630 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
humanity, that no voice is necessary to be raised in its behalf. 
We feel that man holds but a delegated power over the lower 
animals, which he cannot violate with impunity. We repu¬ 
diate the necessity of vivisections in the advanced state of 
science, and we condemn as unnecessary the performance of 
experiments to determine again that which had been deter¬ 
mined fifty times before ; for we believe with Dr. Crampton 
that it is a painful and humiliating truth, that the human 
mind, by being familiarized with scenes of cruelty and horror, 
may be brought at length to extract from them a kind of 
insane gratification, which, like other perverted passions, 
extinguishes all the finer and better s} T mpathies of our 
nature.” And further, “ that the public exhibition of tortur¬ 
ing experiments on animals exercises a corrupting influence 
on the minds of those who witness them, and ought not 
to be tolerated.” Cultivate, then, this higher principle of 
your nature ; for, you may rest assured, that while it pro¬ 
motes your own happiness, it will at the same time tend to 
raise you in the estimation of every right-thinking individual, 
whose good opinion you are wishful to obtain. 
Having now glanced at several of the subjects which are 
contained in the curriculum of your studies, I proceed to 
make a few observations on the means which are afforded you 
for their acquirement. 
The imparting of information by the delivery of lectures 
has long taken precedence of all other methods of instruction 
in science. It is the most pleasing and inviting, as also the 
most ready means of impressing the mind with the truths it 
has to acquire. Like all other good things, it has, however, 
its alloy ; too much dependence is often placed upon the 
teacher by the pupils, who, in their turn, will thus become 
indolent in seeking further knowledge by reading and inves¬ 
tigation. While, therefore, it is the province of the teacher, 
in his inculcation of principles, to seize upon the rallying 
points of his subject, to separate the valuable from the 
useless ; it is no less the duty of the student to make the 
matter his own, and by subsequent research to complete his 
knowledge respecting it. In this way alone can your minds 
be stored with information, which is hereafter to be applied 
to your own benefit and to the advantage of those you are 
looking to for support. Nor must you omit to be regular 
in your attendance at the lectures. An occasional absentee 
differs but little from him who designedly neglects to be 
present. He has lost, perhaps, it may be, the very thing he 
was solicitous about; or he has missed the practical applica¬ 
tion of principles he had heard previously expounded. 
Another great error with some is that of deciding for them- 
