162 
Review. 
Quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non.—H or. 
On the relation of Practical Medicine to Philosophical Method 
and Popular Opinion; being the Annual Oration delivered 
before the North London Medical Society , on February \Oth , 
1858. By J. Russell Reynolds, M.D. Lond., &c., &c. 
Although not intended for general circulation, we have 
been favoured with a copy of the above Oration through the 
kindness of the President of the society; and having read it 
with much pleasure and profit, we intend to cull therefrom, 
so that our readers may share in the benefits we have 
derived. 
There is throughout it a nervousness of expression and 
a force that carry conviction to the mind of the truthfulness 
of the statements laid down; and at the same time they are 
communicated with a plainness of language that cannot be 
well misunderstood, albeit the beauty of eloquence is never 
lost sight of and rarely slackens. 
We shall place the extracts under headings of our own. 
On the Classification of the Sciences. 
<‘One of the most difficult problems of philosophy has been the 
'classification* of the sciences; and although numerous attempts for its 
solution have been made by profound thinkers of antiquity and of 
modern times, as yet no thoroughly comprehensive system has been de¬ 
veloped. That some of the sciences are closely related to one another 
we may daily recognise : we can scarcely speak of any phenomenon or 
process belomring to some without entrenching upon and using the 
language of others. For example, the processes of life, such as diges¬ 
tion, respiration and the like, require a knowledge of physics and che¬ 
mistry, not only for their comprehension, but for the expression of their 
simplest facts; and again, neither physics nor chemistry can be said to 
be exhausted until we have developed them into animal mechanics and 
organic chemistry. 
“ The sciences of physiology and pathology are, to a certain extent, 
compounded of chemistry, mechanics, and general physics, together 
with astronomy, so far as it relates to the climatic conditions and varia¬ 
tions in animal life; and the history of these sciences presents us with 
