SYDEXHAM. 89 j gentlemen who desired his opinion on any parti- cular subject, or pressed him to make public what observations he had made. His " Methodus Curandi Febres, &c." ap- peared for the first time in 1666, and the chapter on small-pox, which it contains, is extremely interesting, not only because it presents us with his novel method of treating the disease, but be- cause it furnishes a most curious example of the I caution with which he reasoned upon the cause or origin of that formidable malady. It has lately been asserted, that no hint whatever is to be found in the writings of Sydenham, that he thought ! the small-pox could arise from contagion ; a trace, I however, is discoverable in the treatise of which we are now speaking, that the idea had once crossed his mind, though he ultimately rejected it. To enlarge upon this very curious piece of medical literature would here be out of place ; yet the ge- neral reader can scarcely fail to be surprised, that so obvious a property as the contagious nature of the small-pox should have escaped the sagacity of such a man as Sydenham. So however it was ! As to his practice in that disease, it is best ex- I plained in his own words — " I see no reason," says he, " why the patient should be kept stifled in bed, but rather that he may rise and sit up a few hours every day, provided the injuries arising from the extremes of heat and cold be prevented, both with respect to the place wherein he lies, and his manner of clothing." The rivals of Syden- ham contended, that the whole of his treatment consisted in doing nothing, and that he made a great stir about what, according to him, might be
