638 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
of life in disease, blend into each other; the latter cannot be 
well understood without a knowledge of the former. You 
will next be led to the wish to discover the causes of the 
changes in structure and function met with in disease. Here 
you will find yourselves in a field, as yet, not highly cul¬ 
tivated by members of our profession, although the oppor¬ 
tunities afforded them to do so are comparatively numerous. 
There is no doubt that our confidence in treating disease 
is determined by the knowledge we possess of its cause; we 
ought not to be content with a supposed cause. We should 
desire to understand the modus operandi of every assignable 
cause, and also the changes which, step by step, develop the 
ultimate phenomena. 
Gentlemen, I have very briefly alluded to the science of 
pathology, but, before leaving the subject, I must earnestly 
invite you to embrace every opportunity, as far as you pos¬ 
sibly can, in discovering the latent processes by which disease 
is established, and the means of removing them. Use your 
energies in this field of science, and, depend upon it, a per¬ 
petual harvest will be your reward. 
In the commencement of these observations, I informed 
you that lectures would be given on the c Principles and 
Practice of MedicineI therefore feel it incumbent on me 
to offer a remark or two in explanation of what is usually 
understood by this term. 
tf< By the principles of medicine,” says Dr. Watson, c ‘are 
meant those general truths and doctrines which have been 
ascertained and established (slowly, indeed, and irregularly, 
but still with considerable precision) by the continued obser¬ 
vations of attentive minds throughout the entire progress of 
medicine as a science.” These principles will be taught you 
in the lecture-room, as far as time will permit. 
The practice of medicine, like any other art, can only be 
acquired by repeated exercise of the senses, which require a 
special course of training before you can rely upon their 
evidences in the investigation of disease. To be able to 
practise medicine, presupposes a knowledge of anatomy, 
physiology, pathology, and the action of medicinal agents; 
then, by strict observation of animals, in company with persons 
of acknowledged experience, you will be able, with the know¬ 
ledge you have imbided from lectures, to acquire the requisite 
tact. Time spent in the stable, the cow-house, the sheep- 
fold, and other places, with diseased animals, observing closely 
their symptoms, watching the progress of disease, and noticing 
what is done, how it is done, and the effects which follow, 
are the surest means of learning the practice of medicine. 
