290 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
ciety at large. Enough has been said, it is believed, to show that 
their operations are directly and indirectly involved in the 
interests and comforts of every class of the community. 
Their connexion, in many instances, has been pointed out, and 
some important results have been shown to depend upon their 
exercise and cultivation. 
It remains, therefore, only to acknowledge the important 
responsibilities, which are assumed by the occupant of this 
Chair who has undertaken the duty of inculcating subjects 
fraught with so much interest and importance. The responsi- 
bilities of a public teacher, at all times deep and momentous, 
are in this case particularly imposing. Flattered, however, by 
the choice of the trustees, and encouraged by the opinions 
expressed by many friends who are deemed capable of advis- 
ing, the present incumbent undertakes the duty with a full 
sense of the difficulties he is about to encounter; but trusting 
to your clemency as critics, and relying upon the partiality 
which has called him to the Chair for an indulgent regard to his 
fallibility, he embarks upon the extended sea, before him. — • 
Demonstration his sheet anchor — the experience of his pre- 
decessors his pilot — your ultimate success in the attainment 
of Chemistry and Pharmacy, the haven to which his course 
is directed — and the polar star toward which all the results 
of his industry and solicitude centre, the professional repu- 
tation of the University of Maryland. 
