350 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICINE xiv 



and chemistry with i)hysiology, has been stoutly 

 denied within the recollection of most of us, and 

 perhaps still may be. 



Or, to take a case which affords a closer paral- 

 lel with that of medicine. Agriculture has been 

 cultivated from the earliest times, and, from a re- 

 mote antiquity, men have attained consideraljlc 

 practical skill in the cultivation of the useful 

 plants, and have empirically established many sci- 

 entific truths concerning the conditions under 

 which they flourish. But, it is within the memory 

 of many of us, that chemistry on the one hand, 

 and vegetable physiology on the other, attained a 

 stage of development such that they were able to 

 furnish a sound basis for scientific agriculture. 

 Similarly, medicine took its rise in the practical 

 needs of mankind. At first, studied without ref- 

 erence to any other branch of knowledge, it long 

 maintained, indeed still to some extent maintains, 

 that independence. Historically, its connection 

 with the biological sciences has been slowly estab- 

 lished, and the full extent and intimacy of that 

 connection are only now beginning to be ajiparent. 

 I trust I have not been mistaken in supposing that 

 an attempt to give a brief sketch of the steps by 

 which a pliilosophical necessity has become an 

 historical realit}', may not be devoid of interest, 

 possibly of instruction, to the members of this 

 great Congress, profoundly interested as all are in 

 the scientific development of medicine. 



