But in
either maladies, the causes of which depend on a variety of other
concurrent circumstances, and the cure of which in different
individuals, frequently requires very opposite remedies, as in dropsy,
various species of colds, the almost infinite variety of consumptions,
etc. a specific remedy is an imposition upon the common sense of
mankind. Those who are but imperfectly acquainted with the various
causes from which the same disorder originates in different individuals,
can never entertain such a vulgar and dangerous notion. They will easily
perceive, how much depends upon ascertaining with precision, the seat
and cause of the complaint, before any medicine can be presented with
safety or advantage:--even life and death are, we are sorry to add, too
often decided by the first steps. Different constitutions, different
symptoms, and stages of disease, all require more or less a separate
consideration. What is more natural than to place confidence in a
remedy, which has been known to afford relief to others in the same kind
of disposition? The patient anxiously enquires after a person who has
been afflicted with the same malady; he is eager to know the remedy that
has been used with success; his friend or neighbour imparts to him the
wished for intelligence; he is determined to give the medicine a fair
trial, and takes it with confidence.
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