22 HUNTERIAN ORATION. . 



forth, a similar publication was set on foot 

 in this country under the patronage of the 

 first Professor Monro of Edinburgh. * It is 

 unnecessary for me to tell you, Gentlemen,, 

 of the number and importance of the pe-- 

 riodical publications of our own country. 

 The facility of publication, which such 

 works afford, prevents useful information 

 from being lost, whilst they keep alive 

 amongst the members of our profession in 

 general a spirit of enquiry, emulation, and 

 co-operation. 



Having thus adverted to the principal 

 circumstances which have influenced the 

 progress of the medical sciences, it seems 

 only necessary to show the improvements 

 made by the two late eminent physiologists 

 Haller and Hunter, in order to place dis- 

 tinctly within your view the present state 

 of these sciences in our own country, which 

 is my chief object in this address ; for in- 

 deed it would be l)ut of httle use to look 

 back, except in order to determine the di- 



* The Edinburgh Medical Essays and Observations 

 were first published in 1732. The Memoirs of the 

 French Academy of Surgery in \74S. 



