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After making several unsuccessful attempts to classify my chapters according to the special fields in which the different men attained distinction, I came to the conclusion that the difficulties which stand in the way of adopting such a classification are well-nigh insurmountable; and chief among these difficulties may be mentioned the fact that many of the leading physicians attained distinction in two or more different fields. Botany, for example, was frequently combined with anatomy and surgery; chemistry with physiology; and so on. On the whole, therefore, it seemed better to rest satisfied, wherever this was found to be practicable, with the simple subdivision according to geographical districts—viz., Northern and Central Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland and England.

The relatively few Americans who played an important part in advancing the science and art of medicine during the latter half of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth make it preferable, as it seems to me, to omit all reference to them in the present work, leaving to the writer of a volume devoted to modern medicine, the duty of honoring their achievements.