Page:The Harveian oration, 1875 (IA b22314611).pdf/44

 to search out, extract, and arrange these abstract utterances of his, in order to construct a complete system of scientific logic; just as we might, if we pleased, bring forth from one part or other of his masterpieces perfect illustrations of all the logical methods which John Stuart Mill arranges in order in his great work on logic.

That Harvey did really claim to be not a discoverer only, but also a teacher of a new logic, may be inferred from the very title of the second section of the Introduction to his work on Animal Generation:—“Of the Manner and Order of acquiring Knowledge.” Indeed he tells us in express terms that, in treating on animal generation, he is anxious not merely to set forth “ the sure and obvious truth,” but also to exhibit “ the method of investigation” which he followed, in order to “ propose to the studious” "a new” and “safer way to the attainment of. knowledge-.” And here let it be well understood, that Harvey seeks rather to revive than to overturn the method of the ancients, whose “unwearied labour and variety of experiments, and especially the industry of ancient Greece,” he warmly commends. Nor does he ignore or despise the logical teachings of Aristotle; for after giving