xliv INTRODUCTION. 



are duly confideredj it can fcarcely be doubted, that a 

 Botanic Garden, under the direclion of the Society, or of the 

 College, with a view to further the agricultural intereft, will be 



The utility of fuch a coiiife is obvious to all, and efpecially ferviceable to medical 

 fniJents from the country, who muft neceffarily be often called on to praflice midwifery, 

 ai;d ought therefore to be well acquainted with this branch of education. 



5. William Pitt Smith, the ProfefTor of Materia Medlca, confidcrs the fubje<Sls 

 of his courfe under two general divifions, viz. Pharmaceutical and Therapeutical. 

 Under the fiift of thefe divifions, rules are given in rcfpec5b to the manner in which 

 fubftances are to be prepared, prefcrved and combined fo as to render their application 

 moft convenient and falutary ; and under the fecond, dodlrines are delivered refpe<5ting 

 the medicinal nature of fubftances and powers that are happily applied to the human 

 body in anfwer to fome indication of cure. Thefe are confidered as either Mechanical, 

 Chsinhal, or Phyfwhg'ical. The mechanical pt.-wers are principally referable to Surgery. 

 The operation ef chemical powers on the human body is explained on the principles of 

 l,avoifier, Beddoes, Girtanner, &c. Phyfiological powers are claffed by the ProfefTor 

 ■nder the terras of Sthnulantia and Sedativa. 



Thefe clalTes are fubdivided into certain orders and genera ; and the aiJtions of all 

 fuch powers are confidered not only as either direSi or indireSi, but as, in general, 

 peculiarly referable to fome one of the various fyftems of which the human body is 

 compofcd. This, as well as the Botany, is a fummer courfe. 



6. The Proi'cfforfhip of the Inftitutcs ol Medicine is held by William Hammersley, 

 M. D. In his courfe of ledlures he treats of the different funiSions of the living body 

 in health, and of the changes they undergo in difeafcs. He endeavours to explain the 

 operation of natural caufes, and of civil inftitutions upon the human fyftem, and by 

 thefe means to account for the variety of difeafes incident to different climates and to 

 different ftatcs of fociety. He confiders all animal bodies as ultimately compofed of a 



fimilar matter, and from the various modifications and texture of this matter, not only 



