144 TRUTH, PATHOLOGY, AND PUBLIC. 
beautiful. It is more difficult to conceive the point 
of view of these old anatomists than to remember 
the changes which have gradually taken place in 
our own conceptions of accuracy ; and yet in this 
instance we have but an example of what may be 
often seen both in natural history and in human 
affairs, that the development of the individual 
repeats after a fashion the development of the race. 
The art of accuracy had to be learned in anatomy 
and other sciences precisely as each of us has had 
to learn it, and as we shall continue to learn it as 
long as we admit the paramount excellence of 
truth. 
Nor is that which obtains with regard to accuracy 
in scientific matters less applicable or important in 
reference to the statements which we allow ourselves 
to make in the ordinary conversation and business of 
life. All truthfulness is an art, and a difficult art to 
learn. In scientific matters the only difficulty in 
learning this art in most cases is to discipline the 
observation and teach it to act with rigour and free 
from prejudice and imagination. But in the affairs 
of life, and especially in our profession, there are 
more serious difficulties in the practice of truthful- 
ness than these. Emotion comes in—emotion, 
which into scientific investigation ought not to enter 
though it too often does; and I do not know a 
