Page:The Harveian oration - delivered at the Royal College of Physicians June 24, 1882 - by George Johnson (IA b21517046).pdf/12

8 the Academy his learned volume, wherein that which heretofore had been only more or less a belief as to Cesalpino's discovery, has become, by means of new arguments, a scientific demonstration.' Professor Ceradini's volume therefore is a work of authority and influence-at any rate among his fellow-countrymen--and as such I have deemed it worthy of a careful study and analysis, with results which I will presently endeavour to set before you. A critical examination of this imposing volume is rendered more necessary by the fact that Cesalpino's published writings being very scarce, and to be found only in large libraries, Dr. Ceradini's version of their physiological teaching will be accepted as trust-worthy by all who have not both the opportunity and the inclination to compare his statements with the original treatises.

In the preface to his book Dr. Ceradini suggests, with an evident feeling of satisfaction, that the determination of the Royal Medical Academy of Rome to place within the walls of the University an engraved tablet declaring Cesalpino to be the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, may have been influenced by the