Page:The Hunterian Oration, delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons ... February 14, 1817 (IA b22009358).pdf/26

18 has been universally acknowledged; whose genius and talents have adorned every profession, and have in an eminent degree contributed to the advancement of science over the world.

A recollection of the hideous desert which they had left behind, seemed to stimulate the minds of men of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to extraordinary exertion; and from that period to the present time, there has been, very generally, amongst the nations of Europe, an animated, warm, but friendly contest in favour of literature, science, and truth. Thus honourably engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, men quickly arose who enlightened and astonished the world by their discoveries in astronomy, mathematics, navigation, &c. &c. �