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ADVANCES MADE IN INTERNAL MEDICINE AND IN THE COLLATERAL BRANCHES OF BOTANY, PHARMACOLOGY, CHEMISTRY AND PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY

General Remarks.—In the fundamental branches of medical knowledge—anatomy and physiology—advances of a very decided character were accomplished during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and in the preceding chapters I have endeavored to give my readers some idea of the nature of these advances, of the men who were instrumental in effecting them, and of the extent to which the way was made easy, during this period, for the accomplishment of still further advances. In carrying on the work of correcting the many errors which were found to exist in the two departments mentioned, it was soon discovered that the obstacles to be overcome were of a serious character, and that the most formidable one of the group was what is universally known as Galenism. If I now refer to this subject once more, perhaps for the second or third time in the course of this history, it is because I fear that my remarks with regard to the harmful influence exerted by Galenism may not be rightly interpreted. For Galen's personal character I entertain, as I have already stated in the section relating to Ancient and Mediaeval Medicine, the deepest respect, and I am filled with great admiration for what he accomplished in advancing the science of medicine; but at the same time I cannot overlook the fact that he was hemmed in by insurmountable limitations. No single human being, living at the beginning of the present era and surrounded, as Galen was, by a herd of