Some of our readers, especially the non-medical, may desire to know what
the following remarks, which appear to apply generally to the human
family, have to do with cattle doctoring. We answer them in the language
of Professor Percival. "The object of the veterinary art is not only
congenial with human medicine, but the very same paths which lead to a
knowledge of the diseases of man, lead also to a knowledge of those of
brutes. An accurate examination of the interior parts of their bodies; a
studious survey of the arrangement, structure, use, connection, and
relation of these parts, and of the laws by which they act; as also of
the nature and properties of the various food and other agents which the
earth so liberally provides for their support and cure,--these form, in
a great measure, the sound and sure foundation of all medical science,
whatever living individual animal be the subject of our consideration.
Whether we prescribe for a man, horse, dog, or cat, the laws of the
animal economy are the same; and one system, and that based upon
established facts, is to guide our practice in all.
"The theory of medicine in the human subject is the theory of medicine
in the brute; it is the application of that theory--the practice
alone--that is different.
"We might as well, in reference to the principles of each, attempt to
separate surgery from medicine, as insist that either of these arts, in
theory, is essentially different from the veterinary: every day's
experience serves to confirm this our belief, and in showing us how
often the diseases of animals arise from the same causes as those of a
man, exhibit the same indications, and require a similar method of cure.
"The science of medicine, like others, consists of a collection of facts
of a common and not a specific character. These, therefore, admit of
arrangement into different systems, according to the notions of
theorists, and the various species of philosophy, brought to bear on the
subject.
"The first regular system was founded by Hippocrates, about three
hundred and eighty years before Christ. It was founded upon _theory_,
and comprised the doctrines of the ancient dogmatic school. Its
pathology rested upon a supposed change of the humors of the body,
particularly the blood and bile; and here are the first elements of the
'_humoral pathology_.' Its remedial intentions were founded upon the
existence of the _'vis conservatrix' et 'medicatrix naturae;'_ and,
although often maintaining direct antipathic principles of action, it
rested mainly on physo-dynamic influence for the accomplishment of its
therapeutic purposes.
"About two hundred and ninety years before Christ, Philinus of Cos
introduced the ancient _Empiric System_, which was founded upon
_experience_ and _observation_. About one hundred years before the
Christian era, the _Methodic System_ was introduced by Asclepiades of
Bithynia. This system was got up with an avowed opposition to that of
Hippocrates, which was called 'a study of death.' Themison of Laodicea,
pupil of Asclepiades, gives an exposition of the fundamental principles
of the methodic system; and it seems that all physiological and
pathological action was considered to be dependent upon the _strictum_
and _laxum_ of the organic pores, or increased and decreased secretion,
and that all medicines act only on two principles, _i. e._, by inducing
contraction and relaxation, or an increase and decrease of the
secretions.
"It would seem that, in the first century of the Christian era, the
methodic system was divided into various subordinate ones--the
_Pneumatic_, _Episynthetic_, and _Eclectic_. The pneumatic system, which
was the most popular of the fragments of the methodic, was most indebted
to Athenaeus of Attalia for its successful introduction. This system
contemplated the doctrine of the Stoics, which recognized the existence
of a spirit governing and directing every thing, and which, when
offended, would produce disease; hence the name _pneumatic_. The
indications of cure were more _moral_ than _physical_. Fire, air, water,
&c., were not considered elements, but their properties--heat, cold,
dryness, moisture, &c.--were alone entitled to the name.
"In the second century, the _Galenic System_ was founded by Claudius
Galenus. This might, indeed, only be considered the revival of the
dogmatic or Hippocratean system. Galen professed to have selected what
he found valuable from all the prevailing systems, and has embraced the
elements and ruling spirit of the pneumatic school. Thus he explained
the operation of medicines by reference to their elementary
qualities,--that is, heat, cold, dryness, and moisture,--of each of
which he admitted four degrees. But he was governed by a prevailing
partiality for the system of Hippocrates, which, he states, was either
misunderstood or misrepresented by all theorists, ever since the
establishment of the empiric and methodic schools. He devoted most of
his time to commenting upon and embellishing it, and thus again
established a system, founded on reason, observation, and sound
induction, which maintained its character, without a rival, for more
than one thousand five hundred years.
"Near the middle of the sixteenth century, Paracelsus introduced the
_Chemical System_. This was strongly opposed by Bellonius and Riverius,
who maintained the doctrine of Hippocrates and Galen. But the
presumptuous Paracelsus burned, 'in solemn state,' the works of the
ancients; and being succeeded by the indefatigable Van Helmont, the
whole science of medicine was overwhelmed by the mysticism of the
alchemical doctrines and languages. The chemical theory, in the main,
rejects the influence, or even the existence, of the _vis medicatrix
naturae_, and explains all physiological, pathological, and therapeutic
operations upon abstract chemical laws. Thus chemical or inorganic
agents, and many of the most virulent poisons, as arsenic, mercury,
antimony, &c., were placed among the most prominent remedies.
"Soon after the introduction of the chemical system, medical science, if
we make one exception, became less eccentric, but much less marked for
the permanency of its systems. Boerhaave ingeniously blended most of the
prominent doctrines of the Galenic and chemical systems; and by an
application of several of the newly-developed natural sciences,
especially mathematics and natural philosophy, he led his successors
into a more even path and fixed method of investigation; for no more do
we find any abstract physical laws the sole basis of a system. But these
were the highest honors allowed Boerhaave; his particular system was
soon subverted by Stahl, who proved the supreme superintendence of an
immaterial, vital principle, corresponding to that pointed out by
Hippocrates. To this he ascribes intelligence, if not moral attributes.
Hoffman led Cullen into the path that brought him into the fruitful
field of _nervous pathology_ and solidism, which, with a modification of
Stahl's ruling _immaterial essence_, formed the groundwork of his
admired system.
"If, now, we except the eccentricities of Brown, comprising his system,
founded on the _sthenic_ and _asthenic_ diathesis, we find little
interruption to the general prevalence of the Cullenian system, till
nearly the present juncture. The succeeding authors, colleges, and
medical societies have only modified and amplified the general theory,
and regulated the practice into a comparative uniformity, which now
constitutes the popular _Allopathic System_. But notwithstanding the
comparatively settled state of medical science, it could not be supposed
that in this remarkable age of improvement, while all other liberal
sciences and arts are progressing as if prosecuted by superhuman agency,
medicine should fail to undergo corresponding improvement.
"Several new systems of medicine date themselves within the last forty
years, viz.: 1. The _Homaeopathic_, introduced by Hahnemann, and founded
upon the principle, _similia similibus curantur_. 2. The _Botanic_,
established by a new class of medical philosophers, within the last
twenty years. 3. The _Eclectic_, corresponding, in its essential
doctrines, with the ancient eclectic system."