Excerpt from Introductory Lecture to the Course of Chemistry: Delivered in Jefferson Medical College, November 3, 1841

The domain of human knowledge is so vast, that no intellect, however gigantic, can explore all its departments, much less embrace its details. The great Bacon may lay down the rules for the right use of reason in interrogating nature; the vast mind of Newton may scan the heavens, and bring all the celestial phenom ena under one law, forming a sublime example of generalization; yet neither of them could' possibly have become acquainted with all the branches of knowledge; for the life of man is too short. Hence the necessity of classification, which, while it aids the conception of the whole, allows many labourers in the field, each intent upon his own department, and furnishes the means of forming a stock of knowledge, constantly increasing from generation to generation.

All the objects of human inquiry may be referred to the two heads of mind and matter. Those which relate to mind form psychology or metaphysics; while those which relate to matter are referred to the department of physics. The phenomena of vitality form, as it were, a middle region between mind and matter, referred to the operation of an immaterial principle by some; and by others to matter manifesting peculiar properties as the result of organization. Considered as an immaterial principle, life must not be confounded with mind; for no rational person can fail to perceive the unity ofthe phenomena of vitality, whether manifested by the simplest vegetable that grows, or by the most highly organ ized animal. If, on the other hand, vitality be held to be the result of organization solely, all its phenomena should be susceptible of[4.

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