Page:The Harveian oration 1904.djvu/18

This page has been validated.
THE HARVEIAN ORATION, 1904
3

Desiring to render this address as little wearisome as may be I propose to divide it into two parts: the first archaeological, dealing with Egyptian medicine, the medicine god, and the earliest inquiries known to have been made concerning the circulation and circulatory diseases—viz., those of the physicians of ancient Egypt, a department of pre-Harveian work, and perhaps the only one, which has not been dealt with in this room. Secondly, I wish to speak with great brevity on the more practical subject of the preventive treatment of certain forms of circulatory disease.

I

Egypt and the Earliest Researches on the Circulation

To all who love our venerable and beneficent profession the spectacle of our predecessors in early ages striving in darkness and difficulty to acquire that hidden knowledge to which we have partially attained is interesting and should awaken our sympathy. As was remarked by the learned Harveian Orator of 1896: 'The past is worth our study and ever more so the further we advance."[1]

The information which archaeological research has of late afforded, though in a fitful and partial manner, as to the earliest history of medicine, and particularly in regard to that department in which our founder laboured, is not unworthy of our attention.

  1. ↑ Dr. Payne, Harveian Oration, p. 51.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.