himself to his lectures, which were copious and highly interesting. In pathology, or rather in nosology, by which latter term is meant the systematic arrangement and precise definition of diseases, his merits are very considerable. His practice was no doubt too limited, and of too short duration, to enable him to form, from his own experience, correct ideas of all the ailments to which man is liable; but it was suf ficient to render him capable of methodizing the observations of others; and it requires little penetration to perceive, that one man may learn more in three years than another in fifty. The several classifications of diseases which have been given to the world, possess various degrees of accuracy. Dr Cullen of Edinburgh, whose Synopsis Nosologiæ Methodica has been almost universally acknowledged as one of the most successful attempts to reduce to order the complicated phenomena of morbid action, considers the Genera Morborum of Linnæus as the most important work on the subject, next to that of Sauvages. It was first published in 1759 as an academical dissertation, and afterwards as a separate work. In the system now mentioned he arranges the genera of diseases under eleven classes, as follows: I. EXANTHEMATICI. Fevers attended with eruptions on the skin. H. CRITICI. Critical fevers. III. PHLOGISTICI. Fevers from local inflammation. V. MENTALES. Diseases in which the functions of the mind are disturbed. VI. QUIETALES. Diseases in which the voluntary and involuntary motions and the senses are impaired. VII. MOTORII. Diseases attended with involuntary motion of parts whose action is ordinarily under the influence of the will. VIII. SUPPRESSORII. Diseases characterized by oppression of the organs, or impeded excretions. IX. EVACUATORII. Diseases attended with increased excretion. X. DEFORMES. Diseases causing deformity of the body, or change of colour in the skin. XI. VITIA. Cutaneous, external, or palpable diseases. Systems of nosology are no doubt useful or convenient, in the same manner as systems of zoology and botany; but so complicated are the phenomena of Nature, and so diversified her productions, that no arrangement, made according to any principles hitherto assumed, can possibly discriminate objects in conformity with all their connexions. If this remark required illustration, it might readily be afforded by the mere inspection of any one of the Linnæan classes or orders. Thus, in the class Vitia there are eight orders. 1. Humoralia. Diseases attended with vitiated or extravasated fluids; as emphysema, oedema, inflammation, abscess, and gangrene. 2. Dialytica. Solutions of continuity; as fracture, dislocation, contusion, wound, laceration, burn, excoriation, chapped skin. 3. Exulcerationes. Purulent solutions of continuity; as ulcer, cancer, caries, fistula, whitlow. 4. Scabies. Cutaneous diseases; as lepra, itch, pimples, warts, pustule, eschar. 5. Tumores. Tumours or swellings; as aneurism, varix, scirrhus, anchylosis, ganglion, exostosis. 6. Procidentia. Swellings arising from dislocation of soft parts; as rupture, prolapsus, phymosis. 7. Deformationes. Distortions; as rigidity of joints, humpback, curved bones, squinting, harelip, plica polonica. 8. Macula. Spots; as mole, scar, freckle, sunburn. Now it is obvious that, in a pathological point of view, aneurism, anchylosis, and scirrhus, have no affinity to each other, nor to spina bifida or scrofula, which are all genera of the same order. Nor have the different orders, deformationes, procidentiæ, humoralia, &c. any very perceptible bond of affinity. But the nosological, like the botanical system of Linnæus, without being natural, may be useful; and it were absurd to reject all attempts to classify diseases, because no scheme has been or can be invented, capable of giving each state of the body, or its various parts, its precise position in the mind. However, we have no reason to join the outcry of his biographers against the criticism of M. Vicq d'Azyr, who says, " he should have been the last to write on objects that were foreign to him, because he had recourse to that spirit of detail, and that aphoristic and figurative style, which have been considered as defects even in the works which established his reputation." "The whole class of envious persons at Upsal," says Dr Stoever, "and in other parts of Sweden, found it strange and inconsistent at first to see the botanist Linnæus appear on the scene as a pathologist. They made very merry at his expense; but the goodness of his cause soon became triumphant." That his nosology was contemptible can hardly be admitted; but that it ever was triumphant, except ing in his own university, no one who is desirous of adhering to truth can assert. His theory of medicine is amusing, if not instructive. He supposes the human body to consist of a cerebroso-medullary part, of which the nerves are processes; and a cortical part, including the vascular system and its fluids. The nervous system, which is the animated part, derives its nourishment from the finer fluids of the vascular system, and its energy from an electrical principle inhaled by the lungs. The circulating fluids are capable of being vitiated by acescent or putrid ferments, the former acting on the serum, and causing critical fevers; the latter on the crassamentum, and exciting phlogistic diseases. Eruptive ailments are excited by external causes, which he supposes to be animalcula. The cortical or vascular system undergoing continual waste, requires continual reparation, which is effected by means of suitable diet. Its diseases arise from improper food, and are to be remedied by sapid medicines; while those of the medullary system are cured by olid substances. Systems of nosology, theories of medicine, and classifications of natural objects and phenomena, agree in this one respect, that they are all eagerly embraced, strenuously defended, fall into disuse, and become subjects of ridicule. Such must be the fate of the Linnæan system of botany, as it has been of the other fancies of its author; and such must be the fate of every system not founded on organic structure and its modifications, or upon external form as connected with internal disposition. In 1766, he published a small work extending to only twenty-nine pages, entitled Clavis Medicinæ duplex, Exterior et Interior, which may be considered as a syllabus of his lectures. It contains a view of his theory of medicine, and an arrangement of drugs in thirty orders, according to their sensible qualities. The last book which he produced was a continuation of his Mantissa, containing new species and genera, with a variety of emendations. Such of his writings as have not been already mentioned, will be noticed in a subsequent section; and in the mean time we resume our narrative, remarking, that few individuals had a longer scientific career than he; forty-four years having elapsed between the appearance of his first tract, the Hortus Uplandicus (in 1731) and the Mantissa (in 1771). It would appear that Linnæus possessed a good constitution, although we have seen him suffering under attacks of rheumatism, nephritis, and gout. In 1764, as already mentioned, he had a violent attack of pleurisy; after which he passed the period of his convalescence at his villa of Hammarby, where, on the 9th July, he celebrated the 25th anniversary of his marriage. The same year he had the pleasure of marrying his eldest daughter to Lieutenant Bergencrantz. rela It does not seem very easy to determine the precise nature of the disease under which he laboured, although it is probable that it was rheumatism and not gout. In the Latin diary of Dr Gieseke, as quoted by Stoever, is the following passage tive to this subject :-" In 1750, I (Linnæus) had such a violent attack of rheumatism (malum ischiadicum), that I had great difficulty in getting home. For a whole week the pain, which was insupport |
