Page:The Harveian oration, 1893.djvu/46

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its growth by their ignorance. The strong intellect will absorb and digest all that we put before it, and will be all the better fitted for independent research. The less powerful will at least be kept from false discoveries, and will form (what genius itself requires) a competent and appreciative audience. Even the dullest scholars will be respectable from their learning, and if they cannot make discoveries themselves, can at least enjoy the delight of intelligently admiring the discoveries of others.

III. There is, however, a third phase of Harvey’s intellectual work, of which, unfortunately, the records have perished, and which has not, perhaps, been duly appreciated. I do not speak of his practice. A file of his “bills,” however interesting to the antiquarian, would probably be of as little therapeutical value as those of his contemporaries. Diagnosis, in the modern