756 
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
College in preparation for becoming members of the same 
worthy corporation in your after-walks in life. 
In Rules YII and YIII of the “ Rules and Regulations 
relating to Pupils,” you will find that in your second session 
you are required to act as “ clinical clerks,” and that if 
diligent in this duty you will receive a certificate from the 
professors. In preparation for your clinical attendance, from 
the first, you will take care to attend regularly the lectures 
upon pathology which will be delivered in this theatre, and 
also to study such works as treat particularly on this 
subject. 
Intimately connected with veterinary practice are the com¬ 
bined sciences of chemistry and materia medica, which teach 
us the chemical and physical constitution of the drugs which 
we employ. Chemistry, indeed, is not limited to any de¬ 
partment, but embraces the substances of the whole universe 
in its grasp, and if we were asked to point to the most tri¬ 
umphant branch of modern experimental knowledge, it is 
probably chemistry that we should feel constrained to name. 
Only look at the immense range of its powers. It is not 
many years since, in the hands of Liebig, it commenced the 
analysis of soils and manures, and laboured to improve the 
constitution of our mother earth, and to point out the true 
foundation of agricultural science, adding, out of the generous 
lap of chemical supply, whatever the ground by successive 
crops had lost from among its needful elements. The farmer 
and the stockowner, the labourer and the landlord, all took 
refreshment for their several positions from the electric, en¬ 
livening touch of this new-born agricultural power. The 
science of food has been improved by the same potent in¬ 
fluence, and the agriculturist has become more and more 
enterprising in proportion as the science of chemistry has 
opened up his mind to fresh resources in the earth's produce. 
These facts, however, only show you to a slight extent what 
chemistry is, and how great is its realm; they nevertheless 
point to the study of this science as an integral branch of 
veterinary medicine. Materia medica is that department of 
chemistry which specially applies to a knowledge of medi¬ 
cines, their nature, action, and uses; and I would advise you 
to make yourselves well acquainted with the appearances of 
all the genuine drugs which we employ, for you will find it 
very useful to be able to discriminate a good from a bad 
specimen when you have to obtain and administer them 
yourselves; and recollect that they are the chief weapons 
upon which we have to rely in combating disease. They 
sustain, undoubtedly, very important and very definite rela- 
