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292 thinks of treating all diseases by specifics, any more than a skilful mechanic would think of building a house or constructing a machine with a single tool. The treatment which is proper in the beginning of a disease, is often quite improper in its progress or towards its close; and a remedy that might be very proper in a certain stage of a certain disease in one individual, is often quite improper in the same stage of the same disease in another in different circumstances. A skilful mariner never thinks of making a voyage by any positive directions given before hand; but he watches the ocean and the elements—is continually taking his observations, his soundings, and his reckonings, and endeavors always to adapt his measures to existing circumstances. In like manner, the skilful physician carefully watches his patient, takes account of all his symptoms, considers the nature and tendency of his disease, and the circumstances which attend him, and, after a full computation of all these, endeavors to adapt his measures to the exigency of the case. Every case of indisposition, however plain and simple it may appear to