TRUTH, PATHOLOGY, AND PUBLIC. 143 



had difficulty in appreciating when pointed out to 

 you, simply because at that stage of your develop- 

 ment you thought it far too minute and trifling for 

 a rational being to attend to. 



Without going beyond the study of anatomy I 

 might point out many more striking illustrations of 

 the difficulty of arriving at accuracy, by asking you 

 to look back, not on your own history, but on 

 history which can be studied from records, the 

 progress of the science. One example will suffice. 

 Consult the plate snowing the vascular system 

 originally published by Vesalius in 1542, and you 

 cannot fail to be astonished at its extraordinary 

 character. The inextricable confusion which it 

 exhibits in matters long regarded as fundamental 

 almost surpasses comprehension ; and yet Vesalius 

 was far ahead of his contemporaries. He was 

 conscientiously, and lovingly describing what he 

 believed that he had seen ; and the name that he 

 has left behind him, as well as the remarkable story 

 of his life, is guarantee for the ability which he 

 brought to his work. In 1690, appeared Bidloo's 

 work with its celebrated engravings ; and in the 

 plate of the arteries there given, not only is the 

 influence of the plate by Vesalius abundantly 

 evident, but in some respects the inaccuracies are 

 distinctly greater, though as a work of art it is 



