re evident, than that it was
a transient sally of an imagination warmed with gaiety, or the
negligent effusion of a mind intent upon some other employment, and in
haste to dismiss a troublesome intruder; for it is certain that
Sydenham did not think it impossible to write usefully on medicine,
because he has himself written upon it; and it is not probable that he
carried his vanity so far, as to imagine that no man had ever acquired
the same qualifications besides himself. He could not but know that he
rather restored, than invented most of his principles, and, therefore,
could not but acknowledge the value of those writers whose doctrines
he adopted and enforced.

That he engaged in the practice of physick without any acquaintance
with the theory, or knowledge of the opinions or precepts of former
writers, is undoubtedly false; for he declares, that, after he had, in
pursuance of his conversation with Dr. Cox, determined upon the
profession of physick, he "applied himself in earnest to it, and spent
several years in the university," (aliquot annos in academica
palaestra,) before he began to practise in London.

Nor was he satisfied with the opportunities of knowledge which Oxford
afforded, but travelled to Montpellier, as Desault relates,
[Dissertation on Consumptions,] in quest of further information;
Montpellier, being at that time, the most celebrated school of
physick: so far was Sydenham from any contempt of academical
institutions, and so far from thinking it reasonable to learn physick
by experiments alone, which must necessarily be made at the hazard of
life.

What can be demanded beyond this by the most zealous advocate for
regular education? What can be expected from the most cautious and
most industrious student, than that he should dedicate several years
to the rudiments of his art, and travel for further instructions from
one university to another?

It is likewise a common opinion, that Sydenham was thirty years old,
before he formed his resolution of studying physick, for which I can
discover no other foundation than one expression in his dedication to
Dr. Mapletoft, which seems to have given rise to it, by a gross
misinterpretation; for he only observes, that from his conversation
with Dr. Cox to the publication of that treatise, thirty years had
intervened.

Whatever may have produced this notion, or how long soever it may have
prevailed, it is now proved, beyond controversy, to be false; since i