270 TESTIMONIAL TO PROFESSOR MORTON. 
that I have long wished for some such general expression of 
your sentiments towards me ; for, rich as I am in testi- 
monials received from the students, — few teachers, I believe, 
richer, — and of them I am justly proud, this is the first I 
have had presented to me by the pupils as a body. It might 
naturally be asked, How t is it, after, as we have just been 
told, you have been an instructor for more than a quarter of 
a century, this is the first time any public acknowledgment 
has been made to you ? Is it the man or his subject that 
has not been duly estimated ? I answer, that it is not the first 
is proved by what has been already stated. I believe the 
reasons are twofold: firstly, the many presents I have from 
time to time received have always been from by far the 
larger majority of the class, and thus the necessity was 
superseded ; secondly, by some — perhaps too many for their 
own interests — my division of science has been held in 
low estimation. The cry has gone forth, “It can be done 
without : to be a Veterinary Surgeon it is not necessary to 
be a Chemist.” Fallacious reasoning ! if reasoning it can be 
called. Such persons of course throw Chemistry aside as 
altogether worthless ; others, finding it necessary to give it a 
place, and, representing science by the figure of a mighty 
pillar, compare Chemistry to the ornaments of the capital 
thereof. Both are equally in error, since it is a necessary, 
an integral part of your studies. Indeed, you cannot do 
without its aid. It blends itself intimately with physiology 
and pathology, and the practice of physic would be as a 
nullity — a mere peradventure — and perfectly inefficient with- 
out its principles. But “ a change has come over the spirit 
of the dream,” and I rejoice to know it. You have formed 
yourselves into a class for mutual instruction in this division 
of science, and my weekly examinations, introduced for the 
first time this session, are exceedingly well attended, at which 
I am much pleased. All this augurs well. 
This handsome present, I am informed, is awarded to me 
as the Professor of Medical Chemistry. It is true that to 
the consideration of the principles of Chemistry as applicable 
to Veterinary Medicine I have more immediately directed 
your attention, but not exclusively. I have diverged, as you 
know, from time to time, when any subject has been before 
me from which the phenomena of nature or the operations 
of art receive elucidation. Still there is one section to which 
as yet little attention has been paid by me. I allude to 
Chemistry as applied to Agriculture. And why do I advert 
to Agricultural Chemistry? Simply because your avocation 
in life calls you into intercourse oftentimes with the scientific 
