THE GROWTH OF TRUTH 43 



of the College. Who was Richard Forster ? Who was 

 Henry Atkins ? Perhaps two or three among us could 

 tell at once. And yet by these men the continuity and 

 organic life of the College has been carried on, and in 

 maintaining its honour, and furthering its welfare, each 

 one in his day was a benefactor, whose memory it is our 

 duty, as well as our pleasure, to recall. Much of the 

 nobility of the profession depends upon this great cloud 

 of witnesses, who pass into the silent land pass, and 

 leave no sign, becoming as though they had never been 

 born. And it was the pathos of this fate, not less pathetic 

 because common to all but a few, that wrung from the 

 poet that sadly true comparison of the race of man to 

 the race of leaves ! 



The story of Harvey's life, and a knowledge of the 

 method of his work, should be the best stimulus to the 

 Fellows and Members to carry out the second and third 

 of his commands ; and the final one, to continue in love 

 and affection among ourselves, should not be difficult to 

 realize. Sorely tried as he must have been, and naturally 

 testy, only once in his writings, so far as I have read, 

 does the old Adam break out. With his temperament, 

 and with such provocation, this is an unexampled record, 

 and one can appreciate how much was resisted in those 

 days when tongue and pen were free. Over and over 

 again he must have restrained himselt as he did in the 

 controversy with Riolan, of whom, for the sake of old 

 friendship, he could not find it in his heart to say 

 anything severe. To-day his commands are easier to 

 follow, when the deepened courtesies of life have made 

 us all more tolerant of those small weaknesses, inherent 

 in our nature, which give diversity to character without 

 necessarily marring it. To no man does the right spirit 

 in these matters come by nature, and I would urge upon 



