Page:The Harveian oration, 1893.djvu/64

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to the prosecution of researches, laborious and thankless in themselves, but of the utmost value for the relief and prevention of disease in man and brute alike. May I also express a hope that those who administer our laws will take heart of grace, and in this, as in other matters, try whether Englishmen do not prefer the conscientious maintenance of a Statesman’s own judgment before a time-serving submission to ignorant clamour.

(ii.) In the second place, I would exhort my brethren, and especially the Members of this College, to cultivate Learning. Harvey went to study in Italy, then the nursery of science as well as of art, and he was familiar with the writings of Plato and Aristotle and Virgil, as well as with those of his immediate predecessors, Fabricius and Columbus. So in that golden time which comes to most of us, between taking the Academical Degree and becoming immersed in