14 
MR. MORTON’S INTRODUCTORY LECTURE 
nected with veterinary science. You have now the opportunity 
to do this; and although, by and by, some farther alterations 
may, nay must, take place in the education of the student, with 
these you have not to do : avail yourselves of those means that 
are already before you, for they are truly valuable. But you 
will do well to remember, that it is a great evil to hear only. 
You must think, and think seriously too, on what you have heard, 
or the impression will be evanescent, and consequently worthless. 
It is thinking which leads to true knowledge. Believe me -when I 
tell you, that you may see, and hear, and read as much as you 
please, but you will never really know any thing, unless you think 
over and over what you have seen, and heard, and read. It 
is by thinking that knowledge is made the property of the mind; 
while the acquirement of knowledge is the acquisition of power, 
and its usefulness is evidenced in its judicious exercise. I have 
been accustomed to say to those who have done me the honour of 
listening to my imperfect remarks, Think not that to listen is all 
you will have to do. Apply the fable of Jupiter and the country- 
man. Let your shoulders be put to the wheel, and by subse- 
quent reading and study impress on your minds the statements 
which fall from me. Closely investigate their truth, and apply 
their principles. Reason on them, and sift their value. If, indeed, 
there was a science the knowledge of which could be acquired 
without mental labour, it would cease to deserve the name; and 
although the study of any and every science seems at first an ardu- 
ous undertaking, and is, for awhile, irksome, yet let the outer 
barrier be once broken down, and the threshold crossed, the mas- 
tery of it becomes comparatively easy, while fresh beauties make 
their appearance at every step. As for the difficulties that present 
themselves at the commencement, be assured that they are more 
apparent than real ; and it is only boldly to resolve to overcome 
them, and they disappear. You are not contented to listen merely 
to the lectures of your professors, nor do you learn your anatomy 
by listening only to demonstrations. No; you must carefully dissect 
and investigate for yourselves, or else, when you appear before the 
Board of Examiners, you will find yourselves miserably deficient, 
and meet with a deserved repulse. So must you do if you are 
anxious to become proficients in those branches of study to which 
these lectures will be particularly directed. 
I well know the anxiety with regard to his knowledge of che- 
mistry which the student often feels at that period; the reason of 
which is, that the consideration of chemistry and materia medica 
has been imprudently left by him to the last few months, and then 
they are considered to be extremely difficult ; and so they necessa- 
rily are, and so would every other branch of his studies be under 
