Page:The Harveian oration 1911.djvu/10

 Mr. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN,—T'wo hundred and fifty-five years have elapsed since William Harvey instituted this festival, directing that a Fellow of the College shall be appointed to make an oration in commemoration of all the benefactors of the said College, “with an exhortation to all Fellows and Members of the said College to search and study out the secrets of Nature by way of experiment; and also for the honour of the pro- fession to continue in mutual love and affection among themselves, without which neither the dignity of the College can be preserved nor yet particular men receive that benefit by their admis- sion into the College which they might expect, ever remembering that ‘Concordid res parve crescunt, discordii magne dilabuntur.’” Such are the words of Harvey, and such are the precepts which this College has, to the best of its ability, endeavoured to obey for centuries.

We have had many and distinguished bene- factors, and these have been duly celebrated in the various orations, but as Harvey, by his immortal discovery, has outshone all the other luminaries, and as he was the founder of the institution, the numerous orations have been, for the most part, dedicated to the celebration and exposition of his magnificent labours and achievements. When we �