Page:The Harveian oration, 1875 (IA b22314611).pdf/8

(lie died in less than a year afterwards), Harvey formally resigned the chair he had held for upwards of forty years; and as the crowning act of many a deed of princely munificence, made over to the College his paternal estate.

Harvey's object in so doing was to incite other Fellows and Members of the College to like deeds of liberality, “ to search and study out the secrets of nature by way of experiment,” and to cultivate mutual love and affection among themselves—his means to these ends, an oration to he delivered annually within the College.

Such, in brief, is the origin of this day’s ceremony; a ceremony which, for upwards of two centuries, has been the occasion of gathering together, year by year, the élite of the medical profession, with many a worthy representative of every department of learning and literature, art and science.

The appointment of the Harveian Orator rests, as is well known, with the President of our College. Were it not so; if I were a volunteer, self-chosen for the duty I have this day to perform, I should begin my address by words of-self-depreciation; but these, under the circumstances, would be