LECTURE II. 



INTRODUCTORY TO THE COURSE OF 1818. 



The Cultivation of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy recom- 

 mended as Branches of General Knowledge, and as an interest- 

 ing Department of Philosophy — Their Relation to various 

 Questions in General Philosophy, exemplified in the Gradations 

 of Organization, and the Doctrine of Final Causes — Examples 

 of the Aid they are capable of rendering to Geology and the 

 Physical History of the Globe — Their Importance to Physio- 

 logy, and consequently to the Scientific Study of Medicine — Ob- 

 jects of Inquiry in the Animal Kingdom, and Mode of Investi- 

 gation — A7iatomy — Physiology — Pathology. 



GENTLEMEN ! 



Having the honour of appearing before you for 

 the third time, as professor of anatomy and surgery, I 

 deem it a proper opportunity to observe, that the compara- 

 tive estimate I originally formed of the exigencies of this 

 oflice, and of the means I could bring forward for the pur- 

 pose of meeting them — which would, at all times, have 

 deterred me from presenting myself as a candidate for such 

 a trust — remains unaltered by my subsequent experience : 

 or rather, that it has been confirmed by the nearer contem- 

 plation of a subject so arduous and ample, as to require the 

 industrious devotion and undivided energies of an active 

 and vigorous mind 5 and by the discovery of those defici- 

 encies in knowledge, which the urgency of other avocations 

 leaves me no hope of filling up. In pursuing the path 

 which I have entered upon, I must, therefore, still rely on 

 that indulgent consideration which 1 know that you are 

 disposed to extend to all sincere efforts at promoting the 



