acknowledgment to the much injured and unfortunate author of the_
Elementa Medicinae, _has borrowed from this essay._

_In public lectures, novelty is not to be expected, the principal
object of the lecturer being to place in a proper point of view,
what has been before discovered. The author has therefore freely
availed himself of the labours of others, particularly of the
popular publications of Dr. Beddoes, which he takes this opportunity
of acknowledging._

_This lecture is published almost_ verbatim _as it was delivered. On
this account the experiments mentioned are not minutely described,
the reader being supposed to see them performed._

* * * * *

A LECTURE,
&c.

THE greatest blessing we enjoy is health, without it, wealth,
honors, and every other consideration, would be insipid, and even
irksome; the preservation of this state therefore, naturally
concerns us all. In this lecture, I shall not attempt to teach you
to become your own physicians, for when the barriers of health are
once broken down, and disease has established itself, it requires
the deepest attention, and an accurate acquaintance with the
extensive science of medicine, to combat it; to attain this
knowledge demands the labour of years. But, a majority of the
diseases to which we are subject, are the effects of our own
ignorance or imprudence, and it is often very easy to prevent them;