LECTUllE ON CHEMISTIIY. 
65 
stranger to the wants of the student; yet I feel the weight of the 
responsibility which rests upon me, and all that I can do is to 
pledge myself to use my best exertions to fulfil the duties of my 
new situation, and not to disappoint the expectations of those of 
whom it has been my good fortune to possess the confidence, and 
who urged me on, when I hesitated, and scarcely dared to ven¬ 
ture to accept of the appointment.” 
He then adverted to the form under which his instructions would 
be given—that of lecture ; which had its advantages with regard to 
most of the sciences, and which was imperative here; for it was 
the duty of the teacher to exhibit before his pupils the various sub¬ 
stances employed in the treatment of disease, and to shew how 
their affinities and their power were modified by many an unsus¬ 
pected circumstance. The experiments, too, which accompanied a 
lecture not only arrested the attention of the student, and afforded 
the best proofs of the doctrines inculcated, but awakened his curi¬ 
osity to search farther into the nature of the subject which they 
illustrated, and led him step by step to the knowledge of general 
principles, and to the possession of the most useful and brilliant 
truths; yet unless the student, by subsequent and earnest thought, 
made the subject a part and parcel of his mind, if he might so ex¬ 
press himself, lectures would be of little worth to him. 
The lecturer next adverted to the necessity of reading after the 
lecture. This would give it increasing interest, and cause it to 
make a deeper impression on the mind. 
Next to this was mutual instruction. He was pleased when he 
saw the students associating together, and good-humouredly badger¬ 
ing each other. “ Iron sharpens iron,” and by attrition a genial 
flame is readily enkindled. 
He then returned to the immediate subject before him. Medical 
Chemistry,” he said, “ is but a branch or division of general che¬ 
mistry ; but the same remark will not apply to materia medica and 
therapeutics, or that division of medicine which treats of the ap¬ 
plication of drugs to the eradication or alleviation of disease; and 
yet the principles of this division of science cannot be acquired 
without some acquaintance Avith those of chemistry. Still, how¬ 
ever, it is my opinion that the time is not far distant when the 
general application of chemical laws will be taught here, and then 
materia medica and therapeutics will form a distinct course. My 
intention, in the present course, will be to make you acquainted 
with the principles of chemistry, only so far as they are necessary 
to elucidate the science of medicine. I shall not, however, refuse 
myself the gratification of dwelling, from time to time, on several 
of the y)henomena of nature which receive explanation by a refer¬ 
ence to chemical laws, for you ought not to be ignorant of these 
