Some recently discovered letters of William Harvey, with other miscellanea / by S. Weir Mitchell ; with a bibliography of Harvey's works by Charles Perry Fisher.
- William Harvey
- Date:
- 1912
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Some recently discovered letters of William Harvey, with other miscellanea / by S. Weir Mitchell ; with a bibliography of Harvey's works by Charles Perry Fisher. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![latter end, a preparation of opium and I know not what, which he kept in his study to take if occasion should serve, to put him out of his paine, and which Sir Charles promised to give him. This I believe to be true; but do not at all believe that he really did give it to him. The palsey did give him an easie passeport. Dr. Mead has been credited with some statement in regard to this rumour of suicide, but I find it nowhere in his works nor in the records of his life. I mention it because in Hasted's History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Canterbury, 1790, vol. iii, p. 382, I came upon a singularly detailed statement concerning Harvey's death which has escaped the biographers and is well worth quoting in full. As an illustration of the growth and devel- opment of what was surely but an idle rumor, it is hard to match: The following circumstantial account of the death of this eminent man, I believe, is little known beyond his family, but is related on the authority of a clergy- man of this county, who was assured of the fact of it by the late Eliab Harvey, esq; Barrister-at-law, a descendant of the Doctor's younger brother, of that name. Dr. Harvey was ever afraid of becoming blind: early one morning, for he always rose early, his house- keeper coming into his chamber to call him, opened the window shutters, told him the hour, and asked him if he would not rise. Upon which he asked if she had [52]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21173370_0066.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
