Dr. Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689): his life and original writings / [edited by] Kenneth Dewhurst.

  • Thomas Sydenham
Date:
1966
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Dr. Thomas Sydenham (1624-1689): his life and original writings / [edited by] Kenneth Dewhurst. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    different from what hitherto seems to have beene generally followed by most of those who have beene soe kinde as to propagate the knowledge of physick and leave the rules of practise to posteryty, 1 as will appear to any one who shall carefully peruse their wrightings, wherein yet they have very much obleiged posteryty, and they are not to be blamed that they did that which is very agreeable to the nature of mans understanding, which not contenting its self to observe the operation of nature and the event of things, is very inquisitive after their cause, and very restlesse and unquiet till, in those things which it is conversant about, it has framed to its self some hypothesis and laid a foundation whereon to establish all its reasonings. If therefor the Learned men of former ages imploid a great part of their time and thoughts in searching out the hidden causes of distempers, were curious in imagining the secret workmanship of nature and the severall unperceptible tools wherwith she wrought, and puting all these phansies togeather fashioned to themselves systems and hypotheses, is noe more to be wondered at or censured, then that they accommodated them selves to the fashion of their times and countrys, and soe far complied with their most naturall inclinations, as to desire to have some basis to rest their thoughts upon and some grounds to guide them in the practise of their art, their being busy and subtile in disputing upon alloud principles was but to be imploid in the way of fame and reputation and the learning valued in that age, and that their practise extended noe farther then the sacred principles they beleived in would permit is noe more to be admired then that we finde noe fair and lasting fabriques left to us by our ancestors upon narrow and unsound foundations. I would not be thought here to censure the learned authors of former times, or disowne the advantages they have left to posterity. To them we owe a great number of excellent observations and severall ingenious discourses, and there is not any one rule of practise founded upon unbiassed observation which I do not receive and sub mitt to with veneration and acknowledgment: yet I think I may confidently affirme, that those hypothesis which tied the long and elabor ate discourses of the ancientts, and suffered not their enquirys to extend them selves any farther then how the phenomena of diseases might be explaind by these doctrines and the rules of practise accommodated 1 On the page facing there is this Latin quotation: Verum ego hanc vim esse intelligo in praeceptis omnibus, non ut ea secuti oratores eloquentiae laudem sint adepti, sed quae sua sponte homines eloquentes facerent ea quosdam observasse atque in artem redigisse; non eloquentiam ex artificio sed artificium ex eloquentia natum. Cic. de oratore. 1. i. c. 6. [But to my thinking the virtue in all rules is, not that orators by following them have won a reputation for eloquence, but that certain persons have noted and reduced to an art the doings of men who were naturally eloquent; eloquence is not the offspring of the art, but the art of eloquence.]