An inaugural dissertation on absorption : submitted to the examination of the Rev. John Ewing, S.T.P. provost ; the trustees and medical faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, for the degree of Doctor of Medicine ; on the 31st of May, 1800 / by John Baptiste Clement Rousseau, of Hispaniola.

  • Rousseau, John Baptiste Clement
Date:
1800
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural dissertation on absorption : submitted to the examination of the Rev. John Ewing, S.T.P. provost ; the trustees and medical faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, for the degree of Doctor of Medicine ; on the 31st of May, 1800 / by John Baptiste Clement Rousseau, of Hispaniola. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ( io )] After confulting feveral authors who have written upon this fubject, I found that they have relied too much upon one another. Some of them have done but little clfe than to repeat what had been faid before. Some others have, it is true, publifhed the rcfult of their ex- periments, but without ?ny detail of the manner in which thofe experiments have been performed. Thus, a fha- dow of doubt is always left in the mind of the reader, and the exactnefs of the experiments queftioned. It is impofiible to trace the origin of errors, and to difcover whether, or how the experimenter has been deceived : his labour is a mere lofs to pofterity, and it can never be compared with that of others. Hence a variety of re- fults from the fame experiments; errors are perpetuated, and confidence deftroyed. It is the fate of the human mind to be flattered with what favours its own opinion. Men are apt to believe afTertions which coincide with their own principles, and and are too prompt to eftablifli as axioms, fuch facts as fhould only be fubmitted for inveftigation. Befides, fo numerous and various are the caufes by which nature performs her operations, that we fliould conftantly be on our guard againft error. Thefe caufes are in a conftant activity, but they cannot act upon bodies which are not in that fphere of activity. Thofe con- comitant caufes, that fubmit bodies to that fphere of activity, are only pre-difpofing caufes, and are inert by themfelves. The true or efficient caufe, is the one to be attended to, but ii is not often eafily found out. If the inquiry into the nature of caufes meets with fo many difficulties, the afcertaining of their effects is