50 ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY 



alleviate and remove disorder, and cure disease. On sucli 

 researches and such studies, on a foundation no less exten- 

 sive than the whole empire of living nature, the science of 

 medicine must be established ; if, indeed, it be destined to 

 occupy the rank of a science ; if its practical precepts, its 

 curative efforts, and its technical proceedings be grounded 

 in and derived from a knowledge of the corporeal mecha- 

 nism, and a contemplation of its mode of action, from ob- 

 servations of its deranged state, and of the course and 

 order by which the return to health may be safely accom- 

 plished; — if, in short, it shall be permanently raised above 

 its early state, of an empirical and blind belief in the virtues 

 of herbs, drugs, and plasters ; or above its more modern 

 but equally deplorable condition, of servile submission to 

 the dogmas of schools and sects, or subjection to doctrines, 

 parties, or authorities. I appeal to the illustrious Founder 

 of our Collection — to his labours and his writings — to that 

 change in the state of surgery, which his exertions and his 

 example have accomplished. Such achievements by a 

 single hand hold out to us the brightest prospects, and most 

 encouraging anticipations of the ample harvest awaiting the 

 united efforts of more numerous cultivators. From this 

 quarter we must expect the future improvement of our pro- 

 fession — not from the addition of new medicines to a cata- 

 logue already too long ; not from fresh accessions to that 

 mass of clinical observations, which lie unread on the shelves 

 of our medical libraries. 



in investigating the nature of living beings, various ob- 

 jects of inquiry present themselves, and various modes of 

 proceeding may be adopted. We may examine their struc- 

 ture — the number, form, size, relative position, and con- 

 nexions of the organs, by the assemblage of which they are 

 constructed — their textuie ; that is, the primary animal tis- 

 sues, which compose the various organs, and tlieir mode of 

 imion ; — their elementary composition ', — or the number, 

 nature, and combinations of the elements into which they 

 can be resolved : — lastly, their living phenomena ; the vital 

 properties, with* which all the primary tissues are endowed, 



