90 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
merited by your assiduity and careful preparation to deserve 
them. My first impulse is, to congratulate you upon the 
happy fulfilment of the laudable aspirations by which you 
have been actuated, in pursuing your probationary course, and 
in so doing, I may assert, I have the heartfelt concurrence 
of my coadjutor and the members of the College. But it 
would be an abuse of the trust confided to me, did I indulge 
in extended complimentary remarks upon the attention given 
to preliminary qualifications; much worthier are the purposes 
designed by my appointment; and with the desire of fulfilling 
them, I shall take advantage of the opportunity, to impress 
upon you correct views of the profession you have chosen, to 
indicate the objects you should strive to attain, the means you 
should employ, and the motives by which you should be 
governed. These will be the topics of the discourse to be 
delivered. 
The profession of Pharmacy is one of those having for their 
object the good of mankind; it is inseparably connected with 
the general welfare. To appreciate its importance, it is only 
needful to look back through the vista of time, and recognise 
its existence from the earliest date. The benefits derived 
from ithave been admitted to be of the highest consequence, and 
public opinion has at every period been kindly affected towards 
it, as evinced by the estimation in which it has been and con- 
tinues to be held. Nor from the duties it imposes, could the 
regard conferred be more richly deserved by any other em- 
ployment; like the profession of medicine, of which it is the 
handmaid, it has been called into operation by necessity, and 
owes its origin to the frailties, the infirmities, the perishable 
condition of the human family. It affords resources against 
pain, disease, and death, and has a powerful influence over the 
passions and the affections of man, as it is capable of exciting 
his hopes, allaying his fears, and ministering to his comforts 
and wants. 
Were we merely indebted to Pharmacy for the means of 
mitigating the ills of life, it would be sufficient to call forth 
expressions of merited commendation. But there is another 
point of view under which it is to be considered, which is, the 
