128 ARTHUR E. SHIPLEY 



one link, only to be supplied by the invention 

 of the compound microscope, was missing. 

 This, the discovery of the capillaries, was due 

 to Malpighi, who was amongst the earliest 

 anatomists to apply the compound microscope 

 to animal tissues. Still, as Dryden has it, 



The circling streams once thought but pools of 



blood 



(Whether life's fuel or the body's food), 

 From dark oblivion Harvey's name shall save. 8 



Harvey was happy in two respects as re- 

 gards his discovery. It was, in the main and 

 especially in England, recognised as proven 

 in his own lifetime, and, again, no one of 

 credit claimed or asserted the claim of others to 

 priority. In research, all enquirers stand on 

 steps others have built up; but, in this, the 

 most important of single contributions to 

 physiology, the credit is Harvey's and almost 

 Harvey's alone. His other great work, Eaeer- 

 citationes de Generatione Animalium, is of 

 secondary importance. It shows marvellous 

 powers of observation and very laborious re- 

 search; but, although, to a great extent, it led 



8 Epistle to Dr. Charleton. 



