Page:The Harveian oration - delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, October 18th, 1899 (IA b24975941).pdf/22

 One can well credit what is recorded of Newton, that when the goal of his great discovery was in sight his mind was so moved that his calculations had to be finished by a friend.

In like manner, the modern investigator, who by infinite pains turns a disease from a word into a fact; and who by careful isolation, cultivation, and inoculation, draws back the veil of mystery, and points the way towards the prevention and cure of a pestilence; surely experiences an unsullied joy such as the victorious general, the idolised pluto- crat, the lucky gambler, and the adroitest of Par- liamentary hands have no knowledge of.

The soul is invulnerable. The well-stored mind soars above the whips and scorns of time. When, after a period of civil strife unequalled in the history of this country, Ent sought out IIarvey in 1650, and asked if all were well with him?" "How can it be?" was Harvey's reply, " when the Commonwealth is full of distractions, and I myself am still in the open sea." "And truly," he con- tinued, "did I not find a solace in my studies and a balm for my spirit in the memory of my observa- tions of former years, I should feel very little desire for longer life. But so it has been, that this life of obscurity, this vacation from public business which causes tedium and disgust to so many, has proved a sovereign remedy to me." Here we have from Harvey's own lips precious testimony to the content