ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
645 
mathematician employs certain formulae in proof of the correct- 
ness of his calculations, so may the use of chemistry in many 
cases be called in aid by the pathologist, as the test of the ac- 
curacy of his previous deductions.” 
Professor Paget, in a lecture very lately delivered by him at 
the Royal College of Surgeons, “ On the Progress of Anatomy, 
and its Influence on Surgery,” says, “ The recognition, by the 
microscope, of the nature of tumours, is at once applicable to 
practice, by the determination which it may give for or against 
operations, when portions of the tumours can be removed before- 
hand. So the examination of discharges from ulcers may be 
decisive of their character and suggestive of their appropriate 
mode of treatment. The examination also, by microscopic aid, 
of the contents of abscesses and cysts, may assist in the diag- 
nosis of cases which, but for this microscopic help, would be yet 
more obscure. Again, the fact of the ordinar}' growth of bones 
by the ossification of fibrous tissues (which could not be proved 
without the microscope), is applicable in surgery, by assuring us 
of the utility of periosteum in the repair of the diseases and in- 
juries of bones; of its utility, I mean, for its own sake, as well as 
for the sake of the bloodvessels which it contains, and by means 
of which alone it was supposed to administer to the nutrition of 
bones. So, the microscopic proof of the muscular structure of 
the arteries and veins (though it has only confirmed the truth 
maintained by Hunter), and the proof of the proper character of 
their muscularity, and of their relation to various stimuli, have 
made us more sure of the natural means for the arrest of haemor- 
rhage, and of the methods by which we may assist them.” 
This much will at least be conceded. The microscope has de- 
monstrated the existence of structures which before had escaped 
the notice of anatomists, and thus a knowledge of function is 
more readily arrived at; since wherever the same tissue is met 
with in the organism, the same use may be attributed to it. 
And now let us hear what Baron Liebig has to say in refer- 
ence to Chemistry as applied to Physiology and diseases : — 
“ Is it not obvious where the defects of physiology lie ! Do 
we not perceive the internal conviction of our greatest phy- 
siologists in every experiment they make, in every word they 
utter ? The mere knowledge of external forms and physical 
properties no longer satisfies them ; they are deeply impressed 
with the importance, nay the indispensable necessity, of a more 
profound, more intimate, more cJcemical insight into the com- 
position and changes of organic bodies. But is such an insight 
possible without the knowledge of the chemical language ? 
“ If other and less highly-gifted physiologists maintain that 
chemistry is incapable of any useful application to their science, 
