Page:The Harveian oration 1896.djvu/7

 THE HARVEIAN ORATION

ON THE RELATION OF HARVEY TO HIS PREDECESSORS AND ESPECIALLY TO GALEN

Mr. President, Fellows, and Guests,

Before entering on the immediate subject of this oration, I am reminded that the President who entrusted me with this honourable duty is no longer among us. It was Sir Russell Reynolds who, with all fyis graceful courtesy, offered me the post of Harveian orator, and it was to him that I looked forward to submitting the result of my endeavour to prove worthy of his choice; but it was not to be. As this is not the first public occasion on which the College has met since we lost our late President, this is not the opportunity to commemorate formally or at any length his great public services. In Sir Russell Reynolds we knew one who, by hereditary disposition and by his own personal qualities, was, as a cultivated and scientific physician, a representative Fellow of our College. During his tenure of office he was the loyal and kindly friend of all of us, and among the distinguished Presidents of the College of Physicians his name will not be forgotten. And to you, Sir, who occupy the chair of Reynolds, I will only venture in your presence to say that you occupy the same place in our loyalty and affection ; and that I, in this position, hold myself fortunate that I have to submit my attempt towards the commemoration of Harvey to no less kind and competent a judge.

The task of composing the Harveian Oration, founded 240 years ago, becomes every year more difficult.