Page:The Hunterian oration, for the year 1819.djvu/9

Rh by completely mastering the subject he had engaged with, so that none should be able to do more. But now, when, by an industrious education, any one may possess himself of the knowledge of the whole world with respect to any subject of nature, art, or science; now, when every accession of knowledge is published at annual, quarterly, or monthly periods; every little discovery is at once proclaimed, lest its author should be anticipated and persons in general become desirous of contending for superiority more with one another, than with the subject, or with themselves. Yet this ready communication of knowledge greatly tends to its increase, by exciting general emulation and co-operation.

It was at Alexandria, also, that persons of the medical profession first possessed an opportunity of studying the subject-matter of medical science, the structure and functions of the parts of the human body. How absurd should we deem the conduct of a mechanic, whose business it was to rectify the errors of any complex machine, should he merely provide himself with the finest and fittest