xx THE LIFE OF HARVEY. 



drank in the elementary knowledge which served him as a 

 foundation for that induction which has made his name im- 

 mortal ; for without detracting from the glory of Harvey, but 

 merely in recognizing the means to an end, we may admit that, 

 but for the lessons of his master, Fabricius, Harvey might 

 have passed through life, not unnoticed, indeed, for such as 

 Harvey was in himself, he must still have been remarkable, 

 but his name unconnected with one of the most admirable 

 and useful inferences ever given to the world. 



Having passed five years at Padua, Harvey, then in the 

 twenty-fourth year of his age (1602), finally obtained his di- 

 ploma as doctor of physic, with licence to practise and to teach 

 arts and medicine in every land and seat of learning. Having 

 returned to England in the course of the same year, and sub- 

 mitted to the requisite forms, he also received his doctor's degree 

 from his original University of Cambridge ; and then coming 

 to London, and taking to himself a wife in his six and twentieth 

 year, he entered on the practice of his profession. 



History is all but silent in regard to the woman of our 

 great anatomist's choice. We only know that she was the 

 daughter of a physician of the day, Dr. Lancelot Browne, and 

 that Harvey's union with her proved childless. He himself 

 mentions his wife incidentally as having a remarkable pet 

 parrot, which must also, if we may infer so much from the 

 pains he takes in specifying its various habits and accomplish- 

 ments, have been a particular favorite of his own. 1 



In 1604, Harvey joined the College of Physicians, his name 

 appearing on the roll of candidates for the fellowship in that 

 year \ and three years afterwards, 1607, the term of his pro- 



1 Vide On Generation, p. 186. That Harvey outlived his wife is certain from his 

 Will, in which she is affectionately mentioned as his " deare deceased loving wife." 

 She must have been alive in 1645, the year in which Harvey's brother John died, 

 and left her 50. 



