Page:The Harveian oration - delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, London, on October 18, 1884 (IA b21778929).pdf/32

 ment. It requires some force of fancy to realize what would be our position. The thermometer might teach us much; but it is difficult to sec in what way either stethoscope, cardiograph, or sphygmograph could do other than augment our bewilderment. Those who have made out for us the meaning of the cardiac sounds; those who have skilfully constructed apparatus so as to make the heart itself record, in some fashion, its own marvellous movements; and those who have delineated, in some sense, the curve and time- ordered elements of the radial pulse, would all admit that their work was based upon this foregone conclusion, the accepted fact, that the blood moved onwards in a circle. They have attained to knowledge that Harvey could not reach; but let me ask, could they have known what they now do, unless Harvey had raised the platform upon which they stood? The " thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns;" and, by slow degrees, others might have done the work, or made the discovery, that he made; but the effect of his energy was a grand upheaval of the crusted surface of the past; a Titanic throe, that brought to the birth a new and mighty force and fact; and, when some of the dust and boulders had been cleared away, placed all who followed him on a higher plane, and in a clearer light.

It is given to the few great men to save the time and labour of the many. They not only take strides that would be impossible for those of lesser build, but they carry with them-over the bridge that they have thrown across the great gulf between the question of yesterday and the answer of to-day-all those who have cyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to follow.

III. Next, let me bring before your notice some of the main features of Harvey's "character," as this displays