The Hunterian oration, delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons in London / [Honoratus Leigh Thomas].
- Thomas, Honoratus Leigh.
- Date:
- 1827
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Hunterian oration, delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons in London / [Honoratus Leigh Thomas]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
9/35 page 3
![[3] remotest countries, at length supplied the Anatomist with the advantages of systematic instruction. How far this excellent Institution might have tended to a still greater increase of Anatomical knowledge, it is now impossible to say; but in it’s extinction, we have to lament that unfortunate chain of events, which introduced barba- rian hordes into the fairest provinces of the civilized world; and at once checked the progress of all intellectual improvement. An age of anarchy and bloodshed was succeeded by one of peaceful ignorance and the most abject superstition. It was then, when Learning was confined to Monks and Mo- nasteries, and knowledge was circumscribed and hemmed in by Papal Edicts, that we have to lament a general stag- nation in the prosecution of the most useful Sciences. Yet there were, even in those days of supineness, some enquiring minds, some daring spirits, who ventured to explore the interdicted branches of science ! Even Anatomy occasionally found a friend; under whose fostering care it was sheltered and cultivated, in the best manner that the times permitted. The works of those who had flourished in a happier age, though neglected, still existed; while fortunately for us, amongst the other invaluable records of Grecian lore, the writings of Hippocrates and Galen were preserved; pre- served for the gratitude of posterity, which upon these foundations was about to erect the present improved fabric, which we now labour to support, and to augment. On that second dawn of reason which was produced by the discovery of Printing, Anatomy was studied for more](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22005286_0009.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
