A lumbar abscess had been opened by caustic, and when the eschar had nearly separated, the cyst was partly emptied; the sides of the cavity collapsing on the imperfectly separated eschar, the opening was closed, and _none of the usual constitutional disturbance followed_. When, however, the eschar, finally separating, exposed the cyst,—within twelve hours, the usual dreaded disturbance of the system supervened. Abernethy took the hint thus disclosed to him, and produced the improvement, of the merits of which we have endeavoured to give a brief representation. CHAPTER VIII. HIS ESSAY ON THE SKIN AND LUNGS. "It is madness and a contradiction to expect that things which were never yet performed should be effected, except by means hitherto untried."—BACON, NOV. ORG. APH. 6. When we consider the object which the distinguished Author had in view, in the immortal Work whence we have taken the foregoing simple but instructive aphorism, we cannot but perceive how highly suggestive it is to those engaged in scientific researches, or how necessary to be borne in mind by those who are really aware of the present state of Medicine and Surgery, and desirous of seeing them become a definite science. Nor does it appear inappropriate to the consideration of Abernethy's experimental inquiries into the functions of the skin and lungs. An _extended_ investigation—of which his paper on these subjects contains an excellent type, and is in part a practical application—would be a great step towards the creation of a real science, and would certainly fall within the "means untried" of Lord Bacon. Although the latter part of the last century, and the first half of the present, have been very remarkable for the number of distinguished men who have flourished during that period, in almost every branch of knowledge; yet neither the bar nor the senate, neither literature nor any of the sciences, can boast of greater men, nor lay claim to more positive improvement, than Chemistry. If we only consider that interval between the discovery of oxygen by Priestley, in 1774, and the conclusion of Sir Humphrey Davy's labours, Chemistry almost seems like a new science; and it continues to advance with such rapidity, and is daily opening out so many new questions, that the most accomplished chemist of one year is never sure how much he may have to learn the next; nor, unless he reasons with great caution, how much he may have to _un_learn.