234 REVIEW.-BRIDGEWATER TREATISES, NO. 8. 
spirit, that would not be lulled by the charm to which every 
other heart had yielded ? There was one : but he vanished with 
the storm—the momentary storm he had raised ; and we will 
leave him to his own reflections, and to the recollection of the 
strongly expressed opinion of many around him. 
Y. 
Quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non.—H or. 
Bridgewater Treatises, No. 8. Chemistry^ Meteorology, and the 
Function of Digestion. By William Prout, M.D. F.R.S. 
That a knowledge of chemistry forms an indispensable part 
of a veterinary surgeon’s education, no one can doubt, as it is so 
intimately connected with veterinary pharmacy; and a knowledge 
of the latter cannot be understood, nor practised with advantage, 
without a constant reference to the former. By veterinary phar¬ 
macy we mean the art of preparing, preserving, and compound¬ 
ing substances for the purposes of medicine. An acquaintance, 
therefore, with this science must be as essentially necessary to 
the veterinary surgeon as to the apothecary. 
It is not necessary that a veterinary surgeon should enter into 
all the intricacies of chemical research ; but it is absolutely ne¬ 
cessary that he should be acquainted with the nature of drugs, 
the different aflSnities of substances, and the change produced by 
combination. Without this knowledge he will often err in the 
forms of preparations and compositions which he employs, and 
will be often deceived in the effects resulting from compositions, 
when he infers their proi^erties from the known powers of the 
ingredients in their separate state. 
How often is it imagined, that, in order to obtain a safe and 
efficacious medicine, nothing further is requisite than to jumble 
tosjether a number of ino-redients, without being aware that me- 
dicines, so mixed, often entirely change their nature, and acquire 
active powers which none of them possessed before. Again, 
many active substances are of such a nature that they could 
not, without imminent danger, be exhibited by themselves ; but 
by very slight additions become efficacious medicines. To obtain 
the advantages that may be derived from such compositions, it 
is indispensably necessary that the practitioner has a knowledge 
of chemistry. Pharmaceutical chemistry, we are informed, is 
