Page:The Harveian oration, 1893.djvu/34

 of Lamarck and Erasmus Darwin entitle them to be regarded as the forerunners of Erasmus Darwin’s illustrious grandson. Cuvier was perfectly right in his controversy with Geoffroy St. Hilaire; the weight of evidence was undoubtedly on his side. Up to 1859 impartial and competent men were bound to disbelieve in Evolution; after that date, or at least so soon as the facts and arguments of Darwin and Wallace had been published, they were equally bound to believe in it. He discovers who proves; and by this test Harvey is the sole and absolute discoverer of the movements of the heart and of the blood.

(b) Concerning the methods used by Harvey, they were various, and his discovery, like most great advances in knowledge, was not achieved by one of the happy accidents which figure in