1 94 Letters 



&c., as we find it stated in the fourteenth chapter of 

 Leviticus. How, I ask, can contagion, long lurking in 

 such things, leave them in fine, and after a long lapse of 

 time produce its like in another body ? Nor in one or 

 two only, but in many, without respect of strength, 

 sex, age, temperament, or mode of life, and with such 

 violence that the evil can by no art be stayed or 

 mitigated. Truly it does not seem less likely that 

 form, or soul, or idea, whether this be held substan- 

 tive or accidental, should be transferred to something 

 else, whence an animal at length emerges, all as if it 

 had been produced on purpose, and to a certain end, 

 with foresight, intelligence, and divine art. 



These are among the number of more abstruse 

 matters, and demand your ingenuity, most learned 

 Nardi. Nor need you plead in excuse your advanced 

 life ; I myself, although verging on my eightieth year, 

 and sorely failed in bodily strength, nevertheless feel 

 my mind still vigorous, so that I continue to give my- 

 self up with the greatest pleasure to studies of this kind. 

 I send you along with these, three books upon the sub- 

 ject you name. 1 If you will mention my name to his 

 Serene Highness the Duke of Tuscany, with thankful- 

 ness for the distinguished honour he did me when I 

 was formerly in Florence, and add my wishes for 

 his safety and prosperity, you will do a very kind 

 thing to 



Your devoted and very attached friend, 



WILLIAM HARVEY. 

 3oth Nov. 1653. 



[' Nardi had written to Harvey requesting him to select a few of the 

 publications \\hich should grive a faithful narrative of the distractions 

 ihat had but lately agitattd England.] 



