October 8, 1870.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
293 
But I return to the last of the three agencies in¬ 
dicated—the influence of the teacher upon Ills pupils. 
All teachers undertake a serious and a very trying 
responsibility; and in some departments of educa¬ 
tion their difficulties must be very great indeed. In 
those, however, with which we are mainly concerned 
the splendour of the subjects taught, and the illimi¬ 
table interest that attaches to them, must go far to 
save the teacher from the sense of weariness and 
ennui so likely to attend the repetition of an ordinary 
oft-told tale. I cannot otherwise explain the con¬ 
stant freshness and enthusiasm of our professors of 
chemistry and botany, which, when I was a much 
younger man, used to fill me with surprise. In 
those days I had the good fortune to be a lecture- 
pupil under two very eminent men—the late Pro¬ 
fessor Brande and the late Professor Fownes. They 
were both, as you know, illustrious chemists, and 
they were both teachers of their science. One was 
old, and had been lecturing upon chemistry for thirty 
years ; the other was young, and had but just written 
the beautiful Manual that bears his name. Was the 
old man dull, weary of liis subject, and careless of 
its effect upon his pupils ? and was the young man 
poetic, ardent and anxious ? The younger man was, 
indeed, all that hungry student could desire, and so, 
also, was the elder. His thirty years of teaching had 
not diminished, by one sparkle, the energy and fresh¬ 
ness with which in his youth he had been wont, as the 
coadjutor of Davy, to expound the great truths he had 
helped to unfold. He could, and he did, enkindle en¬ 
thusiasm as genuine and as ample as attended the 
efforts of any of his juniors. And so I find it ever—in 
London and in Bristol—thirty years ago and now. 
Nor should I ever have wondered at the matter. 
Is there so great a difference between a “ tiling of 
beauty” and a “tiling of truth,” that one is a “joy 
for ever,” and the other may become a weariness in 
a paltry lifetime ? Are they not rather convertible 
terms ? Is not their essence identical—their source 
One ? So at least experience seems to teach, for I 
find that when I am helping some young beginner 
to apprehend a little of what is involved in the 
fact that 2 parts of hydrogen unite with 16 parts 
of oxygen to the production of water, or when I 
read to my cliildren the beautiful liistory of “ ger¬ 
mination,” my mind falls perforce into an atti¬ 
tude of reverence, and becomes penetrated with 
a consciousness of sublimity as vividly now as 
when, as a youth, their first realization filled my 
eyes with tears. No living creature can be indif¬ 
ferent whilst unfolding the splendours of scientific 
truth, provided only liis audience be in some ac¬ 
cord with him. The single thing that has the power 
to drag liis spirit down from the lofty regions where 
dwell his themes, is the consciousness that he is 
surrounded with masses of dull clay that either can¬ 
not or will not mount with him. When this does 
occur, liis task is, indeed, a heavy one; his whole 
being contracts with a rigour that no effort from 
within can overcome ; his entire organization suffers 
a collapse ; but, on the other hand, let him but feel 
that he is addressing willing ears and open minds, 
and (I appeal to the experienced teachers around 
me) then lie enters the treasure-house boldly as one 
who has a right, and scatters lavishly all its precious 
stores. 
You see then, I hope, that all these influences are 
helpful, and, what is more, that their power for help¬ 
ing is largely in your own keeping. 
And I can surely once more congratulate you, for 
you will, most likely, be surrounded with enthusiastic 
companions, you are certain to have able and earnest 
teachers, and your instruction will be excellent in 
quality and systematically conveyed. 
It remains only that, having such .opportuni¬ 
ties, you should make the best possible use of 
them. You have elected to study here because this 
is the best school of pharmacy in the country. Mind 
that the scholars are worthy of it. Look well to 
your laurels and to the credit of the school, for I 
promise you there will be some running close upon 
your heels who, handicapped though they be, will 
make a sturdy race of it. 
But there remains something more to be said ; at 
least, I should blame myself did I not give expres¬ 
sion to a thought that has been for ever obtruding itself 
whilst writing these lines, especially when I endea¬ 
voured to realize this scene. I felt persuaded that 
when we really met, and I had approached the conclu¬ 
sion of my address, the question would occur, What 
does all this ceremony mean? Are the leaders of 
tliis great Society assembled,—has all this fair and 
goodly company come together for the sole purpose 
of doing honour to some scores of young men the majo¬ 
rity of whom as yet, have done no more than declare 
their desire to study, and of listening to a few common¬ 
places from an obscure provincial. Candidly, I think 
not. They are glad,right glad, to welcome you. They 
are glad, I will be bold to say, to greet me; but be¬ 
neath and above any such slight purpose runs a 
meaning in tliis gathering, in the presence of which 
you and I individually are nothing, except in propor¬ 
tion as we are content to merge ourselves within it. 
Every man lives a double life, or rather his life has 
two relations,—an inner life, for which in this world 
he is responsible to his conscience alone, and an 
outer life, which relates him to his fellow-creatures, 
and in which occur his thousand opportunities of in¬ 
fluence for weal or woe. In the one he may aspire 
so high as to become the temple of the Holy Spirit; 
in the other, to be as a 'light set upon a hill, to 
shine for all men’s benefit. As with the individual, 
so with societies of men in their corporate capa¬ 
cities. Tliis Pharmaceutical Society has a life to 
live before the world which imposes obligations as 
constraining as those which relate it to its own 
members; and the proceedings of to-night constitute 
one of the legitimate occasions for its public confes¬ 
sion of faith. It may be that for a moment my voice 
is the one most distinctly heard, and yours the ears 
most directly addressed; but my interpretation of 
this ceremony assures me we are but puppets stand¬ 
ing for the moment in the place of an idea, and that ^ 
by giving (as is done to-night) the places of honour 
to the youngest, and to the least distinguished of her 
votaries, tliis Society declares its homage to science 
herself; and records its conviction that although its 
range of duties may at times include matters that sa¬ 
vour of privilege, of trade, and even of private interest, 
yet that pharmacy is absolutely and verily a branch 
of pure truth. 
Be this the general conviction or not, it is mine, 
and justifies me, I trust, in the expression of a hope 
that each one of you will enter upon his work with a 
serious spirit and a consciousness of real responsi¬ 
bility. 
I have urged you to look to your laurels and to 
the credit of your school, and I now, in the name of 
the whole Society, wish you heartily and sincerely 
