but in England, and hence their transfer across the Atlantic. We have the authority of Dr. Rush for stating that, until the period of the institution of the Medical School, the system of Boerhaave governed the practice of every physician in Philadelphia.[1]
Boerhaave was a vigorous reformer, and did yeoman’s service in exploding the fallacies of dogmas. He was versed in the mathematical sciences and natural philosophy, and although too strongly mechanical in his notions, saw clearly the importance of bringing to bear upon medical inquiry a correlation of the sciences. The whole system which he inculcated may be judged of from the creed which he uttered— “Let anatomy faithfully describe the parts and structure of the body; let the mathematician apply his particular science to the solids; let hydrostatics explain the laws of fluids in general, and hydraulics their actions as they move through given channels; and lastly, let the chemist add to all this whatever his art, when fairly and carefully applied, has been able to discover; and then, if I am not mistaken, we shall have a complete account of medical physiology.” But Boerhaave had not disabused himself of the belief in the animal spirits as a motor force, and although inferring that each motor nerve had a separate origin, and hence an office, he did not, in his physiological system, take very enlarged or correct views of the vital properties of organized beings, or of the dependence of their properties on the state of the nerves.
When Cullen came into estimation as a teacher, he reigned supreme both in Great Britain and America. His views and opinions superseded those of Boerhaave, and were without challenge until the rise of the Brunonian system, a competitor for credence. From his immediate connection with Cullen as a pupil, Dr. Rush, as we have seen, returned to America imbued with his doctrines, and warm in admiration of his mental qualities. But extensive observation, reading, and reflection, had taught, in subsequent years, the enthusiastic student that the line of speculation was not exhausted; and from a vast experience in the maladies of a new
- ↑ Rush’s Works, vol. iv. p. 375.
