612 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
so much heat as either to separate the other impurities, as 
scum, or scoria, throwing them off with violence, or to dissi- 
pate them in the form of well-known compounds. I have 
since heard with regret that this ingenious method is not of 
that practical worth it was thought to be, as by it the 
metal is rendered granular or crystalline, and hence is too 
brittle, or it wants “ fibre/ 5 as it is technically designated. 
Still I cannot but hope that the appliances of science and 
inventive genius will soon overcome this difficulty, when a 
most effective means will be obtained for the manufacture of 
malleable iron. 
I also demonstrated to you the tests for strychnine, and 
commentated on the supposed cause of the coagulation of 
the blood, as discovered by Dr. Richardson, namely, the 
elimination of ammoniacal gas from it ; all these being sub- 
jects then agitating the scientific world, and consequently 
brought prominently before the public. 
In reference to this last-named subject, it would be some- 
what singular, but by no means improbable, if in after ages 
the honour of this discovery were given, at least in part, to 
one among us, one whom I have the pleasure of seeing 
present, Mr. James Turner, the President of the Royal College 
of Veterinary Surgeons. 
in his c Register of Experiments, Anatomical, Physiolo- 
gical, and Pathological, performed on Living Animals/ 
which is unfortunately not yet completed, when commenting 
on the causes of the vitality of the blood, as given by different 
inquirers, he says: “The most difficult problem in physio- 
logy wffiich remains to be solved in these enlightened days is 
the rationale of the coagulation of the blood 
Writers of the greatest research have especially pointed to 
the vitality imparted to the blood by its contact with living 
vessels, and thus reasoned on its fluidity. The more I 
reflect on this theory, the more I am convinced that it is in 
accordance and association with the retention of & volatile con- 
stituent of the blood , with which, ere long, we shall find it our 
business to become better acquainted.” Dr. Richardson has 
made us “better acquainted” with this “volatile constituent 
of the blood,” he having ascertained it to be ammonia. And 
herein lies the difference between these two experimenters, 
the one predicts what the other proves ; and yet there can 
be no doubt that each carried on his investigations indepen- 
dent of the other. 
After describing the mode of procuring iron, I ventured to 
express my regret, which I repeat, that the veterinary sur- 
geon should have become a shoeing-smith ; this being, in 
