8 Dedication 



old man from a youth, by a person of understanding 

 from one of inferior capacity. 



My dear colleagues, I had no purpose to swell 

 this treatise into a large volume by quoting the 

 names and writings of anatomists, or to make a 

 parade of the strength of my memory, the extent of 

 my reading, and the amount of my pains ; because 

 I profess both to learn and to teach anatomy, not 

 from books but from dissections ; not from the posi- 

 tions of philosophers but from the fabric of nature ; 

 and then because I do not think it right or proper 

 to strive to take from the ancients any honour that 

 is their due, nor yet to dispute with the moderns, 

 and enter into controversy with those who have 

 excelled in anatomy and been my teachers, I would 

 not charge with wilful falsehood any one who was 

 sincerely anxious for truth, nor lay it to any one's 

 door as a crime that he had fallen into error. I 

 avow myself the partisan of truth alone ; and I can 

 indeed say that I have used all my endeavours ? 

 bestowed all my pains on an attempt to produce 

 something that should be agreeable to the good ? 

 profitable to the learned, and useful to letters. 

 Farewell, most worthy Doctors, 



And think kindly of your Anatomist, 



WILLIAM HARVEY. 



