Page:The Harveian oration, 1875 (IA b22314611).pdf/55

hence it has come to pass that many observations, particularly on the generation of insects, have perished, with detriment, I venture to say, to the republic of letters” This language, so self-restrained, so gently sorrowful, reminds one irresistibly of the plaint of Priestley, who suffered a like injury at the hands of a mob, and of the touching apostrophe of Newton to the little pet that had set his papers on fire. Such has ever been the spirit of those who have done and suffered most in the service of mankind; and I may add that I have been irresistibly struck with the curious coincidence between the words of Harvey and Priestley, and in the expressions used by Harvey when he reluctantly gave over his manuscript on Generation to Sir George Ent, and by Jenner when he resisted the first efforts made to transfer him from the modest retirement of Berkeley to the busy turmoil of London life. Nor is the coincidence less complete between the will of Harvey and that of Howard, in which, after making their humble profession of faith, they prove to their friends and poor dependents that not one of them had been forgotten.

But I must hasten to a close, leaving unsaid many things which I had noted as worthy of record.