Page:The Harveian oration on Harvey in ancient and modern medicine (electronic resource) (IA b20420080).pdf/21

MODERN MEDICINE 9 due in part to the steps already made which helped to give him his standpoint. The hour While we give was come as well as the man. him his meed, let us not omit the honour due to his predecessors, especially Servetus and Fabricius to the one for his deduction with regard to the pulmonary circulation, to the other for his accurate observations concerning the valves of the veins.

To recognise the magnitude of Harvey's discovery we must look at it from the latest attainable point of view; test it by the know- ledge of the present day; whether it holds its ground; and what are its issues and results. I propose thus to examine a discovery of the seventeenth century in the light of the nine- teenth-not touching its truth, which is unnecessary, but in regard to what has sprung from it; to judge of the tree by its fruit.

If the spirits of the wise, as they sit in the clouds, look down upon us with any recognition of what we are about, they can scarcely be indifferent to our estimation of their earthly labours. When we confirm