DEDICATION. 7 



which unfit men duly to weigh the arguments that are ad- 

 vanced in behalf of truth, or to appreciate the proposition that 

 is even fairly demonstrated ; neither do they think it unworthy 

 of them to change their opinion if truth and undoubted de- 

 monstration require them so to do; nor do they esteem it 

 discreditable to desert error, though sanctioned by the highest 

 antiquity ; for they know full well that to err, to be deceived, 

 is human ; that many things are discovered by accident, and 

 that many may be learned indifferently from any quarter, by 

 an 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 ; be- 

 cause I profess both to learn and to teach anatomy, not from 

 books but from dissections ; not from the positions of philoso- 

 phers 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 mo- 

 derns, 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. 

 If 



