Page:Harveian Oration for MDCCCXXXVIII; being a tribute of respect for the memory of the late James Hamilton, Sen. M.D (IA b30377353).pdf/18

 confirmed the utility of the agents which, after much patient and anxious inquiry, he had recommended; in the administration of which he had uniformly inculcated, that they were intended to produce, not severe or repeated purging, but a laxative effect; and had urged the necessity of inspecting the alvine egesta, that a correct judgment of the nature of a malady might he formed, and the subsequent doses, as well as the time of the repetition of medicines, might be ascertained. To the neglect of this attention he ascribed the injury which might sometimes occur; but he maintained that he could not be accountable for results against which he had endeavoured to guard.

It would almost be injustice to his memory to forbear to quote the following spirited sentence, which reflects great credit on the sound judgment and good taste of a man who had completed his 84th year. “I have not been aware that I incurred the charge of empiricism; but, if I have ascertained the loaded state of the bowels to be the cause of some diseases; if I have traced the effects of this state through the gradual decline of health to the introduction of distressing and obstinate ailments; if, in proposing a remedy for these, I have contributed to