Page:The healing art in its historic and prophetic aspects - the Harveian oration delivered before the Royal College of Physicians, Oct. 19, 1885 (IA b21908199).pdf/18

 although dinumed in the prevailing atmosphere of mysti- cism and hypothesis, had been kindled and was kept alive; notably at Salernum, where an attempt was made to sub- stitute a scientific procedure for the generally prevalent superstitions. (2) At Bologna, Padua, and other schools, anatomy, long discarded, began again to be studied; and thus the revival of learning, and the foundation of the modern scientific method by Bacon, did not find our art absolutely unprepared to receive them. None the less, in Harvey's day the whole work had to be begun anew; the preceding centuries had been almost so much lost time, all that had been handed down from them in the shape of fact was of the most meagre character; dissection had fallen into disuse; without knowledge of structure there could be no physiology, still less any rational pathology and diagnosis; and all that existed of therapeutics was an empirical ac- quaintance with the efficacy of a certain number of drugs.

It was not long, however, before improvement reached us. In 1518 the learned Linacre, who had studied at Salernum, returned to found our College by obtaining, through Wolsey's influence with Henry VIII., the charter 'whereby medicine was rescued from the tender mercies of the ecclesiastical profession.'

The history of our profession from this time presents a record of ever-increasing additions to our knowledge acquired by careful observation and experiment. Each the foun- division of our complex science received a fresh impetus, dation of the College. not a few becoming differentiated and distinct, and all pur- suing for the next two centuries a path of uninterrupted progress. Anatomy, which Vesalius, Fallopius, Fabricius, and others, had built up, reached, in the hands of their successors, a degree of precision only limited by the nature of the subject. Physiology, which can scarcely claim to have been a separate branch before Haller, was pursued with increasing energy by Hunter, Spallanzani, Hewson,