To THE PROFESSION OF MEDICINE OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD IN RECOGNITION OF HIS PERSONAL INDEBTEDNESS THESE VOLUMES ARE DEDICATED WITH GRATEFUL APPRECIATION BY THE AUTHOR THE PREFACE HE author has endeavored to give in this work a comprehensive view of the evolution of the art and science of Medicine from its origin, to set forth its Institutes, or the principles upon which it is founded, and at the same time to make mention of men who have more largely contributed to their development. To this end he has indulged in discussions of, and dissertations upon, medical theories and hypotheses, and criticised rather freely, but without malice or prejudice, medical sects and their votaries. While the critic may take exception to this latter feature of the work as being inconsistent with an impartial narrative of the progress of medical events, the author believes that the course he has pursued, while not impairing the judicial accuracy of the narrative, was indispensably necessary to a lucid illumination of his theme. He has written in the interest of the rising generation of medical students as well as the medical profession generally. The author has spared no pains to be accurate. The facts of which he has availed himself are accessible for the most part to all students of history: the conclusions are his own; and if they differ from those of writers or thinkers on the |