little pieces of metal. A Perkinsian society was formed in London, composed chiefly of the higher orders. Princes of the royal blood, ministers of state, chancellors, bishops, and other dignitaries, learned professors and wealthy laymen, all united in one grand jubilee. This association had frequent public dinners, and held an annual celebration in honor of this great discovery, which seemed to be almost capable of reversing the decree of the Almighty, and rendering man immortal. In view of this, all other medical means were regarded as worthless; and for a time, rational medicine seemed almost to have come to a final end. Committees were chosen, who published, from time to time, reports of the unparalleled success of this new mode of treatment. More than five thousand cures were publicly certified to have been made in England in a short space of time. Diseases of all kinds, fevers, inflammations, consumptions, and broken bones, readily yielded to this new method, and were cured. And how was this multitude of miraculous cures effected? Simply by the use of two small pieces of metal, one of iron, the other
