powers act, and the parts they perform in this important process, are subjects deserving the minutest attention, and of which to the present time we may be regarded as in ignorance. All we appear to know upon the subject seems to be that we have in the blood a peculiar fluid which contains the elements from which the various secretions, composing the constituents of the human body, can be eliminated-these secretions, however, are not to be detected, as existing in the blood, agreeably to Haller's idea; nor can we see clearly how they can be produced from it: we reasonably, therefore suppose, that partly by mechanical means, and partly by chemical relations, under the influence of the vital or nervous system, these changes are affected, and by which the secretions are formed, and substances identical with those composing the body are generated. If the mechanical hypothesis is unable satisfactorily to account for the operations of the animal system in health, equally defective must it be to the explanation of the various diseases to which it is subject. These views are now exploded; and it is not necessary to pursue the matter further; but it will probably amuse some of my readers, who may not be aware of the extent to which these opinions were carried, to know that the same process of reasoning was applied even to the remedies proposed for the cure of disease. In the Philosophical Transactions (vols 24 & 26), there is actually a table constructed by Dr. Cockburn, in which are enumerated the different purgatives, emetics, &c., commonly employed, and in which the doses are severally adjusted by mathematical rules, and with mathematical precision, according to the age, the sex, and the constitution of the patient. The doses of the medicines are as the squares of the constitutions! Will it be believed that such a doctrine should have been seriously entertained in the 18th century? yet we find a writer (Dr. Balguy), in the "Edinburgh Medical Essays," patiently regarding the subject, and attempting to correct what he considered to be the errors in this table!! "You are to dose (says he) so much of the medicine as is spent on the stomach and intestines, directly as the constitution; and so much as is carried into the blood, as the square of the constitution, and the sum into the person's size is the quantity required." But, to return to Dr. Boerhaave:-he explained, or rather endeavoured to explain, the functions of the body in health, the phenomena of disease, their causes, symptoms, and even the action of medicines for their relief, according to the laws of statics and hydraulics, and also by the operations of chemistry. Happily for mankind his practice was little in conformity to those views— an observation of nature, and an extensive experience, taught him the means of subduing disease, and enabled him to meet the exigencies which occur in practice. His aphorisms would be almost unintelligible but for the commentary of Van Swieten, and would long since have been consigned to the "tomb of all the Capulets." They are formed upon gratuitous suppositions, for which no proofs can be offered. They were the product of great reading and patient research; but they wanted the experience and judgment only to be obtained at the bed-side of the patient. Boerhaave altogether appears on the field of medicine rather as a lecturer or teacher than a practitioner : his comprehensive mind-his acute discrimination-his order and precision -his erudition-all combined to render him most popular as an instructor; and his renown must be considered as based upon the duties of his professorships at Leyden, rather than upon any particular practical acumen. In 1709, Boerhaave succeeded Dr. Hotton as Professor of Medicine and Botany, and in his Inaugural Discourse Oratio quâ repurgatæ Medicinæ facilis asseritur simplicitas, he exposed the fallacies of the Alchemists and Metaphysicians, and endeavoured, notwithstanding his predeliction for the mechanical and chemical theories, to fix the science of medicine upon the basis of observation, experiment, and the inferences naturally deducible from such a method. His zeal manifested in the addition of plants connected with medicine, rendered it necessary to extend the Botanic Garden to twice its original dimensions; and such was the esteem felt for him and the admiration of his labours, that in 1714, he was placed at the head of the University, by receiving the appointment of Rector. In this year, he succeeded the celebrated Bidloo, as Professor of the Practice of Physic, and attended the University Hospital. At this period, Medicine and Surgery were regarded as one and indivisible, and Boerhaave was elected President of the Chirurgical College. In 1718, he succeeded Le Mort, as Professor of Chemistry, and gave an oration to prove that chemistry was capable of clearing itself from its own errors. This oration, De Chemia suos Errores expurgante, laid the foundation of his work on the Elements of Chemistry. In 1721, he delivered an elegant oration on the decease of Professor Bernard Albinus, the father of the celebrated Anatomist-De Vita et Obitu Clarrissimi Bernhardi Albini; and in 1725, he resigned the Rectorship of the University, and pronounced a Discourse on the Method of obtaining Certainty in Physics-Oratio de comparando certo in Physicis. This oration subjected him to some inconvenience; for having attacked the doctrine of Des Cartes, the Cartesians were incensed, and concluded that it was thereby intended to introduce Scepticism and Spinosism, and that the Church would be consequently endangered. The Governors of the University called upon Mr. Andala, of Franeker, who had put forth the charge, to retract the op probrium—this was immediately done, and the means intended to defame the Professor, served only to increase his reputation. In 1728, the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris elected him into their body, in the room of the Count Marsigli, deceased; and in 1730, he received a like honour, by admission into the Royal Society of London.* In 1729, he was, for the third time, afflicted with gout and severe illness, which compelled him to resign the Professorships of Botany and Chemistry. This act gave rise to an elegant declamation, in which he recounted several particulars of his life. He had been, for a second time (in 1730), chosen Rector of the University; and this, in February 1731, he was obliged to relinquish, as he was no longer able to perform the duties of the office. He delivered on this occasion an oration, De Honore Medici servitute. Van Royen succeeded him as Professor in the Practical College of Physic, and also in Botany, and Gaubius in Chemistry and the Institutes of Medicine. In 1737, he was attacked with difficulty of breathing, and he described his disease, in a letter addressed to Baron Bassand, physician to the Grand Duke of Etruria, which I here subjoin, as it affords an example of the simplicity and clearness of his Latin Epistolary style, and also displays the piety of its author : "Me prehendit vomica in Pulmone, spiritum præfocans ad levissimos corporis motus, a tribus abhinc mensibus quotidie increscens. Si causa augetur, opprimet, si vero rumpitur eventus incertus. Quicquid fiet, id omne continget ex arbitrio superioris numinis. Cur ego metuam, quid cupiam aliud! Adoremus DEUM! sufficit. Interim curo sedulo ut lectissima ad hibeam remedia, ut leniam et maturem, securus de exitu. Vixi ultra 68 annos, semperque lætus." He gave an account also of his case more in detail to Dr. Mortimer, Secretary of the Royal Society; and speaks of his immoderate fatness, promoted by his inability to take his accustomed exercise. He describes all the symptoms of hydrothorax, of which he died, on the 23rd September, 1738, being then nearly 70 years of age. The City of Leyden erected a handsome monument to his memory, in the Church of St. Peter, with this inscription : "SALUTIFERO BOERHAAVII GENIO SACRUM.” the Boerhaave enjoyed a very extensive practice, being called to all ranks of * It has been stated by Eloy, and also by the writers (Chaussier and Adelon) in the Biographie Universèlle, that Boerhaave was not earlier elected into the Royal Society through envy of Dr. Freind, the President. To refute this calumny, it is sufficient to observe, that Freind never was President of the Royal Society, and that all Foreign Members are proposed to the Society by the President and Council. ↑ See the accompanying plate. |