12 tut BIRTH ANt) GROWTH OF SCIENCE IN MEDICINE 



investigation has not yet arisen. Yet in spite of this the 

 school of Cos is a landmark in the history of rational 

 medicine. Throughout its writings there breathes a certain 

 lofty and independent spirit, so that we feel that we must 

 reverence Hippocrates not only as a great physician but 

 as a great gentleman. 



We look back to Athens in the fifth and fourth 

 centuries B.C. as the golden age of Greece and the fountain- 

 head of later European thought. It is the more dis- 

 appointing to find that Athens itself made little direct 

 contribution to medical science : the Athenians of those 

 centuries were more concerned with metaphysical specu- 

 lations than with science until, indeed, we come to 

 Aristotle. Nevertheless it would be a grave mistake to 

 suppose that Athens did nothing for medicine, for at this 

 period were iirmly founded some of those abstract sciences, 

 and, above all, mathematics and logic, upon which the 

 future development of the concrete sciences ultimately 

 rested. I must not dwell on Aristotle, for he has been 

 the theme of more than one Harveian oration, and rightly 

 so, for his influence on Harvey was immense : probably 

 no one man has so profoundly affected the thought of 

 succeeding generations. Logicwas essentially his creation : 

 his works remain a monument to the genius of the Greeks, 

 not only for careful observation and daring speculation 

 but for correct thinking. I have at times thought it might 

 be well if this College insisted on a course of logic for 

 the diploma of membership. 



The gradual decay in the glory of ancient Greece is 

 usually attributed to the known historical facts — to their 

 petty quarrels and their incapacity for combining amongst 

 themselves. There was probably also a deeper cause — 

 the racial fusion to which they owed their origin had 

 passed its period of maximum fertility, and the Greeks 

 but fulfilled the doom which ultimately overtakes every 

 civilisation. But Hellenism did not die : what the Greeks 

 had achieved remains as a quickening influence for all time. 



In medical science the centre of interest now shifts 



