152 
HUNTERIAN ORATION. 
authority, would do well to remember the forty years of labour 
spent by Hunter. On the other hand, it is admitted that Harvey 
and Hunter were thought, by their contemporaries, to be enthu¬ 
siasts. It cannot be said now, with truth, that there is a want of 
readiness to investigate new theories : the portals of science were 
thrown open. There was nothing contrary to physiological prin¬ 
ciples, that vegetable substances should be quickly absorbed into 
the blood, and this knowledge was of incalculable importance to 
mankind ; it was proved by daily experiments upon living bodies, 
and demonstrated how close were the confines of life and death. 
The orator alluded to the suggestion of Sir Humphrey Davy, 
that nitric acid gas would destroy the sense of pain during sur¬ 
gical operations ; also to the application of pressure as a safe and 
easy cure for aneurism of the extremities. It had been anticipated 
that they were arriving at a culminating point in their knowledge 
and comprehension of nature. He was well aware of the gradual 
and slow progress made bv science when it depended upon the 
accumulation of facts, and how difficult it was to establish even a 
single point. Much still remained, and must ever remain, unknown 
regarding the animal frame, so that their knowledge could not be ele¬ 
vated to the rank of the exact sciences. The wisdom of experience 
should be acknowledged especially in their profession, and there 
would ever be a variety of theories and opinions. Lime juice had 
for years been considered as essential in the navy to arrest that 
disorder which, till lately, had almost disappeared,—the scurvy. 
Potash had lately been recommended in its place. After alluding 
to the ravages of the present epidemic, the orator went on to ob¬ 
serve—There was encouragement in the signs of the present day. 
Physiology and pathology were more generally studied by the 
profession, with a sober, candid earnest search for truth, than at 
any former period, and this was acting, moreover, under much 
more favourable circumstances. It was said with reference to 
geographical discoveries, that mankind made more progress in the 
fifteenth century than in all the other ages previously : all former 
knowledge faded away and disappeared in the comparison; new 
objects now presented themselves, and the human mind engaged 
in the pursuit with fresh ardour, and exerted its powers in new 
directions. Similar to that was the rapidity with which general 
science advanced with the present time. Every day some new 
discovery was made, and bonds of connexion between their own 
and collateral sciences were perpetually becoming evident. It 
could not be that the general flood of light which was shed over 
all should not illuminate medical science also. He could not 
agree with those who, remembering the errors of supposed disco¬ 
veries in the early part of the present century by means of the 
compound microscope, believed that the same applied to the 
