66 
MR. MORTON’S INTRODUCTORY 
things, and you will estimate their worth in after-life. I am also 
perfectly assured that the knowledge of the veterinary surgeon is 
required to be far more varied than it, at present, is, since he 
is without many of those aids which the medical man receives 
in the pursuit of his calling. 
His knowledge, therefore, should be even more extensive than 
that of the human practitioner; for he is more closely connected 
with agriculture—with the quality of the soil, and with the charac¬ 
ter and value of many more of its productions. 
The object of chemistry is the investigation of the laws which 
govern the constitution of bodies—the properties of the elements 
which make up the mass, the integrity of which is maintained by a 
force opposed to chemical action—the explanation of the changes 
which take place when substances dissimilar in their natures are 
brought together, by which their mutual decomposition is effected, 
and new substances are formed; and, finally, the resolving of a 
compound body into its constituents. 
The phenomena which attend chemical experiments are often¬ 
times most extraordinary, and, occasionally, altogether inexplicable. 
Masses of matter may remain together for days or for ages completely 
inert, until, suddenly, some new chemical affinity is exerted, and, 
then, in an instant, the most unexpected and violent and alarming 
action is produced. It has been compared to spirits evoked by the 
spell of the magician, which cannot be approached without danger of 
destruction. The result is the formation of a new compound altoge¬ 
ther dissimilar from the substances operated upon. At other times 
we perceive no visible effects. Silently and slowly the process 
goes on; but the result is the same. Some new principle has been 
evolved which may be rendered useful in a thousand ways. 
The immediate cause of all this is unknown, and, for aught we 
know, may remain so to the end of time. This is no fault of the 
cultivators of the science of chemistry, who have comprised in 
their list men of unwearied industry, and of the highest and most 
varied talent, but of the inherent complexity of the subject, and the 
infinite multitude of causes which are concerned in the production 
of every, even the simplest chemical phenomenon.” 
Mr. Morton now gave a rapid but most interesting sketch of the 
history of chemistry, commencing from the epoch of the alchemists— 
thence proceeding to the times when the phlogistic theory of Beecher 
and of Stahl prevailed, and terminating in that which may be em¬ 
phatically and broadly designated modern chemistry.” 
After many an interesting elucidation of the immense advantages 
derived from the application of chemistry to the arts and manufac¬ 
ture, and agriculture, and, in fact, to every thing connected with the 
progress of science and the comforts of life, he proceeded to the 
