Volume 2

Elements of anatomy / by Jones Quain.

  • Jones Quain
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of anatomy / by Jones Quain. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/966
    careful to place facts and phenomena in the exact order of their occurrence, with a view to determine the invariable antecedent to any event the cause of which we seek to ascertain. So far it suffices for the purpose for which it has been introduced in this place. But, though invariably antecedence is a neces- sary ingredient in causation, there is no sufficient reason for contending that it constitutes its sole essence. We cannot divest ourselves: of the impres- sion that there is some connexion between the conse- quent and antecedent, more effective than that which is implied in mere sequence. When I remove the inkstand before me from one part of the table to another, or push the table on which I write from one side of the room to the opposite, I am conscious of an effort, and of the possession of a power to produce the removal in both cases. Hence, when I observe any marked change or particular result, I infer the existence of some power or influence which has been exerted to produce it. When vomiting follows the administration of a few grains of emetic tartar—when an intermittent fever ceases after a dose of quinine, we cannot but ascribe to these substances some quality or property from the influence of which the results follow. : It will be asked, Is there anything so recondite in medicine as to require an attention to the principles of the inductive philosophy? Or, is it to be supposed that, when hearing the report of a case, and resolving upon a plan for its treatment, we are to make an application to the doctrine of cause and effect? Is not medicine a science of observation? Cannot we use our eyes and ears, observe what is presented to
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