642 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
caution you in the pursuit of this, not to neglect other studies 
which to you, as 'veterinary surgeons, are perhaps of equal, 
if riot greater importance. 
Very nearly allied to Chemistry is Materia Medica, a 
science which treats of the properties of medical agents. 
You will also receive instruction in Pharmacy, which demon¬ 
strates the way such agents are procured from nature, and 
prepared for administration. Also Therapeutics, which ex¬ 
plains their action on the living body. 
The knowledge acquired in these departments changes 
empiricism into science, and gives the student increased 
interest in the study of nature’s works and laws. 
Gentlemen, I have, as I intended, been very brief on this 
subject, being aware of my incapacity to allude to it in such 
terms as its importance demands. 
In the advertisements of the college you may have observed 
that you will have the benefit of clinical instructions during 
the early part of the day, in the infirmary stables. Clinical 
instructions have reference to those given at the bedside of the 
patient; we must therefore consider, when we are in the stall 
or loose-box, with the sick horse, that we are at his bedside, 
that is, if we wish to use the term in its usual sense. 
In performing this duty, the professors will point out the 
nature of each particular case, and as far as he is able he will 
endeavour to find out and explain its origin, and the progress 
it may have made before it came under his notice; he will 
also examine the symptoms, and attempt to explain the 
organic lesions upon which they depend. 
By carefully analysing the case in this way, he will be 
able to form a prognosis, and determine the best kind of 
treatment to be pursued. 
I wish you to understand that you must not expect his 
attempts will always be successful. In some instances the cause 
cannot be discovered, in others he may fail to locate the disease 
with that degree of precision he could wish, or to discover its 
character with exactness. And he may not be able to explain 
the symptoms with that clearness he could desire, or the 
action of the medicine he administers. Nevertheless, he may 
still be able to simplify the case, by pointing out what is 
clear and what is obscure. 
The senior pupils are in a condition to receive the greatest 
benefit from Infirmary practice, and each of these I would 
particularly invite to lose no opportunity of availing himself of 
the advantage to be derived from it. The lectures he will 
have heard during the first session of his studies, and the 
