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(»>> ^^ ^ *3 >Qt 3 33 -»>5 2> 3. ^ 5> 3^>':>^ ^ 3«3 > ^3 -> 3^ 3 jr>. > > > 3 >3 3 3 3>j> >t> >7 > n_ ^> > >;> yj 3 >'^ 12. v> > 3 >•>'-^ » > » '2 V; : 7> ) ^ _ 3? 3 >j ->> 3 >3 [ >^ - - > >. >• a 3 >H> - >^ > 33 7> > >D» ' V > 33 •> > ^ > 3) TT > _j > > "3 •> 5 r- ;> ^ Nii> ^> >.">3> >J> 3^~ •-> JO 3> 3V' ^. :x> ^>> 3r; > 3> >^^* ^-jI >> 3> 3> >>>">3 ■-> "3 > ^ 3 -o ^^ >>^ ^ ) "T 1 3>^ 3 3 ^3 J ;>^'>r" ^> i> jj 3 :>>-g»T~_3 3 )o'; ^ >- 3 3 >3 33 >?» 3 > 3 >»-^ ~> > 3: ^33 ^3 > ■ -*>1> 33 3 ^3 - > s>^ j>3 . 3 )3 y >? 3 , 3i> V:)'P3 .»3^ ■j ■ '■> 3>» •>J"^ 3' D ^> v-^!! " :>/iYm> j-r^ >?"3 33 AN J ., ' EULOGIU M/0* IN HONOR OF THE LATE Jg *"T (f Dr. WILLIAM CULLEN, Professor of the Practice of Physic in the University of Edinburgh; DELIVERED BEFORE THE COLLEGE of PHYSICIANS of PHILADELPHIA, On the 9th of July, agreeably to their Vote of the 4th of May, 1790. By B E N J A M I N RUSH, M.D. ProfcfTor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, in the College of Philadelphia. ___ Published by order of the College or . Physicians. ".XT'. fj '\ **■ s \ --------- IT PHILADELPHIA: Prints* *y THOMAS DOBSON, Bookseiier at ths Stone House in second street. M.DCC.XC 389! COLLEGE of PHYSICIANS. May 4th, 1790. THE College taking into confideration the lofs which the Republic of Medicine has fuftained by the death of Doclor William Cullen, lateProfeflbr of the Practice of Phyfic in the Univerfity of Edinburgh; and being defirous to manifeft the high fenfe they entertain of his eminent Talents, and many important improvements in Medicine, unanimoufly agreed, tn*at an Eulogium in honor of his diflinguilhed Character fliould be prepared and delivered by one of their Members. Doctor Benjamin Rush was then appointed for that purpofe. July 9th. At a meeting of the College, it was refolved unanimoufly, That the thanks of the College be given to Dr Rufh for the Eu- logium delivered by him this day, in honour of Dr Cullen, and that he be requefted to furnifh a copy of it for publication. Extracted from the Minutes. SAMUEL POWEL GRIFFITTS, Sec. A N E U L O G I U M, ' &c. Mr President and Gentlemen, BY your unanimous vote, to honour with an Eulogium, the diftinguifhed charae* ter of the late Dr. William Cullen, Profeffor of Medicine in the Univerfity of Edinburgh, you have done equal homage to Science and Humanity. This illuftrious Phy- fician was the Preceptor of many of us:— He was moreover a diftinguifhed citizen of the republic of Medicine, and a benefactor to Mankind; and although, like the fun, he flione in a diftant hemifphere, yet many of the rays of his knowledge have fallen up- on this quarter of the globe. I rife, there- fore, to mingle your grateful praifes of him, with the numerous offerings of public and private refpect which have been paid to his memory in his native country. Happy will be the effects of fuch acts of diftant fympa- thy, ( 4 ) thy, if they fhould ferve to unite the influ- ence of fcience with that of commerce, to leffen the prejudices of nations againft each other, and thereby to prepare the way for the operation of that divine fyftem of morals, whofe prerogative alone it is, to teach man- kind that they are brethren, and to make the name of a fellow-creature, in every regi- on of the world, a fignal for brotherly af- fection. In executing the talk you have impofed upon me, I fhall confine myfelf to Hich parts of Dr. Cullen*s character as came within the compafs of my own knowledge, during two years refidence in Edinburgh.— To his fellow citizens in Great Britain, who were more intimately acquainted with him, we muft reflgn the hiftory of his do- meftic character, as well as the detail of all thofe fteps which, in early life, led him to his unparalleled height of ufefulnefs and fame. Dr. Cullen poffeffed a great and origi- nal genius. By genius,in theprefent inftance, I mean a power in the human mind of dif- covering the relation of diftant truths, by the fhorteft train of intermediate proportions. This precious gift of Heaven, is compofed of ( 5 ) of a vigorous imagination, quick fenfibility, a talent for extenfive and accurate obferva- tion, a faithful memory, and a found judg- ment. Thcfe faculties were all united in an eminent degree in the mind of Dr. Cul- len. His imagination furveyed all nature at a glance, and, like a camera obfcura, feem- ed to produce in his mind a picture of the whole vifible creation. His fenfibility was fo exquifite, that the fmalleft portions of truth acted upon it. By means of his talent for obfervation he collected knowledge from exery thing he heard, faw, or read, and from every perfon with whom he converfed. His memory was the faithful repository of all his ideas, and appeared to be alike accu- rate upon all fubjects. Over each of thefe faculties of his mind a found judgment pre-' fided, by means of which he discovered the relation of ideas to each other, and there- by produced thofe new combinations which conftitute principles in fcience. This pro- rcfs of the mind has been called invention, and is totally different from a mere capacity of acquiring learning, or collecting know- ledge from the difcoveries of others. It e- Icvates man to a diftant refemblance of his Maker; for the difcovery of truth, is the percep- ( 6 ) perception of things as they appear to the Divine Mind. In contemplating the human faculties, thus exquifitely formed, and exactly balan- ced, we feel the fame kind of pleafure which arifes from a view of a magnificent palace, or an extenfive and variegated prof- pect; but with this difference, that the plea- fure, in the firft inftance, is as much fuperi- or to that which arifes from contemplating the latter objects, as the mind of man is fuperior, in its importance, to the moft fi- nifhed productions of nature or of art. Dr. Cullen poffeffed not only the ge- nius that has been defcribed, but an un- common ftiare of learning, reading, and knowledge. His learning was of a peculiar and ufeful kind—He appeared to have overftepped the flow and tedious forms of the fchools, and, by the force of his underftanding, to have feizedupon the great ends of learning, without the affiftance of many of thofe means which were contrived for the ufe of lefs active minds. He read the ancient Greek and Roman wri- ters only for the fake of the knowledge which they contained, without wafting any of the efforts of his genius in attempting to imitate their ( 7 ) their ftyle. He was intimately acquainted with modern languages, and through, their means, with the improvements of medicine in every country in Europe. Such was the facility with which he acquired a language, and fo great was his enterprife in his re- fearches in medicine, that I once heard him fpeak of learning the Arabic, for the fake of reading Avicenna in the original; as if it were a matter of as little difficulty to him, as it was to compofe a lecture, or to vifit a patient. Dr. Cullen's reading was extenfive, but it was not confined wholly to medicine. He read books upon all fubjects; and he had a peculiar art of extracting fomething from all of them which he made fubfervient to his profeffion. He was well acquainted with ancient and modem hiftory, and delighted in the poets, among whom Shakefpeare was his favourite. The hiftory of our globe, as unfolded by books of geography and travels, was fo familiar to him, .that a ftranger could not converfe with him, without fuppofing that he had riot only travelled, but that he had lived every where. His memory had no rubbilh. in it. Like a fecretory organ, in the animal body, it rejected every thing in reading ( 8 ) reading, that could not be applied to fome ufeful purpofe. In this he has given the world a mod valuable leffon, for the differ- ence between error and ufelefs truth is very fmall; and a man is no wifer for knowledge which he cannot apply, than he is rich from poffeffing wealth, which he cannot fpend. Dr. Cull en's knowledge was minute in every branch of medicine. He was an ac- curate anatomift, and an ingenious phyfiolo- gift. He enlarged the boundaries, and efta- f blifhed the utility of Chemiftry, and thereby prepared the way for the difcoveries and fame of his illuftrious pupil Dr. Black. He ftrip- ped Materia Medica, of moil of the errors that had been accumulating in it for two thoufand years, and reduced it to a fimple and practical fcience. He was intimately acquainted with all the branches of natural hiftory and phi- lofophy. He had ftudied every ancient and modern fyftem of phyfic. He found the fyf- tem of Dr. Boerhaave univerfally adopted when he accepted a chair in the Univerfity of Edinburgh. This fyftem was founded chief- ly on the fuppofed prefence of. certain acrid particles in the fluids, and in the departure of thefe, in point of confiftency, from a natu- ral ftate. Dr. Cullen's firft object was to ex- pofe [ 9 ] pofe the errors of this pathology; and to teach his pupils to feek for the caufes of difeafes in the folids. Nature is always coy. Ever fince fhe was driven from the heart, by the difcovery of the circulation of the blood, fhe has concealed herfelf in the brain and nerves. Here fhe has been purfued by Dr Cullen; and if he has not dragged her to public view, he has left us a clue which muft in time conduct us to her laft recefs in the human body. Many, however, of the operations of nature in the nervous fyftem have been explained by him ; and no candid man will ever explain the whole of them, without acknowledging that the foundation of his fuccefsful inquiries was laid by the difcoveries of Dr Cullen. He was intimately acquainted with the hiftories and diftinctions of the difeafes of all countries, ages, ftations, occupations, and ftates of fociety. While his great object was to explode ufelefs remedies, he took pains to increafe the influence of diet, drefs, air, exercife, and the actions of the mind, in medicine. In a word, he was a grc:u practical phyfician ; and he has left behind him as many monuments of his fuccefs in ? curing ( io ) curing difeafes, as he has of accuracy and ingenuity in defcribing their fymptoms and explaining their caufes. But his knowledge was not confined wholly to thofe fciences which are intimately connected with medicine. His genius was univerfal, as to natural and artificial fubjects. He was minutely acquainted with the prin- ciples and practices of all the liberal, me- chanical, and chemical arts; and tradefmei} were often directed by him to new objects of obfervation and improvement in. their refpective occupations. He delighted in the ftudy of agriculture, and contributed much to excite that tafte for agricultural fcience, which has of late years fomuch dif- tinguifhed the men of genius and leifure in North-Britain. I have been informed, that he yielded at laft to that paffion for rural improvements, which is common to all ,men, and amufed himfelf in the evening of his life by cultivating a farm in the neigh- bourhood of Edinburgh. Happy would it be for the interefts of agriculture, if phyfi- cians in all countries, would imitate Dr. Cnilen by an attachment to this noble fci- ence; for their previous ftudies are of fuch a nature as frequently to enable them to ar- rive ( II ) rive at improvements in it without experi- ments, and to apply the experiments of o- thers, in the moft extenflve arid pofitable manner. Dr Cullen's publications were few in number compared with his difcoveries. They con lift of his Elements of phyfiology, his Nofologia Methodica, his Firft Lines of the Practice of Phyfic, an EfTay upon the cold produced by Evaporation, publifhed in the fecond volume of the Phyfical and Literary Effays of Edinburgh, a Letter to Lord Cath- cart upon the method of recovering perfons fuppofed to be dead from drowning, and a fyftem of the Materia Medica. Thefe are all the works which bear his name; but the fruits of his inquiries are to be found in moft of the medical publications that have appeared in Great Britain w7ithin the laft thirty years. Many of the thefes, publifhed in Edinburgh during his life, were the vehicles of his opi- nions or practice in medicine; and few of them contained an important or ufeful difco- very, which was not derived from hints thrown out in his lectures. As a Teacher of medicine, Dr. Culler* poffeffed many peculiar talents. He min- gled the moft agreeable eloquence with the moft ( 12 ) moft profound difquifitions. He appeared to lighten upon every fubject upon which he fpoke. His language was fimple, and his arrangement methodical, by which means he was always intelligible. From the mo- ment he afcended his chair, he commanded the moft refpectful attention from his pu- pils; infomuch that I never faw one of them difcover a fign of impatience during the time of any of his lectures. In the inveftigation of truth, he fometimes ventured into the regions of conjecture. His imagination was a hot-bed of hypothefes, which led him to conftant obfervation and experiment. Thefe often proved the feeds offubfequent difcoveries. It was thus Sir Ifaac Newton founded an empire in fci- ence; for moft of his difcoveries were the confequence of preconceived hypothefes. In delivering new opinions, Dr. Cullen pre- ferved the ftricteft integrity. I have known him more than once, refute the opinions which he had taught the preceding year, even before the fallacy of them had been fufpected by any of his pupils. Such in- ftances of candor often pafs with the vulgar for inftability ; but they are the trueft cha- racteristics of a great mind, To be unchan- geable, ( 13 ) geable, fuppofes perpetual error, or a per- ception of truth without the ufe of reafon; but this fublime act of intuition belongs on- ly to the Deity. There was no tincture of credulity in the mind of Dr. Cullen. He taught his pupils the neceility of acquiring '' the flow confenting academic doubt." I mention thefe words of the poet with peculiar plea- fure, as I find them in my notes of one of his lectures, in which he has delivered rules for judging of the truth of things related as facts; for he frequently remarked, that there were ten falfe facts (if the expreflion can be allowed) to one falfe opinion in medicine. His Materia Medica abounds with proofs of the truth of this part of his character. With how much caution does he admit the efficacy of medicines, as related in books, or as fug- gefted by his own experience! Who could have expected to have found fo much mo- defty in the writings of a phyfician in the 77th year of his age ? But let it be remem- bered, that this phyfician was Dr. Cul- len ; and that he always preferred utility to novelty, and loved truth more than fame. He took great pains to deliver his pupils from the undue influence which antiquity and ( >4 ) and great names are apt to have upon the human mind. He deftroyed the fuperftiti- ous veneration which had been paid for many ages to the names of Hippocrates, Ga- len, and other ancient authors, and infpired his pupils with ajufteftimate of the writings of modern phyficians. His conftant aim was to produce in their minds a change from a paffive to an active ftate; and to force upon them fuch habits of thinking, and obferva- tion, as fhould enable them to inftruct them- felves. As he admitted no truth without examin- ation, fo he fubmitted to no cuftom in pro- pagating it that was not reafonable. He had a principal fhare in the merit of deliver- ing medicine from the fetters of the Latin, and introducing the Englifh language, as the vehicle of public inftruction in the univerfity of Edinburgh. Much of the fuccefs of the revolution he effected in medicine, I believe, may be afcribed to this circumftance. Per- haps the many improvements which have lately been made in medicine, in the Britifh dominions, may likewife be afcribed to the prefent fafhionable cuftom of communicating medical knowledge in the Englifh language. By this means, our fcience has excited the notice ( 15 ) notice and inquiries of ingenious and obferv- ing men in all profeflions, and thereby a kind of galaxy has been created in the hemifphere of medicine. .By affuming an Englifh drefs, it has moreover been prepared more eafily to affociate with other fciences; from each of which it has received afliftance and fupport. In his intercourfe with his pupils Dr. Cullen was truly kind and affectionate. Ne- ver have I known a man who poffeffed in a higher degree thofe qualities which feize up- on every affection of the heart. He knew the rare and happy arts, as circumftances required, of being affable, without being fo- ciable ; fociable without being familiar; and familiar, without lofing a particle of refpect. Such was the intereft he took in the health, ftudies, and future eftablifhment of all his pupils, that each of them believed that he poffeffed a pre-eminence in his friendship; while the equal diffufion of his kind offices proved that he was the common friend and father of them all. Sometimes he would lay afide the diftance, without leffening the dignity of the profeffor, and mix with his pupils at his table upon terms of the moft endearing equality. Upon thefe occasions his focial affections feemed to have an influence ( i6 ) influence upon his mind. Science, fenti- ment, and convivial humor, appeared for hours together to ftrive which mould pre- dominate in his converfation. I appeal to you, gentlemen, who have fhared in the plea- fure which I have defcribed, for the juftice of the picture which I have drawn of him at his hofpitable table. You will recollect, with me, how agreeably he accommodated himfelf to our different capacities and tem- pers ; how kindly he diflipated our youth- ful blufhes, by inviting us to afkhim quefti- ons; and how much he taught us, by his in- quiries, of the nature of the foil, climate, products, and difeafes of even our own country. From the hiftory that has been given of Dr. Cullen, we fhall not be furprifed at the reputation which he gave to the univerfity of Edinburgh, for upwards of thirty years. The city of Edinburgh during his life be- came the very atmofphere of medicine. But let me not here be unjuft to the merits of his illuftrious colleagues. The names of Whytt,Rutherford, the Monroes, Black, the Gregories, Hope, and Home, will always be dear to the lovers of medical fcience. May every healing plant bloom upon the graves of ( '7 ) of thofe of them who are departed ! and may thofe who have furvived him, together with their new affociate, the learned and excel- lent Dr. Duncan, long continue to main- tain the honor, of that juftly celebrated fchool of medicine! It remains now that I add a fhort ac- count of Dr. Cullen's conduct as a phyfician and a man. In his attendance upon his patients, he made their health his firft object, and there- by confirmed a line between the mechani- cal and liberal profeffions; for while wealth is purfued by the former, as the end of la- bour, it fhould be left by the latter to fol- low the more noble exertions of the mind. So gentle and fympathizing was Dr. Cul- len's manner in a fick room, that pain and diftrefs feemed to be fufpended in his pre- fence. Hope followed his footfteps, and death appeared frequently to drop his com- miffion in a combat with his (kill. He was companionate and charitable to the poor; and from his pupils, who confulted him in fick- nefs, he conftantly refufed to receive any pe- cuniary fatisfaction for his fervices. In his intercourfe with the world he ex- hibited the manners of a well-bred gentle- C man, ( '8 ) man. He exercifed upon all occafions the agreeable art, in which true politenefs is faid to confift, of fpeaking with civility, and lift- ning with attention to to every body. His converfation was at all times animated, a- greeable, and inftructing. Few perfons went into his company without learning fomething; and even a common thought, by pafling through his mind, received an impreffion, which made it ever afterwards worthy of being preferved. He was a ftrict ceconomift of time. He feldom went out of his houfe in his carriage, or a fedan chair, without a book in his hand; and he once told me that he frequently em- ployed one of his fons to read to him after he went to bed, that he might not lofe that portion of time which paffes between lying down and falling afleep. He was remarkably punctual to all his profeflional engagements. He appeared to confider time as a fpecies of property, which no man had a right to to take from another without his confent. It was by means of his ceconomy and punctuality in the ufe of time, that he accomplifhed fo much in his profeflion. I have read of fome men who have fpent more time ( J9 ) time in their clofets, and of others who have done more bufinefs ; but I have never read, nor heard of a man, who mingled more ftu- dy and bufinefs together. He lived by rule, without fubjecting himfelf to the flavery of forms. He was always employed, but ne- ver in a hurry ; and amidft the numerous and complicated avocations of ftudy and bufinefs, he appeared to enjoy the pleafures of fociety, as if company-keeping and converfation were the only bufinefs of his life. I fhall mention but one more trait in the character of Dr. Cullen, and that is, that he was diftinguifhed by no one fingularity of behaviour from other men. It is true he flood alone; but this fingularity was occafi- Oned, not by his quitting the fociety of his fellow-men by walking on their left, or right fide, but by his walking before them. Ec- centricities in behaviour are the offspring of a lively fancy only, but order is infeparably connected with real genius. The actions of the former may be compared to the crooked flafh of diftant lightning, while the latter refembles in its movements the fteady revo- lutions of the heavenly bodies. In reviewing the character which has been given of Dr. Cullen, I am forced to make a fhort digreflion, ( ao ) digreflibn, while I do homage to the pro- teffion of phyfic by a fingle remark. So great are the bleflings which mankind derive from it, that if every other argument failed to prove the adminiftration of a Providence in human affairs, the profeflion of medicine alone would be fufficient for that purpofe. Who can think of the talents, virtues, and fervices of Dr. Cullen, without believing that the Creator of the world delights in the happinefs of his creatures, and that his ten- der mercies are over all his works ! For the information of fuch of the mem- bers of our college as have not feen Dr. Cul- len, it may not be improper to add the fol- lowing defcription of his perfon. He was tall, flender, and had a ftoop in his fhoulders; his face was long; his under lip protruded a little beyond the upper ; his nofe was large, and inclined to a point downwards ; his eye, which was of a blue color, was pe- netrating but foft; and over his whole face was diffufed an air of mildnefs and thought, which was ftrongly characteristic of the con- ftant temper and operations of his mind. It pleafed God to prolong his life to a good'oldage. He lived near 78 years. He lived to fliew the different nature of the foul and ( 21 ) and body, by the increafing vigor of the for** mer, under the gradual decay of the latter. He lived to demonftrate how much the du- ration of all the faculties of the mind de- pends upon their conftant exercife. He liv- ed to teach his brethren by his example, that the obligations to acquire and communicate knowledge, fhould ceafe only with health or life ; and laftly, he lived to reap the fruits of his labors in the moft extenfive fame ; for not only his pupils, and his works, had con- veyed his reputation; but canvafs, paper, and clay, had borne even the image of his perfon to every quarter of the globe. Th e public papers, as well as private letters, inform us, that he furvived his ufefulnefs only a few months. He refigned his profefforfhip in the autumn of 1789, on account of bodily weaknefs, and died in the month of January of the prefent year; a year fatal to the pride of man ; for this year Franklin and How aid, as well as Cullen, have mingled with the duft. , During the interval between his re- signation and his death he received the moft affectionate marks of public and private re- fpect. The city of Edinburgh voted him their thanks, and prefented him with a piece of plate. This inftance of public gratitude deferves ( « ) deferves our particular attention; as it is more common for cities to treat their eminent lite-- rary characters with neglect during their lives, and centuries afterwards to contend' for the honor of having given them birth. The different medical focieties of Edinburgh followed him to his chamber with addrefles full of gratitude and affection. In mention- ing thefe facts, I am led to contemplate the venerable fubject of our praifes in a Situ- ation truly folemn and interesting. How pregnant with instruction is the death-bed of a phyfician, who has fpent a long life in ex- tenfive and fuccefsful practice! If the for- rows we have relieved are the fureft fupport in our own, how great muft have been the confolation which Dr. Cullen derived, in his laft hours, from a review of his active and ufeful life! How many fathers and mo- thers, huSbands and wives, brothers and Sif- ters, whofe tears he had wiped away by a- verting the Stroke of death from the objects of their affections, muft have prefented them- felves to his imagination, and foothed his foul with grateful prayers for his eternal wel- fare ! But the retrofpect of the fervices he had rendered to his fellow-creatures, was not confined to the limits of his extenfive bufi- nefs [ 23 ] nefs in the city of Edinburgh. While the illuftrious actions of moft men may be view- ed with a naked eye, the atchievments of Dr. Cullen, in the diftant regions of humani- ty and fcience, can only be perceived by the help of a telefcope. Let us apply this in- strument to difcover his exploits of benefi- cence in every quarter of the world. He had filled the capitals, and moft of the towns of Great-Britain and Ireland with eminent phy- ficians. Many of his pupils had arrived at the firft honors in their profefTion in the prin- cipal cities on the continent of Europe. Ma- ny of them had extended the bleflings of his improvements in the principles and practice of medicine, to every Britifh fettlement in the Eaft and Weft Indies, and to every free ftatein America. But the fum of his ufefulnefs did not end here. He had taught the different profeffors in the College of Philadelphia, and in the Univerfity of Pennfylvania, the art of teaching others the moft fuccefsful methods of curing difeafes, and thereby he had con- veyed the benefits of his difcoveries into every part of the United States. How great was the mafs of fuch accumulated beneficence ! and how fublime muft have been the plea- fure ( 24 ) fure which the review of it created in his mind ! Had it been poflible for the merit of fuch extenfive and complicated fervices to mankind to have refcued one mortal from the grave, Dr. Cullen had never died. But the decree of death is univerfal, and even the healing art, is finally of no effect in faving the lives of thofe who have exercifed it with the moftfuccefs in faving the lives of others. Dr. Cullen is now no more. What a blank has been produced by his death in the great volume of Science ! Behold ! The genius of humanity weeping at his feet, while the genius of medicine lifts up the key, which fell from his hand with his laft breath, and with inexpreflible concern, cries out, " To whom Shall I give this instru- ment ? Who now will unlock for me the treafures of univerfal nature ?" Venerable Shaded, adieu! What tho' thy American pupils were denied the melan- choly pleafure of following thee from thy Profeffors-chair to thy Sick-bed, with their effufions of gratitude, and praife ! What tho' we did not fhare in the grief of thy fu- neral obfequies, and though we fliall neverbe- dew with our tears the fplendid monument which thy affectionate and grateful Britifh pupils ( 25 ) pupils have decreed for thee in the metropo- lis of thy native country; yet the remem- brance of thy talents and virtues, fhall be preferved in each of our bofoms, and never Shall we return in triumph from beholding the efficacy of medicine in curing a difeafe, with- out feeling our obligations for the instructions we have derived from thee ! I repeat it again, Dr. Cullen is now no more-----No more, I mean, a pillar and or- nament of an ancient feat of fcience—no more, the delight and admiration of his pupils—no more the luminary of medicine to half the globe—no more, the friend and benefactor of mankind.-----But I would as foon believe that our folar fyftem was created only to amufe and perifh like a rocket, as believe that a mind endowed with fuch im- menfe powers of action and contemplation had ceafed to exift. Reafon bids us hope that he yet lives—And Revelation ena- bles us to fay, with certainty and confi- dence, that he ftill lives.-----Fain would I lift the curtain which feparates eternity from time, and inquire, what are now his , ftudies and employments—-------------- But it is not for mortals to pry into the fe- crets of the invisible world. D Such ( 26 ) Such was the man whofe memory we have endeavoured to celebrate. He lived for our benefit. It remains only that we im- prove the event of his death in fuch a man- ner, that he may die for our benefit likewife. For this purpofe I fhall finifh our Eulogi- um with the following obfervations. I. Let us learn from the character of Dr. Cullen duly to eftimate our profeSfion. While Aftronomy claims a Newton, and Electricity a Franklin, Medicine has been equally ho- noured by having employed the genius of a Cullen. Whenever therefore we feel our- felves difpofed to relax in our Studies, to ufe our profeflion for felfifh purpofes, or to ne- glect the poor, let us recollect how much we leffen the dignity which Dr. Cullen has con- ferred upon our profeflion. II. By the death of Dr. Cullen the re- public of medicine has loft one of its moft distinguished and ufeful members. It is incumbent upon us therefore to double our diligence in order to fupply the lofs of our in- defatigable fellowr-citizen. That phyfician has lived to little purpofe, who does not leave his profeflion in a more improved ftate than he found it. Let us remember, that our obliga- tions to add fomething to the capital of me- dical (' *7 ) dical knowledge, areequally binding with our obligations to practife the virtues of integrity and humanity in our intercourfe with our pa- tients . Let no ufeful fact therefore, however inconfiderable it may appear, be kept back from the public eye; for there are mites in fcience as well as in charity, and the remote confequences of both are often alike impor- tant and beneficial. Fads are the morality of medicine. They are the fame in all ages and in all countries. They have preferved the works of the immortal Sydenham from being destroy- ed by their mixture with his abfurd theories ; and under all the revolutions in fyftems that will probably take place hereafter, the facts which are contained in Dr. Cullen's works, will conftitute the belt fecurity for their fafe and grateful reception by future ages. III. Human nature is ever prone to ex- tremes. While we celebrate the praifes of Dr. Cullen, let us take care left we check a fpirit of free inquiry, by too great a regard for his authority in medicine. I well re- member an obfervation fuited to our prefent purpofe, which he delivered in his introduc- tion to a courfe of lectures on the institutes of medicine in the year 1766. After fpeak- ing (- 28 ) ing of the long continued and extenfive em- pire of Galen in the fchools of phyfic, he faid, " It is a great difadvantage to any fcience to " have been improved by a great man. His " authority impofes indolence, timidity, or " idolatry upon all who come after him."— Let us avoid thefe evils in our veneration for Dr. Cullen. To believe in great men, is of- ten as great an obftacle to the progrefs of knowledge, as to believe in witches and con- jurers. It is the image worfhip of fcience; for error is as much an attribute of man, as the defire of happinefs; and I think I have obferved, that the errors of great men partake of the dimenfions of their minds, and are of- ten of a greater magnitude than the errors of men of inferior understanding. Dr. Brown has proved the imperfection of human geni- us, by extending fome parts of Dr. Cullen's fyftem of phyfic, and perhaps by correc- ting fome of its defects. But he has left much to be done by his fucceflbrs. He has even bequeathed to them the labor of remo- ving the errors he has introduced into medi- cine by his neglect of an important principle in the animal ceconomy, and by his ignorance of the hiftories and fymptoms of difeafes. Perhaps no fyftem of medicine can be per- fect, ( *9 ) feet, while there exifts a Single difeafe which we do not know, or cannot cure. If this be true, then a complete fyftem of medicine can- not be formed, till America has furnifhed defcriptions and cures of all her peculiar difeafes. The United States have perfected the fcience of civil government. The free- dom of our constitutions, by imparting vigor and independence to the mind, is favourable to bold and original thinking upon all fubjects. Let us avail ourfelves therefore of this politi- cal aid to our refearches, and endeavour to ob- tain hiftories and cures of all our difeafes, that we may thereby contribute our part towards the formation of a complete fyftem of medicine. As a religion of fome kind is abfolutely ne- ceffary to promote morals; fo fyftems of me- dicine of fome kind, are equally neceffary to produce a regular mode of practice. They are not only neceffary, but unavoidable in medicine; for no phyfician, nay more, no empiric, practifes without them. The prefent is an age of great improve- ment. While the application of reafon to the fciences of government and religion, is daily meliorating the condition of mankind, it is agreeable to obferve the influence of me- dicine, ( 3° ) dicine in leffening human mifery, by aba- ting the mortality or violence of many dif- eafes. The decrees of heaven appear to be fulfilling by natural means ; and if no ancient prophecies had declared it, the late nume- rous difcoveries in medicine would authorize us to fay, that the time is approaching, when not only tyranny, difcord and fuperftition Shall ceafe from our world, but when difeaf- es fhall be unknown, or ceafe to be incurable; and when old age Shall be the only outlet of human life. " Thus heavenward all things tend." In that glorious aera, every difcovery in me- dicine Shall meet with its full reward ; and the more abundant gratitude of posterity to the name of Dr. Cullen, Shall then bury in oblivion the feeble attempt of this day to comply with your vote to perpetuate his fame. FINIS. A NEW EDITION, CORRECTED, IMPROVED, AND GREATLY ENLARGED, NOW PUBLISHING'BY SUBSCRIPTION, By THOMAS DOBSON, Bookseller, at tue Stone House in Second Street, PlIILADKLPNUIA, ENCYCLOPEDIA, dict Ton a ry Or ARTS, SCIENCES, and MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE. On a Plan entirely New. By which the different Sciences and Arts are digefted into the form of diftinct Treatifes or Syftems ; COMPREHENDING, Tlie Hiftory, Theory and Practice of each, according to the latei; Dif- coveries and improvements; j4nd fidl Explanations given of the Various detached Parts of Knowledge—Whether relating to Natural and Artificial Objects, or to matters Ecclefiaftical, Civil, Military, Commercial, &c. Including Elucidations of the moft important Topics relative to Religion, Morals, Manners, and the Oeconomy of Life :—Together with, A Defcription of all the Countries, Cities, principal Mountains, Seas, Rivers, &c. throughout the World. A general Hiftory, Antiem and Modern, of the different Empires, Kingdoms and States—And An account of the Lives of the moft Eminent perfons in every Nation, from the earlieft Ages down to the prefent Times. Compiled from the Writings of the beft Authsrs, in feveral Languages: the moft approved Dictionaries, as wtll of general Science as of par- ticular Branches, the Tranfaiftions, Journals and Memoirs, of learned Societies, both at home and abroad; the MS. Leiflures of eminent l'rofeffors on different Sciences; and a variety of original Materials, furniflied by an extenfive Correfpondence. The Plan of this Work gives it a decided Superior'ty over any other of the kind ever publifhed in the Englilh Language. The work is now going forward enriched with various Improvements, by Gentlemen emi- nent in the refpeiftive Sciences in this Country, and under the patronage of fuch a liberal Subfcription, as makes it neceffary to print double the Number originally intended. The Firft Volume is now completed, and the Second confiderably ad- vanced : a Volume will be publifhtfd every twenty Weeks, at Five Dol- lars in boards, or a Half Volume every ten Weeks, at Two Doi! ,rs -jnd Two-Thirds. The Price of the Firft and Second Volumes to l>c paid on delivering the Firft, and the Price of every fucceeding Volume on deli- very of the Volume preceding it. No Part will be furnifhed to any Perfon but Subfcribers only. Such Gentlemen as choofe to become Subfcribers, will pleafe forv~ur< their Subfcriptions to Thomas Dobson, the Publiflier, as abuvi. July 30th, 1790. Mc.a Hist. WZ mo ^! ccc cc cl ^- ^ 5s» *• v — C cO XcC x O <2<<