The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1859-02-23

DR., Allea'd lecture.
The lecture upoa the True Principles
Of Medical Science, delivered on Weloos.
dly evening last, thought but slightly a3.
vertised, drew Gu, large and unusully
select audience.
After a brief but just culory upon the
profession, the lecturer sketehed the his.
tory Of Medicine from tho earliest arcs,
and showed how, by the Investigations and
experiments Of devoted and gifted men
the science Of Medicine had, by slow ac.
crotiors, arrived at its present state Of
comparative perfection, The leading oh.
jcct of the lecture seemed 70 be to dom.
onsrotc that 1lcdiciHe is n science, in the
strctest sense Of the term. Tho lecturer
gave an elaborate exposition OF what sci.
enco is-showing that all science conlists
of facts, phenomena and events, With
their relations to other facts, phenomena,
and events, the whole properly arranged
ard classified. This definition he demon,
strotod to be as Gle rly applicable to Med.
icine as to any known science, In eluci-
dation Of what Medicine is, he gava an
exposition OF Anatomy, Physiology, Path.
ology, Eioiogy and Therapeutics, and
showed that thorough knowledge and
coordination Of these distinct but Deepen.
dan; sciences constituted the scicnc. Of
Medicine, that by the former the dag
nosis being perfectly made out and the
therapeutic relation of the remedy apprc-
ciatc0, there ned be no uncertainty as 10
results. In this, as in everything else, the
working CT Natures laws is certain and
inyaroble, Medicine is a sciepcc--a co.
ordination Of several sciences, and fer
that reason the most complex of all sci.
ences aud the most difficulty Of mastery
so difficult indeed, that few even Of
those who attempt to practice and teach
it have any just conception Of it as a sci
once while many mako no such attempt,
but wander into visionary fields of ny.
pothesis.
But, though the lecturer insisted that
Medicine was a complete science, he did
not claim that perfect knowledge of it
was yet acquired nor in this did it differ
from other sciences. lie insisted that no
science could exist but by coordination
of facts-facts thoroughly established by
observation, and no pretended science OF
system in Medicine or elsewhere and
however supported was destined more
than brief existence.
For a moment the Dr.. turned the rays
Of truth thus enunciated upon some Of the
current and uncurrent systems Of practice
and practitioners without system, with an
Initiating effect and paused before wbn
he termed the mystical radicalism o
the drawing g. Homeopathy After Z
candid statement of what this system pre-
tends to, ken from its own authors h,
argued tlat whatever of it was not pal
paby absurd was entirely incapable 0
demonstration as fact-that all tho prop
ositions on which the system rested wor
assumption and conjccturc-incapoblc O
any scientific tests, and thus lacking III
primary elements of scientific character
and from the best data that could be oh
tanned the system appeared to be as def
cicnt in results as in theory.
This hasty glance, OF course, gives n
idea OF the lecture us a whole. 1t wa
complete in all its parts and its logca
strength and harmony were ohly equalle
by its rhetorical finish. We hazard uotr
ing in saying that it ranks among the 6ra
scientific lecture of the time