A course of fifteen lectures on medical botany, denominated Thomson's new theory of medical practice : in which the various theories that have preceded it are reviewed and compared : delivered in Cincinnati, Ohio / by Samuel Robinson ; with introductory remarks by the proprietor.

  • Robinson, Samuel.
Date:
1834
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A course of fifteen lectures on medical botany, denominated Thomson's new theory of medical practice : in which the various theories that have preceded it are reviewed and compared : delivered in Cincinnati, Ohio / by Samuel Robinson ; with introductory remarks by the proprietor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    LECTURE II. HISTORICAL VIEW OF ANCIENT THEORIES. That divine philosopher, Plato, said, light was the shadow of the Deity, and truth his soul. That the wise and good, as they approximated to the source of glory and intelligence, were clothed and animated by that heavenly essence, which he poured out from the fountain of his eternal being : That into the cup mixed for the formation of man, he poured a portion of his own divinity ; that this divine principle, rational and immor- tal, resides in the brain, the seat of sublimity and great conceptions; but another soul, which dwells in the breast, formed by the inferiour deities, was mortal, and destitute of reason, which contracts evil, pain and sorrow, and involves all the woes of man, misery and death, and the despair of hades ! That the gods, not being under the influence of this mortal inferiour soul, do good to man without selfish or interested views ; and man, as \ve aspires to the divine life, acts upon the same principle. The admirable saying of Bias, one of the seven sages, was greatly esteemed by this philosopher, Omnia mea mecum porto, I carry with me all my possessions : Be- ing wholly occupied in promoting the public good, and laying up the treasures of the mind, of which neither fate, nor foes, nor death, could rob him, he accounted every thing else as nothing. Those who devote themselves to a new theory ; wlw have to stand alone in the defence of an unknown truth, and to combat alone the triumphant pride of an estab- lished science, would require a large portion of the self- denying spirit of the Grecian sage. And Dr. Thomson