LINKAGE WITH THE MODERN TIME 



of their education. For example, after long 

 and baffling vivisections, Harvey demonstrates 

 the systemic circulation of the blood. His dis- 

 covery has come through years of anxious ob- 

 servation, and not from what he has read (to 

 the contrary!) in books. Yet his reasonings, 

 if not his observations, never free themselves 

 from the influence of Aristotle; and his great 

 discovery sorely perplexes him, since he cannot 

 understand the final cause, that is to say, the 

 purpose, of the blood's rapid round throughout 

 the body: not for generations was this to be 

 cleared up through the discovery of oxygen 

 and the gradual elucidation of the combustion 

 involved in the renewal and cleansing of the 

 system by the blood. 



The cessation of growth brings decay to 

 any branch of knowledge. Only further 

 accomplishment can fully utilize and carry on 

 the achievements of the past. Progress alone 

 conserves, coming not to destroy but to fulfill. 



Biology was not prosecuted after Galen's 

 time, and the healing arts of medicine and 

 surgery gained little that was new from clinical 

 experience. Vainly they sought to conserve 

 themselves through an eclecticism which tended 

 to become partial and then scholastic. As the 



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