Page:The Harveian oration - delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, October 18th, 1899 (IA b24975941).pdf/20

 Percival Willoughby at Derby; and, during the occupation of Oxford by the King, Harvey finds time to be with Bathurst at Trinity College, and study, by the observation of eggs, the progress and way of generation. In short, Harvey's statement to Ent in 1650 that "the examination of the bodies of animals has always been my delight" is abundantly justified by the scanty facts of his personal history.

In the pursuit of natural knowledge Harvey never tired, because "the labour we delight in physics pain." He seems to have risen superior to the political violence of the time, and to have felt that the establishment of the facts of nature was of more importance than the ephemeral questions by which professional politicians seek ascendency. No man can successfully interrogate nature unless he be constitutionally honest, and it is not therefore surprising that Harvey should have earned the entire confidence of the King and Lord Arundel. It must be admitted that, considering the rancour of the times, he suffered singularly little at the hands of the Parliamentary Party. His papers appear to have been destroyed by a mob which visited Whitehall, but no harsh treatment was over meted out to Harvey by Cromwell or his subordinates. This fact is probably due, not only to the guileless simplicity of Harvey's character but to the sanity of the reformers. Cromwell could recognise a wise man when he met one, and, although he