 
 glands in a state of secretion, and that on them also 
 depends the selection wiiich particular secreting glands 
 make of the humours contained in the general mass of 
 blood f . Several physiologists previously to M. Bor- 
 den, as Cole, Brunner, Nuck, and Berger, in treating 
 either of the function of secretion in general, or of par- 
 ticular secretions, had attributed some influence in this 
 process to the nerves, or to the fluid of which they sup- 
 posed the nerves to be the conductors. Although the 
 opinion of the dependence of secretion in animals upon 
 the influence of the nervous system cannot, therefore, 
 be regarded as ha\ing originated with M. Bordeu, and 
 although it must be confessed that the proofs which he 
 has adduced to establish this dependence are of a some- 
 what indefinite and unsatisfactory character, still he 
 must be allow^ed to have had the merit of pointing it 
 out to the attention of medical men in a much more 
 
 =* Sect. 45. and 48. and Schol. 
 
 t CEuvres Compl. torn. i. p. 45 ; sect. 107, 108.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLED. 441 
 
 particular manner than had been done by any preced- 
 ing physiologist. 
 
 M. Le Caze, the uncle of M. Bordeu, had main- 
 tained, in various publications *, that there are three 
 great centres of action in the animal economy,- — the 
 Cerebral, Cardiac, and Epigastric or Phrenic centres, an 
 arrangement obviously corresponding with the old divi- 
 sion of the functions into Animal, Vital, and Natural. 
 This view of the animal economy was adopted by M. 
 Bordeu, to whom, indeed, the composition of M. Le 
 Caze*s treatises has, though without any very satisfac- 
 tory proof being given, been ascribed. The action of 
 the Phrenic or Epigastric centre, in particular, or of 
 what has more recently been termed the Ganglionic 
 system of nerves w^hich are distributed upon the organs 
 subservient to the Natural functions, appears to have 
 occupied much of the attention of these authors ; and, 
 in adopting many of the views originally suggested by 
 Van Helmont, with regard to the influence of the epi- 
 gastric region in the economy, they gave to them more 
 precision, by substituting the action of the great sym- 
 pathetic nerve as a physical cause, in place of his Ar- 
 clieus, which they regarded as an occult quality f. 
 
 In his Researches on the Pulse, and in those on the 
 History of Medicine, published in 1754 and 1764, M. 
 Bordeu endeavoured to set aside the distinction which 
 had been made by Haller between the properties of 
 Sensibility and Irritability, erroneously alleging that 
 
 *■ Specimen Novi Medicinae Conspectus, 1749. Institutiones 
 Medicae ex novo Medicinae Conspectu ; and Idee de THomme, 
 1755. 
 
 t Le Caze, Idee de THomme, p. 15. Bordeu, (Euvres, t. i, 
 pp. 174, 193, 198 J t. ii. p. 071-3.
 
 442 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN 
 
 Sensibility may very well serve as a basis for the ex- 
 planation of all the phenomena of life, whether in the 
 state of health or of disease ^. These views were adopt- 
 ed, and the opinion still more explicitly maintained, that 
 JMobility, Contractility, or Irritability, is merely one 
 of the two powers comprised in the property of Sensi- 
 bility, by M. Fouquet, Professor of Medicine at Mont- 
 pellier, in the article Sensibilite, inserted by him into 
 the 15th volume of the Encyclopedic, which was pub- 
 lished in 1766. 
 
 The shortest and most correct view of the peculiar 
 opinions of M. Bordeu, is that which he has himself 
 given in the first part of his Researches on Chronic 
 Diseases, published in 1775 f . In his desire to be re- 
 garded as an original author, this ingenious physician 
 does not, either in this or in any of his preceding writ- 
 ings, take any notice of the views of the functions of 
 the Nervous System which had been given by Hoff- 
 mann, Rega, Kaau Boerhaave, Gaubius, Whytt, or 
 CuUen ; nor indeed, it deserves to be remarked, have 
 the Neurological inquiries and speculations of these au- 
 thors been adverted to by his biographers, or by any of 
 the historians of the school of Montpellier, in the ac- 
 counts which they have given of M. Bordeu's doctrines. 
 
 A third distinguished physiologist of the school of 
 Montpellier, contemporary with Dr Cullen, was M. 
 Barthez J, author of the " Nouveaux Elemens de la 
 Science de 1' Homme," a work which exhibits many 
 
 * CEuvres, t. i. p. 420 ; t. ii. p. 668. 
 t (Euvr. Compl. ii. 829—847. 
 
 :|: M. Barthez was born in 1734 ; appointed Professor at Mont- 
 pellier in 1761 ; died in 1806.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 443 
 
 convincing proofs of the intellectual acuteness, the 
 classical and scientific attainments, and the great theo- 
 retical and practical knowledge of its author. This 
 physiologist regarded it as essential to the philosophi- 
 cal investigation of the phenomena of living heings, 
 that these phenomena should not he considered as ha- 
 ving their origin either in the powers of the mind, as 
 had been conceived by the Stahlians, or in the proper- 
 ties of the organized body, as had been believed by the 
 mechanical school, and still more recently maintained 
 by the Neurologists, whom he terms the Solidists; but 
 he thought it desirable that a general term should be 
 adopted, expressive of the cause that produces the phe- 
 nomena of life, which should not imply that these phe- 
 nomena are either of a mental or of a corporeal nature, 
 and the term which he selected for this purpose, was 
 the Vital Principle. " The utility of abstract concep- 
 tions with respect to this unknown principle," he ob- 
 serves, " is to secure us against those too limited ^dews 
 which all the sectarians have taken, and against the 
 errors into which they have fallen, in wishing to define 
 the vital principle by more determinate notions *." 
 
 M. Barthez did not think it necessary to limit the 
 operation of his Vital Principle to the production of 
 the organic functions of nutrition and generation, the 
 only functions which Aristotle and Galen had as- 
 signed to the Vegetative Soul, or Nature ; but, in- 
 stead of the exercise of these functions, he assumed, as 
 its characteristic marks, the being possessed of sensi- 
 tive and motive forces, — properties which Aristotle in- 
 
 * Nouv. Elem. Disc. Prelim, p. 18-22, 27.
 
 444 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 forms us, as has already been remarked, had been re- 
 garded by all the ancient philosophers as the distin- 
 guishing characters of Mind, and which he, under the 
 general appellation of the Sentient Soid, had pointed 
 out as the characters that distinguish living animals 
 from plants. The peculiar sensations and motions 
 which M. Barthez conceived to be produced in living 
 beings, by his Vital principle, he denominated blind 
 feelings and unreflected volitions, in order to distin- 
 guish them, as he himself states, from those intelligent 
 feelings and rational volitions which result in the hu- 
 man economy from the operation of the thinking soul. 
 Conformably with these conceptions of the Vital Prin- 
 ciple, it was necessary for M. Barthez either to deny 
 life to plants, as had been done by Hoffmann from 
 other considerations, or to affirm that they are pos- 
 sessed of sensitive and motive powers, analogous to 
 those possessed by animals. In adopting the latter 
 of these alternatives, he endeavoured to support his 
 opinion by an elaborate enumeration of those phe- 
 nomena exhibited by plants, which have been supposed 
 to prove that they are possessed of sensibility and irri- 
 tability, although he acknowledges that the perceptions 
 which plants have of the objects of their appetites, are, 
 to all appearance, entirely different from those which 
 man or brute animals receive by their senses ^. 
 
 ]M. Barthez does not seem to have been able to de- 
 termine whether his Vital Principle should be regard- 
 ed as a substance different in its nature from Body and 
 Soul, and existing by itself, or merely as an abstract 
 term expressive of a simple vital faculty of the human 
 
 * Nouv. Elem. sect. 44, 7? 8 ; vol. i. Notes, p. 35-51.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 445 
 
 body, unknown to iis in its essence, but which is en- 
 dowed with motive and sensitive powers. " We are 
 ignorant," he says, " if it be a substance, or only a 
 mode of the living human body." 
 
 " It is undoubtedly possible,"" he again remarks, " that, 
 conformably with a general law established by the Author of 
 nature, a faculty possessed of motive and sensitive powers 
 should necessarily be attached to the combination of matter, 
 of which each animal body is formed, and that this faculty 
 should contain the sufficient reason of the series of motions 
 that are necessary to the life of the animal throughout its 
 whole duration. But it is possible also," he adds, " that 
 God has united to the combination of matter which is ar- 
 ranged for the formation of each animal, a principle of life 
 subsisting by itself, and which differs in man from the think- 
 ing soul */' 
 
 From various passages of his writings, it is obvious 
 that M. Barthez inclined most to the • latter of these 
 opinions, but at the same time he frequently complains 
 of having been very much misunderstood or misrepre- 
 sented in being supposed to imagine that the name of 
 Vital Principle introduced into the Science of Man af- 
 fords a sufficient explanation of the functions of Life ; 
 and professes to employ it merely as an abstract term 
 for an unknown power, the use of which he conceived 
 would facilitate the investigation of the phenomena of 
 living beings, just as in Algebra letters are employed to 
 denote unknown quantities f . " It is of no importance 
 
 * Nouv. Elem. sect. 43, 11, and 36. 
 
 t M. Barthez insinuates (Vol. I. Notes, p. 15.) that M. Dumas 
 has done him injustice in employing, without attributing to him, 
 the comparison of the advantage which may be derived from the 
 use of the term Vital Principle in the science of Physiology, to
 
 446 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 to me," he says, " whether we attribute or refuse a par- 
 ticular and proper existence to the being which I call 
 Vital Principle ;" but, *' in investigating the secondary 
 laws of an experimental cause or faculty, it is useful to 
 employ the name of that faculty, as if that element 
 were known *." 
 
 Before admitting, how^ever, the existence of a Vital 
 Principle in the economy of organized beings, as a sub- 
 stance distinct from Mind and Matter, and charac- 
 terized like them by peculiar qualities of its own, it 
 would be necessary in the first place, to establish that 
 the properties attributed to this third substance, do 
 not belong either to the sentient mind, or to the 
 corporeal organization. But is it possible to affirm 
 this of either of the properties, Sensibility and Irrita- 
 bility, by which M. Barthez has characterized his Vi- 
 tal Principle ? It siuely cannot be doubted that sen- 
 sibility is a property of the principle we denominate 
 Mind, which is excited by the agency of external bo- 
 
 that which is derived in Algebra from the use of letters to denote 
 unknown quantities. This comparison, however, had previously 
 been suggested by Sauvages in the Prolegomena to his Nosology. 
 (§ 209.) But how these physiologists could suppose that any 
 resemblance can be traced between the employment, in Alge- 
 bra, of symbols to denote quantities unknown in their value, but 
 always of the same nature with the quantities the value of which 
 is known, and the employment, in Physiology, of an abstract term 
 expressive of an unknown cause, in investigating vital phenome- 
 na which are alleged to be different from the properties both of or- 
 ganized matter and of mind — the only known elements of the ani- 
 mal economy — they have not explained, nor is it easy to conjec- 
 ture. 
 
 * Nouv. Elem. sect. 37-42 ; sect. 45 ; vol. i. Notes, p. 3 : sect. 
 43; Disc. Prelim, p. 15.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULI.EN 447 
 
 dies acting through the intervention of the nervous sys- 
 tem ; or that irritability is a property of that form of 
 organized matter which we term muscular fibre, the 
 contractions and relaxations of which can, by the ap- 
 plication of various stimuli, be made as apparent to 
 the eye as any other motions occurring in the physical 
 world. If, instead of the properties by which M. Bar- 
 thez has chosen to characterize his Vital Principle, 
 and which are obviously the marks not of Vegetable 
 but of Animal life. Life be considered, as it was by 
 Aristotle, as consisting simply in the exercise of the 
 functions of nvitrition and generation, there is surely 
 nothing known respecting these functions, much as they 
 differ from any phenomena observable in unorganized 
 matter, to prevent us from believing that they arise 
 from the action of the external agents by which living 
 bodies are surrounded, upon the germs in which they 
 originate, and the material organs of which they come 
 ultimately to be composed ; and there can, consequent- 
 ly, be no occasion whatever for admitting the agency, 
 in the production of these functions, of a Principle dif- 
 ferent from organized matter. Indeed motions or 
 changes of matter, arising from the agencies of exter- 
 nal powders, seem to give rise to all the vital phenome- 
 na and functions which we are able to discover, by ob- 
 servation or experiment, in the economy of living Ve- 
 getables. In the Animal economy, the existence of 
 Muscular fibres and of a Nervous system, as well as 
 the union of a Sentient and conscious principle with 
 the material organization, not only modify in a very 
 considerable degree the manner in which the functions 
 essential to the preservation of the individual and of
 
 448 LIFE OF Dll CULLEX. 
 
 the species, and which are common to animals with 
 plants, are performed, but give rise to additional func- 
 tions which are peculiar to animals, and furnish the 
 characteristic marks by which they are distinguished 
 from vegetables. The Functions of the human econo- 
 my may perhaps admit of a fourfold division ; 1st, in- 
 to functions which seem to be wholly independent of 
 the sentient principle, and to arise solely from the ac- 
 tion of external agents on the organic properties with 
 which the different parts of the organized body con- 
 cerned in their performance are endowed — such as those 
 functions that are usually included under the term Na- 
 tural ; 2d, into the function of Perception, in which 
 impressions made and changes produced in some part 
 of the Nervous System are succeeded by those affec- 
 tions of the mind denominated Sensations; 3d, into 
 functions which appear to be wholly of a mental na- 
 ture, and unaccompanied in their exercise by the per- 
 ception or consciousness of any corporeal change, such 
 as those of Memory and Judgment ; and, 4th, into 
 functions in which affections of the mind, such as emo- 
 tions, propensities, desires, and volitions, are follow^ed 
 by motions or changes in some part of the body. These 
 four divisions of the phenomena, or functions of the 
 Animal economy, the Organical, the Organico-psy- 
 chical, the Psychical, or strictly Mental, and the 
 Psychico-orga7ikal, seem to comprehend all the ope- 
 rations of that economy of which observation or reflec- 
 tion have afforded us any knowledge, and to leave none 
 which can render it necessary for us to resort to any 
 third principle, besides Mind and organized Matter, 
 for their explanation.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 449 
 
 The other supposition respecting the Vital principle 
 suggested by M. Barthez, — that it may be regarded as 
 a peculiar faculty of the living human body, — is liable 
 to this obvious objection, that the phenomena proposed 
 to be comprehended under this term, are so widely dif- 
 ferent in their nature from one another, as not to ad- 
 mit of being referred to one common principle, nor, 
 consequently, of being designated by one common name. 
 By the definition of M. Barthez, the Vital principle 
 was made to comprehend all those phenomena which, 
 as Haller had shewn, ought to be referred to the two 
 distinct properties of Irritability and of Sensibility. 
 The laws of Sensibility, of Irritability, and of the Ani- 
 mal power, or of any other peculiar and distinct property 
 of living animals, which we may yet be able to detect 
 from an analysis of the various and complicated opera- 
 tions of which the functions of these beings consist, are 
 undoubtedly as proper objects of investigation to the 
 Physiologist, both separately and in their relations to 
 one another, as the laws of gravity, of heat, of electri- 
 city, or of chemical affinity, are to the natural philoso- 
 pher ; but there does not seem to be such an analogy 
 or close connection between Sensibility and Irritabili- 
 ty, as that any advantage should be derived from in- 
 cluding them under a common term. To employ the 
 term Life, or Vital Principle, to designate a single 
 cause, power or property of the organized body, upon 
 which the whole of the phenomena of living beings de- 
 pend, seems, indeed, as unphilosophical as it would be, 
 if, after inventing a term to denote all the various 
 operations on Vxhich tlie motion of a complicated piece 
 of machinery depends, we should fancy to ourselves 
 
 VOL. I. F f
 
 450 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 that the general term so employed denoted a common 
 power from which all these various operations proceed- 
 ed. The term Vital principle, considered simply as a 
 general expression for the whole phenomena which 
 constitute the functions of living bodies, the only legi- 
 timate meaning that can he attached to it, may, if ri- 
 gorously defined, — that is, if the phenomena compre- 
 hended under it be accurately stated, — prove a con- 
 venient, because a short, expression for these phenome- 
 na in medical writings ; but the use of this term cer- 
 tainly can never lead, as M. Barthez and others seem 
 to have expected, to any improvements or discoveries 
 in the science of living beings. 
 
 M. Barthez, though he considered Sensibility and Ir- 
 ritability as properties of one common principle, seems 
 to have perceived somewhat more clearly than MM. 
 Bordeu and Fouquet had done, that they must be re- 
 garded as two distinct powers, and not merely as modi- 
 fications of one another. " It is necessary," he remarks, 
 " to distinguish in the Vital principle, the sensitive 
 forces from the moving forces, because these two sorts 
 of forces produce effects entirely dissimilar ; just as in 
 the mind, which is one, metaphysicians distinguish the 
 understanding and the will, because the operations of 
 these faculties are evidently different." Yet the ex- 
 treme jealousy which he, in common with most of the 
 other members of the Montpellier School, seems to 
 have entertained of the ascendency which the doctrines 
 of Haller had acquired, rendered him anxious to de- 
 monstrate that Irritability is not altogether indepen- 
 dent of Sensibility, as Haller had maintained*. A 
 
 * Nouv. Elem. sect. 88; sect. 101, seqq.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 451 
 
 slight examination, however, of the proofs by which he 
 has illustrated this opinion, is sufficient to shew, that 
 when Sensibility is said to be the immediate cause of 
 the contractility of muscular fibre, the term is employ- 
 ed in precisely the same signification in which that of 
 Natural Perception had been used by Glisson — both 
 terms implying merely susceptibility of the impression 
 of external agents as manifested by organized beings, 
 and admitting therefore of application to plants though 
 they are destitute of a nervous system, as well as to 
 animals which are possessed of one. 
 
 In adopting the common division of Corporeal Sym- 
 pathies into General and Particular, M. Barthez en- 
 deavoured to improve our knowledge of particular sym- 
 pathies, first, by establishing a more precise and cor- 
 rect limitation of the phenomena which ought to be 
 included under that term, than had been proposed by 
 preceding physiologists ; and, secondly, by instituting 
 a more accurate classification of these phenomena un- 
 der distinct heads, according to the analogies which 
 they bear to one another. A particular sympathy, he 
 conceived, is shewn to exist between two organs, when- 
 ever an affection of the one occasions, sensibly and fre- 
 quently, a corresponding affection of the other, without 
 its being possible to refer this succession of affections 
 to casual coincidence, — to the mechanical action of the 
 one organ upon the other, — or to the synergia or co- 
 operation of several organs, in the performance of some 
 particular function, or in the production of some parti- 
 cular disease ^. 
 
 * Nouv. Elem. sect. 156. M. Barthez alleges, that the authors 
 who had written before his time on the Sympathies of the organs, 
 
 Ff 2
 
 452 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 The phenomena of Sympathy, like those of Life in 
 general, JM. Barthez thought it improper to attribute 
 either to the physical organization of the body or to the 
 agency of the mind. Even in those cases in which 
 nervous communications can be traced between the 
 parts which sympathise, he alleged that these commu- 
 nications must be regarded as sensible conditions, but 
 not as necessary causes of the particular sympathies, 
 which cannot be explained on so mechanical a principle. 
 With regard to the hypothesis maintained by Whytt, 
 that all the sympathies of the nerves depend on an in- 
 termediate affection of the Sensorium, which hypothesis 
 he states to have been entertained also by Astruc and 
 Kaau Boerhaave, M. Barthez conceived that this pre- 
 tended necessary intervention of affections of the Sen- 
 had confounded them with the Synergiae. '* There are, however/' 
 he adds, " some enlightened physicians who seem to have had a 
 general idea of this distinction, though they have not expressed 
 it." (Sect. 161.) And his biographer, M. Lordat, in repeating and 
 confirming Barthez' claim to the merit of this distinction, observes, 
 that *' though Bausner seems to have indistinctly perceived the 
 necessity of separating these two classes of phenomena, when he 
 divided the sympathies into the Consensus aclionum and the Con- 
 sensus passiomnn, (De Consensu Partimn. Amstelod. 1656), he 
 was not successful in fixing the line of demarcation between them, 
 and he deduced no general conclusions from the view which he 
 adopted." (Expos, de la Doctr. Med. de Barthez, p. 182.) It is 
 singular that neither Barthez nor Lordat should have referred to 
 Rega, who, though he includes both classes of sympathetic pheno- 
 mena under the term of Consent or Sympathy, has distinguished 
 them very accurately from one another. How correctly Dr Cul- 
 len distinguished the Synergiae, or, as he termed them, *' the con- 
 current actions of several parts necessary to produce particular ef- 
 fects," from sympathies, has been already shewn. — Fide supi'a, 
 pp. 251, 252, & 308.
 
 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN 453 
 
 sorium commune may make us lose sight of, but can- 
 not diminish the difficulty of ascertaining, the real 
 causes of the sympathies of the nerves, which re- 
 quire, he says, to be sought for in a primary law of the 
 principle of Life *. But to attribute any phenomenon, 
 with Barthez, to the operation of an unknown Vital 
 principle, is obviously to say that we are not able to 
 explain it by the known laws of organized matter or 
 of mind ; and it seems still farther to imply, that all 
 attempts to trace it to the known, or to other hitherto 
 undiscovered, laws of these two substances will be fruit- 
 less. If the hypotheses of Nervous connection or of 
 the intervention of the common Sensory, are singly or 
 conjointly insufficient to explain all the phenomena of 
 Sympathy, it is certainly proper that their application 
 should not be pushed beyond its just extent ; but to 
 say that these phenomena depend on a law of an un- 
 known Vital principle, is at once to throw aside the 
 most probable explanations hitherto received, and to 
 discourage all attempts to arrive at others of a more 
 satisfactory nature. 
 
 M. Barthez, conceiving that the small progress which 
 he alleges to have been made in the Science of Man, 
 proportionally to what has been made in other useful 
 sciences, is to be attributed to a neglect on the part of 
 its cultivators, of the fundamental rules of the true me- 
 thod of philosophizing, judged it necessary that the 
 whole body of doctrine in this science should be re- 
 newed, conformably with the true principles of philo- 
 sophic method; and accordingly he professes the object of 
 his " Nouveaux Elemens de la Science de 1' Homme" 
 
 * Nouv. Elem. sect. 192, 106.
 
 454 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 to be, to give a general idea of the new form which 
 Physiology ought to assume, from the introduction of 
 his Vital Principle *. To those who have been accus- 
 tomed to trace the slow progress with which Medical 
 knowledge, as well as all other kinds of knowledge that 
 are dependent on observation and experience, has been 
 accumulated, it is amusing to find from time to time 
 authors gravely asserting, that the advances made pre- 
 viously to their own times in Medical science, — in an 
 acquaintance with the laws of the animal economy, 
 and of the numerous and complicated relations of its 
 different parts to one another, and to the multifarious 
 physical agents which are capable of influencing its 
 conditions in the states of health and disease, — have 
 been of no importance, or only calculated to mislead ; 
 and that they themselves have been the first to intro- 
 duce into this department of knowledge, those views 
 and principles, by the observance of which medical men 
 will in future be enabled to rear up a body of science 
 which may perhaps admit of addition but can never be 
 supplanted, — which never can experience that fate to 
 which they so remorselessly condemn the labours of 
 those who have preceded them. How strangely the 
 pretensions of such innovators contrast with the just 
 views taken of the progress of the natural sciences by 
 the philosophic Seneca ! " Non est res unius asvi con- 
 templatio Naturae, nee nititur fragili unius ingenii ful- 
 cro, venerabile Vennn." " Multum egerunt qui ante 
 nos fuerunt, sed non peregerunt ; multum adhuc restat 
 operis, multumque restabit. Neque ulli nato post mille 
 secula prsecidetur occasio aliquid adhuc adjiciendi." 
 
 * Nouv. Elem. Disc. Prem. p. 2-4.
 
 LIFE OF Bll CULLEN. ^lOS 
 
 A critical analysis of those " New Medical Doc- 
 trines," which from time to time are obtruded on pub- 
 lic attention, with high pretensions to originality and 
 strictness of philosophical induction, is in general suf- 
 ficient to shew, that they are merely the re-statements, 
 under new forms of expression, of opinions long ago 
 proposed, and probably long ago exploded, — in which, 
 for the mosi; part, from a hasty and imperfect genera- 
 lization of facts, some of them true in themselves, but 
 bearing no strict analogy with one another, two or more 
 of those general principles or facts under which the 
 particular facts of the science have been arranged, are 
 comprehended under some common appellation, such as 
 those of Anima, Archeus, Vital Principle, Excitabili- 
 ty, or Irritation, and these verbal abstractions of the 
 mind are preposterously represented as the expression 
 of an universal law applicable to all the phenomena of 
 the animal economy, and to the whole facts of Medical 
 Science *. 
 
 The pursuits of the school of Montpellier, and the 
 opinions to which they gave rise, seem for a long time 
 to have produced little effect on the doctrines and on 
 the practice of the medical Teachers of Paris M. 
 Richerand, in an account of M. Bordeu, prefixed to a 
 late edition of his works, has remarked, that " Bordeu 
 did not live to witness the triumph of his opinions ; 
 though admitted by some men of vigorous understand- 
 ing, they could not find their way into the schools ; 
 and the mechanical theories of Boerhaave prevailed in 
 these till the period of the Revolution. It was re- 
 served for the present School of Medicine of Paris," 
 
 * See Appendix, Note S.
 
 456 LIl E OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 he adds, " to consummate what our author had so hap- 
 pily commenced. From the first years of its forma- 
 tion, the doctrines of Boerhaave retained there only 
 one single defender, M. Corvisart." 
 
 Among those individuals of superior understanding 
 who outstripped the progress of the teachers in the 
 Medical School of Paris, v/e must include M. Senac, 
 the distinguished author of the Traite du Coeur. In 
 endeavouring to arrive at some principle which might 
 account for the motions of the heart, this author reject- 
 ed all those explanations of animal motions which phy- 
 siologists had founded on the properties of unorganized 
 matter, such as those of fermentation, effervescence, 
 elasticity, &c. ; and he rejected also, as still less wor- 
 thy of attention, the supposition of a spiritual agent 
 presiding over all the automatic motions of animated 
 hodies. " The action of the Soul or Sentient princi- 
 ple," he remarks, '* throws no light on the action of 
 hodies. To seek in such an agent for the causes of 
 the vital motions, is it not to seek these causes in an 
 ohscure and unknown agent ; is it not to declare that 
 the springs of mechanism cannot he the principle of 
 our involuntary motions ? Had Stahl sufficiently esta- 
 blished the insufficiency of mechanism to account for the 
 automatic motions of living beings ? Before rejecting 
 it, it w^ould be necessary to know all its extent and all 
 its limits ; but can the greatest genius, possessed of the 
 highest attainments, flatter himself that he knows all 
 the motions which can result from mechanism ? Stahl 
 therefore was not entitled to deny that the automatic 
 actions of animals may depend upon mechanical prin- 
 ciples, and the agent which he supposed is merely a
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 457 
 
 name, with vvhicli he was contented, m order to avoid 
 the necessity of laborious investigations." The me- 
 chanism of which Senac speaks in the foregoing quo- 
 tation was the mechanism of organization, for he fully 
 recognised the existence in the animal economy of a 
 re-active force, corresponding in its properties with the 
 description which Glisson had given of Irritability, and 
 he very properly distinguished this power from Sensi- 
 bility. In explaining why the theory of irritability 
 had been so little attended to by physiologists subse- 
 quent to Glisson, he observes, " What has deceived 
 so many writers is a false idea w^hich still prevails with 
 regard to the meaning of irritability, which is an equi- 
 vocal term. It has been supposed that every principle 
 of irritation is a principle of sensation or of pain ; and 
 it has not been adverted to, that a part may be very 
 susceptible of motion or of agitation without being 
 susceptible of sensation or feeling. The heart, for 
 example, appears insensible ; animals in which we tear 
 it remain tranquil ; and still there is in this organ a 
 secret force which obeys every impulsion and all ir- 
 ritating bodies." Contrary to the opinion which Hal- 
 ler had advanced, but without naming him, M. Se- 
 nac espoused the hypothesis that the force which ani- 
 mates the heart is not inherent in the fibres of this or- 
 gan, and independent of the other parts, but that it is 
 contained in the nerves disseminated through its sub- 
 stance. At the same time, he was quite aware that 
 the integrity of the nervous system is not necessary to 
 maintain the heart in a state of action ; and he entered 
 into an able and elaborate investigation of the influ- 
 ence which the Brain, the Spinal Marrow, and the 
 
 1
 
 458 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 
 
 Nerves, respectively exercise upon the motions of this 
 organ *. 
 
 Dr CuLLEN delivered his course of lectures on the 
 Institutions of JNIedicine in the successive sessions of 
 1766-67, 1767-68, and 1768-69, and alternately 
 with his coiuse on the Practice of Physic in the ses- 
 sions of 1770-71 and 1772-73. That in changing 
 the scene of his exertions from the Chair of Chemistry 
 to that of the Theory of Physic, he lost none of the 
 popularity which he had so justly acquired with the 
 students, may be inferred, amongst other circumstances, 
 from the follo\ving address presented to him by a num- 
 ber of his pupils, in the beginning of 1768 : — 
 
 " Sir, Edinburgh, Qth February 1768. 
 
 " There is a portrait-painter now in town, who is reckoned 
 eminent in his profession. As we, and many more of your 
 pupils, are soon to leave the University, and so perhaps shall 
 never have an opportunity of seeing you again, we entreat 
 that you would take the trouble of sitting to him for your 
 picture, so that by this means an engraving may be got, of 
 which each of us may retain an impression. 
 
 " The regard which you have often shewn to our more 
 important concerns, inclines us to hope that this request may 
 be honoured with your comphance ; and although no circum- 
 stance in future Hfe can ever efface the memory of the bene- 
 fits which you have conferred on us and on the science which 
 we cultivate, yet, by having it thus in our power to transfer 
 your presence wherever we go, our affection will not only be 
 quickened, but you will still continue to excite in us that 
 diligence and ardour which the desire of imitating so inesti- 
 mable a pattern must undoubtedly inspire. We are. Sir, 
 your most humble and obedient servants." 
 
 • Traite du Coeiir, torn. ii. p. 100-153 ; livre iv. chap. vii. viii, ix. See 
 Appendix, Note T.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN- 459 
 
 Dr Cullen having complied with the request of his 
 pupils, his portrait was painted by the artist alluded 
 to, Mr Cochrane. The further intention of the stu- 
 dents to have a print made of this portrait does not 
 seem to have been fulfilled, no engraving, so far as I 
 am aware, having ever been made from it. The print 
 of Dr Cullen in circulation was taken from a portrait 
 of him by Martin, executed for the Medical Society 
 in 1777, and which still adorns their hall. 
 
 The list of pupils who enjoyed the benefit of Dr 
 Cullen's medical instruction, from the time of his com- 
 mencing to teach Clinical Medicine in Edinburgh, to 
 the time of his quitting the chair of the Theory of 
 Physic, contains the names of many individuals who 
 afterwards acquired great reputation as cultivators and 
 as practitioners of the healing art, and most of w^hom 
 manifested upon all occasions the strongest disposition 
 to testify their obligations to Dr Cullen, both as a 
 teacher and as a friend. Besides the letters of Dr 
 George Fordyce and Dr Balfour Russell, which have 
 already been noticed, there are various others preserved 
 from pupils of this period, which shew how eager those 
 who had in this capacity enjoyed his instructions and 
 friendly intercourse, were, subsequently to their leav- 
 ing the University, to avail themselves of his advice 
 and to procure his approbation, before submitting to 
 the public eye the results of their observations or spe- 
 culations on medical subjects ; and his answers to these 
 communications shew that he did not treat applications 
 of this kind as mere matters of ceremony, nor fear to 
 offend the ainour-propre of those who reposed this 
 confidence in him, when he hoped, that, by his point-
 
 460 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 ing out imperfections in their literary productions, 
 either in point of matter or of form, they might be en- 
 abled to render these more worthy of public approba- 
 tion. 
 
 Amongst the Medical students of this period, who 
 seem to have enjoyed a large share of Dr CuUen's no- 
 tice and favour, may be mentioned Dr Matthew Dob- 
 son, who has been already alluded to, as having assisted 
 Dr Cullen in his experiments on the Cold produced 
 by Evaporation, and who, on leaving Edinburgh, set- 
 tled at Liverpool, from whence he subsequently re- 
 moved to Bath ; besides an Essay on the Urine in 
 Diabetes, which he contributed to the fifth volume of 
 the Medical Observations and Inquiries, Dr Dobson 
 was the author of a work on Fixed Air; — Dr Bal- 
 four Russell, and Dr G. Fordyce, of whom mention 
 has already been made ; — Dr Thomas Smith, who ac- 
 quired great reputation by the inaugural dissertation 
 on the Motion of the Muscles, which he published on 
 graduating at Edinburgh in 1767, and who settled as 
 a practitioner at Birmingham ; — Sir Walter Farquhar, 
 who rose to much eminence in London, first as a ge- 
 neral practitioner, and afterwards as a physician ; — Dr 
 A. Monro Drummond, who was nominated Dr Cul- 
 len's successor in the Chair of the Institutions of Me- 
 dicine, on the death of Dr John Gregory, an ap- 
 pointment, however, of which he never availed him- 
 self; — Sir James Carmichael Smyth, who, amongst his 
 different writings, is perhaps most widely known by his 
 observations on the Influence of Structure in- modifying 
 the phenomena of Inflammation, and by his recom- 
 mendation of Acid Gases for the purpose of destroy-
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 461 
 
 iiig Contagions ; — Dr William Saunders, who settled 
 in London, where he was appointed -physician to Guy's 
 Hospital, and who was the author of well-known works 
 on the Liver, and on Mineral Waters ; — Dr Thomas 
 Percival of Manchester, who acquired much reputation 
 hy various literary and professional publications ; — Dr 
 Withering, afterwards of Birmingham, well known by 
 his botanical works, as w^ell as by some essays on prac- 
 tical medicine;— Dr Haygarth, who particularly dis- 
 tinguished himself by his philanthropic inquiries into 
 the means for preventing contagions, and his plan 
 for exterminating small-pox ; — • Dr John Hogerson, 
 who became physician to the Empress Katharine of 
 Russia; — Dr Francis Balfour, the author of a well 
 known and ingenious w'ork on sol-lunar influence ; — 
 Dr John Bostock, father of the present distinguished 
 physiologist, whose premature death disappointed the 
 sanguine hopes which Dr Cullen and his other friends 
 had been led to form of his maturer exertions in the 
 promotion of medical science, from the early manifes- 
 tation of his talents, and the assiduity with which he 
 cultivated them;— Dr John Fleming, who has been 
 already alluded to as having acted as Dr Cullen's cli- 
 nical clerk in 1765, and as having been long a mem- 
 ber of the JMedical Board of Calcutta ; — Sir Charles 
 Blagden, afterwards Secretary to the Koyal Society, 
 to whose Transactions he contributed several curious 
 and important papers ; — Dr William Falconer, who 
 settled at Bath, and who, besides his treatise on the 
 waters of that place, was the author of several medical 
 treatises of considerable merit ; — Dr Benjamin Hush, 
 who, by his writings and lectures, as Professor of the
 
 4621 LirE OF DU CULLEN. 
 
 Theory and Practice of Medicine in the University of 
 Pennsylvania, materially contributed to the promotion 
 of medical science in the United States of America ; 
 — Dr Odier of Geneva ; — Mr Benjamin Bell, who rose 
 to the head of his own department of the healing art 
 in Edinburgh ; — Dr Nathaniel Dimsdale, the son of 
 Baron Dimsdale ; — Sir Gilbert Blane, whose contribu- 
 tions to Naval Medicine justly entitle him to the es- 
 teem and gratitude of a country so much dependent on 
 her maritime strength, and whose writings everywhere 
 evince how much he had imbibed of the philosophic 
 spirit of his master ; — and Dr James Johnstone, who 
 published, during the time of his residence in Edin- 
 burgh, an essay on the use of the Ganglia, which pro- 
 cured him considerable reputation as a physiologist, 
 both at home and on the Continent of Europe. I 
 have inserted into the Appendix a number of letters 
 written by the more distinguished of these pupils to 
 Dr CuUen, at later periods of their lives, partly be- 
 cause the names of the writers are themselves sufficient 
 to warrant the propriety of their preservation ; and 
 partly because they reflect light on the character and 
 dispositions of the subject of this narrative, as manifest- 
 ing the strength and permanence of the impressions 
 produced on their youthful minds by the variety and 
 accuracy of his knowledge, the activity and vigour of 
 his understanding, and the kind interest he took in 
 their particular studies and prospects *. 
 
 Amongst the different subjects to which Dr Cul- 
 len's attention was occasionally requested by former 
 pupils, were complaints on the part of those who had 
 
 * Appendix, Note U. 
 2 
 
 i
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 463 
 
 settled as medical practitioners in England, of the pre- 
 judices with which they had to contend as graduates 
 of a Scotch University. The ahuse which had un- 
 doubtedly occurred in several instances, of the practice 
 pursued at that time by some of the Scotch Universi- 
 ties, of conferring degrees in absence, had afforded 
 some pretext for insinuating, that but little considera- 
 tion was due to a Scotch degree ; and the graduates of 
 the English Universities had, — by their being entitled, 
 in virtue of their degrees, to practise physic in every 
 part of England, except London and its vicinity, with- 
 out obtaining any licence from the College of Physi- 
 cians in London, as the graduates of other universities 
 were obliged to do, and by their being exclusively eli- 
 gible as Fellows of this College, — been led to foster the 
 notion of their own superiority over the graduates even 
 of those Scotch Universities where degrees were not 
 conferred without an accurate investigation of the can- 
 didates' qualifications. 
 
 Unfortunately for the University of Edinburgh, 
 though in general free from the reproach of conferring 
 its medical degrees on unworthy objects, an occurrence 
 took place in ]766, which exposed it to suspicion and 
 censure. In that year, as has been observed by Dr Fo- 
 thergill's biographer, " one Samuel Leeds, an illiterate 
 person, who had been brought up to the trade of a 
 brush-maker, was admitted by the University of Edin- 
 burgh to the degree of Doctor of Physic ; and on his 
 coming to London soon afterwards, being espoused by 
 several leading persons among the Quakers, was chosen 
 physician to the London Hospital. Soon after his 
 election, one of his colleagues, in a conversation with
 
 4{)4 LIFE OF i)R CUl.LEX. 
 
 Dr Fotliergill, happening to mention Leeds's success, 
 the Doctor replied, ' Take care he does no mischief.' 
 It was not long before Leeds gave sufficient marks of 
 his ignorance to alarm the Governors, and what had 
 dropped from so respectable a person as Dr Fothergill, 
 might perhaps not a little tend to convince them of 
 their precipitancy in electing a physician to their hos- 
 pital, so unqualified for the duties of it. They there- 
 fore made a resolution, ' that no physician should 
 continue to officiate in that hospital, who had not pass- 
 ed an examination at the College of Physicians.' " Dr 
 Leeds, on presenting himself to the College, was exa- 
 mined and rejected. The expression that had escaped 
 Dr Fothergill with regard to Leeds, having come to 
 his knowledge, he made it the foundation of an accu- 
 sation which was brought before his own Society, by 
 whom it was referred to five arbitrators, three of whom 
 awarded L. 500 damages to Dr Leeds, refusing to 
 hear Dr Fothergill's principal evidence. Dr Fo- 
 thergill having been advised by his friends to re- 
 fuse to abide by the decision of the arbitrators, sent 
 his brother to Edinburgh, to collect proofs of Dr 
 Leeds's ignorance, and of his having obtained his de- 
 gree by undue means ; and on this occasion he wrote 
 two letters to Dr Cullen, who had been his fellow- 
 student at Edinburgh in 1734-5, which, as they af- 
 ford some explanation of the manner in which this un- 
 lucky blunder on the part of the University of Edin- 
 burgh had arisen, I have inserted into the Appendix *. 
 After much altercation in the Society of Quakers, the 
 case was brought by Dr Leeds before the Court of 
 
 * Note V. Appendix.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 465 
 
 King's Bench. " I^ord INIansfield, on hearing the evi- 
 dence and counsel on the part of Dr Leeds, refused to 
 hear Dr Fothergill's counsel, because, he observed, the 
 evidence on the part of Dr Leeds's arbitrators was suf- 
 ficient to prove the illegality and injustice of their ow^n 
 award- The learned Judge further added, that Dr 
 Fothergill did no more than his duty in saying what 
 he was charged with ; and that he would not have act- 
 ed as an honest man had he said less." 
 
 The attention of the College of Physicians of London 
 having been directed by this occurrence to their regula- 
 tions respecting the admission of licentiates, it appears 
 that their President, Sir William Browne, took occasion 
 to assert that the graduates of Edinburgh had no right to 
 be taken on trial for admission into that body, as Edin- 
 burgh was not a University, and consequently not capable 
 of conferring degrees, — a declaration calculated to excite 
 no small degree of alarm in the minds of those who had 
 received their degrees from that University, after ha- 
 ving passed in it through a regular course of medical 
 instruction, and after having undergone strict examina- 
 tions into their qualifications. Among Dr Cullen's 
 papers I find a letter addressed to him at this time by 
 Dr William Gumming, who had studied along with 
 him and Dr Fothergill at Edinburgh, and had subse- 
 quently settled as a physician at Dorchester, of which 
 the following is an extract. 
 
 " An event has lately happened which affects me and 
 three other gentlemen in this county, who have had the 
 honour of receiving our medical degrees from the University 
 of Edinburgh. I need not tell you, as I believe you already 
 know it, that, upon a late occasion, Sir W. Browne, Presi- 
 
 VOI.. I. ^' g
 
 466 LIFE OF DIl CULLKN. 
 
 dent of the College of Physicians in London, has i7i office 
 asserted that Edinburgh is no University, and therefore has 
 no power to confer degrees. * * * i was informed from 
 London, that a report prevailed there that one of the Elects, 
 or of the Fellows, of the London College had written a letter 
 to Dr Robertson, your worthy Principal, assuring him that 
 Sir W. Browne's behaviour in this matter was contrary to the 
 sentiments of the College, and that the young gentleman who 
 had been refused the appellation of Doctor, was now to be 
 examined by the College as an extra-licentiate, and was to be 
 allowed that title. The Graduates of the English Universi- 
 ties have, on many occasions, thrown out hints, as if they 
 looked on the Scotch doctors as of a class inferior to them- 
 selves, and sometimes refused to consult with them, as once 
 happened to myself many years ago, in the case of a gentle- 
 man of fortune in this neighbourhood, when the insolent 
 Oxonian declared, totidem verbis^ that he had no objec- 
 tion to my person, parts, or skill in my profession, but that 
 he thought it a duty w^hich he owed to that University of 
 which he was a member, not to consult with any one who 
 had not been educated at an English University. The con- 
 sequence in this particular case was, that I was employed in 
 the gentleman's family for fifteen years after (so long as he 
 or any of his family lived), and that the Oxonian was in- 
 stantly dismissed. That many of the Fellows of the London 
 College entertain sentiments very different from those of 
 their President, I am w ell convinced ; but, at the same time, 
 I believe the President is not single in his opinion, and that 
 there are some amongst them who are of the same sentiments 
 with him. This act of his cannot be looked on as merely 
 declaratory of his private opinion, but must undoubtedly be 
 construed as an act of the whole body ; as it was an assertion 
 in office of the President of the College who is (if I am not 
 mistaken, and I am pretty clear I am not), the only person 
 who, by the Act of Parliament, is to be apphed to in the 
 case of an extra-licentiate. The Professors of Edinburgh
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 467 
 
 have, therefore, an undoubted right to demand and insist on 
 a public and ample renunciation and disavowal of this insult, 
 and an acknowledgment of their rights and privileges under 
 the Seal of the College." 
 
 With a view to remove all just cause of reproach 
 agaiust Scotch graduates, Dr Cullen became extremely 
 desirous that the practice of conferring medical degrees 
 on unqualified persons should be effectually checked, 
 by the Universities being prevented from granting 
 these to any persons who had not gone through a regu- 
 lar course of study, and submitted themselves to a strict 
 examination. A favourable opportunity for procuring 
 the attention of Government to this subject seemed to 
 present itself on the election of the Duke of Buccleugh 
 as an Honorary Fellow of the Edinburgh College of 
 Physicians, during the time Dr Cullen was President 
 of that body in 1774. I find the following letter, in- 
 dicative of the Duke's wishes, addressed to Dr Cullen 
 by his Grace's law- agent Mr Davidson : 
 
 " Dear Doctor 
 
 " I am ordered by the Duke of Buccleugh to tell you 
 he is most sensible of the honour the College of Physicians 
 have done him, and that he wishes most heartily it may be 
 in his power to show it. He regrets greatly he had not the 
 pleasure of seeing you to express all this to you. He desires 
 me to ask you if it is true that, in any of the Scotch Uni- 
 versities, degrees in physic are given on paying certain fees, 
 without due examination and previous attendance at the 
 Universities ; because, if it is so, his Grace thinks it is truly 
 a matter of reproach to the country, and of most pernicious 
 example, and what he would wish to have remedied, if he had 
 information how that can be done. All this I should have 
 told you personally, but I thought a letter would reach vou 
 
 Gg2
 
 468 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 sooner and more certainly than I could ; and you know, if 
 you choose it, I would wait on you at any time you pleased, 
 though I am not willing to break in upon you unseasonably. 
 If you pass this way I will be happy to see you on this mat- 
 ter, and I am, with the compliments of the season, most per- 
 fectly. Dear Doctor, your humble servant, 
 
 " John Davidson." 
 " Castle Hill, Edinburgh, 
 January 15. 1774." 
 
 In order to facilitate the Duke of Buccleugh's appli- 
 cation to Government with regard to Scotch medical 
 degrees given in absence, Dr Cullen drew up the follow- 
 ing Memorial, setting forth the grievances complained 
 of, and suggesting the different means by which they, 
 might be remedied. 
 
 " MEMORIAL. 
 
 " It has been long complained of, that some of the Univer- 
 sities of Scotland make a shameful trafRck of degrees in 
 physic. 
 
 " The complaint is founded on the following circumstances 
 of their practice. 
 
 " The Universities of St Andrew's and Aberdeen have fre- 
 quently given degrees in absence; that is, have conferred 
 degrees by diploma on persons who never appeared before 
 them to undergo any examination ; and they confer the de- 
 gree merely upon a certificate of two physicians, declaring 
 that they j udge the candidate or person recommended to be 
 worthy of a degree in physic. Very often the physicians 
 thus certifying are obscure persons, and as little known to 
 the University as the person they recommend ; and sometimes 
 it may be presumed that the certifying physicians are very 
 little qualified to judge of medical knowledge and abilities. 
 In short, it is alleged, and commonly believed, that little else
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 469 
 
 than the payment of the usual fees is necessary to obtain 
 such a degree. 
 
 " Farther, the same Universities of St Andrew's and Aber- 
 deen, when conferring degrees upon persons present and un- 
 dergoing examination, do, however, admit persons to such 
 examination without any evidence of the candidate's having 
 applied regularly to the study of physic, or of his having 
 made any residence for that purpose in any University where 
 the several branches of medical study are properly taught' 
 How the examinations, in such cases, are conducted, it is not 
 possible to say, in general ; but, from some instances of per- 
 sons who have received such degrees, it is strongly suspected 
 that the examinations are not strict or rigorous. 
 
 " It is to be observed, that the University of Glasgow, 
 though they do not commonly give degrees in absence, yet 
 they often give degrees, without requiring any certificate of 
 the candidate's previous study. 
 
 " These practices are considered as an abuse. A degree 
 in physic is, or should be, considered as the testimony of pro- 
 per judges, in favour of the medical knowledge and abiUties 
 of the person who holds the degree ; and, at least, it should 
 be considered as a certificate of a person's having regularly, 
 and for a due length of time, applied to the study of physic ; 
 but, as a degree, conferred as above, cannot be viewed in any 
 of these lights, the practice of conferring such degrees must 
 be considered as an abuse of the institution, an imposition 
 upon the public, a great discouragement to the proper study 
 of physic, and a matter of constant reproach speciously 
 thrown upon all Scotch degrees. 
 
 " The abuses complained of are particularly a hardship 
 upon the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, who 
 are obliged by their charter to grant licences, without exa- 
 mination, to any person who has obtained a degree from any 
 of the Universities of Scotland. 
 
 " It is presumed, that every man who has a regard to the 
 public good, and to the honour of Scotch Hterature, will be
 
 470 IJFE OF DR CULI.EN. 
 
 zealous to have ilie above mentioned abuses corrected, and 
 the practice reformed ; but the means of obtaining this ap- 
 pears to be somewhat difficult. 
 
 " There is no very certain and effectual means of correct- 
 ing the irregular practices of the Universities of Scotland, 
 but by a Royal Visitation ; that is, by his Majesty's granting 
 a Commission to certain persons to inquire and to correct, as 
 they shall see cause. 
 
 " Such a Commission, however, is to be passed under the 
 Great Seal, and is to be directed to some persons of high 
 rank and distinction, who must necessarily repair to the se- 
 veral Universities, and in this and other respects take a great 
 deal of trouble. It is doubted if his Majesty's ministers will 
 readily engage in such expense and trouble ; and we would 
 therefore wish to find some other method that might be more 
 easily and readily executed. 
 
 " But if it shall be found improper to have his Majesty's 
 power exercised, or name employed, in any other way than 
 by a Commission, it is supposed, that any person in high 
 office, and particularly the Secretary of State for the North- 
 ern Department, might, even in a private capacity, give an 
 advice or admonition to the administrators of the Universi- 
 ties, to have certain notorious abuses corrected. 
 
 '* It is presumed that such an admonition would be attend- 
 ed to, as it might be understood as a threatening that, if the 
 admonition was neglected, it might be followed by a Visitation, 
 which, we know well, has the power of distressing disobedient 
 members ; and, as the benefit arising from the conferring of 
 degrees in the manner above mentioned is only considerable 
 with respect to a single member of the University, that is, 
 the Professor of Physic, and very small with respect to the 
 whole community, it is therefore supposed that a slight in- 
 junction will be sufficient to engage most of the members of 
 the University to join in correcting an abuse which truly dis- 
 honours the Society. 
 
 ^' If it shall be thought proper to give any injunction to
 
 LIFE OF DR CUI.LEN. 471 
 
 the Universities, it is humbly suggested that it should be 
 simple, and with respect to the two following particulars 
 only. 
 
 " First, That they be enjoined to give no degrees in ab- 
 sence, but such as are honorary, and given without fees, to 
 persons of rank and distinction, or to persons who had given 
 some public specimen of their literature and medical know- 
 ledge. 
 
 " Secondly, That, in giving degrees to persons present, 
 and wilhng to undergo a proper examination, they shall 
 not admit any person as a candidate, who does not bring a 
 proper certificate of his having resided for two years at least 
 in an University wherein physic is regularly taught, and of 
 his having applied to all the branches of medical study. 
 
 " It may be justly doubted if the two years' residence here 
 proposed is enough for acquiring a tolerable knowledge in 
 physic ; but it is taken from a late regulation of the Royal 
 College of Physicians at London, who have made it a condi- 
 tion with respect to the licentiates they are to admit. 
 
 " It is not doubted that, in every University, the Univer- 
 sity Senate has full power to make the regulations proposed, 
 and has also an opportunity of securing the observation of 
 them, as no degree is at any time conferred without the con- 
 sent of the Senate, or diploma granted that is not subscribed 
 by a majority of the members. 
 
 " In directing any injunction to the Universities, it may be 
 considered how far it is proper and necessary to address it 
 to the several Chancellors, from whose authority every aca- 
 demical degree is supposed to proceed ; or if it may be ad- 
 dressed to the more immediate administrators of the Univer- 
 sity ; that is, to the Rector, Principal, and other members of 
 the University Senate, without whose concurrence it is be- 
 lieved that no new regulations in the University can te 
 made. 
 
 " The present Chancellor of the University of St Andrew's, 
 is the Earl of Kinnoul.
 
 472 LIFE OF Dll CULL FN. 
 
 " The Chancellor of Glasgow is the Duke of Montrose. 
 
 " The Chancellor of Aberdeen is the Earl of Bute. 
 
 " The Marischall College, Aberdeen, which acts as a se- 
 parate University, has at present no Chancellor. 
 
 " The University of Edinburgh has the Magistrates and 
 Town Council of Edinburgh, as Patrons in the place of 
 Chancellor and Rector. 
 
 " It may be observed, that the Chancellors of the several 
 Universities, though they may act as members of the Uni- 
 versity Senate, have not for a long time past taken any part 
 in the administration of the Universities.**" 
 
 This Memorial, at the desire of the Duke of Buc- 
 cleugh, was submitted to the consideration of Dr Adam 
 Smith, who had some years before accompanied his 
 Grace in his travels on the Continent of Europe, and 
 who was at the time engaged in the composition of his 
 work on the Wealth of Nations, in which, as is well 
 known, in treating " of the expense of the institutions 
 for the education of youth," he has very ingeniously, 
 though perhaps somewhat incautiously, applied to the 
 business of Education those principles of unfettered 
 and unassisted competition which it was the great 
 object of that work to inculcate in regard to Trade 
 and Commerce. After a careful consideration of the 
 Memorial, Dr Smith transmitted to Dr Cullen a very 
 detailed statement of his opinions on the subject to 
 which it relates, in the following letter, in which he has, 
 with much ability, playful ingenuity, and an unusual 
 liveliness of manner, endeavoured to palliate in some 
 degree the practices complained of, and to apply his 
 general principles of free competition to the teaching 
 and to the practice of the Medical profession. 
 
 I
 
 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 473 
 
 " My Dear Doctor, 
 
 " I have been very much in the wrong both to you and 
 to the Duke of Buccleugh, to whom I certainly promised to 
 write you in a post or two, for having delayed so long to 
 fulfil my promise. The truth is, some occurrences which in- 
 terested me a good deal, and which happened here imme- 
 diately after the Duke'*s departure, made me forget altoge- 
 ther a business which I do acknowledge interested me very 
 little. 
 
 " In the present state of the Scotch Universities, I do 
 most sincerely look upon them as, in spite of all their faults, 
 without exception the best seminaries of learning that are to 
 be found any where in Europe. "^I'hey are, perhaps, upon 
 the whole, as unexceptionable as any public institutions of 
 that kind, which all contain in their very nature the seeds 
 and causes of negligence and corruption, have ever been, or 
 are ever likely to be. That, however, they are still capable 
 of amendment, and even of considerable amendment, I know 
 very well, and a Visitation is, I believe, the only proper 
 means of procuring them this amendment. Before any wise 
 man, however, would apply for the appointment of so arbi- 
 trary a tribunal, in order to improve what is already, upon 
 the whole, very ivell, he ought certainly to know with some 
 degi'ee of certainty, first, who are likely to be appointed visi- 
 tors ; and, secondly, what plan of reformation those visitors 
 are likely to follow. But, in the present multiplicity of pre- 
 tenders to some share in the provincial management of Scotch 
 affairs, these are two points, which I apprehend neither you 
 nor I, nor the Solicitor-General, nor the Duke of Buccleugh, 
 can possibly know any thing about. In the present state of 
 our affairs, therefore, to apply for a Visitation in order to 
 remedy an abuse, which is not perhaps of great consequence 
 to the public, would appear to me to be extremely unwise.
 
 474 LIFE OF DR CULLEN 
 
 Hereafter, perhaps an opportunity may present itself for 
 making such an application with more safety. 
 
 "• With regard to any admonition or threatening, or any 
 other method of interfering in the affairs of a body corpo- 
 rate, which is not perfectly and strictly regular and legal, 
 these are expedients which I am convinced neither his Ma- 
 jesty nor any of his present Ministers would choose to em- 
 ploy either now or at any time hereafter^ in order to obtain 
 an object even of much greater consequence than this refor- 
 mation of Scotch degrees. 
 
 " You propose, I observe, that no person should be ad- 
 mitted to examination for his degrees, unless he brought a 
 certificate of his having studied at least two years in some 
 University. Would not such a regulation be oppressive 
 upon all private teachers, such as the Hunters, Hewson, 
 Fordyce, &c. ? The scholars of such teachers surely merit 
 whatever honour or advantage a degree can confer, much 
 more than the greater part of those who have spent many 
 years in some Universities, where the different branches of 
 medical knowledge are either not taught at all, or are taught 
 so superficially that they had as well not be taught at all. 
 When a man has learned his lesson very Avell, it surely can 
 be of little importance where or from whom he has learnt it. 
 " The monopoly of medical education which this regulation 
 would establish in favour of Universities would, I apprehend, 
 be hurtful to the lasting prosperity of such bodies-corporate. 
 Monopolists very seldom make good work, and a lecture 
 which a certain number of students must attend, whether 
 they profit by it or no, is certainly not very likely to be a 
 o'ood one. I have thought a great deal upon this subject, 
 and have inquired very carefully into the constitution and 
 history of several of the principal Universities of Europe. I 
 have satisfied myself, that the present state of degradation and 
 contempt into which the greater part of those societies have 
 fallen in almost every part of Europe, arises principally, first.
 
 LIFE OF DR CUIJ.EN. 475 
 
 from the large salaries which in some Universities are given 
 to professors, and which render them altogether independent 
 of their diligence and success in their .professions ; and, 
 secondly, from the great number of students, who, in order 
 to get degrees, or to be admitted to exercise certain profes- 
 sions, or who, for the sake of bursaries, exhibitions, scholar- 
 ships, fellowships, &c., are obliged to resort to certain societies 
 of this kind, whether the instructions which they are likely to 
 receive there are or are not worth the receiving. All those 
 different causes of negligence and corruption, no doubt take 
 place in some degree in all our Scotch Universities. In the 
 best of them, however, those causes take place in a much 
 less degree than in the greater part of other considerable so- 
 cieties of the same kind ; and I look upon this circumstance 
 as the real cause of their present excellence. In the medical 
 College of Edinburgh in particular, the salaries of the Pro- 
 fessors are insignificant. There are few or no bursaries or 
 exhibitions, and their monopoly of degrees is broken in upon 
 by all other Universities, foreign and domestic. I require 
 no other explication of its present acknowledged superiority 
 over every other society of the same kind in Europe. 
 
 " To sign a certificate in favour of any man whom we 
 know little or nothing about, is most certainly a practice 
 which cannot be strictly vindicated. It is a practice, how- 
 ever, which, from mere good nature, and without interest of 
 any kind, the most scrupulous men in the world are some- 
 times guilty of. I certainly do not mean to defend it. Ba- 
 ting the unhandsomeness of the practice, however, I would 
 ask in what manner does the public suffer by it ? The title 
 of Doctor, such as it is, you will say, gives some credit and 
 authority to the man upon whom it is bestowed ; it extends 
 his practice, and consequently his field for doing mischief; 
 it is not improbable, too, that it may increase his presump- 
 tion, and consequently his disposition to do mischief. That 
 a degree injudiciously conferred may sometimes have some
 
 476 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 little effect of this kind, it would surely be absurd to deny ; 
 but that this effect should be very considerable, I cannot 
 bring myself to believe. That Doctors are sometimes fools 
 as well as other people, is not, in the present times, one of 
 those profound secrets which is known only to the learned. 
 The title is not so very imposing, and it very seldom hap- 
 pens that a man trusts his health to another merely because 
 that other is a doctor. The person so trusted has almost 
 always either some knowledge or some craft which would 
 procure him nearly the same trust, though he was not deco- 
 rated with any such title. In fact, the persons who apply 
 for degrees in the irregular manner complained of, are, the 
 greater part of them, surgeons or apothecaries, who are in the 
 custom of advising and prescribing, that is, of practising as 
 physicians ; but who, being only surgeons and apothecaries, 
 are not fee-ed as physicians. It is not so much to extend their 
 practice as to increase their fees, that they are desirous of being 
 made doctors. Degrees conferred, even undeservedly, vipon 
 such persons, can surely do very little harm to the public. 
 When the University of St Andrew's, very rashly and im- 
 prudently, conferred a degree upon one Green, who hap- 
 pened to be a stage- doctor, they no doubt brought much 
 ridicule and discredit upon themselves ; but in what respect 
 did they hurt the pubhc ? Green still continued to be what 
 he was before, a stage- doctor, and probably never poisoned 
 a single man more than he would have done though the ho- 
 nours of graduation had never been conferred upon him. 
 Stage-doctors, I must observe, do not much excite the indig- 
 nation of the faculty ; more reputable quacks do. The for- 
 mer are too contemptible to be considered as rivals : They 
 only poison the poor people ; and the copper pence whicli 
 are thrown up to them in handkerchiefs, could never find 
 their way to the pocket of a regular physician. It is otlier- 
 wise with the latter : They sometimes intercept a part of 
 what perhaps would hav e been better bestowed in another
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 477 
 
 place. Do not all the old women in the country practise physic 
 without exciting murmur or complaint ? And if here and 
 there a graduated doctor should be as ignorant as an old. 
 woman, where can be the great harm ? The beardless old 
 woman, indeed, takes no fees ; the bearded one does, and 
 it is this circumstance I strongly suspect, which exasperates 
 his brethren so much against him. 
 
 " There never was, and, I will venture to say, there never 
 will be, a University from which a degree could give any tole- 
 rable security, that the person upon whom it had been con- 
 ferred, was fit to practise physic. The strictest Universities 
 confer degrees only upon students of a certain standing. 
 Their real motive for requiring this standing is, that the 
 student may spend more money among them, and that they 
 may make more profit by him. When he has attained this 
 standing, therefore, though he still undergoes what they call 
 an examination, it scarce ever happens that he is refused his 
 degree. Your examination at Edinburgh, I have all reason 
 to believe, is as serious, and perhaps more so than that of 
 any other University in Europe. But when a student has 
 resided a few years among you, has behaved dutifully to all 
 his Professors, and has attended regularly all their lectures, 
 when he comes to his examination, I suspect you are dis- 
 posed to be as good-natured as other people. Several of 
 your graduates, upon applying for a licence to the College 
 of Physicians here, have had it recommended to them to con- 
 tinue their studies From a particular knowledge of some 
 of the cases, I am satisfied that the decision of the College, 
 in refusing them their licence, was perfectly just ; that is, 
 was perfectly agreeable to the principles which ought to 
 regulate all such decisions, and that the candidates were 
 really very ignorant of their profession. 
 
 " A degree can pretend to give security for nothing but 
 the science of the oraduate ; and even for that it can o^ive 
 but a very slender security. For his good sense and discre-
 
 478 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 tion, qualities not discoverable by an academical examina- 
 tion, it can give no security at all. Rut without these, the 
 presumption which commonly attends science must render it, 
 in the practice of physic, ten times more dangerous than the 
 grossest ignorance, when accompanied, as it sometimes is, 
 with some degree of modesty and diffidence. 
 
 " If a degree, in short, always has been, and, in spite of all 
 the regulations which can be made, always must be, a mere 
 piece of quackery, it is certainly for the advantage of the 
 public that it should be understood to be so. It is in a 
 particular manner for the advantage of the Universities that, 
 for the resort of students, they should be obliged to depend, 
 not upon their privileges, but upon their merit, — upon their 
 abilities to teach, and their diligence in teaching ; and that 
 they should not have it in their power to use any of those 
 quackish arts which have disgraced and degraded the half of 
 them. 
 
 " A degree which can be conferred only upon students of 
 a certain standing, is a statute of apprenticeship which is 
 likely to contribute to the advancement of science, just as 
 other statutes of apprenticeship have contributed to that of 
 arts and manufactures. Those statutes of apprenticeship, 
 assisted by other corporation laws, have banished arts and 
 manufactures from the greater part of towns-corporate. 
 Such degrees, assisted by some other regulations of a simi- 
 lar tendency, have banished almost all useful and solid edu- 
 cation from the greater part of Universities. Bad work and 
 high price have been the effects of the monopoly introduced 
 by the former. Quackery, imposture, and exorbitant fees, 
 have been the consequences of that estabhshed by the latter. 
 The industry of manufacturing villages has remedied in part 
 the inconveniences which the monopohes established by towns- 
 corporate had occasioned. The private interest of some 
 poor Professors of Physic in some poor Universities, incon- 
 veniently situated for the resort of students, has in part re- 
 
 d
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEiV. 479 
 
 medied the inconveniences which woidd certainly have re- 
 sulted from that sort of monopoly which the great and rich 
 Universities had attempted to establish. The great and rich 
 Universities seldom graduated any body but their own stu- 
 dents, and not even them till after a long and tedious stand- 
 ing ; five and seven years for a Master of Arts ; eleven and 
 sixteen for a Doctor of Law, Physic, or Divinity. The 
 poor Universities, on account of the inconveniency of their 
 situation, not being able to get many students, endeavoured 
 to turn the penny in the only way in which they could turn 
 it, and sold their Degrees to whoever would buy them, ge- 
 nerally without requiring any residence or standing, and fre- 
 quently without subjecting the candidate even to a decent 
 examination. The less trouble they gave the more money 
 they got, and I certainly do not pretend to vindicate so dirty 
 a practice. All Universities being ecclesiastical establish- 
 ments, under the immediate protection of the Pope, a degree 
 from any one of them gave, all over Christendom, very nearly 
 the same privileges which a degree from any other could 
 have given ; and the respect which is at this day paid to 
 foreign degrees, even in Protestant countries, must be con- 
 sidered as a remnant of Popery. The facility of obtaining 
 degrees^ particularly in physic, from those poor Universities, 
 had two effects, both extremely advantageous to the public, 
 but extremely disagreeable to the graduates of other Uni- 
 versities, whose degrees had cost them much time and ex- 
 pense. Firsts It multiplied very much the number of doc- 
 tors, and thereby no doubt sunk their fees, or at least hin- 
 dered them from rising so very high as they otherwise would 
 have done. Had the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge 
 been able to maintain themselves in the exclusive j^rivilege 
 of graduating all the doctors who could practise in England, 
 the price of feeling a pulse might by this time have risen 
 from two and three guineas, the price which it has now hap- 
 pily arrived at, to double or triple that sum ; and English
 
 480 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 physicians might, and probably, would, have been at the 
 same time the most ignorant and quackish in the world. 
 Secondly, It reduced a good deal the rank and dignity of a 
 doctor. But if the physician was a man of sense and science, 
 it would not surely prevent his being respected and em- 
 ployed as a man of sense and science. If he was neither the 
 one nor the other, indeed, his doctor ship would no doubt 
 avail him the less. But ought it in this case to avail him 
 at all ? Had the hopeful project of the rich and great Uni- 
 versities succeeded, there would have been no occasion for 
 sense or science. To have been a doctor would alone have 
 been sufficient to give any man rank, dignity, and fortune 
 enough. That in every profession the fortune of every in- 
 dividual should depend as much as possible upon his merit, 
 and as little as possible upon his privilege, is certainly for the 
 interest of the public. It is even for the interest of every par- 
 ticular profession, which can never so effectually support the 
 general merit and real honour of the greater part of those who 
 exercise it, as by resting upon such liberal principles. Those 
 principles are even most effectual for procuring them all the 
 employment which the country can afford. The great suc- 
 cess of quacks in England has been altogether owing to the 
 real quackery of the regular physicians. Our regular phy- 
 sicians in Scotland have little quackery, and no quack ac- 
 cordingly has ever made his fortune among us. 
 
 " After all, this trade in degrees I acknowledge to be a 
 most disgraceful trade to those who exercise it ; and I am 
 extremely sorry that it should be exercised by such respecta- 
 ble bodies as any of our Scotch Universities. But as it 
 serves as a corrective to what would otherwise soon grow up 
 to be an intolerable nuisance, the exclusive and corporation 
 spirit of all thriving professions and of all great Universities, 
 I deny that it is hurtful to the public. 
 
 " What the physicians of Edinburgh at present feel as a 
 hardship is, perhaps, the real cause of their acknowledged
 
 LIFE OF 1311 CUI.LEN. 
 
 481 
 
 superiority over the greater part of other physicians. The 
 Royal College of Physicians there, you say, are obliged by 
 their charter to grant a licence, without examination, to all 
 the graduates of Scotch Universities. You are all obliged, 
 I suppose, in consequence of this, to consult sometimes with 
 very unworthy brethren. You are all made to feel that you 
 must rest no part of your dignity upon your degree, a dis- 
 tinction which you share with the men in the world, perhaps, 
 whom you despise the most, but that you must found the 
 whole of it upon your merit. Not being able to derive much 
 consequence from the character of Doctor, you are obliged, 
 perhaps, to attend more to your characters as men, as gentle- 
 men, and as men of letters. The unworthiness of some of 
 your brethren may, perhaps, in this manner be in part the 
 cause of the very eminent and superior worth of many of the 
 rest. The very abuse which you complain of may in this 
 manner, perhaps, be the real source of your present ex- 
 cellence. You are at present well, wonderfully well, and 
 when you are so, be assured there is always some danger in 
 attempting to be better. 
 
 " Adieu, my dear Doctor ; after having delayed so long- 
 to write to you, I am afraid 1 shall get my hig (ear) m my 
 hife (hand), as we say, for what I have written. But I 
 ever am most affectionately yours, 
 
 " Adam Smith. 
 " London, 20//i September 1774." 
 
 Whether the unfavourable reply of Dr Smith had 
 discouraged the Duke of Buccleugh from persevering 
 in the proposed application to Government, or whether 
 other circumstances had occurred to withdraw the at- 
 tention of those more particularly interested in it, does 
 not appear, but no farther progress seems ever to have 
 been made in this matter, and it was left to the Scotch 
 Universities themselves to remove the abuses com- 
 
 VOL. I, H h
 
 482 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 plained of, as they have now clone, by prescribing a 
 course of study which all applying to them for a medical 
 degree must have previously passed through, and by sub- 
 jecting candidates to a rigorous examination of their 
 literary, scientific, and professional acquirements. 
 
 I have not found among Dr Cullen's papers any di- 
 rect reply to the arguments of his friend Dr Smith ; 
 but in a Latin discourse, which he pronounced about 
 two years afterwards in the University, previously to 
 the ceremony of graduation, he took occasion to state 
 in what respects he conceived that the principles of 
 free competition, though applicable to the mechanical 
 trades, do not admit of being extended to the exercise of 
 the profession of Medicine, and why it is proper that 
 every one who proposes to engage in this profession, 
 should be obliged previously to pass through a regular 
 com'se of education, and to submit to a strict examina- 
 tion of his qualifications. As this is a very important 
 subject, and one on which a considerable degree of 
 misconception seems still to prevail =^, I shall introduce 
 here a translation of Dr Cullen's observations : — 
 
 " As the life and health of their fellow-creatures are so often 
 intrusted to those practising medicine, and depend so much 
 upon their skill, it seems a matter of no small importance for 
 the public interest, that care should be taken to prevent any 
 uneducated or unskilful persons from practising this art. 
 There are some, however, who doubt, whether it is necessary 
 for the interests of society, or in any way proper, to make 
 laws or regulations for preventing persons of this descrip- 
 
 * See Speech of Sir C. Monck in the House of Commons, on the second 
 reading of Mr Courtenay's bill for the better regulation of Surgery. 
 " Exposition of the State of the Medical Profession," «&c. 8vo, London, 
 1826, p. 234.
 
 LIFE OF Dll CUIJ.KX. 483 
 
 tion from engaging in the practice of Medicine ; and it is 
 very obvious, that neither in this nor in most other countries 
 are effectual measures adopted for that purpose. Those 
 who approve of this neglect, seem to me to trust to certain 
 principles too generally appHed. They, with justice, in- 
 deed observe, that many regulations which seem adapted 
 for putting down unskilful workmen, have not only been 
 fruitless and useless, but even extremely injurious in their 
 operation. For there is no need, say they, that the skill of 
 a carpenter should be determined by the opinion of other 
 carpenters only, as every one receiving work from a carpen- 
 ter can judge well enough of its execution, and of the skill 
 of the workman ; and certainly if an opportunity is afforded 
 of comparing the workmanship of several artificers with one 
 another, he who makes this comparison will always be able, 
 with sufficient ease, to determine which is best. An unskilful 
 carpenter, therefore, will be intrusted with work only propor- 
 tioned to his skill, and if he should, perhaps, pass himself off 
 on some incautious individuals, as a person of skill, no very 
 great nor permanent mischief will result from this. They like- 
 wise urge, that many regulations which have been established 
 against the unskilfulness of workmen, have not only been little 
 required, but have often been hurtful, by affording a pretext 
 for driving away the most skilful and by favouring those of 
 least merit. What has been said of the carpenter, may be said 
 of several other artificers, — indeed of all those whose want 
 of skill is not calculated to cause much mischief, and whose 
 degree of skill all are able easily to ascertain. But in the 
 practice of Medicine none of these reasons for unfettered com- 
 petition are of any force. The physician employs remedies, 
 which, unless they be employed cautiously and skilfully, may 
 do much harm, and those ignorant of the art cannot judge 
 of his skill merely by the consideration of the effects that 
 result from the employment of his art. Many diseases 
 being utterly incurable by any art, physicians have a ready 
 
 H h 2
 
 484 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 excuse when at any time they treat diseases unskilfully ; 
 and as death is to all at last inevitable, fate, and not the ig- 
 norance of the physician, is generally blamed. Success in 
 the cure of diseases does indeed afford some means of judg- 
 ing of the skill of the physician, but he who knows that 
 many diseases are cured, not only without the aid of the 
 physician, but even in defiance of his measures, will not al- 
 ways regard a return to health as sufficient proof of medical 
 skill. 
 
 " Lastly^ We contend, that the bulk of the community are 
 scarcely able to judge, and, in fact, scarcely ever judge cor- 
 rectly, of the merits of medical men. Those who are well 
 acquainted with the medical art, and they alone, perhaps, 
 have any proper notion how many things are required to 
 form a skilful physician, — are aware how much experience is 
 necessary for the proper discrimination, and accurate distinc- 
 tion of diseases, — with how much labour almost all the works 
 of nature must be examined, in order that the animal econo- 
 my may be thoroughly understood, by the knowledge of 
 which alone the various characters and modifications of dis- 
 eases can be understood, — and, lastly, how much labour is 
 necessary to acquire an accurate knowledge, not only of 
 the medicines, but also of all the agents which are capable 
 of acting on the human body, by which kind of know- 
 ledge alone we can be enabled to adapt appropriate and 
 efficacious remedies to the various forms of disease. For ob- 
 taining a knowledge of all these things, how many branches 
 of information must previously be acquired ; how much 
 acuteness of intellect should the student of medicine be pos- 
 sessed of, to prevent him from being deluded by hypothesis ; 
 how much sagacity, to prevent him from being the dupe even 
 of experience, which has justly been said to be most deceitful ! 
 It would be easy to prove to any one of moderate capacity and 
 attentiveness, that all these things are absolutely necessary 
 for the proper education of a medical man ; but the greater
 
 LIFP: of Dll CULLEN. 485 
 
 part of mankind, either from their ignorance of medicine arc 
 unable to understand these things, or from negligence do not 
 chuse to understand them ; and hence, almost all form either 
 no judgment at all on the qualifications necessary for medical 
 men, or an erroneous one. At the present time, we see men of 
 a very dull intellect, and of no learning, received and treated as 
 physicians. Do not we every day observe men not altogether 
 destitute of sense, swallowing the frivolous drugs of some old 
 woman or other, and shamefully deluded by the tricks of quacks 
 and ignorant pretenders ? From this circumstance in parti- 
 cular, we may infer how erroneously the pubhc judge of this 
 matter, that so many persons who have received no education, 
 rashly engage in the practice of medicine, or at least in the 
 administration of drugs. In these countries, indeed, any one 
 can set up for a physician, and nothing is more obvious than 
 that the public are in the use of making scarcely any choice 
 amongst those who profess medicine. The thing has gone so 
 far, that the life and health of a great portion of mankind are 
 in the hands of ignorant people, or of rogues ; and to me it 
 appears probable, that from the practice of medicine, as it is at 
 present exercised, there arises much more mischief than ad- 
 vantage, and that it would perhaps be better for mankind if no 
 medical practice existed at all. But it is impossible wholly to 
 suppress this art, for as long as men shall be liable to pain 
 and sickness, so long some art of medicine will be req^uired, 
 and will exist amongst them. Nothing therefore remains, but 
 that the Legislature should take especial care that this neces- 
 sary art should, as far as is possible, be rendered both safe and 
 useful to society.- Something seems to have been attempted 
 towards the accomplishment of this object in this and other 
 countries of Europe, by the institution of Universities, in 
 which students of medicine may be instructed in medical 
 science, and by the appointment of fit judges to license those 
 who are thoroughly instructed in medicine. 1'he functions of 
 these individuals seem well calculated to promote the object
 
 486 I.IFK OF DR CULL EN. 
 
 in view. But in some Universities, unfortunately, these excel- 
 lent regulations are ill observed, and the title of Doctor of 
 Medicine does not always prove that the bearer possesses 
 either learning or skill. This unfortunate abuse cannot in 
 all instances be easily prevented or corrected. But, in the 
 mean time, we hope that all are sufficiently aware, that, in 
 this University, the best regulations are faithfully observed, 
 and that the title of Doctor acquired here, more certainly 
 than in several otlier Universities, proves its possessor to be 
 both learned and skilful." 
 
 A system of medical legislation, the chief recommen- 
 dation of which appeared to Dr Adam Smith to be, that 
 one kind of abuse served in it as a corrective for another, 
 and under the governance of which the practice of the 
 medical profession had become, in the eyes of Dr Cullen, 
 rather a misfortune than a blessing to mankind, cannot 
 be supposed to have any high pretensions to perfection. 
 A slight inquiry into the progressive formation of this 
 system as it at present exists in this country, would 
 probably shew that many of its imperfections are to 
 be attributed partly to its being grounded on opinions 
 and usages that prevailed a long time ago, but which 
 are now become obsolete, and partly to the Legis- 
 lature having never considered more than detached 
 portions of this system at a time, nor attempted to give 
 to it the consistency and uniformity of a whole. 
 
 As one of the erroneous principles on Vv^hich the system 
 of medical legislation existing in this country has been 
 founded, and perhaps as the chief of these, may be men- 
 tioned the opinion which has very generally prevailed, 
 that the extent and nature of the education, and the 
 amount of qualifications, required of Medical students, 
 sliould vary according to the designation under which
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 4*87 
 
 they are to practise their profession, whether that of 
 physician, of surgeon, or of general practitioner, or apo- 
 thecary. In the history of ancient times, we find no- 
 thing which bears any resemblance to those divisions of 
 the medical profession which have prevailed in modern 
 Europe. JMedical practitioners, in those times, seem 
 either to have practised indiscriminately all the branches 
 of the healing art, or to have undertaken only the cure 
 of particular diseases. It was during the dark period 
 which intervened between the overthrow of the Roman 
 Empire and the revival of literature in the twelfth and 
 thirteenth centuries, that a separation was effected be- 
 tween the practice of Physic and the practice of Sur- 
 gery; the former having passed almost entirely into 
 the hands of the Clergy, who, by involving it in super- 
 stition, rendered it a profitable employment, and in 
 many instances an introduction to ecclesiastical prefer- 
 ment ; whilst Surgery was in a very low and degraded 
 condition, a principal part of it, the care of the wounded 
 and lame, being commonly intrusted to women and 
 ignorant pretenders. Anatomy was nowhere taught, 
 and the knowledge of surgical operations, even imper- 
 fect as it had been among the Greeks and Romans, 
 was no longer to be found in papal Europe. 
 
 The greater part of the Universities first established 
 in Europe, were originally, as Dr Smith has remarked 
 in his letter to Dr CuUen, Ecclesiastical corporations, 
 instituted chiefly, if not solely, for the education of 
 churchmen. In these institutions the study of medi- 
 cine was conjoined with that of divinity, and the 
 priests continued to retain, in a great measure, in their 
 own hands the practice of physic, whilst for the per-
 
 488 LIFE OF Dli CULLEN. 
 
 formaiice of such manual operations as were necessary, 
 they usually employed their own servants who acted at 
 the same time as their barbers. The difficulty, however, 
 of preventing the clergy from intermeddling with the 
 practice of surgery, notwithstanding repeated papal 
 edicts, gave rise to two decrees at the close of the thir- 
 teenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries, by 
 which surgery was formally separated from physic. The 
 priests were absolutely forbidden to practise it under 
 pain of excommunication ; and the University of Paris, 
 in consequence of these decrees, refused to admit any 
 student into the Faculty of Medicine vdio did not abjm-e 
 surgery. It is from the separation produced by these 
 two decrees, it is believed, that we ought to date the 
 true origin of the distinction between physician and 
 surgeon, such as it has existed in modern times. 
 
 When separate colleges of physicians and surgeons 
 began to be established in the different countries of Eu- 
 rope, attempts were made to ascertain and to establish 
 by law the particidar limits of these two professions. In 
 making these attempts, however. Governments had un- 
 dertaken a task far beyond their powers, the object of 
 them being quite irreconcileable with the laws which 
 nature observes in the production, course, complica- 
 tions, and cure, of local and constitutional diseases. 
 Hence it happened, that, in the charters granted in 
 different countries, or even in the same country at dif- 
 ferent periods, to the respective colleges of physic 
 and surgery, the limits between these two parts of the 
 medical art were perpetually varying, according to the 
 prejudices of the legislators who vainly endeavoured to 
 fix them ; or according to the temporary, and but too
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 489 
 
 often selfish, interests of those by whom such charters 
 were obtamed. The records of the medical art in mo- 
 dern times, afford ample proofs that the colleges of 
 physic and surgery, instead of regarding their charters 
 as barriers wisely placed by the Legislature between 
 the Public and those who pretended to practise medi- 
 cine, without having had the advantages of a liberal 
 and professional education, speedily converted them 
 into instruments of mutual warfare, and made them 
 the subjects of endless and most disgracefid disputes. 
 If at the present day we inquire into the occupations 
 in which those are engaged who have obtained licences 
 to practise the healing art, under any of the diiferent 
 designations conferred on medical practitioners, it will 
 be found that, in regard to a great proportion of these 
 practitioners, there is no such difference in the nature 
 of their employments, as the provisions of their col- 
 legiate charters and the difference of their titles might 
 seem to imply ; and that, in fact, almost all medical 
 men act, particularly at the commencement of their 
 professional career, in the capacity of general prac- 
 titioners of almost all the branches of the profession. 
 In small towns, and particularly in country villages, 
 subdivision of labour in the medical profession is totally 
 inadmissible. In these situations, the customs, neces- 
 sities, and convenience of their patients, do not admit 
 of any distinctions among medical practitioners which 
 are not immediately derived from a real or fancied su- 
 periority of professional skill. But how extensive the 
 practical information required to qualify the village or 
 country practitioner for the duties which he has to 
 perform, will be obvious, when we reflect that he must
 
 490 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 undertake the cure of all the accidents and diseases to 
 which men, women, and children, are liable in the dis- 
 trict in which he is to practise. It is in great cities only 
 that the distinction in the exercise of the medical profes- 
 sion, between physician, surgeon, and general practi- 
 tioner, either has been or ever can be attempted to be 
 observed ; and even in those cities in which this distinc- 
 tion has prevailed in the highest degree, how small a 
 portion of the community, it may be asked, have enjoyed 
 the advantages supposed to be derived from this division 
 of the healing art. The rich, it is true, may in all cases 
 of danger, whether real or imaginary, add the attendance 
 of the physician or surgeon to that of their ordinary 
 medical attendant; but the poor, who form the greatest 
 body in every community, must either be contented to 
 live and to die without the advice or assistance of those 
 who practise physic and surgery as distinct professions, 
 or betake themselves to some of the asylums or hos- 
 pitals that are maintained at the public expense. In- 
 deed, the most superficial acquaintance with the symp- 
 toms, progress, and termination, of the various morbid, 
 ateute or chronic, febrile or inflammatory, affections to 
 which the human body is liable, must be sufficient to 
 convince every unprejudiced inquirer, that there is but 
 a slight foundation, if indeed there be any, for the dis- 
 tinction between physicians, surgeons, and general prac- 
 titioners, in the nature of the diseases which these prac- 
 titioners are required to treat, or in the mode of treat- 
 ment by which the diseases themselves may be cured or 
 relieved. Experience has long shewn that, on the one 
 hand, the use of internal remedies is required in a large 
 proportion of the diseases which are regarded as strictly 
 
 2
 
 I.IIE OF DR CULLEN. 491 
 
 surgical; and, on the other, that there are few diseases 
 which come under the care of the physician in which 
 morbid affections, requiring the manual aid or practical 
 skill of the surgeon, do not frequently occur. Each of 
 these classes of diseases, how^ever, must, in the ordinary 
 practice of the art, be treated indiscriminately by the 
 general practitioner. 
 
 Since, therefore, in the ordinary and general practice 
 of medicine. Physic and Surgery never have been, and 
 never can be, separated from one another, it seems but 
 reasonable that those w^ho, from the nature of their 
 profession, and from the circumstances of the situations 
 in which they may be placed, must practise them con- 
 jointly, should all of them learn equally the rudiments 
 of both arts. And considerable as are the advantages 
 which may be derived, in the improvement of indivi- 
 dual skill, from a certain degree of subdivision of labour 
 in the medical profession, in large towns especially in 
 which the state of society is such as to admit of this sub- 
 division, it is only by all those who are destined for the 
 exercise of the medical profession receiving the same 
 general and professional education, that their mutual co- 
 operation can be ensured, and that they can be enabled 
 to discharge, with full utihty to the public, the duties of 
 any particular branch of medical practice, to which, from 
 inclination or interest, they may afterwards be induced 
 to devote their more particular attention. Such a ge- 
 neral and equal system of Education, appears to me to 
 be the only proper barrier that can ever be raised between 
 the medical profession and the practice of dangerous 
 quacks and ignorant pretenders. It is in the view to 
 promote this improvement in the literary, scientific, and 
 professional, education of medical men, that the hono-
 
 492 LiFb: OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 rary degrees conferred by Universities, and the certi- 
 ficates of qualification granted by Colleges of Physic 
 and Surgery, should have their foundation, and not in 
 that exclusive and illiberal spirit of monopoly, which, by 
 enjoining a distinct course of instruction, vainly endea- 
 vours to separate branches of knowledge which, in their 
 attainment and practical application, ever have been 
 and ever must be united. " Illud ante omnia scire 
 convenit," says Celsus, **' quod omnes medicinae partes 
 ita innexae sunt, ut ex toto separari non possint, sed ab 
 eo nomen trahunt, a quo plurimum petunt." 
 
 In confirmation of some of the foregoing remarks, I 
 have much pleasure in being able to subjoin the follow- 
 ing passage from a discourse of one of the most acute 
 and intelligent medical authors of the present day : 
 
 " So far as education is concerned, I take the liberty of 
 remarking, that the artificial distinctions in the profession, so 
 much insisted on and valued by some, ought to be entirely 
 disregarded ; and of asserting, in the broadest way, the unity 
 of the medical profession as an object of study. The several 
 component parts of our frame are so closely connected, — 
 their relations and mutual influences, in health and disease, 
 are so numerous and powerful, — the causes of disease, and 
 the modes of remedying it, are of so general a nature, that no 
 part can be understood without a knowledge of the whole. 
 No particular class of aff*ections can be comprehended or 
 properly treated, except by the aid of principles derived from 
 the whole range of medicine : the diseases and treatment of 
 each part, on the one hand, are governed by these principles, 
 and, on the other, they reciprocally furnish data capable of 
 illustrating general pathology. Therefore, whether the stu- 
 dent means to be a physician, or surgeon, and a fortiori, if 
 he be intended for a general practitioner, he must learn 
 Anatomy, Thysiology, General Pathology, Therapeutics, 
 Materia Medica, Chemistry, and Pharmacy ; and, inasmuch
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. - 493 
 
 as he is unacquainted with any of these, he is so far unfit to 
 practise his profession."" 
 
 " After receiving a general medical education, different 
 persons may be led by taste, convenience, or various other 
 considerations, to select one part of the profession rather 
 than another ; this is a matter of subsequent choice, and 
 ought not to regulate scientific education. In large com- 
 munities, it may be advantageous to patients and to the pro- 
 gress of science, that the established distinctions in the pro- 
 fession should be maintained, provided there is no anxiety to 
 draw the line very narrowly. Indeed, the latter attempt, 
 which is in itself absurd, is very little likely to be encouraged 
 by the public, on whom it could only operate as a limitation 
 of choice', preventing them, on many occasions, from having 
 recourse to that professional assistance in which they might 
 be disposed to confide *."" 
 
 But distinctions between the members of the medi- 
 cal profession have also been recognised by the legisla- 
 ture, under the titles of Graduates of Universities, 
 Extra-licenciates, Licenciates, and Fellows of Colleges, 
 founded not on the different departments of practice to 
 which they profess more particularly to direct their at- 
 tention, but on the constitution of the different corporate 
 bodies from which they derive their licences to practise, 
 and on the different titles which these bodies are pleased 
 to bestow upon them. By means of such distinctions, 
 the practitioners of the healing art in these kingdoms, 
 instead of enjoying equal and reciprocal privileges as 
 members of one great community, are, as it were, divided 
 into a number of petty companies, each possessing a mo- 
 nopoly in some particular branch of the trade, which, in 
 
 * Speeches delivered by Mr Lawrence at two meetings of 
 Members of the Royal College of Surgeons, &c. London, 1826. — . 
 See Appendix, Note W,
 
 494 LIFE OF DK CULLEN. 
 
 too many instances, it watches with the utmost jealousy, 
 and defends witli the utmost keenness, against the en- 
 croachments of its rivals. From a variety of circum- 
 stances, easy to be conceived, it is in England that this 
 system of monopoly has been carried to the farthest 
 extent, and most pertinaciously adhered to. The gra- 
 duate of a Scotch University may attain the highest 
 medical rank in the JNIilitary or Naval service of his 
 country, but his diploma will not entitle him to prac- 
 tise in the smallest town in England. If he attempt 
 to do so, he may be placed under very humiliating cir- 
 cumstances ; he is there only a Doctor by courtesy, and 
 therefore cannot claim rank, nor sue for redress in courts 
 of law, even though he may have been grossly abused 
 in his professional capacity *. The graduate of an 
 English University, or the extra-licenciate of the Col- 
 lege of Physicians of London, may practise physic in 
 any part of England, provided he keeps without that 
 magic circle, the circumference of which is drawn, with 
 a radius of seven miles around the metropolis f ; and 
 even the licenciate of the College of Physicians, who is 
 admitted to the ordinary exercise of the profession 
 within this sacred precinct, cannot obtain a right to 
 participate in those spolia opima, which the College 
 reserves for its own Fellows, but by the especial favour 
 of the Brotherhood J. 
 
 Of distinctions and privileges such as those which 
 have been mentioned, it is enough to ask whether they 
 
 * Medical Jurisprudence by Paris and Fonblanque, vol. i. p. 17> 
 Note. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 24, note. 
 
 X Ibid. p. 51. — See also p. 52 for an enumeration of the " legal 
 classes of Physicians." — See Appendix, Note X.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 495 
 
 really indicate, even in the remotest degree, the respec- 
 tive qualifications of those who possess them, for exercis- 
 ing with security and advantage to the public, the 
 responsible duties of their profession ; or whether, 
 supposing they did indicate such differences in the 
 qualifications of their possessors, any thing can be con- 
 ceived more absurd than for a nation to fix a different 
 standard of acquirements for its military, for its pro- 
 vincial, and for its metropolitan Physicians. If it 
 be desirable, for the interests of society, that there 
 should exist a separate class of medical practitioners, 
 tmder the title of Physicians, the Legislature would 
 surely confer a greater benefit on the public by fix- 
 ing a course of preliminary and professional educa- 
 tion, and providing for the strict examination of those 
 who desire to be licensed to practise in this capacity, 
 and then leaving them at liberty to exercise their pro- 
 fession where they please, than by indulging particular 
 corporations in the exercise of a narrow and exclusive 
 system of monopoly, the only conceivable operation of 
 which is to engender arrogance and presumption, and 
 consequently ignorance and rashness, in the minds of 
 those who are admitted within its pale, and jealousy 
 and rancour in those who are kept without it. It has 
 been justly remarked, that " ovu* physicians have here- 
 tofore been derived from various sources, with very un- 
 equal qualifications. It would undoubtedly be de- 
 sirable so to assimilate the courses of education pur- 
 sued in oiu* medical seminaries, as to remove all dis- 
 parity, but such as natural inequality of talent must 
 ever impart *." 
 
 * Dr Barlow, Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journ. xxviii. 347-
 
 496 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 The only species of defence which it has been at- 
 tempted to set up for distinctions of the kind that have 
 been mentioned, is the importance, as regards the dig- 
 nity of the profession, of " encouraging a hberal edu- 
 cation amongst those who are destined to move in the 
 higher ranks of physic." This defence is obviously 
 founded on the imperfect literary and scientific educa- 
 tion of the great bulk of medical practitioners, which, 
 how^ever, it makes no provision for correcting ; and if, 
 by moving in the higher ranks of physic, be meant 
 the practising physic among the higher classes of so- 
 ciety, it involves the farther absurdity of providing 
 for the rich, by legislative enactments, what, if con- 
 genial to their tastes, or necessary for their comfort, 
 they are perfectly able to secure for themselves, with- 
 out any assistance from the legislature. If, again, by 
 those who are destined to move in the higher ranks 
 of physic, be meant those whom the profession and 
 the public may select, from a belief in their superior 
 sagacity or practical skill, to assist and advise their pro- 
 fessional brethren in cases of difficulty and danger, it 
 is a most erroneous idea to suppose, that it is possible to 
 ensure the public's being provided with individuals qua- 
 lified for those duties, merely by subjecting a few of the 
 members of the medical profession to an extended course 
 of University education. The qualifications necessary 
 for those who are to act as Consulting practitioners must 
 be the result of extensive and long continiied oppor- 
 tunities of practical observation and experience, and of 
 the industry and talent necessary for turning these op- 
 portunities to the best account. Neither the most ex- 
 tended course of University education that could be
 
 IJIE OF DR CULLEN. 497 
 
 prescribed, nor the most rigid examinations that could 
 be enforced, can ensure the acquisition and possession 
 of such attainments, and certainly no University or 
 Corporation privileges can confer them. It is in the 
 proper education of the whole body of the members of 
 the medical profession, and in the experience which 
 particular individuals may acquire by extensive pri- 
 vate practice, or by attendance in dispensaries or hos- 
 pitals, that the public have their best, and indeed 
 their only, securities, for an adequate supply of intel- 
 ligent and experienced Consulting practitioners. The 
 Legislature, therefore, will have performed its duty, 
 when it shall have taken care that no one can be licen- 
 ced to enter on the practice of medicine without such 
 preparation as a thorough preliminary and professional 
 education can afford. Whatever particular degrees or 
 titles Universities or Corporate Societies may be pleased 
 to confer on individual members of the profession, — 
 in addition to the common licence which all medical 
 practitioners should be obliged to obtain from Boards 
 specially appointed for granting them, — these degrees 
 or titles ought to derive their importance not from any 
 exclusive legal privileges being attached to them, but 
 from the opinion the public may entertain of the discre- 
 tion and impartiality with which they are conferred. 
 The Public must be left at liberty, with the benefit of 
 such assistance as it may chuse to receive from the me- 
 dical profession itself, to select from among the general 
 mass of medical ])ractitioners, those whom they consider 
 to be best qualified, by their attainments and expe- 
 rience, for tlie duties of the higher ranks of the profes- 
 sion. Any attempt to limit its freedom of choice in 
 VOL. I. I i
 
 498 LIFK or Bll CULLEX. 
 
 this particular cannot fail to be followed by the ludi- 
 crous result, which has uniformly attended all such le- 
 gislative restrictions, that those who, in the eyes of the 
 law, are the sole proprietors of a particular branch of 
 medical practice, are very far from being so in reality. 
 There are obviously two ways in which attempts may 
 be made by the Legislature to secure the fitness of those 
 who obtain licences to practise micdicine ; 1st, By lay- 
 ing dovv n a regular course of general and medical Edu- 
 cation, through which they must previously pass ; and, 
 2d, By obliging them to submit themselves for Exami- 
 nation to some Board or public body, intrusted with 
 the duty of judging of their qualifications. In most 
 instances in which the Legislature has hitherto inter- 
 fered for the regulation of medical practice, it has con - 
 tented itself with the latter of these precautions, and 
 has confided to the Bodies so intrusted the further duty 
 of prescribing a course of study to those whom they re- 
 ceive on examination. The statutes and bye-laws of 
 the different public Bodies in these kingdoms intrusted 
 with the power of licensing medical practitioners, un- 
 der the diiTerent designations of physicians, surgeons^ 
 and apothecaries, with regard to the conditions on 
 which they grant these licences, form at present a 
 strange medley of incongruous regulations, framed, it is 
 to be suspected, with but little, if any, reference to the 
 interests of the public, and in many respects extremely 
 ill calculated to provide for the actual wants of the 
 community. Each of these bodies requires a different, 
 and, in most instances, a very insufficient course of 
 study, from those to whom it grants its licence to prac- 
 tise medicine ; each of them confers on its licentiates 
 a monopoly of some branch of medical practice, or an
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 499 
 
 exclusive right of practising a particular branch in a 
 particular district of the country ; and, unfortunately, 
 it does not in all instances happen, that the extent of 
 privilege which each of them has it in its power to con 
 fer on its licentiates, by any means corresponds with 
 the amount of qualifications which it requires of them. 
 It may be doubted whether the circumstance of the 
 Legislature having in a great measure confided to these 
 corporate Bodies the power of regulating the education 
 of medical students, has not been a principal source of 
 the very low condition of a large portion of the medical 
 profession in point of general instruction and profes- 
 sional attainments. It would not, it is believed, be 
 difficult to shew, that the introduction of improve- 
 ments into the Courses of study prescribed by these Bo- 
 dies, has been in a great degree retarded by the ap- 
 prehension which each of them has entertained, that 
 to raise the standard of qualifications required of its li- 
 centiates, might, without being productive of any pub- 
 lic benefit, operate prejudicially to its own interests, 
 and only promote those of its rivals, — by inducing those 
 who wished to be licensed, to seek that privilege from 
 some other Corporation which did not require so ex- 
 tensive a course of education, nor subject its licentifites 
 to so strict an examination. It is in a great measm-e 
 from the paralysing influence of this apprehension, 
 that there seems to arise a necessity for the interference 
 of the I^egislature itself, to prescribe such a course of 
 preliminary and professional education for all those who 
 may be desirous to obtain licences to practise medicine, 
 and to provide for their being subjected to such an exa- 
 mination, as may afford to the public a reasonable se- 
 
 I i 2
 
 500 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 curity ot their being properly qualified for the respon- 
 sible duties which they are to undertake in the exer- 
 cise of their profession. 
 
 If the views be correct, that have been now taken 
 respecting the propriety of the Legislature laying down 
 a common Course of preliminary and professional edu- 
 cation, through which- all desirous to obtain licences 
 to practise medicine shall previously pass, it is ob- 
 vious that it must be a matter of great importance to 
 determine what the course of study prescribed ought 
 to be ; — what it ought to comprehend, — in what order 
 the different branches which it embraces should be 
 studied, — and what ought to be its extent and dura- 
 tion. At a time when the subject of Medical Educa- 
 tion is about to be brought so prominently before the 
 attention of the public, by the inquiries and by the re- 
 port of the late Commissioners for Visiting the Uni- 
 versities and Colleges of Scotland, and when it may 
 be anticipated, that it will ere long engage the atten- 
 tion of the Legislature, I am glad to be able to adduce 
 the opinions of one who had so long occasion to turn 
 his attention to this subject as Dr Cullen had, and 
 who w^as so well qualified by his own acquirements, — 
 by his having passed through the various ranks of the 
 profession, — and by his intercourse with medical men 
 in all stages of their advancement, to judge what is the 
 course of education best calculated to prepare students 
 to enter on the practice of medicine. In the notes of 
 one of his introductory lectures to his course on Che- 
 mistry, I find the following heads written down for 
 commentary, which, though they afford mere hints of 
 his opinions, will, I am convinced, be found by those
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 501 
 
 who have paid attention to the subject, not to be hasty 
 and superficial suggestions, but the results of mature 
 consideration. 
 
 " OF THE STUDY OF PHYSIC." 
 
 " The study of Physic is seldom properly conducted. 
 The Universities prescribe no rules to direct students. Stu- 
 dents come to them uninformed, and their various circum- 
 stances occasion great irregularities. 1 have often been ask- 
 ed to give my opinion, and I take this opportunity. If it 
 were possible, a genius should be chosen. A knowledge of 
 languages ; a familiar acquaintance with Latin, and at least 
 a moderate with Greek. French at present necessary, and 
 the other modern languages useful. 
 
 Study of Belles Lettres, Logic and Metaphysics, Mathe- 
 matics and Natural Philosophy. Disputes about their uti- 
 lity. Natural Philosophy was at one time pushed too far in 
 Medicine, and has had little success ; but though it does not 
 go so far as was once imagined, still it is necessary in many 
 respects. The question is connected with that about the use 
 of Theory in Medicine, and is then to be discussed. The 
 study of it (Natural Philosophy) is necessary, and time 
 should be allowed for it as a preliminary. 
 
 Natural Philosophy consists of two branches, the Mecha- 
 nical and the Chemical. The first is taught in the schools of 
 Philosophy. The second unhappily has been transferred to 
 those of Medicine. It is my own branch, and I should have 
 no improvements to make in it, but there are many. It is a 
 part of Philosophy, a preliminary study, and should be treat- 
 ed as such. 
 
 When Chemistry is finished, another preliminary study, 
 that of Natural History, to be entered on. Chemistry is ne- 
 cessary to a knowledge of minerals. Botany may be taken 
 at any time, but the sooner the better. Zoology may be en- 
 tered upon by itself, as the Insects, })ut the most of it will
 
 502 LIFE OF DIl CULLEN. 
 
 fitly succeed the Anatomy. It affords the Comparative 
 Anatomy. 
 
 Instructed in Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Anato- 
 my, a student is to proceed to the Institutions, the General 
 Doctrines, the Theory of Physic. False notions upon this 
 subject. Disputes about the use of Theory. It has been 
 abused, it still is, and much of it is hurtful ; but some parts 
 of it are useful, and a full discussion of it is necessary. It 
 is suitable to the young, and at least by them to be indul- 
 ged in, but always with diffidence. 
 
 The Institutions consist of three parts, Health, Disease, 
 and Means of Cure. The first occupies our students ; the 
 second is repeated in the Practice, but should be taken more 
 generally, and our Professor thinks so. The third part but 
 slightly touched on in the Institutions. It is supplied by the 
 Materia Medica. The Materia Medica has been improperly 
 placed, as it requires a knowledge of Natural History, Che- 
 mistry, and the Theory of Medicine. It has been impro- 
 perly taught, but now it is taught more properly as a Me- 
 thod us Medendi. 
 
 Instructed in the preliminary studies, and in the general 
 doctrines of Physic, the student proceeds to particulars, or 
 the study of the Practice." 
 
 On another occasion, Dr Cullen expressed himself 
 in regard to medical education, in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 " The Study of Physic comprehends that of a great num- 
 ber of auxiliary sciences, as Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, 
 Anatomy, and Natural History, which require a great deal 
 of time and labour, that many would willingly avoid. The 
 necessity of these studies proceeds entirely on the supposition 
 of the usefulness and necessity of a Theory of Physic. But 
 this supposition is not universally admitted. Old practi- 
 tioners commonly pretend to despise it, and even many stu- 
 dents seem not fully convinced of the importance or necessi- 
 
 I
 
 LliE OF DR CULLKN. 503 
 
 ty of it. This leads to indifference and inattention, not only 
 in the study of the Theory of Physic itself, but also of the 
 several parts of science that lead to it. Accordingly I find 
 that few of our students apply to the study of the Mechani- 
 cal Philosophy, or are tolerably acquainted with it. Few, 
 also, have patience enough to attend fully to the Chemical 
 Philosophy. This indifference to the study of Philosophy 
 and the Theory of Physic, has manifestly a very bad influ- 
 ence upon the conduct of our studies, particularly it leads to 
 an irregular course, and almost always to a very hurried 
 course of study. 
 
 After shewing the necessity of Physic being studied 
 upon a regular and dogmatical, rather than upon an 
 empirical, plan, Dr Cullen proceeded — 
 
 " In the present state of physic, we must unavoidably 
 meet with the theory of others, and in any state of physic it 
 will be impossible to avoid our own. But both the one and 
 the other are fallacious and uncertain, and it is of the utmost 
 consequence to guard against the errors they expose to. For 
 this, we may in part depend upon the rules of logic, or rather 
 what these are founded on, the principles of good sense ; but 
 neither the acutest genius nor the soundest judgment will avail 
 in judging of a particular science in regard to which they 
 have not been exercised. I have been obliged to please my 
 patients som.etimes with reasons, and I have found that any 
 will pass even with able divines and acute lawyers ; the same 
 will pass with the husbands as with the wives. No person 
 is qualified to judge of the soundness of a theory, unless he 
 has been much exercised in reasoning upon the same sub- 
 ject. It certainly requires the utmost effort of the most 
 acute genius, as well as much exercise in metaph^^sical rea- 
 soning, to arrive at genuine scepticism, that is, to discern 
 everywhere the weakness of human reasonings. In like 
 manner, in the Theory of Physic, no man can be a proper 
 judge unless he who has examined it very thorouglilv, — has 
 examined tlie foundations, and has applied the phnnmct and
 
 504 LIFE OF DR CULLEX. 
 
 square to every part of the superstructure. It is he only 
 that can determine what parts may stand, and what must be 
 pulled down again. The errors of theory require a full con- 
 templation ; and it is he only who has a thorough acquaint- 
 ance with theory, and has been frequently exercised in it, that 
 can find the real use, or avoid the abuse, of the Theory of 
 Physic. My arguments in favour of the study of this branch of 
 medicine are drawn from the considerations employed against 
 it. I might add some arguments in direct proof of its utility 
 and importance. My time, however, does not allow of this ; 
 but from what has been said, we conclude, that the Theory 
 of Physic is necessary, that much time ought to be bestowed 
 upon its study, and every one ought to be well prepared in 
 the auxiliary sciences that are the foundation of it. This I 
 do not say with a view to recommend chemistry, the auxili- 
 ary science in which I am more immediately concerned, for 
 a knowledge of chemistry is equally necessary upon the em- 
 pirical as on the dogmatic plan. I wish to recommend the 
 study of the Theory of Medicine as being necessary to make 
 a skilful as well as an ornate physician. I wish chiefly to 
 shew you how much time and pains is necessary to the study 
 of physic. I shall add but one other remark. The rude 
 and inaccurate reasonings, the crude and rash conjectures, 
 of young physicians, are liable to excite disgust, and cer- 
 tainly are an abuse which may be considered as dangerous. 
 It is true that, by the study of theory, some are made cox- 
 combs that Nature meant only for fools, and the abuse of 
 every part of science may happen to produce pedantry and 
 heighten folly. Yet it is probable that, in Physic, the abuse 
 of theory is not so often owing to want of genius, as to want 
 of time, application, and exercise, in the study of it ; for 
 here it is essentially true, that ' a little learning is a danger- 
 ous thing*.'" 
 
 There are two opinions regarding Medical education 
 which these hints prove Dr Cullen to have entertained, 
 
 * See Aj>pendix, Note Y. 
 
 I
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 505 
 
 that appear to be particularly deserving of attention. 
 The first is, that those Bodies which possess the right 
 of licensing medical practitioners, should not only de- 
 mand of candidates for licences that they shall have 
 received a certain amount of professional education, but 
 should prescribe the order in which their studies shall 
 be pursued. The propriety of this measm*e obviously 
 arises from the connection and dependency which exist 
 between the different branches of medical science, and 
 which render it necessary for the student, in order to 
 be able to study some of these branches with advantage, 
 to have previously acquired a knowledge of one or more 
 of the other branches. He who begins to study the 
 functions of the human body, before having acquired a 
 knowledge of its structure, or to study the diseases to 
 which the body is liable, before he has acquired a 
 knowledge both of its structm-e and of its functions, 
 does little better than waste his time ; but instances of 
 blunders of this kind on the part of medical students 
 are far from being rare ; and so long as no fixed course 
 of study shall be laid down for them by the Legisla- 
 ture or by the Schools of Medicine, Dr Cullen's ob- 
 servation will continue to be true, that " the study of 
 physic is seldom properly conducted*." 
 
 The second opinion relative to Medical education 
 which these hints prove Dr Cullen to have entertained, 
 is, that students of medicine should receive an extended 
 course of literary and general scientific instruction, pre- 
 viously to entering on, or conjointly with, their medi- 
 cal studies. There is, perhaps, no point connected 
 with the education of medical men more deserving of 
 
 * See Appendix, Note Z.
 
 506 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 the care of the Legislature, than the improvement of 
 the literary and scientific education of those on whom 
 licences to practise the medical profession are conferred. 
 It seems indeed absurd, that any one should be allowed 
 to enter on the study of Medicine without having ac- 
 quired a competent knowledge of the Latin and Greek 
 languages, and of the elementary parts of Mathematics, 
 or should be allowed to prosecute his medical studies 
 without conjoining with them the study of Natural 
 Philosophy, Logic, and Moral Philosophy. These are 
 branches of education, the study of which is of the ut- 
 most importance to students of medicine, not only from 
 the tendency which their cultivation has to open, en- 
 large, and strengthen the understanding, and to en- 
 gender habits of attention and of accurate reasoning, 
 but also from a competent knowledge of them being 
 absolutely necessary, to enable students to comprehend 
 readily those lectures and books through which their 
 professional information must be obtained. It is not 
 to be expected that all who obtain licences to practise 
 the healing art should be profound scholars, or deeply 
 versed in the physical and metaphysical sciences ; but 
 there can be little doubt, that they who have gone 
 through the mental discipline necessary for acquiring 
 a competent knowledge of these branches of education, 
 must enter on their medical studies, and pursue them, 
 with their minds infinitely better prepared for acquiring 
 professional knowledge, than those who have not re- 
 ceived such a preparatory education. 
 
 It has been urged as an argument against making 
 any considerable increase in the extent and duration 
 of the education prescribed for medical students, and
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 507 
 
 consequently in its expense, that many individuals of 
 superior talents, but in humble circumstances of life, 
 would thereby be excluded from the profession, and 
 that the total number of those who engage in it would 
 be diminished below what is requisite for the interests 
 of the public. These apprehensions seem to receive a 
 sufficient practical refutation, in the course of prepara- 
 tory education which has long been required of those 
 who are permitted to enter upon the study of divinity 
 in the different Universities of Scotland ; for though 
 the students of divinity neither are from a more wealthy 
 class of society, nor have the prospect of greater emolu- 
 ments, than students of medicine, there is, I believe, 
 more reason to lament the excess than the deficiency 
 of their numbers. On the possibility as well as the 
 expediency of improving the general education of those 
 who are intended for the learned professions in this 
 country, I am happy to be able to quote the opinions 
 of one who has made the system of education pursued 
 in the Scotch Universities the subject of very careful 
 consideration. 
 
 " It is not for the purpose of reducing the number of 
 competitors, that we would beset the entry to the learned 
 professions with additional difficulties. But the present ex- 
 cess of those competitors, proves with what safety such dif- 
 ficulties may be imposed. Nor would we impose them for 
 their own sake. The toil and the cost of a more lengthened 
 and laborious attendance at our Universities are not de- 
 sirable in themselves, but the more comprehensive and pro- 
 founder scholarship to which they are subservient is highly 
 desirable ; and to the attainment of this object, the present 
 state of matters is convertible. As formerly, we were obliged 
 to let down the system of education for the purpose of draw-
 
 508 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN, 
 
 ing more students to college ; so now that we can afford to 
 have greatly fewer students, we may raise that system. The 
 standard of preparation was lowered, when the circumstances 
 of the country required such a facility for the due supply of 
 the learned professions; but now that the facility is such as 
 vastly to have overdone the supply, this is the intimation to 
 us how much the standard of preparation admits of being- 
 elevated *."" 
 
 Besides fixing a course of Study for those who are 
 desirous to receive licences to practise the medical pro- 
 fession, there are two points connected with medical 
 education which seem to be also extremely deserving of 
 the most careful consideration of the Legislature ; the 
 first to determine who should be considered as qualified 
 Teachers of the different branches of study prescribed ; 
 and the second, who ought to be intrusted with con- 
 ducting those Examinations to which medical students 
 should be subjected previously to their receiving li- 
 cences to engage in the practice of their profession f. 
 
 There are at present in this country two classes of 
 medical Teachers, who, in mercantile language, may 
 be said to enjoy a bounty on teaching, by having cer- 
 tain privileges attached to attendance on their instruc- 
 tions, viz. the medical Professors in the Universities, 
 and the Members of the different medical Incorpora- 
 tions. The rules laid down by the different Universi- 
 ties, with regard to the Teachers, attendance on whose 
 instructions they recognise as qualifying medical stu- 
 dents for graduation, are very various. Some Univer- 
 sities confine this privilege to their own I'rofessors, and 
 to those of certain other Universities ; otliers extend it 
 
 * Dr Chalmers on Endowments, p. 68. 
 + See A])pen(Hx, Note A A. 
 
 4
 
 LIFE OF DR CULL EN. 509 
 
 to the Professors of all legally constituted Universities ; 
 and others, again, extend it to all Teachers, who are 
 members of the different chartered medical Incorpora- 
 tions. "^Fhe other Corporate bodies which possess the 
 power of conferring licences to practise medicine, as the 
 Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, the Societies of 
 Apothecaries, &c., receive from their candidates evi- 
 dence of their having attended the lectures either of 
 University Professors, or of the Members of their own 
 or of other medical Corporations. 
 
 Ts it necessary for the Legislature to make any pro- 
 vision for insuring that those private Teachers, attend- 
 ance on whose instructions is received as qualifying me- 
 dical students to be examined for a licence to practise, 
 shall be competent to the duty of teaching the particu- 
 lar branches of the science which they profess ? If so, 
 should the simple circumstance of being a Member of one 
 of the medical Incorporations, — admission into which, 
 it may be remarked, has hitherto had no reference to the 
 supposed qualifications of the candidate for tlie business 
 of teaching, — be held as sufficient proof of the possession 
 of the requisite qualifications for a Teacher, or should in- 
 tending lecturers be subjected by the Incorporations to 
 which they belong, to some particular probation of their 
 fitness ? Ought privileged Teachers in the private 
 schools of medicine to be allowed to engage in teaching 
 as many of the branches of Medical science as they may 
 please, or be obliged, like the Professors in Universi- 
 ties, to confine their attention to one particular depart- 
 ment of instruction ? And what security should be 
 required of them, that the young men who enter as 
 their pupils, actually merit those certificates of regular
 
 510 LIFE OF Dll CULLEX. 
 
 attendance on their instructions, which candidates for 
 medical licences must produce, before being admitted 
 to examination by the different public Boards ? 
 
 Dr Smith, in his letter to Dr CuUen, besides de- 
 fending the expediency of allowing all to engage in 
 medical practice who chuse to do so, — and that even 
 under the sanction of a degree, if they can procure 
 it, — ^has also asserted the opinion, afterwards main- 
 tained by him in his Theory of the Wealth of Nations, 
 that there should exist a free, unfettered, and unas- 
 sisted competition among the instructors of youth ; and 
 that the selection of teachers may, in all cases, be most 
 safely intrusted to students and their friends. The 
 arguments which he uses to demonstrate the inexpe- 
 diency of favouring particular teachers, by endowing 
 their Chairs with salaries, or by enforcing attendance 
 on their instructions, seem to reduce themselves to 
 the following: — 1st, The tendency of such artificial 
 helps to diminish the diligence of these teachers ; ^d. 
 Their oppressive and unjust operation upon private 
 and unprivileged teachers ; and, 3d, Their directing 
 the course of education towards objects less useful than 
 those to which it would naturally have gone. 
 
 It would lead into too wide a field of discussion, and 
 one too remote from the proper object of this work, to 
 inquire whether the evils so forcibly pointed out by Dr 
 Smith, as resulting from the endowment of Seminaries 
 of education, by salaries, or by enforced attendance, 
 might not be in a great measure corrected by the Le- 
 gislature subjecting the proceedings of these Seminaries 
 to occasional examination ; or whether, even in their 
 present magnitude, these evils are not more than coun-
 
 LIFE OF Dll CULLEX. 511 
 
 terbalanced by the concomitant advantages of these en- 
 dowments. It will at least be allowed to the advo- 
 cates of Endowment, that in M edical, if in any species 
 of lay education, it is for the advantage of the commu- 
 nity that the highest talents should be engaged in the 
 business of teaching, even though the cost of obtaining 
 the proper exercise of these talents should considerably 
 exceed, by the erection of Museums, Hospitals, &c., 
 what those who are to receive instruction shall be able 
 to defray ; and it might not perhaps be difficult to 
 shew, that there are some circumstances in a great 
 degree peculiar to Teachers of medical science, which 
 render a selection of the persons who are to act in this 
 capacity, by competent and unprejudiced judges, pecu- 
 liarly desirable. 
 
 But, whatever arguments may be advanced in favour 
 of endowing or conferring peculiar privileges on parti- 
 cular medical Teachers, it is impossible to deny the just- 
 ness of Dv Smith's general principles, — that what the 
 Public seems to be principally interested in, is the pos- 
 session of a sufficient stock of preparatory and of pro- 
 fessional knowledge on the part of those who receive 
 licences to practise medicine, it being of very little con- 
 sequence to it in what Schools this knowledge has been 
 obtained ; and — that in the business of teaching, as in 
 every other profession, the exertions of the greater part 
 of those who exercise it, will be in proportion to the 
 necessity they are under of making that exertion. If, 
 therefore, it be deemed expedient by the Legislatm-e 
 to limit competition in the business of teaching medi- 
 cine, it is obviously its duty to provide, as far as is pos- 
 sible, in the first place, for the privileges it grants being 
 conferred upon competent persons ; and, in the second
 
 512 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 place, for the diligence of the persons selected being 
 steadily maintained. The first object can only be effected 
 by placing the choice of medical Teachers in the hands 
 of persons interested and qualified to make a good selec- 
 tion ; and the second, by the establishment, throughout 
 the different parts of the country, of such a number of 
 medical Schools, on a fair footing of equality with one 
 another in regard to privilege, as will leave to students a 
 considerable latitude of choice amongst different teach- 
 ers ; and render the teachers^ in a proportional degree, 
 dependent on their success and reputation in their par- 
 ticular departments. To be members, or not to be 
 members, of a particular University, or of a particular 
 College in a University, may be a proper enough ground 
 for admission into, or exclusion from, a convivial club 
 or other voluntary association ; but that, in the present 
 day, vv^hen the opportunities of acquiring medical know- 
 ledge are so extensively diffused over these kingdoms, 
 the right of practising physic, in any part of P^ngland, 
 should depend on a person's having pursued his studies 
 in one or other of two Schools, w^hich are in many re- 
 spects most inconveniently circumstanced for those who 
 are educating to the medical profession, and confes- 
 sedly but little capable of affording the information 
 necessary to qualify them for its exercise, is an abuse 
 well calculated to create and to keep up a general dis- 
 gust and dissatisfaction with the system of privileged 
 Universities. 
 
 With regard to the question, who should be intrusted 
 with the Examination of candidates for licenses to prac- 
 tise medicine, it seems very obvious that the examinators 
 should not have any motive for ingratiating themselves 
 with those who are to become candidates for licences.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 513 
 
 nor have any direct influence either in granting or in 
 withholding licences. Whether these considerations 
 should exclude from the office of Examinators those 
 who are engaged in the business of teaching, who may 
 naturally be supposed to be prejudiced in favour of 
 their own pupils, is a matter deserving the attention of 
 the Legislature. They at least shew the propriety of 
 the remuneration of the examinators not depending 
 on the number of individuals on whom they confer li- 
 censes ; and they suggest likewise the inexpediency of 
 intrusting those who are practising in a particular place 
 or district, with the exclusive power of deciding on the 
 qualifications of persons who may propose to become 
 their rivals*. 
 
 Whether it be possible to determine by Examina- 
 tions the fitness of candidates for licences to practise 
 medicme, to receive these licences, is a question on 
 which there seems to have been a tendency to exagge- 
 ration of opinion on both sides ; some, with Dr Smith, 
 representing examinations as altogether unworthy of 
 being relied upon as a test of this fitness, and others 
 considering them as so complete a test as even to su- 
 persede the necessity of prescribing any particular 
 course of professional education to medical students. 
 The proper object of examinations seems to be, to in- 
 sure a due degree of attention being paid by the stu- 
 dent to those instructions attendance on which is pre- 
 scribed ; and in so far as these instructions are calcula- 
 ted to prepare a student for entering on the practice 
 of the medical profession, examinations must increase 
 the security of the public that those who successfully 
 
 * vSee Appendix, Note B B. 
 VOL. L K k
 
 514 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 undergo them are worthy of being licensed to practise 
 JNledicine. It is much to be wished, indeed, that me- 
 dical students, whether educated in Universities, or in 
 particular Schools of Medicine, were subjected to re- 
 peated examinations at different stages of the progress 
 of their Course of education. Their attention to their 
 studies would thus be ensured during the earlier as well 
 as durhig the later years of that course ; those who 
 from idleness did not avail themselves of the opportu- 
 nities of acquiring knowledge which they enjoyed, would 
 speedily be warned of the necessity of increasing their 
 exertions ; and those whose inability to undergo their 
 examinations seemed to depend on want of capacity 
 rather than of application, wovdd receive timely notice 
 of the expediency of turning their thoughts to some other 
 line of employment. An effectual stop would in this way 
 be put to the practice of students who have idled away 
 the greater portion of the time that ought to have been 
 devoted to their studies, being hurriedly got ready 
 in the course of a few months, — by methods which are 
 well known to be practised, but which it is not neces- 
 sary here to particularize, — for undergoing those exami- 
 nations before the different public Boards, on the issue 
 of which their future prospects in life so materially de- 
 pend : While at the same time the examinators would 
 be relieved from the painful alternative of sacrificing 
 the interests of the public to compassion for an indivi- 
 dual, as Dr Smith seems to have suspected may, on 
 the present system, not unfrequently be done ; or of 
 pronouncing a young man who had passed through the 
 whole of the prescribed course of study, unfit for exer- 
 cising a profession, in attempting to acquire a know-
 
 LIFE OF DR CUI.LEN. 515 
 
 ledge of which he had spent some of the most important 
 years of his life. 
 
 One of the few provisions for the education of Me- 
 dical men that have heen made by the Legislature, is 
 the obligation of serving a long Apprenticeship, which 
 it has imposed on that class of practitioners who at pre- 
 sent enjoy in England a monopoly of the general prac- 
 tice of medicine. That it may be highly advantageous 
 for young men, entering upon the study of medicine at 
 a regular school, to be placed under the immediate su- 
 perintendence of individuals able and willing to guide 
 them in their studies, wall not be denied. But it does 
 not seem essential towards obtaining the advantages of 
 this supermtendence, that the student should be con- 
 demned to pass a large portion of every day of his 
 apprenticeship in performing the menial drudgery of 
 a general practitioner's shop, whilst all the practical 
 skill in pharmacy or surgery which he can there ac- 
 quire might be more advantageously obtained in the 
 course of a few months, by the study of Practical Che- 
 mistry, or by attendance at a druggist's shop, and by 
 officiating as dresser in an hospital, or as pupil at a 
 dispensary. An Apprenticeship may unhesitatingly be 
 pronounced pernicious, which absorbs either the means 
 or the time that ought to be devoted to the acquisition 
 of preliminary literary and scientific knowledge. And 
 when we remember the circumstances under which a 
 large proportion of medical apprenticeships are at pre- 
 sent passed, at a distance from any School where either 
 preparatory or professional knowledge can be acquired, 
 and in the performance of a perpetual routine of menial 
 services, which could be performed with equal advantage 
 
 Kk 2
 
 516 
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 
 
 to the public by the most uneducated ; such apprentice- 
 ships cannot but be considered as an arrangement in 
 which the interests of those who are training to the me- 
 dical profession are sacrificed to the interests of those 
 who are already engaged in its practice. For it is in vain 
 to expect that even the most conscientious master can 
 compensate to his apprentices by his own instructions, 
 for a want of those opportunities of acquiring a know- 
 ledge of the different branches of medicine that are af- 
 forded by attendance on the instructions and lectures 
 of professed teachers. And when we remember how 
 small a portion of provincial practitioners can have the 
 time, even if they had the inclination and the ability 
 necessary, for guiding the studies of their apprentices, 
 we cannot be surprised that apprenticeships of this kind 
 should be, as they are now very generally consider- 
 ed by the liberal and enlightened part of the profes- 
 sion, more frequently the nurseries of idleness and ig- 
 norance than of industry and knowledge. 
 
 The period at which an apprenticeship to a well 
 employed practitioner, may be served with advantage, 
 is when the student has acquired as much professional 
 information as can be obtained from attendance on the 
 instructions of professed teachers, and is thus prepared 
 for availing himself of those practical lessons which are 
 to be derived from witnessing and assisting in the treat- 
 ment of actual diseases, by one older and more experi- 
 enced than himself Without the preparation afforded 
 by this mode of [medical instruction, the young practi- 
 tioner, when he first enters upon the practice of his 
 profession, can supply the want of personal experience, 
 only by the lessons which he obtains from the errors
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 517 
 
 and mistakes he commits, at the hazard or even to the 
 detriment of his patients. It is in this stage of a yomig 
 medical man's education that attendance at the provin- 
 cial hospitals and public dispensaries, now very gene- 
 rally distributed over this country, is calculated to be of 
 immense benefit to him as a preparation for entering 
 on the exercise of his profession. " The provincial hos- 
 pitals of England," as has been observed by Mr Law- 
 rence, " many of which equal in the number of their 
 patients the smaller hospitals of London, afford every 
 opportunity of acquiring that most valuable kind of 
 knowledge which is derive<l from experience. The prac- 
 tical study of the profession is here conducted with 
 peculiar advantage, from the comparatively small num- 
 ber of students, and the circumstance of their attention 
 not being distracted by a multiplicity of other objects. 
 The number of persons to whom instruction can be im- 
 parted at the bedside of the patient, is circumscribed 
 within narrow limits. However great the ability and 
 knowledge of the practitioner, and his desire to commu- 
 nicate information, however zealous and attentive the 
 students, the examination and explanation of a case, 
 and its principles of treatment, can be made useful only 
 to the small number who are able to see the patient 
 and hear the practitioner." 
 
 The doubts that have till within a short period 
 been entertained with regard to the legal rights of Ge- 
 neral medical practitioners in England, to claim remu- 
 neration for their professional attendance and advice, 
 and the encouragement thus held out to them, to make 
 their professional emoluments depend on the quantity 
 of useless, and too often pernicious, drugs with which
 
 518 LIFE OF Dll CULLEN. 
 
 they may be able to drench their patients, have been 
 equally prejudicial to the interests of the Public, and de- 
 grading to the Medical profession ; and, so long as the 
 English public shall chuse to foster this most absurd 
 and disgraceful trade in drugs, now very generally 
 abandoned in this part of the kingdom, it is in vain to 
 expect that medicine can be practised amongst them, 
 upon scientific, rational, or honourable principles *. 
 
 The contrariety of opinion expressed by Dr Cullen 
 and Dr Smith, in the documents which I have in- 
 serted, with regard to the necessity or propriety of in- 
 terference on the part of the Legislature, for securing 
 the fitness of those who engage in the practice of me- 
 dicine, has led me farther, perhaps, than the occasion 
 may seem to justify, in an endeavour to sketch some of 
 the leading principles which, I conceive, ought to be 
 kept in view, in any attempt to reform the system of 
 Medical Legislation which at present exists in these 
 kingdoms. 
 
 " Expositions of this nature and extent," it has been justly 
 remarked, " are the more necessary, from there being no su- 
 perintending association fitted for taking those comprehen- 
 sive views which the occasion requires ; for, while each de- 
 partment is represented by Corporate Bodies, to whom the 
 care of its interests is confided, none exists for regulating the 
 Collective Profession, adjusting the conflicting interests of its 
 several branches, and adapting the energies of the whole for 
 the public good The departments, in asserting their re- 
 spective rights and interests, are necessarily limited by par- 
 tial views. They conceive with sufficient truth and accu- 
 racy, perhaps, what would be required to perfect each branch 
 
 * See Appendix, Note C C.
 
 LIFE OF DR CULLEN. 519 
 
 as an isolated establishment, but they fail to recognise the 
 natural connexion which unites the whole, and are thus, 
 even in their collective labours, incompetent to display the 
 comprehensive views, or establish the just conclusions, by 
 which alone the Legislature can be safely guided*." 
 
 The rapidly increasing disposition, in this country, 
 to make our different National institutions harmonize 
 with the advanced and advancing state of knowledge, 
 renders it highly probable that an attempt at Medical 
 reform will ere long be made, and that the different 
 medical Incorporations of the country will eventually 
 be placed on a footing more suited than their present 
 to the wants of the Public, and to the liberal spirit of 
 the times. Whatever differences of opinion may exist 
 as to the particular measures by which that object may 
 be best effected, which all attempts at Medical Legis- 
 lation should have in view, viz. the insuring the pub- 
 lic's being provided with an ample supply of skilful 
 practitioners, all, it is hoped, will be disposed to concur 
 in the justness of the observation, that " it is quite im- 
 possible to legislate, unless for all departments of the 
 profession at once, and for all the three kingdoms to- 
 gether f ." 
 
 * Dr Barlow, Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ. xxviii. 333. 
 + See article in the Edin. Med. and Surg. Journt vol. xxv. 
 p. 407, on " The English Apothecaries' Act."
 
 1
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 NOTE A. p. 9. 
 
 DR FOTHERGILL'S ACCOUNT OF THE EDINBURGH 
 SCHOOL OF MEDICINE. 
 
 In speaking of Dr Alexander Russell, Dr Fothergill observes, 
 " In the years 1732-3-4, Dr Russell continued his medical studies 
 under the Professors, who at that time so ably filled the seve- 
 ral Chairs of Physic in the University of Edinburgh, and laid the 
 foundation of that character which ranks it in the public esteem 
 superior to most others in Europe. Though there had long been 
 Professorships for Medicine in that place, and several attempts 
 had been made to introduce a general course of medical instruc- 
 tion, it was not till about the year 1720 that this University dis- 
 tinguished itself. Several gentlemen who had studied under Boer- 
 haave, with a view to revive the study of medicine in their na- 
 tive country where it had formerly flourished, qualified themselves 
 for the purpose of giving courses of public lectures on every 
 branch of their profession. The celebrated Monro taught Ana- 
 tomy, after having studied it under the ablest masters then in 
 Europe ; the Theory of Physic was assigned to the amiable, the 
 humane Dr St Clair ; Drs Rutherford and Innes chose the Prac* 
 tice ; Chemistry was allotted to Dr Plummer ; and the teaching of 
 Materia Medica, together with Botany (of which last he was 
 appointed King's Professor), devolved upon the learned and in- 
 defatigable Alston. The City of Edinburgh favoured the gene- 
 rous design, added to the salaries allotted from the Crown, and 
 provided as suitable conveniences as the place then afforded. 
 They had no sooner opened their respective professorships than
 
 524 APPENDIX. 
 
 many students of their o>yn nation, some from England, some from 
 Ireland, and not long- after some from the plantations, flocked thi- 
 ther. This stimulated the Professors to exert their great talents 
 with the utmost energy. Dr Monro's class soon became numerous, 
 and the anatomy of the bones, of the nerves, and his other works, 
 will long remain as testimonies of his great abilities, Avhen the 
 grateful regard of the multitude who studied imder him, and 
 were witnesses of his singular attention to instruct and encourage 
 his pupils, as well as to act the part of a parent to every stran- 
 ger, fails of expression. With what grace and elegance, with 
 what minuteness and precision, would the humane, the inimitable 
 St Clair explain the Institutes of the master (Boerhaave) whose 
 nervous simplicity he studied to exemplify, though not with ser- 
 vile imitation I "WTiere he differed in opinion from that great 
 man, with what diffidence would he offer his own ! Ever the 
 students' friend, and their example in a noble simplicity of man- 
 ners, and a conduct becoming a gentleman and a physician. Dr 
 Rutherford still enjoys his country's praise and the lasting esteem 
 of all his pupils. Plummer is no more : he knew Chemistry well ; 
 laborious, attentive, and exact, had not a native diffidence veiled 
 his talents as a praelector, he would have been among the fore- 
 most in the pupils' esteem. Such was the gentleness of his nature, 
 such his universal knowledge, that in any disputed point in sci- 
 ence, the great ^Nlaclaurin always appealed to him as to a living 
 library ; and yet so great was his modesty, that he spoke to 
 young audiences upon a point he was perfectly master of, not 
 without hesitation. Alston, the laborious Alston, will live for 
 ages. IVhat benefit his pupils had the means of reaping will 
 best be known when his lectures, now in the press, are pub- 
 lished. What care to separate truth from falsehood, how cau- 
 tious in advancing speculations, how laborious in experiments, 
 and chaste in forming his conclusions ! The numerous MS. 
 copies that were taken by his pupils of his lectures are sufficient 
 proofs of their opinion of his abilities. But while I am thus at- 
 tempting to pay my tribute of gratitude to the memories of those 
 eminent Professors who laid the foundation of that seminary of 
 physic, whose reputation has drawn students from every nation 
 in Europe, let me not forget the learned, the able, the laborious
 
 ACCOUNT OF DR CLERK. 525 
 
 Innes. Though I was not so happy as to be of the number of 
 his pupils, yet I can well remember the deep regret expressed 
 by many of the students, my contemporaries, for his early and 
 untimely fate ; often have I heard them tell with what dignity, 
 with what clearness and precision, in what a nervous masculine 
 style he used to explain the aphorisms of his great master : his 
 colleagues, too, most deeply lamented the loss which they and the 
 public sustained by the death of so able a coadjutor ; they regret- 
 ed the /na/i whom they loved, the physician and professor whom 
 they esteemed." 
 
 NOTE B. p. 12. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF DR JOHN CLERK. 
 
 " LENDER the first impressions, that the death of the late wor- 
 thy and learned Dr John Clerk made ujjon me, I conceived the 
 design of bringing this company together. Full of respect for a 
 person I had so long admired ; warm with afl^ection and grati- 
 tude towards the person I had so often found my friend ; I 
 wished to be, I fancied I could be, eloquent in his praise. But 
 upon consulting more coolly my ov,m talents, I found it was not 
 proper for one who had been so long confined to the exercise of 
 the mute arts, to aim at eloquence ; I found it necessary to aban- 
 don every attempt of that kind : but I could not desist from my 
 puqjose of doing what honour I am able to the memory of Dr 
 Clerk. The great merit he had with the public, entitles his 
 memon,' to every mark of public respect ; and the regard that 
 every physician owes to his profession, is certainly due to a man 
 who enjoyed so much eminence in it. By the presence of so 
 many honourable and learned gentlemen, I can now perceive 
 that my purpose is approved of; and T hope that even a plain 
 narrative of the life of Dr Clerk will do him honour; I hope 
 that even my imperfect account of his character and merit, will 
 justify the regard the public have long entertained for him, and 
 will, in some measure, soothe the regret they now feel for his 
 loss.
 
 526 APPENDIX. 
 
 The eminent person I am to speak of, Dr John Clerk, was 
 born on the 11th day of September 1689. He was descended 
 of a family which, by great honour and worth, had been for some 
 time distinguished among the gentry of this kingdom. By a 
 father who belonged to the medical profession, and was eminent 
 in his part of it, Mr Clerk was early destined to physic. He was 
 first properly imbued with all the literature that is necessary to 
 qualify for the study, or may adorn the practice of the art. He 
 was afterwards led through every part of the study of physic ; 
 he was led through every branch of the profession ; he began as 
 an Apothecary, and thereby, with regard to many particulars, 
 he acquired an accurate knowledge that is sometimes neglected 
 by the student, but the want of which is always deeply regretted 
 by the practitioner. Our student had indeed, throughout, a 
 singular education : he was little in colleges (public schools) of 
 Physic, but he was constantly among diseases and medicines. 
 The University of Edinburgh was not then so happy as to enjoy 
 those Colleges of Physic which have since furnished so many 
 physicians to Britain and her wide extended colonies. The 
 genius of Clerk was at that time in danger of missing its proper 
 cultivation ; but he was singularly happy in receiving a very 
 ample compensation for the want of public colleges. Dr Pit- 
 cairn *, whose fame in physic does so much honour to this king- 
 dom, after he had adorned one of the most famous Seminaries of 
 Medicine in Europe as a Professor, had then returned to bless 
 his native country with his skill as a practitioner. This con- 
 summate judge soon discerned the rising genius of Clerk. Dr 
 Pitcairn was pleased to find in him that taste for classical 
 studies, by which he himself was so much distinguished : he 
 was happy to discern in Clerk an acuteness in those sciences 
 which he was then endeavouring, not without difficulty and op- 
 position, to introduce into this country. He was particularly 
 pleased in discovering in that young man, the symptoms of that 
 
 * Dr Archibald Pitcairn, Avho was born at Edinburgh in 1652, was ap- 
 pomted Professor of Physic in the University of Ley den in 1692 ; but re- 
 turned to Scotland in 1693, and died in 1713.
 
 ACCOUNT OF DR CLERK. 527 
 
 sagacity, which, by proper cultivation, might, and which alone 
 indeed can, furnish an able physician. Full of these views, Dr 
 Pitcairn took young Clerk under his tuition. He became his 
 Professor, or what is perhaps more valuable to the student, he 
 became his private instructor. Such an instruction is in most 
 cases in danger of being superficial, but such a genius, under 
 such a master, could not fail to make great proficiency. Mr 
 Clerk soon became very knowing in every part of physic, and 
 of the arts relating to it ; and became at length fit to go from 
 under the immediate care of his master. He desired to visit the 
 seats of learning abroad, but Dr Pitcairn, who had a just title to 
 direct his course, being jealous lest any one else should have a 
 share in rearing a production which promised so much honour to 
 himself, would not consent that his pupil should formally study 
 under any other master. Mr Clerk, however, did visit the seats 
 of learning in Holland, France, and England, not indeed as a 
 student, but on a better footing, as one desirous to receive know- 
 ledge in exchange for what of the same kind he could commu- 
 nicate. After travelling some time in this way, he returned to 
 Scotland, took a degree in Physic, and appeared as a practi- 
 tioner about the time when Dr Pitcairn, in the decline of life, 
 was ready to resign his practice in favour of the person he had 
 so well instructed and fitted to succeed him. Dr Pitcairn in- 
 deed died soon after he had, in some measure, formally be- 
 queathed that young Physician, as a valuable gift to his friends 
 and the public ; and the public, directed by so good a judge, soon 
 rested their hopes and put their confidence in Dr Clerk. He 
 became immediately an eminent practitioner, at an age when 
 most others must be employed obscurely in acquiring the expe- 
 rience that may entitle them to general trust and confidence. 
 Experience is certainly necessary to a physician, and it belonged 
 to the genius of Clerk alone, to anticipate that skill which is 
 commonly acquired by others, only in the course of many years. 
 Such was the progress of this physician, till he at length arrived 
 to be in the first rank of the practitioners of this city, which has 
 long been very happy in the most able physicians. Dr Clerk 
 very early attained to this rank, and what is perhaps as unusual,
 
 528 APPENDIX. 
 
 he preserved it through a long- life to the hour of his death. I 
 might have said more of the means by which he arrived at so 
 much eminence ; I may say more of the manner in which he sup- 
 ported it. It is well known that many artifices have been em- 
 ployed by physicians to get into practice, and there are means 
 that may be employed by old practitioners to check the rise of com- 
 petitors. A detail of these would be invidious to the profession ; 
 I cannot impute them to the eminent practitioners of this city ; 
 but I must be allowed to say, that no pliysician was ever more 
 absolutely free from them than the late Dr Clerk. His great 
 abilities rendered all artifices unnecessary to him ; his undevia- 
 ting probity made him incapable of employing them. The 
 great trust he received from the public, was founded in the opi- 
 nion which the members of the profession, always the best 
 judges, had of his real skill. His credit would have been sup- 
 ported in spite of them, by those frequent good effects of his prac- 
 tice, which the most part of Scotland had soon occasion to observe. 
 There are certain manners which may be called artifices, but 
 which a practitioner can hardly be blamed for employing. These 
 are, a studied attention to every circumstance of the case, and a 
 show of sympathy with the pain and distress of the patient. Such 
 appearances as they seem to express a proper concern, and pro- 
 mise always an earnest endeavour towards a cure, will commonly 
 prove agreeable, and can hardly be hurtful in a physician ; but 
 such was the inflexible integrity of our eminent practitioner, 
 that he could not stoop even to the most innocent artifice ; he 
 could not make a show of studious attention when his quick pe- 
 netration rendered it unnecessary; he would not affect passions, 
 which he could not really feel, for the innumerable objects of 
 distress, that were so familiar to him. 
 
 I would here willingly consider more fully Dr Clerk in that 
 conspicuous point of view in which he appeared so long before 
 the eyes of the public, that is, as one of the ablest physicians that 
 perhaps any age or country has produced. But how shall I do this ? 
 I cannot properly exj^lain to this company, how accurate and pro- 
 found his general knowledge was, or how great his penetration 
 and sagacity in particular cases. I can only appeal to his learned 
 
 2
 
 ACCOUNT OF DR CLERK. 529 
 
 colleagues and fellow-practitioners, who, I presume, are ready to 
 testify, how often they have admired his knowledge in solving 
 their doubts, how often his discernment in relieving from the per- 
 plexities of the art ; how often his large experience and great 
 sagacity enabled him to determine with certainty, what in many 
 others would have been only loose conjectures! Were it neces- 
 sary, I might join here the testimony of some of the most emi- 
 nent practitioners of London, from whom I have myself heard 
 the strongest expressions of esteem for Dr Clerk. I would will- 
 ingly here, too, give the surest proof of his exquisite skill, by 
 enumerating many striking instances of his success ; but such a 
 detail would at present be improper, and I presume it is quite 
 unnecessary, when the whole of Scotland, and this city in parti- 
 cular, are so well acquainted with it ; while so many are on this 
 occasion, busy in expressing their regret, and full in mentioning 
 the particular causes of it. 
 
 I must now observe, that however great the fame of a practi- 
 tioner of physic is, we may always suspect the foundation of it, 
 unless we know him to be possessed of that learning and know- 
 ledge which is the only sure foundation of medical skill. Was 
 Dr Clerk a learned man? It is true the occupations of great 
 practice hardly leave the leisure that is necessary to a proper 
 display of literary merit, and our great practitioner has there- 
 fore published no writings in his own name ; but he was well 
 known to his friends, and in some measure to the public, as an 
 excellent scholar. He cultivated and delighted in polite litera- 
 ture : he was singularly happy in being able to join the accuracy 
 of the philologist to the taste of the gentleman ; and some edi- 
 tions of the Classics lately published here have been much oblig- 
 ed to his labours. He particularly aimed at joining the know- 
 ledge of the physician to the judgment of the critic, in giving 
 an edition of the elegant Roman physician Celsus ; but the want 
 of some collations that were necessary, unluckily prevented his 
 making the progress he wished in that work. He was especial- 
 ly learned in every thing that related more immediately to the 
 practice of physic ; and, what is perhaps unusual in a person of 
 his rank in practice, he was to the last hour of his life attentive 
 VOL. I. L 1
 
 530 APPENDIX. 
 
 to every improvement of it offered by others. A few days be- 
 fore his death I found him going over a late literary Journal of 
 Medicine with all the avidity of a young professor : and very 
 lately he went through a laborious task, that of reading over 
 carefully the whole of the late edition of the Methodus Studii 
 Medici of Dr Boerhaave. as if he had been anxious to find if 
 there were any medical writings which he had yet left unconsult- 
 ed. Such indeed was his love of medical erudition, that nothing 
 but the avocations of practice, could have prevented his shewing 
 a great deal of literary merit with regard to physic. He has 
 left in the hands of his family many valuable materials which a 
 long experience and judicious observation had enabled him to 
 accumulate ; he had even begun some time ago to digest these, 
 and has left behind him a considerable part of a work, somewhat 
 after the manner of Dr Sydenham's Processus iutegri in morhis 
 fere oimuhus curandis- 
 
 It is proper here to give some account of this work, but I must 
 beg leave to address it especially to the learned gentlemen of the 
 profession. It is upon a plan, as I judge, more extensively use- 
 ful than the empiric system of the great Sydenham could ad- 
 mit of. Dr Clerk has given the indications of cure upon a dog- 
 matic plan. In this he has shewn a great deal of knowledge in 
 the Theory of Physic, but, at the same time, he shews that he 
 knew well the proper limits of that part of our system, for un- 
 der the head of cure he very often prescribes remedies which 
 have not always a manifest connection with the indications be- 
 fore laid down. Under the same head he has given what is not 
 very common, though much to be desired in medical writings, — 
 an enumeration of the medicines which had disappointed his ex- 
 pectations, as well as of those which had proved successful ; and 
 he is careful in ranking the several medicines recommended in 
 diseases according to the degree of utility he had experienced 
 from them. On this plan he proposed to treat of most of the dis- 
 eases of the human body ; and with respect to several of them, as 
 the Rheumatism, the different species of Gout, Diarrhcea, Dysen- 
 tery, Cholera, and some others, hi*? treatise is pretty complete ; but 
 under some of the titles marked out, Avhat he proposed to have
 
 ACCOUNT OF DU CLERK. 531 
 
 done is not quite finished ; and as the whole seems to have been 
 intended to communicate chiefly what he had learned from his 
 own experience, no part of it could have been properly finished 
 but with his life. It appears that about the time of his death he 
 had been making additions to some parts of it. When those 
 parts that are finished shall be given, as I hope they shall be, to 
 the public, their excellence will certainly make the want of the 
 whole be very deeply regretted by all who either know the 
 value of such a work, or knew the peculiar fitness of Dr Clerk 
 to execute it. Besides this, he has left behind him also another 
 work, — some account of the progress of Physic, and of the seve- 
 ral sects of physicians. It is full of curious erudition, but it does 
 not appear to be quite finished. 
 
 With all his abilities, Dr Clerk was remarkably modest ; and 
 this quality, joined to a very correct judgment, rendered him, as 
 it has done many others, very shy in aiming at literary glory ; 
 but he ought to enjoy it, for he has made several discoveries in 
 his art, some of which have been published ; and he was always 
 willing to share with his Fellows of the College of Physicians 
 some honours which he in a great measure might have assumed 
 to himself. A physician may be judged of by his prescriptions, 
 and a College of Physicians will always be judged by those pre- 
 scriptions they publish under the title of Pharmacopoeias. I 
 should not, perhaps, before this promiscuous company, publish 
 the errors, the weakness of our profession ; but I must speak free- 
 ly, — I must say, that not long ago, the pharmacopoeias of the se- 
 veral Colleges of Europe were a scandal to physic ; contained 
 many things even shocking to common sense ; many of them do 
 so still ; and a very few of them only have received any consider, 
 able improvement. I hope it will always be acknowledged, always 
 remembered to the honour of the College of Physicians of Edin- 
 burgh, that they were among the first in attempting and execut- 
 ing this important reformation ; they were the first in aiming at 
 that desirable simplicity, that exquisite choice and judgment, 
 and that pharmaceutical accuracy, which now distinguish the 
 Pharmacopoeias of Great Britain. That of Edinburgh has been 
 for some time in request over Europe. Within these thirty-five 
 
 l12
 
 532 APPENDIX. 
 
 years past the College has given four different Editions of their 
 work, and always Avith improvements and additions, as further 
 time allowed better of the conquering of old prejudices, or furnish- 
 ed new advances in practice. I would not willingly defraud any 
 member of the College of their share in the honour of this work. 
 Many of them have a title to it ; but all of them will allow me to 
 say, that as the chief labour of that work was always devolved 
 upon Dr Clerk, so the chief merit of it always belonged to him. 
 So far indeed as I can trace the progress of this affair, it appears 
 to me evident that Dr Clerk was the person who chiefly intro- 
 duced into this country, judgment, accuracy, and elegance in pri- 
 vate prescription, and this very justly promoted him to the chief 
 direction of the public labours of the same kind. 
 
 It must further be observed here, that amidst the hurry of 
 practice, and the frequent interruptions of a valetudinary state, 
 Dr Clerk persisted resolutely in those labours which he judged 
 might contribute to the improvement of Physic, or to the honour 
 of the College of Physicians. It was proper that the Pharma- 
 copoeia for the use of the Royal Infirmary, published some years 
 ago, should be accommodated to the Public Pharmacopoeia, pub- 
 lished last year, and receive also such farther corrections as time 
 and experience had pointed out. In doing this, Dr Clerk spent 
 the intervals that this last winter and spring allowed him ; and 
 very lately he did me the honour to she^v me a copy of that 
 Pharmacopceia, with all the alterations and corrections which he 
 proposed it should receive. It is now in the hands of a son who 
 inherits his father's virtue and master's skill, and will, I hope, 
 succeed also to the proper reward of both. When this son, by 
 the advice of the College, shall give that work to the public, it 
 will abundantly show, that the father preserved to the last his 
 attention to the improvement of physic, and his abilities to con- 
 tribute largely towards it. 
 
 Such were the literary and professional merits of Dr Clerk. 
 I shall now add to the account of these some instances of his 
 generous desire to promote the study of physic in others. This 
 kingdom and this city for these thirty years past have received 
 some honour from the labours of the gentlemen employed in
 
 ACCOUxNT OF DR CLERK. 533 
 
 teacliliig the several parts of medicine in the University of Edin- 
 burgh. By the recess of one gentleman and the death of ano- 
 ther (Drs St Clair and Plummer), that society indeed has 
 lately suffered a considerable loss ; but the other gentlemen 
 who have contributed very much to obtain that honour, still 
 continue, and shall I hope long remain, to support it. In the 
 individual merit of these labours Dr Clerk could have no 
 share ; but he had the merit of favouring their beginnings, and 
 to his utmost he endeavoured to encourage their progress. The 
 labours of some of these gentlemen had been undertaken gra- 
 tuitously from a zeal to promote physic ; Dr Clerk endeavour- 
 ed to procure them a public encouragement. There was a sa- 
 lary which had formerly been annexed to a private office, as a 
 candidate for which Dr Clerk would have been, in point of favour 
 and merit, without a rival ; but he himself solicited that that salary 
 might be applied to the encouragement of the teaching of Me- 
 dicine in the University of Edinburgh. For this purpose he made 
 application to a Noble Lord who has always been the zealous 
 patron of all the arts of his country, and who needs only to find 
 the means by which he may promote them. Accordingly, as 
 soon as the vacancy happened which could give the proper oppor- 
 tunity, that Noble Lord obtained the application of the salary to 
 be made as Dr Clerk had proposed ; and when a nobleman, zeal- 
 ous to serve the Doctor, but without his participation, applied on 
 that occasion to His Grace the Duke of Argyll, desiring that the 
 salary then vacant might be conferred on Dr Clerk ; the Duke 
 was pleased to tell him he had prevented his solicitation, and had 
 granted the salary to the Doctor. His Grace had indeed really 
 done so. He had applied it at the Doctor's desire, and, though 
 not to his private benefit, yet to a purpose he valued as much — 
 the encouragement of physic. 
 
 This was one instance of Dr Clerk's regard to physic, and I 
 can now mention another, which was accompanied with a very 
 humane and generous purpose, viz. the great share he had in 
 the establishment of the house we are now in (the Royal In- 
 firmary), and its application to the excellent puqioses it now 
 serves, — the relief of the sick poor, and the promoting the study
 
 534 " APPENDIX. 
 
 of physic. That donation which has entitled him to have his 
 name enrolled here among the generons benefactors to this esta- 
 blishment, even with the addition lately made to it, is still a very 
 inconsiderable part of what it owes to him. His more important 
 generosity was his promoting the first attempt, his warmly soli- 
 citing contributions to carry it on, his care and fidelity in direct- 
 ing the application of them, and his great assiduity and industry in 
 conducting a public work, which, though all approve of, there are 
 few who will bestow upon it the necessary time and pains it re- 
 quires. There were indeed others that shared with him in these 
 labours, and some who had such a share in them, as must always 
 do them great honour ; but 1 have had the particular testimony 
 of the worthy and public-spirited gentleman (Provost Drum- 
 mond), whom all acknowledge to have had the chief hand in this 
 business, that he had on every occasion consulted with Dr Clerk, 
 that he had been often assisted by his advice, that he had been 
 always obliged to his assiduity, and indeed constantly supported 
 by his joint labours in the conduct of this noble establishment. 
 Certainly nothing could more strongly evince the desire of this 
 eminent physician to promote the study of his art, — nothing 
 could better show his generous inclinations to render the effects 
 of it as extensively useful as possible. 
 
 These particulars of Dr Clerk's merit with regard to his pro- 
 fession must do him honour ; but he deserves still more for his 
 general character, which shewed an uniform disposition to ex- 
 tend the knowledge and promote the effects of physic. He was 
 always communicative of his knowledge and experience to his 
 brethren of the profession ; and he was always ready to give un- 
 bonght advice to every patient that applied to him for that pur- 
 pose. I have myself, and all his acquaintances have, had many 
 instances of his generosity in this respect. There is one entire 
 very respectable body of men (the Clergy), to whom he often 
 gave advice, but from whom he never would receive any fee. 
 
 I have hitherto endeavoured to shew that great respect is due 
 to the memory of Dr Clerk as an able physician ; but I o^\^^ it 
 might take much from that respect if I could not also shew 
 that it is due to him as a very worthy man. This last in»
 
 ACCOUNT OF Dll CLERK. 5S5 
 
 deed, I hope, will always be in some measure inseparable from 
 the character of a great physician ; and many of the particu- 
 lars I have already mentioned prove that these characters were 
 very strictly united in Dr Clerk, and every part of his pri- 
 vate life served to confirm the same truth. He was a sin- 
 cere friend, and he had almost as many to cultivate his friend- 
 ship as to consult his skill. His relations were pleased with 
 the honour that his reputation reflected upon them ; but they 
 loved him no less for virtues that they more especially had oc- 
 casion to find in him. He was married to a woman in whom 
 he found as much virtue as others might discern of beauty : 
 good sense and gentle manners composed a happy family. The 
 virtuous and worthy offspring they have left behind them are 
 the surest evidence of the example and conduct of the parents. 
 Our eminent physician abounded indeed in useful, and he was 
 no less remarkable for his agreeable, qualities. His conversa- 
 tion was lively, full of wit and humour ; it was cheerful even to 
 mirth, but conducted with so much good sense as to be always 
 curious and instructive. In his manner, a very rigid honesty 
 would not indidge him in any general or fulsome complaisance, 
 but he never offended by moroseness or ill manners. To sum 
 up his character, I could produce the most ample and satisfactory 
 proofs of his fine parts and great probity. I could produce, were 
 it proper here, the long list of his more particular friends : some 
 of these, in spite of skill and friendship, died before him ; many 
 of them still live to regret him ; — all of them an honour to their 
 age and country, and the surest pledges of the value of the per- 
 son they held as a friend. 
 
 I have now gone through most of the particulars necessary 
 to be mentioned with regard to this eminent person. There is 
 one, however, still remaining, which cannot be omitted in an 
 account of a physician, that is, the conduct of his own health. 
 In the business of a physician there is nowhere an occasion 
 for a more nice exercise of skill, than in that most valuable 
 branch of the profession, the art of avoiding diseases. Dr 
 Clerk was originally of a delicate habit of body, and very early 
 threatened with several diseases. Though subsequent diseases 
 had made violent attacks upon liim, and even threatened imme-
 
 536 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 diate danger, he had the art to protract his life for many years 
 longer to a good old age. This required a constant and skill- 
 ful attention, and was conducted with singular judgment : his 
 regimen might indeed sometimes encroach upon his own plea- 
 sures, hut it hardly ever interfered with the duties of life. No- 
 thing less than his own exquisite skill could have managed this ; 
 and even this could not have done it, if his virtue at the same 
 time had not enabled him to moderate every gratification, and 
 even to decline those joys to which he was dra^ai by a strong 
 motive, the pleasure he might enjoy in the company of men of 
 wit and humour, who courted his talents of the same kind. By 
 such virtues, and the constant exercise of a nice skill, his life 
 was long preserved ; but the fatal stroke at last came, though 
 even it perhaps would not have proved fatal, if it had not been 
 so remarkably sudden, and made its chief attack, too, upon his 
 intellectual faculties. He died of half an hour's illness. The 
 first feelings of it did not alarm him so much as to make him 
 close the book he had been reading. It was Horace, and till 
 after his death it lay open, where there is this passage : 
 
 ' Sit mihi, quod nunc est, etiani minus : et niihi vivam 
 Quod superest ?evi, si quid superesse volunt Di : 
 Sit bona librorum et provisos frugis in annum 
 Copia ; neu fluitem dubioe spe pendulus horae. 
 Sed satis est orare Jovem qune donat et aufert, 
 Det vitam, det opes ; sequum mi animum ipse parabo.' 
 
 (Epistol. Lib. i. Epist. 18.) 
 
 Death indeed came upon him unawares, but it did not come 
 upon him unprepared. He had long foreseen, and often fore- 
 told, that his death would be in such a manner ; and he had long 
 been resigned to the will of Heaven, with all the firmness that 
 conscious virtue can inspire, and with all the cheerfulness that a 
 freedom from superstition can alone give. He had well nigh filled 
 up the measure of life ; and he parted from it, as he wished, 
 without having ever ceased from the duties of it. Now he is 
 gone, he is regretted by every lover of worth and knowledge ; 
 and all who are of the opinion of the Son of Sirach, that ' health 
 and a good state of body are above all gold,' will honour our 
 eminent physician with the honour that is due unto him, for the 
 uses we have had of him, for the Lord had created him."
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR D. CLERK. 53' 
 
 Dr David Clerk to Dr Clllen. 
 
 " Dear Cullex, Edixburgh, March 28. 1749. 
 
 I am not sure if, when T wrote you, I mentioned that we 
 had got here a book that may be of service to Mr Robert Sim- 
 son *, if he has it not already, which may perhaps not be the case 
 as it is very rare. It is the only edition of the Second Book of 
 Pappus, published along with Aristarchus by Wallis at Oxford, 
 in 8vo. 
 
 I had a letter from Gasthart, with an account of some experi- 
 ments on the Bath waters. They seemed to be far from being- 
 complete ; yet, as I could not say any thing that would even sa- 
 tisfy myself, either upon that part of the scheme, or upon the 
 whole in general, I did not choose to meddle with it, but set 
 him upon you to advise him. Though the analysis of the wa- 
 ters be the least useful part of the scheme, yet, as it is curious, 
 it is certainly worth the prosecuting as far as it will go. I would 
 be glad you woidd write me an account of the scheme you would 
 put him upon, both with respect to the different heads you would 
 have him consider in writing on that subject, and what experi- 
 ments you would have him make, in order to discover the con- 
 stituent principles of the water. 
 
 The best thing I have seen with respect to the investigating 
 the principles of bodies, by the simple mixing of other things 
 with them, is the Preface of Touniefort's Treatise ' Sur les 
 Plantes qui naissent aux environs de Paris,' though it, too, is not 
 complete. I had a bottle of water sent me from Moffat, of a Steel 
 spring just now found out there. It appeared by the taste and the 
 mixing of galls with it, to be stronger of the steel than even the 
 German Spa ; but it tasted, I thought, pretty much of alum at 
 the same time. It reddened the Succus Heliotropii, though that 
 does not indicate a perfect acid, as that both vitriol and alum 
 will do too. If I go to Moffat this summer, I may possibly 
 make some few experiments, for my amusement, upon that and 
 the other waters ; so, if any thing occurs to you on tliat subject 
 be so good as to communicate it to me. 
 
 • The cc4ebrated Professor of Mathematics in the University of Glasgow.
 
 538 APPENDIX. 
 
 Though I had sworn against chemistry, I am going to under- 
 take a very long and tedious process just now. It is said to be 
 the Lisbon preparation of mercury that cures the Lues Venerea 
 without salivating. If it were not too long I would transcribe 
 it for you. I am resolved to go through the whole process punc- 
 tually, and give it a fair trial. It is a receipt IMr Rattray 
 brought with him from Lisbon, 
 
 Though I write you, I can scjirce expect an answer from you 
 while you continue under the oppression of your colleges ; but, 
 when you begin to breathe again and have leisure, a line from 
 you will be extremely agreeable. Remember me to all friends 
 with you, and believe me to be ever sincerely yours, 
 
 Dav. Clerk." 
 
 Dr David Clerk to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Cullen, Edinburgh, Nov. 19. 1751. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 I received the Sal sedativum, for which I thank you. I sup- 
 pose it is the first ever was in Scotland. I propose trying it in 
 the Infirmary to-morrow, if the patient is no better, in a case of 
 Mania supervening on Epilej^sy. for which the patient is getting 
 a gentle course of mercury. He used formerly to have slight fits 
 of this mania, or delirium, and insensibility ; but this one, whe- 
 ther owing to the mercury or not, has continued for four or five 
 days, notwithstanding physic and blisters. One would not ex- 
 pect a great deal from the Sal ; but, at the same time, as it con- 
 tains an acid we know so little about, there is no answering for 
 its effects. The other part of its composition should be nothing 
 very active or powerful. The Oleum animale I won't trouble 
 you about. Hutton* will prepare me some of it, if I should 
 have occasion for it. He is so enthusiastical that I cannot get 
 him to engage in any thing useful. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 The post makes me conclude. Adieu, 
 
 Dav. Clerk." 
 
 * Dr James Hiitton, the celebrated author of the ' Theory of the Earth,' 
 &c.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH BR W. HUNTER. 539 
 
 Note C, page 14. 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " My Dear Old Friend, London, 20ih Sejit. 1748. 
 
 I have had a delightful ride this summer, through Hol- 
 land and Flanders, on my way to Paris. My business was to visit 
 Albinus, and in general all eminent medical people, to pick up 
 some old scarce books, and particularly to get some German books 
 for Dr Cullen. The list I had from Professor Moor *, and got all 
 of them but three, viz. ' Kunckel, Philosophia Chemica,' ' Reau- 
 mur, I'Art de convertir le Fer forge en Acier,' and ' Stahl de 
 Elogiis Vitrioli,' which I shall endeavour to find here at medical 
 sales, though the last probably cannot be met with on this side of 
 Hamburgh. Two of those I got are here, and shall be sent by 
 the first opportunity ; the rest were shipped from Rotterdam, 
 directed to the care of Mr Wilson, Edinburgh, to whom, by this 
 post, I have sent the bill of lading. I must come down next 
 summer and see you, for I want to chat about fifty things, and 
 hate to write of them. I condole sincerely with you ; but that 
 is in vain, and serves only to renew grief. Pray remember me 
 kindly to Mrs Cullen, Professor Hamilton, Mr Carrick, &c., 
 and to our old good friends (who, I hope, have not suffered by 
 the fire) at Hamilton. Dear Doctor, I am always yours, 
 
 William Hunter." 
 
 Dr Cullen to Dr Hunter. 
 
 " My dear Willie, Glasgow, 29th May 1749. 
 
 It is with pain I write to you, but it is to save your mo- 
 ther more pain in doing it herself. Your sister Mrs Buchanan 
 died on Friday night last. It was after being valetudinary for 
 some years ; and from your mother's last letter to you, I sup- 
 pose you know that this event was to be expected soon. 
 
 * Professor of Greek in the University of Glasgow.
 
 540 APPENDIX. 
 
 I have nothing to say upon this suhject but what would be 
 superfluous, perhaps impertinent, to you. Your mother and 
 Dorothy *, bating what they feel on this occasion, are otherwise 
 well. I hope you will be very careful of your own health, that 
 you may long be — what you will be Mhile you live — a great 
 comfort to them and to all your friends. I am, from the bottom 
 of my heart, my dear Willie, yours, 
 
 William Cullen." 
 
 Dr Cullen to Dr Hunter. 
 
 " Dear Willie, Glasgow, 12th July 1751. 
 
 I have hardly time to tell you that I have been so busy 
 of late that I had no time to write you, but 1 found time to be 
 often with your mother. Her ailments continue very obstinate 
 * * * I have endeavoured to engage her in some 
 
 exercise. She has tried going on horseback, and going in a cart 
 and in a car, but every kind of motion raises her pain so much, 
 that we cannot persuade her to repeat the trials. Upon the 
 whole, I am persuaded some scirrhosity is forming in the sto- 
 mach, which gives me a very disagreeable prospect with regard 
 to her. She says nothing now about Johnie's coming down ; 
 but I know, in her present temper, it would have pleased her 
 much if he had. I shall from time to time endeavour to let you 
 know how she goes on. Dear Willie, yours, 
 
 William Cullen." 
 
 " P. S. I see a book of Dr Battle's advertised f ; I wish you 
 could send it me by some of oui- Glasgow merchants now at Lon- 
 don, or, as I guess at the size of it, in two franks." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Loxdox, August i. 1751. 
 
 I am particularly obliged to you for the care you have 
 taken of my poor mother, and must beg of you to continue it. 
 
 * AfterAvards jNIrs Baillie. f De Principiis Animalibus.
 
 COKRKSPOXDENCE WITH Dll ^V. KUNTKK. 541 
 
 The trouble you give yourself of informing me so particularly, 
 not only of her health, but of her inclinations, is likewise very 
 friendly, and I thank you for it. But I cannot consent this sea- 
 son to her request*, for my brother's sake, for my own sake, 
 and even for my mother's sake. It would be every way a bad 
 scheme. I have wrote of it to her, and I hope she will consider 
 better of it, and find that it is really a whim begot of sick- 
 ness and low spirits. I have sent Battle's Principia to Johnson, 
 in the city, who will send it to you by the first hand. I wish 
 you would come up to London for a week or two. I have as 
 much to say to you as would take up that time. 1 want to tell 
 you many things about colleges, hospitals, professorships, cha- 
 riots, wives, &c. &c. ; and cannot write of these things. I'm busy 
 in forming a plan for being an author. In short, my head is full 
 
 of a thousand things. * * * j received first 
 
 the English and then the Latin proposals for Plato ; and surely 
 Messrs Foulis must think me an odd fellow. I have not wrote 
 them one word. But I have been pufl&ng for them, and I have 
 picked up some hints for them, which I reserved till I should 
 give them the names of two or three subscribers. Dr Duncan 
 has kept every thing from me for more than a month, under 
 pretence of shewing the proposals to some people of quality, 
 who, I suppose, will do very little after all. My compliments 
 to them all, and to all friends. 
 
 Pray take an airing now and then on Kilbryde Hills. I am, 
 dear Sir, sincerely yours, 
 
 WiLLiAivr Hunter." 
 
 Dr CuLLEN to Dr Hunter. 
 
 " My dear Willie, Glasgow, Qth October 1751. 
 
 I have intended to write you every post this fortnight 
 past, but some accident has always prevented me. I regret my 
 neglect chiefly on this account, that it may have put off your 
 writing to your mother, which she complains of. Her ailments 
 have continued much in one way for some weeks past, only she 
 
 * That Mr John Hunter should be sent down to Scotland.
 
 542 APPENDIX. 
 
 has by degrees grown weaker and weaker, but by such slow de- 
 grees, that it was not easy to say how soon her aihnents would 
 come to a period. I have been with her this clay, and find her 
 weakness so very remarkable, that I cannot depend now on her 
 subsisting for any length of time. If you have not written to her 
 or Dorothy before this comes to your hand, I would have you 
 delay it no longer. It gives some relief to Dorothy, that now 
 your mother seems to be declining fast, it is with very little of 
 those pains which formerly afflicted her. I visit her often, and 
 shall continue to do so ; and, upon Dorothy's account, I shall take 
 care to be present in your mother's last moments. As these are 
 not far oif, if you have any directions to give with regard to her 
 funeral, they shall be punctually observed. If your directions 
 come too late, I shall take upon me to order these matters in 
 the manner I think will be most agreeable to you, and w^ithal, 
 my chief care shall be bestowed on Dorothy. As you have no 
 objection to my plan wdth regard to her, I shall do as I pro- 
 posed, that is, as soon as your mother is interred, take Dorothy 
 to my house, where I am sure she will find a very hearty wel- 
 come. I am, my dear friend, your!s, 
 
 William Cullen." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, London, N'ov. I4th, 1751. 
 
 You cannot imagine what satisfaction you have given me, 
 by your kind attendance upon my poor mother during such a 
 long sickness. I was very unhappy when I thought of the 
 pleasure it Avould have been to her could I have been with her, 
 or could I have let my brother be with her; but as that was 
 impossible, the only comfort I could procure myself upon such a 
 melancholy occasion, was recommending her to my friends, and 
 particularly to you. I take the first opportunity of thanking 
 you from my heart. 
 
 The past is unavoidable. Our next care must be about my 
 sister ; who has recommended herself strongly to me by her in- 
 defatigable tenderness. Poor girl, I pity her from my soul. 
 Your offer with regard to her is generous and friendly. I leave
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR" W. HUNTER. 543 
 
 her to be determined by you and her friends. In the mean time, 
 I would propose that she should stay in Scotland till the spring, 
 both for the sake of good \Yeather, and that my great hurry may 
 be over, and that we may have some time to consider how our 
 little affairs are to be managed in Scotland after she leaves the 
 place. Then I should propose that she come up to me, or per- 
 haps I may then send my brother to bring her. 
 
 I had a very kind letter the other day from Mr Moor, and I 
 have not time to answer it. I beg you will do it for me, by let- 
 ting him know how sensible I am of his friendship. I have been 
 up all night, and hurried all day ; so that 1 am half dead, and, 
 as you may suppose, somewhat low in spirits. My compliments 
 to Mrs CuUen, Miss Johnson, your boys, and all friends. I am, 
 
 dear Sir, affectionately yours, 
 
 William Hunter." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 u Deak Sir London, February 22. 1752. 
 
 You see I have taken some time to answer your letter, 
 but be assured I lost very little time in executing your commis- 
 sion, so far as depended upon myself. I employed, what do you 
 call him ?— the King's glassman, in the Strand. He told me 
 that he could get them done for me, but said they would at least 
 take six weeks, that it was only upon particular occasions they 
 could blow such bottles, that they must be in white glass, and 
 that they would be pretty expensive. I wrote in his book your 
 directions about them, and left with him your own draughts of 
 their figures. As soon as they are made, I will write to you, 
 and get your instructions about sending them down. 
 
 I shall transmit Dr Battie's book with Captain Johnson, or the 
 first hand. Your advice about the houses I intend to follow ; and 
 will beg the favour of Captain Johnson, when he goes down, to 
 assist me in that and such affairs. 1 thank you for your kind 
 attention to my sister. I would have her be preparing to set 
 out by April or May. 
 
 In two or three weeks I shall shew one plate finished, as a
 
 544 APPENDIX. 
 
 specimen of the figures of the Gravid Uterus. As a piece of 
 painting, I believe it will he found the finest anatomical figure 
 that ever was done. So it may ; it will cost me a devilish deal of 
 money. I may he allowed to speak well of the drawing and 
 graving, you know; no merit thence in me. Physic is in a 
 strano-e ferment here. The practitioners in midwifery have been 
 virulently attacked, hut hy a madman ; and in that scuffle I have 
 had a hlow too, obliquely ; — the reason is, we get money, our an- 
 tagonists none. May the dispute, therefore, long continue. * 
 
 * * I am, dear Sir, yours always, 
 
 Williajvi Hunter." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 « Dear Sir, London, 26th May 1753. 
 
 For three months past, I have had too substantial rea- 
 sons for not writing to you. I have been confined to my 
 room, or country lodging, with a strange sort of eruptive fever, 
 and am still so weak that walking across the room tires me. I 
 propose going out to-morrow ; indeed, I went abroad above a 
 month ago, by which I had a relapse. Just in the beginning of 
 my illness I had written the greatest part of a long letter to you, 
 when the fever came so full upon me that I could not finish it. 
 It contained apologies for not having sooner thanked you for 
 your very friendly care of my sister ; and, I assure you, what- 
 ever you might think from my unaccountably neglectful belia- 
 viom*, that I was uneasy in my mind to think that I might pos- 
 sibly die without ever having once thanked you ; but then I 
 comforted myself that I should leave behind m€ the half finished 
 letter, which woidd be some little mitigation. If a longer life is 
 destined me, which I have now no reason to despair of, I shall 
 be glad in every part of it to have any opportimity of doing you 
 a pleasure. * * * My sister sees Mrs Almack of- 
 
 ten. She is the same good girl as ever. I hope she will be 
 very happy. 
 
 When I had your commission about the chemical glasses, I 
 employed Mr Maydvvell in the Strand (the most reputed), and
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR W. HUNTER. 545 
 
 explained every thing to him from your letter and figures. He 
 said he should be obliged to make some alterations in some of 
 them, both because it was hardly possible to make them as you 
 desired, and that the working chemists have found the more 
 simple answer best. If you still would have them in that way, 
 or whatever you want that I can procure, pray let me know. 
 If they were intended for yourself, they are yours; if commis- 
 sioned by the College, they are theirs with my respects. How- 
 ever it stands, Maydwell and I are both paid. 
 
 Pray let me be excused to friends with you for not writing, 
 and by yourself for giving you the trouble of the enclosed. 
 
 My sister and brother desire their compliments with mine to 
 your family and self. 
 
 William Hunter." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullex. 
 
 " Dear Doctor, London, Sd August 1754. 
 
 You know how natural it is for us all to imitate those 
 we have a good opinion of. At present I am going to tell you 
 something I should be ashamed to mention, if it was not perfect- 
 ly in your own style. Some months ago I had a long chat with 
 Dr Stewart on the subject of your situation at Glasgow, and the 
 scheme proposed by your friends of your going to Edinburgh. 
 T knew he had a friendship for you, though not personally ac- 
 quainted. He promised that he would take the first opportuni- 
 ty of letting the Duke of Argyll know it, and of urging him to 
 exert himself in serving you, whenever he might have an op- 
 portunity. He did so. The Duke expressed a great regard 
 for you, said he was heartily sorry to find that your encourage- 
 ment at Glasgow was so narrow ; that he should always be 
 against any body's having leave to sell a professorship, but that, 
 in your particular case, that indulgence should be granted, &c. &c., 
 i. e. he declared himself to be very much your friend. Now, I 
 know that you will swear at me for intermeddling at all, or for 
 not letting you know this sooner, as, I suppose, you have seen 
 the Duke. All I can say is, better late them never, and valeat 
 VOL. \, M m
 
 54<6 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 quantum it now may. If you have any application, you have 
 now an opportunity I suppose, and if you should need that at 
 any time in London, it may be done through Dr Stewart. 
 
 There is a Danish physician now making the tour of Scot- 
 land. His name is Christrom (I cannot swear to the spelling-)} 
 a most worthy man. He was to have carried letters for Glas- 
 gow, but was disappointed. If you meet him in your walks or 
 rides pray shew him some of the civilities that such people re- 
 quire, and you will very much oblige some of us here. 
 
 What say you to Mead's auction of books ? I am afraid I 
 shall ruin myself in the winter with it. 
 
 Some doctors here have attempted a Medical Society for col- 
 lecting and publishing medical things, and they have made me a 
 member. I shall give a paper in their first volume, if I can get 
 time. If any of your friends — I was going to say they might 
 send us what they had to publish, but I had forgotten the Edin- 
 burgh Society, which, T presume, engrosses you all. 
 
 Some very late occasions have increased the number of plates 
 of the Gravid Uterus ; but though that will retard the publica- 
 tion, the work will be much more complete for them. God 
 bless you ! is always the prayer of your sincere friend, 
 
 William Hunter." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 ** Dear Doctor, ^th August 1754. 
 
 I very lately had the pleasure of seeing Dr Dick *, and 
 thereby of hearing of you and some other friends. I wrote to 
 you by the very last post, which indeed I ought to have done 
 some months before that. I know you'll say, another letter from 
 Hunter ! what the devil is he about now 9 Why, I am going to 
 buy land : the first time this has ever entered into my head. In 
 short, Mr Fleming of Nook, in Kilbryde, writes me that Mr 
 Borland is going forthwith to sell his land in Longcalderwood. 
 It lies contiguous, you knoAv, to what was my father's, and the 
 
 * Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR W. HUNTER. 547 
 
 two tog-ether make a vote in tlie county. If I could get it, both 
 would be as easily managed as one, and should it afterwards be 
 expedient, both might be sold with the same trouble as one. 
 Besides, I cannot get it out of my head that I shall one time or 
 other live there, and, in that case, I should like to possess both, 
 that I might have a little bit all round me that I could call my 
 own, and to give you a vote, or any of your friends that should 
 stand for the county member. I have accordingly written to Mr 
 Fleming to buy that for me ; and have told him that you and 
 Mr Hamilton will do me the favour to procure him some Law- 
 Doctor to assist him. I have written Mr Hamilton to the same 
 purpose, and mentioned to him Messrs Barclay, Wilson, or Cu- 
 nison, whichever you think fittest. Now, I must beg the favour 
 that you would meet Mr Hamilton ; he will shew you both my 
 letter to him and to Mr Fleming ; then you will be master of 
 the subject; and, I make no doubt, will immediately take the 
 proper steps in this affair. You see I am desirous of having 
 this thing, but to no high degree of folly. 
 
 I believe in my last I forgot to mention your sister Mrs 
 Almack. We see her often. She is well, and, I hope, very 
 likely to do well. 
 
 Pray do not serve me now as you did when I was in Edin- 
 burgh, and put this letter in your greatcoat-pocket unopened 
 till we meet. However, I must tell you, though I mean not to 
 make you negligent, that if you do so, I could not even then be 
 angry with you, so much am I perfectly yours, 
 
 William Huxter." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullex. 
 
 " Dear Doctor, Jermyn Street, X'^th May 1757- 
 
 I have nothing to say to you even after so long a silence, 
 but that I love you, and God knows that I speak truth. I hate 
 writing, and you will be so good as to excuse me. Mr Barclay 
 has made me very happy in letting me know yoiu' situation and 
 success. I make no doubt but that you will have more reason 
 every day for being satisfied with the change you have made ; 
 
 M m 2
 
 548 APPENDIX. 
 
 and I assure you, however negligent I may have appeared, I 
 was very assiduous with Dr Stewart ; and the good old man 
 was so hearty and strenuous in your cause with the Duke of 
 Argyll, that I have often wished you could take some method 
 of thanking him. At that time I could no more go into the city 
 to wait upon your Edinhurgh Provost than go to Edinburgh 
 itself. * * * Believe me to be always, dear Doctor, affec- 
 tionately yours, William Hunter." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Jermyn Street, 29th July 1758. 
 
 I was so confoundedly busied and confined last post-day, 
 that, if it would have saved your life, I could not have written two 
 lines ; and if I had been able, it would have come too late for 
 your meeting the first of the month. I have indeed but very 
 little time at present, and therefore will only thank you once 
 for a thousand times for the kind exordium to your last. I am 
 persuaded you will find me as constant in my friendship, as some 
 others will find me implacable in resentment and determined in 
 contempt. I am always the same, yet just what the object makes 
 me ; good or bad as I am treated, and so I think every man 
 should be. 
 
 In the college list here, in voting, &c. the members stand in 
 seniority according to the time of their admission into the col- 
 lege. No other regard being paid to the date of their doctor's 
 degree than that, if two present themselves and are admitted at 
 the same time, he who is the oldest doctor (which appears by 
 his degree) has precedency of the other. This you may depend 
 upon. 
 
 T would by no means wish you to have any shyness with your 
 brother professors, nor indeed with any body else upon my ac- 
 count. If I had opportunity I should be glad to procure you 
 friends, or any other advantage, and accordingly never let any 
 
 occasion of doing you justice slip me Pitcairn desires me to 
 
 remember his best respects to you. He is, I think, most affec- 
 tionately your friend. Armstrong, too, remembers you always
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR ^V. HUNTER. 549 
 
 kindly, and I am sure he esteems you. I have seen them both 
 since I had your letter. Smollett I know not what to say of. 
 He has great virtues, and has a turn for the warmest friendships. 
 I have seen him very little for some years. He is easily hurt, 
 and is very ready to take prejudices. There had been a great 
 shyness between him and me, which his very kind behaviour to 
 me when I was attacked by Douglass, Pott, and Monro, has 
 as yet scarcely conquered, so that I cannot well say how you stand 
 with him ; but if I can make you friends I will most certainly. 
 
 I meet with so many droiosy heads that I cannot guess which 
 of them you mean. Your brother Robert is come to London, 
 and will see you in a little time. I will write to you of your 
 book at leisure. I am always yours, 
 
 William Hunter." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Jermyn Street, 9//* October 1759. 
 
 I know from experience how little you must have it in your 
 power to give up your time to private friendships and amuse- 
 ments; and, therefore, whenever I can, I avoid giving letters 
 of recommendation. In the present case, I must beg the favour 
 of you to believe that I am interested. This gentleman, Dr 
 Wren of Oxford, is my particular friend, and lived a considerable 
 time in the house with my brother. He is very fond of che- 
 mistry, but that is not his principal reason for wishing to be of 
 your acquaintance. If he returns with the same encomiums of 
 you and of Scotland as Mr Charles Townshend, I shall be very 
 glad, and believe that you are a set of something supernatural. 
 
 There is another gentleman now at Edinburgh that I was to 
 have introduced to you. I am sorry I had not the opportunity. 
 Will you then do me the favour, when you have a little time, 
 to give my compliments to Mr Syscombe, and tell him that I 
 think myself much obliged by his letter. — Your sister is ex- 
 tremely well, and is now my near neighbour. 
 
 I beg leave to present my respects to jMrs Cullen, and my 
 love to all your children. I expect no accounts of yourself from
 
 550 APPENDIX. 
 
 yourself, but as soon as Lady Tweeddale comes up I shall have it 
 all. I am, dear Doctor, always your faithful friend, &c. 
 
 William Hunter." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Jermyn Street, lOth February 1761. 
 
 Your friend Mr Wilison came to London at a very pro- 
 per time. He has passed his examination at the Hall, and goes 
 an hospital mate (five shillings a-day) in the grand expedition. 
 My brother goes first surgeon, and I am sure will be glad of any 
 opportunity of shewing his regard for you. Where they are 
 going we cannot learn. 
 
 I give you joy of Lord Bute's immense acquisition (about 
 L. 46,000 per annum), it is great joy to your good friend Dr 
 Stewart. He has now, besides his Prince's favour beyond any 
 man, a fortune superior to most ; and by what is going on, I 
 should hope that he would in time be a favourite with most of 
 the King's subjects. He cannot be so with all of them. It is 
 impossible. 
 
 The Cicuta has done nothing in London, yet the accounts 
 from Vienna, particularly from Van Swieten, rise higher every 
 day. It is suspected that our extract was made too late in the 
 season, or that the plant in this climate is not rich or powerful, 
 but my own suspicions are quite of another kind. We shall in 
 time know hoAV it is, but I am afraid we shall have no cure for 
 a Cancer. Dr Fordyce reads here, and professes to take his 
 plan and most of his matter from you, and I find it does you 
 credit. 
 
 Our second volume of Essays will come out about May, 
 The half is now printed. We are very desirous of giving the 
 public the present state of inoculation ; and I am desired by 
 the Society to beg the favom* of your answer to the following 
 queries. It will take but a very little time. Do pray write to 
 me in two or three weeks, and with as little ceremony as you 
 please, only give me the facts. 
 
 Query 1. Whether inoculation continues to be practised in
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR W. HUNTER. 551 
 
 Edinburgh and the neighbouring towns with the same success 
 as in London, and if the practice gains ground daily or not ? 
 
 2. Whether the fear of spreading contagion has not prevented 
 inoculation becoming so common as it would have been, espe- 
 cially in market towns ? 
 
 3. Whether any cases have been certainly observed of taking 
 the true smallpox a second time, either after the natural or 
 inoculated smallpox ? 
 
 4. Whether the success of the inoculation at the breast has 
 been in general equal to that at three or four years of age ? in 
 what proportion have the numbers been ? at what month of their 
 age generally have the little creatures been inoculated ? and do 
 you know any objection to this practice from good authority, I 
 mean observation? 
 
 Your Sister is pretty well, though she has had a cold. Mr 
 Almack and the children are quite well. They are all in good 
 spirits ; and you know 1 am always, dear Sir, your faithful 
 
 William Hunter. 
 
 p, ,S'.— Who is to be your Botany Professor ? I hear there 
 is one from Paris much recommended, but I cannot learn his 
 name or country. For God's sake take the best, if he should 
 come from the moon." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 "Dear Sir, \2th August m2. ^ 
 
 I have just time to congratulate you on the Queen's 
 happy delivery of a fine boy, the Duke of Cornwall, this morning 
 at half an hour after seven o'clock. She was taken ill only at 
 four. There was every circumstance that could give joy, which 
 indeed was expressed in every face, and I believe felt in every 
 heart at Court. She has had composing sleeps through the day, 
 and is now as well as I could wish. She was attended by a 
 midwife. I am very happy, and have been so for some time. 
 I owe it to you, and thank you from my heart for the great 
 honour I now have, and have had for some time, though very 
 few know any thing of it,— J mean having the sole direction of
 
 552 APPENDIX. 
 
 her Majesty's health as a child-bearing lady. You may suppose 
 I say so much only from gratitude and friendship between our- 
 selves. I am, dear Sir, your most faithful and most devoted 
 
 William Hunter." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 1763. 
 
 The enclosed was given to me by Mr Hawkins from 
 Mons. Morand of Paris. I know not who is your secretary, 
 and therefore must recommend the letter to your care. Pray 
 do not put it into your great-coat pocket, as you once did when 
 I wrote from Edinburgh to you at Hamilton. 
 
 I have a thousand questions to ask you about yourself, your 
 family, and other subjects, and for that reason dare not, and 
 know not, where to begin. I have a desire, too, of writing a 
 thousand things to yon of myself and your friends in this place, 
 but especially (because it would be the most diverting of all) 
 relating to the characters and awkward situations of those who 
 are and wish to be in power. 
 
 I am busy at present about a thing of public utility, but it is 
 too long for a letter ; and besides, I hate writing so much that I 
 am several months in debt (I mean for a letter) to Mr Wilson, 
 Dr Clerk, and Dr Whytt. Be so good in the mean time to pre- 
 sent my respects and thanks to these gentlemen ; you see them 
 often, and could easily make them believe, what is certainly most 
 true, that I value their friendship. Dr Whytt was kind enough 
 to write me a letter upon the Commentaries, though the subject 
 distressed him ; for he was obliged to say, " both honourable 
 men,'' which, however it may aifect me, is certainly an impos- 
 sibility. 
 
 If my old master would answer a very short and civil letter 
 which I sent him some time ago, under cover to Mr Kincaid, I 
 would steal some half hours from my hurry for the sake of 
 amusing him in his calm retreat. I think I could be a comfort 
 to him in his old age, and I am much mistaken if he does not 
 want a comforter. The paternal care and affection he has al-
 
 CORllKSPONDENCE WITPI Bll W. HUNTER. 553 
 
 ways shewn to me has, I think, bewitched me, for it makes me 
 laugh always Avhen I should cry. 
 
 William Hunter." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, ^6th February 1765. 
 
 For these three montlis past it has so happened that I 
 have been hurried beyond measure, else I should have written 
 to you often. * * * * 
 
 I thank the young advocate *, and give him joy and all good 
 wishes : but I cannot commend the composition, because I do not 
 understand one word of it. I understood by Mr Wood, that I 
 was to have a letter to present with it to Lord Greville, which 
 I have still waited for ; but lest there should have been some 
 mistake, I told the case to Lord Warwick one morning soon 
 after, and he invited me to come to breakfast with them upon 
 the occasion, which I have never yet done. * * * 
 
 Since I began this letter, I have been informed by Mr Wood 
 that poor Dr David Millar is dead. I went yesterday to his lodg- 
 ings, at his relations, because I was shocked that I had not seen 
 him. Pitcairn told me on Sunday, at Almack's, that he could not 
 live, and I had intended every day to see him, but was always pre- 
 vented. He did indeed appear to me to be an excellent young 
 man. I grieve for the loss of him, and for what you and his 
 mother will feel. How he judged of my behaviour to him, I 
 know not. I could not give him much of my time ; but I hope 
 he believed that I wished him well, both for his own sake and 
 for yours. 
 
 This evening after my lecture, Mr Stark t gave me your letter. 
 I am always glad to know your friends or young men of genius 
 and good dispositions. He and Mr Hewson (who adores you) 
 and I had a long chat upon the affairs of Edinburgh and Glasgow. 
 
 * Dr Cullen's eldest son, Robert. 
 
 f Dr William Stark, author of Clinical and Anatomical Observations, 
 &c. Lond. 1788.
 
 554 APPENDIX. 
 
 This letter has lain by me several nights without my having 
 time to finish it, and this night I am determined it shall go, 
 though I have not time to read it over to see what I have said. 
 Pray give my best respects to Mrs Cullen and all your family, 
 and remember me to Mr Russel and all friends. 
 
 iVIr Strange has brought me proofs of four plates of my 
 Gravid Uterus, whicli have been engraved at Paris so well, that 
 I believe I shall send some more there ; five are nov*^ in hand in 
 London. They will now make above thirty folio plates, and up- 
 on the whole I tliink a more complete work of the kind than 
 could have been expected. 1 am, Dear Sir, most affectionately 
 yours, W. H." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 1768. 
 " As I have no children to absorb my attention, my affec- 
 tion to the public utility, whatever tends to make mankind hap- 
 pier, whatever raises them from ignorance and barbarity, and 
 teaches them to enjoy the higher pleasures of life, I think should 
 be the great objects of men who have been blessed with education. 
 Judge, then, what pleasure I have in hearing of the good works 
 going on with you. The flourishing state of your University 
 gives me a very sincere pleasure indeed; and tJie more, as the 
 cause is so much iu yom-self. Tell me honestly if you are not 
 much happier to be so instrumental in doing so much good, and 
 with so deserved a reputation for it, than you could possibly be 
 by any pecuniary income that attention to worldly affairs could 
 bring in. Go on, and in the remaining part of the short life of 
 man, enjoy that longer life of fame which death will not be able 
 to take away. I heard lately at Mr Strange's, with infinite 
 pleasure indeed, that your pupils had asked your pictm-e. I am 
 pretty much acquainted with most of our best artists here, and 
 live in friendship with them. If I can be of any use in getting 
 a single line of the engraving better done, command me. 
 
 " My own affairs go on well. I am, I believe, one of the hap- 
 piest of all men, though my hurry is somewhat greater than I
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR W. HUNTER. 555 
 
 could wish. At present I am sinking money so fast, that I am 
 rather embarrassed. I am now collecting in the largest sense 
 of the word, and I have already paid above L. 6000 for my ha- 
 bitation in Wind-mill Street, which will cost me at least two 
 more. I shall go into it in June, and hope to print oflF my plates 
 of the Gravid Uterus there, in the course of this summer. I 
 shall have a printing press of my own. The engraving is now 
 finished, only the letters of reference and the inscription at the 
 bottom of the plates to be put in. They make thirty-four large 
 plates. It will be a very considerable work for expense and 
 show. Perhaps it will be the most considerable in that way 
 that will ever be published, so few men can have the same oppor- 
 tunities or better than I have had. After that, if I live in health, 
 I shall publish many other things. I only want time, and in 
 less than two years I hope to be doing onl?/ a little business." 
 
 Dr CuLLEX to Dr Hunter. 
 
 " Edixburgh, Will February 1769. 
 _ _ -^ ^ (The day of my relief, being the last day 
 
 " My Dear Friend, of my Clinlcal lectures.) 
 
 Your last letter, as all your others, was very kind, and 
 puts me quite out of countenance. Your commission was de- 
 livered in due time to Mr Kincaid, and he has purchased a good 
 many books for you. Some he has missed, because the Univer- 
 sity or College of Physicians' Library were resolved to have 
 them at any price. Some of the rest I can supply ; but I have not 
 your list at hand, and cannot therefore be exact in saying which. 
 I cannot myself afford to make any shew, and am only anxious 
 to have every book in Physic that contains matter of fact. A 
 collection of that kind I am intent upon, and can readily part 
 with matters of curiosity. I take the opportunity of writing 
 this by my friend Dr Blagden *, who has been several years here, 
 and is now impatient to receive your instructions. I have had 
 a particular intimacy with him, and he has been very much in 
 my family. I therefore know him well to be a man of very 
 
 * Afterwards Sir Charles Blagden, and Secretary to the Roval Society.
 
 556 APPENDIX. 
 
 great worth, which must always be the case of one I would re- 
 commend to you. Dr Blagden is, besides, of excellent parts, 
 and of more knowledge than most of his standing. I dare say 
 you will excuse me for asking your civilities to him, and I do it 
 very earnestly. 
 
 I thank you kindly for recommending Mr Williams to me ; he 
 is a fine lad, and will do us credit ; and I shall have pleasure in 
 taking all the pains upon him I can. But if he were an angel I 
 would not take so much pains upon him as I will do to shew how 
 much I am in every thing, my dear friend, your affectionate 
 and obedient servant, 
 
 William Cullen." 
 
 Dp Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 «' Dear Sir, 7^^ December 1774. 
 
 Four copies of the very first impressions of the Gravid 
 Uterus will come to your hand about the time you will receive 
 this, sealed u^ and directed by my own hand to you. I beg of 
 vou to honour me by putting one of them in your own library, 
 and one, with my best respects, in the University library. The 
 other two you will please to dispose of, as the enclosed directs, 
 one for Dr Baillie, and one for the University library at Glas- 
 gow, which you will be so good as to deliver to them with my 
 affection. 
 
 If the examination of this work were to give you a little plea- 
 sure, I think it would be a very affecting pleasure to you, who 
 know that but for you, I should never, in all probability, have 
 known any thing of the matter. If the King's graciousness and 
 goodness to me had not superseded all other obligations, I had 
 intended, in a dedication, to tell the world how kindly you had 
 treated me in the earlier part of my life. In the mean time ac- 
 cept the continuation of my thanks. I am ever, dear Sir, with 
 much affection and gratitude yours, 
 
 William Hunter."
 
 COKRESPONDENCE WITH BR W. HUNTER. .^57 
 
 Dr CuLLEN to Dr Hunter. 
 
 " My Dear Friend, Edinburgh, 6th February ITJ 6. 
 
 Your silence lias appeared to me very long, and I have 
 often thought of soliciting you to speak, but having myself 
 nothing particular to say, my many occupations have constantly 
 diverted me from it. Now you have begun, I cannot fail to 
 cultivate the correspondence, and write you in course. 
 
 I am infinitely obliged to you and Dr Baker for his paper, 
 which I shall certainly improve by, but have not yet had time 
 to be in the least particular with regard to it ; it is with regard 
 to the other particular relating to him that I am impatient to 
 write, as I would not have you think I could neglect for a mo- 
 ment any such hint from you or concerning him. You must 
 know, then, that I do not know an instance of our College granting 
 a gratuitous fellowship, except it is an honorary one. * * 
 
 [After explaining how ordinary fellowships are conferred by 
 the College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Dr Cullen proceeds] : — 
 
 " Such is the state of matters with regard to ordinary fellow- 
 ships, which I suspect will effectually prevent your friend from 
 applying ; and with respect to honorary fellowships, truly a post 
 of honour with us, though it is not as in the London College, I 
 am afraid the difficulty is as great. We have lately made some 
 regulations in this matter, and particularly have resolved that 
 the number shall be limited; that, of the men of rank, there 
 shall not be above three, and of men of literature, not above ten. 
 With respect to the last, it is a resolution that they shall be 
 foreigners. It is observed that the admission of British might, 
 from several causes, be li^ible to abuse ; and not long ago, when 
 it was proposed to move Sir John Pringle from the list of or- 
 dinaries to that of honoraries, he positively refused it, as he 
 thought it might be a precedent for what he thought should be 
 very rarely or never done. 
 
 Though I esteem Dr Baker, have an affection for one who 
 associates so much with my particular friends, and think his 
 name would do honour to our list, I am uncertain how the pro- 
 posal would be received, and I could not urge a business against
 
 558 APPENDIX. 
 
 which I have so lately declared my opinion. I have trouhled 
 you with a very long- letter, hut you must take it as a proof that 
 I think a long apology necessary when I cannot do whatever 
 you wish. However, I will not forget the business, if a manner 
 of executing it more agreeable can be contrived. I shall con- 
 clude by mentioning a subject somewhat a-kin. I should not 
 dislike being a fellow of the Royal Society, but have little 
 anxiety about it, and therefore have never mentioned it to any 
 person. Please give me your opinion how far there is any pro- 
 bability of success in case I should apply for it. Sir John 
 Pringle and I were for a good while in a rather cold way, but for 
 some years past I have paid him a great deal of attention, and 
 I believe he is pleased witli it. I would wish to write to him, 
 or have him spoken to, before any motion was otherwise made 
 in the affair. You may, however, consult with your brother 
 John, who is of the Council. I give him joy on his late promo- 
 tion, and assure you that nobody rejoices more sincerely than I 
 do in every good thing that befalls him. 
 
 The whole of this letter is written in much hurry, but I expect 
 to hear from you soon, and then, or perhaps sooner, I shall en- 
 deavour to supply all omissions. Believe me always to be 
 affectionately yours, 
 
 William Cullen." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 9'^^ September 1776. 
 
 The bearer Mr Halhed will be able to deliver this into 
 your hand as soon as the post ; I therefore send it by him to beg 
 your civilities in his favour. He was one of my very first pu- 
 pils, and a pleasant, respectable one ; bred in London, — has 
 been long in Jamaica,~thinks now of spending three years with 
 you, and of taking his degree, — and afterwards to do business 
 or not as may be agreeable. He is a worthy man ; I need say 
 no more. 
 
 After you consulted me about the Royal Society, I was so much 
 hurried by the addition of attending the Queen, that I delayed 
 
 1
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR W. HUNTER. 559 
 
 writing to you from day to day till it was so late, that I could 
 not have had your answer before the Society's vacation ; else I 
 should have told you that Pring-le, Pitcairn, and Baker, told me 
 (what I very well knew) that there could not be a doubt of 
 your being chosen if you were put up. Tell me in your next 
 letter that you still wish to be of the Society, and I will put you 
 up at our first meeting in November, when, by the rules, you 
 must hang up some time, and then be put to the ballot. A few 
 of us must have the honour of putting our names to your recom- 
 mendation, but the greater number shall be Englishmen. Be 
 assured that your character will make the election honourable. 
 
 You have done me a pleasure and honour in submitting the 
 enclosed pages * to my opinion. I have read them with care, and 
 shall speak with freedom. I cannot so well judge of this part 
 without seeing also that upon Phthisis. I am sensible of no ma- 
 terial objection to your doctrine, and through the whole your 
 meaning is clearly expressed. Indeed I have not yet made up 
 my mind about many of the phenomena, particularly about in- 
 flammatory crusts, exsudation, pus, expectoration, &'c., and, 
 therefore, dare not in some of those questions decide with you 
 or against you. 
 
 To convince you, however, that I do not want inclination, I 
 will propose a few alterations in the words only, which otherwise 
 hardly deserved attention. * * * * 
 
 Farewell. I pity the whole Almack family from my heart. 
 I ever shall be, dear Sir, most aJQFectionately yours, 
 
 William Hunter. 
 
 P, S. — Pray, if you should have as much time send me Hume's 
 last days f." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 1th February 1777. 
 
 I have been as much hurried as any good Christian needs 
 to be in order to prove his patience. Many little affairs of my own 
 
 * Of Dr Cullen's First Lines of the Practice of Pliysic. 
 f See Appendix, Note N.
 
 560 APPENDIX. 
 
 have been neglected, but yours were not, nor ever shall. I was 
 with your bookseller before your boohs arrived. He sent them 
 round as you had directed. I had prepared Sir J. Pringle, Sir G. 
 Baker, and Dr Pitcaim. Sir John desired me to send a hound 
 copy to the Royal Society, which he presented. I should have 
 carried one in your name to Dr Heberden, whom we all esteem, 
 but the occasion was lost before I certainly knew that there were 
 none to be had on the best paper. It was of no consequence. 
 I should have given my o\A'n copy either to him or to the Royal 
 Society, but I had the very first night I was possessed of it made 
 some marginal notes for myself in the first pages. I had charged 
 myself with taking the trouble from Sir J. Pringle and Sir G. 
 Baker of writing a letter of thanks to you, because they seemed 
 to think it an unpleasant piece of formality, so indeed I thought, 
 but Sir John after all thought it better to write himself. It is a 
 rule with him indeed, and he recommends it to us, to write to 
 an author before he has read the book, wliich makes it much 
 easier. 
 
 Most of us are so much employed at this time that we have not 
 yet got through much of your book, and it requires being studied as 
 we read, so that it takes time. You know what must be said of 
 it J — clear, well expressed, with a great deal of ingenuity, and a 
 great deal of good practice. What recommends it most to your 
 students will be what most people here think the worst part. 
 In my fit of the gout I was much entertained with my own 
 character. I was going to refer to two sections, that you might 
 see how I must have been diverted, but the hour strikes for the 
 post. I will write you hereafter, and give you any remarks I 
 can from your friends for a second edition. God bless you. 
 
 WiLLiAiNi Hunter. 
 
 Your recommendation is hung up at the Royal Society with 
 a respectable list of names. There is no doubt of your being 
 chosen."
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR W. HUNTER. 56l 
 
 Dr CuLLEN to Dr Hunter. 
 
 " My Dear Friend, 
 
 It will give me the utmost pain to find upon any occa- 
 sion that it is not in my power to do you any service you may 
 desire of me. Happily this is not the case at present. About the 
 beginning of this Avinter, Dr Monro junior laid before the Philo- 
 sophical Society a great number of anatomical preparations and 
 drawings. I was present at the beginning of the meeting, but 
 finding it impossible for me, during the short time of our meet- 
 ings, and amidst a number of other persons, to take any satis- 
 factory view of these preparations, I left the meeting before he 
 began his demonstration ; and when I received your letter yes- 
 terday I was nowise in a condition to give it an answer. But 
 I found no difliculty in applying to Dr Monro himself, and, af- 
 ter talking upon the subject, I even let him know the reason of 
 my inquiry. The result of all is this : Among other prepara- 
 tions, he produced to the Society a preparation of a gravid ute- 
 rus, and a drawing from it. The purpose of both was to deter- 
 mine the nature of the communication between the uterus and 
 placenta. He says that, when he heard you upon that subject, 
 you were of opinion that certain arteries of the uterus pass the 
 external surface of the placenta, and pour out their blood in- 
 to the cellular substance of it, to be taken up from thence by 
 the proper vessels of the placenta. He says he was then, and 
 has always been, of a different opinion ; but, to determine the 
 matter more certainly, he made this preparation. He had in- 
 jected the vessels of the uterus with coloured wax, the arteries 
 with red, and veins with green, and left those of the placenta 
 without any injection. This injected uterus he cut longitudinally, 
 so as to obtain a section and distinct view, for some length, of the 
 uterus and placenta as applied to each other ; and from this view, 
 he thinks, it is evident that no sensible vessels pass from the one 
 to the other. The vessels of the uterus appear to be perfectly 
 well filled, and in the extremities of the veins the coloured matter 
 is found mixed, but not a particle of it in the placenta. Many ar- 
 
 VOL. I. N n
 
 56^ APPENDIX. 
 
 teries of the uterus appear upon its inner surface, forming many 
 convolutions there, and swelling out on that inner surface, but 
 still manifestly confined to it, without any appearance of their 
 entering the placenta. He observes, that, as so many arteries 
 reach the inner surface of the uterus, in separating the placenta 
 several of these arteries may be torn, and give some occasion 
 to thft opinion you had formed ; but that such a preparation as 
 the present is best fitted to determine this fact, and very strong- 
 ly supports his opinion of it." 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 I have but two minutes to tell you that the bearer * sets 
 out in two hours for Edinburgh. He is a young gentleman that 
 I have the greatest regard and aff'ection for ; both because he is 
 the son and the very image of a man to whom I owe most 
 and love most of all men in the world, and because, in the short 
 time that I have known him, I have taken a great fancy to him 
 for his own sake. Shew him all the civilities you can. It w ill 
 oblige me exceedingly. 
 
 I have written without spectacles, and therefore cannot read 
 what I have written. You will understand my meaning. God 
 bless you and your family. Yours aff'ectionately, 
 
 William Hunter."* 
 
 Dr Clllex to Dr Hunter. 
 
 " My Dear Friend, 
 
 Ever since my son Harry returned to this place, I have 
 intended every day to w rite to you ; but the difficulty of saying 
 what I wished to say, amidst my constant occupations, has alto- 
 gether put off my writing any thing. You know well how to 
 gratify yom* own disposition to oblige me. Your behaviom* to 
 my sons has been the kindest possible, and has quite over- 
 
 * Dr Cullen's son, Dr Henry Cullen.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR W. HUNTER. 56S 
 
 whelmed me. I value your friendship in the highest degree, 
 and owe so much to it that I think you have the best title to 
 advise me — to direct me with regard to my sons. I sent them 
 to London in high expectation of the benefits to be received 
 from your friendship and instruction, and I had some confidence 
 in their conduct, else I had not trusted them in London ; but in 
 this last article I have the highest satisfaction in finding that 
 they have got your approbation, who are so good a judge, who 
 never did a foolish thing yourself, and therefore may be a little 
 rigorous with respect to others. I hope Archie* shall go on to 
 deserve your good opinion. 
 
 Though I am very sensible of the benefits to be received 
 with you, and did not myself think of interrupting Harry's en- 
 joying them for some time, I could not disapprove of the step 
 taken by my family in bringing him down here, as I must ac- 
 knowledge it was for the benefit of my health, in danger of be- 
 ing hurt by a great deal of fatigue, which Harry relieves me 
 from. 
 
 With respect to Archie, I had several reasons for proposing 
 to bring him here as soon as your first course was finished ; 
 but T shall not trouble you with any of ray reasons but one, and 
 that is, my own declining age. There are some schemes of 
 life which I may think of for Archie, wliich could not be exe- 
 cuted but in my lifetime, and this, 1 think, is on a very preca- 
 rious footing. Not only my years render my duration doubtful, 
 but I actually feel many symptoms of my decline ; and, particu- 
 larly, apprehend pretty certainly, that, sooner or later, I shall 
 have an attack of Palsy. In this situation, I think that nothing 
 which may depend upon my life should be delayed, and there- 
 fore you need not be surprised at my hurry with respect to Ar- 
 chie. However, I am so sensible of the benefit he may receive 
 by remaining a little longer at London, I value so much the op- 
 portunity of his confirming your friendship, I have so much re- 
 gard for your advice, and am so greatly obliged to you for the 
 pains you have taken in giving it, that I shall hazard every 
 
 * Dr Cullen's son Archibald, who, after graduating as M. D., studied 
 IjHW, and became an eminent barrister in London. 
 
 N 11 2
 
 564- APPENDIX. 
 
 thing to follow it. Your very kind offer, of bearing a part of 
 liis expense, is beyond all bounds. I sball have so much other 
 use for your friendship, that while I live I hope -Richie shall 
 put you to no expense in money; but if I should die before next 
 May-day, I shall certainly leave him to you as a legacy. 
 
 I have not time to say more, nor to say a word to Archie to- 
 night. Please to communicate this letter to him, and bid him 
 make use of his time and opportunity. You may bid him, com- 
 mand him, for I have that opinion of his sensibility to your 
 kindness that your commands will go further than mine. I 
 hope all my children shall always be, as I am, most gratefully 
 and affectionately yours, 
 
 William Cullen." 
 
 Dr Cullen to Dr Hunter. 
 
 " My Dear Friend, 2isf Auc/icst 1778. 
 
 I was favoured in course with yours of the 7th, and delivered 
 the two enclosed in an hour after. Your letter made me blush 
 to the bone when I thought how often Archie had reminded me, 
 and how long I had forgot to write to you. I can plead incessant 
 occupation in excuse, but the true reason was, that I could not 
 resolve upon what I was to say, or how to express the sense of 
 obligation 1 lay under, and I find, at length, that it is to no pur- 
 pose to attempt it. My two sons are full and warm upon every 
 occasion they have of mentioning your favours. They will cer- 
 tainly feel the benefit, and, I hope, the sense, of the obligation 
 for life. They both say it is intolerable that I do not write to 
 you, and I have at length set about it. 
 
 I am happy to find that you have time for such a variety of 
 agreeable amusements. You say you are in a whirlwind, but I 
 say it must be agreeable to ride in such a whirlwind and " direct 
 the storm." I am, however, a little vexed that you require fifty 
 years to publish something ; I believe, it may require a long 
 time to make your something very complete and perfect, but, for 
 Godsake, do not think of what is beyond the reach of human 
 genius; and let something slip from you, though not quite per-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR W. HUNTER. 565 
 
 feet. You say, you will allow the public to be sometimes di- 
 verted with you ; I do not think that any thing you can publish 
 will have that effect, and I am certain your friends will be much 
 delighted by it ; and if, too, you should lose a little money for 
 this purpose, I dare say it will give you no concern. 
 
 With regard to your present employments, I say that every 
 man that has acquired wealth is entitled to have his hobbi/, nay, 
 his hobby -horses ; though some may laugh, it is of no consequence 
 if they cannot at the same time blame, andj truly, I think your 
 employment liable to neither. 
 
 I say all this to tell you that I, though late, have got my hob- 
 by too. I have got a farm, and, if the public would not laugh, 
 I would call it a villa. It is truly a scheme of pleasure, not of 
 profit. I hope, indeed, to make two stalks of corn grow where 
 one grew before; but I believe this will be of more benefit to 
 the public than to myself, and my purpose is purely the beauty 
 of strong corns and fine grass. I have a brook, a wood, and 
 very fine prospects ; and I shall bring out more pleasure ground 
 than any body expects. I hope, in short, in a few years to 
 shew a Leasowes in Scotland. WTiether I succeed or no, this 
 language will sufficiently shew you that I am at present happy. 
 I find but one drawback, that is, that I can hardly hope for the 
 pleasure of shewing you how much I have done. Two or three 
 years hence I would willingly come to London to fetch you. 
 Do you never think of looking this way ? I have heard that 
 John speaks of it. If I did not think his health required it, I 
 should be very happy in his visit. I am sure my sons would be 
 glad to entertain him. I believe their hearts are much set on 
 London, but they cannot possibly be there next winter. 
 
 Please tell your brother, though I do not write to him, as my 
 sons say I ought, I am not the less sensible of what I owe to 
 him. I would have you and him both believe that I am most 
 affectionately yours, 
 
 William Cullex."
 
 566 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note D, page 34. 
 
 DE DISPOSITIONE HERBARUM FLORE COMPOSITO 
 OBSERVATIONES. 
 
 Quantum scientise plantarum promovendse contulerit methodus 
 botanica ostendit optime Botanices progressus ab eo tempore 
 quo Morisonus nostras, faustis adraodum auspiciis, botanophilos 
 ad usum metliodi allexit. In hoc opere tamen, licet jam per 
 centum fere annos summo cum profectu laboraverint quam plu- 
 rimi egregii viri, restat adhuc multum agendum ut Botanice gra- 
 dum ilium perfectionis quern animo metimur attingat, quod ex 
 observationibus sequentibus de dispositione Herbarum Flore 
 Composito donatai'um satis clare patebit. 
 
 1. Herbarum flore com2)osito Classis, naturalis adeo ut locum 
 invenisset in omne systemate botanico. In variis tamen sys- 
 tematibus pro floris compositi idea varia, quiedam herbse minime 
 cognatse cum his conjunguntur, quaedam maxime affines inde se- 
 parantur. 
 
 2. Csesalpino inventori et Morisono primo cultori in classi- 
 bus minus accuratis utpote in liocce studio primis, facile igno- 
 scendum. 
 
 3. Rains, vestigiis naturse plerumque insistens, de herbis flore 
 composito melius egit. Inter eas tamen admisit Scabiosam, 
 Dipsacum et Globulariam, et eodem jure plurimse alise conjun- 
 gendee sunt quae certe ab herbis flore composito in multis dif- 
 ferunt. 
 
 X, In illis enim Flosculorum Limbi fere semper quadrifidi. 
 In compositis semper quinque vel sex-fidi. 
 
 /S. In illis cuique flosculo adsunt stamina tantum quatuor 
 cum antheris totidem ab se invicem distinctis. In 
 compositis vero stamina ubique quinque, cum antheris 
 totidem in cylindrum coalitis et vaginam circa pistil- 
 lum formantibus. 
 
 V. In illis preeter calycem communem adest perianthium 
 cuique flosculo proprium, quod in compositis certe
 
 DE HERBIS FLORE COMPOSITO. 567 
 
 rariim, et nulli mihi noto competit prseter Ecliinopum, 
 herbara inter Capitatas Rail et Dipsaceas Vaillantii 
 ambigentem. 
 ^. In illis demum totius floris ag-gregati habitus neque 
 Corymbiferis neque Capitatis sirailis, et lisec omnia 
 Raius ipse suspicatus est cum illas in nulla composito- 
 rum classe sed tantum ut liisce affines recensuit. 
 
 4. Raii coaetaneus Rivinus minus bene adimc de compositis 
 egit, cum non solum Scabiosam &c. cum Raio sed Nympliseara 
 etiam Nigellam et alias plurimas floribus duplicatis gaudentes 
 inter herbasflore composito admisit, quanto errore tamen cuique 
 facile patebit. Ruppius quidem Rivinianse methodi cultor hsec 
 omnia emendavit, sed definitione floris compositi apta non ad- 
 hibita, hinc est quod Ludivigius et sedem methodo post eum in- 
 sistens Scabiosam et congeneres iterum admiserit. 
 
 5. Tournefortius, systematicus certe eximius, qui tam multos 
 sequaces habuit, structuram floris flosculosi (ut loqui amat) bene 
 annotavit, definitioni tamen a sseipso datse non stetit, cum non 
 tantum Scabiosam, &c. sed Xantliium quoque et Ambrosiam, 
 multo magis adhuc difFerentes, inter compositos collocavit. 
 
 6. Nee minus a legibus methodi et principiis propriis recessit, 
 in aliis sagacissimus, Boerhaavius, dum inter herbas flore compo- 
 sito non solum Scabiosam, &c. sed Cuminoidem etiam et Stati- 
 cem, ad Gymnomonospermas, et Eryngium ad Umbelliferas per- 
 tinentes, enumeravit. 
 
 7. Eo errasse videntur Botanici omnes supra memorati, quod 
 antheras in cylindrum coalitas ex notis essentialibus floris com- 
 positi esse non annotaverant. 
 
 8. Hoc probe observavit oculatissimus Linnaeus, et ideo Sca- 
 biosam, &c. a compositis separavit ; sed dum banc notam solam 
 classis essentialem esse posuit, in eadem classe cum compositis, 
 Corymbiura, Lobeliam, Violam, &c. ordinavit, minime dictitante 
 natura, ut ipse vir optimus fatetur, neque minus forte erravit 
 Parthenium a caeteris compositis separando. 
 
 9. Vaillantius, Botanices castioris callentissimus, solus classes 
 Herbarum flore composito pure naturales exliibuit, dum indus-
 
 568 APPENDIX. 
 
 tria et experientia summa, genera omnia convenientia simul col- 
 locavit, differentia vero ad alias classes ablegavit, ut videre est in 
 Actis Academise Scientiarum, Annor. 1718, 1719, 1720, 1721, 
 1722. 
 
 10. In distributione florum compositorum in Tribus errasse 
 etiam videntur plurimi Botanici egregii. Planipetalse et Capi- 
 tatse Raii tribus bene distinctas et maxime naturales constituunt ; 
 qui has igitur non distinxit vel cum aliis immiscuit, contra leges 
 bouse methodi peccavit. 
 
 11. Peccavere ideo Tonrnefortius, Rivinus et horum asseclse, 
 Capitatas cum Corymbiferis et Discoideis nudis ordinantes. 
 
 12. Nee minus erravit Linnaeus dum sexui, notse variabili et 
 in plerisque minus conspicuae astrictus, ordines compositorum 
 naturales permiscuit. 
 
 13. Melius certe Raius, Boerhaavius et Vaillantius Planipeta- 
 las et Capitatas a cseteris omnibus distinxere. 
 
 14. In ca^teris tamen neque scopum attigere Raius et Boer- 
 haavius, ille a seminibus papposis vel nudis, hie a corollis ra- 
 diatis vel nudis, differentiam petens. Sunt enim genera quaedam 
 quorum species aliquse seminibus papposis, alia? seminibus nudis 
 gaudent, ut Othonna, et sunt genera quorum species aliquse 
 corollis radiatis, aliae corollis nudis gaudent, ut Jacobsea. 
 
 15. Bene igitur Vaillantius herbas flore composito prseter 
 Planipetalas et Capitatas reliquas omnes in unam classem sub 
 titulo Corymbiferarum conjecit, et optandum sit quod iisdem 
 differentiis (14) in ulteriori subdivisione etiam non adhibuis- 
 set. 
 
 16. In Generibus herbarum flore composito constituendis plu- 
 rimum dissentiunt Botanici. Morisonus, Raius et Rivinus, 
 paucis observatiouibus instructi, genera minus accm-ate con- 
 didere. 
 
 17. Toumefortius et Dillenius ut in toto systemate sic in liac 
 parte accuratiores ; nee illi tamen genera ubique certa et naturalia 
 eonstruxere, forte quod partibus fruetificationis justopaucioribus 
 usi essent. 
 
 18. Super hanc rem in diversa abierunt Linnaeus et Vaillan-
 
 DE HEllBIS FLORE COMPOSITO. 569 
 
 tius. Hie genera multiplicavit, ille e contrario ex generibus 
 turn aliorum turn Vaillaiitii plura in mium collegit, et pauciora 
 in totum constituit ; sic ex Planipetalis cum genera viginti sex 
 constituerat Vaillantius, ex iisdem non nisi septemdecem Lin- 
 naeus. Quisnam rectius, juclicent periti. Est utraque via errori 
 locus. Genera multiplicata laborem nimium facessunt ; genera 
 nimis pauca et cliaracteristicis essentialibus baud bene insignita, 
 difficultates frequentes objicit. 
 
 19. In generibus plantarum constituendis optima nobis vide- 
 tur Linnsei methodus, quae non ex partibus fructificationis qui- 
 busdam tantum characteres artificiales, sed ex partibus fructifi- 
 cationis omnibus simul sumptis natiu-ales et certiores obtinet. 
 
 20. Cum genera plantarum vix bene stabilita, minime miran- 
 dum quod Species ad genera propria non relatae fuerint, et vix 
 ullus quidem ex Botanicis est qui in hac re errores plurimos 
 non commiserit. 
 
 21. Qui varietates plantarum pro speciebus vere distinctis tra- 
 dunt, sine fine laborem inutilem Botanicis facessunt ; catalogum 
 tamen plantarum vix invenies ubi hoc non ssepissime factum sit. 
 Raius quidem metliodum qua varietates a speciebus distingui 
 possint primus indicavit, a paucis tamen adliibita fuit. Caeteris 
 cautiores plerumque Vaillantius et Linnaeus. Verendum tamen 
 ne ssepius hie nimis temere de varietatibus et forte inconsulta 
 experientia pronunciavit. 
 
 22. Observationes hse 16-21 applicari rite possunt ad Raii Ca- 
 talogum plantarum flore composito Brittannise indigenarum. 
 
 ot. Lactucse tres primo recensitae sunt tantum varietates 
 
 ejusdem speciei. 
 /S. Lactuca sylvestris murorum flore luteo J. Bauhinii, ad 
 
 Lactucae genus non pertinet, sed ad aliud Praenanthis 
 
 nomine a Linnaeo inscriptum. 
 y. Sonchi species 1™% 2^% 3*^ 4'^, et 10™% est una ea- 
 
 demque. 
 ^. Sub Hieracii nomine plura et diversa genera recensuit 
 
 Raius. ex. gr. Hieracium longius radicatum, Gerard. 
 
 298, ad Hypochaerin Linnaei pertinet. Hieracium cas- 
 
 torei odore Monspeliensium ad Crepin Linnaei ; Hiera-
 
 570 APPENDIX. 
 
 cium Echioides capitiilis Cardui Benedict!, ad Picrin 
 Lin. 
 s. Pilosellam genus ab Hieracio diversum fecit, ejusdem ta- 
 men sunt. 
 
 Note E, page 45. 
 
 The following passages from a letter written by Dr Cullen to 
 Ins friend and former pupil Dr George Fordyce of London, in 
 October 1759, contain his own statement of his views with re- 
 gard to Double Elective Attractions. 
 
 " I must give you the manner of considering the subject. 
 
 which I fell upon last session, and shall continue to employ as 
 the most easy and simple. I begin with your third and fourth 
 cases, and to these one general rule applies, viz. — That, when 
 two mixts are applied to each other, if in each mixt there is a 
 substance that, from the table of electrive attractions, is by itself 
 capable of decomposing the other mixt, the attractions between 
 these substances and the substances they attract in the opposite 
 mixt must always be greater than the attractions subsisting 
 in the mixts applied to each other ; and therefore, &c. Thus, 
 if nitrum argenti and common salt are applied to each other, as, 
 by the table of elective attractions, the nitric acid in nitrum 
 argenti is by itself capable of decomposing the other mixt, 
 common salt ; and the muriatic acid in common salt is capable of 
 decomposing nitrum argenti : the attraction between the nitric 
 acid and the soda, with the attraction of the muriatic acid and 
 the silver, must be always greater than the attractions subsist- 
 ing in the mixts, nitrum argenti and common salt, that were 
 applied to each other. This I illustrate by the diagram ad- 
 joined. Let there be two rods intersecting one another, and 
 moveable on a common axis in the point of intersection. At the 
 extremities of each let there be placed substances that have an 
 attraction for each of the substances on the extremities imme- 
 diately contiguous to them, and let the attractions be expressed 
 
 1
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR FORDYCE. 
 
 571 
 
 by the letters W, X, Y, Z. The rest of the illustration will 
 readily appear from the diagrams. 
 
 W W 
 
 Nitric Acid \ /Silver Nitric Acid\ / Silver 
 
 Mercurv 
 X 
 
 Y ;^ X and Z Z^ W by table Y z:^ X and Z-:^'\Y\>y table 
 
 Ergo Y + Z i::^ X + W. Ergo Y + Z ;:^ X + W. 
 
 You see that the prevailing attractions are here determined 
 from the table of single elective attractions. % % % 
 
 We are now come to the only difficulty in the affair of double 
 elective attractions in instance first. To this oui- general ride 
 does not apply. 
 
 Vitriolic Acid 
 
 Silver 
 
 Soda 
 
 Nitric Acid 
 
 See how it comes out when 
 my new scheme is applied to 
 it. Y and Z are, by the table 
 of elective attractions, each of 
 them less than W, but greater 
 than X. If therefore Y and 
 Z are exactly as much greater than X, as they are less than W, 
 the four attractions woidd be exactly balanced ; but if Y and Z 
 exceed X in any degree more than they fall short of W, then 
 Y + Z must be greater than W + X. 
 
 Dr G. FoRDYCE to Dr Ct llex. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Suffolk Street, Sej^. 4. 1762. 
 
 I have enclosed two tables which I propose, provided 
 you give me leave, to prefix to my tables of chemical attraction. 
 I find it impossible to go on without something of a syllabus, 
 and therefore I have determined to publish tables of simple at- 
 traction, which will serve in some measure as a syllabus to the 
 Chemical History till yours is published. I have gone through 
 all the experiments myself that I have put down, leaving those 
 that I have not had time to satisfy myself in fully, to be filled up 
 in a future edition. They will be quite imperfect unless you
 
 572 APPENDIX. 
 
 give me leave to prefix the two tables I have sent you, which I 
 hojje you will be so good as correct or alter in any manner you 
 please, and send me up soon, as I hope to have the whole in the 
 printer's hands. I would have sent them much sooner, but, if I 
 remember right, this must be the time you have most leisure ; and 
 I know, if you take it in hand, you can soon make any alterations. 
 I do not propose to prefix any preface, but to explain the tables 
 in references. I hope you will give me leave to dedicate them 
 to you, as indeed any merit that may be in them is entirely 
 yours, and as there is no knowledge I am possessed of but what 
 I entirely owe to you. 
 
 Considering the scarcity of pupils the war and Dr Hunter's 
 giving over lectui'ing have occasioned, I have had tolerable suc- 
 cess. The first course this year I had nineteen, and the sum- 
 mer course fifteen ; with this and my practice since Cliristmas 
 last I have got something more than 200 guineas. I am much 
 afraid that your health cannot but suft^er from the fatigue you 
 have undergone these two last years. I hope you will be so 
 good as to satisfy me in this, as some accounts I have heard of 
 your being thin and often ailing have made me extremely 
 anxious. 
 
 There is nothing new here either in physic or chemistry : in 
 physic we are all quacks ; and some particular treatment of our 
 own, which nothing would make us alter, does every thing 
 in every case (warm water and bleeding for ever). You can- 
 not imagine the number of alchemists we have in London. 
 One Garden, a silversmith, whose business was worth to him 
 £ 1500 a-year, has lately been ruined by it, and a great many 
 others. I believe there is a scheme of making a Medical School 
 in London after the peace. I have some reason to fear that Dr 
 Hunter would recommend Morris. I should be much obliged 
 to you if you would take an opportunity of mentioning this to 
 him. 
 
 I flatter myself you will be so good as to answer this soon, 
 and am, with compliments to Mrs Cullen, Robert, and all the 
 rest of your family, dear Sir, your afi^ectionate and humble ser- 
 vant, G. FORDYCE. 
 
 Do you want any thing from London ? "
 
 ( 573 ) 
 
 NOTE F, p. 49. 
 
 LETTER FROM DR BLACK TO DR CULLEN. 
 
 " Dear Doctor, Edinburgh, lOth February 1753. 
 
 When I left Glasgow I would certainly have been very 
 much surprised at any body who would have thought me capa- 
 ble of writing to you only once till this time ; but, indeed, my 
 time is so taken up with five or six hours' attendance at the col- 
 leges, and the shop, and the patients, that really I can very sel- 
 dom indulge myself in the pleasure of reflecting on my friends 
 in Glasgow, which, I assure you, is a very great one, but that 
 the thought of my having now lost their company and conver- 
 sation, or at least any prospect of enjoying it long, makes it 
 end something melancholy. Though I attend so many classes, 
 I suppose you will venture to believe me when I tell you, I 
 have little satisfaction in any of them. Alston's is the newest 
 to me, and pleases me most ; but he has neither had practice 
 enough, nor is he a good enough chemist to be perfect in his 
 profession ; and, by-the-by, I think there is no branch should be 
 more cultivated in a medical college. You have no doubt seen 
 his Index Triplex : it seems to me rather calculated for the use 
 of practitioners who are already acquainted with the virtues of 
 medicines than for students ; and I have resolved, when I have 
 time, to make a list of my own, where I will not meddle with 
 the Indications, but attempt to arrange medicines by their more 
 general effects on the body, as Aromatics, Bitters, Bitter Aroma- 
 tics, &c. This, I imagine, would be much more methodical and 
 easier for beginners than the jumble he has made of Hepatics, 
 Splenetics, Stomachics, &c. in the Index Secundum Vires : at 
 least I am persuaded the attempt will be of very great service 
 to myself. I see no science that stands so much in need of che- 
 mistry as Materia Medica : every article offers some experi- 
 ments. One of the simples of little use in Medicine, the Radix 
 Anchusffi, I find, from some experiments, will be of use to Mr
 
 574: APPExXDIX. 
 
 Wilson * in tinging spirit of wine thermometers ; the bark of it 
 is red, and this colour resides in an oily or resinous substance, 
 that gives a very pretty colour to spirit of wine, oleum terebin- 
 thinse, melted tallow, &c., and not to water, but is even precipi- 
 tated from spirit of wine by water, if the tincture is moderately 
 strong. I proposed it to jVFr Monro's son, to tinge anatomical 
 injections ; he could not be persuaded that it was better than 
 other vegetable tinctures, so I intend to try it myself. If there 
 is none to be got in Glasgow, I shall send Mr Wilson some of 
 it. 
 
 ]\Iedicine has put on quite a new face to me since I came here, 
 and I can now see an operation with as great ease as before I 
 did a dissection. I go among patients groaning or gasping 
 without any uneasiness, so that objection is quite vanished. I 
 believe this is owing to the cheerful easy faces of the company 
 on these occasions, and, perhaps, partly to the cold bath which 
 I have plied pretty close all winter. I have found no time to 
 read on the pathology, nor one word on lime-water, so that I 
 must, if possible, spend another winter here, which, I believe, 
 is worth my while, on account of the shop, infirmary, and pri- 
 vate patients. These, I find, make me read with much more 
 
 keenness and to better purpose. 
 
 ****** 
 
 I waited on Dr Clerk, and mentioned the liquid shell, &c. but 
 had only a very short conversation with him as yet ; he expect- 
 ed mineral waters. I believe he has a pretty good collection of 
 chemical books which are very scarce here. 
 
 The dulcification of acid spirits (i. e. the preparation of 
 Ethers) is a curious and a very necessary subject of inquiry, 
 considering the stupid manner in which it is ordered in the Dis- 
 pensatories. I have compared them for the other subjects, and 
 some remarks have occurred to me which you have, perhaps, made 
 already ; but, however, I shall mention them. I consider all the 
 tinctures or elixirs into which the aromata enter, to be very 
 injudiciously mixed with any of the fossil acids (or with any 
 
 • Afterwards Professor of Astronomy in Gksgow.
 
 COIUIESPONDENCE WITH DR BLACK. 575 
 
 of these dulcified by the ordinary processes, since they all con- 
 tain a naked acid), and not at all to answer the intention they 
 were designed for. Thus, I suppose, they expected the acids 
 would remain inactive in the composition, and leave the proper- 
 ties of the other ingredients the same, but it is quite otherwise ; 
 for they alter entirely the nature of the essential oils and aro- 
 matic resins, giving them a bituminous smell ; and they perliaps 
 bring them so near the nature of the bitumens as to destroy at 
 least their easy solubility in spirit of wine ; and, if the ardent 
 spirit be taken highly rectified, and the acid very strong, which 
 I see Pott recommends with a view to a dulcification, this change 
 in the oils will only happen sooner, for these acids act much 
 more powerfully on the aromata than on spirit of wine. These 
 reflexions made me examine the elixir proprietatis (seu aloes) 
 and elixir vitrioli in the shops. The fir^t had been made by the 
 New Edinburgh Dispensatory, and therefore with a moderate 
 proportion of a very weak acid, and yet tlie smell and taste of 
 the myrrh was mostly destroyed, and there was a very great 
 quantity of a slimy sediment formed in the phial. The elixir 
 vitrioli had been prepared by the old pharmacopceia by adding 
 oleum vitrioli to a tincture of the species, but it had no taste 
 except of the acid, and its smell was so far from that of the aro- 
 mata, or of spiritus vitrioli dulcis, that it evidently resembled 
 that of the bituminous stuff left after deflagrating the essential 
 oils with nitrous acid, or rather a smell something like it, which 
 I remember to have had in Glasgow from a solution of oleum 
 terebinthinffi in spirit of wine, with some spirit of salt added 
 to it, which, after standing I believe some months, gave exactly 
 this smell. A solution of cupri cornua (muriate of copper?) in 
 spirit of wine, with some drops of oleum pimento, also gave tlie 
 same smell. The elixir vitrioli had likewise a sediment. I fil- 
 trated it, washed and dried the sediment, but I did not find it so 
 oily and inflammable as I expected; I do not know Avhat it is. 
 I remember very well that the above mentioned solution of cupri 
 cornua and oleum pimento in spirit of wine, which was at first 
 clear and green, after standing cold some months, became of a 
 dark brown colour, got the bituminous smell, and deposited on
 
 576 APPENDIX. 
 
 the surface of the liquor, and on the sides and bottom of the 
 glass, little globules of an inspissated oil, of a deep red or black 
 colour, which had the bituminous smell very strong. This, and 
 the sediments in the elixirs, are my reasons for saying that the 
 fossil acids destroy the solubility of the essential oils. 
 
 This is probably all very tedious to you, who have thought 
 on the subject already, but you know how keen a chemist I am, 
 and you must forgive me. I am vastly pleased with the hopes 
 of your experiments on the solution of calculi ; I want to know 
 something certain on the subject, and would wish they were 
 tried in a heat pretty near the animal. 1 will not, however, 
 trust yom' experiments with the cold solutions of the absorbents, 
 unless you bring them either to give no colour with the tinctura 
 rosarum, or a green one. The London Dispensatory evapo- 
 rates the solution of iron for the tincture to a half. I think 
 it were better to evaporate to dryness in an iron pot. You 
 expect a dulcification ; I believe that was not intended, but I 
 should much sooner expect it from the martial tincture of Wil- 
 son's alcliymical experiments mixed with alcohol. I do not 
 comprehend the tincture with spirit of nitre, as iron will not 
 easily dissolve in that acid; but T believe it is owing to my own 
 ignorance, for I do not remember Du Hamel's paper on that 
 subject. 
 
 I am told they are not very nice about evaporating pans here. 
 They use metallic ones wherever they can, or, if forced by cor- 
 rosive salts, glass ones, made of old retorts, &c. I hear there is 
 a new stone-vrare M'ork just set up at Prestonpans ; I imagine 
 you would fit yourself best there. I had no particular use for 
 the Irish limestone, but that I thought it the purest of any I 
 had seen, and intended to compare it witli lime-shell; however, I 
 am in no hurry about it. Mr Russell has put me on an excel- 
 lent way of comparing their specific gravities by glass-bubbles. 
 
 I wish to know how you are pleased with the new furnaces. 
 It would give me pleasure to hear they answered entirely your ex- 
 pectation, but if you have any fault to them I want to know it, for 
 my own improvement. I have met with nothing in that way here. 
 Dr Plummer's are slovenly and ill contrived, and the laboratory
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR BLACK. 577 
 
 ones are built so as that the utmost fire ahnost you can raise in 
 them will be just sufficient for the process they are appropriated 
 to, so that they have no dampers, nor do not need them. As 
 for myself, I am kept so busy that I have almost forgot all my 
 Glasgow projects ; and as medicine is grown quite agreeable to 
 me now, I have no reason to be quite so anxious about them as 
 I was. Mr Russell has promised to introduce me to Dr Roe- 
 buck when he comes to town, a great dealer in the trading 
 chemistry, who will be very ready and capable, as he says, to 
 inform me of many particulars on that subject. 
 
 I had lately a letter from my father, by which I see he ex- 
 pects I will take my degree here this spring, and is very keen 
 for it ; but I must persuade him soon of the impossibility of it ; 
 or, if I cannot, will be obliged to take it in Glasgow if I can 
 get it without a thesis. I can hear nothing of Dr Hutton's new 
 sudorific, either from Dr Clerk or from Mr Russell, so must 
 know something more particular about it before I can give you 
 an answer. 
 
 Assure all your family of my most sincere respect and a£Fec- 
 tion ; and, particularly, return my thanks to Robert* for copying 
 over the list of authors so neatly for me. I am much ashamed 
 of my carelessness about Mrs Cullen's commission, in not letting 
 her know something about it. I am most sincerely and aff^ec- 
 tionately yours, Jos. Black. 
 
 Dr Black to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Doctor, Edinburgh, I5th January 1754. 
 
 I sent you some time ago an unfinished letter, in which 
 I promised a few observations on your paper on Salts. I assure 
 you I think it very good upon the subject, and were I less ac- 
 quainted with you, should blush to off^er my observations ; but 
 I know well that you have patience to hear me say any thing, 
 and had always the good nature to set me right. I shall there- 
 
 * Dr Cullen's eldest son, afterwards one of the Senators of the College 
 of Justice. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 578 APPENDIX. 
 
 fore give them as they occur to me, for I have not the paper he- 
 side me at present. 
 
 On the fossil alkali, you say that the common Glauber's salt is 
 made from bittern, and composed entirely of the vitriolic acid 
 and soda. I am not acquainted with the manufacture of it, 
 but I had occasion to examine some bittern from Prestonpans, 
 and it seemed to contain some Epsom salt, but more of a salt 
 of magnesia witli muriatic acid, which would not crystallize ; 
 now I imagine the common Glauber's though very impure, is yet 
 partly perfect, which probably may be determined by its fusi- 
 bility, for a pure Epsom salt of magnesia and the sulphuric acid 
 will not melt. This town is chiefly provided with genuine 
 Glauber's salt, made at Prestonpans, — one way of disposing of 
 their oil of vitriol. 
 
 I see no reason for your saying that the alkalies may acquire 
 different properties from having been previously combined with 
 different acids, except from one instance of the acid of ants. 
 
 I think you should certainly have made tartar a distinct 
 variety of the vegetable acid, as it is so different from the rest, 
 and at the same time always regular. You must look upon it 
 as a mixture or debasement, for you cannot, by any means, di- 
 vide it, except by burning and destroying it altogether, so as 
 never to be able to compose it again ; and to me it appears that 
 the different substances it is analyzed into by distillation, are as 
 different from it as charcoal, oil, acid, Sec, are from the wood 
 from which they are obtained. A salt of tartar and the vola- 
 tile alkali committed to distillation, give out the greatest part 
 of their alkali pure before the tartar begins to be burnt. 
 
 Is it from experiments of the Royal Academy that you 
 place the acid of amber among the varieties of the muriatic ? 
 I tried a few experiments on some of it that seemed to be pure, 
 for it readily dissolved in a moderate quantity of cold water, 
 and it appears to be a very different substance; for, 1st, made 
 into a neutral salt with the vegetable alkali, it will by no means 
 crystallize, and this compound has a bitter, nauseous, antiphlogis- 
 tic or cold taste. Evaporated to dryness it burns like regene- 
 rated tartar, or rather appears more oily. 2d, The salt com-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR BLACK. 579 
 
 posed of it and the volatile alkali is also bitter, pungent, readily 
 crystallizes, but appears very different from sal ammoniac ; and, 
 I am persuaded, the pui-e acid would not precipitate a solution 
 of silver ; this, however, I never tried. 
 
 I long vastly to hear what improvement you have made on 
 bleaching ashes. Do you make a cheaper ley from pearl-ashes 
 and lime than that commonly employed ; and have you calcu- 
 lated this matter exactly ? Do you know whether or not the 
 price of pearl-ashes would naturally rise or be raised on purpose, 
 if they were to be generally employed in this way ? This and 
 any other chemical or medical news, I should be glad to hear 
 from you at your leisure. I am, Dear Doctor, yours, 
 
 J. Black. 
 Have you determined any thing about your class in spring ?" 
 
 Dr Black to Dr Cull'^x. 
 
 •* Dear Doctor, Edixbuhgh, 1th August 1755. 
 
 I have endeavoured to get an experiment made here with 
 the air-pump to no purpose. Dr Stewart's is not in order, and 
 his operator is so slow and surly that I am quite tired of dunning 
 him. Mr Wilson told me he had sent one to Glasgow, which 
 he was to set up immediately. If it be in order, I beg you will 
 desire Mr Torbet to try the following experiment, and to let me 
 know the result of it as soon as he can conveniently do it. 
 
 Make four or five ounces of ordinary or shell lime-water as 
 strong as possible, and put it into a phial, which, when corked, 
 shall be quite full, so as not to contain the smallest quantity of 
 air. When the air-pump is ready, draw the cork of the phial, 
 and place it immediately under the receiver, together with 
 another phial, containing nearly the same quantity of common 
 water, and see if the lime water upon exhausting yields any air, 
 or if it seem to yield as much as common w^ater. 
 
 N. B. Neither of the waters must be heated. And the lime- 
 water may be made of fresh and strong quicklime slaked with 
 boiling water, which reduces it to a subtile powder much more 
 perfectly and suddenly than cold water : and it may be made in 
 
 U02
 
 580 APPENDIX. 
 
 a close vessel, to prevent its turning weak at the surface by 
 throwing- up a crust. 
 
 I am sorry Mr Torbet got so much trouble in transcribing 
 Pott's Tables, when a few lines would have served the purpose. 
 My paper on Lime has been read to the Society ; and Lord 
 Kames, who was not present, desiring afterwards to see it, I 
 sent him the only legible copy I had, which is the reason I have 
 not shewn it to you before now. Yours, 
 
 J. Black." 
 
 NOTE G, page 54. 
 
 SOME FURTHER REMARKS ON THE GENERATION OF 
 HEAT AND COLD BY MIXTURE. 
 
 " What I have formerly had the honour to read to the Society 
 on this subject, was drawn up in so much haste, that I could not 
 then treat it in so simple and clear a manner as I wished. I beg 
 leave, therefore, now to repeat the substance of it, though some- 
 what in a different light, that it may be better understood by 
 every body. 
 
 •Glauber-salt is a neutral, consisting therefore properly of an 
 acid and an alkali only. But to get this salt in its crystalline 
 state, a certain quantity of water must be united with the acid 
 and alkali. In this state the concretions of the salt are of a de- 
 terminate form, and it has a certain degree of firmness and 
 transparency. But if, on the contrary, the quantity of water 
 necessary is wanting, the salt, though it still contains the usual 
 proportion of acid and alkali, does not concrete at all, or if it 
 does, concretes in no determinate form, absolutely without any 
 transparency, and with very little firmness of cohesion. As the 
 salt in this state readily absorbs moisture from the air, and be- 
 comes in some measure fluid with it, I named it the deliquescent 
 state. Now, according as this salt is in its crystalline or deli- 
 quescent state, it has, as I said formerly, different effects when 
 thrown into water. In the deliquescent it generates heat, in
 
 GENERATION OE HEAT AND COLD. 581 
 
 the crystiilliiie state it generates cold. As in both experiments 
 it is plain tliat the same materials, water, acid, and alkali, and 
 these only, are employed; so, I think, it is plain that the effects 
 of heat or cold cannot he imputed to the quality of the matter, 
 that is, either to calorific particles in the one case, or to frigorific 
 in the other. In my former paper, I alleged that the effects we 
 speak of were to be imputed to the state of aggregation, which 
 is manifestly different in the two cases. I think my reasoning 
 was conclusive, but even then I had some different view of the 
 matter, which I shall now lay before the Society. 
 
 In the combination of bodies, I think we can observe two dif- 
 ferent kinds of it, one of which is properly mixture, the other 
 solution only; and that, in the experiments of the generation of 
 heat and cold by the combination of salts and water, it is possi- 
 ble that, when a deliquescent salt is added to water, a part of 
 this is united with it in the way of mixture, but that when a crys- 
 talline salt is added to the same, it is united with it by solution 
 only. I am sensible here, that to persons not formerly engaged 
 in this train of thinking, what I am delivering would require 
 some further explanation ; but I cannot at present afford that, 
 and must go on to say, that, admitting the distinction between 
 mixture and solution, it is pretty plain that, in the cases of 
 the salts we have mentioned, the mixture is attended with heat 
 and the solution with cold. In my former paper I went still 
 farther in the same way. I hinted there, that it was probable 
 that in every instance of mixture heat was generated, and in 
 every instance of solution cold. If we take a view of the seve- 
 ral combinations generating heat or cold, we shall find my con- 
 jecture generally founded; but I durst not maintain it as abso- 
 lutely a general position, as there were seemingly some very ob- 
 vious exceptions. One especially was the combination of acids 
 and volatile alkalis, which, though undoubtedly an instance of 
 mixture, is, however, in all the accounts of experiments of this 
 kind, constantly mentioned as a mixture generating cold. How- 
 ever, from former experience, I had reason to suspect some fal- 
 lacy in the ordinary experiments on this subject, and was re- 
 solved to examine them anew. The result of mv late trials has
 
 582 APPENDIX. 
 
 been this : The volatile alkali, as we commonly have it, is usual- 
 ly in a dry and crystalline state, and, added to water, it gene- 
 rates cold. If to the same crystalline volatile alkali I add a con- 
 centrated acid, I find that heat is constantly generated during 
 the mixture ; hut if the acid, before it is added to the alkali, be 
 diluted largely with water, I find upon the addition of the 
 alkali that cold is generated. It was commonly in this way, 
 that is with very dilute acids, and particularly with vinegar, 
 that the experiment was formerly made ; but in such experiments 
 a double effect seems to have occurred, that is, the generation of 
 heat by the mixture of the acid and alkali, and the generation of 
 cold by the solution of the alkali in a watery fluid. The last, 
 however, being the most considerable, appears as the result of 
 the whole experiment. This, I think, accounts very well for the 
 ordinary supposition of the volatile alkali generating cold with 
 acids, though its real tendency be the contrary ; and at the same 
 time, I cannot think of any explication that can be given of the 
 generation of heat by the volatile alkali, added to concentrated 
 acids, if its real tendency should be contrary to this. I could 
 here illustrate this, by shewing that we have been exposed to a 
 like fallacy in other instances, but I choose rather to go on to 
 give another direct proof of what I am advancing. 
 
 Among the experiments of the generation of heat and cold, it 
 has been commonly observed that an acid added to a volatile 
 alkali previously dissolved in water always generates heat, but 
 as the nature of the mixture was supposed to have a contrary 
 tendency, the heat has been imputed to the mixtui'e of the acid 
 and water. The explanation was very specious, but I find it, 
 however, fallacious. Acids, indeed, added to water, generate 
 heat, but it is only when the acids and water are united to- 
 gether in certain proportions. Thus, when to the concentrated 
 acids you add an equal part of water, heat is generated, and the 
 same happens when you add successively a second, third, fourth, 
 fifth, or perhaps a sixth, portion of water of the same quantity, 
 but after this, whatever water is added, no sensible degree of 
 heat is generated. Now, to a quantity of acid I added succes- 
 sively portions of water, till I perceived that no more heat was
 
 LETTEKS FROM GLASGOW PUPILS. 583 
 
 generated by the additions. I then poured this diluted acid on 
 a quantity of fluid volatile alkali, by which I found that a sen- 
 sible degree of heat was produced. It is plain this could not be 
 imputed to the mixture of the acid with the water accompanying 
 the volatile alkali, but must be imputed to the mixture of the 
 acid with the volatile alkali itself. From this, and the other 
 experiments above mentioned, I may conclude that the real ten- 
 dency of acids with volatile alkalis is to generate heat, and that 
 thereby I have removed seemingly the most considerable objec- 
 tion against the general position, that every mixture generates 
 heat, and that every solution generates cold." 
 
 NOTE H, page 59. 
 LETTERS FROM GLASGOW PUPILS TO DR CULLEN. 
 
 Dr F. Hltcheson * to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Edinburgh, 8th December 1748. 
 
 I would have been extremely glad to have heard from 
 you ere this how all was going on in Glasgow. No one has 
 written me any thing particularly of the classes. I judged, in- 
 deed, from a letter of Mr Yates, that the chemistry was going on 
 well, as it was so stuffed with chemical terms, mixts, compounds, 
 &c. that I thought I should have been obliged to call a consulta- 
 tion to unravel its textures, and extract the quintessence of it. 
 Jo. Black might have answered me. 
 
 Our Colleges here go on in the ordinary way. I cannot re- 
 collect any thing peculiar from any of my Professors except 
 Young, and indeed it is impossible to tell his peculiarities with- 
 out transcribing his lectures. Monro has finished the bones of 
 the head this day. We had some theory upon ossification from 
 mere pressure, and an account of some diseases not peculiar to 
 
 * Son of the celebrated Professor of Moral Philosophy in the Univer- 
 sity of Glasgow.
 
 584 APPENDIX. 
 
 himself indeed. Whytt has now brought the chyle into the sub- 
 clavian vein ; he is not very long upon these points. Ruther- 
 ford gives us no more than is in Van Swieten. He has just 
 finished the section De Vulnere; upon this, indeed, he was 
 short, but in general he is intolerably tedious. Haliday and 
 I often lay our heads together and grumble at him. We are 
 admitted members of the Medical Society here. I take it to 
 be a very useful institution, and under the best regulations 
 imaginable ; indeed, its continuing so long as it has done shews 
 that. I am just now busy writing for it, otherwise you would 
 have got a letter rather more correct; I hope, however, you will 
 excuse it. I long much to hear how all goes on with you. Pray 
 make my kindest compliments to Mrs Cullen. She had a pretty 
 long letter from me ; Mr Moore had two. Mr Haliday desires 
 his compliments to you. I am, dear Sir, your most obedient 
 humble servant, Francis Hutcheson." 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Dr Alexander Henry Haliday to 
 Dr Cullen. 
 
 i( gjR Belfast, 3d May 1751. 
 I have a request to make, and I hardly know how to ad- 
 dress you, like the publican in sacred writ, conscious of my 
 
 own unworthiness, I approach with awe and petition with trem- 
 bling. 
 
 I was in Paris when the news of your establishment in the 
 University of Glasgow reached me. My joy was too great to be 
 silent, and I immediately wrote to you ; but, uncertain whether 
 my letter was ever received, I must again beg leave to assure 
 you that this event Avas in the highest degree pleasing to me, 
 and it must have been more or less so to all your old pupils. 
 Your constant treatment of us not only demanded that respect 
 and esteem every faithful and good instructor is entitled to, but 
 there was gratitude due for uncommon cares, and the warmest 
 affection for repeated offices of friendship. I would be cautious 
 of writing in this style, was I not sure you would distinguish 
 the voice of gratitude from that of flattery : this last, as it is al-
 
 CORIIESPONDENCE WITH DR MOORE. 585 
 
 ways an affront to whom it is addressed, so it must argue ex- 
 cessive vanity in the oflFerer, or his contempt of the patron he 
 worships. One must have a very good opinion of himself who 
 thinks his applause capable of pleasing a wise man. 
 
 Yet, not on your account alone did I rejoice. Ever affection- 
 ate to Alma Mater, I have been long ambitious of her making 
 that figure in the medical that she has already done in almost 
 every other science. An acquisition, then, which so evidently 
 tended towards it could not fail of gratifying me. 
 
 Is it vanity that makes me think so, or was I really distin- 
 guished from the greatest number of your pupils by something 
 of a particular attention ? I hope it is not vanity, for the plea- 
 sure this reflection is attended with, comes dashed with the con- 
 viction that I neither merited nor improved, as I might have 
 done, this happy circumstance, if it was indeed real. Be it as 
 it will, true or only imaginary, it has had its full effect on my 
 sentiments with regard to you, my fi^rst and most honom'ed pre- 
 ceptor in medicine. 
 
 But whither have I wandered ? I have wrote much, and 
 not one word to the purpose ; yet my conversing with you, if I 
 may call it so, and viewing you so long more as the kind friend 
 than as the eminent professor, has taken off something of that 
 fearful awe I sat down with ; and I can now proceed with less 
 uneasiness, &c. 
 
 Tlie following letter to Dr Cullen is from Dr John Moore, 
 who afterwards became so distinguished in the literary world. 
 
 " Dear Doctor, Paris, 1749. 
 
 As your long, and (as I thought) unkind silence, gave 
 me a great deal of uneasiness, your late epistle imparted to me 
 an equal proportion of pleasure. I assure you I was as indus- 
 trious as yourself in finding excuses for you, and was fond to im- 
 pute it to any thing rather than your indifference about me, the 
 thoughts of which I could never bear, and than which nothing 
 could more effectually humble my vanity.
 
 586 APPENDIX. 
 
 I was extremely glad to find that you particularly recommend 
 these very two branches of our business which I have made my 
 principal study since my arrival at Paris, as the most likely to 
 succeed in Glasgow; viz. performing Surgical operations and 
 practising Midwifery. With regard to the first, I have not con- 
 tented myself with attending the hospitals and seeing them 
 again and again performed there, but have also taken the courses 
 of two celebrated surgeons, where, under their inspection, I have 
 performed every operation, several times over^ upon dead sub- 
 jects, particularly the stone and some others, which I have never 
 performed upon living persons. I would fain have had my 
 coup d'essai of this operation over here, but find it, to my great 
 sorrow, impracticable — I mean upon a living person. 
 
 As to midwifery, I have attended one course, seen a good 
 many births, and performed some myself; have also read upon 
 this subject Mauriceau and La Motte with tolerable diligence, 
 and shall give the finishing stroke under Smellie, whom I de- 
 sign to attend at London on my return. My time at present is 
 occupied in dissecting, and attending the lectures of the famous 
 Astruc upon the diseases of women and children, — a branch of 
 my business which, I freely own, I have great need to study. 
 There is an experiment in the surgical way trying at the Hos- 
 pital de la Charite, which attracts the attention of all the stu- 
 dents, but the success is not yet known ; I shall delay acquainting 
 you with it till my next. Such of your books upon chemistry 
 as could be found in Paris I bought, and they will be delivered 
 you by your good friend JVli' Ritchie ; his going to Scotland pre- 
 vents me sending the news you expect, as 1 am very sensible he 
 can give you them much more distinctly than I can. He will also 
 give you an account of my present situation and views ; and, as 
 there is no man's advice which I esteem more than yours, I shall 
 expect it with impatience. 
 
 Dear Doctor, I believe I need not tell you that I will exe- 
 cute all your commissions, or any other piece of service I can 
 do you, with pleasure. This is what every man who is acquaint- 
 ed with your character would do, far more one who has been
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR T. MELVILL. 587 
 
 your pupil ; nay, allow my vanity to add, and is joined to you 
 by a nearer tie, circumstances which will witness against me if 
 I am ignorant in physic. 
 
 Make my compliments to Mrs CuUen and all other friends. 
 And believe me to be, in the sincerest manner, your wellwisher, 
 and most obedient servant, 
 
 John Moore." 
 
 The two following letters are from Mr Thomas Melvill, 
 whose premature death prevented the entire development of 
 those remarkable talents of which an early promise was given in 
 his ingenious paper on Light and Colours, and in his essay on 
 Dreaming. 
 
 " Dear Sib, Leydex, l^th July 1750. 
 
 According to my promise when I had last the pleasure 
 of seeing you at Glasgow, I have taken the opportunity of Mr 
 Robertson's return to drop you a line. I was a good deal sa- 
 tisfied that the boy's friends changed their first intentions of 
 sending us to Groningen. Here, in Leyden, we have all the 
 same advantages for literary improvement; and, besides, we 
 have the pleasure of enjoying the company of some few of our 
 countrymen. I attended, along with Messrs Anderson and Ro- 
 bertson, Professor Muschenbrock's lectures for the two or tlu*ee 
 weeks that remained of his college after our arrival here : he 
 seems to understand his subject thoroughly, and speaks the La- 
 tin witb great correctness and facility. It is incredible what a 
 quantity of labour that gentleman has gone through in the prose- 
 cution of experimental philosophy. One may hear him mention 
 in one lecture so many experiments that he has tried, as would 
 require upon every article many days to perform. He seems to 
 be entirely fitted for his business, as he is delighted with the 
 theory, indefatigable in the practice, and of no despicable abili- 
 ties. You will observe he has made several alterations and ad- 
 ditions in the last edition of his System, particularly on the head 
 of Electricity. If you can afford to throw away as much time, 
 I shall be greatly indebted to you for the favour of a line, with
 
 588 APPENDIX. 
 
 your opinion of these additions, and any other thing that is cu- 
 rious in the way of philosophy. I shall be obliged to you, like- 
 wise, for whatever news is a-going at the time : and if you want 
 any book or pamphlet from this country, or if there be any 
 other commission in which I can serve you, you have only to 
 give me your commands. Please direct your letter for me as 
 if I were in Dr Whytt's at Edinburgh, he will take care to have 
 it transmitted to me. The circle of my acquaintance here is 
 still very narrow, as there are but few English in the place, and 
 I have not yet got enough of French or Dutch for conversing 
 easily with foreigners ; for that reason, I cannot pretend to know 
 any thing of the state of the literary world here. Perhaps I 
 may be able to know more of it afterwards. The famous pam- 
 phlet Sur VElectricite Medicale you may have from Mr Carrick. 
 Make my compliments to my good friend JNIr Wilson, and tell 
 him from me, that we have done more in the affair of kites 
 than all the wits of Holland ; for though one may see some hun- 
 dreds of them always flying about, it has never once entered a 
 Dutch brain to put one above another. I will trouble you further 
 with my humble compliments to Professor Leechman and his 
 lady, Mr Simson, Mr Ross, &c. If any of the Professors want 
 any thing from this side the water, I shall have great pleasure 
 in serving them. With my sincere respects to Mrs Cullen and 
 Miss Johnstone, I am. Dear Sir, yours most affectionately, 
 
 Thom. Melvill." 
 
 « Dear Sir, Edikburgh, 21*^ February 1752. 
 
 You will receive along with this my paper on Light and 
 Colours. I shall be glad to know your sentiments on some ar- 
 ticles of it, either by writing, or when I have next the pleasure 
 of seeing you. I remember some years ago you had thoughts 
 of making some inquiries concerning the heating and cooling of 
 bodies. From Art. 12. of the paper 1 have sent you, it appears 
 that, in measuring by experiment the facility with which bodies 
 of different densities admit heat, the bodies made use of ought 
 to be either both opaque or both transparent ; and, for any thing 
 I know, the reason why mercury is much faster warmed by fire- 
 
 5
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH .^IR T. MELYILL. 589 
 
 light (ill Dr Martyii's experiment) than it ought to be in respect 
 of water, considering the difference of their densities, may be 
 owing to its opacity. But, for this reason, the method I tliink 
 you used to propose of warming bodies by the contact of a sur- 
 rounding fluid is less exceptionable. At the same time, it 
 would be well worth while to examine whether the article of 
 opacity, or pellucidity has any tiling to do in the matter when 
 the heat is not communicated by light, but by the immediate 
 contact of hot bodies. My notions in theory would incline me 
 to think there must be a difference from this circumstance. I 
 should think that the transparent body is, ccBter is paribus, most 
 susceptible of heat by contact. I have been very busy since I 
 saw you in considering Lord Kames's pajDer (on the Laws of Mo- 
 tion, &c.), and drawing up some remarks upon it. I see more of 
 the author's subtilty and acuteness after weighing it more tho- 
 roughly. There are, no doubt, some things in it which are mere 
 mistakes, easily pardonable in one who philosophizes in the midst 
 of such different occupations. But, upon the whole, I think his 
 notions have arisen rather from thinking too much than too 
 little on the subject. I have not attempted so much to confute 
 what he advances, as to shew that it leads to mystery and scep- 
 ticism, or at least terminates naturally in the system of Bosco- 
 vich, the Roman professor, who denies the existence of atoms, 
 and reduces all matter to active and moveable points of no 
 magnitude. 
 
 Dr Simson's book is in the press and nearly finished ; it is de- 
 dicated to his brother Mr Robert. I am afraid the doctrine will 
 not satisfy the mathematician's accuracy. Blackwell's Memoirs 
 of Augustus' Court is likewise in the press, and Wallace's dis- 
 quisition concerning the populousness of ancient nations against 
 Hume, With my sincerest respects to Mrs CuUen, I am, dear 
 sir, your most affectionate and obliged, 
 
 T. Melvill. 
 
 P. S — When you are making no use of my paper you may 
 give it to Dr Dick."
 
 590 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Rev. Dr Archibald Davidson, afterwards Principal of the 
 University of Glasgow, to Dr Cullen. 
 
 a Dear Sir, Goettingen, \9th Nov. 1752. 
 
 " About a fortnig-ht ago I arrived here, and now, in com- 
 pliance with your desire, do riiyself the pleasure of giving you 
 the best account of the University that I have been hitherto 
 able to learn. 
 
 " There are in all thirty Professors, ordinary and extraordi- 
 nary. Several of them are very famous and reckoned men of 
 ability ; but all of them, excepting the Professors in Physic, teach 
 in German. The students are about six hundred, made up of 
 Danes, Swedes, Russians, and Germans, of all the different sove- 
 reignties of the empire, but chiefly Hanoverians, Saxons and 
 Prussians. The British are exactly equal to the muses in num- 
 ber, but are not reckoned their most assiduous votaries ; j&ve of 
 us are Scots, viz. Lord Sutherland, and his companion Captain 
 Grant, Lord Fincastle, Mr Murray, nephew to the Duke of 
 AthoU, Mr Macrae, and myself; and four English, all commoners. 
 We have here a very magnificent library, greatly augmented by 
 the bounty of the Duke of Newcastle, of Mr Pelham, and of Ba- 
 ron Munchausen, the Prime Minister for Hanover, who is the 
 Maecenas of the University. We were recommended to Profes- 
 sor Haller by Dr Fleming, physician at London. The professor 
 seems to be a very agreeable worthy gentleman, but so immersed 
 in study, that he has no time to spare for company, or even for 
 practice, so that even when any of his own family are indisposed, 
 he employs another physician. 
 
 I remember that you gave me a commission to inquire for a 
 critical Dictionary of the German language. I spoke to Dr 
 Haller about it. He told me that it was hard to find sUch a 
 one, but that there was a critical work done entirely in German 
 by one Steinbach, where the Avords are explained according to 
 their etymology. If you choose to have that work, or any other 
 thing that I can procure for you here, believe me when I assure
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH LORD KAMES. 591 
 
 you that I will execute your commissions as soon as I receive them 
 with great pleasure. The Hartz forest and mines are but about 
 thirty English miles from us ; I will probably visit them in the 
 spring, so, if you want any thing that is to be got there, 1 will 
 endeavour to serve you to the utmost of my power. Expecting 
 to have the pleasure of hearing from you, I am, Dear Sir, with 
 the greatest respect, your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 Arch. Davidson." 
 
 NOTE I, page 62. 
 DR CULLEN'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH LORD KAMES. 
 
 Dr CuLLEN to LcTRD Kames. 
 
 ** My Lord, 
 
 I have just now remembered that I am in your Lord- 
 ship's debt for a letter. 1 find indeed that I have been too long so, 
 and would now make amends ; but, what is worse, I have very 
 much forgot the subject of your last. I only remember that it 
 made some demands upon me which I could not answer, and 
 mentioned some subjects which I would then, and must still, beg 
 to be excused from entering upon. I Avrite now for the sake of 
 writing, and that I may, if possible, by at least a letter once 
 every session, keep your Lordship in remembrance of me. I 
 have passed the winter as usual, always very busy, but seldom 
 employed as I would wish — projecting a great deal, but execut- 
 ing, at least finishing, nothing. I suppose your Society are pre- 
 paring their second volume for the press. I should be proud to 
 have a share in it, but I find I cannot. The paper I sent you 
 last year is now destined to another work, which I hope will ap- 
 pear soon, and I have nothing else at present fit for you. That 
 this letter may not be quite without philosophy, wliich you al- 
 ways require, I shall give you somewhat that has occurred to 
 me lately, and which is, as far as I know, entirely new."
 
 592 APPENDIX. 
 
 Dr Cullen proceeds afterwards to give Lord Karnes an ac- 
 count of his experiments on the cold produced by evaporation. 
 
 Lord Kames to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " SiRj Edinburgh, 23d Decemher 1749. 
 
 » # * * 
 
 I have put your Essay in Martin's hands, who is quite a 
 knight-errant upon the nitre scheme. We propose many expe- 
 riments. One may easily be followed out, which is, to make 
 six divisions in a border of the same sort of earth. Manure or 
 impregnate five of them with nitre, in different quantities. Sow 
 the whole six with the same grain, to see what effects are pro- 
 duced by different quantities of nitre in the five beds, and none 
 at all in the sixth. I trust so much more to you than myself in 
 making experiments, that I cannot help requesting of you to 
 try this. 
 
 * ♦ * 
 
 Henry Home." 
 
 Lord Kames to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Sir, Edinburgh, bth January 1 750. 
 
 I am a little afraid of becoming a troublesome corres- 
 pondent ; but, to make you easy, I do not insist upon a regular 
 correspondence. Let me only hear from you when you find 
 yourself disposed. 
 
 I wrote the other day to you, proposing an experiment about 
 nitre, which I think deserves well to be tried. There is ano- 
 ther point I am extremely curious about, and which came from 
 yourself, and that is, to set about a course of experiments, in or- 
 der to determine what proportion of their food plants draw from 
 the air, and what are the plants which draw most nourishment 
 from the air. If this were found out, husbandry would be much 
 advanced by it ; for, all things else being equal, it would be best 
 to cliuse such plants as live most upon what they draw from 
 the air, without exhausting the soil. By an experiment we all
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH I.ORD KAMES. 593 
 
 know, I should take this to be the case with cabbage, which, be- 
 ing" Imng up within a house in the winter time, will keep plump 
 and green a very long while ; and this can be owing to nothing 
 else but to the nourishment which is imbibed from the air. I 
 have often thought of planting an acre with cabbage purposely 
 to make dung of it. It is a succulent plant, having a great 
 tendency to putrefaction ; and, if I were sure it lives much 
 upon the air, and little upon the soil, I would certainly put my 
 project in execution, and by that means augment the quantity of 
 my dung considerably. 
 
 The enclosed is a new theory of Lime, which I thought worth 
 your attention ; how far well founded you will judge : and, sup- 
 posing it well founded, it does not in the least contradict your 
 theory, but will be a proper addition to it. 
 
 Mr Wedderburn*, who carries this, brings you two volumes 
 from Arthur Martine. He is highly pleased with your Essay, 
 which I put into his hand ; and the other enclosed letter is from 
 him. Yours most affectionately, 
 
 Henry Home" 
 
 Dr CuLLEN to Lord Kames. 
 
 « Sir Glasgow, ITth January 1750. 
 
 I was favoured with yours by a private hand on Sunday 
 night last. Before that time I hope you had received one from 
 me, precisely, as I remember, of the same date with this I have 
 from you. 
 
 Your correspondence will never be troublesome to me; my 
 only fear is lest it may not be in my power to take so much 
 trouble in answering you as I would wish to do ; but bear with 
 me a little, and at the long run I hope that, by perseverance in 
 prosecuting this subject of agriculture, we shall, by joining our 
 reasonings and experiments, get most of our doubts cleared up, 
 and opinions and practice both settled on a better footing than 
 heretofore. 
 
 The experiments fit to determine which plants draw most 
 • Afterwards Earl of Rosslyn. 
 VOL. I. P p
 
 594 APPENDIX. 
 
 from tlie air, and least from the soil, are such as Mr Hales and 
 others have made on the perspiration and absorption of plants. 
 Those already made are but a specimen. To answer our pur- 
 pose, experiments must be made on a great variety of plants, 
 and must be made on many of them during the whole time of 
 their growth. A course of such experiments, therefore, would 
 occupy a person for a summer season, require a garden in the 
 country, assistance, and a pretty close attention. Such circum- 
 stances I cannot command at present. In the mean time, in the 
 papers I gave you, I think I have gone some length in ascer- 
 taining this point. 1^^, All plants, by their leaves, absorb mois- 
 ture from the air, and communicate it to their roots and to the 
 earth about them. 2tf, All plants, before they shoot to seed, take 
 little from the soil, and therefore probably absorb much from the 
 air. 3(1, Succulent plants subsist long without the assistance of 
 roots, and therefore absorb much. 4th, Plants that subsist during 
 the winter perspire little, and consequently take little from the 
 soil but what will be found in their substance afterwards. These 
 general principles apply readily to cabbage. It is a plant that 
 does not stand to shoot to seed. It is a succulent plant, and of 
 a genus that subsists during winter. I have always, therefore, 
 considered it as a meliorating plant ; but whether your project 
 with regard to it will be successful I doubt, as I do with regard 
 to the raising of any crop with a view to its being directly 
 turned into manure. 
 
 Cabbages require a good mellow soil recently manured; though 
 they take little, yet perhaps they take somewhat, and I doubt 
 if what they take and what is lost by the perspiration of the 
 soil, with the rent and labour, will be compensated by the 
 crop recommitted to the soil again, I take it the best way of 
 converting any crop into manure is by passing it through the 
 body of an animal, as I believe the dung got this way, and the 
 profit of the fed cattle, will exceed the value of the dung got 
 from the vegetable putrefied any other way ; and I am told that 
 cabbage, in particular, employed in the way I propose, turns to 
 very good account ; but I am perhaps out of my depth. 
 
 I have read your paper on Lime, but have not had time enough
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH LORD KAMES. 595 
 
 to consider it. I heard of Dr Alston's experiment when I was 
 last at Edinburgh. I believe that lime may continue long to give 
 out its virtue, and that is enough for your purpose ; but that the 
 lime-water continues so long as the Doctor alleges of the same 
 degree of strength, I must have other proof than the Doctor's 
 taste. Your reasoning from this experiment seems to me proba- 
 ble and just ; but, before we rest upon it, we must have it deter- 
 mined whether lime directly by itself goes to the nourishment of 
 plants, or if it operates only in preparing the nourishment, or if 
 both are true : on these points you fluctuate a little. Upon any 
 of the three suppositions, we may account for lime being in time 
 exhausted ; but it is only on the second that I can account for 
 exhausted limed ground being worse than before. Mr Mure of 
 Caldwall has engaged to procure me specimens of the two kinds 
 of lime from the shire of Ayr you informed me of; when I have 
 got them I shall enter upon experiments that I hope will throw 
 light upon the whole affair of liming. Be so good, at your 
 leisure, as to answer a demand I made you formerly, that is, let 
 me know what are the ten crops Mr Simson takes after liming. 
 So far I had proceeded in sketching a letter to you yesterday, 
 and perhaps would have delayed sending it, till I had got time 
 to say more on this and other subjects ; but a piece of news I 
 got to-day has determined me to write to-night, and obliged me 
 for dispatch, too, to employ an amanuensis. Hercules Lindsay has 
 got advice to-day that his presentation came to Mr M'Millan's 
 hand at Edinburgh last post, and at the same time I am certain- 
 ly informed there is none for me : I expected they would have 
 come together, but I am much afraid you have considered it too 
 much as an affair that would pass of course, and that Baron 
 Maule has been very cool on the subject. At any rate, I think 
 this will allow him to remind the Duke of it ; and I shall beg- 
 soon to hear from you upon the subject. I am not so anxious 
 about getting this professorship, that I pay pretty dear for, as I 
 am to be determined, whether I get it or not ; the getting it 
 sooner or later will make a considerable odds in its value, as 
 matters stand at present in the college. One professor turned 
 
 r p 2
 
 596 APPENDIX. 
 
 of eighty-six, and another ill of a bad fever, both their places in 
 the gift of the Society, and still the main point Avith me is to 
 be determined. I have lived too long without a settled plan, 
 which has always kept me distracted, and unsteady in my ap- 
 plication to study. 
 
 I am afraid I presume too far in troubling you with so much 
 about myself. Be so good as make my apology to Mr Martine 
 for not answering his letter, which I got along with yours ; I 
 shall do it soon, and in the mean time thank him kindly for the 
 two manuscripts he sent me. I am. Sir, your most obedient 
 servant, William Cullen." 
 
 Dr CuLLEX to Lord Kames. 
 
 « Sir, Glasgow, 1749. 
 
 I now take the liberty you were pleased to allow me of 
 consulting you about my plan for prosecuting the study, or, if 
 you please, the improvement of agriculture. Your recommenda- 
 tion of this subject has very much strengthened my own incli- 
 nations this way, and this would have appeared sooner, if my 
 practice and the teaching a course of chemistry had not entirely 
 occupied me during the winter ; but now the last is over, I re- 
 solve, during the summer, to apply to some experiments that 
 relate to agriculture ; but lest I lose my labour in random ex- 
 periments, I wish to have your advice, and to know from you 
 what experiments are likely to prove decisive and fittest to ascer- 
 tain the principles of agriculture. 
 
 That you may do this with the more ease to yourself, and 
 with more advantage to me, I shall now venture to lay before 
 you my own plan on this subject. I hope, therefore, you will 
 bear with the detail I am now to enter upon. It is the sub- 
 stance of a few lectures I gave in my course of chemistry. As 
 the course was intended to teach the elements of a chemistry 
 applicable to arts in general, agriculture claimed a place ; and 
 though I was not well prepared on that subject, yet I thought 
 it was proper to make a beginning, and at least to open young
 
 COmiESPONDENCE WITH LOUD KAMES. 597 
 
 gentlemen's views on the subject. To that purpose I entered 
 into some details, which it would not be proper to trouble you 
 with, and I must even here observe many things unnecessary to 
 be mentioned to you, but unavoidable, as serving to shew the 
 connexion of the whole. To begin, then, — the whole of the prin- 
 ciples of agriculture may be referred to two heads, that is to 
 say, they are either those which relate to the nourishment of 
 plants, or those which relate to the application of that nourish- 
 ment. With respect to the nourishment of plants, the first 
 question that arises seems to be this. Whether soils contain 
 different juices fitted to nourish different plants, and that roots 
 are endued with an elective attraction, whereby they take up 
 only what is peculiarly fitted for then- nourishment, and reject 
 or exclude every thing else ? Or, if the nourishment of plants, 
 as lodged in the soil, is the same with respect to all different 
 plants, and taken in by all different roots under one and the 
 same form, but that by certain powers in the vessels of each 
 respective plant, this common nourishment is converted into the 
 juices peculiar to each ? I am inclined to be of this latter 
 opinion," &c. 
 
 Lord Kames to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Edinburgh, ] 4th January 1751. 
 " Though you seem quite to have forgot me, I cannot 
 allow matters to rest upon that footing, but must endeavour to 
 refresh your memory, by taking the opportunity of IVIr Smith 
 to transmit my essay to you about the Laws of Motion. Among 
 many promises you made me, if you have not forgot them all, 
 one was to give me a sight of your inaugural oration, whicli I 
 long to see, and to know if any new discoveries are made in my 
 favourite science of husbandi-y. 
 
 You may shew the papers to Mr , and send them back 
 
 when you liave done with them, but not without remarks. 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 Henry Home."
 
 598 APPENDIX. 
 
 Lord Kames to Dr Cullen. 
 
 « SiRj Edinburgh, \4th July 1752. 
 
 I came yesterday from the Whim, where I passed a day 
 or two wdth his Grace of Argyle. As I have always your inte- 
 rest at heart, or rather that of the public, I took occasion to 
 talk to him of your project for purifying salt. He told me of 
 a letter he had had from you on that subject, but said frankly, he 
 wanted to have an account of your method to judge whether it 
 would do. 1 gathered his reason to be, that if he were once sa- 
 tisfied of the practicability of the plan, he would be extremely 
 keen to put you upon the most advantageous footing with re- 
 gard to a premium. He said he hoped you would think your- 
 self in no danger in communicating your secret to him, and that 
 you would find him a trusty confident. * * 
 
 I find Lord Deskfoord has not yet got your lucubrations upon 
 bleaching and upon ashes. If I do not get this summer some of 
 your experiments about husbandry, I will abandon you altoge- 
 ther as an utter bankrupt. 
 
 I informed the Duke you proposed to bestow some of your 
 thoughts upon Moss, for the benefit of the Duke and of his farm 
 at the l^Tiim. He shewed me a treatise of one Dignerus, upon 
 that subject, which I read, and think shallow enough. I find 
 by Mr Lind, who was there, that he has written a little essay 
 upon moss. He gave me one hint, which I should wish to know 
 your opinion of. He reckons moss a composition of wood, di- 
 gested and broke into small parts, but by no means putrefied. 
 Its being combustible, shews, in his opinion, that there is no pu- 
 trefaction. Therefore, to make moss a fit manure for land, he 
 proposes to mix it in a dunghill, in order to putrefy it thoroughly, 
 after which it will be good manure. This touches me. For I 
 have in my farm a good quantity of shell-marl covered two or 
 three feet with moss. If I can turn all this moss into good 
 manure by putrefaction, I shall have store of dung, and my shell- 
 marl laid open to be carried to my land, without trouble or ex- 
 pense. Yours, 
 
 Henry Home."
 
 COlliiESPONDENCE M'lTH LORD KAMES. 599 
 
 Dr CuLLEN to Lord Kames. 
 
 " My Lord, Glasgow, July 1752. 
 
 Your letter of the 14tli is very kind. Your Lordship 
 would blame me very justly if I were to use any reserve with his 
 Grace the Duke of Argyle ; but I have never dealt in secrets, 
 and I never shall have any with his Grace. 
 
 When I had the honour of writing to his Grace on the sub- 
 ject of sea-salt, I described my process for purifying it, as 1 have 
 myself practised it. I was writing at the same time on other 
 subjects, in return to a letter I had from his Grace, and being 
 averse to making a long letter, I was perhaps shorter on the 
 subject of salt than I wished to be. In case you have another 
 opportunity of talking to his Grace on this subject, here is my 
 process. Make a saturated solution of common table-salt in 
 water. To this add by degrees a dilute lixivium of potashes. 
 The lixivium added to the solution makes it milky, and occasions 
 a precipitation. When the solution becomes clear, again add a 
 little more of the lixivium, and repeat this till the milkiness and 
 precipitation become inconsiderable. The quantity of potashes 
 necessary will be diiferent according to the greater or less 
 purity of the salt employed. I find a drachm of potashes dissolv^ed 
 in two ounces of water is enough for a pound of the salt I used. 
 When the precipitation is finished, let the solution stand till it 
 becomes quite clear, and by a syphon draw it from the sediment. 
 Set this purified solution to evaporate in a heat not exceeding 
 100^ in Fahrenheit's thermometer, and when two-thirds are 
 evaporated draw out the crystals. This is the whole of my 
 process ; the theory of it is shortly, that the lixivium serves to 
 precipitate the calcareous salts, which renders our boiled salt 
 unfit for curing provisions. To explain this farther, or shew 
 the insufficiency of the methods of purifying proposed by others, 
 would exceed the bounds of a letter ; I thiidi it enough now to 
 add, that the salt prepared by the above process has all the 
 marks required in a perfect salt. By the bearer 1 send you a 
 specimen of it, which has been evaporated by tlie heat of the 
 sun. In this practice I have been very much disappointed,
 
 600 APPENDIX. 
 
 finding it much slower than I expected, insomuch that the salt 
 now sent you had been neglected in despair for a long time past, 
 and the water has only been poured from it since I received 
 youi' letter. 
 
 On the subject of moss I am not ripe to say much ; I cannot 
 quite agree with the opinion you mention, but that it is vege- 
 table matter, and that it is not putrefied, seems pretty certain. 
 The spongy friable moss that lies upon the surface, I take to be 
 good for nothing. What lies deeper is more firm and unctuous, 
 and you will find it very difficult to putrefy, or to be converted 
 into manure ; but of this farther wlien I can speak from more 
 experience. 
 
 I think it is hardly fair for your Lordship to insist so per- 
 emptorily on my husbandry experiments, when it is not yet 
 three months since I entered to the possession of my farm." 
 
 Lord Kames to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Kames, ^'Jth March 1758. 
 * * * I flatter myself with the 
 
 hopes of having you here after your colleges are up, to relax 
 your mind gradually from your present fatigue, and to recruit 
 your spirits. You cannot be better fitted any where : criticism, 
 agriculture, exercise, all shall be employed to set you on your 
 feet again. Think you owe this relaxation to youi* family, if 
 not to yourself; for the way to be rich is to live long. I took 
 a touch at Simson's Euclid before I left the town, and am much 
 dissatisfied with it. There is no genius displayed in it, though 
 he had a fair opportunity. Euclid is rendered intricate and un- 
 comfortable by his attempting to demonstrate propositions that 
 are self-evident, and this, a capital error, is never once rectified. 
 I read several demonstrations, not one step of which is more evi- 
 dent than the very proposition itself, which is the subject of the 
 demonstration. This is a cruel oppression upon novices, and 
 which by all means oyght to be avoided. In short, the old man is 
 fond of money, and wants to pick pockets. I dislike such an at- 
 tempt, and therefore wish to be rid of the copy you gave me,
 
 CORllESPONDENCE WITH LORD KAMES. 601 
 
 which I left at Edinburgh. You need not, however, give your- 
 self much trouble. If you cannot easily dispose of it, let it re- 
 main where it is. Yours affectionately, 
 
 Henry Home." 
 
 Lord Ka:.ies to Dr Cullex. 
 
 " Sir, Kames, Sih May 1758. 
 
 The time approaches of your expected, because promised, 
 visit, which I am anxious about chiefly on your account, and 
 that is saying a great deal. Let me assume the physician so 
 far as to say that you require a recruit, nay, that it is essen- 
 tial to your health. I foresee how you may be entangled, but 
 you must put on a resolution and break at once tlirough all ob- 
 structions ; for if you give way to every patient that may have 
 use for you, you will never stir from Edinburgh as long as you 
 live, Avhich in that case I prophecy will not be many years. I 
 give you the preference, but now a word for myself. I shall 
 shew you a farm in fine order, which is not a common siglit. 
 And, in particular, I will shew you a new and an excellent me- 
 thod of rearing and training hedges, less expensive and more 
 effectual than any other practised. I am ambitious you should 
 see them now, because at present I have of them in all the stages, 
 from the planting of the thorns almost to their utmost perfec- 
 tion. It will make a capital article in a book of husbandry. If 
 you should be even circumscribed to three days, better this 
 short time than none at all, for yourself as well as for me. 
 Yours, H. Ho3iE." 
 
 Lord Kames to Dr Cullex. 
 
 " My Dear Sir, Blair-Drummond, 22c/ Ma?/ 1775. 
 
 I do not know but I ought to blush for the contents of 
 this letter ; and yet I cannot think of abandoning to oblivion any 
 thing that is curious. There is nothing but miracles in this cor- 
 ner of natural philosophy, — Turkey cocks laying eggs, a number
 
 602 APPENDIX. 
 
 of them about tlie size of a large musk pluuib ; and what is more, 
 a Turkey hen bringing forth a chicken even with feathers on it 
 like a vivipara. I do not affirm that I have legal evidence for 
 these facts, because it did not lie in my way to put any person 
 upon oath about them, but I believe tliem. At the same time, 
 I would not have you think me so far out of my senses as to 
 erect any prophecy upon them, such as that Wilkes will be 
 hanged, or that Hancock will be elected king of New England. 
 I write this to keep the thing in memory, for law in Edinburgh 
 puts every other thing out of my head. And I write without 
 apology, because I forbid an answer. Had you answered the 
 first, you should not have had this. Yours affectionately, 
 
 Henry Home." 
 
 NOTE K, page 67. 
 
 Dr Clllen to M. Duiiamel. 
 
 " Sin, 
 
 Your letter, which I have just now received, does me a 
 great deal of honour, and gives me very great pleasure. From 
 the perusal of many excellent memoirs which appear among 
 those of the Academy of Sciences, I have long ago conceived a 
 very high esteem for M. Duhamel de Monceau, and I expect 
 that every subject to which you shall apply your genius, will re- 
 ceive a considerable improvement. It is with impatience I shall 
 wait for the Treatises on Agriculture which you intend for me. 
 The correspondence you do me the honour to propose to me I 
 have long wished for, and shall take pains to cultivate. I am at 
 present intent on some experiments for the improvement of 
 Agriculture ;"and what observations or experiments I have made, 
 or shall make, on this subject, I shall be glad to communicate 
 to you, but beg leave to reserve them till I shall have perused 
 your Treatise. Probably I shall thereby .avoid troubling you 
 with observations which are already well known to you. I 
 write this only to acknowledge the honour of your letter ; but
 
 COIIRESPOISDENCE WITH M. DUHAMEL. ^03 
 
 that it may not be quite empty, I shall mention a chemical ex- 
 periment which I have just now made. 
 
 The chemists have thought it impossible to obtain an ammo- 
 niacal salt, made with the vegetable acid in a solid form ; but I 
 have just now succeeded in making such. I have obtained it 
 by subliming it from a mixture of equal parts of regenerated 
 tartar and of the vitriolic ammoniac, or, as it is commonly 
 called, the Secret Sal-Ammoniac of Glauber. 
 
 You will readily perceive the reason of the choice of the mat- 
 ters I employed, and the exchange I expected, and which I find 
 does truly take place. I need not trouble you with the conduct 
 of the process. The ammoniac sublimes, at first, in fine, tender, 
 and seemingly dry, flowers into the neck of the retort. After- 
 wards a liquor arises, which washes down part of these flowers 
 into the receiver. This liquor, however, is in small quantity, 
 and does not wash down the whole ; but at length the neck of 
 the retort becoming hot, the flowers are melted down, and run 
 into the receiver half fluid. Upon the cooling of the vessels, it 
 concretes again into a crystalline tender mass, but moistened by 
 the liquor that is likewise found in the receiver. Both the salt 
 and the fluid appear to be perfectly neutral. The salt has a 
 pretty strong smell ; but now, after some days, this has become 
 much milder ; it is an odour sui generis, very difl^erent from that 
 either of the volatile alkali or distilled vinegar, though I think 
 it now approaches nearer to that of the latter. It is, however, 
 as well as the fluid that accompanied it, perfectly neutral, and 
 makes no change on syrup of violets. Its taste resembles that 
 of the regenerated tartar. I have examined this vegetable am- 
 moniac in many difl^erent ways, but have not had time to make 
 these experiments so exactly as to off^er you an account of them. 
 If such accounts are agreeable to you, I hope I shall be able to 
 aff^ord you some others of more importance."
 
 604 APPENDIX. 
 
 M. DUHAMEL to Dr CULLEN. 
 
 '' Ce. 22. Mars, 1763. 
 Je suis bien sensible, Monsieur, a I'lionneur de votre souvenir, 
 dont M. Dairy mple me donne des temoignages dans la lettre 
 qu'il m'a addressee. Je prie M. Johnston de vous presenter, de 
 ma part, un petit ouvrage que j'ay fait sur la Conservation de la 
 Sante des Equipages ; et je vous prie de faire agreer a la Societe 
 d'Edimbourg la seconde edition de mon traite d' Architecture Na- 
 vale, un torn, en 4o ; ma Physique des Arbres, 2 torn, en 4o ; 
 mon traite des Semis et Plantations, 1 torn, en 4o. J'envoye a 
 M. Dalrymple un petit ouvrage que j'ay fait sur un insecte qui 
 devore les grains ; a M. Monro, un sur la Formation de Os des 
 Animaux ; et j'ay donne a M. Jolinston mes Elemens d' Agri- 
 culture. Voila a pen pres tout ce que j'ay fait depuis le com- 
 mencement des troubles qui out regne en Europe, si Ton en ex- 
 cepte I'Histoire des Arts de I'Academie; a laquelle j'ay beaucoup 
 travaille. 
 
 Je suis maintenant occupe a faire im traite sur I'Exploitation 
 des Forets. Mais I'age vient et les forces diminuent. Je me 
 vois revivre dans un neveu M. Fougeroux de Bondarvis, qui a 
 fait I'ouvrage sur les Os que j'envoye a M. Monro, et plusieurs 
 arts pour I'Histoire Generale des Arts que I'Academie a entre- 
 pris. Je vous avoue que ce seroit pour moi une satisfaction que 
 le neveu, qui est de I'Academie des Sciences, fut associe a celle 
 d'Edimbourg ; il feroit son possible pour n'etre pas un membra 
 inutil. II fait actuellement un voyage en Italie, ce qui le prive 
 du plaisir qu'il auroit eu de presenter ses ouvrages a la Societe 
 d'Edimbourg. 
 
 J'ai I'lionneur d'etre, avec ime tres sincere consideration, Mon- 
 sieur, votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur, 
 
 DUHAMEL DU MoNCEAU."
 
 ( 605 
 
 NOTE L, p. 71. 
 
 The following letter to Dr Cullen from Lord Deskfoord, 
 afterwards the Earl of Eindlater, is so highly creditahle to the 
 writer that I cannot deny myself the pleasure of inserting it. 
 
 (( gjR Castle OF BAxrF, 22c/ Ja;j?mr^ 17C4. 
 
 T have just heard of the loss sustained by the University 
 of Glasgow by Mr Smith's leaving it. It is of consequence to 
 the University, and to the education of Scotland, that he should 
 be succeeded by the fittest person. I do imagine that your ac- 
 quaintance Dr Thomas Reid, of the King's College at Aber- 
 deen, is the fittest man in the kingdom for that profession. If 
 you are of the same opinion, it will be doing a service to the 
 public to let your friends who have interest in the University of 
 Glasgow know your opinion. Mr Reid is quite ignorant of my 
 writing; and, I suppose, has no thoughts of the thing. I am, 
 with perfect esteem. Sir, your most obedient and most humble 
 servant, Deskfoord." 
 
 NOTE M, p. 72. 
 Dr Adam Smith to Dr Cullen. 
 
 ' " Dear Sir Edinburgh, 3d September IT^'^l- 
 
 I received yours this moment. I am very glad that Mr 
 Craigie has at last resolved to go to Lisbon. I make no doubt 
 but he will soon receive all the benefit he expects, or can wish, 
 from a warmer climate. I shall, with great pleasure, do what I 
 can to relieve him of the burthen of his class. You mention 
 Natural Jurisprudence and Politics as the parts of his lectures, 
 which it would be most agreeable for me to take upon me to 
 teach. I shall very willingly undertake both. I should be glad 
 to know when he sets out for Lisbon, because, if it is not before 
 the 1st of October, I would endeavour to see him before he
 
 C06 APPENDIX. 
 
 goes, that I mig-lit receive his advice ahout the plan I ought to 
 follow. I would pay great deference to it in every thing, and 
 would follow it implicitly in this, as I shall consider myself as 
 standing in his place and representing him. If he goes before 
 that time, I wish he would leave some directions for me, either 
 with you or with jVIr Leechman, were it only by word of mouth. 
 I am, dear Doctor, most faithfully yours, 
 
 A. Smith." 
 
 i' Dear Sir, Edix. Tuesday^ November IJol. 
 
 I did not write to you on Saturday, as I promised, be- 
 cause I was every moment expecting Mr Home to town. He 
 is not, however, yet come, 
 
 I should prefer David Hume to any man for a colleague ; but 
 I am afraid the public would not be of my opinion ; and the 
 interest of the society will oblige us to have some regard to the 
 opinion of the public. If the event, however, we are afraid of 
 should happen, we can see how the public receives it. From 
 the particular knowledge I have of Mr Elliot's sentiments, I am 
 pretty certain Mr Lindsay must have proposed it to him, not he 
 to Lindsay. I am for ever obliged to you for your concern for 
 my interest in that affair. 
 
 Wlien I saw you at Edinburgh, you talked to me of the 
 Principal's proposing to retire. I gave little attention to it at 
 that time, but, upon further consideration, should be glad to 
 listen to any proposal of that kind. The reasons of my changing 
 my opinion I shall tell you at meeting. I need not recommend 
 secrecy to you upon this head. Be so good as to thank the 
 Principal in my name for his kindness in mentioning me to the 
 Duke (of Argyll). I waited on him at liis levee at Edinburgh, 
 where I was introduced to him by Mr Lind ; but it seems he 
 had forgot. 
 
 I can tell you nothing particular about your own affair, more 
 than what I wrote you last, till I see Mr Home, whom I expect 
 every moment. ] am, most dear Sir, ever yours, 
 
 A. Smith."
 
 ( 607 ) 
 
 NOTE N, p. 74. 
 
 DR CULLEN TO DH HUNTER, ON THE DEATH OF MR 
 DAVID HUME. 
 
 " My dear Friend, Edinburgh, ITlh September I77G. 
 
 1 was favoured with yours, by Mr Hallied, on Sunday 
 last, and have answered some part of it by a gentleman whom 
 I was otherwise obliged to write by ; but as I was not certain 
 liow soon that might come to your hand, I did not answer your 
 postscript ; in doing which, if I can oblige, a part of the merit 
 must be that of the information being early, and I therefore give 
 it you as soon as I possibly could. You desire an account of 
 Mr Hume's last days, and I give it you with some pleasure, for, 
 though I could not look upon him in his illness without much 
 concern, yet the tranquillity and pleasantry which he constantly 
 discovered, did even then give me satisfaction, and, now that the 
 curtain is dropped, allows me to indulge the less alloyed reflec- 
 tion. It was truly an example " des grands hommes qui sont 
 morts en plaisantant * ;" and to me, who have been so often 
 shocked with the horrors of the superstitious on such occasions, 
 the reflection on such a death is truly agreeable. For many 
 weeks before his death he was very sensible of his gradual de- 
 cay, and his answer to inquiries after his health, was, several 
 times, that he was going as fast as his enemies could wish, and 
 as easily as his friends could desire. He Mas not, however, 
 without a frequent recurrence of pain and uneasiness, but he 
 passed most part of the day in his drawing-room, admitted the 
 visits of his friends, and, with his usual spirit, conversed with 
 them upon literature, politics, or whatever else was accidentally 
 started. In conversation he seemed to be perfectly at ease, and 
 to the last abounded with that pleasantry, and those curious and 
 entertaining anecdotes, which ever distinguished him. This, 
 however, I always considered rather as an eftort to be agreeable, 
 and he at length acknowledged tliat it became too much for his 
 
 * In reference to a work so entitled, published at Amsterdam, in I7.'{2.
 
 608 APPENDIX. 
 
 strength. For a few days before his death he became more 
 averse to receive visits ; speaking became more and more diffi- 
 cult for him ; and, for twelve hours before his death, liis speech 
 failed altogether. His senses and judgment did not fail till the 
 last hour of his life. He constantly discovered a strong sensi- 
 bility to the attention and care of his friends, and, amidst great 
 uneasiness and languor, never betrayed any peevishness or im- 
 patience. This is a general account of Iiis last days, but a par- 
 ticular fact or two may perhaps convey to you a still better idea 
 of them. 
 
 Not many days before his death a friend found him reading, 
 and, upon inquiring what was the book, Mr Hume told him it 
 was Lucian, and that he had just been reading the dialogue en- 
 titled Kataplous, in which Megapentes, arriving on the banks 
 of the Styx, urges many pleas for being allowed to return 
 for some time to the world. Mr Hume said the fancy had 
 struck him to think what pleas he himself might offer upon 
 such an occasion. He thought he might say that he had 
 been very busily employed in making his countrymen wiser, 
 and particularly in delivering them from superstition, but that 
 he] had not yet completed that great work. This he at first 
 thought might be sufficiently specious ; but he soon reflected 
 that Mercury would tell him it was idle to think of remaining 
 now for that purpose, as it would be time enough to return for 
 it two or three hundred years hence. In short, the excuse 
 would not be sustained, and he must pass the river. 
 
 About a fortnight before his death, he added a codicil to his 
 will, in which he fully discovered his attention to his friends, as 
 well as his own pleasantry. What little m ine he himself drank 
 was generally port, a wine to which his friend the poet* had ever 
 declared the strongest aversion. David bequeaths to his friend 
 John one bottle of port ; and, upon condition of his drinking 
 this, even at two downsittings, bestows upon him twelve dozen 
 of his best claret. He pleasantly adds, that this subject of wine 
 was the only one upon which they had ever differed. In the 
 codicil there are several other strokes of raillery and pleasantry, 
 
 * Mr John Home, author of the tragedy of Douglas, &c.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR D. MILLAR. 609 
 
 highly expressive of the cheerfiihiess which he then enjoyed. 
 He even tnrned his attention to some of the simple amusements 
 with which he had been formerly pleased. In the neighbour- 
 hood of his brother's house in Berwickshire is a brook, by which 
 the access in time of floods is frequently interrupted. Mr Hume 
 bequeaths £ 100 for building a bridge over this brook, but up- 
 on the express condition that none of the stones for that pur- 
 pose shall be taken from a quarry in the neighbourhood, which 
 forms pait of a romantic scene in which in his earlier days IVIr 
 Hume took particular delight ; otherwise the money to go to the 
 poor of the parish. 
 
 These are a few particulars, which may perhaps appear trifling, 
 but to me no particulars seem trifling that relate to so great a 
 man. It is perhaps from trifles that w^e can best distinguish the 
 tranquillity and cheerfulness of the philosopher, at a time when 
 the most part of mankind are under disquiet, anxiety, and some- 
 times even horror. I consider the sacrifice of the Cock as a 
 more certain evidence of the tranquillity of Socrates, than his 
 Discourse on Immortality. 
 
 I had gone so far w^hen I was called to the country, and I 
 have returned only so long before the post as to say that I am 
 most aff*ectionately yours, William Cullen." 
 
 NOTE O, page 79. 
 
 Dr Cullen to Dr David Millar. 
 
 " Dear David, Edinburgh, 5lh May 17G4. 
 
 The moment I have finished my college I sit down to 
 write to you. I should have done it sooner, and I might give a 
 reason why I did not, but can hardly oflcr it to you as an ex- 
 cuse. The only excuse I could think of is your standing on 
 ceremony, and never writing but one letter to me ; but, as I do 
 not understand this, I shall make no use of it. I was much dis- 
 appointed in your not telling me plainly how you were received 
 by the two Hunters and Dr Pitcairn, which was very necessary 
 to directing my conduct, and has, I assure you, interrupted my 
 VOL. 1. Q q
 
 610 APPENDIX. 
 
 writing. However, now I have time to tell you so, let all that 
 pass, and write me more frequently, and with that trust and 
 confidence you would repose in one who earnestly wishes you 
 well. I suppose you think of going to Paris, and, was it but for 
 a month or two, I judge it very proper before you settle in any 
 place. ^ « * * 
 
 * I was much obliged to you for Dr Fordyce's 
 
 Syllabus. I think he is a little rash in some things, and incor- 
 rect in many others ; but there are few critics in chemistry. 
 Pray find out if Fordyce has any acquaintance with Lewis, and by 
 that or otherwise let me know if the Commercium Philosophico- 
 technicum is to go on, and in what shape. Let me know if you 
 have made any progress in the knowledge of fossils, or have 
 made any acquaintance with fossilists. Have you been in the 
 museum to any purpose ? Let me know if any body at London 
 has read Sauvages' Nosologia Methodica, or if any body enters 
 into such a plan, or approves of others doing it. Dr Aikenside I 
 dare say does not, but I thank you for his book. I think Baker 
 has many fewer faidts, but gives little instruction. I am sorry 
 I must now pnt you to the expense of postage, but, that it may 
 not run too high, must conclude with being, as always, dear 
 David, &c. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Dr David Millar to Dr Cullen. 
 
 London, I3ih November 17G4. 
 " Many of the French are great lovers and encouragers 
 of Chemistry ; even several of their nobility do not disdain to 
 cultivate it, and make experiments in it themselves. Hence one 
 might reasonably expect many teachers of the science in Paris, 
 as there are ; but the most remarkable are Bourdelin and his 
 demonstrator Rouelle, Macquer and his demonstrator Baume. 
 There is also Geveland, assisted by Rassan, who, though not 
 very remarkable, must not be passed over without notice. I 
 went to Paris at a most unfavourable time for Chemistry, for, 
 except a few public lectures by Bourdelin and Geveland, I 
 heard none else, and I had no introduction to any of the die-
 
 EDITION OF MATERIA MEDICA. 6li 
 
 mists. Baiime I have most to say of, and shall introduce him 
 first. He published last year what he entitles, " Manuel de 
 Chemie ou Exposition des operations et des produits d'un cours 
 de Chemie, ' designed for the use of students, to recal to their 
 memories the preparation of the different substances treated of, ' 
 &c. &c. 
 
 NOTE P, page 99. 
 
 The unexpected length to which this volume has extended, 
 compels me reluctantly to abandon the intention of laying before 
 the reader portions of Dr Cullen's lectures on the History of 
 Chemistry. 
 
 NOTE Q, page 144. 
 
 From the Physician who furnished the Manuscript of Dr 
 Cullen's Lectures on Materia Medica. 
 
 " Dear Sir, January 19. 1772. 
 
 You will doubtless be much surprised to hear from me 
 after so long an absence, and still more on the present occasion. 
 But though I acknowledge myself guilty of great imprudence, 
 I do not entirely despair of your pardon, since I can, with the 
 utmost truth and sincerity, assure you, that not the least injury 
 was intended. 
 
 Not to keep you longer in suspense, I must own that I have 
 been in a great measure the cause of the jjublication of your 
 Lectures on the Materia Medica. I am now, and have been, 
 greatly concerned to hear that it gave you so much uneasiness, 
 which has determined me to lay the whole truth freely open to 
 
 you. Dr B., about a year and a half ago, was at and 
 
 one day mentioned to me that it was a great pity so valuable a 
 work as your Lectures on that subject should be lost to the 
 public, and that the bringing them to light would be a most de- 
 sirable thing. He had a very good copy, as indeed I had, 
 though not the same. This he offered to give me if I would 
 correct it, and give it to a bookseller to publish, which I impru- 
 
 Q q 2
 
 612 APPENDIX. 
 
 dently consented to. But, in some palliation, I can truly say 
 that we, neither of us, had'the smallest idea of hurting your in- 
 terest or reputation. I told Lowndes that I had no right to any 
 gain from them, as I believe he has informed you, and that if 
 you chose to claim the copy, it must be yours, and that my only 
 intent was to prevent its being lost to the world. I had no view 
 of the smallest advantage, but an infinite deal of trouble in cor- 
 recting it and forming the index. I have now two or three 
 copies, which is all I got, and Dr B. had some few likewise. I 
 am truly sorry to have given Dr CuUen the smallest offence, 
 and would wish to do all in my power to make satisfaction. 
 Lowndes tells me you heard 730 copies were printed. I believe 
 you may depend on it that only 500 were struck off. He will, 
 I believe, make you any satisfaction he can, and I hope you will 
 be kind enough to accept it. I might have been concealed had 
 I chosen it, but I chose rather to lay the whole before you. I 
 hope the work is tolerably correct, and I am sure it would do 
 honour' to any man in Europe. 
 
 I hope you will be kind enough to accept this acknowledg- 
 ment, as I trust no injury can accrue to you, and to restore me to 
 the place T once flattered myself I had in your regard. I may 
 have acted imprudently, but I had no low or lucrative motives, 
 nor could receive the smallest advantage. Favour me yet farther 
 to conceal this letter. To divulge it can be of no service, and 
 may injure me. I am, with great truth, yours faithfully." 
 
 " Dear Sir, February 10. 1772. 
 
 I this day received yours, and not without great con- 
 cern on many accounts, but on none so much as to observe the 
 trouble and uneasiness which my ill-judged, though not ill-in- 
 tended step, has given you. I acquiesce entirely in the justice 
 of what you say concerning the impropriety of the publication 
 at all, and though I dannot exculpate myself for being concerned 
 in it, I can with the strictest truth repeat, what I before assert- 
 ed, that no lucrative views in the smallest degree possible were 
 the motives. I am scarce less concerned than yourself to see so 
 many inaccuracies in the work, but the book was not printed
 
 EDITION OF MATERIA MEDICA. 613 
 
 here, and the errors are more chargeable on the printer than on 
 the editor. Lest any mistakes of the editor's should be imputed 
 to you, I wrote a preface to take off that imputation. This was 
 not the same with that published, but more strongly expressed. 
 To convince you of this I here send it to you. As to correct- 
 ing the style, the preface apologizes for that not being done, for 
 fear of altering the sense affixed by the author, and the same 
 reason holds concerning many of the obscure passages, which I 
 thought it better to leave than reform at the expense of the 
 true meaning, by affixing one possibly not intended. As to 
 your interest, I protest I had no idea of your subjoining any 
 part of the substance of the work now published to your Lec- 
 tures on the Institutions of Medicine. I remember you stu- 
 diously avoided it when you lectured on Chemistry, except in a 
 few instances more immediately connected with that branch. I 
 do not recollect Dr Whytt's giving any thing of the kind except 
 in the most general terms possible ; and though I do not mean 
 to hint it as necessary for you to follow his steps in this respect, 
 I confess the work appeared to me to be relative almost alto- 
 gether to the Materia Medica only. The general indications are 
 indeed common to both, but I did not imagine that these could be 
 more than generally touched upon in the Institutions. As it is, I 
 am extremely grieved to think of its aflFecting your literary fame 
 or interest. I am not a little sorry to hear of your Lectures on 
 the Practice of Physic being likely to be surreptitiously printed. 
 I truly wish to see any of your productions, but I shall not be 
 so far misled a second time as to desire it at the expense of the 
 least possible uneasiness to yourself. But though I have been 
 (though not criminally) guilty of an imprudent and improper 
 action, I hope you will not impute it to an ill interest, and for- 
 give me, when, in the public name, I request you not to envy 
 the world your studies or the fruits of them. They will be the 
 most acceptable present possible, and will perpetuate to ages 
 yet unboni that estimation (perhaps in a greater degree) in 
 which you have been always held. A time may come more 
 proper for such a purpose than the present ; but I entreat you 
 to collect your sentiments while it is in your power."
 
 614 APPENDIX. 
 
 Statement by Dr A. Monro Drummond respecting the Lectures 
 on Materia Medica. 
 
 London, 1771- 
 " A work has just appeared, entitled ' Lectures on the Materia 
 Medica, as delivered hy William Cullen, M. D. Professor of 
 Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, and now printed from 
 a correct copy, which has been compared with others by the 
 editors,' It is printed for T. Lowndes, Fleet Street. 
 
 This course was given in winter 1761-2, in w^hich year I at- 
 tended the University of Edinburgh for the first time as a stu- 
 dent of medicine. Among other branches of physic I applied 
 to materia medica, and took notes in the class, which I after- 
 wards attempted to correct ; but being young in the science, and 
 hurried with different occupations of a similar kind, what I then 
 wrote can be considered in no other light than that of rude 
 sketches of doctrines imperfectly understood, inaccurately noted, 
 and erroneously transcribed. By comparing the lectures pub- 
 lished with my manuscript, I find they so exactly correspond, 
 that I am convinced the latter must have been printed from one 
 of two or tluee copies of the former, which, several years ago, 
 I allowed to be taken for the use of some fellow-students ; or 
 rather, from the copy of some other person to whom they or 
 their friends have, with equal imprudence, indulged a liberty 
 which has been thus grossly abused. It may appear needless 
 to add more to shew how^ little deserving the work in question 
 is of the credit of the public. 
 
 It seems not, however, improper to subjoin farther, that, after 
 having continued at the L^niversity of Edinburgh nine years from 
 the year 1761, and had, during that period, the best oppor- 
 tunities, both public and private, of becoming acquainted with 
 Dr CuUen's medical sentiments, I can w^ith truth say they are 
 very seldom genuinely represented in these j^retended lectures. 
 The practical facts are in a very mutilated condition ; the phi- 
 losophical principles, detached parts merely of a more regular 
 and comprehensive system, W'hich he has since evolved in his 
 course of Institutions ; and even the plan of the whole, w^hich
 
 EDITION OF MATERIA MEDIC A. 615 
 
 was so suddenly drawn up, and gave so much satisfaction, in 
 many respects inferior to that ameuded form into which he has 
 lately moulded it for the benefit of his disciples. 
 
 Thus much, perhaps, I was called upon to declare, in order to 
 undeceive the public and vindicate myself. I must nevertheless 
 frankly own, that I should scarce have taken this step, but with 
 a view at the same time of preventing any part of the censure 
 which may be bestowed on this spurious publication from being 
 inadvertently drawn upon Dr Cullen, a man of my particular 
 obligations to whom, both as a friend and a preceptor, I retain 
 too grateful a sense not to be led by inclination, as well as by 
 duty, to embrace every occasion which may appear to me a pro- 
 per one of doing justice to his character. 
 
 Alexander Monro Drummond." 
 
 Dr W. Hunter to Dr Cullex. 
 
 " Dear Sir, London, 29fh December 1771- 
 
 Last night Dr Pitcairn, Mr Seton, and I, had a meeting 
 with Mr Lowndes, and talked the affair over after he was gone, 
 and we were all of the same opinion. 
 
 It appeared pretty evidently that there had been no ill inten- 
 tion towards you, either with respect to interest or reputation, 
 but rather the contrary. The first and principal actors thought 
 the book would add to your reputation, and be of service to the 
 public. With that view they planned this business and gave 
 the MS. gratis to the printer, thinking that probably hereafter 
 they were to merit and receive your thanks. They thought it 
 could not hurt your interest, as you no longer read lectures on 
 the Materia Medica. The printer understood this to be the case? 
 and therefore put your name to the title-pages. The young 
 men were impertinently forward, and the printer was not over 
 cautious or scrupulous, especially where there was a prospect of 
 gain. He is a man of good enough character, not one of the 
 impudent, free-born, audacious rascals, that print what they 
 please, and set all concerned at defiance. He read to us Mr 
 Balfour's letter, and his own answer. He talked with modesty, 
 — was sorry he had not known your mind, — and threw him-
 
 616 APPENDIX. 
 
 self upon your good nature and generosity, — would do what- 
 soever you desired, — only he did not seem to think that he 
 ought to be a loser, because he had meant no harm. 
 
 We told him, as he did not choose to make any particular 
 offer to you, we could say nothing till you had taken your own 
 resolution after having perused the book itself. We are to 
 meet him again upon hearing from you. 
 
 We think you must choose one of two courses, viz. either, if 
 you find the book unworthy of you, even though published by a 
 student, to oppose the sale by all lawful means, which the 
 lawyers will manage ; otherwise to allow the sale to go on when 
 the 25ublisher has paid all your expenses, and made such a pre- 
 sent, in money, as you shall name, for the benefit of the Univer- 
 sity or College Library, or for the Edinburgh Infirmary, or any 
 charitable institution. We think you cannot handsomely pocket 
 any money by the occasion, and that it will be very difficult after 
 paying the expenses, to get such a sum from Lowndes as will 
 be worth pocketing. 
 
 In this, or in any other service, you will freely command us, 
 and particularly, dear Sir, your devoted, 
 
 William Hunter." 
 
 Extract of a letter from Professor Tode of Copenhagen, (phy- 
 sician to the King's Household), dated Copenhagen, 11th May 
 1773, requesting that Dr Cullen would favour him with such 
 alterations on, or additions to, the pirated edition of his Lectures 
 on Materia Medica as he might wish to have introduced in a Ger- 
 man translation of that work which Professor Tode proposed to 
 undertake. 
 
 " Consider, dear and honoured Sir, how much you thereby 
 would oblige him, who, of all your pupils, is most interested 
 in vindicating the superior worth of the Edinburgh Medical 
 School against that of Vienna and Leyden ; as I have been 
 a true apostle in this city, preaching the fallibility of Boerhaave 
 and other great names, introducing the British doctrine, and ri- 
 diculing the German methods, &c., in all which I have met with 
 the encouragement of the King's Chief Physician, Mr Von Ber- 
 ger, and the assistance of some few gentlemen, who likewise
 
 EDITION OF MATERIA MEDICA. 6l7 
 
 have been in Great Britain, and have drnnk of the pure fountain 
 of medical knowledge. I am, with the most perfect sense of 
 esteem and obligation, honoured Sir, your most humble, most 
 obedient servant, 
 
 T. D. ToDE." 
 
 Reply to Dr Tode by Dr Cullex. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Edixburgh, I9th June 1773. 
 
 I had the honour of your letter of the 11th past, and am 
 extremely happy to hear of your prosperity. It is, hoMever, 
 what I expected from your good sense and agreeable talents. 
 I will not attempt to make any return to the many polite ex- 
 pressions you have honoured me with, but shall speak only to 
 the proper business of your letter. 
 
 The publication of the Lectures on the Materia Medica has 
 given me a great deal of uneasiness. These lectures were very 
 imperfect as I delivered them, and they are more faulty still as 
 now published. I attempted to stop the sale, but came too late, 
 as a great many copies were sold before I could take measures 
 to prevent it. I stopt the further sale for a long time, but cer- 
 tain considerations, wliich I cannot now trouble you with, pre- 
 vailed upon me to allow of the sale of the remaining copies of 
 the impression. It was, however, with a resolution to allow of 
 no other impression till I should find time to review the whole, 
 and to give it, both with respect to matter and style, a more 
 correct form. When that time will come I cannot say ; and, con- 
 sidering my time of life, and present occupations, it may perhaps 
 never come. In the mean time, I cannot, in any shape, acknow- 
 ledge the work as mine. Though, in permitting the renewal of 
 the sale, I took care that the editors should reprint the first sheet 
 entirely, and, with respect to the rest, add some sheets of Emen- 
 danda, these corrections only respected the more gross errors, and 
 the work is still extremely imperfect, and very faulty. I am afraid, 
 therefore, that the spreadingof the work will do me no great credit, 
 and I think it should hurt my reputation if it were supposed to 
 proceed from myself. I cannot, therefore, directly countenance
 
 618 APPENDIX. 
 
 any translation of it ; but I shall say, that, if it is to be trans- 
 lated into the German language, I could wish it to be done by 
 you rather than by any body else. I must, indeed, say further, 
 that, as many of the faults of the English publication are faults 
 of the style and composition, most of these might be corrected 
 in the translation, and, at the same time, by taking into the body 
 of the work the Emendanda which are now printed separately, 
 the work might appear much better than it does in the English. 
 If, therefore, there is any probability that the work will be 
 translated, I not only consent, but wish, that you may do it ; and 
 so far as there is any merit in the work, I shall think myself 
 much honoured by your giving it such a mark of your approba- 
 tion ; and I not only allow, but beg, of you to make such correc- 
 tions, both of the style and matter, as you shall judge proper. 
 I have only one favour or condition to beg of you, which is, 
 that you will publish the whole, or so much of the English pre- 
 faces, as will give my excuse for the work's not being at first 
 more perfect, and shew that, however necessary it was for me to 
 do somewhat as a Professor, I have not been guilty of obtruding 
 an imperfect and incorrect work upon the public. I shall be 
 glad to know what course you take in this business, as I may 
 possibly offer you some further advices on the subject. I beg 
 leave to offer my respectful compliments to the gentlemen who 
 formerly did me the great honour of being my pupils. Messrs 
 Claussen, Lafont, Fabricius, and Shcondkeyder, have, and always 
 shall have, my best wishes. I hope it will be agreeable to you 
 to know that oiu* University thrives exceedingly. The medical 
 students last winter Avere to the number of 350. I am now in 
 the Practical Chair, and Dr Drummond, whom you knew as as- 
 sistant in the Infirmary, is lately chosen Professor of the Insti- 
 tutions. Amidst many fatiguing occupations, I enjoy as good 
 health as I can expect. Two years ago I published a new and 
 much enlarged edition of the Synopsis Nosologiae, which I hear 
 is since reprinted in Holland. I hope soon to give the public 
 something of more value, perhaps a text-book for my practical 
 coui'se. I shall always be proud to have any thing of mine well 
 received in Denmark. I beg you may believe me to be with 
 great esteem and respect," &c.
 
 ( 619 ) 
 
 NOTE R, page 161. 
 
 Announcement, by Dr Cullen, of the short Course of Lectures 
 on the Practice of Physic which he deliv ered in the summer 
 of 1768. 
 
 " I have within these few days received several letters sub- 
 scribed by a number of gentlemen, to whom I should perhaps 
 have returned a written answer, but, as most of them are here 
 present, and several reasons make it proper for me to give my 
 answer very publicly, I hope the gentlemen subscribing these 
 letters will excuse my giving an answer by word of mouth, and 
 other gentlemen will excuse me encroaching a little on their time. 
 
 The purport of the letters 1 speak of is, in general, desiring 
 me to give some Lectures on the Practice of Physic during the 
 course of this summer. Several times before, I have had appli- 
 cations to the same purpose, and, for many reasons declined the 
 labour ; but, this spring, having had applications from gentlemen 
 that had left this place, and were not to return but upon this 
 condition ; and having at the same time applications from gen- 
 tlemen, whose affairs determined them to leave this place before 
 next winter, I own I was sensibly touched with the regard and 
 respect which their applications expressed, and was desirous to 
 gratify them, and that I might do so with more propriety, I have 
 obtained Dr Gregory's consent. I agree, therefore, to give to cer- 
 tain gentlemen some Lectures on the Practice of Physic in the 
 course of this summer, beginning the 1st of June and ending the 
 1st of Sejitember, or soon after. But it is very necessary that 
 I give these gentlemen notice of what sort of lectures they are 
 to expect. They are not to be, nor to be called, a Course of 
 Lectures ; they cannot be so full as I think a first course should 
 be, and cannot be so full as Dr Gregory's course is. I think a 
 college or course of lectures should proceed upon the supposition 
 that the pupils have neither heard nor read upon the subject 
 treated of, and therefore every thing fundamental should be laid 
 before them, whether derived from books or from the Professor's
 
 620 APPENDIX. 
 
 own experience. On the contrary, the lectures I propose to 
 give proceed upon the supposition that my hearers have all 
 heard a course before, and that therefore I may omit many things 
 delivered in every course ; and, particularly, I suppose that all 
 my pupils have heard Dr Gregory, and therefore I shall omit 
 many things that he has delivered better than I could do. In 
 short, though I am to touch, in order, the principal heads of the 
 Practice of Physic, I am to deliver little on each but what I think 
 almost peculiar to myself; — some things indeed derived from 
 books, but either such as I think are not common, or such things 
 as are not commonly understood in the same manner as I under- 
 stand them, or that have not afforded to other persons the same 
 conclusions as I draw from them. 
 
 Such, gentlemen, is to be the application of my erudition ; and 
 to that I shall add what my own observation has offered with 
 regard to the history, and what my experience has offered with 
 regard to the cure, of diseases ; and along with this, guided by 
 my own facts, and those of others, I shall frequently attempt 
 what may be called a theory, but what I call the general prin- 
 ciples of diseases, which, for the most part, I hope to show 
 to be as much a matter of fact as an inference of reasoning. 
 By these last attempts, I hope on many occasions to distribute 
 the symptoms of diseases, so as that they may fall into proper 
 distinct species, and often to unite in one plan of cure what may 
 seem a parcel of unconnected empirical remedies. On all 
 these points, gentlemen, I presume to think for myself, and in 
 the lectures I shall give, very little else shall be admitted. I 
 hope, therefore, it will be readily perceived that they are nei- 
 ther intended to supply nor to supersede Dr Gregory's course. 
 I know pretty well what that course is ; as complete, I believe, as 
 any that was ever given, and, in the collection of facts, either in 
 the history or in the cure, more complete than any ; and I know 
 that every part is improved by reflections which his own judg- 
 ment and experience furnish him with, and I believe it is not 
 possible for a student to lay a better foundation for the study 
 of the Practice of Physic than by attendance on his lectures* 
 When a student has learned one system, if lie cannot think for
 
 ADDRESS TO STUDENTS. 621 
 
 himself, he should keep to the system of his master as religiously 
 as he can, and allow no other \iews to disturb him ; but if a stu- 
 dent can think for himself, and every one believes that he can, 
 he will no sooner have learned a particular system tlian he will 
 be disposed to differ from it; he will immediately find that 
 others also do so, and that the conflict of opinions is unavoidable. 
 He will, therefore, wish to view matters in different lights, and, 
 though he prefers no one Professor, yet, by comparing them, he 
 becomes stronger in reasoning, and firmer in his own conclu- 
 sions. I hope, therefore, it may be understood that the lectures 
 I am to give proceed neither from partiality on your part, nor 
 from envy on mine. 
 
 This is enough in answer to the principal part of the letters 
 I have received. In some of them, gentlemen are pleased to put 
 questions about alternate teaching, to which I can give no an- 
 swer. I cannot give you the opinion of either the University or 
 the Town Council of Edinburgh, as neither of them have been 
 consulted on the subject that I know of. In the mean time, it 
 would be preposterous and improper for me to give any opinion 
 of my own. 
 
 One other particular, and I have done. So often as I have 
 spoken on this subject, I have declared my resolution of admit- 
 ting nobody to these private lectures but such as had been pupils 
 of Dr Gregory, but I have, however, the honour of a letter from 
 several gentlemen who have never been such. The gentlemen 
 subscribing that letter, I have as great a personal regard for as 
 any others, and I should consider tlieir attendance as doing me 
 a great deal of honour, and I think they can hardly doubt of its 
 being my choice ; but if, for many reasons not to be explained 
 here, I cannot comply with their desire, I hope they will excuse 
 me. I shall be ready to oblige them in any other manner in 
 my power."
 
 622 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTE S, p. 455. 
 
 Dr FoART Simmons to Dr Clllen. 
 u De^r Sir, October \m. 
 
 I return you many thanks for your very kind letter. 
 
 I cannot help giving you an extract from a letter I received 
 the other day from M. Fouquet, a physician of some eminence 
 at Montpellier. I think it will amuse you ; it is the character 
 of M. Barthez, who is at the head of the university there, and 
 I think it is well drawn. 1 know Barthez personally. 
 
 " M. Barthez ne cesse de repeter aux etudians qu'il n a pas 
 encore existe de vraie medecine avant lui ; qu'il est le seul a qui 
 r intelligence supreme ait fait part de I'intelligence sur la veri- 
 table clef de la medecine ; Qu' Hippocrate n'est qu'un genie 
 mediocre en comparaison de lui ; que le celebre Cullen a quelque 
 esprit, mais qu'il n'entend rien a la theorie de I'art. II se pros- 
 terne aux pieds des etudians etrangers pour qu'ils le louent et 
 le vantent comme le premier liomme de I'Europe, dans leur pays : 
 en dernier lieu, il caressa un etudiant qui composoit une bonne 
 tli^se pour I'engager a le citer avec tdoge. Vous remarquerez 
 s'il vous plait que ce petit professeur de Montj^ellier, n'a jamais 
 fait une experience, qu'il ne voit pas quatre malades de I'annee, 
 et qu'il n'a ete occupe toute sa vie qu'a compiler et a faire faire 
 des tours de force a son imagination. Vous serez peut-etre 
 etonnes, vous autres Anglais, d'apres ce que j'ecris du caract^re 
 de cet original, que les disputans de la derniere chaire (et moi 
 tout le premier) I'ayent loue, comme ils I'ont fait ; mais il faut 
 vous dire qu'il avait fait menacer de refuser sa voix a celui qui 
 ne le loueroit pas avec exces." All this is very just. When I 
 saw M. Barthez, he shewed me some manuscripts (a Commentary 
 on the Nova Doctrina he has published) which he said were to 
 change all our ideas in physic — he spoke with great indifference 
 both of Sydenham and Boerhaave, and said he never gave Hal- 
 ler credit for any genius till he read his poems. I have the 
 honour to be, with great respect. Dear Sir, your most obedient 
 and obliged humble servant, 
 
 S. F. Simmons."
 
 SCHOOL OF MONTPELLIER. 623 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Mr Thomas Yalden to Dr Henry 
 
 CULLEN. 
 
 Marseilles, 25th January 1777. 
 " 1 take it that Moiitpellier is just now what Edinburgh 
 was when Dr Cullen began to teach there. You know Dr 
 Barthez's book de Principio Vitali and his Doctrina Nova de 
 Functionibus Humanis. Since the publication of these, they 
 have entered on the consideration of the Nervous System, but 
 they adhere very strictly to morbific matter, the notion of speci- 
 fics, and, above all, to the jargon of the ancient physicians, and 
 this is delivered in their disputes in syllogisms ; for they are as 
 fond of the old school logic as of the old language of medicine- 
 This I learned from attending some of their disputations. * 
 * * Gouan's Hortus Regius Montpelliensis is a very ample 
 catalogue, and as it is many years since he published it, and he 
 has attended much to the science since, I hoped to have seen 
 the collection of plants much increased ; but I found his friends 
 had not been strong enough to support him. The care of the 
 garden has been taken from him and given to Dr Barthez, who 
 is not only no botanist, but constantly speaks with sovereign 
 contempt of it and all its followers. * * Gouan works very 
 hard, and has a very large collection of plants and insects. He 
 shewed me the Entomologia Montpelliaca in manuscript, to which 
 he has adjoined the Physiologia Entomologica ; he has likewise 
 descriptions of the Fishes of the Mediterranean ; he some years 
 ago published a folio volume, entitled Illustrationes et Obser- 
 vationes Botanicae, of which he has a continuation : there are 
 many plates in it, and it is a useful work. 
 
 Another man of eminence as a botanist is Dr Cusson : lie has 
 of late years confined himself entirely to the class of umbellife- 
 rous plants, in which he has great knowledge. Your father 
 knows him by his nosological inquiries. Sauvages' last class 
 was the work of Dr Cusson, and he has bye him a complete 
 nosology in manuscript." * * *
 
 624 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTE T, p. 458. 
 
 The two following Letters were addressed by Senac to Dr 
 Clllen, as Secretary to the College of Physicians, on the 
 occasion of his being elected an Honorary Member of that 
 Body, in 1760. 
 
 " Monsieur, 
 
 Je n'ai jamais eu I'ambition d'entrer dans les Societes 
 Litteraii-es, ni pour ainsi dire dans I'Academie des Sciences, dont 
 je suis membre depuis pr^s de quarante ans ; je me suis contente 
 de la place que j'occupe dans ce corps celebre, mais je n'ai pas 
 la meme indifference pour un College illustre qui cultiv^e la 
 medecine avec tant d'eclat ; rien n'est plus flatteur pour moi que 
 d'etre associe a des liommes qui ont attire les regards de toute 
 I'Europe. Faites-leur, je vous prie mes tres humbles remerci- 
 ments ; ce que je puis vous assurer c'est que s'il ne falloit que des 
 sentiments d'estime et de veneration pour meriter leur choix, 
 personne n'en seroit plus digne que moi. Pour vous, Monsieur, 
 dont j'ai cherche I'amitie, vous S9avez la justice que j'ai toujours 
 rendue a vos talents ; soyes persuade qu'on ne sauroit etre plus 
 sensible aux demarches que vous avez faites sans que je vous 
 les ai demandees. II y avoit longtemps que je souhaitois de re- 
 tablir notre commerce que la guerre avoit interrompu. Heu- 
 reusement il nous est permis des deux cotes de nous entretenir 
 sur ce qui pent etre utile au genre humain. C'est la ce qui nous 
 occupe I'un et I'autre, et une telle occupation ne pent jamais 
 etre suspecte. Des hommes qui ne cherchent que les secrets 
 de la nature sont bien eloign es de vouloir entrer dans le secret 
 des Etats. Je suis avec la plus haute estime et avec I'attache- 
 ment le plus sincere. Monsieur, votre tres humble et tres obeis- 
 sant serviteur, Senac. 
 
 P, S. — Mon nom de Bapteme que vous me demandes est Jean 
 et non pas Pierre comme on a mis en divers ecrits."
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 625 
 
 Illustrissimo viro Gulielmo Cullex, J. Senac Ludov. XV. 
 Archiater. 
 
 Epistolam tuam accepi qua me jam apud vos non ut hospi- 
 tem haberi, sed ut civitate quodammodo donatum renuntiasti. 
 Quanti sit faciendum ejusmodi beneficium, testatur omnium gen- 
 tium de vobis judicium ; videbitur profecto posteris commenda- 
 tione dignum eoinim nomen qui inter socios vestros adscripti 
 fuerint. Fatebor ingenue si gratum usquam ex meis laboribus 
 percepi fructum, maxime istum de quo gloriari non erubescam. 
 Ne credas tamen, vir ornatissime, quod tuse de me opinioni om- 
 nino assentiri velim ; cum opera qua? milii forte imprudenti ex- 
 ciderunt tantis effers encomiis, et mihi et tuse in me indulges 
 benevolentiae. In artem medicam symbolum suum quisque nos- 
 trum conferre debet ; ego meum qualemcumque ut potui con- 
 tuli ; an incassum laborarim aliorum sit judicium, mihi satis re- 
 pendi gratiam crediderim, si de medicina me nonnibil bene me- 
 ritum esse existimetis. Tu autem, vir illustrissime, de meo in te 
 studio ne dubites velim, id societatis, ingenii, et doctrinae jure 
 tibi licet reposcere, et ut debitum ubicumque profiteri non de- 
 sinam. Vale. 
 
 NOTE U, p. 462. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 
 
 Dr CuLLEN to Dr Mathew Dobson. 
 
 " Dear Doctor, 
 
 I think myself much obliged to you for the communica- 
 tion of your experiments (on the Urine in Diabetes), and you 
 do me a great deal of honour in asking my opinion of them. A 
 little indisposition has given me some leisure to consider them, 
 and I give you my judgment with all the candour and freedom 
 which friendsliip ought to beget. 
 
 T must say, in the first place, that I think you have mad«« a 
 VOL. I. R r
 
 626 APPENDIX 
 
 discovery. Many have taken notice of the sweet taste of the 
 urine in diabetes, and though there are cases, as I know cer- 
 tainly, in which it does not occur, it was very wrong in any 
 body to deny it altogether, and though, in spite of such assertions, 
 there was little doubt of the fact, yet you have done something 
 in putting it beyond all doubt by your experiments. This, how- 
 ever, is little, and you have done much more by shewing that a 
 saccharine matter is present in considerable quantity, that such 
 a matter is present in the serum, and therefore it must arise 
 from a defect in the assimilating power of sanguification, if I 
 may so speak. I think you judge properly in asserting that 
 sugar is in some cases produced in the animal economy ; but the 
 origin of the sugar that appears, it is not necessary to explain, 
 and it is enough for you to shew, that the saccharine matter in- 
 troduced may subsist in that state longer than has been thought, 
 and may give occasion to phenomena, the cause of which it was 
 otherwise very difiicult to assign. All this must throw light on 
 the diabetes, and may probably suggest methods of cure more 
 certain than those hitherto pursued, and the public must consi- 
 der themselves as obliged to you for putting them in the proper 
 train of investigation. 
 
 So far I can, with a very safe conscience, commend your work ; 
 but must now, with the same freedom, tell you what I think the 
 faults of it." * * * 
 
 The various alterations suggested by Dr Cullen seem all of 
 them to have been adopted by Dr Dobson in his Essay, as sub- 
 sequently published. 
 
 Dr Dobson to Dr Cullex. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Liverpool, August 23. 1780. 
 
 As I have always considered you in the light of my medi- 
 cal father, I cannot determine upon any important step in life, 
 and not make you acquainted with such determination. After 
 more than twenty years' hard labour in my profession, and a very 
 narrow escape, during the last winter, from a lingering and dan- 
 gerous fever, I find it prudent to retire from the fatigue of bu-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 627 
 
 siness, while I have yet some remains of constitution. It is 
 with extreme regret that I quit Liverpool, where I have held 
 such very valuable connections ; hut it must be so, or my days 
 must be shortened. I am easy in my circumstances, do not 
 covet great riches, and have only one child ; ray plan, therefore, 
 is to pass what remains of life, in books, in conversation, and in 
 some employment as a physician, for I am, from strong inclination, 
 devoted to my profession. Bath is the place I have fixed upon, 
 as best corresponding with all my views. About six months 
 ago, I purchased a house there, and there I propose to finish 
 the days of my pilgrimage through this mortal world. Wherever 
 I am, it would afi^ord me a very sensible pleasure to have it in 
 my power to render any service to any branch of your family. 
 
 The step I am now taking, will I hope be of advantage to Dr 
 Camplin, who appears to have very considerable merit in the 
 line of the profession. September or the beginning of October 
 will finish my residence in Liverpool. I remain with the sin- 
 cerest gratitude and esteem, Dr Cullen's obliged and obedient 
 servant, Math. Dobson." 
 
 Dr G. FoRDYCE to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " My Dear Sir, Essex Street, October 22. 1774. 
 
 No time, no situation, no occupation, can ever efface 
 from my mind the obligations by which I am bound to you ; the 
 esteem, the love, the admiration, with which I hear you every 
 where mentioned, gives me numberless occasions of happiness. 
 I have long learnt to expect misfortime, blended with every 
 enjoyment; but I have not as yet learnt to bear the loss of a 
 brother without extreme pain. Give me leave to mingle my 
 grief with yours, if that could but alleviate the distress of a 
 father who lives in the heart of a thousand sons, and in none 
 more than in that of 
 
 G. FoRDYCE." 
 
 Dr Cullen took occasion to express his esteem for his pupil 
 Dr Thomas Smith, in the following Latin address whicli, con- 
 
 R r 2
 
 628 APPENDIX. 
 
 formably with the usage of the University, he delivered, on that 
 individual appearing before the Senatus Academicus to defend 
 his thesis. 
 
 " Prapter necessitudinem quam cum illo jamdiu habui, turn 
 ingenium et sedulitas, turn profectus ejus niihi dudum comperta 
 sunt, et nunc quidem omnibus palam facta sunt per dissertatio- 
 nem quam edidit et jam in manibus teneo. Hie de Actione Mus- 
 culari, de re scilicet in CEconomia Animalium summi momenti, 
 agit ; et licet ob angustiam temporis qua Medicinse toti incum- 
 bens studiosus semper premitm*, omnia ab eo de hac re excogi- 
 tata non hie protulerit, Tliesin tamen primariam et fundamenta- 
 lem stab ill vit, et de ea turn acute et erudite disseruit, tum pru- 
 denter rem totam experimentis comprobavit. Si nunc more 
 solito processurus sim, contra banc dissertationem objectiones 
 quasdam afferre debeo ; sed neque locum his invenio, nee ut 
 fiugam niihi necessarium videtur. Certe mihi minime necessari- 
 um est ulterius probare vires candidati quem ab aliquo tempore 
 considendum potius quam consiliis juvandum putavi. Nee aliis 
 necessarium esse puto ut amplius de doctrina et peritia candidati 
 constet ; pauci enim, ut opinor, nunc adsunt quibus candidatus 
 noster et existimatio ejus ignota sunt. Comitate enim non minus 
 quam doctrina prsestans, diu inter commilitones sues pro studio- 
 rum duce, et quodammodo pro praeceptore, habitus est. 
 
 Contra dissertationem ejus igitur nuUas objectiones movebo. 
 In ea quidem omnia mihi maxime probata sunt, et nunc tantum 
 addani nihil fere felicius mihi contigisse quam quod ejusmodi 
 discipulum nactus, etiam pro promotore ad gradum doctoralem 
 ei adessem." 
 
 Mr (afterwai'ds Sir) Walter Farquhar to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Sir, Loxdon, 2\stJune 1777. 
 
 A thousand times have I reproached myself for not 
 writing to you, in obedience to your very obliging desire, when 
 I was last in Edinburgh. I have been my ovm enemy, but the 
 constant hurry attending the cursed detail of the business I am 
 engaged in, often makes me neglect my best friends when at a
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 629 
 
 distance. I am now happy to be obliged to break the ice, and, 
 in future, I hope I shall be so much my own friend as to be 
 more attentive to my old master. I know a promise of amend- 
 ment will obtain forgiveness from you. 
 
 Give me leave, therefore, to introduce to you Mr Seward, the 
 gentleman who will deliver this. He has been an invalid for 
 many years, and now wishes to consult you, and try the effects 
 of the keen northern air. He has been all over Europe hunting 
 after health, and has consulted most medical men of any emi- 
 nence from Baron Haller down to Michel Schuppachy or the 
 Physician of the Mountain. He has been under the care of most 
 of the wise ones here, but I refer you to himself for his cata- 
 logue of opinions. The cure is still left for you, and I know no 
 one under whose direction he is so likely to obtain what he has 
 been so long in quest of. 
 
 I know it will give you pleasure to hear that I have succeed- 
 ed in business beyond my most sanguine expectations, but my 
 line will soon be too laborious for me. Some years hence, I be- 
 lieve I shall be tempted to resume my studies under your aus- 
 pices, and try to obtain the honour of being your brother. 
 
 I must, however, walk warily, and not quit certainty for hope, 
 as I have a numerous family. I have often wondered that Lon- 
 don did not, in former days, attract you. You are certainly cal- 
 culated for the meridian of this great world, but I am afraid it 
 is now too late to begin a new career ; still you may command 
 £4000 a-year when you please to fix yourself in Berkley Square. 
 It will make me very happy to hear from you ; and if I can at 
 any time be of the least service, I beg you may honour me with 
 your commands. With the truest respect and esteem, I am, 
 dear Sir, your very mucli obliged and most obedient humble 
 servant, Walter Farquhar." . 
 
 Dr William Stark to Dr Clllen. 
 
 " London, Id January 17G5. 
 * * " Since the conference 1 had with ^[r Fitzmau- 
 rice, I find my thoughts bent entirely towards the practice of
 
 630 APPENDIX. 
 
 medicine, the study of which I will pursue with all the keenness 
 I am capable of, till I have made myself acquainted with diseases. 
 I shall be enabled to execute what I intend to much greater 
 advantage, if, when you favour me with a letter, you will take 
 the trouble barely to mention the names of those practical au- 
 thors you think the most proper for me to read and consult. I 
 have not yet entered at any hospital ; and, though St Bartholo- 
 mew's is above two miles from where I live, and St George's 
 not half a mile, I will rather attend the former, both from what 
 I have heard of Dr Pitcairn, and that I may have the advantage 
 of being introduced to him by a letter from you. This I hope 
 you will send soon, as there is now nothing else retards my en- 
 tering. I must also beg one to Dr Hunter, whose next course, 
 which will begin about the 20th, I shall certainly attend." 
 
 Dr (afterwards Sir) James Carmichael Smyth to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " My Dear Sir, London, 2dih October 1784. 
 
 As I have never yet published any thing entirely my 
 own, I have taken the liberty of sending you a volume*, to which 
 I have contributed, by some trifling productions. You will there 
 find that I have quoted your name, but I hope in a manner that 
 shews the respect I shall always have for it. If I have in any 
 thing differed from you in opinion, it was yourself who taught 
 me to subscribe implicitly to no authority, not even your own." 
 
 Sir J. Carmichael Smyth to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, London, Wth January 1786. 
 
 Delicacy, with respect to Dr Saunders, prevented me, 
 whilst he was alive, from applying to jVlr Fitzmaurice to have 
 our late friend Stark's papers put into my hands ; and, since his 
 death, though I have frequently intended writing Mr Fitzmau- 
 rice on this subject, yet, like many other intentions, it has passed 
 over from day to day. Your letter, however, determined me 
 
 * Medical Communications, vol. i. 8vo. I>ond. 1784.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 631 
 
 not to delay it any longer, and I have accordingly written to 
 him by this nights post. I need not assure you that, if the ma- 
 nuscripts are ever in my possession, you shall have every infor- 
 mation from them you can desire ; in the mean time, I obtained 
 of Dr Garthshore (one of Dr Saunders' executors) permission to 
 look into them, and I shall give you tlie best account I at pre- 
 sent can of what relates to the experiments on sugar. 
 
 On the 12tli of June 1769, Dr Stark began his experiments 
 on food, by living on bread and water only. His daily allow- 
 ance of bread was from 20 to 38 ounces troyweight ; of water 
 from 2 to 4 pints. He continued this regimen from the 12th of 
 June to the 26th of July, at which time the weight of his body 
 was reduced from 12 st. 3 lb, to 11 st. 9 lb., but without having 
 suffered any other very material alteration either in spirits or 
 health. 
 
 On the 26th of July he began to use sugar with the bread 
 and water ; for the first eight days to the quantity of 4 ounces 
 only a-day with 34 ounces of bread; the six following days to 
 the quantity of 8 ounces with 30 ounces of bread. He remark- 
 ed that the sugar increased the flow of saliva ; and, contrary to 
 what might be imagined, that a less quantity of water was now 
 required to satisfy his thirst than when he eat bread alone, 
 2 pints being now sufficient, whereas, with bread alone, 3^ pints 
 were necessary. During the whole of the fortnight, his body 
 was loose, and he had frequently a purging upon him ; but his 
 appetite and general health were good. 
 
 On the 10th of August he began to take the sugar with re- 
 luctance, and on the 11th and 12th with so great abhorrence (as 
 he expresses it) that on the 13th he was obliged to desist. On 
 the 14th he began to experience other disagreeable effects of his 
 regimen : his gums became spungy and inflamed, with ulcera- 
 tions on the inside of his mouth and cheeks ; the inside of one 
 of the nostrils was likewise red and inflamed ; the purging in- 
 creased, and was now attended with sickness and pain in his 
 bowels, and purple streaks were observed on his right shoulder. 
 These alarming symptoms obliged him to quit his sugar diet en- 
 tirely, and adopt a diet of animal food with wine, from the use
 
 6S2 APPENDIX. 
 
 of which, by the 1 8th, the preceding appearances were in a great 
 measure removed, and, on the 24th, he was so far recovered as 
 to make trial of another plan of regimen or diet. 
 
 I am sorry to substitute so lame and imperfect an account in 
 the place of his o^\^l journal, which I hope soon to have in my 
 power to communicate to you. In the mean time, I am happy 
 on this, or any other occasion, to shew my readiness to comply 
 with your wishes, and to testify the respect and esteem with 
 which I always remain, dear Sir, your obliged humble servant, 
 
 J. Carmichael Smyth. 
 
 P. S. My aifection and best wishes to Mrs CuUen and family." 
 
 Sir J. Carmichael Smyth to Dr Ccllen. 
 
 " My Dear Sir London, 2oih January 1790. 
 
 Although for some years past we have had but little per- 
 sonal intercourse, yet I feel my attachment and regard for you 
 nothing diminished. Nor can I ever call to mind your friend- 
 ship and goodness to me at the early period of my life, but tears 
 of gratitude drop from my eyes. You will not then be sur- 
 prised, if, amongst the number of your friends, I take the liberty 
 of expressing my sincere concern and regret at hearing that the 
 state of your health rendered it necessary for you to quit a sta- 
 tion which you have filled for so many years, with infinite 
 honour to yourself, and advantage to the public." But though your 
 health may not admit of your public exertions, I hope it is not 
 so far impaired as to prevent you from enjoying the society of 
 your family and friends, and that otiiun cum dignifate to which 
 you are so justly entitled. That this, my dear Sir, may long be 
 your case, is my most ardent wish ; and to hear that it is so, will, 
 I can assure you, greatly add to the happiness of your very 
 affectionate friend, and obliged servant, 
 
 Jas. Carmichael Smyth."
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. | 633 
 
 Dr Morgan to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Very Dear Sir, Londox, November lO. 1764. 
 
 Can you forgive me, if, upon my being just returned 
 from my tour through France and Italy, I write you but a very 
 short letter till I have been here a week or two longer, and got 
 myself a little composed. At present what with a crowd of 
 acquaintance every day, with the kindest intentions, breaking in 
 upon that time I proposed to devote to writing to my friends, 
 and the chaos of ideas which disturb my regular thinking at pre- 
 sent, I find I cannot execute the task as I ought. Every thing 
 I tell you now must be rather broken hints, than a connected 
 relation. 
 
 I have not been able to see M. Senac whilst last in Paris. I 
 was at Fontainbleau once with that view, but he was then for a 
 night or two with the King at Choisy, which I knew not of at 
 the time ; and I was too much hurried to repeat the visit, as I 
 wanted to reach London in time enough to sail in the Fall for 
 Philadelphia ; I think J cannot now sail till towards spring. 
 
 The most agreeable incidents happened to JNIr Powel and my- 
 self, in our tour, which lasted about eight months. It was 
 crowded with a great variety of the most interesting circum- 
 stances, full of pleasing scenes for the most part, and of a nature 
 different from, and more agreeable, than what I have been com- 
 monly used to. 
 
 The order of our travels through Italy was Genoa, Leghorn, 
 Pisa, Florence, Rome, Naples and its environs. After our re- 
 turn to Rome, it was on the Adriatic side of Italy, through Lo- 
 retto to Bologna, Ferrara, Padua, Venice ; we took Padua in 
 the way again on our return, and passed through Vicenza, Ve- 
 rona, Mantua, the States of Parma and Placentia, to Milan and 
 Turin. We crossed the Alps to Geneva, returned to Paris 
 through Lyons, and from thence came to London about a week 
 ago. 
 
 AVe were in the suite of the Duke of York at Leghorn, Flo- 
 rence, and Rome, where Ave were particularly presented to him,
 
 634 APPENDIX. 
 
 had access to all the grand entertainments made for his Royal 
 Highness, which were indeed superbly sumptuous and magnifi- 
 cent. We had a private audience of the Pope, four English 
 gentlemen of us being presented at that time. He was affable 
 and courteous. At Turin we had the honour of being pre- 
 sented to his Sardinian Majesty and the Royal Family, and ob- 
 tained express leave from the King to see the fortifications of 
 Turin, and those which defend the pass into his dominions by 
 the Alps. When at Geneva we paid a visit to Voltaire, to 
 whom we had a letter, and were entertained by him with a most 
 singular politeness, for us I mean, perhaps usual enough in re- 
 gard to Voltaire. * * * 
 
 There is a pretty good physical, I mean medical, University 
 at Bologna, and INIorgagni has a very crowded class at his ana- 
 tomical lectures at Padua. There are some other schools of 
 medicine in Italy ; but, upon the whole, to me they seem to be 
 behind hand, — medicine not being in high repute, or cultivated 
 with that spirit it ought to be. 
 
 As to the grandeur of the ancients, from what we can see of 
 their remains, it is most extraordinary. Arts with them seem 
 to have been in a perfection wliich I could not have imagined. 
 Their palaces, temples, aqueducts, batlis, theatres, amphitheatres, 
 monuments, statues, sculptures, were most amazing. The soul 
 is struck at the review, and the ideas expand ; but I have not 
 leism-e to dwell now on these topics. 
 
 I must return to the world where I now am, and to the one 
 where I am just agoing — this as different from the former, I 
 mean the rest of Europe I have seen, as that from Italy, and 
 really to me it does not appear more so. 
 
 At Paris I took my seat in the Royal Academy of Surgery, 
 of which I have the honour to be admitted as a corresponding 
 member — a distinction from a resident fellow. I am now pre- 
 paring for America, to see whether, after fourteen years' devo- 
 tion to medicine, I can get my living without turning apothe- 
 cary or practising surgery. 
 
 My scheme of instituting lectures you will hereafter know 
 more of. It is not prudent to broach designs prematurely, and
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 635 
 
 mine are not yet fully ripe for execution. My best compliments 
 to all your family, not forgetting them particularly to my Mam- 
 ma CuUen, and to your eldest son. Believe me to be, with the 
 greatest esteem, Dear Sir, your ever affectionate friend, and 
 much obliged humble servant, 
 
 John Morgan." 
 
 Dr Thomas Percival to Dr Cullen. 
 
 * * * 
 
 " Manchester. November 11, 1770. 
 
 " It gives me great pleasure to hear that you are engaged in 
 publishing a Syllabus of your lectures on the Nervous System ; 
 I shall be impatient to see it. 
 
 Drs Dobson, Bostock, Haygarth, and myself have agreed to 
 meet, for our mutual improvement, every three months at War- 
 rington, which lies in the centre between Liverpool, Chester, 
 and Manchester. Glad shall I be to receive any medical intelli- 
 gence from you, that I may communicate it to our Society. Our 
 next interview will be on the 2d of December." 
 
 Dr Percival to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Manchester, October I7. 1785. 
 
 I recollect with cordial pleasure and gratitude the advan- 
 tages which I derived from your instructions, from your society, 
 and from your friendship, during my residence at Edinburgh. You 
 will therefore, I trust, excuse the solicitude I feel to introduce 
 my son*, who is the bearer of this letter, to your notice, and to 
 obtain for him some share of those invaluable privileges which 
 I myself enjoyed. He has been successively a member of the 
 Warrington Academy, and of St John's College in Cambridge ; 
 and I have every reason to be satisfied with his assiduity in 
 study, and with the attainments which he has made in know- 
 ledge. It is my wish that he should not confine himself solely 
 to medical pursuits at Edinburgh, but that he should avail him- 
 
 * Dr Percival's second son, James, Avho died at Edinburgh in 1793. 
 See " Memoir of Dr Percival," p. clxxix ; and Note F, p. cclv. 
 2
 
 636 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 self of the opportunity he will there enjoy, of making further 
 proficiency in other branches of science. At present he is a no- 
 vice in physic, having attended only one course of anatomy and 
 two of chemistry at Cambridge. You will, therefore, I doubt 
 not, concur with me in opinion, that the lectures of Dr Monro 
 and Dr Black will afford him sufficient employment, in the line 
 of his professional designation, for the ensuing winter. 
 
 I rejoice to hear that you are happy in the enjoyment of 
 health and spirits, and still engaged in those useful exertions 
 which have so long and so honourably distinguished your cha- 
 racter. With every sentiment of esteem, respect, and gratitude, 
 I am, Dear Sir, your faithful, obliged, and humble servant, 
 
 Tho. Percival." 
 
 Dr Withering to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Birmixgham, 30//i October 1779. 
 
 I took an opportunity last year to send you by Mr Stokes 
 a small pamphlet, descriptive of a disease that then attracted 
 much of our attention in this part of Britain *. It has since 
 that time appeared with the same train of fatal symptoms in 
 several other parts of England, and I have the satisfaction to 
 find that the method of treatment, by strong vomits and diure- 
 tics, particularly vegetable fixed alkali, has been found equally 
 successful, wherever the practice was adopted, as it was with us. 
 Mr Stokes has favom-ed me with a very accurate account of the 
 appearances after death, as he found them in a body which he 
 ventured to dissect, but he did not escape with impunity, as he 
 himself can tell you. The peculiar nature of the infection is, I 
 think, fully established by the inoculation which he involuntarily 
 suffered. He has permitted me to make use of this dissection, in 
 order to complete the Historia Morbi, as it will appear in a 
 new edition of the pamphlet to be published next spring. 
 
 Mr Stokes' purpose is to spare neither time nor expense to make 
 his medical education as perfect as possible ; and, in order to do 
 
 * An account of the Scarlet Fever and Sore Throat, or Scarlatina An- 
 ginosa, &c.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 637 
 
 this, he cannot meet with a more able guide than my truly re- 
 spectable friend, from whom I have received so many marks of 
 favour, and so much instruction in former times. I say nothing 
 of Mr Stokes' abilities or acquirements ; they are sufficiently 
 conspicuous to distinguish him from the crowd. That you, my 
 Dear Sir, may long continue to benefit mankind by the instruc- 
 tion of such pupils, is one of the best wishes that can arise from 
 the heart of your obliged and obedient friend *, 
 
 Wm. Withering." 
 
 Dr Withering to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, BiRMiNOHAai, \^th October 1786- 
 
 The benefits I derived from your instructions, and the 
 notice you was pleased to take of me at Edinburgh, are yet fresh 
 in my memory, and gratitude for the advantages I derived from 
 that situation, makes me happy to be the means of forwarding 
 any part of the rising generation in the same advantageous train. 
 The bearer of this is nephew to my excellent friend Dr Ash, 
 whose merits in his professional line cannot be unknown to you. 
 Mr Ash possesses abilities which will do honour to any tuition. 
 He has taken his bachelor's degree at Oxford, and means to pass 
 two years at Edinburgh. He has made great progress in mi- 
 neralogy and chemistry, and I am sure that Dr Cullen cannot 
 have lost his attachment to the latter, which, under his metho- 
 
 * " It was the unceasing endeavour of Dr Cullen," says Dr Withering's 
 biographer, in the IMemoir of his Life, &c. prefixed to an edition of his 
 Miscellaneous Tracts (p. 170? " to encourage every laudable effort. His 
 labours in the principal medical chair, and his publications, have stamped 
 bis reputation for zeal and science ; but the generosity of his soul, dis- 
 played in unceasing kind offices, can only be justly appreciated by those 
 who had the happiness to dwell within the sphere of his benevolence. 
 Respecting this eminent professor, Mr Withering thus expresses himself: 
 ' His affable disposition as it were engages us in the pursuit of knowledge ; 
 his modesty is such that whatever he advances as new he cautions us 
 thoroughly to examine, and only to embrace with ' a slow-consenting aca- 
 demic doubt.' "
 
 638 APPENDIX. 
 
 dical genius, first took the lead in philosophy, and for the first 
 time could, with his assistance, claim the title of a science. 
 
 The frequent opportunities I have of hearing of your health 
 and persevering vigour, are so many occasions of pleasure to 
 your obliged and faithful friend, 
 
 Wm. Withering." 
 
 Dr Haygarth to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Chester, June 1772. 
 
 As I have always observed that men of superior abilities 
 entertain a particular regard and esteem for each other, I think 
 myself extremely fortunate in having an opportunity of intro- 
 ducing to you Mr Falconer, brother to the Doctor, your late 
 pupil. You will soon find that Mr Falconer has acquired an 
 uncommon degree of knowledge in every branch of both ancient 
 and modern learning, and in natural history. He is very desir- 
 ous of becoming personally acquainted with the men of genius 
 in our sister kingdom, who have become so justly celebrated for 
 their excellent publications in every part of polite literature ; 
 and, on this account, I think myself most fortunate in introduc- 
 ing him to one who is so intimately known, and so highly re- 
 spected by them all. 
 
 Your old pupil thinks himself extremely happy in having an 
 opportunity of returning his most grateful acknowledgments for 
 the excellent and most useful instructions he has received from 
 Dr Cullen as his professor, and for the innumerable kind offices 
 he has experienced from him as a friend. Old physicians gene- 
 rally complain that practice contradicts the theories they had 
 been taught to trust with implicit faith in their medical schools. 
 The reverse of this seems likely to be my case. In the study 
 of physic, I was very sceptical in admitting theories, and can 
 now, with truth, observe that most of the general doctrines I 
 then adopted, particularly those of Dr Cullen, have rather been 
 confirmed than confuted by practice. The cause of this diff*er- 
 ence seems very obvious. I continue, with increasing respect 
 and esteem, your most grateful pupil, 
 
 J. Haygarth.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 639 
 
 Mr Falconer will give you a plan for a register of births, &c. 
 in Chester. You Avill observe that no distinctions are attempted 
 but such as a parish-clerk might understand. Any improvement 
 you would be so kind as to communicate, I shall be glad to 
 adopt." 
 
 Dr Haygarth to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Most respected Professor, Chester, Wth Sept. 1779. 
 
 With sentiments of the warmest gratitude, I return my 
 sincerest thanks for the favour of your friendly and philosophi- 
 cal remarks upon my paper concerning Variolous Contagion. 
 A reluctance to engage unnecessarily any of your time, which 
 is so honourably and so usefully employed, was my motive for 
 delaying so long these most cordial acknowledgments, and a re- 
 quest for your farther criticisms on some alterations and addi- 
 tions to the Inquiry. I have taken your kind and judicious ad- 
 vice to study more attentively the nature of contagion, and with 
 all the impartiality I could. Till I received the favour of your 
 letter, I never had read any account of the Plague except Sy- 
 denliam's, and one or two still more imperfect than his. I have 
 since carefully perused most of the books and passages that you 
 2)ointed out, and was not a little pleased to find that they so 
 amply confirmed some part of the doctrine I had endeavoured 
 to establish in regard to the Small Pox. 
 
 By the enclosed papers, you will observe that farther consi- 
 deration of the subject has confirmed my former opinions, or, 
 perhaps, you may say prejudices. However, I have here more 
 distinctly stated the chemical arguments which first suggested 
 the thought, and cannot yet discover their fallacy. I entreat, as 
 a very particular favour, that you would consider and rigidly 
 criticize the arguments deduced, both from the chemical theory 
 and the facts. 
 
 Whether you approve or disapprove of the doctrine I advance, 
 you may be assured that no uncandid nor improper use shall be 
 made of your remarks ; they shall be regarded as a jyrivate and 
 sacred token of friendship. Since the date of the printed certi-
 
 640 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ficate, and the enclosed specimen of our register, many other 
 facts have occurred that, in my opinion, clearly confirm the doc- 
 trine ; but these facts I have not yet arranged. We have gain- 
 ed twenty, thirty, or more victories, but cannot yet boast that 
 we have completely conquered the contagion. 
 
 I shall expect with much anxiety your remarks on the en- 
 closed papers, and particularly I request, as a private favour, 
 your explicit answer to the queries at the conclusion. Your 
 opinion shall be regarded, as it ought, wuth the utmost defer- 
 ence ; and, indeed, I cannot on this occasion express my senti- 
 ments more exactly than in the words of Pliny to Tacitus : — 
 * Hsec est adhuc sententia mea, quam mutabo si dissenseris tu : 
 sed plane cur dissentias, explices rogo. Quamvis enim cedere 
 auctoritati tu88 debeam, rectius tamen arbitror in tanta re, ratione 
 quam auctoritate superari. Proinde si non errare videor, id 
 ipsum quam voles brevi epistola, sed tamen scribe ; confirmabis 
 enim judicium meum ; si vero erraro, longissimam para.' 
 
 I am, with the greatest respect and esteem, your much obliged 
 and sincerely grateful J. Haygarth." 
 
 Dr Haygarth to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Chester, lOth Jan. 1787- 
 
 Several years ago, I was honoured with your remarks on 
 my manuscript Inquiry how to prevent the Small Pox. I feel, 
 and shall for ever acknowledge, the sincerest and most affection- 
 ate gratitude for such a favour. I am conscious liow much I 
 owe, on this occasion, to your friendship. Your criticism con- 
 tributed, in a very important manner, to diminish the imperfec- 
 tions of my little book, but shall, as you desired, be ever held 
 sacred and private. I hope that you duly received a copy of the 
 Inquiry y of which I requestetl your acceptance, as soon as it was 
 printed. 
 
 As I have no doubt that you long ago made up your mind on 
 
 this subject, I hope that it will not much intrude upon your 
 
 time, and the important concerns which constantly employ your 
 
 attention, to favour me with an answer to one of the queries 
 
 I
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 641 
 
 which I liad proposed, now altered into the following, or any 
 other form you please. " Q. 2d, Do the Rules of Prevention 
 (p. 118.) appear fully sufficient to prevent the Small Pox, as far 
 as you can judge from facts which have fallen under your own 
 observation, or which you have received on the evidence of cre- 
 dible testimony, either as stated in the Inquiry or by others ?" 
 Your former criticism, I solicited for my own private satisfac- 
 tion. I now request the authority of your name, if you conti- 
 nue to think that this dreadful pestilence may be avoided by 
 practical regulations, and if you judge that the propagation of 
 such an opinion may be of service to mankind. We know one 
 another too well to suppose that, on this or any other occasion, 
 I have a wish that you should assist one word beyond full con- 
 viction. Though your entire approbation would give me great 
 satisfaction, yet I should esteem, as much more important, the 
 detection of doubtful facts, or false conclusions. To explain in 
 what circumstances the Rules of Prevention are defective, would 
 be of the greatest service to the cause, and give me the highest 
 satisfaction. 
 
 I send a circular letter, on this occasion, to my medical friends 
 who honoured the MS. Inquiry with their remarks. You will 
 think this an unusual, and perhaps an unwarrantable, method of 
 establishing medical opinions ; but to me the cause appears im- 
 portant, and to justify such a measure. I need not intimate the 
 high authority of your name, and the wonderful influence it 
 would have, not only in this island, but in every other part of 
 the world enlightened by literature. I hope and believe that a 
 spirit of beneficence and philanthropy would promote societies 
 to prevent the natural Small Pox, if the means were generally 
 allowed to be practicable. If such institutions were successfid, 
 the best foundation would be laid for a general law. 
 
 A short answer, either public or private, as soon as may be 
 convenient, would confer the highest obligation on your most 
 respectful, affectionate, and grateful pupil, 
 
 John HAvnARiii. 
 
 Please to present my best respects to Principal Robertson, 
 VOL. 1. '^'^
 
 642 APPENDIX. 
 
 Professor Dalzel, and to Dr Duncan, with my request that he 
 would please to insert the enclosed in his Medical Commentaries, 
 in his list of lately published books. " 
 
 Dr Haygarth to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Chester, October IG. 1780. 
 * * * 
 
 " By Dr Jones I had the pleasure of receiving the improved 
 edition of your Synopsis, which I perused with great eagerness 
 and inexpressible satisfaction. He also brought a message 
 which greatly surprised me, — that I should transmit to you any 
 remarks I could make on the " First Lines." I would not will- 
 ingly disobey the commands of one to whom I owe so many, 
 and such important, obligations. I wish rather to incur the cen- 
 sure of being presumptuous than ungrateful. But it should be 
 remembered, that when we attempt to descry specks in the sun, 
 we mean not dark but less luminous spots. Your candour, I 
 trust, will excuse the humble hints submitted to your considera- 
 tion with all possible deference. If they should contribute to 
 render one tittle more perfect, a work that is likely to continue 
 long instructing future physicians in our salutary science, I shall 
 think my character as a critic well hazarded. I always highly 
 admired your method of arranging diseases. But the last edition 
 of your Synopsis greatly exceeded my expectation. It is a 
 book that will be ever in my hands, for I keep in concise Latin 
 the cases of almost all my patients, and afterwards arrange them 
 into genera according to your system. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Dr RoGERSox to Dr Clllen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, St Petersburg, July 27. 17^5, O. S. 
 
 You have really done me much pleasure in making me 
 
 acquainted with Mr Bell, who is an agreeable well informed 
 
 young man. He has gratified my curiosity in a great many 
 
 things I wished to know concerning the state of medicine in
 
 CORllESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 643 
 
 your University, and the fates and fortunes of many of my old 
 acquaintances. It gave me pleasure to learn that your health 
 continues tolerably good. May you long continue to be useful 
 to the University, to your country, and to mankind ! 
 
 Dr Pallas is now occupied in publishing the Russian edition 
 of the first fasciculus of the Flora Rossica. He will continue the 
 work with the same accuracy ; and as soon as the second part 
 shall be published, a copy will be secured for you, whether I 
 shall happen to be in the country or not. 
 
 After perusing the enclosed, I beg you will send it to Sir 
 Alexander Dick. He will see by it, what the view of the Em- 
 press was in collecting a number of words of the first use and 
 necessity in a great number of different languages. The fact is, 
 that she amused herself last year, during a long state of conva- 
 lescence after her great illness, in making comparisons and tra- 
 cing the analogies between the languages that were known to 
 her. This grew upon her hands, huge materials were thrown 
 in, and a specimen of the work I believe will be published, 
 which will furnish food for speculation for people who are fond 
 of that species of learning. The misfortune is, that in that kind 
 of labour, accuracy cannot be attained. I ever remain, with the 
 truest esteem and regard, dear Sir, your faithful and obedient 
 servant, J. Rogersox. 
 
 P. S. I have a young friend in your University, who has for 
 some years been attending the medical classes; I beg you will 
 honour him with notice and your protection. When properly 
 qualified, I wish he should proceed to take his degree." 
 
 Mr A. Balfour to Dr Cullex. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Bath, \2lh Jmnumj 178.'.. 
 
 I am favoured with yours of the Gth instant, and beg 
 leave to return you my grateful acknowledgments for the very 
 kind interest you have taken in promoting the reputation of my 
 cousin's treatise. The opinion you was so obliging as give me 
 
 s s 2
 
 644 APPENDIX. 
 
 of it, when 1 had last the honour of seeing you, afforded me 
 much pleasure, which is greatly increased by this fresh proof of 
 your approval, and leaves me not a doubt of following your ad- 
 vice respecting the immediate reprinting of it. Under the sanc- 
 tion of your approbation, I entertain the most sanguine expecta- 
 tions of its favourable reception from the public : and though I 
 once flattered myself it would produce some profit to the author, 
 I now readily submit to your opinion, and shall be fully satis- 
 fied in the hope you give me of its adding to his reputation. I 
 therefore (fully invested by him with the power for so doing,) 
 shall esteem myself greatly obliged by your taking the trouble 
 of getting it reprinted in Edinburgh, from the copy which I 
 imagine Mr Riddell will be able to furnish, or, if he should not 
 have any, I will immediately send you one from this. I shall 
 take the earliest opportunity of informing my cousin of your 
 kindness on this occasion, and will answer for his grateful sense 
 of the obligation. 
 
 I return you my best thanks for your kind inquiries after my 
 health, which I have to inform you continues pretty good, and I 
 flatter myself will soon be re-established. I beg you will believe 
 me, with the liighest esteem, dear Sir, your very obedient ser- 
 vant, A. Balfour." 
 
 Dr Bostock, on graduating at Edinburgh in 1769, wrote an 
 inaugural dissertation on Gout, in which he supported the par- 
 ticular opinions respecting the pathology of this disease enter- 
 tained by his preceptor Dr Cullen. It having fallen to Dr Cul- 
 len's lot to go through the ceremony of impugning Dr Bostock's 
 thesis previously to the degree of M. D. being conferred upon 
 him, he took an opportunity to express the particular regard he 
 entertained for his pupil, in the following terms : 
 
 " Arthritidem tractare ausus est Dominus Bostock ; opus sane 
 arduum et difficile agressus est ; diligenter tamen et ingeniose 
 rem confecit. Quo natura morbi hactenus obscura melius eluces- 
 cat, nova qusedam prseferre non dubitatus est, et hsec conamina 
 apud omnes etiam laudata fore, facile sperat ; sed in hac re, ni 
 ego multum fallor, ille fallitur. Juvenis adhuc ille nescit tur-
 
 COIIRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 645 
 
 bam medicorum, nee ing-enio prseditam nee doetrina excultam, 
 nova omnia quae intelligere non possnnt prudenter satis aversa- 
 li ; nescit etiam multos esse, turn ing-enio turn doetrina eminen- 
 tes, qui tamen, sibi ipsis eonfidentes, ab aliis doceri nolint, et 
 multo minus qiisedam dediscenda fateri velint. Hsec juvenem 
 ipsum nova quseque avide inhiantem, nescisse, non miror ; sed 
 D. Bostock meo lateri jam adeo diu hserentem, ea nova quae ex 
 nieis dictatis praeeipue hausit minus libenter excepta fore, omnino 
 vel neseisse vel praetervidisse, multum miror. Et dum meos 
 conatus in hae re adjuvare et ulterius etiam pergere velit, timeo 
 ne ille, et ego etiam, quorundam censurae gravissimse expositi 
 simus ; timeo ne me solas theorias erepare, ne ilium solas 
 theorias a me diseere voluisse, dicant. Sed si fortassis ita di- 
 cant, candidatum egreginm, ut opinor, minime perturbare de- 
 bent. Si theoriam enim tractare velit, — etiamsi audacter ma- 
 gis quam ego vellem theorias protulerit, — etiamsi in quibus- 
 dam hallucinatus fuerit, — ei et impetui ejus juvenili omnino 
 ignoscendum esse puto, cum bene novi ilium theoriis suis non 
 admodum fidere, nee alia praxeos fundamenta neglexisse. In 
 hac ipsa Dissertatione ilium non raagis ad theoriam quam ad ea 
 quae natura ipsa ex ore Sydenham! dictaverit respexisse video. 
 Quantam in studio practico operam posuit, norunt eondiscipuli 
 ejus omnes qui vidermit quot et quantos labores in Nosocomio 
 exantiaverit, dum eollegae amicissimo et mihi assiduus eomes et 
 adjutor egregius, ipse praxin medicam penitus ediscere voluit, 
 nee ex dictatis nostris sed noctu diuque ad lectos aegrotantium 
 assidens, a natura ipsa quid faciat aut ferat noscere voluit. Hu- 
 jusmodi candidato theorias quasdam ignoscendas esse nullus du- 
 bito. Sed de his satis." 
 
 " This amiable young physician," says Dr Withering's bio- 
 grapher, in alluding to Dr Bostock (p. 13.), " had scarcely set- 
 tled as a practitioner in Liverpool, married advantageously, and 
 become possessed of a son (who has amply enlarged the dawn- 
 ing reputation of his father), than he sank beneath an incurable 
 disease, himself predicting the fatal termination, cabnly resign- 
 ing the sweetest blandishments of life, and in his last moments 
 emulating the exit of a Socrates or a Seneca."
 
 646 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The mournful intelligence of his death was communicated to 
 Dr Cullen by his friend Dr Dobson in the following note, dated 
 Liverpool, 13th March 1774. 
 
 " I am just now returaed from paying the last sad tribute to 
 the remains of poor Bostock. I have accompanied him to his 
 long home. 
 
 Since he fixed at Liverpool, he has had several attacks upon 
 his bowels. During the fatal one, there was a great degree of 
 fever, a general inflammatory disposition, but no fixed local af- 
 fection. The aids of art were ineffectual ; and early on the 
 sixth day, he passed into ' that undiscovered country from whose 
 bourn no traveller returns.' 
 
 He was perfectly sensible of his approaching dissolution, and 
 though surrounded with every thing which could make life be 
 wished for, he quitted it with astonishing resolution. About 
 nine hours before his death, he said, ' Dobson, you see it is over 
 with me, you must promise not to leave me till I am numbered 
 with the dead ; write to Cullen, and take care of my son.' 
 
 Two of these requests I have fulfilled, and I trust I shall not 
 be inattentive to the last. From your afilicted, dutiful, and af- 
 fectionate, Matt. Dobson. 
 
 I was very happy to hear that your son was recovered from 
 his very dangerous indisposition. Please to remember my res- 
 pects to Mrs Cullen." 
 
 Sir Charles Blagden to Dr Cullex. 
 
 " GowER Street, Bedford Square, 
 Dear Sir, J^ly 5. 1785. 
 
 As one of the most curious and important articles of 
 philosophical news which it is in my power to send you, I en- 
 close the copy of a paper by Mr Cavendish, lately read before 
 the Royal Society, and now printing in the Transactions, where 
 he shews that the phlogisticated part of our atmosphere is con- 
 vertible into nitrous acid by means of dephlogisticated air. 
 Whether it be according to the theory ^Ir Cavendish has here 
 adopted, that phlogisticated air is nitrous acid saturated with
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 
 
 647 
 
 phlogiston, or according to M. Lavoisier's theory, that it is a 
 simple substance, which, joined with dephlogisticated air, pro- 
 duces nitrous acid, cannot be determined, till the question now 
 so warmly agitated relative to the existence of phlogiston sliall 
 have been decided ; but Mr Cavendish's discovery is of equal 
 importance, whichever of the two systems, Stahl's or Lavoisier's, 
 obtains the preference. As phlogisticated air constitutes near 
 four-fifths of our whole atmosphere, the source of the nitrous 
 a€id now remains no longer a difficulty. 
 
 Dr George Fordyce has probably transmitted to Edinburgh 
 some topics of the experiments by which he means to prove that 
 heat, whether sensible or latent, diminishes the gravity of bo- 
 dies. These also will appear in the next part of the Philoso- 
 phical Transactions. 
 
 I have received from M. BerthoUet, one of the most promising 
 chemists in France, an account of a series of experiments, by 
 which he shews, I think very satisfactorily, that the volatile al- 
 kali consists of phlogisticated air united to inflammable air. 
 This analysis, though indistinctly perceived long ago, is now, 
 upon being fully established, to be considered as a real discove- 
 ry, and of the most important kind. IM. Bcrthollet makes the 
 proportions of the two airs to be, six parts of phlogisticated, 
 and one of inflammable. 
 
 This letter will be delivered to you by one of those gentle- 
 men whom the King of Spain, in the most liberal manner, is 
 sending for instruction to all the more enlightened parts of Eu- 
 rope. He means to spend two or three years in Edinburgh, to 
 learn the profession of physic : his name, which is Luzuriaga, 
 may probably not be unknown to you, on account of a paper he 
 published lately in the Journal de Physique, on the air obtained 
 from calces of lead, Szc. These circumstances, I am sure, will 
 sufficiently recommend him to yoiu- protection. I am, with the 
 greatest regard, dear Sir, your foithfnl humble servant, 
 
 C. Blaoden. "
 
 648 APPENDIX. 
 
 Dr W. Falconer to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, Bath, June 8. 1777- 
 
 I have already repeated many of Dr Priestley's experi- 
 ments on air, and find them extremely faithfully related. I have 
 myself constructed a machine to measure the goodness of the 
 air, according to Priestley's plan, and find it answer exceedingly 
 well, and reducible to a standard. It measures the diminution 
 to y^^d part, very easily, and may be made on a more exten- 
 sive scale. If you choose it, and will direct me how to transmit 
 it, I will send one to you, and another for Dr Black, if he likes 
 it. I have accidentally discovered some odd phenomena in the 
 branch of aerial philosophy, one of which is, that the nitrous 
 acid in vapour and mild volatile alkali may be united together, 
 without separating the fixed air, which, however, happens im- 
 mediately on the neutral salt being put into water. The nitrous 
 acid, also, in vapour, unites with the volatile alkali into a neu- 
 tral, of a mild smell and taste, but more volatile than the alkali 
 itself by far, insomuch as to exhale copiously in form of a white 
 cloud. This Priestley observed in some measure, but he only 
 remarked it, while the alkali remained in the nitrous air ; but 1 
 find, if the alkali remains any time in the nitrous air it will unite 
 into a compound with it, the most volatile in the open air of 
 any saline compound I have seen. 
 
 W. Falconer." 
 
 Mr Benjamin Bell to Dr Cullen. 
 
 « Sir, London, 30^/i Man-^i 1772. 
 
 I confess that it ought to have been my duty, as much 
 as it was my inclination, to have wrote you long before now, 
 and that merely by way of return for the many civilities I had 
 formerly received from you ; for, being the only acknowledg- 
 ment that I had in my power to make, it might readily be ex- 
 pected that I should not so long have omitted it. My only rea- 
 son for doing so was, that I seldom met with any thing worthy 
 of your observation, at least so far as to excuse the freedom of
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 649 
 
 troubling you with it. Nor should I at present have ventured 
 upon it, but that the time of my return drawing near, I found, 
 if I did not set about it, that it presently would be too late. 
 Amongst other obligations which I lie under, that of your 
 letter of introduction to Mr Hunter I consider as none of the 
 most trivial, for by it I have had the pleasure of a most agree- 
 able, and at the same time the most useful, acquaintance I ever 
 met with ; for there is scarce an article either in physic or sur- 
 gery that Mr Hunter has not something new upon, and there is 
 none more ready of communication than he Is. He has fre- 
 quently desired his best respects to Dr CuUen, and which now, 
 for the first time, I deliver. I am likewise just now attending 
 Dr Hunter's anatomical course, which indeed is extremely in- 
 genious and satisfactory ; but the Doctor is by no means so 
 free or so ready of access as his brother. 
 
 There is not much new in the medical way here at present. 
 Dr Hulme has lately published a treatise upon Puerperal Fever, 
 which by this time you will probably have got down to Edinburgh. 
 The Theory and Practice of Physic by Dr Macbride was pub- 
 lished two days ago, but I have not seen it. I was present at the 
 last meeting of the Royal Society, when a very ingenious paper 
 upon the nature and properties of air by Dr Priestley was read, 
 and which I hear will soon be published. He adopts Dr Macbride's 
 theory of fixed air and putrefaction, and mentions the effects of 
 such air in putrid diseases. One very bad case of putrid fever 
 was particularly related, which seemed to be cured by it, and 
 after every other remedy had been unsuccessfully made use of. 
 The air was injected in considerable quantities by the anus ; 
 and from its very first application the patient seemed to be re- 
 lieved. A number of other very curious experiments were like- 
 wise mentioned. It is generally allowed, and indeed now suffi- 
 ciently proved, that any given quantity of air can soon be spoil- 
 ed, or rendered unfit for the purposes of life, by one or more 
 animals frequently breathing it in a confined place. Now, in 
 course of time we should be apt to suspect that the whole at- 
 mospheric air would be so tainted, by the breatiiing of such a 
 number of animals as are every where met witli, as at last to
 
 650 APPENDIX. 
 
 become equally poisonous with that met with in confined places. 
 Dr Priestley, however, imagines that Nature has particularly 
 guarded against this, and for which purpose he thinks it pro- 
 bable that she has several resources ; and one of them he has 
 been so lucky as to discover. Mephitic air being confined with 
 growing plants, is not only thereby entirely changed, and again 
 rendered pure, but the growth of such plants is likewise very 
 considerably quickened. From this and other experiments to 
 the same purpose, he concludes that the bad effects of the breath- 
 ing of animals upon the atmosphere is counteracted (in a great 
 measure at least) by the plants which are everywhere found up- 
 on the earth, and that such air is even, in some degree, neces- 
 sary for the proper production of these plants. 
 
 About six months ago, there was published in Sweden an ac- 
 count of the discovery of a new acid, which had lately been made 
 there by a famous chemist, Scheele of Stockholm. As I was 
 very desirous to know the particulars, I got a Swedish acquaint- 
 ance who took the trouble of making me an extract of the prin- 
 cipal parts of the publication, and afterwards translated them. 
 This you may, perhaps, have already seen ; but lest you should 
 not, I shall now beg leave to enclose a copy of it. The dis- 
 covery may, perhaps, appear to you as trifling, but its being 
 entirely new, to me at least, I hope will excuse my mentioning 
 it; and as by this time you will probably think I have said 
 enough, I shall, therefore, beg leave to conclude, and am, Sir, 
 with great respect, your much obliged humble servant, 
 
 Benj. Bell." 
 
 Dr Rush to Dr Cullen. 
 
 Philadelphia, Z>6'cfm^»er 22. 17}j4. 
 " My dear and venerable Friend, 
 
 I want words to convey to you the pleasure I derived 
 from your very friendly letter by Mr Dobson. It has revived 
 in me all that enthusiasm for science with which you inspired me 
 in the years 1766 and 1768. I shall be unhappy till I receive 
 your latest edition of your Nosology and Materia Medica ; and
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 651 
 
 I shall not cease to pray that you may not only live to finish 
 your work upon " the art of preserving health," but that you 
 may stamp a value upon it that shall ensure (not its sale only), 
 but its immortality, by living till you are an hundred years old, 
 and much longer, if it shall please God to continue to you your 
 powers of usefulness and happiness. 
 
 From seeing your name prefixed to the dedication of Dr 
 Wilson's treatise upon the influence of climates upon vegetable 
 and animal bodies, I was induced to read it. The Doctor has 
 mistaken the influence of woody or uncultivated countries upon 
 health in the conclusion of his work. The new settlements in 
 every part of the United States, but more especially in Pennsyl- 
 vania, are always healthy. Funerals are such uncommon things 
 in our new countries, that they are resorted to as a kind of 
 spectacle. A girl in an intermitting fever, 200 miles from Phi- 
 ladelphia, drew a crowd of people about her from many miles 
 distance, on purpose to see whether it was possible for a person 
 to be hot and cold at the same time. Her tremors threw them 
 into constemation. It is only in proportion as these new coun- 
 tries are cleared of their woods that they become sickly, in con- 
 sequence probably of a more free passage being opened for the 
 propagation of exhalations from the rivers. On the River Sus- 
 quehannah, 100 miles from Philadelphia, fevers, twenty years 
 ago, were unknown one mile from the shore. They now ex- 
 tend above ten miles from the river, owing to tke country being 
 more cleared. It has been remarked further, that, in proportion 
 as a country is improved by draining and the different species 
 of agriculture, it becomes again healthy ; so that we have been 
 able to establish the two following propositions, viz. " that clear- 
 ing a country makes it sickly," and that " cultivation makes it 
 healthy." 
 
 The city of Philadelphia stands between two rivers, viz. the 
 Delaware and Skuilkill. Before the war a wood grew between 
 the city and the latter river. While the Britisli army lay in 
 Philadelphia, they cut down the whole of tliat wood for fuel ; 
 in consequence of which bilious, remitting, and intermitting fe- 
 vers, have increased in our city in the ratio of five to one, com.
 
 65^ APPENDIX. 
 
 pared with years before the war. This has been ascribed to 
 the loss of those woods which formerly intercepted the exhala- 
 tions of the Skuilkill. 
 
 Some observations that occurred to me during my attendance 
 upon the American military hospitals, have led me to dismiss 
 opium as a remedy in the cure of the tetanus, and to substitute 
 in the room of it large doses of bark-wine, with occasional doses 
 of oil of amber, with great success. 
 
 I have always found tetanus from wounds connected with an 
 absence of inflammation, and have therefore excited it by scarifi- 
 cation, or by pouring irritating substances into the wound. The 
 cases that have issued favourably under the above treatment 
 have been carefully recorded, and in due time will be laid be- 
 fore the public. 
 
 Your First Lines accompany population and government in 
 every part of this western world. An edition of your last 
 volume is now in the press in this city, and will be published in 
 a few days. I hope his Britannic Majesty will not hear this, 
 otherwise your salary as his physician in Scotland will be in 
 danger ; for he ought, in justice to his former principles and con- 
 duct, never to forgive the man that has taught his once ungrate- 
 ful subjects the art of restoring health and prolonging life — per- 
 haps for the purpose of employing both hereafter in lessening 
 his own power. 
 
 With respectful compliments to Mrs Cullen, I have the ho- 
 nour to be yours most affectionately, 
 
 Benj. Rush." 
 
 Dr N. DiMSDALE to Dr Cullen. 
 
 " Dear Sir, liONDON, Red Lion Square, April 25, 1781. 
 
 My father sets out on a journey to Russia in about a 
 month, to inoculate two children of the Grand Duke, and he is 
 desirous to publish a treatise on Inoculation, which is now in 
 great forwardness, before he goes. 
 
 If my memory does not deceive me, I think it is customary 
 in some parts of the Highlands to inoculate, by tying dried scabs
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PUPILS. 653 
 
 on the wrist of the person who is to receive the infection ; he is 
 of opinion, if this is the case, it must be slower in producing the 
 disease than wlien matter is inserted in the usual way by punc- 
 ture ; and he would be very happy to have this point cleared up, 
 and to know with certainty the time that intervenes, by that 
 mode of inoculation, between the application of the dried scabs 
 to the wrist and the access of the eruptive fever. 
 
 I have taken the liberty of making* this application to you, 
 from a conviction that no person is so able to give me the best 
 information on the subject. I know, however, that your time is 
 always so constantly and usefully engaged, that it is far from 
 my wish to give you the trouble of making inquiries ; but if you 
 can from memory assist me, I shall be greatly indebted to you 
 for the honour of a line. The part of the publication in which 
 this matter will be considered is the last, so that any information 
 you may be so obliging to give will be received in good time. 
 
 When writing to you, Sir, I cannot but wish to convey to 
 you the sense I retain of the many favours I have received 
 from your friendship and politeness ; but I can truly assure you, 
 I am unable to express the gratitude I feel for the repeated ci- 
 vilities I have received from yourself and family. I beg leave 
 to present my most respectful compliments to Mrs and Miss 
 Cullens, to Mr Robert Cullen, and the rest of your family, and 
 to assure you that I shall ever remain your much obliged, obe- 
 dient servant, N. B. Dimsdale. 
 
 My father, and brother Dr Jo. (who is well), desire to join 
 in respectful compliments to yourself and family." 
 
 Sir Gilbert Blane to Dr Cullex. 
 
 '' My dear Friend and Master, London, 19M Oct. 1783. 
 
 It has not been want of gratitude or regard that has pre- 
 vented me from testifying my duty to you during my absence in 
 different parts of the world. No information or entertainment 
 I could have communicated would have been siilKcient to pay 
 the debt I owe you in these articles, and neither your time nor 
 mine would admit of the intercourse of cerennmial dviHty. 1
 
 654 APPENDIX. 
 
 know how precious your time is, and therefore absolve you 
 from making any answer to this, which is merely to assure you 
 of the remembrance and esteem of one, who owes the little cre- 
 dit and good fortune he has had in the world to the seeds that 
 you planted, and the principles you instilled. 
 
 I am happy to learn that you are still in the enjoyment of 
 good health, as well as honour and prosperity; and that it may 
 long continue, is the very sincere wish of, dear Sir, your much 
 obliged, and most affectionate friend and servant, 
 
 Gil. Blane. 
 
 I beg to be kindly remembered to Mrs CuUeu and all your 
 family/' 
 
 NOTE V, p. 464, 
 
 Dr FOTHERGILL tO Dr CULLEN. 
 
 " Near Middle wicii, Cheshire, 
 " My HONOURED Friend, 2U^ September 1771- 
 
 This, I expect, will be delivered by my brother Alex- 
 ander Fothergill, who lias undertaken this journey to Edinburgh 
 at my request. My friends in London, not only of our own 
 persuasion but others, are highly dissatisfied with the award 
 against me, and insist upon my endeavouring to vindicate my- 
 self from the stain of defamation, and to such an amount as to 
 require so large a restitution as £300. 
 
 I have yielded to their importunities ; and, conscious of my 
 innocence, both in act and intention, I am in hopes of giving 
 ample proofs of it. 
 
 I ask nothing from the Faculty. My proofs will be of another 
 kind ; my opponent did not, he could not, perform any of the 
 usual exercises expected from the Candidates for Degrees. 
 Should proofs of this kind be laid before you, your own honour 
 is engaged to disavow the impostor, not for my sake, I ask it 
 not, but for your own. To be mistaken or deceived is not a 
 crime. It happens to individuals, it happens to bodies, and is 
 excusable. But to persevere in a mistake, and countenance im-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE AVITH DR FOTHERGILL. 655 
 
 posture, makes those who do so partners in the guilt. A man 
 who is capable of sitting for months together attending lectures 
 in a language of which he knew not a sentence, and make notes 
 of it at tlie same time, is surely a first-rate genius. The Pro- 
 fessors could not suspect that such a case could possibly happen ; 
 but if it is proved to have happened, will it turn most to the cre- 
 dit of those who have been imposed upon to conceal or to dis- 
 claim the imposition ? 
 
 I have wrote to Dr Monro on the same subject, and likewise 
 to Dr Hope. You will please to confer together, and consult 
 the credit of our Alma Mater. I have wrote to a gentleman of 
 Cambridge to procure me, if he can, the usual form of their sus- 
 pensions, and on what occasions they are principally issued. 
 
 I have enclosed a letter from Dr Watson in London, which I 
 received yesterday, together with a very polite letter from the 
 man in the world, except Leeds, from whom I should least of 
 all have expected it. Sir William Browne, mentioning the mo- 
 tives that induced him to propose me to the College as a Fellow, 
 which were much in my favour, so that his motion, I believe, 
 was honourably intended, though it miscarried. I am very glad 
 it did so ; for if they would not have given me my proper rank 
 and standing I would not have entered the College. I am 
 much better pleased to remain where I am ; and I will endea- 
 vour to act in such a manner as to afford no disgrace to the 
 corps I am in, nor the corps itself to the profession. 
 
 At leisure moments, and they have been extremely scarce 
 with me, I have looked over your Pharmacopoeia, and taken 
 more liberties in retrenching than perhaps I ought. I could 
 wish to have had more time, and been at liome, but these are 
 impracticable. I have wrote three or four hours almost every 
 day since I came down, for other people not myself. MSS. on 
 one subject or other were put into my hands, by my friends 
 when I left London, and some I have been obliged to rebuild 
 from the foundations. 
 
 As I received the request to look over the Pharmacopfeia from 
 Dr Boswell, I could not refuse sending him the short notes I 
 had made, which I have sent in a packet addressed to him, to 
 my brother's care.
 
 656 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Be kind enough to make my acknowledgements to the gen- 
 tlemen of the Medical Society for their very polite letter. I 
 hope to acknowledge it myself when I return to London. I am, 
 with great respect, Dr CuUen's assured friend, 
 
 John Fothehgill." 
 
 Dr FOTHEHGILL tO Dr CULLEN. 
 
 " LoxDON, 15^^ October 1771- 
 * * * * 
 
 My brother succeeded so well as to get an ample affidavit 
 from J. Brown, which, with the evidence I have obtained 
 from other quarters, will, I hope, enable me to justify myself, 
 whether my opponent thinks fit to lead me into Westminster 
 Hall or to bring the matter again before our own people, from 
 whom I have every thing just and reasonable to expect. And 
 it is not more to be wondered at that lie prepossessed three 
 weak, though honest, men in his favour so strongly as to ren- 
 der them deaf to all reason or force of evidence, than that he 
 should have had art enough to obtain a degree from gentlemen 
 so eminent for their knowledge and abilities. 
 
 It hurts me not a little that the affair has already been so 
 widely published. But the circumstances unfortunately render- 
 ed it impossible to conceal it. The gross ignorance of Leeds, 
 the injustice done me on his account, the partial decision in his 
 favour, all contributed to interest a multitude of persons in the 
 event. The University will be the greatest sufferer. Should 
 a professor of any eminence appear at Leyden, the Americans 
 would flock thither, and others would follow them. This may 
 be thought to be the language of resentment : it is not. Experi- 
 ence will demonstrate the reality of this suggestion. As I have 
 not time to write at present to Drs Hope or Monro, or any 
 other professor, be pleased to acquaint them, as occasion may 
 offer, with the account I have given of the two young men who 
 are the bearers of this, and introduce them as they may appear 
 worthy. 
 
 The College here, I find, have enacted some new by-laws, not 
 
 3
 
 COliRESPONDENCE WITH Dll lOTHERGII.L. 657 
 
 upon the whole more liberal than the former. A person who 
 has studied at any University two years, may, if found properly 
 qualified, be admitted a licentiate. After standing on this list 
 seven years, he may offer himself as a candidate to become a 
 Fellow of the College. He must then be examined in Greek, 
 ad aperturam libri, in Hippocrates, Galen, and Aretaeus, besides 
 his other exercises ; and, after all, be ballotted for. No person 
 practising midwifery is to be admitted, be his qualifications 
 what they may. 
 
 We shall take no steps at present, but endeavour to keep our- 
 selves together, and watch oj^portunity. 
 
 Perhaps it may not be improper just to mention, that I pro- 
 cured inquiry to be made in the University of Cambridge, whe- 
 ther they ever degraded any graduate, on what account, and in 
 what manner. I find they have degraded several, but chiefly on 
 account of immorality, or flagrant misbehaviour, or infidelity : 
 none on the account of fraudulently obtaining a degree. It may, 
 however, be worth while to consider if a degradation may not 
 be justly founded on the legal proof being adduced that Leeds's 
 exercises were not performed by himself, which he had pro- 
 duced to you as his own ; for he did not perform any one of those 
 exercises which he exhibited. But I shall say no more on this 
 subject than that the University is more concerned in it than they 
 are aware of. Whether he is degraded or not, my defence is 
 the same. Believe me to be, with great respect, Dr CuUen's, 
 and all the Professors', assured friend, 
 
 J. FOTHERGILL." 
 
 The following is the letter from Dr Watson alluded to by 
 Dr Fothergill, in his first communication to Dr Cullen. 
 
 Dr William Watson to Dr Fothergill. 
 
 " Dear Sir, London-, 10//^ September I77I. 
 
 I wrote to you a few days since to inform you of what I 
 had learned of the transactions at the College of Physicians on 
 
 vol.. I. r t
 
 658 APPENDIX. 
 
 that day, since which, I have had more information on that sub- 
 ject ; and as I have reason to believe that you will not be dis- 
 pleased to be acquainted with the events of that day, I send you 
 this further account. I mentioned to you that, in the interval 
 between the repealing the old statutes and enacting the new 
 ones, Drs Webb jnnior, Donald Monro, Grieve, and Schomberg, 
 were elected Fellows. This was not done without much grum- 
 bling from some of the Fellows present. Dr Reilham said, he 
 had heard of a drag-net to bring in Licentiates ; that he now saw 
 there was a drag-net for Fellows. Dr Warren proposed Dr 
 Webb, and Dr John Monro his old friend Schomberg. I am not 
 certain who proposed the others. To the surprise of every one 
 present, Sir William Browne rose and proposed you, and, as I 
 am told, said handsome things of Dr Fothergill. A?i propter in- 
 vidiamy wi propter amicitiam amhigitur. In his speech or manner 
 there seemed nothing ironical ; it was rather, as Dr Heberden 
 says, in serious sadness. As you are an arch-rebel, this was 
 not expected, and every body stared. However, after a consi- 
 derable pause, both Dr Heberden and Sir John Pringle rose, 
 and seconded Sir William's motion. Upon the ballot there were 
 thirteen negatives and nine affirmatives. Dr Reeve was obliged 
 to go away before this unexpected vote and some others were 
 put, otherwise, he told me, you would have had ten. Among 
 others, I know Dr Thomlinson voted for you. Your defeat, 
 however, was glorious to you, in having so many votes, even 
 when the resentment occasioned by the lawsuit was not subsided, 
 and your sins were fresh. Had the ballot determined in your fa- 
 vour, Dr Heberden told me that he intended then to have pro- 
 posed me, and mentioned to his neighbour to have seconded 
 him ; but, upon seeing the sense of the Fellows towards rebels, 
 he declined it. 
 
 The new statutes are now, for the time at least, completed, 
 and are, upon the whole, more liberal than I could have expect- 
 ed, considering the number of Fellows there are who were for 
 making no relaxation in their former powers. The necessity of 
 obtaining degrees from Oxford and Cambridge is now at an end, 
 an admissibility to licentiates of seven years' standing, thougli
 
 MEDICAL EDUCATION. <^59 
 
 under the new Greek examination^ being granted. But from 
 these are to be excepted men-mid wives, who, by these new sta- 
 tutes, can never be candidates for the fellowship ; and so are phy- 
 sicians practising as apothecaries, who, even if admitted fellows, 
 are liable thereby to be expelled. I have seen none of the men- 
 midwives since this determination, but I know it must be highly 
 disagreeable to them. This lessens vastly the number of at pre- 
 sent admissible licentiates, as all below Dr Garth shore are less 
 than seven years in standing. 
 
 The statute precluding any one's being examined as a licen- 
 tiate without having been two years at some University, pre- 
 vious to his taking his degrees, arose originally from Sir John 
 Pringle. He did it to prevent the scandalous prostitution of 
 some of the Scotch Universities, and, therefore, moved that the 
 graduates should have been resident at least one year before 
 they should offer themselves to be examined. Dr Thomas 
 moved for two, and Sir William Brown for four, years' resi- 
 dence. The enemies to relaxation all joined in forwarding Sir 
 John Pringle's motion, and afterwards Dr Thomas's, and it was 
 carried for Dr Thomas's. He spoke a great while upon the 
 subject, and mentioned that both the Court of King's Bench 
 and the Licentiates called upon them for it. The former had, 
 he said, desired that a medical education should be insisted on, 
 and had declared that though the College had been careful in 
 the admission of Fellows, they were shamefully negligent in that 
 of Licentiates, and that the Licentiates themselves w^ere ashamed 
 of many of their brethren, and thought them brought there to 
 disgrace them. This, therefore, though with many dissentient 
 votes on the side of our friends, has been made, and is now, a 
 statute. 
 
 I must not forget, that when the statute to prevent the admis- 
 sion of men-midwives to be Fellows was forming. Sir Jolin 
 Pringle moved, that the man-midwife to the person of the Queen 
 should be excepted ; but whether or no Dr Hunter's sins were 
 too many to be pardoned at present, certain it is the motion was 
 rejected by a great majority. 
 
 Dr Higgins has, in my opinion, been, not in a slight degree,
 
 660 APPENDIX. 
 
 the occasion of the College so soon finishing these statutes. He 
 was to have his answer on Michaelmas day ; and now there is a 
 statute directly against him. They will not examine him as a 
 candidate for the fellowship, as having no degree from our Uni- 
 versities, and not being a licentiate of seven years' standing. 
 He must be content to be examined as a licentiate or not at all. 
 He hardly, I should think, would venture singly on a lawsuit 
 with the College on this ground." 
 
 Long previous to the date of the transactions referred to in 
 these letters, Dr Cullen's attention had been directed to the prac- 
 tice pursued by some of the Scotch Universities, of conferring 
 medical degrees in absence, by the following letter, addressed to 
 him while at Glasgow, by his friend Dr William Hunter. 
 
 Dr Hunter to Dr Cullen. 
 
 a Dear Sir, London, 1st October 1754. 
 
 I understand that my friend Mr Patoun ajjplies to you 
 at this time for his degree of Doctor in Physic, and that you re- 
 quire of him certificates of his medical studies. I therefore 
 take this opportunity of acquainting you, that he has done me 
 the honour of a diligent attendance upon my anatomical lectures ; 
 and I should say a good deal more about him, if I did not know 
 that other certificates have been sent with this, and that he is 
 particularly known to you and your brother professors. 
 
 Yom* great caution in conferring degrees gives me the high- 
 est pleasure, as I have a regard for the honour of my country 
 in general, and in particular for the College of Glasgow. You 
 no doubt know how contemptuously the College of Physicians 
 here have treated all Scotch degrees indiscriminately. You 
 must have heard what eff*orts have been made, and are now 
 making, by our countrymen in this place to support the honour 
 of our Universities ; and you can hardly be ignorant that, not- 
 withstanding this, the professors of one Scotch University at 
 least, shamefully prostitute their degrees still to any one who
 
 iNIEDICAL EDUCATION. 661 
 
 can pay tliem a small sum of money, and procure, perhaps pur- 
 chase, a recommendation from some necessitous doctor. There 
 is something so mean, and so unbecoming gentlemen in this, 
 that I dare not say any thing further upon it, for fear of writing 
 with unbecoming warmth. I will rather take the agreeable side, 
 and thank you and the College of Glasgow for acting so oppo- 
 site a part. 1 have had a long conversation with Dr Ross and 
 Dr Clephane of St George's Hospital, with Dr Pitcairn of St 
 Bartholomew's, with Dr Macgie of Guy's, and some other Scotch 
 physicians of eminence in London, who are all greatly pleased 
 to hear of your circumspection, and who desire me in their 
 name to thank you and the College of Glasgow on this occa- 
 sion. 
 
 But, after all, we are very inclinable to think that the prosti- 
 tution of degrees, which we have so much reason to complain 
 of, and which is indeed sometimes with justice, but often insi- 
 diously, thrown out against all Scotch graduates here, does not 
 appear in that light to the authors of this evil (I mean, to say 
 it frankly, the gentlemen of Aberdeen and St Andrew's), who 
 may be influenced by good nature, and abused by some people 
 here, who pass by the name of Brokers of Scotch Degrees. We 
 therefore wish that you would be so kind as to co-operate with 
 us, to bring about, if possible, some general resolution of the 
 Universities in Scotland with regard to degrees. You may be 
 assured that our mutual interests and reputation are equally 
 concerned in this affair. For whatever will serve to remove 
 that load of reproach which the graduates of Scotland are op- 
 pressed with in the metropolis, as it will open to them a fairer 
 road to credit and honour in their profession, so it must reflect 
 back proportionable credit and honour to the several soiu'ces of 
 their education. 
 
 I am. Deal' Doctor, always most sincerely yours, 
 
 William Huxtek."
 
 662 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTE W, page 493. 
 
 Dr Barlow, in observing that " a reunion of surgery with 
 pliysic, though called for by every dictate of experience and 
 common sense, has yet never been attempted," remarks : " For 
 this, many causes may be assigned. The profession has insen- 
 sibly settled into subdivisions, which, sanctioned by time, and 
 interwoven with public habits and prejudices, acquired a prescrip- 
 tive authority, which it would have been deemed almost sacri- 
 legious to dispute. It was supported, therefore, in its forced and 
 unnatural constitution, by all who hold mere antiquity in reve- 
 rence ; and they who are thus influenced are ever a numerous 
 body. More inquiring minds, deluded by the advantages result- 
 ing from the division of labour in the mechanical arts, were mis- 
 led into a persuasion that the distinctions in physic must have 
 sprung from some similar influence, and gratuitously admitted 
 what they were at no pains to investigate. Had they traced 
 these distinctions in their causes and in their effects, they would 
 soon have discovered that neither evinced the slightest connexion 
 with the principle which liad dazzled their imaginations. In no 
 inherent necessity for subdivision did these distinctions arise ; 
 no public or professional good has been attained by their main- 
 tenance ; on the contrary, it can be clearly shewn that their ex- 
 istence has been prejudicial both to the public welfare and to 
 the progress of science, and that it has been solely owing to the 
 public will, exercised in defiance of corporate rights and legis- 
 lative prohibitions, that injury far more signal has not resulted *." 
 
 The practical impossibility of maintaining a broad line of 
 separation between the different departments of the healing art, 
 was very fully recognized by the House of Lords so long ago as 
 the year 1708. In an action raised by the College of Physicians 
 against an apothecary, for furnishing a patient with advice and 
 medicines, the Court of Queen's Bench had determined that " it is 
 the sole province of the physician to judge of the disease and its 
 
 * Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, No. xxviii. p. 337-
 
 MEDICAL EDUCATION. 663 
 
 nature, and of the constitution of the patient, &c. to judge of the 
 fittest and present remedy for the disease, and to direct and 
 order its application ; and that the proper business of an apothe- 
 cary is to make up and compound, or prepare, the prescriptions 
 of the doctor, pursuant to his directions. In this decision it has 
 been remarked, the Judges were unanimous, for the law was 
 clear; whether they thought it good or bad, they had no option. 
 But the jury, we are told, would have given a verdict in favour 
 of the apothecaries, but for the charge from the bench. Whether 
 the House of Lords, who felt authorised to judge according to 
 equity and justice, rather than the strict letter of the law, saw the 
 matter in its true light, and considered it a hardship that the 
 public, whilst they were prevented by the college monopoly from 
 having a sufficient supply of medical advice from the usual and 
 ordinary sources, should also have all other sources of medical 
 aid shut against tliem ; or whether they were convinced by the 
 statements of the apothecaries, into whose hands nine-tenths of 
 the practice of physic had long actually fallen ; certain it is, that 
 they reversed, and very properly reversed (since they did not 
 think fit, which would have been still better, to abolish the college 
 monopoly) the judgment of the court of Queen's Bench *." 
 
 NOTE X, page 494. 
 
 The detail of the successive prosecutions raised by the College 
 of Physicians in London against graduates of universities, sur- 
 geons, apothecaries, and unlicensed empirics, for trespassing on 
 their privileges, by practising physic in London, or within seven 
 miles ; and of their contests with their own licentiates respect- 
 ing their rights to participate in the privileges of the Corpora- 
 tion, presents a melancholy record of ignoble compromises, of 
 inglorious defeats, and of victories, if possible, still more inglo- 
 rious. Of the earlier of these prosecutions it has been justly re- 
 marked, that " unauthorised practitioners were deemed worthy 
 
 * Exposition of the State of the Medical Profession in tlie British Do- 
 minions; 8vo. London, 182G, p. 112.
 
 664 APPENDIX. 
 
 of punishment or otherwise, not as they killed or cured his 
 Majesty's subjects, but as they were insolent or humble to the 
 College." " In cases in which there ought to have been only pro- 
 secutions for murder, supposing the informations laid to have 
 been true, fine, submission, and the intercession of persons of 
 quality, were deemed sufficient satisfaction and atonement ;" and 
 " a royal recommendation was, with respect to medical compe- 
 tency, more than equivalent to a diploma from a university*." 
 And in what, it may be asked, have all these prosecutions or 
 persecutions ended? in this, that, in the present day, the quacks 
 are unmolested by the College, and never were so few in num- 
 ber ; the apothecaries have become, in a very considerable de- 
 gree, the patrons of the fellows and licentiates of that body, and 
 the surgeons their rivals in the practice of physic ; and it is only 
 from University graduates that the College can now pretend to 
 demand homage and tribute. 
 
 NOTE Y, page 504. 
 
 Ix another introductory lecture to his Course on Chemistry, Dr 
 Cullen observed to the same purpose : — " The knowledge of the 
 structure of our own bodies cannot fail to excite our curiosity. 
 The study of the human economy is certainly to us one of the most 
 interesting. But, further, if any part of the knowledge of nature 
 can engage a young man's attention, the study of medicine, which 
 leads to the study of all nature, must certainly attach him very 
 strongly. That physic leads to the study of all nature, a few 
 obvious considerations will immediately discover to you. It is 
 plain that the human economy cannot be well understood, unless 
 we study also that of other animals. The history of animals, 
 therefore, becomes necessarily a part of the study of physic. 
 Again, the remedies of diseases are taken from a great A^ariety 
 of vegetable and mineral substances. Those fit to be employed 
 must be accurately known and carefully distinguished, and this 
 necessarily leads to the general history of all vegetables and im- 
 
 * Exposition, (Sec pp. 41, 43, and 44.
 
 MEDICAL EDUCATION, &c. 665 
 
 nerals. The history of all nature, therefore, is necessary to a 
 physician. This history is certainly entertaining, but perhaps not 
 enough so for a student of medicine. Simple facts, or even a 
 variety of objects, may not be sufficiently engaging to an active 
 mind, which always requires the exercise of speculation. But 
 for such also, physic furnishes sufficient employment. A phy- 
 sician must not be content with distinguishing the productions 
 of nature ; he must aim also at finding the causes of most of the 
 phenomena in the natural world. He must, in short, carefully 
 study the principles of natural philosophy, which afford employ- 
 ment, and will furnish entertainment also for the most specula- 
 tive mind. To come a little nearer to our purpose, natural phi- 
 losophy consists of two parts, the one of which explains the phe- 
 nomena depending on the general properties of matter, and is 
 called the mathematical or mechanical part of natural philosophy. 
 Tlie other part explains the phenomena depending on the parti- 
 cular properties of bodies, and is called the chemical branch of 
 natural philosophy. The mechanical philosophy is sufficiently 
 engaging, by the pleasure it affords and the advantages it pro- 
 mises. It seems, however, at present, to be less attended to by 
 students of physic than it deserves. It would be easy for me to 
 convince you that it is very necessary for a physician, but this 
 is not so much my business here as to say that the chemical phi- 
 losophy is still more so, and to say likewise, that it is this neces- 
 sary part of physic that is also one of the most entertaining." 
 
 , NOTE Z, page 505. 
 
 To effectuate the important object of obliging medical stu- 
 dents to enter upon the different branches of their professional 
 education in what may be called a natural order of succession, — 
 without extending the course of medical study to a period of six 
 or seven years, — would seem to require the adoption in this 
 country of the practice pursued in many of the Continental 
 Universities of having two sessions of five months' duration in 
 the course of the year. The two intervening months would af- 
 VOL. I. U U
 
 666 APPENDIX. 
 
 ford ample time to tiie students for relaxation ; and, if neces- 
 sary for the accommodation of the professors, the order of the 
 classes might probably be arranged in such a way that no pro- 
 fessor would be obliged, unless he were so inclined, to lecture 
 during more than one session in the year. 
 
 During the Jirst session, the student might be instructed in 
 the Elements of Chemistry and in Descriptive Anatomy ; during 
 the second, in the Physiology of the Human Economy and in 
 the Natural History of the three kingdoms, Zoology, Botany, 
 and Mineralogy ; during the third, in General Pathology and 
 in Practical Anatomy and Chemistry ; during the fourth, in 
 Therapeutics, or Materia Medica, and in . Surgery, with a se- 
 cond course of Descriptive Anatomy ; during the Jifth, in the 
 Practice of Physic and in Clinical Surgery ; during the sivth, 
 in Midwifery and Clinical Medicine ; and, duiing the seventh and 
 last, in Medical Jurisprudence, with a repetition of the Practice 
 of Physic and Clinical Medicine. This arrangement would leave 
 ample room for attendance, at the proper periods, op. Courses of 
 Lectures on Logic, Natural Philosophy, and Moral Philosophy, 
 where these lectures had not been previously followed, as well 
 as for a repetition of attendance on any of the medical classes, 
 according as inclination or occasion for it miglit suggest. 
 
 NOTE A A, page 508. 
 
 The intelligent reader cannot fail to remark hov/ wide a dif- 
 ference exists in the spirit in which Dr Chalmers urges his ar- 
 guments in favour of improving the general education of the 
 members of the learned professions, and that in which the re- 
 striction of the fellowship of the College of Physicians in Lon- 
 don to graduates of the English Universities is vindicated by one 
 of their own members. " It has been urged," says Dr Paris *, 
 " that the education of a physician is thus rendered materially 
 and unnecessarily expensive ; and that the delay of twelve years, 
 which are required for the full completion of the highest medical 
 
 * Medical Jurisprudence, vol. i. p. 5.
 
 MEDICAL EDUCATION, &c. 667 
 
 degree, proves another great and vexatious hardship. To all 
 this we reply, that we should politically resist any measure that 
 had the least tendency to divest medical education of its pecuni- 
 ary sacrifices, and to open the temple to a crowd of needy and 
 half-educated adventurers." Any comment on this observation 
 seems altogether superfluous. 
 
 NOTE B B, page 513. 
 
 The Commissioners for Visiting the Universities and Colleges 
 of Scotland seem to have felt that the practice of the examina- 
 tion of candidates for medical degrees being conducted by their 
 Teachers, is objectionable in point of principle, but to have been 
 deterred from proposing to transfer this duty to Examiners spe- 
 cially appointed for the purpose, by some supposed " serious 
 difficulties arising from the peculiarities of the subject, and the 
 great opposition of sentiment apt to arise in medical discussions." 
 
 The inexpediency of intrusting the power of granting licences 
 to practise the healing art, to Colleges or public Bodies having a 
 pecuniary interest in the number granted, seems to have been felt 
 by the House of Commons in 1818, when they threw out a bill 
 introduced by Mr Courtenay, for the better regulation of Surgery 
 throughout the United Kingdom, one of the provisions of which 
 was, that no one should practise surgery, without a testimonial 
 from some of the regular colleges of the United Kingdom. On 
 that occasion Mr, now Sir Robert, Peel, is reported to have " de- 
 clared himself inimical to the principle of the bill itself, for, if it 
 were sufficient for a party merely to appear before a certain Board, 
 in order to procure a license or diploma, on payment of a sum of 
 money, it was to be feared that the practice would ultimately de- 
 generate into one of considerable abuse. It was natural to suppose 
 that a competition would soon be entered into between the several 
 Bodies who had a power to grant licences, for the purpose of 
 procuring the greatest quantity of fees. The more testimonials 
 they granted the greater would be their profit. It would evi- 
 dently be to their advantage to grant as many as possible, and
 
 668 APPENDIX. 
 
 therefore it appeared to him, that, unless they had some other 
 test of ability beyond a mere diploma, a great abuse would be 
 generated." " He very much feared that the fees required for 
 the diploma would alone be looked to, and that the examination 
 would become a mere formality." 
 
 In illustration of the inexpediency of conferring an exclusive 
 power of licensing medical practitioners for a particular district 
 on those already settled in that district, and having necessarily 
 an interest in excluding rival candidates for public favour, it has 
 been remarked by Dr Barlow, that " the College of Physicians 
 of London deals very differently with candidates for admission, 
 according as they announce their intention of practising in Lon- 
 don or the provinces ; candidates for provincial practice, or ex- 
 tra-licentiates, being permitted to qualify, by undergoing a very 
 lenient trial indeed, and paying an inconsiderable fee, while li- 
 centiates, who aspire to practise in the capital, are tried by much 
 severer tests, and subjected to higher fines. Whence this dif- 
 ference arises, or why the lives of his Majesty's liege subjects 
 are to be deemed more precious in the city of London than 
 throughout the rest of the kingdom, I leave to the College of 
 Physicians to explain. To me the fact appears to admit of no 
 second interpretation, and seems well calculated to throw light 
 on the policy which a corporation spirit, pursuing its own ends, 
 unchecked by the higher considerations of natural equity, and 
 regard for the welfare of the community, is ever prone to." — 
 Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, xiv. 16. 
 
 NOTE C C, page 518. 
 
 The expediency of separating, wherever this is possible, the 
 emoluments derived from the practice of tlie medical profession 
 from profits on the prescription of drugs, has been ably insisted 
 on by the writer of an article in the Edinburgh Medical and 
 Surgical Joui-nal, entitled ' Observations on Medical Legisla- 
 tion' (vol. XIV. p. 190.) 
 
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