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 showing 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 



