the substances so called, when applied to the different 
surfaces of the human body, in health or in disease; whether 
these changes be of a chemical nature, or owing to some 
peculiar influence exercised on the vital energy ; whether 
they be local or general, primary or secondary ; and 
whether the substances be carried into the system by 
absorption, or act by sympathy ; attending, at the same 
time, to all the different circumstances which may modify 
their action, when administered in disease. 
Even this is only the last step of the ladder up 
which we have been climbing, to reach the ultimate 
end and object of the whole, which is Therapeutics, or 
the administration of remedies, for the purpose of removing 
the tendency to disease, and of inducing a return to a 
healthy action of the various organs and functions of the 
body. Every thing, therefore, capable of effecting 
such objects, is called to his aid by the Therapeutist, 
whether they be of the class usually called Medi- 
cines, or come under the more comprehensive denomi- 
nation of Remedies, whether these be Physical or Moral 
agents. Materia Medica, therefore, instead of being on 
an equality with Therapeutics, must ever be considered 
as secondary and subordinate, " non soror, sed ancilla," 
a handmaiden only, not a sister, bringing together, pre- 
paring, and trying whatever may be likely to fulfil the 
indications, which the other, informed by the higher course 
of pathological study, has ascertained to be necessary for 
the removal of disease. Medicine is therefore connected 
with other sciences through Therapeutics, which we have seen 
cannot be successfully practised, without, on the one hand, 
a knowledge of Pathology, or the doctrines of disease, and 
on the other, an acquaintance with Materia Medica, or the 
nature and actions of medicines. As M.M. Trousseau 
and Pidoux, the most recent authors, and of high authority, 
