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After the lapse of a few years—that is, in 1842—there was founded a new German periodical, the Archiv für Physiologische Heilkunde, under the management of Wunderlich and Roser. According to the Prospectus it was to be devoted to physiological medicine, or—to be more precise—to the cultivation of physiological methods in the treatment of disease. The introductory article in the first number of this new periodical bore the title: “The Defects of German Medicine as Taught to-day and the Importance of Giving it a Decidedly Scientific Tendency.” From the convincing style in which the article is written there can be no mistake, says Petersen, in ascribing its authorship to Karl August Wunderlich (1815–1877), a member of the Tübingen Faculty of Medicine. The following brief extracts from this article will suffice to give the reader a fair idea of this writer’s views on the subject of which he treats:—

We are establishing to-day an organ which is intended to promote the interests of physiological medicine. Henceforth it should be the aim of all enlightened minds to place pathology upon a physiological basis.^[9] Nothing of a dogmatic character may be tolerated in these pages; every law here promulgated must be accompanied by proofs showing that it is justified; all the facts, observations and experiments that have led to its acceptance as a law must form a part of the account. Although for a long time past the necessity of following the course here outlined has been appreciated and has been unostentatiously adopted by all good observers, nevertheless, it is believed that the time has now come when this important fundamental truth should be announced loudly and in no uncertain terms, and should be defended again and again with untiring energy, until it shall have received universal acceptance.... People are already beginning to make a distinction between the doctrines taught in the books and those which are derived from a direct observation of what takes place in nature.... But this scepticism is only too often based upon mere assumptions and consequently fails to produce any useful results.... We believe that the time has at last arrived when this sort of scepticism should be organized into something like a system, and that intelligent criticism should persevere in testing the correctness of those observations which have been cited as actual facts and as the bases upon which the hitherto prevailing medical theories, so it is claimed, deserve to receive acceptance.