GRADUATES IN MEDICINE. 329 



between right and wrong — there exists a constant liability to 

 disturbance. The disturbance is not so great, nor are its con- 

 sequences so detrimental, in the progress of science as in the 

 sphere of duty ; for, as the acquisition of knowledge by intel- 

 lectual effort is precisely conditioned by the laws of our con- 

 sciousness itself, and the motives to the application of it to 

 economical purposes sufficiently powerful, the obstacles to the 

 progress of science are continuously diminishing. In the 

 sphere of duty, again, the disturbing element — the tendency 

 to select the wrong instead of the right — is in constant opera- 

 tion. It is not necessarily affected by the progress of science 

 and its economic applications. On the contrary, the occasions 

 for its disturbing action would appear to become even more 

 numerous as so-called civilisation advances. 



It is sufficient for the sequence of my argument that at 

 this point I merely allude to that Dispensation which pro- 

 vides the aid necessary for man in the sphere of his duties 

 and responsibilities — that Dispensation, the nature and appli- 

 cation of which constitute the object and calling of another 

 profession. 



The number of injuries and diseases which occur in man 

 is much greater than in any of the lower animals. The 

 conditions of the welfare of the latter are strictly limited to 

 the cosmical arrangements of their special areas of distribu- 

 tion, while their instinctive endowments determine precisely 

 the amount of disturbance of health, or the amount of death, 

 which occasional or periodic cosmical changes produce. So 

 also injury and loss of life are necessary conditions of the 

 general organic economy. For the life of a carnivorous 

 animal involves the death of the animal on which il feeds, ;is 

 the life of the herbivorous animal involves the death of the 

 vegetable. Domesticated animals are liable to numerous dis 

 eases and special injuries; but these are due to their association 

 with man, who entails upon them much suffering, from which 



