Page:The Harveian Oration1876.djvu/11

 that no one can truly be entitled discreet or well-informed who does not, of his own experience, from repeated memory, frequent perception by sense, and diligent observation, know that a thing is so in fact.” And in another place he says, “Nature is herself to be addressed; the paths she shows us are to be boldly trodden; for thus, and while we consult our proper senses, from inferior advancing to superior levels, shall we penetrate at length into the heart of her mystery.”

It may be said that a mind of this kind, the main character of which is a habit of diligent observation of Nature, presents nothing unusual, that all men have it more or less, and that we cannot make this habit or power a means of classification, or partition out an order of minds by what is a common possession of all minds. My contention is, however, that some minds possess this power and intentness of observation in quite an extraordinary degree, so that it really does separate them from other men. A parallel case may be found in music.