Page:The Harveian oration - delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, London, on October 18, 1884 (IA b21778929).pdf/34

 from the same eternal and omnipotent Deity, on whose nod the universe itself depends;" yet shows his freedom from theologic dogma, and his wide range of thought in adding, "Nor do we think that we are greatly to dispute about the name by which this first agent is to be called or worshipped; whether it be God, Nature, or the soul of the universe- whatever the name employed-all still intend by it, that which is the beginning and the end of all things; which exists from eternity and is almighty; which is author or Creator, and, by means of changing generations, the preserver and perpetuator of the fleeting things of mortal life; which is omnipresent, not less in the single and several operations of natural things than in the infinite universe." 25

We are reminded by this passage of the well-known dialogue, in which Faust, replying to Margaret's examination of his creed, says-

"Call it whate'er thou wilt-heart, love, or God, Or happiness I cannot give it name.'

And the fair Margaret makes answer-

"All that is very good and true; Nearly the same the Priest says too, Only in somewhat other words than you."

But Harvey recurs to the same theme, and after saying that "the most perfect man, whose highest excellence is that he knows himself;" adds, "we ourselves, as is seeming in these days (hold) as the Almighty first cause of all things . . . . the Creator and Father of all that is in heaven and earth, on whom animals depend for their being, and at whose will and pleasure all things are and were engendered." "

"It is true," said he, in conversation with Dr. Ent, "the examination of the bodies of animals has always been my delight; and I have thought that thence we might not only

25 On Generation, p. 370. 26 Ibid. p. 402.