Page:The Harveian oration 1866.djvu/11

 to some of the paths that, being tried in former times, have led to Nature's secrets, and can speak of the men who trod them. Their deeds are eloquent, however feeble my words may be. And it seems not unsuitable to associate such men with the Benefactors of our College. We may justly reckon among our Benefactors all those who have extended the boundaries of medical knowledge; for, in so doing, they have enlarged our powers of helping our fellow-men, and have enabled us to fulfil more nearly the end of our Collegiate existence.

But there is one inherent difficulty under which a speaker labours in any attempt to interest such an audience as that which I have now the honour of addressing. It is, that he can tell them nothing new—nothing which they have not long known, and known perhaps far better than he has. His best efforts can achieve no more than reviving in their minds some of their own past thoughts and feelings. Yet this attempt, humble though it be, may not be altogether unsuitable in this great metropolis, where, amid the hurry and pressure of every-day life, the morrow is ever seeming so much more important than yesterday.