Bibliographical Notices, 121 



has undertaken. It is on this ground that Professor Forbes recom- 

 mends the study of natural science to the medical student. 



" That the medical student acquires but little by his attendance at bota- 

 nical lectures, is not an uncommon fancy among the senior members of the 

 profession. Some eminent men have gone so far as to denounce it as lost 

 time. The utmost the student is supposed to carry away is a knowledge of 

 the names, classes and orders of such plants as furnish products used in me- 

 dicine. It seems to me that the true object of the connexion of natural- 

 history studies with more professional pursuits is, as in this case, too gene- 

 rally lost sight of, and I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to urge their 

 claims on your attention, and to plead for them on grounds which have not 

 been put forward sufficiently prominently hitherto, though by no means novel, 

 seeing that the positions I am about to maintain are avowedly acknowledged 

 in private by most scientific teachers, though rarely advanced in the class- 

 room. The plea which I wish to advance is, that the main use of the na- 

 tural-history sciences to the student is not merely the teaching him a certain 

 number of facts, the recollection of which may be serviceable to him in after 

 life, but the training his mind, by means of the peculiar forms of research 

 which characterise those sciences, to that tone and vigour which must be of 

 the utmost consequence in giving him power for future professional avoca- 

 tions of a different nature, especially such as are to form the after-occupa- 

 tions of the student of medicine. 



" Not that for a moment I would have you suppose that I am depreciating 

 the value of a knowledge of the facts of natural history, — far from it: I have 

 myself derived too much pleasure, too much benefit from an early study of 

 that delightful science not to appreciate its full value, and not to be desirous 

 of seeing all men acquainted with it ; but that, viewing it as a branch of 

 education, I am anxious to point out in what its true educational value lies, 

 and not to evade the question by enumerating how many animals, plants 

 and minerals a student may be able to recognise if he diligently pursue 

 zoology, botany, or mineralogy. A student of any science, well-trained in the 

 modes of investigation which that science teaches, is a much more valuable 

 member of society than a youthful encyclopedia or a living book offsets." 



We believe that this ground on which Professor Forbes would 

 have medical students cultivate botany is the one on which natural 

 science should form a part of the education of the divine, the advo- 

 cate and the statesman. It may not be of much consequence, that 

 a man should know the Latin name of chickweed, the number of 

 stamens in a butter- cup, or the shape of the blood-globules of a frog, 

 but it is of importance that he should understand the laws of organic 

 matter, and be acquainted with the nature of its investigations. It 

 is in these investigations that the simplest principles of analysis and 

 synthesis may be exemplified, and in which they will bear their most 

 profound application. We know that the advocate of a classical and 

 mathematical education will say that language and numbers aiford 

 suflicient material for the application of these principles, but we 

 maintain that there is as much difference between the investigation 

 of words as the expression of facts or phaenomena, and the investi- 

 gation of facts themselves, as there is between words and numbers 

 themselves, and upon this ground we would require of every one 

 seeking distinction as an educated man, a knowledge of the natural 

 sciences. 



But to return to Mr. Forbes. After adverting to the importance 



