SYDENHAM. 91 providing for esteem (I being now an old man) will be, in a short time, the same as to provide for that which is not : for what advantage will it be to me after I am dead, that eight alphabetical ele- ments, reduced into that order that will compose my name, shall be pronounced by those who come after me V At the commencement of his professional life, it is handed down to us by tradition, that it was his ordinary custom, when consulted by patients for the first time, to hear attentively the story of their complaints, and then say, "Well, I will con- sider of your case, and in a few days will order something for you," But he soon discovered that this deliberate method of proceeding was not satis- factory, and that many of the persons so received forgot to come again ; and he was consequently obliged to adopt the usual practice of prescribing immediately for the diseases of those who sought his advice. In 1668, a new edition of his Methodus, &c., appeared, to which was added a chapter upon the great plague of 1665. Sydenham observes, that some might think him rash and arrogant, for pre- tending to write upon this subject, as he was seve- ral miles distant from the city, during the greatest part of the time the plague raged, and therefore might be supposed not to be sufficiently furnished with observations : but " seeing that more skilful physicians, who bravely ventured to continue dur- ing so very dangerous a time, have not yet written upon that subject, he hopes that all good men will pardon him for publishing his opinion upon that dreadful national calamity." It seems that he
