Ars chirurgica a compendium of the theory and practice of chirurgery in seven books ... shewing the names, causes, signs, differences, prognosticks, and various intentions of curing all kinds of chirurgick diseases ... : to which is added Pharmacopoeia chirurgica, or, The medical store, Latin and English ... / by William Salmon ...

To the Honourable, THOMAS GARDNER, Esq Serjeant-Chirurgeon to His Majesty, AND Chirurgeon to His Houshold. Present MASTER of the Company of CHIRURGEONS: AND To the Honoured ASSISTANTS, And the rest of the Worthy Members of that Honourable Society.

SIRS,

THAT I might approve my self grateful, and worthy of the Honour of being re∣ceived into, and entertained as a Member of your Honourable Society; I, like the Widow in the Gospel, come with all the Chearfulness imaginable, to cast my Mite into the Corban. The Offering is not great, nor may I commend it, but submit it to your more serene Judgements; who, I am very confident, will pass a Censure upon it according to Truth.

IF you disapprove of it, it must sink like a dead Weight, into its own Abyss, and be for ever lost;

as that which never yet had a being in the World. But if you like and approve of it, I know it will live, and grow up under your benign Rays, to be a Tree of great magnitude, bringing forth desireable Fruit; and be in after-Ages a Monument of your Goodness: which neither the Malice of the present or future Times shall ever be able to obliterate.

IN this short Practice of Chirurgick Physick, I have endeavoured to present you with the direct Line of Practice, laid down not from Opinion only, Prejudice, or Custom; but from Principles of Art, superstructed upon the solid Foundations of Reason and Truth, and confirm'd by the Experience of all precedent Ages.

THE Direct Line of Practice. This I say, because I have not gone about the Circle, where I could go directly over; nor crooked, where I could go streight: this Adage was present in my Mind, Frustra fit per plura, quod fieri potest per pauciora; to go the nearest Way to the Wood.

LAID down from Principles of Art. I thought it reasonable, that we should walk by the Precepts of that Art which we profess: if we walk by them, then it is as reasonable, that all Methods should be squared according to their Directions: and where there is an aberration in the Method, it is just that we should dissent, and endeavour to come again into the Right Way.

IF we ought not to walk by them, (as some great Doctors maintain) it then renders the Principles fallacious, and the Art precarious; and makes the Professors and Doctors of such a Science, to be little less than Fools or Knaves, and possibly to be both.

BƲILT upon Solid Foundations. That is built upon a Rock, upon such a Foundation, where tho' the Rain of Ignorance may descend; and the Floods of Malice shall beat; tho' the Warwick-Lane Wind

of swelling and vain Titles may blow, and the Storms of Incogitancy assault; yet shall Our Building be secure from Danger, and contemn the utmost Force.

FOƲNDATIONS of Reason. This I say, because they agree with the Intellectual Sense and Understanding, deduced from a Chain of Conse∣quences; by comparing and laying things together, 'till that which is sought after, becomes self-evident.

AND Truth. That is, such a Certainty, as is confirmed to us by an infinite number of Experiences, from the Nature of the Things themselves; shewing and pointing forth with the Hand, to those Methods, which both agree with the Principles of the Science, and the Safety and Health of the Patient.

AND Confirmed from the Experiences of all pre∣ceding Ages. That is, excerpted and gathered out of the Leaves of Antiquity, and the continued Observa∣tions of the Great Men and Professors of these Arts, thro' the Series of all Times. This is that which is the Duty of every Professor; and without the Know∣ledge of which, as no Great Works can ever be per∣formed; so none can attain to any Honour or Glory in their Profession.

THESE Things being said, I profess that I have opposed nothing of Antient or Modern Practice, but what disagrees with the Fundamentals of Our ART: nor have I laid down any thing, for Doctrine and Practice, but what I conceive may easily be made good (from the best Authorities) in the Face of the whole World.

I KNOW to whom I speak; to Men of Sense, Learning, and great Experience; to Men of Honesty, Integrity, and Honour; to Men that are the true Physicians, and greater than Doctors; and without whom, the latter are a kind of Precarious and Useless Animals, the Mighty Incumbrance of the Learned World.

I HAVE Studied the Arts of Physick and Chir∣urgery for above Forty Years, and have gone thro' the Practice of them for above Thirty-four Years last past; and I believe that I understand both the Theory and Practice of the same. I Build upon Principles, and Square all my Practice upon these Foundations.

I PURSUE Truth as fast and as far as I can: and therefore if I differ in any thing from others, it is not for Difference-sake: I profess the contrary: for were the opposite Opinions to mine Truth, it would be no less my Interest to pursue them, than those I now do.

THE Health of the Sick, and Welfare of the Patient, is that which ought to be Our greatest Aim, so far as relates to Our Art. And therefore it ought to be all one to us, by what Methods it is attained, so that the poor Patient is but secure. And this I think ought to be the great Endeavour of every good Man.

AND upon this Account it is, that I have La∣boured at the Oar here, to Advantage the Publick, as much as may be; and to open the Eyes of such as have been lull'd asleep under the Shadows of Authority, without Reason, and settled upon the Lees of blind Obedience. That this may be accomplished, is my great Design, and to promote as much as may be the Prosperity, Honour, and Glory of this your Antient and most Honourable Society, (of which I am one but of the least Members,) and from which I shall not de∣sist, but with the last Period of my Life; who am,

Honoured SIRS,

Your Faithful And Humble Servant, W. SALMON.