Page:The Harveian oration 1905.djvu/26

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22
THE HARVEIAN ORATION.

them. Of these gifts those now before you are deserving of special mention-namely, the silver caduceus, the emblem of the President's office, and carried by each one, given by Dr. John Caius; the handsome mace borne before the President, presented by Dr. John Lawson in 1683, made expressly for the College, and bearing the hall-mark of that year; and this bust of Harvey, for which we are indebted to Dr. Richard Mead. I may in this connection also bring to your notice an interesting gift recently presented by the Worshipful Company of Barbers, who have generously restored to the College an inspeximus Charter of Charles II., granted to the College, but which had come into the possession of this Company.

When we come to consider the large number of benefactors to whom this College has been under obligation in the past, it is obviously out of the question to mention them all individually, and I must generalise more or less, though a few of the most prominent amongst them ought never to be ignored on this anniversary.

Harvey—Linacre—Caius.

First and foremost as a matter of course comes Harvey himself, who to-day we place on a pinnacle above all others, not only for the actual and tangible benefits which he has conferred upon us, but also for the greatness of his work and immortal discovery,