38 THE HUNTERIAN ORATION.
in the declaration now most sincerely made, that in him were combined the varied excellencies of the medical character, so expressively portrayed by Hip- pocrates. And be it recorded, as a just tribute to the ex- cellence of his heart, that Mr. Blizard at the age of forty- six, when in the fulness of professional reputation, with every power of mind and body in its utmost activity, did, in obedience to a high moral duty, without hesi- tation or murmur, retreat into private life, there to be free, for the devotion of the remainder of his days to the relief of domestic sorrow.
Justice to living merit requires of me, on this occa- sion, to record the public spirit and liberality of an English anatomist, whose investigations of the nervous system, conducted in the true feeling of science, have contributed so largely to our knowledge of this most intricate part of the animal frame. Mr. Swan, with the zeal and patience of a Meckel, or a Scarpa, having occupied a large portion of his life in unravelling the nervous systems of man and animals, having recorded these labours with a disregard of expense in a series of engravings, executed by our most accomplished artists, animated thus by the feeling which induced Vesalius to solicit the aid of a Titian; now completes this course of liberal conduct, by depositing in the museum of this college, for public use, the demonstrations by his own hands, the materials upon which they have so long, and successfully laboured. �
