Page:The Harveian oration ; delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, June 26th, 1879 (IA b24976465).pdf/39

 their share in uniting these together, or even assisted in their production, for there is much truth in the saying of Goëthe-that discoveries are made by the age, and not by the individual. A moment's consideration shows that this must be so. It seems quite impossible for the human mind to look upon a complex piece of machinery such as we are surrounded by in the organic and inorganic world, and by any process of analysis unravel its various parts. By no such means can we arrive at knowledge, simple laws are first discovered, and these we make use of to explain the more complex phenomena, much of the material used in their solution having been prepared by comparatively unknown and obscure individuals. All our knowledge is strictly relative, and can have no other side but that perceived by the human mind. Nothing, I believe, is less true than the sentiment contained in the lines of the poet.


 * "Thy arts of building from the bee receive;
 * Learn of the mole to plough, the worm to weave;
 * Learn of the little nautilus to sail,
 * Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale."

I believe that no contemplation of the bee or its hive would have taught us its habits or shown us