210 
HUNTERIAN ORATION. 
literature as a stimulus to its members, and with the hope 
that, upon the foundation thus laid, an elegant and useful super¬ 
structure might be raised, eventuating in those literary advan¬ 
tages which it had been the object of his immediate predecessors 
to point out. It was not intended, said the orator, to be under¬ 
stood that classical should usurp the place of professional 
knowledge, nor is it to be encouraged to transgress beyond its 
proper and useful limits; for it will be recollected that medicine 
is a practical profession, and that study by its professors which 
contributes to render them the most useful aids to the public, 
is most to be promoted and encouraged. All reputation which 
is acquired at the expense of practical knowledge is meretricious, 
and liable to deceive by dazzling the judgment. Great as the 
advantages of classical erudition undoubtedly are, as auxiliary 
to the attainment and diffusion of scientific truth, we are ever 
to hold in remembrance that these advantages have determinate 
limits, and to pursue them beyond those limits must be considered 
as devoting time to a pursuit which may possibly be more use¬ 
fully applied to purposes of direct professional advancement. 
After paying an eloquent tribute to the genius and untiring 
industry of John Hunter, as evidenced in his works, the orator 
observed, that to obtain the most impressive notion of the 
pervading spirit which influenced all he did, we must place 
ourselves amid that vast collection of scientific facts which, 
by the enlightened liberality of a former government of this 
country, it is the good fortune of this college to hold the charge. 
How much that charge is valued, as contributory to scientific 
professional interests, may be partly inferred from the exertions 
used, and from the expense incurred for its preservation and 
increase, but more from the extensive changes which have taken 
place in professional knowledge, on which the Hunterian Collec¬ 
tion has had a direct influence. 
The learned orator then proceeded with great judgment to 
comment upon the quackery which pervaded, fortunately, but a 
small portion of the profession of the present day, and into 
which they had lapsed from not having examined and carefully 
treasured all the facts coming before them. Had medical 
science, said Mr. Luke, been reared under this absolute de¬ 
pendence on facts, how different would have been its present 
condition, and how little cause would there be to give expression 
to any regret on account of errors in our own day of some of its 
professors. Unfortunately, to many other causes prevalent in 
times long past, we have in our own times to regret that either 
folly or avarice have withdrawn many persons from its legitimate 
paths. The groundless assumptions which have been taken by 
these oersons as a means of pandering to a popular sentiment, 
