Page:The Harveian oration ; delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, June 26th, 1879 (IA b24976465).pdf/44

 like its corporeal possessor, hope to grasp the whole within itself.

Now, having satisfied our moral sense as to the duty of pursuing these objects, we may fairly ask as a scientific section of society, are we arrogating too much to ourselves in placing these discoveries so high, and regarding it as our chief ambition to be instrumental in augmenting their number? For we must know well that many persons whose line of life does not lie in our direction do not hesitate to declare that higher aims are to be found in philosophy and art than can possibly be met with in science. I, for one, however, would strictly maintain the right of scientific investiga- tors to the very highest consideration, aiming, as they do, at some of the most glorious objects which man can place before him, and assert, moreover, that the view of our opponents is a puerile one. In taking natural science as our domain we include in it man himself, who not only inhabits the globe, but, as we say, forms a part of it, and it of him. We too frequently hear man spoken of as if he could have a separate existence from the world on which he lives, whereas he is a part of it, and has grown out of it.