An oration delivered before the Medical Society of London on its ninetieth anniversary, March 7, 1863 / by S.O. Habershon.

  • Habershon, S. O. (Samuel Osborne), 1825-1889.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An oration delivered before the Medical Society of London on its ninetieth anniversary, March 7, 1863 / by S.O. Habershon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    tigations the threshold has only been reached; some of the rubbish has been cleared away ; the door has been opened, and as it opens wider, it invites the inquirer to enter and to explore. With patient research our forefathers studied anatomy, but with all the energy and talent of Meckel and of Glisson, of Haller and of Harvey; with all the keen scrutiny and untiring industry of Hunter and Sir A. Cooper the microscope has reveal- ed the structure of organs and tissues both in health and disease in a manner that was never dreamt of before. A long list of patient observers, of profound thinkers, of laborious students in this fascinating work, have searched into living forms wherever they may exist, to find how far the truth of veget- able growth and its modifications, and of animal life in all its wondrous adaptations can reflect new light on the more complex changes of higher organism. They have added fact to fact, truth to truth, and by sure steps they have made progress. It is true, that some with hasty generalizations may have misinterpreted, and tried to bind nature’s doings by laws not her own ; but even then, the error has oftentimes led to deeper search, and fuller truth has been evolved. Thus, one has taught that a living cell growth is the origin of all other structures, whilst another has regarded the cell as having already fulfilled its function, and as useless as “ the empty shell on the sea shore ” ; still the enquiry and the opposing sentiments have led to increased and to further investigation. And when we estimate the reflex influence of the revealed facts of natural philosophy, as the investigations of Graham on the diffusion of gases and of fluids, the laws of electricity and galvanism as shown by Faraday and by Matteuei, the cor- relation of physical forces as explained by Grove and Carpenter, all brought to bear upon the study of living function, and the phenomena of disease, we find that the circle of physiological and pathological science widens whilst