166 
THE HUNTER1RN ORATION. 
that we learn to compare and analyse, and then to expose the fal- 
lacies under which false reasoning lurks. Logic is also an im- 
portant source of discipline, invigorating the faculties by its appli- 
cation both to the right interpretation of terms, and to the higher 
purposes of abstract reasoning. To the neglect of these it was to 
be attributed, that the science of medicine was degraded; and the 
Orator considered, that unless some measures were adopted by our 
colleges, requiring education in these branches as necessary for 
qualification, the entire removal of all other causes combined would 
fail to remedy the evils existing. Mr. Skey then observed, with 
much point and some severity, upon the prevalent system of edu- 
cation, so called, by means of apprenticeship, exhausting, as he 
said, four or more invaluable years of the early life of the student. 
After characterising and somewhat satirising this system, to which, 
he observed, the profession had lent itself, in opposition to the laws 
of moral right and of common sense, he said : This (the age of his 
apprenticeship) is the spring of his existence, and the only season 
in which the mind takes impressions for a whole life. The child 
is said to be “ father to the man.” I have sketched his education, 
look at the result. The giant evil of the day was a want of edu- 
cation, while all should be educated in mind and manners up to the 
level of good society; and he rejoiced to think that the Council of 
the College had acknowledged the necessity by taking the initiative 
here, by instituting examinations in classical and mathematical 
knowledge from all junior candidates for the rank of Fellow. 
Another cause of the degradation before-mentioned was founded 
on the degenerate standard of medical ethics. Taking the body 
corporate of the profession, we find a want of that high tone which 
distinguishes other professions. There is no profession the con- 
ventional refinements of which are more stringent than in the 
higher departments of the law; that being a purely artificial pur- 
suit. In the abstract, law is an inflexible and impartial principle, 
devised by sages to protect society against selfishness and power, 
and no principle is more deserving the veneration of the world; 
while, by the progress of knowledge and civilization, medicine, 
having enlarged the circle of its utility, has become degenerate in 
rank; that law has gained an ascendancy in proportion as it has 
lost its early simplicity. The instrument has become a machine, 
ponderous and unwieldy, and has ceased to be the tribunal of im- 
partial justice; and in the same degree have the conventional laws 
of its professors, their learning and education, obtained an ascend- 
ancy in the world immeasurably superior to those of medicine ; the 
estimate of truth receding in value in proportion as the world ad- 
vances in civilisation. The profession of the law at the present 
day exhibits as great a prostitution of intellect as was ever imposed 
