INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
299 
Wherever she may be brought forth, from the moment of her 
birth she belongs equally to the whole world. She brooks no 
individual nor national fetters; but is the common friend and 
servant of mankind. To speak of an American truth would 
be absurd. Would it be less so to speak of, American medi- 
cine as something distinct from the general science? But, 
though it becomes us to throw aside that impolitic self-conceit 
of patriotism which undervalues whatever comes from abroad, 
and stigmatizes with the ancient Greeks and modern Chinese 
everything foreign as barbarous, we may justly and profitably 
endeavor to estimate the amount of truth which our country 
has contributed to the general mass, and thereby stimulate a 
generous emulation to augmented efforts, either to supply 
deficiency, or to achieve or maintain an honorable prece- 
dence in the race of improvement. This is all that I propose 
in calling your attention to the Materia Medica of the United 
States. 
In treating of this subject, I propose, first, to give a general 
view of the medicines which our country has furnished to the 
world, and of the resources she contains within herself; se- 
condly, to speak of the condition of this department of medi- 
cal science, and of the individuals who have contributed to its 
promotion within our limits; and thirdly, to, offer you some 
inducements to exertion in the further development of our yet 
hidden or but partially discovered treasures. 
If we extend our view to the whole American continent, 
we have to boast, on this side of the Atlantic, of medicinal re- 
sources inferior probably to those of no other section of the 
globe. Not to mention numerous substances of little import- 
ance, we have in the Peruvian Bark the most valuable of all 
tonic medicines; scarcely indeed surpassed in efficiency and 
extent of application by any other article of the Materia Me- 
dica; in the Quassia of Surinam and the West Indies, the 
strongest of the pure vegetable bitters; in the Rhatany of 
Peru, one of the most efficient astringents; in the Ipecacuanha 
of Brazil, the best of all vegetable emetics; in the Jalap of 
Mexico, the best vegetable hydragogue cathartic; in the Bal- 
