style; and found, that this same letter constituted the very imperial patent of creation, and was not, as I had deemed it, one merely among the many ordinary recognitions of his royal rank. I have likewise subsequently observed, that Camerarius in his Life of Eobanus (followed by Adamus and others), attributes to Reuchlin the coronation of Eobanus.-Referring again to the letter of Eobanus in answer to Reuchlin's, I find the following allusion to the matter in question :-" Ego autem quod reliquum est, mi Reuchline, puto me tibi permagnam debere gratiam, et certe non fallor, quod genti meae tam antiquum, et quasi ex chao, attuleris præconium, et regem me, alludente voce gentilicia, salutas. Rex igitur sum ego, sed admodum parvo contentus regno. Quanto tu asseris, id esset vel Imperatori nimium."-The verses (which here follow), are from the second book of the Sylva; and though the Farragines were first published during the life of the poet (1539), they are not accurately printed. "CUR VOCETUR REX. Non ego crediderim citius, prodisse poëtam Hoc tamen unde feram, qua manet origine nonem, Ipse ego quandoquidem nec publica scripta negare, Nec poteram charis obstruere ora viris : "Rex," inquam, "Rex vester ero, quando ista necesse est Verum alios titulos, nec inepta insignia sumam, Moria jamdudum cognita tota mihi est.1 Vidimus Utopiæ latissima regna superbæ.5 Gentis Hyperboreæ felicem vidimus oram, Qua neque mors hominum nec mala fata premunt, Qua licet in cœlum scandere quando libet.8 1 The first edition of the Heroides Christiane was published at Leipsic, in 1514, Eobanus being then in his twenty-fifth year.-Does Eobanus in the first two verses refer to a recognition by him of Reuchlin's poetical genius in 1514? Reuchlin's Scenica Progymnasmata were republished, in that year, at Leipsic; and probably the letter of Eobanus to Reuchlin, to which the latter in his epistle here printed alludes, contained an acknowledgment to the effect, with special reference to that famous comedy. Reuchlin's coronation of Eobanus was thus only a reciprocity for Eobanus's laureation of Reuchlin. 2 This is a very accurate abstract of Reuchlin's letter, here printed from the autograph, and for the first time. 3 Thus in a writing, and not in conversation. 4 Erasmus, by his Encomium Moriæ, had, in a certain sort, brought Folly into fashion. 5 See the Utopia of Sir Thomas More. 6 Lucian's True History (i. 29,)? 7 The Fortunate Islands, or Islands of the Blessed, need no illustration. • He refers principally to Pindar, (Pyth. x. 57, sq.) Hæc per et hæc circum pulcherrima regna volentem, Cumque peragrârim tot tantaque regna, licebit Musica legitimum sumant in carmina regnum, Quam mihi sint nullæ scribenda in carmina vires II.-ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF MEDICINE. IN REFERENCE TO CULLEN.' (JULY, 1832.) An Account of the Life, Lectures, and Writings of William Cullen, M.D., Professor of the Practice of Physic in the University of Edinburgh. By JOHN THOMSON, M.D., Professor of Medicine and General Pathology in the University of Edinburgh Vol. I. 8vo. Edinburgh: 1832. WE are much gratified by the appearance of the present work. Cullen is one of those illustrious minds by whom Scotland, during the past century, was raised from comparative insignificance to the very highest rank in literature and science. In no department of intellectual activity has Scotland been more prolific of distinguished talent, than in medicine; and as a medical philosopher the name of Cullen stands, in his native country, pre-eminent and alone. It would be difficult indeed to find in any nation an individual who displayed a rarer assemblage of the highest qualities of a physician. The characters of his genius were prominent, but in just accordance with each other. His erudition was extensive, yet it never shackled the independent vigor of his mind; while, on the other hand, no love of originality made him overlook or disparage the labors of his predecessors. His capacity of speculation was strong, but counterbalanced by an equal power of observation; his imagination, though lively, was broken in as a useful auxiliary to a still more energetic reason. The circumstances under which his mind was cultivated, were also conducive to its full and harmonious evolution. His education was left sufficiently to himself to determine his faculties to a 1 [This article, placed under the head of Literature, requires some indulgence; I could not give it a class for itself, and it falls at least more naturally under this, than under either of the other heads.] free and vigorous energy; sufficiently scholastic to prevent a one-sided and exclusive development. It was also favorable to the same result, that from an early period of life, his activity was divided between practice, study, and teaching; and extended to almost every subject of medical science-all however viewed in subordination to the great end of professional knowledge, the cure of disease. Cullen's mind was essentially philosophic. Without neglecting observation, in which he was singularly acute, he devoted himself less to experiment than to arrangement and generalization. We are not aware, indeed, that he made the discovery of a single sensible phenomenon. Nor do we think less of him that he did not. Individual appearances are of interest only as they represent a general law. In physical science the discovery of new facts is open to every blockhead with patience, manual dexterity, and acute senses; it is less effectually promoted by genius than by co-operation, and more frequently the result of accident than of design. But what Cullen did, it required individual ability to do. It required, in its highest intensity, the highest faculty of mind-that of tracing the analogy of unconnected observations, of evolving from the multitude of particular facts a common principle, the detection of which might recall them from confusion to system, from incomprehensibility to science. Of ten thousand physicians familiar with the same appearances as Cullen, is there one could have turned these appearances to the same account? But though not an experimentalist, Cullen's philosophy was strictly a philosophy of experience. The only speculation he recognized as legitimate was induction. To him theory was only the expression of an universal fact; and in rising to this fact, no one, with equal consciousness of power, was ever more cautious in the different steps of his generalization. : Cullen's reputation, though high, has never been equal to his deserts. This is owing to a variety of causes. In medical science, a higher talent obtains perhaps a smaller recompense of popular applause than in any other department of knowledge. "Dat Galenus opes;" "the solid pudding," but not "the empty praise." Of all subjects of scientific interest, men in general seem to have the weakest curiosity in regard to the functions of their own minds, and even bodies. So is it now, and, however marvelous, so has it always been. "Eunt homines," says St. Austin, “mirari alta montium, ingentes fluctus maris, altissimos lapsus fluminum, oceani ambitum, et gyros siderum ;-seipsos relinquunt nec mirantur." For one amateur physiologist, we meet a hundred dilettanti chemists, and botanists, and mineralogists, and geologists. Even medical men themselves are, in general, equally careless and incompetent judges as the public at large, of all high accomplishment in their profession. Medicine they cultivate not as a science, but as a trade; are indifferent to all that transcends the sphere of vulgar practice; and affect to despise what they are unable to appreciate. But independently of the general causes which have prevented Cullen from obtaining his due complement of fame, there are particular causes which conspired also to the same result. His doctrine was not always fully developed in his works; his opinions have been ignorantly misrepresented; his originality invidiously impugned; and what he taught in his lectures, published without acknowledgment by his pupils. Cullen's honor thus calling for vindication, was long abandoned to neglect. This may be in part explained by the peculiar difficulty of the task. He who was competent to appreciate Cullen's merits, and to assert for him his proper place among medical reasoners, behoved to be at home in medicine, both as a practical art, and as a learned science-he required at once experience, philosophy, and erudition. But this combination is now unfortunately rare: we could indeed with difficulty name a second individual so highly qualified for this duty as the accomplished physician on whom it has actually devolved. The experience of a long and extensive practice-habits of thought trained in the best schools of philosophy-an excursive learning which recalls the memory of a former age-and withal an admiration of his subject, transmuting an arduous undertaking into a labor of love-have enabled Dr. Thomson, in his life of Cullen, to produce a work, which we have no hesitation in pronouncing the most important contribution from a British author to the history of medicine, since the commencement of our labors. Cullen's personal biography is comparatively meagre. His life is in his doctrine. But to exhibit this doctrine, as influenced by previous, and as influencing subsequent, speculation, was in a certain sort to exhibit the general progress of medical science. In the execution of this part of his labor, Dr. Thomson presents an honorable exception to the common character of our recent historians |