Page:The Harveian oration 1898.djvu/22

 I turn now to hold up in honour some others of our distinguished Fellows who by their attainments and splendid personal characters have conferred undying benefits upon our College, and through it upon the Profession of Physic.

We are perhaps too much disposed to commemorate the scientific achievements of our great men, but let us not be unmindful of their characters. We know that genius is not always coincident with the highest moral or spiritual perfection, but when both these qualities are graciously combined in anyone, we feel that we are in the presence of a truly great man, of one who becomes a personage, and a power for good in his day and generation. In such a Profession as ours we can never afford to lose sight of the preponderating influence of character in all who join our ranks, and have to minister to every grade of our common humanity.

The training which enabled Harvey to be the man we know him to have been, the scholarly, wise, even-minded, and unworldly man, was that which best begets men of his mould.

No mere technical or narrow training could by itself have produced him. His mind was expanded by wide reading, by travel, by knowledge of men and manners, by contact with the best spirits of his age, and by honest service to both rich and poor. His