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

 that they were empty dogmata, without one particle of substance in their constitution, or one square inch of fact upon which to plant themselves. They seem so nonsensical now, that it is almost impossible for us to imagine Harvey caring to reply to them. But, in his day, they were very real, very vexatious, and very hard to bear. To us, they are less than distorted dwarfs, but to him, they were giants whom he had to fight, and with whom he did wrestle hard. As in the glory of an acknowledged triumph, and in the brilliancy of its reward, we may lose sight of the hard fighting, the heavy blows, the waiting, the misrepresentation by enemies, and the desertion by his friends, through which the Hero passed, as he fought and won; and, as he himself-when he can say with thankfulness and truth "I have fought a good fight " may forget, amidst the acclaim of acknowledged victory, the horrors of the battle-field-although the fighting had been very real, and the blows were very hard ;-so, Harvey, in the Iull of opposition seems to have been sometimes at rest, and in full enjoyment of the results of his fierce struggle; but while his own conception of the truth was developing day by day and month by month, he struggled hard with the prejudices, the open attacks of jealous competitors, and the scandal of men, too dull to originate, too small to think, too dishonest to appreciate, and too weak to yield. When his great discovery saw the day, his soul rejoiced that a new Truth was born, and, it may be, that he forgot the travail of its birth. But, for all that, the pain had been very real, and it must have needed all his confidence, all his perseverance, all his energy, and all his patience to have borne the trial without once wincing at the pain.

Having said these few things with regard to the preparation made for Harvey by those who had preceded him; and having glanced at the conditions surrounding his active life;