xx Editor's Introduction 



after personal experience, not to rely on the experience 

 of others : without which indeed no one can properly 

 become a student of any branch of natural science." 

 Referring to his own particular work he says : " I would 

 not have you therefore, gentle reader, to take anything 

 on trust from me concerning the Generation of Animals : 

 I appeal to your own eyes as my witness and judge. 

 For as all true science rests upon those principles which 

 have their origin in the operation of the senses, par- 

 ticular care is to be taken that by repeated dissection 

 the grounds of our present subject be fully established. 

 . . . The method of investigating truth commonly 

 pursued at this time therefore is to be held erroneous 

 and almost foolish, in which so many inquire what 

 others have said, and omit to ask whether the things 

 themselves be actually so or not." 



When the King made Oxford his headquarters, 

 Harvey was with him, and was appointed head of 

 Merton College. But in 1646, on Oxford surrender- 

 ing to the Parliamentary forces, he gave up his warden- 

 ship and quitted the city. Having no call to take an 

 active part in the political contest, and now verging 

 on threescore-and-ten, he retired from his position 

 of physician to the King and went to London, where 

 he was hospitably entertained in the houses of his 

 brothers, who were wealthy merchants in the City. 

 Here he no doubt once again devoted himself to 

 scientific observation, the nature of which became 

 evident, when in 1651 he was persuaded, somewhat 

 against his own inclination, by his friend, Dr. George 

 Ent, to allow the publication of his book on " The 

 Generation of Animals." In this work he appears as 

 a pioneer in the difficult science of Embryology, 

 working under most adverse conditions, for he had 

 no microscope worthy of the name. Whilst, therefore, 

 of no great value in the light of our present know- 

 ledge, it is a monument of the author's industry and 

 of his enthusiastic devotion to physiological research. 



