64
I trust, however, that I have not failed to render such homage as I could bring (and the offerer’s gift must not be measured by his poverty or by his wealth, but by the heart which brings it) to the genius of Harvey, and of all whose endowments have enabled them since his time to follow where he led. I have claimed, too, for them and for all investigators into Nature’s ways the most unshackled freedom of enquiry. But knowing how upon great heights the head is apt to turn dizzy, and how the consciousness of having attained an elevation which few can ever dream of reaching tends to induce self-admiration and intellectual pride—‘by that sin fell angels’—I have ventured to recommend, as an unfailing talisman against such dangers, that Hæmony
‘More medicinal than that Moly,
Which Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave.’
If in so doing it should seem to any of my friends, my colleagues, or to any of my audience, that I have overstepped the limits of my office, I ask their pardon, Sir, as I ask yours.
Spottiswoode & Co., Printers, New-street Square, London.
