INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 287 
cines has been improved, and has simplified formulae applying 
to their construction the beautiful and systematic proportions 
developed by the laws of combination. 
I have now, I trust, made out a case proving to your satis- 
faction, that Pharmacy is equally worthy the cultivation of 
enlightened minds, with her parent Chemistry; and, I trust, 
that with the medical class certainly, if with no other portion 
of my auditors, no further comment will be required to invite 
an enthusiastic devotion to the course of study, required to 
embue their minds with her principles, and familiarize their 
hands with her practice. 
Situated as the large body of the practitioners of medicine 
are in this country, in remote situations, beyond the reach of 
those who make pharmacy a distinct object of study, it is 
incumbent on them to possess such a knowledge of that science 
as will qualify them to judge of the quality of their raw 
materials, and enable them to prepare the officinal and magis- 
terial formulae, required for the relief of their patients. They 
cannot place too high a value on this department of their 
education; for no one can realize the importance which may 
attach to the purity of a vegetable powder, or the unimpaired 
strength of a blister. Employed at a moment when the 
contest between disease and vitality has brought the fluttering 
soul almost to the period of dissolution from her material abode; 
when anxious friends and distressed relatives look with 
intense anxiety to the effect of every remedial means em- 
ployed, the impurity of a medicine administered in a minute 
dose, or the failure of a blister carelessly or inefficiently 
prepared, may decide the contest between life and death; 
and, with the liberated soul of the departed friend, may vanish 
all confidence in the skill of the physician. How awful, then, 
the consequences which attend the preparation and adminis- 
tration of medicines to the sick, and how high are the 
responsibilities assumed by those who undertake their 
preparation and direct their use; — a career of distinguished 
reputation just dawning on the young aspirant for medical 
honour, may be suddenly arrested, and all his prospects 
