passions. They had opponents to detest as well as a leader to admire, without which no sect or faction will much flourish. Add to all this, that Brown led the way in Bacchanalian orgies, as well as in plausible theories and animating declamation. It will not seem wonderful that a man who united so many sources of influence should have many followers, independently of the real merits of his system, which were very great, but which had a small share in procuring converts. It ought not to be omitted, that some of the most mischievous and effectual of the above allurements arose, not from the subject, but from the teacher. Among these, every one will number personal invective; and it is equally true that the system must have been grossly misunderstood before it could have been supposed to favour idleness or intemperance, though, as it was taught, it did in fact promote these views." 1 It is but fair to the memory of this remarkable man to give a fuller exposition of his doctrines, drawn by a friendly hand.2

"Animals and vegetables were endowed with a principle, the nature of which is unknown. This principle, which is named Excitability, distinguishes living beings from inanimate matter; and Dr. Brown regards it as one, and indivisible.

"He has studiously avoided all inquiry concerning the nature of excitability; but supposes that it may be accumulated, or diminished in quantity, that it may become more or less abundant; and, in that point of view, he considers it as matter. He calls the agents which support life exciting powers, and distinguishes them into external

1 Memoirs of Sir James Mackintosh, Vol. I.

2 "To render these preliminary observations, however, still more complete, and convey to those not in the profession a general idea of the principles of a doctrine, in which all who devote themseles to the pursuit of sci

ence must feel an interest, the editor has thought proper to conclude with a summary drawn by M. Bertin, a French physician intimately acquainted with the subject."-Extract from the Life of Dr. Brown, written by his son, and prefixed to his works.

and internal. These powers, acting upon the excitability, maintain life—or, in the language of Brunonian doctrine, produce excitement.

"He also gives the name of stimulant powers to whatever can modify the excitability and produce a greater or lesser degree of excitement: when the exciting, or stimulant, powers exert a moderate action on the excitability, they consume a suitable quantity of it, and produce the degree of excitement in which health consists. Thus the moderate action of the exciting powers, the due exhaustion of the excitability, and proper limitation of the excitement, are synonomous phrases.

"But when the exciting powers act with too great energy, the excitability is too speedily wasted, and the excitement proportionably increased; in which cases, the body is said to be in that state to which he gives the name of sthenic diathesis: it does not yet, however, labour under sthenic disease, being only predisposed to it.

"It is that intermediate state between health and disease which is named pre-disposition, and which is sooner or later changed into that of disease, according to the greater or lesser energy of the stimulant powers. The sthenic diathesis may be gradually increased from the slightest sthenic disease-as the sthenic catarrh, small-pox, the benign measles-to the highest inflammatory pneumonia ; and the excitement is then raised to the highest degree of which it is susceptible. It cannot remain long in this state without becoming languid. The physician has, then, two difficulties to encounter. If he employ too debilitating a treatment, he will reduce the excitement too much, and induce a state of great weakness; he will occasion those diseases which supervene on inflammatory affections, when sufficient caution has not been employed in the use of the antiphlogistic plan of cure, or when bleeding has been pushed too far. On the other hand, if he be too timid in

the use of the debilitating method, or employ too powerful stimuli, he will give rise to a different kind of debility.

"It is very essential, according to this doctrine, to distinguish these two kinds of debility; for, though intrinsically the same, they require a different kind of treatment.

"That debility which is produced by too debilitating a method, or, in general, by the deficiency of existing powers, or by their too feeble action, is named direct debility. In such a case, the excitability is supposed to be accumulated. Thus, the too feeble action of the exciting powers, the accumulation of the excitability, and the direct diminution of the excitement, are synonomous expressions. There is another kind of debility, occasioned by the excessive action of the exciting powers, or by intensely strong stimuli, or by the too long continued action of these powers, even though their energy be not too great.

"The excitability is then exhausted by the excess of stimuli, and this species of debility is called indirect. Thus, the long-continued action of stimuli, or their most intense action, or their exhaustion of the excitability, and indirect debility, are equivalent terms.

"He distinguishes with great discernment the apparent debility accompanying inflammatory diseases, which it is of such importance to ascertain. The proof, says he, that this debility is not real, is, that it yields to debilitating remedies, while the employment of stimulants would be death. He supposes that both direct and indirect debility may be present at the same time in the same subject; and this he names Mixed Debility. It requires a treatment adapted to the predominance of either.

"In explaining his system, Dr. Brown used two scales, of which the first, divided into 80°, shows the quantity of excitability given to a being at the commencement of existence. The second points out the ascending and descending progression, which the exciting powers observe in acting on the excitability.

with propriety, ranked from thirty to fifty degrees in the scale for perfect health, which or forty degrees, rarely occurs; in consequence of the variation of the stimuli to which man drink, and the passions of the mind; which sometimes act with more power, sometimes with monly fluctuates between thirty and fifty degrees.