THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XXX, 
No. 360. 
DECEMBER, 1857. 
Fourth Series, 
No. 36. 
THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS 
DELIVERED 
By Professor Morton, 
AT THE ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE, 
Session, 1857-8. 
{Continued from p. 628.) 
It has been stated that the three grand means of instruc- 
tion to the student of medicine are — the clinique , the laboratory , 
and the dissecting-room. Lectures have been much extolled, 
and with many they have the foremost place. There cer- 
tainly can be no questioning their value, since they offer a 
condensation of facts in connection with a given subject; 
they also direct the mind and excite investigation. Still, I 
feel convinced that too many place a greater reliance on them 
than they merit, making them their only source of information, 
and in the end they find how shallow and superficial this is. 
On the other hand, some manifest the utmost indifference 
during the delivery of a lecture ; the facts stated by the lec- 
turer are unheeded by them, and when they retire from the 
lecture-room no further consideration is given to the subject. 
These are the two extremes, and both are bad. Now we 
have no wish to be thought “maximus in minimis, since 
attention to petty objects sometimes indicates a little mind ; 
yet as time is made up of moments, so matters of importance 
are often altogether lost from a want of attention to those 
things that seem but of minor worth. We might elucidate 
this position by a reference to some of the recent additions 
to medicine, such as the making of collodion from gun- 
cotton, and the use of glycerine, the sweet principle of fats ; 
xxx. 89 
