Disease being thus simplified, according to the system of Dr. Dickson, it follows that it is, to use his own words, amenable to a Principle of treatment equally simple. Partaking, throughout all its modifications, of the nature of Ague, it will be best met by a practice in accordance with the proper principle of treatment of that distemper. To apply warmth, or administer cordials in the Cold stage; in the Hot, to reduce the amount of temperature, by cold affusion and fresh air; or, for the same purpose, to exhibit, according to circumstances, an emetic, a purgative, or both in com bination. With Quinine, Arsenic, Opium, &c., the interval of comparative health -the period of medium temperature-may be prolonged to an indefinite period; and in that manner may health become established in all diseases-whether, from some special local development, the disorder be denominated mania, epilepsy, croup, cynanche, the gout, the influenza! In the early stages of disease, to arrest the fever is, in most instances, sufficient for the reduction of every kind of local developA few rare cases excepted, it is only when the case has been of long standing and habitual, that the physician will be compelled to call to his aid the various local measures which have a relation to the greater or less amount of the temperature of particular parts.

ment.

Such being the rational and intelligible doctrines of the Chrono-Thermal System of Medicine, it will be found that its practice is equally salutary and benign, and that its chief feature is to make short work of disease. As an instance of this, I will give the history of one case of treatment of acute disease, without blood-letting. A lady who had been attending an evening lecture in the Tabernacle, in January, was attacked by violent chills, followed by darting pains in the lungs, severe headache, a rapid pulse, hurried respiration, and all the symptoms of Inflammation (so called) of the Lungs. Added to this, owing to conpunction in having gone out against the advice of a parent, she had a severe nervous or hysterical attack, with sobbing and crying. A sharp emetic relieved the severity of all the symptoms almost at once, and an opiate brought on rest and repose through the night. Peruvian Bark and rest were the chief remedies for the two following days. On the third day, she was well enough to participate with the family at meals at the table; and in a fortnight, notwithstanding it was winter, she was pronounced strong enough and well enough to go out. She had no relapse, but has continued in good health to this day. In the treatment of diseases of children, and especially of those of females, who are more liable to disorder, owing to the periodical changes peculiar to the sex, the Chrono-Thermal System, from its simplicity and efficacy, will be found to be particularly valuable and eligible.

Other distinguishing features of the Chrono-Thermal System of Medicine areFirst, A demonstration of the fallacious character of the ideas entertained by the Profession and the Public in reference to INFLAMMATION and CONGESTION, those fruitful sources of error. Second, that Calomel is no longer placed in the first rank of remedies; and when given is prescribed only in minute doses, as fractions of a grain. Third, That the Chrono-Thermal Medicines are to be used generally in minute doses, and that hence but little medicine is required. Fourth, The doctrine that all remedies act primarily upon the Brain, and thence, electrically or magnetically, through the system.

Writers on Medicine, pursuing a false mode of analysis, have for a long time been engaged in dividing and subdividing the subject until it reached its acme in the elaborate and ponderous tomes of the learned and classical Dr. Good; in which such is the extent of subdivision and subtilty attained by the author, that the recollection of the mere names of the various diseases as classified, would be a severe trial to a memory of ordinary tenacity. At this period, Dr. Dickson arose, and seizing upon the question with the true analytical grasp of his genius, reduced the whole to a

system of simplicity. So that a complete, highly scientific, and rational doctrine of disease and its treatment is embraced in the small volume which the reader holds in his hands. Some unprofessional readers, in taking up this book, may possibly think, from its subject, that it is a dull, dry, and tedious disquisition upon matters of interest to the medical fraternity alone. This would be a great error. The author has adapted it to popular use; on which account, he has discarded as much as possible all technical terms. He has also enlivened his production by the introduction of apt facts and incidents, and pertinent arguments and illustrations; so that, instead of being dull, dry, and tedious, the reader will find it eminently sprightly, amusing, and instructive.

Scattered throughout the work will be met with, testimony by distinguished Physicians and Surgeons of Great Britain in favour of the system of Dr. Dickson; among the rest, a letter from Sir Astley Cooper, who, on receiving a copy of a previous edi tion, under the title of the "Unity of Disease,” sent an answer, in which he styled it a "valuable work." It will be noticed, too, that the work has been translated into French, German, and Swedish, for the use of the people of those nations.

New York, 269 Tenth Street.

WM. TURNER.

P. S. While this reprint was passing through the press, the April steamer arrived, bringing copies of several new medical works from the London publishers. Among them were two books, fresh from the London press, which, as they are corroborative of the truth of the Chrono-Thermal System, and indicative of the progress that benign and salutary system is making among active and scientific minds in the British metropolis, I have thought it would not be unprofitable to devote a little extra space to their examination.

The first, entitled Practical Observations on the Diseases most fatal to Children, is by Mr. Hood. The chief object of this gentleman's work, is to call the attention, · not of medical men only, but of all persons who may be interested in the matter, to the investigation of the mode of treatment which may be most appropriate in the more serious diseases of children. "The treatment generally adopted," he adds, "in most of those diseases where they are severe, and more especially in such of them as affect the organs of respiration, is founded on the opinion, that they either proceed from, or resolve themselves into inflammation; and that this so-called inflammation, if not properly checked by bleeding and the administration of active antiphlogistic medicines, speedily causes death. Now," he proceeds, "without entering here into any pathological discussion respecting the symptoms and consequences of inflammation, but supposing that it exists, or is to be apprehended in the diseases referred to, it may yet be confidently affirmed, on evidence furnished by the Reports of the Registrar-General, that the mode of treatment above mentioned is improper." After discussing certain tables constructed from that report, he concludes as follows:-"The mode of treatment developed in the following pages is founded on the principle, that the diseases of children, and of adults also, proceed from irritation, considered in a general sense, as distinct from inflammation, and indicating an opposite course of treatment. Having so frequently witnessed the beneficial effects of his mode of treatment, not only in the diseases of children expressly mentioned in the following pages, but in others also, whether occurring in children or adults, I have ventured to publish the present work, with the view of calling the attention of both medical practitioners and parents more especially to the subject."

The subjects treated of are inflammation, irritation, teething, bronchitis, and inflam mation of the lungs, whooping-cough, croup, measles, scarlet-fever, small-pox, convulsions, and inflammation of the brain, scrofula and cachectic diseases, constipation, and, lastly, the effects of calomel on children. Under the head of inflammation of the lungs, he says, "I do not hesitate to declare, that the great mortality of young children, from this particular affection, arises chiefly from the attempts made to subdue the disease by abstraction of the blood." In discussing inflammation on the brain, he remarks, "In looking over several cases which I have known treated by bleeding or leeches, when the brain was suffering from congestion in infants, I am unable to point out one in which the treatment was successful. There was usually an abatement in the violence of the symptoms for a short period when blood had been drawn, but they invariably returned with redoubled vigour; and death appeared to be hastened by the use of blood-letting as a remedy."

The other work is entitled, "A Collection of Cases of Apoplexy, with an Explanatory Introduction. By Edward Copeman, Surgeon." The author has transcribed from various authentic works and journals, and from his own note-book, no less than 250 cases of Apoplexy, in order to convince himself of the correctness of an opinion he had long entertained, that the popular and professional prejudice in favour of bleeding in affections of the brain, is not justifiable by the results of the practice. The following is the conclusion at which he has arrived :-"A comparison of the success attending the practice of bleeding in Apoplexy with that where bleeding was not employed, as shown by the following cases, is decidedly in favour of the latter; and should be considered sufficiently correct, from the number of cases reported, to neutralize the far too prevalent idea that bleeding is the only remedy to be depended on in Apoplexy. The practice of giving Emetics when the attack has succeeded a full meal, has not only been safe, but effectual. In cases occurring in old age, Brandy and other stimulants have restored animation and removed the Apoplexy. Purgatives have always been acknowledged to be of essential service in most cases that have recovered. The application of cold to the head, sinapisms to the lower extremities, warm pediluvia, and vesications, have each in their turn appeared to be useful; and are, at all events, free from the objections that they can either produce or add to the mischief. I would, therefore, strongly urge those who may take the trouble to examine the following collection of cases, to dismiss from their minds all the notions which their experience does not justify; and henceforth to treat Apoplexy on the same scientific and rational principles (?) that guide their practice in other cases.' The following are tables of the cases above alluded to:Number not bled,

Number bled,

26, 129,

cured,

18,

51.

Number of cases in which the treatment is specified, 155.

Proportion of Cures in cases treated by Bleeding,.

Proportion of Deaths in ditto, about..

Proportion of Cures in Cases not bled,

died,

8.

Proportion of Deaths in ditto,

Behold, then, the answer to the question which, above all others, is devotees of the Old School of Medicine:-' If blood-letting is to be all cases of Disease, what in the world is to be done in Apoplexy?'

..1 in 1.

..1 in 34.

asked by tho prohibited in

W. T.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND AMERICAN EDITION.

"Like causes," philosophers assure us, "produce like effects." The reader, therefore, will be prepared to hear that the appearance three years ago of this work in this city, created as great an uproar in the medical camp on this side the Atlantic, as that so pungently described by Dr. Dickson as having occurred on the other side. The confusion that arose at Brussels on the night before the battle of Waterloo, might faintly give an idea of the "running to and fro, the mounting in hot haste,” with which the fraternity here were agitated. The professional organ, speechless for four months, at last found vent for its “wrath and cabbage,” in an article brimful of contempt, impertinence, meanness and falsehood. The following defence of the lancet is embalmed from it for future reference:

"That a mode of treatment, (blood-letting,) that has been in use from the most remote antiquity; that has, as it were, by intuition or instinct, been employed by uncivilized nations for the relief of various maladies; whose benefits have been acknowledged by all medical writers, and all accurate observers in every age; which still maintains its ground against the cavils of the interested and the prejudices of the ignorant; a remedy to which many are often compelled to resort, even in opposition to their theoretical views, and the principles of the medical systems they have adopted, that such a remedy is now to be cried down and banished from the world by such books as this, is about as probable as that sickness itself is about to disappear from the earth.”

In November, 1846, I was suddenly called to a patient in apoplexy, surrounded by a crowd, and who proved to be himself a physician, who had been a professor in several medical institutions. The cold dash brought him to his feet in ten minutes. The promptness of the relief, and the simplicity of the means, caused a great sensation; and the subject found its way into the newspapers, whereupon the profession had another violent spasm. What was now to be done? The majesty of the lancet, in so formidable a disease as apoplexy, was not only invaded, but actually overthrown! What would Mrs. Grundy (the people) say, at the exposure? Alcibiades, to divert public attention from his misconduct, cut off his dog's tail, and sent him howling through the streets. Napoleon, to stop the gossip of Paris after the defeat at Moscow, commanded the gilding of the dome of the Invalides. While, to complete the climax, Sangrado in New York, stung with a sudden and unexpected defeat, and not to be outdone in the game of playing cuttle-fish, established an Academy of Medicine, to declare, with exemplary impartiality, every body a quack but himself. Unfortunately for him—quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat -this body in November last celebrated its first anniversary with a grand pow-wow at the Tabernacle, when, in a long address, the President (Dr. Francis) made the following declaration, which was published by order of the Academy:

"There are several remarkable forms of disease, whose periodical prevalence is the occasion of great mortality, which have not yet received the attention their importance deserves. Few maladies committed to the charge of the medical prescriber are of deeper interest than the cholera infantum [summer complaint] of our summer seasons. We may look in vain for anything satisfactory on the subject in the works of

European writers. It were almost criminal not to make further efforts to ascertain the pathology of this most fatal disorder, which ravages infantile life, and bring to the test of experimental decision improved practical measures."

Need we wonder after this public confession of ignorance in behalf of the faculty, that the City Inspector's report for 1847, should announce the deaths of children under five years of age at 7,373, or nearly one-half of the whole? Which member of the Academy, having his watch to be repaired, would send it to one who acknowledged he knew nothing of the nature of injuries to watches? Yet parents are expected to be more heedless of their precious children, than of a paltry bauble! My "Triumphs of Young Physic," published a year ago, contained proofs to those not wilfully blind, that at least one European writer (Dr. Dickson) could be relied on for something "satisfactory on the subject." I select from a letter from the late venerable Dr. Marsh of New Jersey, the following:

In the case of a child about two years old, with colliquative diarrhoea, (usually termed summer complaint,) and which had become much emaciated from disease, (added to the bold mercurial cathartic practice which had been pursued in the case,) I prescribed minute doses of Dickson's remedies. The effect was a complete cure in two days. The child is now healthy and cheerful, and I am constrained to believe that had this treatment not been adopted, the parents would now be mourning for it, as they have done for FOUR others they have lost with the same disease.'

The following incident shows that some of the profession can rival Ancient Pistol in the faculty of eating and swearing. It is from the lips of a friend doing business in Wall street. "What I admire, doctor," said he, "is the coolness with which old practitioners adopt your system, while they affect to condemn it. After perusing your book, I lent it to my physician. Last winter I had a dangerous and violent attack of ship-fever. The treatment was vigorous, prompt, and successful. When well enough I asked my physician whether he had not taken a leaf out of your book? 'Not at all,' replied he. 'Did you know this mode five years ago?' I asked. 'I knew it before I was born!' he rejoined. 'Well, then, if you knew it before you were born, how happens it you did not practice the same with two of my children, who, within five years, have been down in a manner similar to myself, and were saved with the greatest difficulty?' The doctor was silent!"

Several important discoveries have been made within the past year. One by Dr. Brigham, of the Utica Lunatic Asylum, that blood-letting is pernicious in lunacy. Another by Dr. Reese, of the Bellevue Hospital, of the value of stimulants in shipfever. While Professor Dickson, of this city, is alleged to have made considerable progress in the investigation of the periodicity of disease. But no thanks in either case to the rightful Dr. Dickson, whose sin as first discoverer is unpardonable.

From the many letters I have received from various parts of the country, 1 select one (see appendix, page 221) from a physician in a city at the South, as being the most comprehensive. The name of the writer is suppressed for the present, from the apprehension he entertains of persecution on the part of his medical neighbors. What a biting sarcasm upon our inflated pretensions to freedom of opinion in the "land of the free, and the home of the brave!"