Appendix : Containing, The new method of inoculating for the small-pox : delivered in a lecture in the University of Pennsylvania, on the 20th of February 1781 / by Benjamin Rush.

  • Rush Benjamin, 1746-1813.
Date:
1789
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Appendix : Containing, The new method of inoculating for the small-pox : delivered in a lecture in the University of Pennsylvania, on the 20th of February 1781 / by Benjamin Rush. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    II. Permit me to recommend to you further, the fiudy of the anatomy (it I may be allowed the expref- fion) of the human mind, commonly called metaphy- fics. The reciprocal influence of the body and mind upon each other, can only be ascertained by an accu- rate knowledge of the faculties of the mind, and of their various modes of combination and a£Hon. It is the duty of phyficians to affert their prerogative, and to refcue the mental fcience from the ufurpations of fchoolmen and divines. It can only be perfefted by the aid and difcoveries of medicine. The authors I would recommend to you upon metaphyfics, are, But- ler, Locke, Hartly Reid, and Beattie. Thefe ingenious writers haye cleared this fublime fcience of its technical rubbifh, and rendered it both intelligible a^td ufefuh III. Do not confine your ftudies and attention only to extraordinary cafes. The molt frequent outlets of human life are through the channels of common difeafes. A late profelTor in the college of Glafgow, when a ftudent in one of the London hofpitals, was obferved to be bufy in examining the pulfe of a patient in a fever, while all his fellow fludents were employed in examining with uncommon attention the cafe pf a child with two heads that had juft been brought into the hofpital. Upon being condemned by his compani- ons for neg]e£fing to profit by the examination of fo new a cafe, he anfwered, “ I never expett in the whole courfe of my life to fee, or hear, of another child with two heads ; but I expeft to meet with fevers in my pra£lice, every day of my life.” This fenftble anfwer admits of extenfive application tp the advancement of medicine. Could we eradicate fevers only from our bills of mortality, how much more fliould wre add to the population and happinefs of our country, than by difcovering remedies for polypi and aneurifms ? IV. Let «