rous other characters of equal respectability."

It cannot but excite our notice and surprise that the number of
clergymen both in America and Great Britain who thrust forward their
evidence on this medical topic was singularly large in proportion
to that of the members of the medical profession. Whole pages are
contributed by such worthies as the Rev. Dr. Trotter of Hans Place,
the Rear. Waring Willett, Chaplain to the Earl of Dunmore, the Rev.
Dr. Clarke, Chaplain to the Prince of Wales. The style of these
theologico-medical communications may be seen in the following from a
divine who was also professor in one of the colleges of New England.
"I have used the Tractors with success in several other cases in my
own family, and although, like Naaman the Syrian, I cannot tell why
the waters of Jordan should be better than Abana and Pharpar, rivers
of Damascus; yet since experience has proved them so, no reasoning
can change the opinion. Indeed, the causes of all common facts are, we
think, perfectly well known to us; and it is very probable, fifty or
a hundred years hence, we shall as well know why the Metallic Tractors
should in a few minutes remove violent pains, as we now know why
cantharides and opium will produce opposite effects, namely, we shall
know very little about either excepting facts." Fifty or a hundred years
hence! if he could have looked forward forty years, he would have
seen the descendants of the "Perkinistic" philosophers swallowing
infinitesimal globules, and knowing and caring as much about the
Tractors as the people at Saratoga Springs do about the waters of Abana
and Pharpar.

I trust it will not be thought in any degree disrespectful to a
profession which we all honor, that I have mentioned the great zeal
of many clergymen in the cause of Perkinism. I hope, too, that I may
without offence suggest the causes which have often led them out of
their own province into one to which their education has no special
reference. The members of that profession ought to be, and commonly are,
persons of benevolent character. Their duties carry them into the midst
of families, and particularly at times when the members of them are
suffering from bodily illness. It is natural enough that a strong desire
should be excited to alleviate sufferings which may have defied
the efforts of professional skill; as natural that any remedy which
recommends itself to the belief or the fancy of the spiritual physician
should