XLVIII. It is very common for those who have pains in their teeth and jaws, (and I say the same of all those affections which come and go of themselves,) to fancy, and give the preference to a particular remedy, which they are of opinion relieved them; but it is proper to observe here, that every one applauds his own, and reprobates as insignificant, that which is used by other people. From whence does this arise? some will say, that as peoples temperaments are different, it may happen, that in the same species of complaint, the remedy which does good to one man, may have no effect on another; but this is a common and inefficient evasion, and such a one, as overturns and levels to the ground, the use of all medicinal applications; for if this was the case, as all individuals have distinct temperaments, no less than distinct faces, it would be necessary to contrive a distinct medicine for every single individual, and in all his disorders, to apply particular remedies, different from those, which in the same species of complaints, should be administered to every other person. XLIX. The cause then of this opposition of sentiments, is most probably as follows. The first time a man is attacked with a pain in his teeth or jaws, it is very common for him to make use of various applications, for besides those which are ordered by the doctor, all those who have felt the same pain, recommend, some one thing, and some another; and as the sensation is acute, the poor patient anxious to be relieved, proceeds in succession, to apply all those remedies, at length, perhaps at the end of eight, ten, or fifteen days, the pain abates; and as there is not one of those days, in which the patient has not made use of one or other of these receipts, happy is that which he used the last; for to that he attributes his relief, and reprobates all the others as insignificant. Another diseased person, proceeds to take his medicines in regular order; but the course of this regulation, frequently depends upon the casual concurrence in opinion of the people who are consulted, or the power that one of them has of prevailing over, and leading the rest; from whence it frequently happens, that this man of persuasive eloquence, advises the using a medicine in the first instance, which some other practitioner might think it advisable to administer last. The result of which is, that in case the patient does well, his recovery is imputed to the application of the last remedy; and hence it comes to pass, that one reprobates a medicine which another applauds, and so _vice versa_. Thus all the reputation the remedy acquires, be it what it may, depends upon the casual application of it, just at the time nature was disposed to terminate the disorder by a favourable crisis, and hence it is, that the relief came to be attributed to the medicine. And notwithstanding that afterwards, upon another occasion, by using the same medicine in