INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
643 
knowledge he possesses of the form and composition of the 
animal body will prepare him for such investigations. He may 
be, perhaps, only acquainted with morbid phenomena from 
what he has heard or read of in books, but in the infirmary he 
is brought face to face with disease; and if he will take the 
trouble to investigate the cases that come under his notice, 
he will be able to observe their symptoms and note their 
results. In your visits through the infirmary, not only will your 
teachers point out what they may consider most important, but 
they will very often put questions to those in attendance, with 
a view of testing the progress they have made in interpreting 
disordered functions. I should also advise those who can 
devote their time to this division of their studies, to keep a 
case-book of their own, in which a record of interesting diseases 
should be kept, noting down the symptoms, treatment, progress, 
and final results. To this record may be added the professors’ 
remarks, and anything they can glean from standard works on 
corresponding cases, and their own thoughts on the whole 
procedure. I may also remark, that the professor in attend¬ 
ance will not only be pleased to answer, as far as he is able, 
all reasonable questions that may be submitted to him, but 
will expect that the pupil will not hesitate to apply to him for 
information. 
In your clinical investigations you will find diseases much 
more complex than you had anticipated from reading books, 
nor are they so definitely marked out as writers would lead 
you to expect. You will often find that the treatment we 
adopt, in many cases, is quite different. The change con¬ 
sequent on the medicine given, or the supervention of new 
symptoms, may surprise you, and induce you to ask for an 
explanation. You will also find that an alteration in locality, 
diet, &c., will be found all sufficient in many instances to 
cure diseases. 
The curative power of medicine is by many much over¬ 
rated. In considering its value, we ought to take into con¬ 
sideration the cases that would get well without any 
medicine whatever and those that are incurable by any 
known agents. The comparative small amount of physic many 
cases actually require will, we shall find, very much diminish 
our drug bill. But these considerations must not lead you 
into the opposite error, of putting too moderate an estimate 
on the beneficial effects of medicine in the treatment of disease. 
In human practice, I can conceive that medicine may be 
of the highest importance even in incurable diseases. Ima¬ 
gine a peison suffering under some lingering complaint, 
