THE HARVEIAN ORATION, 1904 27
II
A SUGGESTION IN REGARD TO PREVENTIVE
TREATMENT OF VALVULAR DISEASE
I have referred to certain facts, mostly of recent discovery, bearing on the existence of our profession in the remote past and in reference to the partial knowledge to which the priests of I-em-hotep attained as to the circulation of the blood, a subject not without a certain interest, but the advances of that knowledge made sub- sequently, which have on more than one occasion been dealt with in this room, those now making, and those yet to be made in the future are of more practical importance to us.
The genius and the marvellous industry of Harvey first clearly unfolded the great secret of the course of the circulation, thus opening a wide door for the work of others, physiological and therapeutic. A recognition of the principles of blood pressure, and of the action of vasomotor nerves, and other advances have followed. We have attained to a larger, though I believe as yet only to a partial and provisional, hold of truth in these matters. As such we shall regard our knowledge if we are wise. The great mistake in all times has been that of believing that the truth already attained is the whole and that nothing remained behind.
