LECT. I.] SCIENCE OF BOTANY. 23 



with the nature and qualities of the implements 

 they are about to employ in the cure of diseases. 



A remark made to me by an old and respect- 

 able physician, the late Dr. Denman, explains in 

 some degree the cause of this neglect: " I be- 

 " lieve/' said he, * that the practitioners of the 

 " present period are sensible of the inadequacy 

 " of the old method of bringing up young men 

 " to the profession, and are therefore anxious to 

 *' send out those brought up under them better 

 " instructed, and with a firmer foundation of prin- 

 " ciples than was the case forty years ago : but 

 " the ardour of youth to take an early, active 

 " share in the bustle of life, places many obstacles 

 " in the way of accomplishing their good inten- 

 " tions." The justness of the observation is too 

 obvious ; and as medical men, after they have 

 once entered upon the busy stage of life, cannot 

 well retrace their steps, happy would it be for stu- 

 dents were they to take advantage of the expe- 

 rience of their predecessors, all of whom, I will 

 venture to assert, believe that much anxiety, 

 much trouble, would have been saved to them- 

 selves, and much more pleasure and reputation 

 gained in the exercise of their profession, had a 

 few more years been spent in their education, and a 

 few more collateral studies been attended to during 

 that period. The practice of medicine is the study 

 of a lifetime ; it is entered upon the moment a man 



c 4 



