NOTICE OF THE LATE SIR CHARLES BELL. 405 



the arteries and the veins in other parts of the body ; and FABIUCIUS pointed out 

 the valves in the veins, which prevent the reflux of blood in these vessels ; yet 

 they did not deduce from these facts the theory of the circulation, though, now 

 that it is known, we wonder how they could have failed to discover it. But in 

 the progress of knowledge, the mind has much to unlearn as well as much to ac- 

 quire ; and when our opinions have been sanctioned by the concurrent belief of 

 successive generations, the former is often the more difficult task of the two. 

 When HARVEY announced his great discovery, almost every physician of his time 

 denied its truth, and none of them who were above forty years of age ever, it is 

 said, admitted it. When its truth could no longer be disputed, eiforts were made 

 to deprive its author of the merit and the glory of the discovery. Some searched 

 the works of previous writers for evidence that it had been known before his 

 time ; and others who followed him, sought to appropriate the honour that be- 

 longed only to him. Somewhat similar was the reception Sir CHARLES BELL'S 

 discovery encountered on its first announcement to the world in 1811 and 1821. 

 But as the name of HARVEY is inseparably connected with the great truths which 

 he was the first to ascertain, so will the name of BELL for ever be united in the 

 records of science with his discovery of the varied functions of the nerves. 



Insulated facts and unsupported speculations are forgotten and lost, but great 

 discoveries never perish ; for they become fixed and established portions of know- 

 ledge on which the mind reposes in security. Their leading facts become familiar 

 to all educated men a part of every man's ordinary information; and the light 

 with which genius illuminated the high places of science is not only shed on the 

 paths which lead up to them, but pierces far into the darkness beyond, and 

 lights on successive generations in their ascent to the loftier heights of a more 

 exalted knowledge. 



Confidence in the perfection of the works of creation, and a conviction that 

 the nervous system appeared to be utter confusion, only because of our own igno- 

 rance, was BELL'S leading principle in all his investigations ; and to this confi- 

 dence we must attribute the unwearied perseverance with which he prosecuted 

 his enquiries, without any other support or encouragement during so many years 

 of his life. 



It would detain you too long were I to trace, step by step, the progress of 

 these inquiries, till he caught a glimpse of the truth in 1807 ; but the letter in 

 which, with joy and exultation, he communicated the intelligence to his brother, 

 Professor GEORGE JOSEPH BELL, is too remarkable to be omitted, although it has 

 already been made public ; and as it bears the post-mark of London, December 5, 

 and Edinburgh, December 8, 1807, it puts an end to all question, if there ever 

 could have been a reasonable question, as to the originality of his views, and the 

 priority of his discoveries. 



VOL. XV. PART III. 5 R 



