288 ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
destroyed, by the failure of any of his remedial means through 
inefficiency or impurity. 
The consideration of these responsibilities, and of the means 
by which the risk of their being brought home upon you for 
redemption may be avoided, is an important subject for 
reflection; and I think I do not magnify the importance of it, 
when I address these appeals to your understandings and 
feelings. It shall be a constant object of solicitude with me, 
while I have the honour to hold this Chair, to maintain, with 
what ability I possess, the importance of a thorough knowledge 
of Pharmacy, as a branch of medical science, and a requisite 
in medical education; and I shall endeavour to present its 
details in such an aspect, during the course which is to 
follow, as will, at least, enable you to appreciate their value 
and qualify you for their practice. 
To obtain a thorough knowledge of Pharmacy, requires a 
knowledge of Chemistry, which is required in the formation 
of a medical education by various other considerations; one of 
the principal of which may be said to be the selection and 
preparation of proper antidotes to the various poisons, which 
may be introduced into the system, and threaten life with 
destruction. All proper antidotes depend upon their chemical 
properties for their efficacy. 
Called suddenly to the bedside of the sufferer, who may be 
the victim of accident or design, the medical practitioner, 
who is perfectly familiar with laws of affinity and combination, 
is never at loss for an agent which will neutralize or destroy 
the potent energies of the substance which "pours its leprous 
distil ment" into the system of his patient. No loss of time 
in the application of his remedies is to be apprehended; a 
cause which not unfrequently tends to the accomplishment of 
the effects of the poison. Calmly and philosophically he 
learns the name, or judges by the symptoms, of the enemy 
which is in deadly conflict with vitality, and possessed of a 
thorough knowledge of chemistry, he is at once enabled to 
counteract its effects by decomposing its structure, or by re- 
ducing it to such a condition as will entirely change its 
