THE GROWTH OF TRUTH 13 



the day, but they revived Greek ideals and introduced 

 scientific methods. 



The great practical acquisition of the century was 

 a new anatomy. Vesalius and his followers gave for 

 the first time an accurate account of the structure of 

 the human body, and while thus enlarging and correct- 

 ing the work of Galen, contributed to weaken the 

 almost divine authority with which he dominated 

 the schools. Nearly another century passed before 

 chemistry, in the hands of Boyle and others, reached 

 its modern phase, but the work of Paracelsus, based on 

 that of the ' pious Spagyrist ', Basil Valentine, by show- 

 ing its possibilities, had directed men's minds strongly 

 to the new science. Of the three, the new spirit alone 

 was essential, since it established the intellectual and 

 moral freedom by which the fetters of dogma, authority, 

 and scholasticism were for ever loosened from the 

 minds of men. 



Into this world, we may say, stepped a young Folke- 

 stone lad, when, on the last day of May, 1593, he 

 matriculated at Cambridge. Harvey's education may 

 be traced without difficulty, because the influences 

 which shaped his studies were those which had for 

 a century prevailed in the profession of this country. 

 We do not know the reason for selection of Caius 

 College, which, so far as I can gather, had no special 

 connexion with the Canterbury school. Perhaps it was 

 chosen because of the advice of the family physician, or 

 of a friend, or of his rector ; or else his father may have 

 known Caius; or the foundation may already have 

 become famous as a resort for those about to ' enter 

 on the physic line '. Or, quite as likely, as we so often 

 find in our experience, some trivial incident may have 

 turned his thoughts towards medicine. When he came 



