1.The liard was a small copper coin worth at that time one-quarter of a sou. The latter coin was about as large as a silver quarter of a dollar or a one-shilling piece (English money).

2.The view of the small town of Loudun (see opposite page 4), which has been copied from a photograph of quite recent date, shows that Gilles de la Tourette’s hope has already been realized.

3.See Haller’s comments on Boerhaave’s personality, at bottom of page 445 of “The Growth of Medicine.”

4.In the city of Leipzig alone there were no fewer than 30,000 wounded and sick soldiers belonging to all the different nations engaged in the war.

5.The following quotations are from Wheeler’s English Translation of the Organon.

6.Several weeks after I had sent my completed manuscript to New Haven I received, from a London dealer in second-hand books, a catalogue in which the following item appears:—

Haller (Albrecht von) First Lines of Physiology. Translated from the Third Latin Edition. To which is added a Translation of the Index composed for the Edinburgh Edition printed under the Inspection of Dr. William Cullen. Edinburgh, 1801.

It is evident, therefore, that I was in error when, after a very limited search, I was led to believe that no English version of the “Primae Lineae” exists, and accordingly I ventured to translate a few brief selections of the text.—A. H. B.

7.To make sure that any errors rightly chargeable to me as translator shall not be imputed to von Haller I will add here the original Latin text.—A. H. B.

Chapter XX. Somnus.

Section 564.—Aptitudo ad sensus et motus voluntarios libere exercendos in sanis organis, VIGILIA vocatur: ineptitudo ad eosdem et quies omnium cum sanis organis SOMNI nomen fert.

Section 565.—In somno anima vel omnino nihil cogitat, quod memoria retineatur, quodque notum fit, vel unice occupatur in speciebus, sensorio communi receptis, quarum vividae repraesentationes in mente eo tempore omnino similes perceptiones producunt, quales objectorum externorum impressiones insensuum organa faciunt. Hae repraesentationes INSOMNIA vocantur, et efficiunt, ut reliquo toto emporio sensuum et voluntariorum motuum quiescente, aliqua tamen particula aperta sit, spiritibus perfluatur, et vigilet. Aliquando cum his perceptionibus animae aliqui motus voluntarii conjunguntur, ut loquelae organa, ut artus multi, omnesve, ad nutum illarum preceptionum regantur. Huc SOMNAMBULI.

Section 566.—Sed in somno pergit omnium humorum in corpore humano distributio, circulatio, vis peristaltica ventriculi, intestinorum, sphincterum, respiratio denique ipsa simili modo exercetur. Haec compositio in quiete certarum partium, aliarum motu, cognitionem causae mechanicae somni difficilem reddidit.

8.A French physician by the name of Goudareau has published a translation of the work under the title: “TRAITÉ DE MÉDECINE PRATIQUE,” 2 vols., Paris, 1820–1822.

9.At this point one of Wunderlich’s critics makes the comment that Ludwig Traube may more justly be considered the real founder of experimental pathology in Germany.

10.“COMMENTARIA IN HERM. BOERHAAVE APHORISMOS DE COGNOSCENDIS ET CURANDIS MORBIS,” Paris, 1755–1773, 5 vols. in quarto. There exist also English and French translations of these commentaries.

11.It has often been stated that Lorenz Gasser was the discoverer of the nodal swelling of the trigeminal nerve which bears the name of “Gasserian ganglion.” Hyrtl, however, declares that the credit for this discovery belongs to A. R. B. Hirsch, a Viennese anatomist, who named it in honor of his teacher, Lorenz Gasser, Professor of Anatomy in the University of Vienna.—A. H. B.

12.A solution of bichloride of mercury, 4; chloride of sodium and chloride of ammonium, each 1; water 500.

13.“Illustrissimo viro Lazaro Spallanzani summo naturae in minimis et difficilimis, indagatori, ob ejus in veri finibus extendendis, merita, D. D. D. Hallerus.”

[The letters D. D. D. are an abbreviation for “dat, donat, dedicat,” commonly employed in inscriptions.]

14.Those of 1775 and later years, printed by Grasset, of Lausanne, are considered the best.

15.At the period which is now under consideration Geneva belonged strictly to France. It was not until the year 1815 that it was incorporated with the Confederation of Swiss Cantons.

16.Some authorities state that William Scheele made the same discovery independently in 1775.

17.Published, in 1908, by John Lane, New York and London; and, for the reader’s further enlightenment, it should be stated that “Thomas William Coke of Holkam, Norfolk, England, was a famous country gentleman who lived from 1754 to 1842, becoming, late in life, the Earl of Leicester. He was known throughout the world of his time as a scientific and accomplished agriculturist. Owning great country estates he was a skillful sportsman, and as an influential member of Parliament sided with the Americans and against George III and his ministers in our Revolution.”

18.The title of this memoir is: “TRAITÉ DES MEMBRANES EN GÉNÉRAL ET DES DIVERSES MEMBRANES EN PARTICULIER,” Paris, 1800.

19.Free Translation into English.—“This monument has been erected in honor of citizens Desault and Bichat by their contemporaries, who wish in this manner to show their appreciation of the valuable services which these two men have rendered to medicine: Desault by the important part which he played in renewing the life and vigor of French Surgery, and Bichat by his untiring efforts, both by teaching and by research work, to extend the limits of the domain of Medicine. Successful as were these efforts the results would certainly have been much greater if death had not put an end to his work before Bichat had completed his 31st year.”

20.Bonaparte was not made Emperor until 1804.

21.This—says the author of the biographical sketch from which I derive my information—is a bit of sarcasm suggested to Bayle’s mind by the fact that Petit-Radel was well-known at that period to be particularly fond of favoring systems in his contributions to medical literature.

22.See foot-note on page 180.

23.For additional information concerning Montpellier’s famous FacultÉ de MÉdecine, see farther on under the heading “Jacques Delpech” (page 233).—A. H. B.

24.To prevent confusion I beg to remind the reader that there were two men living in Paris at this period who both bore the name of Louis and who were almost equally celebrated, viz., Antoine Louis, the surgeon, and Charles A. P. Louis, the subject of the present remarks.

25.As stated on page 87 the Vienna anatomist, Hyrtl, claims that Duddal, an English physician, was the first person who described this membrane.

26.By the word “schools” Chereau evidently means the buildings in which the different classrooms were located.—A. H. B.

27.Voltaire says (p. 328 of “Pages Choisies des Grands Écrivains,” Paris, Librairie Armand Colin, 1910): “That Piarrou de Chamousset (1717–1773), a wealthy philanthropist, built a model hospital in which every patient had a bed to himself or herself. Since that time the practice of putting two patients in one bed has been abandoned.”