I will simply say that I have decided to devote the rest of my life to nothing other than trying to acquire some knowledge of nature which may be such that we may derive some rules in medicine which are more reliable than those we have had up to now; and my inclination deters me so strongly from all other sorts of project, especially those which can be only useful to some by harming others,* that if some situation arose which forced me to work on them, I do not believe that I would be capable of succeeding. On this I here am making a declaration that I know will not make me worthy of esteem in
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