Page:The Harveian oration, 1893.djvu/30

 I. Concerning that immortal discovery, which places him in the limited class represented by Aristotle and Archimedes, Copernicus, Newton, and Darwin, it is difficult to say anything that has not been better said already, for again and again its originality and importance, the methods by which it was attained, the steps made by others which led up to it, and the effects which followed it, have been learnedly and eloquently expounded by my distinguished predecessors.

(a) To refute, however, all cavils against the priority of Harvey, and all attempts to transfer his laurels to the head of another, it is sufficient to bear in mind the following considerations:—

1st. If Harvey’s doctrine of the circulation was not new, why was it opposed by men in the position of Riolanus and Hoffmann, and welcomed as a discovery by Bartolinus and Schlegel and