Page:A Recommendation of Inoculation - John Morgan.djvu/8

 death and devastation that have attended its progress; and has taken off more of the human race than war itself. Next to luxury, ambition and the pride of kings, this appears to be the severest scourge that ever afflicted the unhappy race of man. Villages, towns and cities have been frequently laid waste by it; and entire communities thinned of their inhabitants.

As there is no disease so universal, and at the same time so mortal, there is none which has afforded more exercise to the fancy of speculative men; none concerning which they have entertain'd a greater variety of opinions, or more false and destructive errors than this. Milled by vain and imaginary hypotheses, they have often render'd this disease, so noxious in itself, still more fatal. By the heating method they employed in the management of it, they added fuel to the flame, and armed the disease with a tenfold violence. Long did this mischievous treatment prevail, till our celebrated countryman arose, who may be deservedly stiled the British Hippocrates; I mean Sydenham of immortal name. At the head of those few who chose nature for their guide, he opposed the ruinous torrent. Blessed with an uncommon elevation of genius and solid judgment, by a strict attention to facts and useful observations, he laid the foundation of a better and more successful practice. To him we are chiefly beholden for the introduction of a cool regimen in the treatment of the small-pox; and tho' it did not immediately and extensively