that of later physiologists, who take at once the animal frame in its mature and perfect state, and trace it from some one assumed function through all the rest. 66 He was soon led to a preference of the second scheme. It is by far the simpler of the two, and directly harmonizes with the fundamental principle, which runs through all the systems of zoology, botany, and mineralogy, of forming the arrangement and selecting the characters from the more perfect individuals, as specimens. He decided, therefore, upon taking the more prominent functions of the animal frame for his primary or classific division, and the more important of their respective organs for bis secondary or ordinal; and without tying himself to a particular distribution of the former in any authorized or popular use at the present moment, to follow what appears to be the order of nature in her simplest and most intelligible march. "To repair the exhaustion which is constantly taking place in every part of the body from the common wear and tear of life, it is necessary that the alimentary canal should be supplied with a due proportion of food, the procuration of which, therefore, constitutes, in savage as well as in civil society, the first concern of mankind. The food thus procured is introduced into a set of organs admirably devised for its reception; and its elaboration into a nutritive form constitutes what physiologists have denominated the DIGESTIVE FUNCTION. The diseases, then, to which this function is subject, will be found to create the first class of the ensuing system. "The food thus far elaborated has yet to be conveyed to the lungs, and be still farther operated upon by the atmosphere, before it becomes duly assimilated to the nature of the fabric it has to support. The FUNCTION OF RESPIRATION embraces this part of the animal economy; and the diseases to which this func-. tion is subject form the second class of the arrangement. "The blood, now matured and consummated, is returned to the heart, and sent forth, in a circulating course, to every organ of the body, as the common pabulum from which it is to screen what it stands in need of the waste blood being carried back to the fountain from which it issued. It is this circulatory track that constitutes the SANGUINEOUS FUNCTION; and the diseases by which it is characterized form the third class of the ensuing pages. "But the blood does not circulate by its own power. From the brain, which it recruits and refreshes, its vessels (perhaps itself) receive a perpetual influx of that sensorial energy which gives motion, as the blood gives food, to the entire machine; converts the organized into an animal and intellectual system, and forms the important sphere of the NERVOUS FUNCTION. This function, also, affords scope for a large family of diseases; and hence we obtain a groundwork for a fourth class. "Such is the progress towards perfection in the life of the individual. But man is not born to be an individual; he is designed to perpetuate his species; and the last finish to his frame consists in giving full development and activity to the organs which are subservient to this purpose. We thus arrive at the SEXUAL FUNCTION; and obtain from the diseases by which it is marked, a fifth class. "As every part is thus receiving new matter from the blood, it is necessary that that which is superseded should be carried off by proper emunctories: as it is also necessary that the antagonist processes of restoration and detrition should maintain a fair balance. And hence the minute secretory and absorbent vessels hold the same relation to each other as the arteries and veins, and conjointly create an EXCERNENT FUNCTION; whose diseases lay a foundation for the sixth class of our systematic attempt. "It will yet remain to create a class for external accidents, and those accidental misformations which occasionally disfigure the fetus. This will constitute the seventh; and under these seven classes it will possibly be found that all the long list of diseases may be included which man is called to suffer, or the art of medicine to provide for." p. lxxx. Consistently with the arrangement thus simply deduced, our author divides his work (which comprises 546 closely printed 8vo. pages) into seven sections, devoted to a series of seven classes and their subordinate orders, thus: CLASS I. CELIACA. Diseases of the digestive function. Order 1. Enterica... affecting the alimentary canal. 2. Splanchnica... affecting the collatitious viscera. CLASS II. PNEUMATICA. Diseases of the respiratory function. Order 1. Phonica... affecting the vocal avenues. 2. Pneumonica... affecting the lungs, their membranes, or motive power. CLASS III. HEMATICA. Diseases of the sanguineous function. Order 1. Pyrectica... fevers. 2. Phlogotica... inflammations. 3. Exanthematica... eruptive fevers. 4. Dysthetica... cachexies. R CLASS IV. NEUROTICA. Diseases of the nervous function. Order 1. Phrenica... affecting the intellect. 2. Esthetica... affecting the sensation. 3. Cinetica... affecting the muscles. 4. Systatica... affecting several or all the sensorial powers simultaneously. CLASS V. GENETICA. 3. Corpotica. Order 1. Cenotica. 2. Orgastica. CLASS VI. ECCRITICA. Diseases of the excernent function. Order 1. Mesotica... affecting the parenchyma. 2. Catotica ... affecting internal surfaces. 3. Acrotica... affecting the external surface. CLASS VII. TYCHICA. Fortuitous lesions or deformities. Order 1. Apalotica... affecting the soft parts. 2. Stereotica... affecting the hard parts. 3. Morphica... monstrosities of birth. For the subordinate peculiarities of arrangement, the work itself must be consulted. It abounds with etymological, as well as physiological and nosological, information. In order that the student may, without difficulty, comprehend the nomenclature of the author, he introduces a table of the principal Affixes and Suffixes, with the senses in which they are employed. That the reader may have an opportunity of comparing this with the table subjoined to the dissertation on medical technology, I shall here insert it. TABLE OF THE AFFIXES AND SUFFIXES, That chiefly occur in Dr. Good's Nomenclature, with the Senses in which they are used. A..... (a) Affixes. Diminution or loss of quality or power. Apo, ap, aph (año, άя, άo)... For the most part iterative, du ἀφ).. Dia....... • (dia). ...Separation; secernment; or se cretion. Dys........(dug)........... Morbid state or action generally; Ec, ex......(EK, EE)...... ....... emphatical,when accompanied with distress or difficulty. Out of; outwards; over; above. Within; below; applied to places. Superiority; excess or intensity; applied to quantity or quality. Para...... ·(ñaρa).............................Morbid state or action general ly; and hence synonymous with dys; except in a few terms derived from anatomy, in which it imports apud, "bordering on," as in parotitis, paronychia. .............Circuit; circumference. Suffixes. .(áλyıa).......................Pain or ache. Algia.......(áλyia) Asmus, osmus (áoμa, áoμos)..) Morbid action, power, or pos Ptoma...... (тшμα)........ Naked prolapse of a soft part. |