INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
24 
quired information the mind of a learned man is a mere 
library, and his learning might as well be in the form of 
ink and paper for all the advantages derived from it by 
himself or others. This applies to the profession of Phar- 
macy, which is a union of the theoretical and practical, 
and the learning of the apothecary is of little avail if it point 
not to the illustration and amelioration of his practical duties. 
The design of this school of Pharmacy, like other edu- 
cational institutions, is to aid the student in the acquirement 
of necessary information ; it is the duty of its teachers to ex- 
plain pharmaceutical knowledge systematically ; and they 
hope to present such a view of the materials, principles and 
processes, of their departments, as will enable you, with the 
assistance of that energy which should characterize the stu- 
dent, and that field of practice which is found in the labora- 
tory and behind the counter, in your intercourse with the 
public, to render you able pharmaceutists and useful mem- 
bers of society. 
Pharmacy, in its most circumscribed definition, is the art of 
preparing Medicines, It embraces the knowledge and ability 
that enables an individual to modify those materials of nature, 
that accident or research have discovered to possess remedial 
powers, in such a manner as to conduce most effectually to their 
actions as medicines. 
Theoretical and practical pharmacy may be divided into four 
departments or divisions. The first consists of the knowledge 
of simple drugs, or the Materia Medica, including their natural 
history, derived from the researches of Botanists, Zoologists 
and Mineralogists ; their commercial history, which points out 
the sources from whence derived, and other facts that aid in 
forming a correct judgment of their genuineness; their physi- 
cal structure, taste, and odour, gained by a strict scrutiny of 
their sensible properties ; their chemical composition as exposed 
hy the analyses of chemists ; and such leading medical proper- 
ties and uses as will instruct the apothecary in the precautions 
requisite in dispensing them. 
22* 
