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          AN

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE

6N THE  )N'. *
                   4 <Y_.

ADVANTAGES AND PLEASURES
OF THE STUDY OP
CHEMISTRY,
DELIVERED IN THE
   CHEMICAL LABORATORY

              01
          I



       On the llth Nov. 1831,

AND PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CLASS.
BY LUxXSFORD P. YAIVDELL, M. D.
pU7£T
       LEXINGTON:
Pf.TNTSB BY N. L. FlNNELL & J. F. HbRNDOV-
         1831. 
ysii
I93i 
CORRESPONDENCE.
                      Medical Hall, Lexington, Ky. Nov. 14th, 1831.
  Dear Sir—In behalf of the Medical Class here assembled, we respectfully
request for publication, a copy of your very appropriate and highly interesting
Introductory Lecture, delivered on the 11th instant, before the Medical Fa-
culty and Students of Transylvania.
  We indulge the hope, Sir, that in entering upon the important duties of the
Chair lately assigned you, in one of the most renowned and favored institutions
of the country, you will not withhold from the public eye, a production so cred-
itable to yourself, and so worthy of the station you  now occupy, as that, to
which it is the wish of the Class to give publicity.
                         With great respect, yours, &c.
                                           JAMES  N. HUGHES,
                                           TH. J. MARTIN,
                                           EDWARD  B. CHURCH,
                                           A. P. WHEELER,
                                           ALGERNON S. V AUG HAN,
                                           ROBERT D. WEBB.
  L. P. Yandell,M. D. Prof. Chemistry in T. U.


                                    Lexington, November 15th, 1831.
  Gentlemen—In reply to your very polite note of yesterday, requesting, in
behalf of the Medical Class, a copy of my Introductory Lecture for publication,
permit me to say, that whatever may be my own misgivings on the subject, I do
not feel at  liberty to refuse a request made under such circumstances, and ia
language so complimentary.
  Your desire to give extension to  the views contained in the Lecture, satisfies
me of at least one fact—that the Class which I had the honor to address on the
occasion referred to, hold in just estimation the interesting science which it was
*he aim of that Lecture to recommend.
                 With sentiments of high  regard,
                      I have the honor to be, Gentlemen,
                          Very  truly, your obedient servant,
                                                   L.  P. YANDELL.
.Messrs. J as. JV. Hughes, Th. J.  Martin,
       Edw'd B. Church, A. P. Wheeler,
       A.  S. Vaughan, R*bt. D.  Wekb. 
%
.*
; 
LECTURE.
 Gkictlimin:
     THE occasion on which I now appear before you, is to me
 one of strong emotion.  But a few years having elapsed since
 I was myself a pupil in this University, it is with no affected
 diffidence that I now rise to claim  your attention  in the capa-
 city of a teacher.  If I may  not  dissemble the  gratification
 which I feel  at being thus honored, the solemn responsibility
 attached to the calling, be assured, is neither unknown  to me,
 nor lightly regarded.   1 trust my  deportment  will  not fail to
 testify that my sense  of it is as  deep as it is conscientious.   I
 am fully aware, that  while I hazard in it my own reputation,
 which is of more importance to  me than life, my performance
 of the duties, to which I have been invited, must have some ef-
 fect, for good or for evil, not only on this institution, but  in pre-
 paring you for the profession which you have chosen—a profes-
 sion, not surpassed by any other, in its elevation and bearing
 on the welfare of society.
  Since my  appointment to the  place where I  now stand  was
 first announced to me, these considerations  have  never been
 forgotten.  But while they fill me  with .solicitude, they  do not
 entirely bury me in despondence.   They will only serve, on
 the contrary, to confirm my  patience in research and prepara-
 tion, and invigorate my efforts under a determination to do well.
 And limited as my experience  and observation  are, they have
 nevertheless taught me, that in most of the arduous enterprises
 of life, industry and perseverance  accomplish more than gen-
 ius and talent.  And these, fortunately, are at the command of
 every one.  As far, therefore, as they will go towards accom-
 plishing a task which  I regard as in the  highest degree both
 difficult and responsible, I flatter  myself I may be permitted  to
 promise, without incurring  the charge of presumption,  that I
 shall not be found wanting.
  Nor am I compelled to rest my hopes, in the performance  of
my  duties, entirely on my own unaided  efforts.  On the  labors
 of my colleague, of whose qualifications and accomplishments
his  presence  here renders it improper  that  I should speak, I
have  much well-grounded reliance.  Yon have  a  sufficient 
6
guaranty in his success as a teacher elsewhere, that he will not
fail within these walls. •
  To these remark? I shall only add, that 1 do not feel at liber-
ty to doubt the disposition on your part, to extend tome, in all
cases, that degree of liberal indulgence which the enlightened
and ingenuous never withhold.
  And now permit me to proceed to the subject of my address.
My duty, as you are aware, in the chair which I have the honor
to occupy, is to give instruction in Chemistry; and I have con-
cluded that I could not do better on the present occasion, than
to present you with a brief view of the importance of that sci-
ence, accompanied by a few of those beautiful, curious, and
interesting facts which have riveted the attention, and even ex-
cited the wonder of the civilized world.
  That Chemistry, as a branch of scientific and collegiate ed-
ucation, has been greatly undervalued, not to say, seriously neg-
lected, in the Western country, is a fact which, it is believed,
will not be called in question.  It would constitute a subject of
curious inquiry how many thorough chemists we should be able
to find in all our colleges and universities—averaging some three
or four for each state, in all the older states of the west.   How
many who could analyze wilh accuracy, a medicinal spring, or
detect the composition of a new mineral?   Who, after examin-
tion, could pronounce positively, in a court of justice, upon the
existence of a suspected poison?  who, if required, could pre-
pare for a physician prussic acid, or caustic potash, or sulphate
of quinine? or who could determine the proportion of alloy in
a counterfeit coin as was done by Archimedes for Hiero, more
than two thousand years ago?
  But, that Chemistry is a science, most important in its bear-
ing, and of wide  and  varied  relations, not  only  presenting to
the mind of the student the most striking facts,  and unfolding
some of the most interesting  laws  of nature, but constituting
for the professional man a field of knowledge as indispensable,
as for the general scholar it is replete with attractions, is a truth,
universally received in other countries, and which will not long
be questioned in ours.   To be satisfied that medicine rests  upon
it, as a chief corner stone, let me entreat you to cast your eyes
over the Materia  Medici, and count the remedies which the
physician  has not received  at the hands of the Chemist.   Be-
ginning with Raymond Lully, who discovered nitric acid in the
13th century, or with Basil Valentine, who, about the close  of
the 15th, introduced into practice, mercury, antimony and sul-
phuric acid, and coming down to our own times, you will  find 
K
verf few of high value, which may not be pointed to as trophies
of the science which it is our object, in this address, to recom-
mend.  Those which it did not furnish, it has improved.   It
has given us accuracy—and in a most momentous concern—
where every thing was once vague and uncertain;—and com-
parative elegance and comfort, where  all before was loathsome
and revolting.
  For opium, which, after producing sleep, disturbs the system
with subsequent fever and restlessness, it has given us morphine,
which, as its name imports, induces asleep at once tranquil and
refreshing.   In place of the ponderous, and offensive barks, it
has substituted quinine,  which the patient is able to swallow,
almost without tasting it.  By means of the oil of cantharidin,
infused into a piece of paper, it is in our power to produce ve-
 sication, promptly and effectually, with the  saving  to the pa-
tient at the same time, of much of the pain of blistering.  Io-
dine, an active remedy which has been applied successfully to
 the cure of a number of diseases,  and whose remedial appli-
 cation, there is reason to believe, will  yet be greatly extended,
is a discovery of this science, which, 20 years  ago, was unknown
 to the profession.  The medical properties of sarsaparilla have
 lately been obtained in a form convenient to the physician, and
 less disagreeable to the patient.  Piperine and strychnine are of
 comparatively recent  discovery,  and we are  warranted in anti-
 cipating the most beneficial results from their extensive appli-
 cation to the treatment of diseases.   And, from some late re-
 searches on the  subject, there seems ground  for the belief, that
 the  principle which the Chemist extracts from coffee—the de-
 lightful morning and evening beverage of  so many thousand
 persons—may be  added, with advantage, to the  already ex-
 tended list of  remedies  for that most obstinate malady—inter-
 mitent fever.  Chlorine is growing  into extensive use as a dis-
 infecting agent.   The fate of  too many new  medicines  usher-
 ed into the world  with the most unmeasured eulogy, admonish-
 es us to speak modestly of untried remedies.  But  if any reli-
 ance may be placed on public statements,  it is not too much to
 hope, that chlorine may yet be made  as effectual in destroying
  the contagion of small pox, and similar diseases, as it has  pro-
 ved, in the arts, in the removal  of colors.   M. Labarraque  be-
 lieves he has shewn "the possibility by means of it, of render-
 ing the propagation of  contagious or  infectious diseases impos-
 sible."*  Time  will not allow us to speak of salicine, prussic
   *Dr. Robert (Guide Sanitaire, p.  793) remarks:  "The success which has
 !<sen obtained in the course of last summer to combat,  to arrest, or to prevent 
  acid, phosphorus acid, and a  number of other articles brought

  to light by the  labors  of modern  Chemists,  and  which, it if
  hoped, may become invaluable resources to  the  physician, in
  the  further improvement of the healing art;
    If, therefore, in  the early ages of medicine, Chemists were
  the  discoverers of the most useful  remedies, it is no less true,
  that the labors of these men are extending the materia medrca
 in our own day, and  that  Majendie, Dumas, Pelletier, Gay-
 Lussac, and  others, are contributing a  full  share to the  im-
 provement of our profession.
   Let me ask seriously, whether any  physician,  educated at

 the disease which attacked horse?, a disease which may be considered as a pes-
 tilential epizootic or gangrenous typhus, imminently contagious, leads us  to
 presume that they (the chlorurets) may be equally efficacious in the pestilential
 diseases of man, and with so much greater reason, since the experiments re-
 cently made by M. Lisfranc, surgeon in chief of the hospital La Pitie, in Pans,
 prove that the air of wards where small-pox patients are confined, no longer
 communicates the disease, whilst daily sprinklings with solutions of the chlo«
 rurets are employed."
   "M.  Labarraque communicated personally to the  author (Alcock, on th«
 use of chlorurets of oxide of sodium  and of lime, p.  58,) that the  infectio*
 arising from measles, which had occurred in a  boarding school, had been  per-
 fectly arrested, without the  removal of any of the pupils, this  security from
 infection having been effected by the free use of the chlorurets."
   The same author  continues: "The beneficial results  already obtained in
 arresting the ravages of infectious diseases, afford a well grounded presumption
 that the chlorurets  may also be effectual in preventing  the ravages of  the-
 plague, the yellow fever and other pestilential disorders."
   The following interesting case of Asphyxia, successfully treated by 3W.  La-
 barraque, and related in the 8th volume of the Archives, is quoted by  th«
 same  author:
   " A workman of a vermicelli maker was exposed to a deleterious gas whicli
 proceeded from an accumulation of filth and  rubbish, heaped together from a
 pit of night-soil which was undergoing repair.  He fell without consciousness.
 M, Labarraque was  called to the  patient soon after the accident; the symp-
 toms were, nulse strong but fugitive on pressure, excessive rigidity of the limbs;
 arms stretched, stiff, and almost cold; head thrown backwards; veins of the
 neck turgid ; face violet colored—also the lips, which were  much swollen; eyes
 elosed, dull and insensible; respiration appeared extinct; the danger seemed
 imminent.  M.  Labarraque  details the train of reasoning which led him to
 adopt immediately the concentrated solution of the chloruret of oxide of so-
 dium.  A napkin moistened  in the solution,  was placed  under  the patient'*
 nostrils, and in less than one minute he uttered an acute and plaintive crv or
 groan : the rigidity  ceased; nis eyes opened to shut again in a few seconds "the
 tetanic rigidity had re-appeared with  its frightful train.  I (M.L.)had with-
 drawn the chloruret too soon.  The usual stimulents again tried, produced no
effect.   The chloruret was re-applied:  in less than a minute the rigidity of tht
 limbs ceased and the patient sent forth a  piercing cry, which was stopped by
 the linen impregnated by the chloruret.  A full inspiration took place, the air
 necessarily passinsr through the moistened linen, was therefore  charged with
 chloruret saturated  with water. The disinfection of the gas contained in  thft
chest was no doubt complete, since the symptoms ceased : He was made to walk
 into the street, keeping the chloruret under his nostrils—his countenance re°-ain-
 ••d its  natural appearance, and he was soon in a condition to resume his work  * 
                            9

this period, and in a University  where all the branches of medi-
cine are professed to be taught, can reconcile it to his feelings,
to remain ignorant of the ingredients  which enter into  the
composition of his remedies?   It is not required that he should
possess the skill to manufacture them.  But can he be satisfied
while he is unacqnainted with the chemical difference between
cream of tartar and tartar emetic, between  calomel and cor-
rosive sublimate,  between oxalic and tartaric  acid?   Will any
gentleman agree  to take leave  of his alma mater, invested with
the honors of the doctorate, without  an acquaintance with the
antidotes to the many poisons, which, by accident at first, and
through ignorance afterwards, are so often proving fatal to hu-
man life?   Instances not unfrequentlv occur, where corrosive
sublimate has been taken for calomel, or oxalic acid  for epsom
salts, or tartar emetic for cream of tartar;  or, where these, and
other poisons, have been administered with felonious  intentions.
What  must be the mortification and the agony of  the physi-
cian, who,  summoned to render aid under circumstances so af-
flicting, and conscious that effectual  remedies exist,  is yet pre-
cluded by his ignorance from a resort to them?  Whatever may
have been heretofore the charity of the public, in the indul-
gent exercise of which, deficiences so palpable and gross have
been excused, we may rest assured that the period has arrived
when such ignorance will meet with neither the connivance,
nor the toleration of society.  The march of improvement in
the West is onward.  The attainments  of physicians must be
extended also.   The armor of  the Faculty must be polished
anew.   It is the prerogative of  the medical profession to stand
on elevated  ground.   Its  votaries  are permitted,  and it is
their imperative duty, to follow nature into her inmost recesses,
and witness the mystery and magnificence of her hidden ope-
rations.  It holds connexion and  claims support, from every
other science; from mineralogy with its gems, and botany with
its flowers.  And a calling of such concern is privileged  thus
to exact the aid of every department of knowledge.  What
does it not embrace, that is valuable in life?   Not health alone.
for if the mind stood firm, there might be something  of life en-
joyed without this.  Not bodily strength alone, for this might
be surrendered could we retain the  vigor of our divine part.
Nor the happiness  of individuals alone;  but the health, the
happiness, the well-being of communities, of nations—the body,
the mind, all are involved in the profession of medicine!   To
this profession, the palm of learning  has been assigned  by Dr.
Parr, who was himself, incomparably the most learned  man of
                            B 
                            10

his day;  and by Jefferson, Dr.  Johnson, Sully and others not
less distinguished.  Be it ours to maintain an ascendency so
honorable.
  A task somewhat peculiar belongs to the medical profession
of the West, in the execution of which, a ki.owledge of  chem-
istry  becomes indispensable.  The physical character ol our
extended valley has yet to be  illustrated.  Its geological ior-
mations have not been explored;the character,locality and.rich-
ness of its minerals have not been ascertained, and especiali),
its mineral waters remain to be analyzed.  Here is a-harvest
just ripening for the sickle, with scarcely a laborer to  divide
with you its honors or its rewards.   Much, we have  reason to
be assured, exists  in the structure of our rocks, to instruct and
delight the Naturalist: mineral  treasures doubtless abound,
which when developed, will enrich communities as well as in-
dividuals;  and medicinal springs are  scattered all over tne
country, whose waters have proved effectual where  medicine
had  failed.  They all pass  under the general  va«;ue nanus of
sulphur and chalybeate, and nothing is known of them further,
save that dyspeptics, and  hypochondriacs, and other valetudi-
narians have resorted to them and been healed.
  These springs constitute a portion  of the wealth of every
country.   Besides the recreation and luxury of visiting them
during the heats of summer, many of them  possess decided
efficacy in  numerous chronic complaints.   Those  containing
iron are  known to lie  adapted to cases of debility; but they
produce mischief where inflammation exists.   To one class  of
patients, those containing magnesia, and other aperient article*
might be well adapted; and yet they would scarcely fail to ag-
gravate the complaints of another class who suffered from ex-
treme debility.  But how are the sick to make these discrimi-
nations,  when  their medical advisers are as blind as them-
selves?   And  experience, in such cases, might prove too  dear
a teacher.
  It will come to be regarded as a stigma unon the West  if
the investigation  of these sources of~health  and  comfort  is
much longer  neglected.  Tne only ground upon  which  past
dereliction has  been excused,  is our  infancy.  While even-
other quarter of the globe is pouring its treasures into the store-
house of science, will it not cause the cheek of patriotic pride to
mantle with shame, that our great valley, rich as it i> in mine-
rals, rich in animal and vegetable productions, and not less rich.
let me add, in native intellect, should alone withhold its contri-
butions?  The long  cheerless night which brooded over it du> 
11
ring the  generations  of the race which has just disappeared,
only began to give  way, with the  coming  of their successors.
Tiie grey of tne morning, as regards  its science, still  hangs
around it, and we  are just beginning to  anticipate a brighter
day.  Let me indulge a hope, that I behold  before me, at  this
tiniL', t'ie ardent, intrepid cusps, before whose labors, the last
lingeriugs  of tnis intellectual  night  will  finally  disappear.
We cannot he mere physicians.   We must  be members,  (we
ought to be cultivated, variously taught, armed with knowledge
at all points)  of a  great, busy community, of multiform inter-
ests  advocations.   With all these chemistry is  connected; to
all it lends its light to instruct, to  gratify and improve.
  In many processes of domestic economy, a knowledge of the
principles  of the  science is of signal  advantage.  From the
baking of bread to the construction of our lire-places,  from
the regulation of our apparel  to  the erection of metallic rods
for tlie defence of  our dwellings, these principles  are put in
requisition.
  The lime-maker who exposes his rocks to  an intense fire, for
the purpose of driving off the  carbonic acid, of  which lime-
stone is,  in part composed, is as much  the  Cnemist, perhaps
without suspecting it, as he who  obtains  oxygen by  a similar
process,  from  minganese, or  nitre, in his laboratory.  So the
house-keeper who  adds quick-lime to lye for  the purpose of giv-
ing it strength, and oil afterwards, to convert it into soap, avails
herself occhemical affinities, how little soevershe  may under-
stand of their  nature.   And the  farmer, who spreads lime, or
plaster  of Paris over  his fields, and the  black-smith  with his
bellows,  the forger of iron, the assayer of silver, the tanner, and
the manufacturer of steel, gun-powder, glass and  porcelain, are
all chemists, it may be, without an acquaintance  with the prin-
ciples of the science.
  Chemistry is at the foundation not only of these, but almost
every other art.   It assists the brewer, and the maker of wine.
The dyer of stuffs  is aided by it, and the bleacher of cloths, ta-
king advantage of the instruction which it affords, accomplish-
es now in weeks, what was once the work of months.  The re-
fining of sugar is a process conducted  upon   principles strictly
chemical, and  an improvement made in it, by an accomplished
Chemist, a {cy.' years since, was the means  of enriching, with
slight expense, and  almost without trouble, most of the  per-
sons engaged  in the business.  The safety  lamp of  Sir Hum-
phrey Daw, which has been  truly  called "the most  beautiful
and u«eful invention of modern ^itnc<;.',  and which is a glorious 
n
triumph of the science over destruction, was made by one whose
life was devoted to its cultivation.  Until the time of this inven-
tion hundreds of miners were sacrificed, in their useful calling?
by  the explosion of carburetled hydrogen  gas.  Dr.  Wollas-
ton had  observed, that   this gas could not be kindled in a
glass tube so narrow as one seventh of an inch in diameter; and
profiting by the discovery, Sir Humphrey constructed this in-
valuable  instrument, which, while it guides  the miner in his la-
bors,  shields him effectually  from all  danger.   Finally, the
steam engine, which performs now half the work of society, the
conquests of which have already surpassed what fancy had con-
ceived, and whose future  conquests promise to extend further
than imagination can  reach,  is a chemical  instrument, and
owes its discovery to a philosopher who thoroughly  understood
the principles of the science.
  Nor, we are permitted to believe, has Chemistry yet confer-
red upon the arts all the benefits of which it  is capable.   Even
while we are  here discussing the  subject, the public journals
are bringing us accounts of the manufacture of an illuminating
gas from water.   The  hydrogen which  the water on decompo-
sition affords, is passed, according to the account, through a li-
quid obtained during the distillation of pit-coal, which causes
it afterwards to give out a bright light in combustion.  Thus, it
is playfully remarked, " the exploit of'setting the  great river
on fire,' which our ancestors, in the simplicity of their hearts,
reckoned among the number of impossibilities, is now in a fair
way of being performed.   The cold waters  drawn from the bo-
som of the  earth, are   to be  distributed in currents of flame,
from habitation to habitation, and  the element which we  use to
quench fires, is to light up our cities, with a  brilliancy scarcely
to be  surpassed by that of a conflagration.  When  the anthra-
cite mines of the country  shall  be exhausted, and  our forests
all hewn  away, our posterity  will be able to  keep themselves
warm by burning the  lakes and rivers."
  Why is it that the tradesmen of Great Britain, as has been tru-
ly remarked, "can furnish at this day, more profound thinkers on
philosophical  subjects, more acute and  accurate  experimen-
ters, more real philosophers, thrice told, than all Europe could
furnish a  century ago?"  It is because Chemistry and the physi-
cal sciences have attracted there the attention due them.
  If the  same encomium  pronounced  upon the tradesmen of
America, would  sound, at this time, like "satire in disguise "
I am not sure,  since the opportunities afforded them, by Lyce-
ums and other popular,  literary institutions, for  acquiring a 
18
knowledge of these sciences, are so much increased, that it will
long be so.  And hence the members of our  learned and libe-
ral profession will be forced to extend their  knowledge in this
direction, or see themselves excelled by  men of much humbler
pretensions.
  Another inducement to the prosecution of this study: The
great mass of the people of our country live not only by the
sweat of the brow, but by the tillage of the soil.  Among this
people, you are going when  you have completed your labours
here, to fix your homes.   Wnat are their interests must become
yours, as they  are those of all classes of the community. When
they prosper, every other trade, and profession  must prosper.
What more agreeable task,  then, could you desire, than  to in-
struct ttiis most useful class, in the application of Chemistry to
agriculture; which, while it enriches them, will benefit  your-
selves?   Glauber labored to make  this application, while Van
Helmont was  shewing the  connexion between medicine and
chemistry,  nearly  two centuries ago,  and it is singular that
whilst all his other discoveries have been turned to  good  ac-
count, this  the most important of  them, should have  been so
lightly regarded.   Sir Humphrey Davy, of whom it is as true,
as of the individual to whom the remark was at first applied,
that "he touched  nothing which he did  not  adorn," rendered
the study of Chemistry in connexion with agriculture fashiona-
ble  in England by his Lectures on  that subject.  But the in-
fluence cannot be said to have  reached  this  country.   Be the
intelligence of our agriculturists on  other  subjects  what it
may, (and no one  has a higher respect for it than the author of
this address,) it is  useless to  deny, that upon this, there  prevails
among them a lamentable degree of ignorance.  Of the science
of agriculture, it  may indeed  be said, that they know almost
nothing.  Lime, plaster of Paris, and occasionally burnt clay,
are spread  upon our fields, but their modus operandi is as thor-
oughly a secret, as if the whole process were an act of incanta-
tion.   Whether the soil is  argillaceous  or calcareous  magne-
sian or  silicious,  whether vegetable matter  is deficient  or  in
excess, are questions, which, however necessary to be determin-
ed, when an attempt is  about  making to increase its fertility,
are such as the science of a whole nighbourhood would not be
sufficint to answer.
  It is, hence, in your power to become  (and 1 trust the classes
of this University zvilt become, by promoting the study of che-
mistry, by  getting up  Lyceums, and in Lectures,  pointing out
the improvements which chemistry  is capable of making in it) 
14
the efficient patrons of agriculture, than which,  Cicero has
said, "no calling is more dignified or delightful, or more becom-
ing a free man."  And, as the bread cast upon the waters was
gathered up  after many  days, you  will  have the gratification
of seeing a community increasing in knowledge, and growing
in prosperity by means of the light disseminated by your la-
bors.
   If then, you would form  an adequate conception of the range
and importance of chemistry,  you mustl'ook back over tiie arts
wnich it has  invented and  improved, and of which but a part
haveboen e numerated. And it will not fail to be perceived, that
of the principles of all these, he mu-t remain ignorant, who is
unacquainted with chemical science.  So much of the volume
of nature, he will find  himself unable to interpret.  The hie
that blazes cheerfully  on his hearth, will not be  more intelligi-
ble to him, than the tire that bursts from the bowels of the vol-
cano.   Tiie rain  that falls, the wind that blows, the freezing
of water, and a thousand such  familiar occurrences, must pre-
sent to his mind a perpetual mystery.
   Such is the value of this  science.   But, apart  from its utility
chemistry opens a field of  investigation,  in which  the mind is
delignted  with the discovery of new  and striking truths.  And
this is a pure,  elevated,  and enduring  pleasure, a pleasure
known to every student of  nature, and which has  this advan-
tage over most others;  that it is exhauslless, terminating only
with the discovery of  all truth;  that it  is purely intellectual,
and consequently can  never  pall;  that it  is wholly  without
alloy, since it carries with it the approbation of the conscience.
Such was  the emotion of Sir Isaac Newton,  on  approaching
one of the most important of his discoveries, that it is said, he
was compelled to give up the  calculation in which he was en-
gaged to be completed  by a friend.   And Archimedes is said to
have been so transported by the discovery of the means of de-
termining specific gravity.that he ran from the  bath, in which he
happened to be at the  time, proclaiming it through the streets
of Syracuse.
   If a traveller  should propose to lead you to a new country,
whose scenery had  no likeness in any thing  with which you
were acquainted, whose animals were of new species, and of
greatvalue,whichabounded in beautiful and precious gems,and
whose surface smiled with  rare, and useful plants  and flowers
need I  say that you would be impatient to  visit it?  And. if it
were ad led, that its position was remote,  and that the road to
it was steep, and difficult of ascent, would this daunt your mas- 
15
ly spirits which say, that "the joys of conquest are the joy9 of
a man?"
  But the Chemist proposes to open  to your view a world, upoh
the like of which the  eyes  of  the  uninitiated never  rested,
which, lying below the surface of things, yet presents laws and
transformations  having nothing more remarkable in  the de-
scriptions of fairy land.
   What, for example, is better calculated to strike us with sur-
prise, than that the sun-beam, which, to all  appearance, is one
of the most simple of  substances, and which is so  light that it
does not affect the most delicate balance, should yet be  divisi-
ble into  seven prismatic colors, and that besides these,  which
occasion light, it contains other colorless rays which produce
heat, others again which separate oxygen from its  compounds.
and yet others, which render iron magnetic;  or that, from the
combination of these seven colors, red, orange, yellow,  green,
blue, indigo and violet, white should result, which is generally
esteemed no color?  Or that this simple sun-beam, variously re-
flected, should give rise to all the hues which  we meet  with in
creation; as  well  that  of the  verdant mead, as that  which
adorns the pigeon's neck, and that which delights us in the azure
Vault, or the rain-bow, and even that which we admire in the
blooming cheek  of beauty?
   But this is not more remarkable than the fact, that a number
of zinc and copperplates, alternately arranged, in the form of a
Galvanic Battery, should be capable of exciting a degree of
heat sufficient to burn gold, and to melt platinum,  which resists
the heat of the strongest furnace, as wax melts before the fire.
   The  student  of this science meets,  perhaps,  with nothing
more admirable, than that phenomena so varied and so  numer-
ous,should  result from the operation ofa few simple laws; and
that from elements so limited  in number, there  should arise
such endless variety in (he modifications of matter.  The com-
bination of oxygen* with a combustible, is the source of more
than half the changes going on in the world around us.  It is
this operation which we witness in the combustion of our wood
and candles.  It is this which we observe in the rusting of met-
als, in the formation of nearly all the acids, in the conversion of
many solids into gases, and in the respiration  of animals.  U _»
the same which  we see in the wonderful phenomena < f the com-
pound blow-pipe,  where the union of hydrogen  and  oxygen is at-
tended with the most intense  heat, and where the result of
the combustion is water.   It is also the same  principle  in
^Deration in the brilliant experiments with the Deflagrator, it* 
16
which metals and charcoal are consumed with  an intensity of
light, scarcely surpassed by that of the mid-day  sun.  And yet
what processes are more unlike each other than  the  rusting of
metals, the burning of wood or candles, the production of acids,
and our own respiration?
   The fruitfulness of nature in producing variety out of a few
elements is exemplified by carbon, in its various forms and com-
binations. This substance composes, in a good degiee, the fuel
which we consume, whether in the form of wood or coal, the food
upon which we subsist, the clothing which we wear, and the
materials for artificial light.  It constitutes, chiefly, the feath-
ers of birds, the hair of quadrupeds, the scales of fish and rep-
tiles, and the fat of all animals.  In  combination with oxygen,
it enters largely  into the composition of our limestone  rocks,
is  the sparkling ingredient  of soda-water, beer, cider,  and
champaign wine, abounds in  many mineral  springs, and  is
found in nearly all our spring  and well water, for without  it,
even  this "pure antediluvian  beverage,'1  would be  compara-
tively vapid.   With oxygen, it forms an aerial acid.  W ith hy-
drogen, an inflammable gas.   In one form it appears as char-
coal, in another as the brilliant diamond, and in a  third,as plum-
bago or black lead.   Vegetables mainly subsist  upon it;  and,
in  combination with oxygen, hydrogen and azote, it is the lar-
gest ingredient in the composition of our own bodies.   In the
shape of a gas,  it is escaping  continually from  the lungs of
animals, and from  decomposing  vegetable and  animal mat-
ter.   It is computed that  11 ounces  troy, are disengaged from
the blood every  24 hours;  which amounts to more than twice
the weight of a  living man in the course of a year.  In one
shape it is one of the most friendly agents which man has un-
der his control, contributing  liberally  to his enjoyment,  and
even sustaining his life.  In another, it is the reverse.   Its ac-
tion upon the lungs in the form of an  oxide or acid, is eminently
poisonous, producing death in a  few moments, as happens  to
animals  exposed to the Grotto Del Cani, near Naples, and  as
has befallen many an unwary laborer, from descending into old
wells. A substance thus deleterious and so extensively gene-
rated, would become, in a short time, a source of much  incon-
venience, and even lead  to the extinction of animal  beings
were not ample provision made in nature for its removal.  But
here, as in all other cases,  we  witness that perfect system  of
checks and balances, by which all things are kept  within their
proper sphere, and harmony  and order are  made to  result.
Water has a strong affinity for it, and its base is  the  food of 
17
plants,  and hence  it js no sooner disengaged, than our seas,
lakes and running streams are greedy  to  devour it, and my-
riads of vegetable mouths receive it as their fit aliment.
   In this manner, the vegetable kingdom, aided  by collections
of water, performs the office of a great depurator of the at-
mosphere, which is  becoming constantly defiled by the  con-
tact of  animals.  Thus, by a wonderful agency, we see poisons
converted into healthy food; and that out of a single element,
variously modified and combined, are formed  the clothes which
adorn our persons, the fires which warm us in v> inter, the light
which cheers the gloom of our long  nights, and  much of the
aliment by which we are sustained.
   We see, moreover, in these changes, an  admirable provision
made for the growth, decay, and re-production of animals and
vegetables.   The carbon which had become offensive to ani-
mals is expelled in respiration, enters into the composition of
plants  and contributes to  their growth, and comes in  circling
years again to be the food of animals. So too, when animals die,
and are resolved into their primary elements—when, in other
language, dust returns to dust, these elements, mingling with the
soil, or  floating in the atmosphere, are again imbibed by plants
and made subservient to their wants: The  two kingdoms seem-
ing  thus engaged  in the practice of mutual reprisals; or, in
another view of the subject, to constitute a circle of harmoni-
ous changes.  In view of this  simple  and beautiful round of
,action,  well may the student of nature exclaim with the poet,
          " Look round the world! behold the chain of love
          Combining all below, and all above.
          See plastic nature working to this end;
          Atoms to atoms—clods to crystals tend.
          See dying vegetables life sustain;
          See life dissolving, vegetate again.—
          All served, all serving, nothing stands alone,
          The chain holds on, and where it ends unknown."
   Chemistry has, what  are  termed, its miracles and paradoxes.
Gases become solids by uniting;  and liquids, in a  particular
state, and under particular circumstances,  are made to boil, by
the application of ice to the vessels containing them.
   Again, if four parts  of sulphuric acid are added to one of
ice, a liquid  results having a temperature as high as that of
boiling  water; but  if the proportions  are reversed, and  four
parts of ice are added to one of acid, they produce a mixture in-
tensely  cold.  In the first instance, the heat taken from the acid
to dissolve the ice is much  more than compensated by the con-
traction which takes place in the resulting liquid; but in the
                             o 
18
second the quantity of ice being so great, makes in melting, a
draught upon the  caloric of the acid, which there is not a re-
duction in the bulk of the liquid sufficient to compensate.
  It is well calculated to excite our astonishment, that many of
the bodies around  us  which appear so inert, should consist of
ingredients of such wonderful  activity.   It has  been already
mentioned  that our lime-stone  rocks are composed in part of
carbonic acid, which when taken  into the lungs is a deadly
poison.   Plaster of Paris, which has also lime for its basis, con-
tains as another ingredient sulphuric, which is known to  oe a
corrosive acid.
  Fluor or Derbyshire Spar, known as the material out of which
vases and mantle ornaments are fabricated, in addition to lime,
consists of fluoric  acid;  which  is so corrosive, that its vapours
produce serious consequences when inhaled, and a few drops
of it applied to the skin of an animal have been known to de-
stroy it.
  The bones which have been whitening in the sun and  rain
for half a century, and which seem as inert as clay or stone, yet
contain a virulent acid, which again is composed of oxygen and
a substance so inflammable, that it wastes away by slow com-
bustion in the atmosphere,  and takes fire at a heat but little
above that of the animal body.   And what seems yet  more re-
markable, prussic acid abounds in the kernels  of many fruits,
and is even formed during the decomposition of blood; and it
might therefore be said that our bodies contain the elements of
an acid, a few drops  of which  would prove fatal  to our lives.
We are thus  led to remark,  that  we have been all  our lives
walking in the midstofthe mostexplosive gases,themostnoxious
vapors and  the most  corrosive  acids, the existence of which.
tied down and controlled as they are by powerful affinities, we
had never suspected.
  Properties occasionally the most unexpected and surprising.
result from the combination of  the most  simple substances;  as
where nitrogen and hydrogen  themselves perfectly inodorous.
uniting produce ammonia, a pungent gas which  constitutes the
odorous principle of the smelling salt,hartshorn &c.  And carbo-
nate of ammonia, itself a solid,  results from the combination of
two permanent gases.  While fluoric acid, a liquid, and  sileXj,
a substance so  hard as to scratch glass, and which forms the
foundation of the everlasting hills, on being united are convert-
ed into a gas.
  In one case, we have the rarest of substances, hydrogen be-
ing nearly fifteen times lighter than the atmosphere, forming
a solid; while in the  other we are presented with the fact of a 
19
ilufd, and an earth, but little inferior to the diamond in  hard*
hess, taking to themselves wings as it  were, and  dwelling  in
the form of perpetual vapor.
  Such wonder-exciting results spring,  not only from theunioa
of different substances, but are presented by the same subtances
united in different proportions. It is not only true  that oxygen
in union with carbon, is a very different substance from oxygen
united to  nitrogen or hydrogen;  but that  one  proportion  of
oxygen united to  one of these substances, is  a  very different
compound from two  of oxygen to one of them.  If we  take
one measure of alcohol and  dilute it with one of water, the
properties of the alcohol though  diminished are not subvert-
ed.  And if another measure of water be added, the alcohol
is still  farther diluted,  but  its properties remain unchanged.
Not so  where the action is  more decidedly chemical.   One
proportion of chlorine united to one of  mercury, produces cal-
omel, a mild medicine; but too proportions of chlorine to one
of mercury, give a very different substance, corrosive sublimate,
which, as its name implies,  is a poison.  Oxygen  and carbon
united in one proportion,  give rise to  a  gas, carbonic oxide,
which is lighter  than the atmosphere,  inflammable, and  when
inhaled, poisonous.  In a different proportion the quantity of
oxygen being doubled, another gas results having all the prop-
erties of an  acid, and which has already been mentioned as an
agent at once of wide diffusion and controlling energy.  While
in a third, the oxygen being intermediate in quantity between
that of the other two, they give origin to a fixed vegetable acid,
which is as unfriendly to  the stomach as  are  the  gases to the
lungs.
  But perhaps a more striking example is afforded by the com-
binations of oxygen and azote. In this case,six substances differ-
ing from each other widely in character, result from the combi-
nation  of the self-same elements  in different proportions.   In
the proportion of four volumes of nitrogen to one of oxygen
they produce  the atmospheric air.  In  that of one of each
they give rise to nitrous oxide, or the exhilirating  gas; in that
of two of oxygen to one of nitrogen, the  nitric oxide, a gas so
hostile to life  that warm-blooded animals immersed in it are
killed almost  instantly; in  that of three of oxygen to one  of
nitrogen, to an acid called hyponitious; in that of  four of oxy-
gen to one of nitrogen, to  nitrous acid;  and in that of five of
oxygen to one of nitrogen,  the nitric  acid, or  aqua fortis  of
commerce.  Into all  these compounds the  same elements enter;
■tnd they are the same which, since the hoar  of oar birth, ws, 
m
 nave been receiving into our lungs.   Chemists have said that
 nitric acid is occasionally formed  in  the  atmosphere (from its
 oxygen and  nitrogen) by electrical agency, and that it is de-
 tected in rain-water after a thunder storm.
   Can any thing be conceived more truly wonderful, than that
 while one volume of oxygen and four of nitrogen produce  the
 bland, invisible, impalpable  atmosphere  in which plants  and
 animals live, and without which there could be neither light
 nor animal or vegetable existence, Jive volumes of oxygen  and
 one of nitrogen constitute an agent which dissolves metals, sets
 charcoal on fire, and corrodes and destroys the animal fibre al-
 most as soon as applied to it?  And must not that be esteemed
 a fascinating study in which truths so remarkable, and in such
 endless variety are presented  to the mind?
   Chemistry moreover,  rests upon a mathematical basis.   Its
 truths are the result of observation, and are palpable and indubi-
 table.  The mind reposes upon them with the assured confidence
 of demonstration.   It has placed the fact beyond question, that
 bodies, in most cases,  unite in  definite proportions—a sublime
 truth, which, as has been well  remarked, "deserves to be  in-
 scribed on the same tablet with the laws of gravitation and pro-
jection;"  and the chemist is now able to rectify or confirm the
 result of his analysis by an  arithmetical calculation.  Even
 more.   His knowledge of this law has enabled him in some ca-
 ses to precede experiment, and like Columbus in his discovery
 of America, to  perceive the existence of compounds before
 analysis had brought them to light.
   Of no science is the remark of Aristotle more true, that" ex-
perience is the basis, of knowledge.''''   The exhausting, unprofita-
 ble labors of the alchemists for century after century, prove how
 unavailing is conjecture in a science where " the way to truth lies
 only through the safe places of observation."  Experiment tests
 the  truth of every thing in  chemistry; and  its responses  can
 neither be rejected nor gainsaid.  When  it has been shown, for
 example, that tabh salt according to the ancient definition of the
 term, is no salt, but chlorine, united to a metal; and that the base
 of potash is likewise a metal, as bright as quicksilver, and light-
 er than water, which burns brilliantly on ice, however para-
 doxical, we are obliged to assent to its truth.
  It would seem well then, that the students of a  profession,
 where there prevails so much uncertainty as it must be admitted
 still hangs over medicine, should be familiar  with some ground
 over which they may move with a firm step. Having long doubt-
 ed on the subject of the circulation  of the blood, and" waded 
21
through  the interminable controversy concerning the  conta-
giousness of yellow fever, cholera and typhus; and debated the
whole ground of the treatment of fever, with the doctrines of
Armstrong, Broussais,&c.; and followed Hahnemann through his
learned but  startling homeopathy, in which he teaches that cal-
omel and blue pill, instead of being given as we give them in
the south, by the  drachm, are to be administered in doses of a
millionth, or a decillionth part of a grain; having, I repeat, thus
long wandered and doubted, it  may  prove salutary to bring
the mind back again  to  matters of demonstration.  He was
an experienced and not an injudicious  teacher in our  profes-
sion, who required of his pupils as a  part of their course, the
study of Euclid's  Elements.  Chemistry may  be made to the
student of medicine, a sort of mathematical palaestra for  the
discipline of his mind.
   In what study indeed, can the  student of medicine so well
engage, when  not employed upon the  immediate subjects of
his profession.  Medicine  we have seen  leans upon it as an
important pillar.  But this apart, would  any of you engage in
party politics?  A thousand presses, and ten thousand tongues
are already busily plying this task.  Like one of our  swollen
streams, they are sweeping over the surface of our whole coun-
try, and bearing every thing upon their turbid, tumultuous, it
might be added, polluting wave.  From a scene so full of angry
and perturbing strife, all experience warns the lovers of sci-
ence, and of philosophical repose, to keep aloof.
   Do poetry and eloquence allure  you?  These truly are
highly tempting paths; and there is an eloquence which every
one may well cultivate; the eloquence of the  fire-side, of the
social circle, the fascinating eloquence  of our  countryman
 Franklin.
   But poetry wanders far from the path of the physician.   -
 True Darwin was a poet and a physician, and excelled in both
 arts. '  And Akenside  wrote on health, as well as on the 'plea-
 sures of the imagination.'   But it is nevertheless true,  that the
 physician has but little time to  bestow  upon the Muses, and
 the poet generally has little taste for the sober walks of philo-
 sophy.                                         .
    Would you embark on the ocean of  metaphysics?  Every
 physician should be acquainted with the philosophy of the hu-
 man  mind.  Mens sana  in corpora sano  can  scarcely be pre
 served or restored without it.  But if you will cast  your eyes
 over the history of literature, you will find little to entice you
 to the extensive prosecution of this  study, unless, indeed, yon
                              ¥) 
'2'i
proti..v
and disquietude.  You will see that the fame of the first meta-
physicians of their age  is beginning to wane; that the stars
of Malbranche and Kant, of Locke and Descartes,  and even
of Stewart, and Reid, and Brown,  notwithstanding their lives
of laborious study, are beginning to recede from their place ot
pride.   Need any of us hope  for a kinder fate?  Will anyone
of the present day bring to the task, more genius,  or greater
eloquence, or profounder learning, or a purer love of truth.
  Chemistry and its sister sciences, Mineralogy, Geology, Zo-
ology aud Botany, are peculiarly congenial to your professional
pursuits.  Most other studies  require  solitude and seclusion;
these may be  pursued, and some  of them are pursued to the
best,advantage, in the open fields.  And the  physician, as he
finds his way  through the country to the  dwellings of his pa-
tients, may enjoy a perpetual feast in the ever-varying scene
before him.   Every day  presents him with some  new object,
some novel form of vegetable life, or some new feature  in the
mineral kingdom.  Whether able or not to find  "books in the
running brooks, sermons  in stones, and good in every thing,"
brooks and trees and stones must often be his sole companions.
Then "felix qui potuit rcrum cognoscere causas;" happy is he who
may discern the nature of the things before him!   To the un-
initiated every thing is as a  sealed book.  The stones hold  no
converse with him;  the brooks are silent.  He has no  names
for the myriads of animal beings presented to his eye, and the
countless multitude of plants involve him in a perplexing  la-
byrinth.
  We live in a practical world, and in a highly practical age.
The greatest happiness principle is the all-engrossing one, with
.rubers, people and philosophers.  He who would enjoy consid-
eration while lie lives, or exist in the memory of future ages,
must study to promote "the greatest possible happiness, of the
greatest number, for the  greatest length of time."   A reputa-
tion  based on any thing less than this, will in the very nature of
things be short-lived.
  The science which  we are  recommending, and which it has
become our duty to teach, will make you utilitarians in the true
sense of the word.  Along this road, some of  the  first minds
that adorn the annals of history have travelled to fame and im-
mortality.  Who, in fact of modern men have been of most  re-
pute?   Who have filled the largest space in the  worlds eve? 
23
We speak not of poets, for it is in our nature to prefer pleasure
to instruction, amusement to business; nor of statesmen, for
they control the affairs which come home at once to the bosoms
of men;  nor of warriors, for  like the comet, "shaking  from
its horrid hair, pestilence and war," they are sure to attract the
gaze of the multitude, whose lives and rights they trample on;
but of men who have traversed the orbit in which you expect
to move, who have pursued science as their calling.   Have any
risen higher than our own Franklin, or Watt, or Count Bum-
ford,  or  Sir Humphry Davy, or  Newton,  or  Boyle, of whom
we speak as of a higher order of  beings?   The name of  Watt
will float on the breath of fame while  the "unconquered  arm"
of steam continues to widen its dominions, or history to record
the achievements of genius.   Count  Rumford's was a life de-
voted steadily to the advancement of science, and  the promo-
tion of human happiness.  His discoveries in chemistry placed
him in the rank of the first philosophers of his  day.  But he
deemed it an object not less worthy of his labors, to  improve
the construction of fire-places, to  ascertain the comparative
wbolesomeness and value of different articles of food, and to
compound soups, and devise  means for  feeding the poor, than
to investigate the laws of caloric.  i\nd it is his glory, that he
wiped away the reproach of beggary from Munich, the  town
in which he lived, greatly improved the condition of the  indi-
gent, won the entire confidence and  favor of his enlightened
sovereign, and obtained a rank among the benefactors of the
human race.
   Our countryman Franklin is another bright example of the
advantages of a life spent in the cultivation of a practical'philo-
sophy.   He labored to discover truth, and  to apply it  to  some
useful end.  Like Count Rumford he applied his faculties  to
the improvement of our fire-places; and no sooner  had he es-
tablished the identity of electricity and lightening, and observ-
ed that they were alike attracted by points, than he set  about
devising means  for protecting our habitations  against its de-
 structive force. ,  He  was a  contributor alike  to  chemistry,
 natural  philosophy and the science of government.   And next
 to that of  Washington, of all our patriots and philosophers, his
 is the most honored name.
   Sir Humphrey Davy possessed a mind of the boldest and
 most original  character; a quickness almost of intuition  to
 discern the laws of nature, and patience and acuteness to test
 by experiment the accuracy of his  theories.  No one of the
 present age contributed so much to the improvement of cheim 
24
ical science, or gave so many proofs of the  application of that
science to the practical concerns of life.   And as evidence of
the high estimation in which he was held in the great metropo-
lis where he lived and labored, it may be  mentioned that  he
was unanimously elected President of the  Royal bociety, suc-
ceeding to Sir Joseph Banks, and to the chair which had once
been occupied by Sir Isaac Newton.
  Let one  example farther,  drawn from the records of En-
glish biography, show how much richer in  benefits is the culti-
vation of physical than metaphysical science.
  Two greater philosophers than  Locke  and Newton never
adorned the history of any country, or of  any age.   It was a
remark of Aristotle that "there was a foolish corner even  in
the wise  man's brain;" and yet, if there ever appeared on earth
a man possessed of reason in its highest perfection it was the
author of the Essay on the Human Understanding.   He  ab-
jured the quiescent feelings only so far as was  necessary  to
give  him firmness of purpose, boldness of design, and energy
of execution.   He had no feeling or passion in excess.  In  his
most animated controversies, where he was sometimes harshly
assailed,  he maintained a calm, equable,  philosophic temper.
During his unjust banishment, he was busy in composing works
for the benefit of hiscountry.  His was a  long life, sedulously
devoted to science, and to the interests of  his fellow-men.
  Newton, though like Locke, an eminent philosopher,  was
not without his weak points of  character.   The current story
of his lap dog and papers is a fiction.   That catastrophe is said
to have made an impression upon his  feelings from which he
never entirely recovered; and  it is certain, that although he
lived forty-five years afterwards, he added nothing  during  all
that time to his former brilliant discoveries.  In his correspon-
dence we hear him indulging in unjust complaints of his  best
friends, and see the display of a  groundless jealousy, which
warrants the suspicion  that his great mind was  obscured by a
partial insanity during the evening of his life.
   Such were the men living.   Locke's writings conferred upon
him universal popularity whilst he lived,  and in his death, he
was abundantly honored.   His Essay on  the Human Under-
standing was regarded as the most original and profound work
of its day, and  superseded all others on that subject.
   But we have said that his reputation is already on the wane.
His great work carries in it the  seeds of  a fatal disease.   Its
subject is a science, which, from the very nature of it. must re- 
25
main liable to frequent changes, and which affords, therefore.
no basis for a lasting reputation.
  How fares it with the author of the Principia? He toiled in
a field whose products are  as useful as they are brilliant and
sublime.   His  discoveries  were  alike unquestionable,  as to
their truth, and unequivocal in  value.   His  fame,  like  the
house of the wise man in the parable, is based on a rock, and
the tide of time which bears down  every thing but truth,  has
beaten upon it  in vain, and the discoveries of  subsequent phi-
losophers have  served only to strengthen it.
  In a word, nothing which is not useful deserves the attention
of a wise man.  Let this be the motto of every student of  me-
dicine.   There is  much  for us to do worthy of our  highest,
most persevering efforts, much required by our duty to ourselves,
our country, our God.  The shortness of human life affords no
time for trifling.  The faculties of the  most  vigorous grow
weary with incessant toil,  in spite of their ambition,  and  the
time  of the most industrious must often be engrossed by unim-
portant cares.  How necessary then, that we should direct,
while able, all our energies to objects which are worthy of us,
knowing that perplexing and distracting cares  must come, and
that the night  of languor,  of weariness and disease, as well as
of the grave, hasteneth on, in which we can do no work!
   Finally, you have seen that Chemistry, along with the other
branches of  Natural  History,  having been neglected in the
west, you will  have the gratification of laboring in a  field pos-
sessing all the  charms of novelty—that a feast will be supplied
 continually to the mind by the presentation of new  and strik-
 ing phenomena in nature,  evidencing every where consummate
 wisdom and skill in the  Architect—that the study will give
 strength and accuracy to the powers  of your  minds—that as a
 branch of science, it has close and important connexions zrith med-
 icine • and  finally, that by the  arduous pursuit of it, you may
 attain to eminence as scholars and philosophers.
   The prospect before you is inviting, and you are allowed to
 indulge exhilarating hopes.  There are many medals  in the
 Natural History of the West which the industrious of you will
 receive • contributions to be made to the stock  of science which
 will place the aspiring of  you on the same catalogue with Lin-
 naeus, Hauy, Priestley, Lavoisier and Davy.
   And let me say to you,  that that individual who shall write
 the Natural History  of the western country, present the local-
 ity of its minerals, describe its geology, the character of its an-
 imal and vegetable productions, analize its mineral waters and 
/
                           26

describe its diseases, with the causes which give rise to, and
the method of preventing and curing them, if he may not be
promised  the  boon of immortality, will, yet, both add to the
glory of his country, derive a rich present reward of fame and
money,  and be ranked  by posterity among the effective contri-
butors to science. 
 
 
 
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