Page:The Hunterian Oration 1832.djvu/30

26 cease; and the sublime truth to be acknowledged, that reverence for the dead does not consist in withholding the scalpel from what, we know, can no longer be sensible of pain, or pleasure, but in perpetuating our love and admiration of whatever may have been amiable, great, and virtuous, in their transactions upon the stage of life.

Anatomy was entirely neglected by the Arabians; nor was it till the beginning of the fourteenth century, that Mondini made public dissections in Italy. One circumstance, deserving of particular notice, as having had great influence in dispelling the vulgar prejudice formerly entertained in different parts of Europe against dissection, was the patronage, conferred upon several great painters, who flourished towards the close of the fifteenth centurv, and availed themselves of anatomical information for the perfection of their works. Michael Angelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Albert Durer, we know, were all either frequent dissectors, or draftsmen of dissected bodies. Here we may say, that the love of