620 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS?. 
of facts without producing any practical advantage; con- 
trariwise, it simplifies that which is already discovered, and 
renders it more easy of comprehension. 
Of late years, you are aware that the microscrope has been 
called into requisition, both in chemical and anatomical in- 
vestigations ; and with considerable advantage, since by its 
aid is accomplished that which chemical analysis alone would 
otherwise have failed to effect. We see this in ascertaining 
the character of urinary and other deposits, the nature of 
morbid or abnormal grow ths, and especially in those in- 
quiries into adulterations of food and physic now so exten- 
sively carried on, and which have been so admirably exposed 
in the pages of the Lancet . It w 7 ould be altogether uncalled 
for to dwell here, as its value is so obvious. 
Time would fail me to tell you the advantages to be de- 
rived from a study of Botany. Not a session passes but 
inquiries are made of us as to the probability of such and 
such plants having proved injurious, and oftentimes our re- 
plies are at best conjectural. The archives of veterinary 
medicine are rich in illustrative cases of the action of certain 
vegetables upon animals, and to these I must refer you. I 
am inclined to think that this science would prove of even 
greater benefit to the veterinary practitioner than to the 
human, as the majority of his patients are herbivorous. 
Although nature has given to animals instinct, by which 
they generally refuse that which is noxious to them, yet 
accidentally a poisonous herb may be partaken of by them, or 
it may be maliciously administered ; and hence an acquaint- 
ance with this science is rendered desirable, if not absolutely 
necessary. 
Unquestionably, the summer is the only time in which 
it can be advantageously studied ; and as the gardens of the 
Royal Botanic Society are so near, to which I doubt not, on 
proper application being made to the authorities, admission 
w r ould be granted under certain restrictions, every facility 
becomes thus afforded for its introduction. 
As a confirmation of what has been advanced by me, the 
following may be adduced : 
“ Perhaps until recently, the chief importance of botany 
to medicine consisted in its teaching the properties of differ- 
ent plants and their employment in different diseases, but 
now this science is assuming a very different position in 
medical studies. Not only is the study of physiological 
botany and the processes of nutrition in plants, of the 
greatest importance to the right comprehension of the 
manner in which similar functions are performed in animals. 
