INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 
19 
rendering justice to those who may confide in his skill, as- 
suredly it must be a great satisfaction and ground of confi- 
dence, that by the assurance of persons qualified to determine, 
he has, upon an exhibition of his claims, been found so pre- 
pared and duly entitled to support. The only evidence, short 
of a diploma, which can establish the same facts, are long prac- 
tice, and the invariable employment by those who are willing 
to hazard your skill thus unsupported by evidence. The disad- 
vantages of submitting to such an ordeal present great obstacles 
to your early success, if, indeed, any can be found willing to 
trust you at all, while they may so readily procure the ser- 
vices of others known to be competent. Relying upon this 
means of establishing your character, you may toil for years, 
waiting the result which a graduate already possesses in the 
exhibition of his diploma. Here is positive, certain, respecta- 
ble testimony of persons, known to the public to be capable of 
judging, who, by affixing their signatures to your diploma, 
stake their reputation for your competency, and guarantee 
your claims to the support and patronage of the public. The 
contrast thus afforded of these two opposite conditions, self- 
selected by the respective parties, should alone determine your 
choice, and induce you to adopt the resolution already sub- 
mitted to you, not to entrust your qualifications for the world 
to adjudge them, while you may have the verdict of a compe- 
tent tribunal, enabling you to reap a harvest at once, which 
otherwise years may be required to produce. It cannot be 
supposed that immediate confidence will be placed in the un- 
graduated, or that opportunity will be immediately afforded 
them to satisfy the public, while there are those presenting 
themselves who have already, by their graduation, evinced 
their claims to regard, and established their professional cha- 
racter. But enough said. You feel the appeal which has 
been made to you, and acknowledge that the sanction of the 
College to-your deserts is not a worthless achievement. 
A few words are here addressed to those, if any such be 
present, who, desiring merely a general insight into chemis- 
try, have no particular employment of the knowledge in view, 
