12 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
self of the charge which she holds, to point out what the pub- 
lic will require of you, and to say that the award of her diplo- 
ma does not depend solely upon a proficiency in study, but 
that good moral standing, sound principles of action, and in- 
flexible honesty of purpose, are equally demanded of those 
who seek, at her hands, the evidence of merit and confidence. 
You must recollect that, ere many years elapse, into your 
charge will be committed the destinies of the College, the 
education of the rising generation, and the cherished reputa- 
tion which Philadelphia Pharmacy is acquiring. 
The invitation which has been extended to us to participate in 
the proceedings of the next convention for the revision of the 
National Pharmacopcea, renders still more imperative upon us 
the duty of qualifying our students, so that they may be com- 
petent to partake of those deliberations, and aid in that research 
which is to provide a code for the conduct of the entire pro- 
fession. In the duty of revision recently performed by the 
College, at the request of the Medical Convention, great and 
valued services were rendered by her graduates, who, at the 
period, corresponding to the present, as regards the future re- 
vision, occupied a ground no more in advance than you do 
now. Yet were they chosen to aid in the work, and so may 
some of you be, if you listen to the counsels here addressed to 
you, and respect the advice which you receive at our hands. 
A no more honorable motive to exertion, or more commenda- 
ble ambition can well be excited, than that which is thus held out 
of the opportunity for a seat in that council which is to legis- 
late for the whole nation. You may all aim at this distinc- 
tion, and herein you have a stimulus to which, with the ex- 
ception of the class assembled during the last term, none of 
your predecessors were subjected. 
The advantages and valued benefits which the College 
is enabled to provide those who regard her precepts, and 
make her instructions the rule of action for their profes- 
sional lives, great as they have always been, are now 
much enhanced by the prospect for distinction already 
alluded to, and by the anticipation of preferment to her 
own vacant chairs. A hope legitimately indulged by her 
