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This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce docitmant est film4 au taux de reduction indiqui ci-dassous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X / _ 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X Th« copy filmad hare has b««n reproducad thanks to tha ganarosity of: McLennan Library McGill University Montreal Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha bast quality possibia considaring tha condition and lagibiiity of tha originai copy and ih Icaaping with tha filming contract spacificationa. Original copias in printad papar eovars ara fiimad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illustratad imprea- sion, or tha bacic covar whan appropriata. All othar originai copias ara fiimad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or illustratad Impraa- sion, and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illustratad imprassion. Tha last racordad frama on aach mlcroflcha shall contain tha symbol —^>( moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol y (moaning "END"), whichavar appliaa. L'axamplaira film* fut raproduit grica k la gAn^rositi da: McLennan Library McGill University Montreal Laa imagaa suhrantas ont 4t* reproduitaa avac la plua grand soin, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattat* da l'axamplaira film*, at an conformity avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. Laa axamplairaa orlginaux dont la couvartura •n paplar ast ImprimAa sont filmAs an commandant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant soit par la darnMra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraasion ou d 'illustration, soit par la sacond plat, salon la caa. Tous laa autraa axamplairaa originaux sont fllmte an commandant par la pramlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraasion ou d'illustration at an tarminant par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Un daa symbolaa suivants apparattra sur la darnijira imaga da chaqua microficha, salon la caa: la symbols ^(^signifia "A SUIVRE", la symbols y signifia "FIN". IVIaps. platas, charts, ate, may ba fiimad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thoaa too larga to ba antiraly Includad in ona axpoaura ara fiimad baginning in tha uppar iaft hand corner, laft to right and top to bo'ttom, aa many framas aa raquirad. The following diagrams illuatrata tha mathod: Laa cartaa, pianchaa, tablaaux, ate, pauvant Atra filmte A das taux da rMuction diffArants. Lorsqua la documant aat trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un saul clichA, 11 ast fiimA A partir dn I'angla supAriaur gaucha, da gaucha A droita, at da haut an baa, wn pranant la nombra d'Imagas nteassaira. Las diagrammas suivants illustrani la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 BBfeCMBan INTRODUOTORY LECTURE BT ran EON. JOHN ROLPE DKLIVlitlEli BKVOBB THK Ikttltj a!iJ> f lijrettts of Pefckte, <^\ OF THE UNlVIESiTY OF VICTORIA 1, TORONm SKSSION, 1H60-61. R1NTB# AT THB "GtrARDIAN" 8TBAM PRS8S, K2ira AMD OODBT vrBniTii. 1861. i WiiiTiiiiiii'NriaB iQi ■iSgKiJ Sis- 1 8 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE BY THE HON. JOHN ROLPH, DELIVERED BEFORE THE Jfacults anb ^hxumh of Pebitiiw, OP THE I'KIVERSITY OF VICTORIA COLLEGE, TORONTO. m SKSSION, 1860-61. %axa\\ta: PRINTED AT THE "GUARDIAN" STEAM PRESS, KINO AND COURT STREETS, 1861. Hon. ] Depa tion mem poin1 the S It refer kind that and W you Stud spar Ti the To LEcTtRii ROOM, Medical Department, Victoria CotLEctB, October 23rd, 1860. Hon. John Rolph, Dear Sir,— At a meeting of the Students, in the Medical Department of Victoria College, held with a view to the publica- tion of your admirable Introductory Lecture, delived at the com- mencement of its present Session,— we, the undersigned, were ap- pointed a Committee to tender to you the unanimous request of the Students, that your consent may be given to its publication. It would afford pleasure to all of us to be able in after years, to refer to that which would so forcibly serve to remind us of our kind and zealous tutor, recalling to our recollection, as it would, that character in which we all have known him,— a man of science, and a christian gei:tleman. We feel deeply sensible of the long tried and untired zeal, that you have manifested in imparting knowledge to the Medical Student ; and woxild express a sincere hope that your life may bo spared to grace the chair which you now occupy. Trusting that no objections may exist that will interfere with the gratifacation of our wishes, "We are, esteemed Sir, Your obedient servants, ■ 1\ J. Sutherland, Edward Allwoeth, Committee : T. Crocker, L. Brock, William Wade. UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA COLLEGE, Medical Department, Toronto, To the Medical Classy Gentlemen,— I am gratified with the too favourable manner in 'which, the Introductory Lecture has been regarded. It was deliv- ered before the Class in return for their kind and rcfipectful consideration through many years; and though it can only bo regarded as a re-publication ; yet I most cheerfully comply with their wishes, by again pl-esenting it in the form of a lasting ex- pression of my solicitude for their present improvement as pupils, and for their future success and prosperity, as Medical Practitioners. I am, Gentlemen, Your faithful Friend and Teacher, To John Rolph. Thomas S. Sutherland, Esq., Edward Allwokth, Esq., T Cuooker, Esq., L. Brock, Esq., WiLLLiAM Wade, Esq. iBpCCtflll only bo ■)ly with ting ex- 3 pupils, itioners. [.PH. INTBODUCTORY LECTURE. It i, alike my duty a«d inclination on «"« ^^f "' '» address you rs a medieal class; v,ith a viev,, mdeed to your medical improvement, bu. more especially, in aRcncral way to clieer you, under your many solicitudes, with a glance at the rrm^bdongin^l your high purposes, and to the to.lsome fields of knowledge you have to explore and cultivate. There is something serious and even solemn in the com- mencement of a Session. We are about to «t"dy,the mo exquisite work of creation, the Uman Jor these Y state, 1 witli fe may for u ■emain by the ion of truth. that a higher order of beings, n^an himself, af*3r the lapse of the appointed time, should be awakened from his tomb, renewed in his nature. •!••<• Another remarkable circumstance, distinguishing living trom dead matter, is the power it possesses of resisting, to a certain extent, the changes of external temperature. Immer.sed, as most animals are, in a medium colder than themselves, it is obvious thai they would, by the laws which regulate the radia- tion of coloric, be soon reduced to a corresponding temperature. The fact that they sustain a degree of heat beyond the element in which they live, proves that a provision has been made for sustaining the internal temperature of animated nature. And this provision is so made with respect to the animal and vege- table kin-doms, as to be conservative amidst antagonistic cir- cumstances, and thus meet the general range of contingencies incident to living beings. It has been remarked that the roots of wheat, having shot into ice, thawed it. Perhaps the heat m the operation of malting, is generated by the powerful germi- nation going on. You may observe, too, the more speedy meltin- of snow, when in contact with the leaves or stems of plants,"than when lodged upon inanimate substances, provided the frost has been sufficiently permanent to cool those substan- ces thorou-hly. John Hunter appears to have detected this heat by a thermometer applied in frosty weather to the internal par' of vegetables newly opened. The most remarkable account of the production of heat in plants is that given by Lameriok, of the arum maculatum, (the white veined variety), the flower of which at a certain period of its growth, he asserts to be for a few hours " so hot as to seem burning." An eminent bota- nist of Geneva, upon an examination, discovered that the heat be-an when the sheath commenced to open and the cylindrical body within was just peeping forth ; and that it was pei^cptible from about three or four o'clock in the afternoon till eleven or A 1 i 10 twelve at night. Its greatest degree was 7° of Reaumur's scale above the heat of the air, which at the time of the observation was about 14° or 15° of that thermometer. You will observe^ then, that it is one of the essential proper- ties of the vital principle, to preserve all animated nature from the ruin of chemical decomposition, while it at the same time sustains the very temperature most conducive to that change. It cannot be misplaced, for me to ask, how any man with a sound condition of intellect, can ascribe the acquisition of this peculiar endowment of living matter, to habit or to chance. It is easily conceivable, that matter should become accommodated to the same standard of heat as is found in the surrounding medium. It is the very rule of equalization observed to exist between inanimate substances; but how could chance produce the exception to that rule ? It is not an acquiescence with the known tendency of things ; in which case such bodies would proceed to putrify, if they retained their temperature, or in our winter weather to freeze as they gradu- ally lost it ; but it is on opposition to such tendencies, a resist- ance of the very condition to which living bodies continually tend. Hence a philosopher once called life ix forced state. We cannot here fail to recognize the superaddition of properties designed for the preservation of all animated nature by Him who created it. There is another striking fact of an opposite character. All living beings, including vegetables, besides the above power of preserving their temperature in a cold medium, are also enabled to preserve it in a medium of otherwise most destructive heat. It is a strange chance, which could so kindly and singularly provide for, and bestow upon, all sentient nature lor its welfare, the power of withstanding two opposite and conflicting extremes ; extremes, too, which unceasingly tend, with all the force of the law9 of chemical affinities, to involve such bodies in destruction. ur's scale servation il proper- ure from line time cliange. lan with juisition )it or to become i in the alization )ut how is not an n which led their f gradu- a resist- tinually ate. Wo ■operties by Hiiu ;er. All )ower of enabled ve heat, igularly welfare, treuies ; ;e of the ruction. u Fillet aid Duhamel, long since gave an account of son:« young persons, who were in the habit of going into the heated ovens' in order to prepare them for the reception of their loaves. The temperature to which they were exposed appears to have been in some cases as high as 278°, being considerably above the boiling point ; and it is said they were able to mdure it for twelve minutes without material inconvenience, provided they were careful to awid the surface of the oven. This account was discredited till it received confirmation from the experiments of Fordyce and Blogden upon themselves.- Although this extraordinary capacity to iadure a transition into so high an artificial temperature, may be partially accounted for, upon the increased evaporation from the cuta- neous and pulmonary surfaces, yet it seems to afford alone an insufficient explanation. There must be connected with the livino- system some functional process of refrigeration, not at prese^nt understood. Man, and many other animals, are subject to great transitions ; and it is to meet the exigencies from such changes, that the system is endowed with power, on the one hand'of evolving more or less heat according to the demand, and on the other hand, of inducing the opposite condition of cold, perhaps by rendering the superabundant heat in some way latent on the emergency. Upon whatever principle this accommodation to opposite extremes may be explained, it cer- tainly indicates a nice adjustment of the vital operations by the Creator to the wants of the animal economy, and to its varying and even opposite necessities. Perhaps I have dwelt too long on this point; but I canno'j forbear to draw your attention to the uniformity with which the production of temperature is carried on, and the merciful limits within which the range of its variation is conEned. Although millions in one region and another, are preserved m comfort by the fidelity of the supply, yet how seldom do you i-2 see in the wliole world, an example of death from the mere want of generated heat, or from its consumin- excess. Some- times, indeed, we see an undue quantity, when it forms one of the most prominent symptoms in some fevers and from which the najne fever is derived in all languages. But the highest degree to which the heat rises in fever is 110° or 112° ; and this excess is generally within the control of the m- dica'l art. This is not, however, nature's appointed limit in some rare cases, when human folly has provoked her fire and outraged her economy. In such cases, morbid heat has been carried'" to combustion. Narratives of such events not unfrequently occur in the annals of medicine ; and Plonquet enumerates twenty- eight of them in his Literatura Medica. In all such instances these victims have induced their own awful fate by loni? con- tinued habitual excess. The habitual use of ardent "spirits (called by the late Sir Ashley Cooper, evil spirits) in any sen- sible quantity, impairs in a greater or less degree the energy of life, the conservative principle of the frame ; but it is'only from these transcendent excesses that the kindliest laws of the animal economy become so woefully excited and deranged, that the very process ordained for the due preservation of animal heat, involves the whole body in self conflagration. Had chance or Atheists created man, our bodies would be burnt as often as our houses. The power of assimilation is another peculiar attribute of life. Inanimate substances increase by accretion. We see this illustrated in various ways ; in the process of chrystallization m the incrustation of bodies, and in the formation of pctrefac- tions. But in living beings, it is the laying hold of some pabu- lum and converting it into new material. It is an animal chemistry, but it transcends the laboratory of a Croft, a Watts, or a Sangster. It is always associated with life and never exists without it. 1:5 the mere IS. Some- 'iiis one of om which le highest 12° ; and ■ dieal art. some rare outraged carried to ntly occur 3s twenty- instances long cou- nt spirits I any sen- energy of it is only ws of the iged, that )f animal n. Had burnt as iteoflife. see this llization, pctrefac- me pahu- i animal a Watts, id never The aliment, no matter whether animal, vegetable, or mixed, is converted into matter of the same chemical character. The flesh and bones, for instance, of an ox, subsisting on pure veo-etable food, and of a hog, subsisting on mixed food, though difiFering in some of their sensible qualities, are identical, con- sidered as chemical compounds. This transformation of the aliment into the elements of a living body, is one of the greatest wonders in the economy. It equally exists in the vegetable and in the animal king- dom. A plant, it is true, is unfurnished with a stomach to digest, or auxilliary organs to prepare the elements for new formed blood ; but the whole process with them, though similar and dependent upon a less complicated apparatus, is equally efficacious in effecting assimilation. The sap vessels by their cellular extremities absorb the nutritious fluids afforded by the soil. In their passage through the root a change ttikes place ; for there is evidently a great difference in many cases, between the fluids of the root, (at least the secreted ones), and those of the rest of the plant ; and this justifies the presumption that some considerable alteration is wrought in the sap in its course through that important organ, which obviously serves a higher office than merely sustaining a fixed position. From the roots it passes through the stem or trunk by a continuation of the same vessels, and is conveyed into the flowers and the fruit ; but by far the greater part of the sap is carried into the leaves, a part, the importance of which Mr. Knight has most satisfactorily shown. In these organs the sap is exposed in its transit through the expanded leaves, to the action of light, air and njoisture, three most powerful agents. During this venti- lation much superfluous matter passes off, and the fluid becomes more fully and completely elaborated. It is then returned by another set of vessels into the new layer of bark, which they nourish and bring to perfection, and which is enabled in its 14 ;- to secte matter f„.„ „e.U,. of a,ben.„. .he o„.„i„, things arises a„,l „.„ 7 "' "'*" " »<'«' orJer of -t '.ote.-o^oneou/eti:;':^ 7,:::rv*'^"'' '^« fully displayed in tl,e ohe,mcal li'Lf "■*"""' ^° '^^<''- and transform the noisomene s oft 11 °^'"^™'"° ■"""''^■ ranco of the violet, and the Zr^L , f ""'"" """ ''"^ f'^' th^. I believe, aris. fron. thT . itlt n"? •' 'T '"^- ^" strueture. Destroy the vital'v InT 11 ° '" """ "'^'"•'"^ with it, and the very li.^ht a„d " "" '™'""^ P""* subsidiary to the livi^ „ ' ""d '"o.sture, which aro cuaneipald from i s ItroT'T' r' "'""'""•^ *-"'' -'- into arfdity and l^ ' ''"'™ ""^ '^™»P'"« l''»t^ ai^^":sS[::x:^i:;r^"r--^ of organisation does not se'n t^ llai tV"'" ''"'P"""^ formation. Thus the root of ,!,„ '^ '" P"""" "'' '""-^ -af^tida, but the flow sel ! '""""'' "'"''"' ^"-"« «''« «tem eludes the bland w 1 Z ^^ "^^''"'''''^ "''™'-- ^ho which it contains arlufaL :•"""" ""''"' •»" "-^ J-<=- materials from the eartland 1 '""' ^'""'^ ^'^^ "'«^ into the various const „e1 T' ""' -"^'--^Phoso them Even the earth and 1,": tl" ''™'™''! '^'^ «»" ^ «>em. originally formed out ^^^ tlrbTt"' ^''^^^' '" '° organs. Sehrader has made son, C'n L tT '"" *'" on this subject. He sowed ., ?^^ "'""^''""S <'==P«n"'™ts . 'Pecios of el, spriuHedTem'U;" S, /^ " T^"' vented dust or other foreign body fromt^liirt:™, Z 15 le ensuing 5noniy, it ing tubes ' ligneous order of riiey can "enf, the power- ' matter, he frag- Jj. All ^ganised s perish ich are , when : plants 3 much iplicity ' trans- Is like The juices their them them, to bo f the lents veral pre- In this coniition they had access to no other pabulum than the sulphur, the distilled water, the air and light, with other impon- derable elements. And these species of corn had the same constituents, the same kinds of earth and metal, viz., iron and manganesCf as are found in the culm and ears of those, which luxuriate upon their natural food. Abernethy obtained by his experiments, vegetables f hich had manufactured their constit- uents out of water and air. You may regard, therefore, the vegetable kingdom as the appointed agents for conducting the primary vitalizing process for bringing inorganic matter into the sphere of life, and making it amenable to the powers and tributary to the nourishment of the higher kingdom. For while plants can live upon, transform and assimilate the ruder elements of matter, animals can only live upon, transform and asriimilate what plants have thus vitalized. This affords the only true line of demarcation between the two kingdoms of living nature. In the selection of food for assimilation by animals, there is a Divine regard to the wants and immunity of man. Both in the choice of food and in its appropriation to the process of nutrition, they are rendered to us safe contributors. They either eat that which is innocuous to man, or whatever they appropri- ate to the nourishment of their body becomes so ; while the depurating organs prevent the blood from being so charged with noxious elements, as to destroy the vital balance and give the mastery over the law of wholesome nutrition. Unguarded by this instinct or subject to a law of the indiscriminate consumption of the div»^rsified food in nature's abundant larder, however deleterious it might be to man, we might often be doomed to see, as in the Western United States, the trembles in the cattle from pasturing on the Lid'uni Uacheij, and the like disease in man from eating them. It is only when we see and feel these occasional inflictions of disease, that we are led to value I IC iili! this divine arranojenient and adaptation, an Nor is this all. There arc certain refinements in disease; there are various modifications of every organic derangement, and,Uheretbre, any one remedy would be inadecinate to meet such diversities. Hence again nature is beneficent. You meet with shades of difference, for example, in every pulmonary disease ; and you meet with the needful shades of difference in the remedies. Hence you have different kinds of expectorants, of diaphoretics and of' cathartics ; and the like holds true of all our medicines. Praises are lavished upon the physician, who nicely adjusts the remedy to the state of the disease. It is well. But do not forget the adoration due to Him, who, in framing nature, has been so mindful to suit the resources of the other kingdom to our own ; to make the productions of the earth tally with the wants of man ; to establish appetences, without which medicine could be neither a science nor an art. How close is this fitting of one department of nature to another ! Of how many refined particulars it consists ! How nicely must the nerves of an organ be constructed, to answer so perfectly to many external agents, each destined to act in its own peculiar way upon it. Viewed alone, it might not, to some minds, seem matter of wonder there should be many different plants with many dif- ferent properties— Viewed alone, it might not seem matter of wonder there should be many diseases, and each disease con- sist of many varieties ; but it is truly wonderful that in another world of living things, viz: the vegetable kingdom, we should find them imbued with various properties and modes of action, and diversified action too, just adapted to another and higher world of living beings. And how adapted ? To diminish suffering ; to alleviate every variety of disease ; to allay the severit/of pain ; to minister, indeed, to the whole complicated catalo-uc of terrestial woe. It puts the shallow sceptic to the blush.'' Jt u a wonder that rushes a belief into the mind, that 2U thim r.l,..Ii wonders; wonders, which trtus challenirc our reason and awaken n,,.. „ i • .• cxstenceof'evil ..n,l 1. *i i- "^'«'"" acknowledge the there is „„t .:i„: ' , : Ti T T ""■ "'- "'■■"■'-' ii.inru f , intended or constructed for our .no be,.ov„!o„ee a.,c, .„„.:„„ .i; 1" ," ^J ;^-- oftcn .Innv their a„„lo..;e.-,l ......nen,, fi, , '" 7 '""^ justly ,„..„o ,0 the «cH.cal n,, r"l t He f " ' ""** io.«.e.p;.;^r^^^^^;:-;-2;--f'..an,...,.,a.„t,.e „,,''.'; '""■ "^ ^'■'''"^""■"" '' •''•'J''»>^'J "'"ugh,«,t an,a,atceeu ordaincu n(loi>, wliich ition ; ;vliich [ratitiule. inultlfiirious with Divine owled^'o the unilant and ) enumerate the remark, vhole range ^ith human ire and the iticnco of a wo see that ndred and roduction) ' evil came aled; but of remov- ig of any- i for our intended ) earth is tted, not ^ of erea- 1 Divines sion, and ade such iiade the nimated 21 You find the two sexes, cither existing together In the same, or separately in different plants. The anther, have been .,roved bv many experiments to be necessary to the fecunda- Uon of the vegetable se. ds by the farina, which they disperse, and which adheres to the moist stigma on the summit ot tho style or pericarp. The an.atorial relation between these stig- mas and the anthers on the summit of the stamens has attracted the notice of all botanists. In many flowers the anthers, or males, bend into contact with the stigma or female. In the kalmia the two stamens lie round the pistil, like the radii ol u wheel, and each anther is concealed in a niche of the coval, to protect it from injury. These anthers rise sepevately from their niches, and approach the stigma of the pistil for a time, and then recede to their former situaticms. In the fritillana persica. the six stamens are of eciual lengths and the anthers lie at a distance from the pistil ; of these, three alternate ones approach first and surround the female, and when these de- cline, the other three approach ; and in Parnassia, the males alternately approach and recede from the female. And lastly in the most beautiful flowers of coctus grandiflorus and ot cistus labdaniferus, when the males are very numerous, some of them are always bent into contact with the female, and as some recede others advance. In other flowers this course is reversed, and the females bend into contact with the males. The female of the epilobium augustifblium, or willow herb, bends down amongst the males for several days, and becomes upright when impregnated. In the spartium sespanum, cora- mon\room, the males or stamens are in two sets, one set rising a quarter of an inch above the other. The upper set does not arrive at maturity ?o soon as the lower ; and the stigma, or head of the female, is produced among the upper or immature set; but as soon as the pistil grows tall enough to burst open the keel leaf, or head of the flower, it bends itself round in an !i: 22 contact first with ono of f Kn. ^ "y^^^'a^e bends herself into and »ppiie. cr^r rt a:rorT 'r^ ""^ mtured so soon a. the former '*"'' ""^ "<" burl n dS tt'; "" "" ™''^'™"^ '"'-■ *'><' -«- even.or„„e.r::e:^.t:r;ir;ti:-^^-- »ncl were this the propel ZTf "'"' "'«'="''''^'' ' -inutety, still cio.ri / i!::™'"°" ">: fj-*--- approach the eonSnes of theCo So!:. ^""''' °"*' ^ '» -oh r:„t' rfXt '^'^ T"""^ °' p'™'" ""' -->»>«. a uuiij 01 plan, such analogy of means nmi^.f a- of stn,et«re, .„eh muUifariou. «: trivan eT ™M ™ " ' introduced into the Templo If T """\,T " '""P*'"' -^ai». .....a Snpre^tir'^rrerL : *="" '» 1- ohvions th'an in the .X'^^jS""-'' '"^^ ^ ---»»» Gah.Ieo, when a n,arbliged to I with so ry where fanciful omewhat his poor but glorious bed, and holding it up, declared, that it contained in itself the proof of a Divine Creator. And I should cntcr» tain but slender respect for your pretensions to collegiate honors in your profession from the Universities of your country, if you could devour your eggs at breakfast without a passing admira- tion of the shell. But as the embryo animal is thus safely incrusted, so you see the kernel of fruit alike secured in its shell, and grain care- fully encased in its husk. There is seen not 7nereJy contriv- ance for the developement of the vegetable embryo; you also see care bestowed to promote and insure its further consumma- tion. I never see the connnon sunflower, with its bosom crowded, as it were, with its maturing offspring, and this off- spring, by the revolution of the parent from east to west, con- stantly exposed to the genial rays of the sun througli its diur- nal course, without irresistibly thinking of the patient incuba.- tion of the bird, the defence of its young by the meekest ani- mals, and the enraptured care and affection you have received from your mother. Some might lightly call it mere instinct in plants and ani- mals. Never be led away from the truth by a name. Rather ask in reply, who implanted that instinct ? Who made it thus harmonize with the wants of living nature ? Who established this overpowering relation between the imploring accents of the young, and the responsive tenderness of the mother ? Things could be thus wisely and harmoniously ordered, only by the Eternal Parent of all. Grant that it is instinct— but had not the God of Nature added instinct to reason, the human race might long since have become extinct. The pains, the penalties, the toils, the cares, the anxieties of a mother, are never adequately repaid by her offspring. Nothing, indeed, can in this world repay what she undergoes for her children and bestows upon item, and '4 24 Wsted reason would sink under the tri.l or shrink from tho hlf; f "'" l'".,?"!"'^''"" B«»g i"f"»ed into the mother's heart, the ,rre«st,ble .nstinet of the lioness, which prompts the savage ammal to die in defence of its offsprin.. In the .ava^ bea.t the instinctive feeling ^loon ceaaes, and reason be.ng absent, all syn.pathy between pa«,ntand pr^-^env cease,, also. Not so with woman. The primary i Jin^ "^ never enurcy obhterated, but, cherished Lngh life by the nobler g,ft of rea«u,, it .naintains its sway even "stronger than witl Zr? T,' •'■" ■'"" "'■'""""^ "^"^ «■- «»■"!»'' The ?rr ^ ^ '" ""^ ""'^ """""S ^"J '"-^Pi^tion of the liiimortal being, ^ Our own imn.ortal poet Can.pbell has thus most beautifully J)ersonified maternal love of offspring : ^ " Lo! at the coucli, where infant beauty sleeps Her .silent watch, tlie immortal mother keS - And weave's a song of melancholy jovl^ ' ^leep image of thy father, sleep my boy : ^li.il 8ootJi the aching heart for all thafs oast— And chase tho world's ungenerous scoi^i away," It might be said there is too much of selfishness in tliese nttur"'! 't T\ •''" r'"' '^"^ *'^^ ^^'^ ^^- *° human nature Le the stoic exult in his cold eritism. Perhaps even, he would feel the reflections, which t^ 3 same Poet cause to «ough.. mind of the mothe. When ga.ingo:;:^ "l^HV'n?J jyhen summoned from the world and thee w- • l^^ ''^ h<^'neath the willow tree, M lit thou, sweet mourner ! at my stone appear the t^^ar of memory o'er my narrow bed • Jireathe a deep «igli to winds that murm'ur low And tliink on all my love and all mv C" 'Ih ink from the the mother's prompts the 1 ceases, and and progeny r instinct is I life by the ;rongor than his comport Inspiration of beautifully )S5 St— iss in these to human rhaps even, causes to tig on the hee, There's a train of thought worthy of an immortal '„ ing. It is in itself indicative of immortality. But what is the inference from all this. Ths.t from the shell and husk in the vegetable kingdom, through all the grada- tions and diversities of contrivance in this world of wonders, up to the sentiments implanted in man, there are manifest indications of care for the embryo — for the young — for the most precarious and dependent states in animated nature. How truly a divine philosoplier, enraptured by his survey of crea- tion, exclaimed, '' thy tender mercies are over all thy works." Every living thing further possesses the power of repairing the injuries and disorders incident to it. It is evident that the incessant friction and play of the joints would as soon wear out these parts as the shoes you walk upon, were there not a constant supply and active transformation of the blood, that renovates them. And were it not for the i-ame repairing process, the superficial parts of the body would be exposed to rapid destruction from attrition, as is by Paley familiarly illustrated by the shortness of time in which skin in the form of a glove, is worn out ; whereas the natural integuments of the hands are so constituted and renewed as to last for life. You see the same vital energy displayed in combating and subduing diseases, and in the healing of wounds. It would profit a larger portion of the world did they understand, and properly appreciate, the importance of preserving in freshness the powers of life, by shunning whatever will impair them. For instance, these restorative powers are most seriously injured by the constant use of ardent spirits and the use of ^obacco, and are almost annihilated by continued excess. It 18 not, therefore, strange, that the sober often survive the con- test with disease, while the drunkard sinks under it. The body, thus disarmed of its natural defence, falls an easier victiat to the incursion and mortality of disease. B ] , I- This truth is daily exemplified. A friend from an accident receives a slight wound upon the leg. It is neatly bound up by some kind matron of known rural skill with some innocuous application. In a short time the parts unite, leaving only an obscure mark or scar, to show thereafter, what healing nature once did for him. Another of intemperate habits receives a similar wound and treatment. If you examine it many days afterAvards, you see the parts still unrepaired, but bearing evident marks of the fruitless efforts of nature to do it. The necessary action has, indeed, been set up, but his own folly has doomed it to take place in a part rendered either unable to reach the healing standard or unable to sustain it. The sur- rounding parts, too, sharing the debility and depravity of the general habit of the body, are unable to withstand the exten- sioa of the inflammation • and you, therefore, see a diffusive redness spreading more or less from the seat of injury, while the wound itself becomes illconditioned and even offensive in its discharges. In fact the natural action set up to restore, is a greater labor, as it were, than the weakened parts can endure. It is a well directed effort, not to be the less valued, because it cannot succeed against such unnatural disadran- tages. The kindest laws and vital processes are thus made, not only unavailing by this voluntary impairment of the system, but even productive of additional evil from the contiguous parts being unable to sustain the remedial process. In aggravated conditions the affection sometimes spreads over a limb and the general system becomes deranged. The limb may, and occa- sionally does become so diseased, as to be worthy of amputa- tion, but the surgeon pauses. If the system has been reduced to such a state, that it cannot heal the wound, what must be his expectations under such a wound as amputation inflicts? Such a man does not so much prove the futility of the healing process and of the healing ait, as the degree it is in his powe'r J 27 in accident ' bound up innocuous g only an ing nature receives a many days it bearing 3 it. The n folly has unable to The sur- ety of the the exten- a diffusive ury, while ffensive in to restore,, parts can iss valued, disadran- made, not le system, nous parts ggravated >b and the and oeca- f ainputa- n reduced t must be I inflicts? 16 healing his power to preserve or destroy their practical sufficiency or insufficiency in his own case by his own temperance or excess. But restore the debilitated powers of life, and the healing process will go on successfully, or only need a little assistance very intelligibly asked for in the medical language of nature culled symptoms. The laws of life, when directed to restoration, are in many instances singularly adapted to the exigencies of the case. Matter collected in an abscess will work its way by gradual ulceration tlirough considerable thickness of parts, in order to find an outlet consistent with the existence of the suflferer, when a membrane not thicker than a piece of thin paper inter- poses between it and an internal cavity, by discharging into which with such manifest facility, the patient would presently expire. This selective or determinative, perhaps, instinctive process of life, might be illustrated by a number of curious facts, and it <3an be satisfactorily accounted for in no other way, than ' regarding it as a law impressed upon life by the author of it. Plants, from their endowment with life, possess the like powers of restoratioti. If we bring together the lips of an incised wound in a tree, they unite just as would a similar wound of an animal. This strictly vital process constitutes what is called ingrafting. A slip is taken and pared at the end into a triangular shape ; this is inserted into an excavation uiade in another branch to receive it, so that the cortical edge of each may be in exact apposition. They are in this way bound together in surgical style, and they may be truly said to unite by the first intention. Upon precisely the same prin- « -^d^^-i- ..^tata, the I mus Cedrus, and the different .pecie, of Paim The Adansonm probably lives the lon-est of aU Tl^ . computed to even several thon.and vea^' ' '' "° "S*^ " ^- ^^anch .as .aJnrn"ro,d':rar:rf.":tt young ,tem that had centuries to live ThU V 1 ♦-^^ I • , , • '-xptctea 10 share the onL'evitv of thp ee whteh had thus adopted it. When taken fr 7.1 e 1 on^nattvo growth neither the eye nor the n^ierosc^p^^ ol ^-u..e.i.a„dsust-::::;;Zi=e::^ But the decree of death eannot be thus evaded. Every .ndvtdual plant as well as anin.al, has a definite period of ...tence allotted to it ; though s„n,e reeent botanist h^ e„ied ". The graft n but the extension of the parent tree ad 5^ jJ?, die. The Some species svolutioD, and neral insects, and months, onths. Bien- twenty-lour ■ years, but iba and trees ears. With t age. The md stems of trees, which ; Adansonia es of Paim. IS its age is ttinction of 3 a flourish- fted into a h. selected ithful and ity of the 01 the site ?ope could f then, its rent, and 1 renewed Every period of as denied ree. and carries its destiny with it^ Hcuce when the hour uf death arrives, with the cxpiratton of the natural terin> the whole dies^ whether the parts are connected together or scattered everywhere over the ^^Tjrld. The same no doubt holds true of all animals that can be propagated by subdivision or by lateral generation* Thus the lateral propagation of the polypus found in the ditches of England in July, but more particularly that of hydra stentoria> is strikingly analogous to this multiplication of a single plant into many. The h^dra i^teutoria> according to the account of 3Ionsieur Trembly, multiplies itself by splitting lengthwise, and in twenty-four hours these divisions, which adhere to a common pedicle, resplit and form li)ur distinct animals. These fi)ur in an e^jual time spilt again, and thus double their number daily> till they acquire a figure somewhat resembling a nosegay. The young animals afterwards separate from the parent, attach thenjselves to aquatic plants, and give rise to new colonies. Blumenbach, in his work on generation, mentions a curious fact concerning the fresh water jwiypus. He cut in half two of them> which were of different colours, and applying the upj)er part of one to the lower part of the other by means of a glass tube, and retaining them thus for some time in contact with each other, the two divided extremities united and became one animah This is ingrafting one animal on another. Here wc again see plants and animals in their vital properties approxi- mating each other. Wherever there is active life there is sleep. The state of excitement, of motion, of action, by which all living things subsist, cannot be continued without a daily si'spension of some hours. We scj this in all animals. All living nature sleeps. The perfect author of it is alone inexhaustible. A'egc- tablcs sleep. Some close together the upper surfaces of their leaves, both during their repose and durini? rainv weather, as B-1 30 the sensitive plant, the kidncy-bcan, and the terminal shoots (tf alsine or chick-weed. 3Iany others close their petals and calyzcs, as the convolvolus, and some, like the owl, in bri?;ht daylight, as tragapogon. At the approach of night you may pee a whole field of daisies closing their petals for repose, till the return of another day. It is in part by the alternate vital contractions and dilatations of the vessels that tlicy propel the juices circulating through them. It is by a series of vital actions that the plant grows, the foliage is expanded, the buda are put forth and matured into flowers and into fruit. It \» for the reparation of the expenditure incurred in these elabo- rate processes, that we find plants, like animals, adjusting them- Bclves to rest and invigorated by it. Vegetable irritability is seen in feonie flowers in a high degree; fts in the Barbery, the stamens of which will bend and fold over the pistii, if the latter is pricked. There is a plant, the leaves of which move without any assignable cause ; it grows only on the banks of the Ganges. It has three leaflets on each footstalk, all of which are in constant motion. The fly catcher, as it is commonly called, grows in the marshes of South Caro- lina. Its irritability is so great, that an insect which settles on it, is generally crushed to death by the collapsing of its leaves, which are armed with bristles to pierce the prey. Plants, too> seem capable of contracting habits. Thus the sensitive plant; if conveyed in a carriage, closes its leaves as soon as it is in motion. After some time it becomes accus- tomed to it, the contraction ceases and the leaves expand ; but if the carriage stops for any length of time and recommences its motion, "the sensitive traveller again folds its leaves till reconciled to its new situation. There is, perhaps, no vital phenomena in the animal, which is not found in the vegetable world. It is the spiritual part of man, which alone raises him above the very ^Isn^^ be feeds upon- 51 tt wouM liencc avpear that these phmts have not oftly mU§« 5les about the moving footHtalks or claws of the leaves and petals, but that they must be endowed with nervew of motio«» and some would say of sensation. When one paft of the leaf of mimosa is touched, the whole leaf falls. There must be, then, a common point, which some venture to a call a sensorium or braisi, whore the nerves! communicate belonging to this one leaf-bud. If you slit a leaf'bud with a pair of scissors, some seconds elapse before it seems sensible of the injury, and then the whole collapses as tar as the principal stem. If you put a drop of sulphuric acid on the bud in the bosom of the leaf, you find that after about half a nnnute, when the nervous centre may be supposed to be destroyed, the whole leaf falls and rises no more. Facts of this nature have by some been considered as afford* ing evidence of a sensorium or brain, and consequently of sen- sation and volition. Even Bishop Watson, I think, is pleased with the idea of all living nature being endowed with conscious- ness and sensibility, however low in detirec. With these vieWtJ it would be no poeuo fiction to say that the fields smile and the verdant hills rejoice. Bear these points in mind when you study the nervous system of man, and you will, I think, recog- nize a close analogy to the reflex action of Marshal Hall. Vegetable physiology has vastly contributed to our know- ledge of animal functions. Upon this subject we are much indebted to M. Schwann, who, not many years ago, wrote a treatise to demonstrate the intimate relation in which the two kingdoms of organic nature stand to each other, by showing the identity of the laws oF development ( f the elementary paits of plants and animals. The main result of the inquiry was, that the law of development of the elementary parts of j 11 organism is the same, just as all chrystals, however diflPerent in their forme,'are developed in accordance with the same laws. 32 And UH cell, cun.titutuc the clen.cnls out of which the vegeta- ble structures are worked, and by which, an subsequently proved, their nutrition, secretion, and other vital function, are carried on ; so by extending the inciuiry it was found, that the like cells in animals sin.ilarly elaborate their various tissues und aeeomplish the living chemistry going on withm thcnu What is true of inHnitessimal animalcules, is true ul tl»o infinitessimal cells ; and, iadced, of the infinitessimal vital granules out of which the cells themselves are wondertuUy formed. An.ong the Infasoria, Cuvier names the homogenia, describing them as without viscera or other complication and frequently destitute of even the appearance of a mouth. Oren- burg it is true, has objected that they have a mouth, and the greater part of them a digestive cavity complicated with many cecal pouches or stomachs ; and he has accordingly proposed to name the order polygastrica. Bat, it is said, that the appear^ ance from which the existence of stomachs has been deduced, arises from the globular particles floating and seen in their transparent bodies; that when touched with liquor poas^sj« they swell and burst, discharging their globules, which had been really floating in the interior ; and that the latter touched ,vith the same liquor, also swell and burst, and discharge the granules they contain. The.e seeming stomachs would, there- Lc, appear to be cells, through which is efiected the needlYil assimilation, and which act like those of chyle and blood in the bic^her animals. Hence the homogenia present the lowest specimens of animal existence in the form of a cell, maintaining its cell life, its nutrition and multiplication. Upon the corresponding confines of the vegetable k;ng. dom, we meet with cell life and existence ia the .ame simplicity and the same integrity. The red snow o the northern regions, derives its colour fron. the protococus nivalis. Every crimson vesicle is an ludopcndcnt plant, 83 1 endowed with the power of maintaining its own existence, performing its vital functions and propagating its own kind. Sometimes we see cells i>regnant with grannies to bo developed into a ])rogeny' of new cells ; at other times elongating and dividing as if propagating by slips. These wondcful developments and properties of microscopic beings in botii kingdoms, bearing such close aftinities, and stampt with the impress of the same Crea- tor, bring us to the confines of the inorganic world. And even there, under the gift of chemical, in the place of the vital affinities, we are wonder-struck w'Mi the beauteous forms and faithful chrystallizations presented by the ' toms obedient to their law divine. When we thus trace this construction, the care and the properties bestowed alike upon the microscopic world and upon all we call great in the highest productions of creative Wisdom, in the earth or in the universe, we cannot fail to recognize the truth, that, with respect to the Supreme Being, the terms little and great can have no meaning, no relative bearing. Life, by its unity, and the comprehensiveness of its operations, bespeaks its origin. The same principle Avhich vivifies the humblest germ in the vegetable cata- logue, gives vitality to man. It is found alike in the minutest animalcula and in the mammoth animals, and in man. In the seed and in the giant of the forest. It is conversant with all that is great nnd with all that is little, throughout all the departments of animated nature. Hence we see the utmost simplicity in the agent, and the most wonderful diversity in operation and effects. You observe corresponding marks of divine agency in a kindred power in the physical world ; that equally .nystcrious agent, called gravitation. 34 Under its infliuMuro we witnoHS alike the elevation of the ocean into oscillatiup^ waves, and the fluctuation ot the least ripple upon the surface of a l.ason ot water-the eruption of a voh-ano, and the etfervescence of a mixture ~the spherical shape of the earth, and of tlie globules ot quicksiiver, scattered on a table-thc rotation of a planet, and the opening of a tctotu.n-the limitation of the cqui- torial sea, and of the pendulum of a clock-thc trend.lmgs of Mount Vesuvius, and the vibrations of the .l^.olean harp. So yoa sec upon a summer's morning, the verdure of the fields glittering with dew drops, as with oriental pearl ; and in the house of mourning you see drop after drop distilled by sorrow, rolling, globule after globule down the cheek. Hence the Foct, without indulging m mere fiction, has justly and beautifully said,— " That very law which moulds a tear And bids it trickle from its source, That law preserves the earth a sphere Aud guides the planets in their course. " Man is fearfully, wonderfully made," said a divine philosopher of old. But the hand of the same great artist is seen in the plants we cat and trample on. Like us, they resist putrefaction while they live. Like us, they maintain their temperature. Like us. they may be said to eat and drink. Like us, they have a vascular system carrying on an active circulation. Like us, they breathe. Like us, they propi.,gate. Like us, they sleep. Likens, they shed their usefulness about them. Like us, they d.e. It is the in-mortal part of man, which alone exalts hun above the tree that shades him. When we thus behold the vegetable kingdom, equally as our own, imbued with the same characteristic proper- ties of life, all contributing to the beauty of creation and iun of ion of —the ixturo lies ot* (lanct, ! C(iui- blinj^S ci'dnre riontal p after ^•lobule j'mg in divine it artist like us, IS, tlicy 1)0 said system breathe. Like ua, :hey die. alts him I niini.steriii«,' to the wants and luxuries of all sentient beini,^8 ; when we see in their system of vessels, a living laboratory, not only for their own sustenance, but to yield some incense to nature, or some grateful food for our hunger, or some kindly balm for our disease; when wo find in every leaf a respiratory apparatus, which, while it perfects the juices of the plant, serves a more elevated purpose by purifying the atmosphere by night and freshening it with vital air by day; when we behold these busy flowers, blessed with their repose by night, and awakening with expanded petals, painted with all the beauty of living colours, to the morning light; when we see them one hour assiduously engaged in their appointed work, under the stimulus of a summer's sun, and the next hour quenching their thirst by drinking in with invigorating refreshment, the balmy dew drops as they fall from heaven; we become the better able to feel, and appreciate and admire the force and beauty of tho Divine appeal to the moral evidence afforded by the vege- table world,—" Lo! the lilies of the field, how they growl they toil not, neither do they spin, yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these," equally J propor- tion and / /