Page:The Harveian oration - delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, London, on October 18, 1884 (IA b21778929).pdf/17

 worker, wherever he may be, so long as his labour is honest, and is his best; but we have only scant words to express the regard in which we hold the man whose discerning thought and practised skill has lifted all work- men higher; opened to them new ranges for their toil; given them new methods to follow, and left behind him footprints in which some of them may tread, as he goes before them, and passes out of sight.

The peoples in this world have been always fighting, from the days of Cain and Abel until now; but yet there is a book, written not so very long ago, with the title of "The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," and perhaps time is yet too young for any one to say that a sixteenth has been fought. But, in the great conflicts of schools of science, of thought, and of discovery with regard to human life, can we put our finger upon even so many as "fifteen" who have made such marks in history that their works have followed them "decisive battles " gained? If there be, let us gladly thank all the great heroes who led these fights; but, if we look among them, there is no one, whom the gathered-up roll of leaders in the world of thought can show, who stands on a higher plane than does our own immortal Harvey. as

b. If we would appreciate the value of his work, we must read the writings and become familiar with the beliefs current at his time. We may find their echoes in his replies to his opponents, and see quite plainly that the notions he had to contend with were not even " guesses at truth," but often merely pompous assertions of meaningless nothings-" traditions vainly received,"-but yet held with the cramp-like grasp of drowning men who clutch at straws, and yet uttered with the confidence of those, who might be supposed, from the loudness of their cry, to be standing firmly and steadily on solid ground.

Those who held them were quite incapable of perceiving