Inaugural Address. Fy 
bark really did cure ague, and of this there can be no doubt, 
and if in it there is little or no guinia, but cinchonia is pre- 
sent in abundance, either its native quinia must be converted 
into cinchonia, or the neglect with which cinchonia is treated 
can scarcely be its due. Again, the merits of quinia may per- 
haps have been too much extolled; or it is not impossible 
that the red bark, which contains the two principles in ques- 
tion, or a preparation or formula comprising both quinia and 
cinchonia, whencesoever extracted, may be found the most 
efficient mode of administering relief in ague. 
But these are problems requiring much attentive conside- 
ration; and experience must prove whether the former con- 
fidence in quilled bark, or the present trust in quinia, be 
most correct. Probably cinchonia is esteemed too lightly; it 
demands a series of experiments to ascertain its medicinal 
effects. This is, however, but one of many points equally 
requiring investigation, and which must be more fully entered 
on hereafter; and it is only at this present glanced at, to 
show how much and in how many ways the exertions of our 
Society are wanted; how much and in how many ways its mem- 
bers can benefit the world at large. For itis not improbable 
that many of these proximate principles, now considered as 
different and distinct, may be hereafter found to be similar 
in effects, if not absolutely the same in constitution, just as all 
the old salts of plants, viz. of wormwood, centuary, broom, 
and others, have been proved to be one and the same, viz. 
subcarbonate of potash. 
The extraction of the proximate principles of plants, of those 
especially on which their peculiar properties depend, is 
doubtless a triumphant step in Phytochymics, or Vegetable 
Chemistry, and is another point to which I must briefly draw 
your attention; as it is a discovery which promises to open a 
new era in science, and to work a complete revolution in the 
armoury of physic. ‘To the superficial observer it may seem 
t these discoveries, though undoubtedly of very modern 
date, had been long obscurely adumbrated, as it had for years 
been known that the stimulating powers of many plants, as 
of the Cruciferw, for example, were destroyed by simple ex- 
siceation; that the poisonous principles of Morourtalts per- 
ennis might be extracted by boiling in water, when it becomes 
a table and harmless esculent; that the virulent qualities 
the Cassava are separated by heat, and that, after roasting, 
it is esteemed an admirable pe nutritious food. This know- 
ledge, however, differed widely from that which has enabled 
us to reduce and exhibit, ina constant and determined form, 
quinia and cinchonia as the active and proximate principles 
i 
