John Brown (1735-1788) founded the Brunonian system or theory of medicine according to which physical life consists in a peculiar excitability, the normal excitement produced by all the agents which affect the body constituting the healthy condition, while all diseases arise either from deficiency or from excess of excitement, and must be treated with stimulants or sedatives.
The Brunonian system basically favoured supporting and stimulating rather than the old practices of "lowering", bleeding, etc, on the argument that diseases are owing more to debility than to excess of vital needs. By 1802 this difference in medical opinion had reached the proportions of pitched battles by students in the streets.
John Brown's Elements of Medicine became a focus for both Hahnemann and Saumarez who contended against its academic approach to medicine.
However, there are elements of Dr. Brown's work which appear in the Organon in a context of beneficial regimenal practices, one of which is the reference to the relative excitability of individuals and the successful readjustment of the quantity of organismic bio-energy.
the Broussais treatment: (The significant concept is that the bio-energy quotient of the patient was adjustable through regimen. But it took until the twentieth century for the The Gerson Therapy to show the way to enhance the bio-energy.)
Dynamic Thinkers Comment on the Brunonian System