282 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



biology. 



Germany this latter department of research was specially 



cultivated, how all the mathematical, experimental, and 



philosophical sciences combined to organise the one great 



45. science of physiology or biology, with its central and 



British con- 



to crowning problem the problem of consciousness. We 

 also noted how this science worked a great reform in 

 the whole domain of medical theory and practice. Let 

 us now return to the question, What has Great Britain 

 done during the first half of this century in this great 

 department of scientific thought ? Single great names, like 

 those of Harvey, 1 marked in former centuries discoveries 

 in the natural sciences equal to those of Newton in the 

 mathematical; the name of Ray 2 is still preserved in the 



1 William Harvey (1578-1657), a 

 native of Kent, received his medical 

 education in Italy, especially in 

 Padua, under Fabricius of Acqua- 

 pendente. The discovery of the 

 circulation of the blood belongs to 

 the year 1616, and is almost con- 

 temporary with Napier's invention 

 of logarithms. This discovery is con- 

 tained in the manuscript of Harvey's 

 lectures preserved in the British 

 Museum, but the publication did not 

 take place till 1628 ('Exercitatio 

 anatomica de motu corporis et san- 

 guinis in animalibus,' published at 

 Frankfort). Although Harvey was 

 drawn into long controversies by 

 his publication of this work, he 

 had the satisfaction of seeing his 

 discovery generally recognised. Des- 

 cartes abroad took Harvey's part in 

 his letter to Beverwijck in 1637, and 

 in his ' Discours de la Me"thode,' pub- 

 lished in the same year ; and it is 

 noteworthy that as has been the 

 case with many subsequent English 

 discoveries the first great acknow- 

 ledgment came from the Continent, 

 notably Holland. The acceptance in 

 France by the faculties of Paris and 



Montpellier was less rapid, and in 

 England it is well known that Lord 

 Bacon took no notice either of 

 Harvey's discovery or of Napier's 

 invention. See James Spedding's 

 preface to the "De interpretatione 

 Naturae Procemium" in works of 

 Lord Bacon, vol. iii. p. 507, &c. ; also 

 Harvey's own opinion on Bacon, ibid., 

 p. 515. Hobbes, on the other hand, 

 " was eager to accept Harvey's revo- 

 lutionary discovery " (Groom Rob- 

 ertson, ' Hobbes,' p. 123), and refers 

 to Harvey in the dedication of the 

 ' De Corpore ' (1655) as "the only 

 man I know that, conquering envy, 

 hath established a new doctrine in 

 his lifetime" (ibid., p. 187 n.) On 

 Harvey's other works, notably on 

 the work ' De Generatione,' see, inter 

 alia, Huxley, ' Science and Culture,' 

 1888, p. 333, &c. 



2 John Ray, or Rajus, as he is 

 called abroad (1628-1705), a native 

 of Essex, was a Cambridge man ; 

 he, however, gave up his fellowship 

 in 1682, feeling himself unable to 

 subscribe to the Act of Uniformity 

 of 1661. He was one of the first 

 great classifiers of plants ; he col- 



