terms. Controversy can be of little service to
science. If there be a difference of opinion, let us
adopt the advice of Celsus:—“ Quum hsec per
multa volumina, perque magnse contentionis
disputationes, a medicis ssepe tractata sint atque
tractentur, subjiciendum quse proxima vero videri
possint; quod in plurimis contentionibus depre-
hendere licet, sine ambitione verurn scrutantibus ;
perinde ut in hac ipsa re.” 1
In quoting the opinion of other authors, I think
it should always be in their own words. I have
uniformly observed this rule in the following
pages. From the frequent misconstruction of the
meaning of an author without this precaution, I
would consider this as a seventh and final principle
of treating physiology.
Such are the principles to be adopted in our
investigations and disquisitions in physiology. If
they be carefully observed, this science will be
divested of the charges—hitherto not undeserved—
of cruelty and of uncertainty; and its beauty and
importance will be recognized together. What
an anomaly it must appear hereafter, that, in the
early part of the nineteenth century, that department
of physic which teacher the nature of the
functions in the animal economy, was not recognized
as an essential separate branch of the study
of physic and surgery, in the schools of this
metropolis !