176 WORKMEN AND HEROES the study of diseases, with other interesting collateral topics. Riolanus, however, still remained unconvinced ; and his second rejoinder was treated by Harvey with contemptuous silence. He had already exhausted the subject in the two excel- lent controversial pieces just mentioned, the last of which is said to have been written at Oxford about 1645 ; and he never resumed the discussion in print. Time had now come to the assistance of argument, and his discovery began to be generally admitted. To this, indeed, his opponents contributed, by a still more singular discovery of their own, namely, that the facts had been observed, and the important inference drawn, long before. This was the mere allegation of envy, chafed at the achievements of another, which, from their apparent facility, might have been its own. It is indeed strange that the simple mechanism thus explained should have been unobserved or misunderstood so long ; and nothing can account for it but the imperceptible lightness as well as the strength of the chains which authority imposes on the mind. In the year 1623 Harvey became physician extraordinary to James I., and seven years later was appointed physician to Charles. He followed the fortunes of that monarch, who treated him with great distinction during the first years of the civil war, and he was present at the battle of Edgehill, in 1642. Having been incorporated doctor of physic by the University of Oxford, he was pro- moted by Charles to the wardenship of Merton College, in 1645 ; but he did not retain this office very long, his predecessor, Dr. Brent, being reinstated by the Parliament after the surrender of Oxford in the following year. Harvey then returned to London, and resided with his brother Eliat at Cock- aine house, in the Poultry. About the time of Charles's execution he gave up his practice, which had never been considerable, probably in consequence of his devotion to the scientific, rather than the practical, parts of his profession. He himself, however, attributed his 'want of success to the enmity excited by his dis- covery. After a second visit to the Continent, he secluded himself in the coun- try, sometimes at his own house in Lambeth, and sometimes with his brother Eliat at Combe, in Surrey. Here he was visited by his friend, Dr. Ent, in 1651, by whom he was persuaded to allow the publication of his work on the " Gener- ation of Animals." It was the fruit of many years of experiment and medita- tion ; and, though the vehicle of no remarkable discovery, is replete with interest and research, and contains passages of brilliant and even poetical eloquence. The object of his work is to trace the -germ through all its changes to the period of maturity ; and the illustrations are principally drawn from the phenomena ex- hibited by eggs in the process of incubation, which he watched with great care, and has described with minuteness and fidelity. The microscope had not at that time the perfection it has since attained ; and consequently Harvey's account of the first appearance of the chick is somewhat inaccurate, and has been superseded by the observations of Malpighi, Hunter, and others. The experiments upon which he chiefly relied in this department of natural history had been repeated in the presence of Charles I., who appears to have taken great interest in the studies of his physician.
