642 bourgelat’s introductory lecture. 
each different species of animal, and in the midst of a crowd of vary¬ 
ing symptoms, occasioned by the prodigious variety of structure 
and of temperament; to foresee the issue ; to follow the disease 
in all its changes of character and consequences; to be guided 
in the choice of the arms which will best enable us to conquer 
the foe by the peculiar circumstances of each case, and by the par¬ 
ticular structure and disposition of each organ that is attacked; 
to pause, at length, at the bounds which cannot be passed; and 
never to waste ourselves in futile efforts to obtain obscure and 
useless objects, and which we can never reasonably hope to 
accomplish. Is it possible that a mind less powerful and less exer¬ 
cised can trace out, in the concourse of an infinity of cases, the 
relation, the connexion, or analogy of one to another, in despite 
of the want of an exact identity; to watch the movements of 
nature ; to observe their order and succession; to be assured of 
the ways by which she means to act; to wait her determination ; 
to solicit her when occasion requires; to remain a tranquil 
spectator of the effects she is producing when those effects are 
salutary; to moderate and repress her action when it is too pow¬ 
erful and destructive ; to strengthen without offending her; to 
render ourselves skilfully subservient to her views; to rouse 
that tissue which appears languishing or exhausted ; to weaken 
or to extinguish that stimulus which would be rather pernicious 
than auxiliary; or, at least, to prevent the mischief which they 
would produce ; never to usurp that which depends principally 
on nature, and is absolutely her province and property ; and to 
keep rigorously within the limits of art ? 
It cannot be imagined that, without any previous preparation and 
study, it can be possible to perceive the true bearing of all these 
points, and to seize on indications frequently scarcely perceptible : 
that would be to reduce surgery to a species of intuition, a con¬ 
clusion which it would be absurd to harbour for a moment; but, 
on the other hand, we must not believe that study alone can 
suffice to bestow on us the right to decide boldly, and on all oc¬ 
casions, whether the life of animals or of men is concerned. 
While a practitioner unacquainted with the principles of his art 
may vainly grow old in the exercise of his profession, and never 
