CHARACTERS.
245
- them : I have been employed
« for thefe thirty years on twelve
- pages, which are to contain all
- that we know of metaphyfics,
' politics, and morals ; and all
- that very great authors have
' forgotten in the volumes they
- have written on thofe fciences.'
Some remarkable paffages of the life and death of the celebrated Dr. ^oerhaanje.
IT was the daily praflice of that eminent phyfician, Dr. Bcwfr- Jiaave, through his whole life, as foon as he rofe in the morning, which was generally very early, to retire for an hour to private prayer, and meditation on fome part of the fcriptures.— — He often told his friends, when they afked him how it was poffible for him to go through fo much fatigue? that it was This which gave him fpirit and vigour in the bufinefs of the day. This he therefore recommended as the beji rule he could give ; for no- thing, he faid, could tend more to the health of the body, than the tranquillity of the mind ; and that he knew nothing which could fup- port himfelf, or his fellow- crea- tures, amidft the various diftrefles of life, but a well-grounded con- fidence in the Supreme Being upon the principles of Chriftianity. This remark of the doctor's is undeni- ably juft; for a benevolent manner of ading, and a true greatnefs of foul, can never flow from any other fource than a confcioufnefs of the divine favour and affiftance. — This was ftrongly exemplified in his own illnefs in 1722, which can hardly be told without horror, and by which the courfe of his leftures as well as his pradice was long inter-
rupted. He was for five months confined to his bed by the gout, where he lay upon his back without daring to attempt the leaft motion, becaufe any fffort renewed his tor- ments, which were fo exquifite, that he was at length not only de- prived of motion but of fenfe.— Here his medical art was at a ftand, nothing could be attempted, becaufe nothing could be propofed with the leaft profpecl of fuccefs. But having (in the fixth month of his illnefs) obtained fome remif- fiop, he determined to try whether the juice of fumitory, endive, and fuccory, taken thrice a day in a large quantity (viz. above half a pint each dofe) might not contri- bute to his relief, and by a perfe- verance in tMs method he was won- derfully recovered. This patience of Boerhaave's was founded not on vain reafonings, like that of which the Stoicks boafted, but on a reli- gious compofure of mind, and chriflian refignalion to the will of God.
Of his fagacity and the wonder- ful penetration with which he oftea difcovered and defcribed, at the firft fight of a patient, fuchdiftem- pers as betray themfelves by no fymptoms tocommoneyes, fuchfur- ,prifing accounts have been given, as fcarcely can be credited, though attefted beyond all doubt. — Yet this great mafter of medical knowledge was fo far from a prefumptuous confidence in his abilities, or from being puited up by his riches, that he was condefcending to all, and remarkably diligent in his profef- fion ; and he often ufed to fay, that the life of a patient (if trifled with, or neglected) would one day- be required at the hand of the phyfician.— He always called the R 3 poor
