Page:The Harveian oration 1905.djvu/13

 them a very wide interpretation; while in several instances particular subjects were discussed which happened to be prominent at the time, or in which the individual Orator was personally specially interested.

To-day we commemorate the "immortal Harvey" for many reasons and from different aspects. Several of the previous orations have been devoted mainly or entirely to the study of Harvey himself, or to a consideration of his work from various points of view. His physical personality has been graphically portrayed; while he has been amply discussed as regards his intellectual endowments, his upright and noble personal qualities, his relation to the times in which he lived and to the great minds with which he was brought into contact, and the influence exerted upon him by his immediate predecessors, as well as by leaders and high authorities in medicine and science, whose example and teaching had come down from more or less remote antiquity, especially Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen. All this is very attractive and interesting, but to me it appears not to be in strict accordance with Harvey's intention or desire; and therefore I do not propose to address you on these lines, though by way of introduction I think it desirable to allude briefly to his work, and