ON LTFE AND ORGANIZATION. 
91 
animalcula from its egg. And the very same action of heat which 
can burn up the fields, set the forests in a blaze, and shake the 
solid land with the rocking of an earthquake, and the fire and 
smoke, and volleyed stones, and lava flood of a volcano, can keep 
the life of a lichen upon the rock, and cause the lowly mosses to 
grow under the mantle of the polar snows. 
Whithersoever we turn our attention, we find the same proofs 
of infinite wisdom, and the same demonstration of infinite power. 
THE INTRODUCTORY LECTURE TO 
MR. MORTON’S COURSE OF VETERINARY CHEMISTRY. 
[Continued from page 19.] 
Thus, gentlemen, I have ventured on offering some advice, and 
I have laid before you the intended plan of my lectures. Under 
the first division, you will remember I purpose to consider the 
elementary substances which enter into the composition of medi- 
cinal bodies, and the laws which govern their union. This, as before 
observed, necessarily involves an investigation of the science of 
chemistry; but not in its extended sense shall I have to take 
cognizance of it, only as applicable to medicine. In other words, 
our first division will be the consideration of PHARMACEUTICAL or 
MEDICAL CHEMISTRY. 
Custom has established the delivery of Introductory Lectures. 
They have their advantages and disadvantages. In my humble 
opinion, the latter decidedly preponderate. In them a hasty, and 
necessarily imperfect view of the subject is taken. Much is ex- 
pected from them, and but little gained. It would be presumption, 
however, in me to deviate from the plan pursued by others. I 
shall, therefore, occupy the remaining portion of your time this 
evening, not as I have been wont, in giving you a detailed history 
of the science of chemistry, since that, at best, could be but very 
imperfect, and unattended by any corresponding advantages, but 
by taking a brief sketch of its progress, and then passing on to 
the benefits derivable from an acquaintance with it. 
Dr. Franklin, who was a utilitarian, pertinently asks, What is 
the value of that science which is not applicable to some useful 
purpose! And the question of utility is certainly the touchstone 
by which the sciences must be content to be tried in this our day. 
To this test we will, by and by, bring the science of chemistry, 
and from it I predict that it has nothing to fear. 
It has been observed, that “ the highest achievements of human 
