533 
MR. B. CLARK’S I1IPP0D0N0MIA. 
of medical science were accustomed to think and to write. There is a 
passage in Dr. Ent’s biography of the illustrious Harvey, which we 
would recommend, and with no invidious meaning, to Mr. Clark's 
consideration. Dr. Ent had prevailed upon him to entrust to him 
some of his invaluable MSS. for the purpose of examination, and 
probable publication. “I went from him/' says he, “ like an¬ 
other Jason in possession of the golden fleece; and when I came 
home and perused the pieces singly, I was amazed that so vast 
a treasure should have been so long hidden, and that, while 
others with great parade exhibit to the public their stale trash, 
this person should seem to make so little account of his admirable 
observations." ‘ “Indeed,” continues a later biographer, “no one 
appears to have possessed in a greater degree than Harvey that 
genuine modesty, which distinguishes the real philosopher from 
the superficial pretender to science .”—(Lives of British Physi¬ 
cians , p. 50.) 
We quote another passage from the life of Jenner. “The little 
arts of puffing, the mean machinery of ostentation, never once 
entered the heads of a Newton, a Watt, or a Jenner. For great 
truths there will always come a time and a place. The man who 
works for the benefit of his fellow creatures can afford to await 
the hour allotted for the full developenlent of his labours; and 
bequeaths in tranquil confidence to posterity, the reputation which 
he may have failed to obtain from a dominant coterie of capricious 
contemporaries." (p. 254.).—And one more from an historian 
which our classical author is well acquainted with, and containing 
the best description of the patriot and the sage : “ Plurimum fa- 
cere, et minimum ipse de se loqui.” 
For our own part, we hate the word “discovery.” We are all 
fellow-labourers in a vast, neglected, but fruitful field. Should 
chance or industry crown the exertions of some of us with unusual 
success, we should hasten to throw the produce into the common 
granary. We should not taunt our brethren with their comparative 
want of success, but should trust to thei* good feeling and their 
honesty, that they will not forget the contribution which we have had 
the good fortune and the pleasure to make : and we shall not often 
trust to them in vain. Every labourer is, in the long run, estimated 
according to what he has done, and estimated more highly for the 
modesty and self-forbearance with which his contribution was made. 
The man who keeps all the good things to himself is little better 
than the drone, who cannot be roused to exertion in any cause ; 
and he who is always taunting us with what he has done for us, 
rouses our vanity in opposition to our sense of obligation, and 
often makes us ungrateful and unjust. There are few of us 
who will do even that which is good upon compulsion ; and the 
parade and folly with which certain claims to our regard arc some- 
