case of the efficacy of the bark in a mortification, in Phil. Trans. vol. L. JOHN HALLE. 66 "Master John Halle, a most famous man," was one of the first English Surgeons who attempted to treat on Anatomy, which Halle did, very much to his own satisfaction, in a Very useful and necessarie briefe Worke of Anatomie;" he saying, that it was a more useful and profitable one of the kind, than any that had hitherto been published in the English language. A notion of the previous state of anatomical works may be formed, when it is stated, that this satisfactory performance contained two rude wood-cuts, exhibiting a front and back view of the human figure, with a few references to the names of the external parts. At this time Surgery was distinct from Medicine, but united with the office and occupation of the Barber; Capitis Rasura being expressly mentioned in a warrant issued to the King's Surgeons, 1454, as part of their duty. The state of Surgery, therefore, was such as might naturally be expected; " many rotted and perished for lack of help of Surgery, and daily died." To remedy these evils, the Honorable Baron John Lord Lumley, and the learned Richard Caldwell, Doctor in Physic, did institute a public lecture to be read in Surgery, in Knight Rider Street, Wednesday and Friday, the reader whereof was to be Richard Foster, Doctor of Physic, during his life; and Stow, vol. II. p. 209, informs us, that this learned person F F was met by the chief members of the Barbers' Company, two of whom, being called Masters of the Body, put in practice, or demonstrated, what the Doctor directed. Many chirurgical works of this date are lost; but we may judge of the library of Barbers' Hall by those that have come down to us; such as Ardern, John of Gadesden, Gale, Halle, Vicary, Rawlyng's "Booke of Medycene," 1573; Phayer's "Declaration of the Veynes of Man's Body, and to what Dyseases the opening every one of them doe Service," 1544; and Turner's "Herbal." Of those that are lost to posterity may be mentioned "A Booke in Chirurgery," by Thomas Morstede, Surgeon to Henry VI. and the "Booke of Fysyk and Surgery," called "Rosse and Constantine," given, by will of Thomas Colard, Barber, 1467, to the Barbers' Company. GIDEON HARVEY. About the latter end of King William's reign, there was a great debate who should succeed the deceased Physician of the Tower. The contending parties were so equally matched in their interests and pretensions, that it was extremely difficult to determine which should have the preference. The matter was at length brought to a compromise, and Gideon Harvey was promoted to that office, for the same reason that Sextus V. was advanced to the pontificate because he was, in appearance, sickly and infirm, and his death was expected in a few months. He, however, survived not only his rivals, but all his contemporary Physicians; and died after he had enjoyed his sinecure above fifty years. WILLIAM HARVEY. A passage in Servetus has been supposed to have given Harvey the first hint of the circulation, and is to be found in a book, entitled, "Christianismi Restitutio." The following memorable account, however, has been given by Boyle, of the circumstances which led to this grand discovery: "I remember," says Boyle, "that when I asked our famous Harvey, in the only discourse I had with him, which was but a little while before he died, what were the things which induced him to think of a circulation of the blood? he answered me, that when he took notice that the valves in the veins of so many parts of the body were so placed that they gave free passage to the blood towards the heart, but opposed the passage of the venal blood the contrary way, he was invited to think that so provident a cause as nature had not placed so many valves without design; and no design seemed more probable than that, since the blood could not well, because of the interposing valves, be sent by the veins to the limbs, it should be sent through the arteries and return through the veins, whose valves did not oppose its course that way." The reason here ascribed to Harvey seems now so very natural and obvious, that some have been disposed to question his claim to the high rank commonly assigned to him among the improvers of science. Dr. William Hunter has said, that after the discovery of the valves in the veins, which Harvey learned, while in Italy, from his master, Fabricius ab Aquapendente, the remaining step might easily have been made by any person of common abilities. It is remarkable, that when great discoveries are effected, their simplicity always seems to detract from their originality; on these occasions we are reminded of the egg of Columbus! Harvey's picture in Dr. Mead's collection had two lines written by the Doctor. Harveii magnum nomen laudesque manebunt WILLIAM HAWES, M. D. Dr. Hawes was a man totally without guile; and self never entered into his contemplation. There was a simplicity in his manners, the result of an innocent and unsuspecting heart. Without possessing, or affecting to possess, any very superior literary talents, he contrived to furnish to the public an acceptable work in his "Annual Reports;" and his "Examination of the Reverend John Wesley's Primitive Physick," in which the absurdities and dangerous remedies recommended by that venerable and primitive person were acutely exposed, by a combination of irony and serious argument. In the resuscitative art he was eminently skilled. He was an honorary member of the Massachusetts Humane Society; and of many others, at Edin burgh, Manchester, Bath, &c. &c. and a Vice-president of the London Electrical Dispensary. The Royal Humane Society is a shining and an eminent proof of his philanthropy; an institution which has been found highly useful, and to establish which he employed many years of his life. WILLIAM HEBERDEN, M.D. F.R.S. S. A. The character of this truly respectable man is thus ably delineated by Dr. Wells, in a "Letter to Lord Kenyon, relative to some conduct of the College of Physicians of London:" "No other person, I believe, either in this or any other country, has ever exercised the art of medicine with the same dignity, or has contributed so much to raise it in the estimation of mankind. Were I, my Lord, possessed of talents adequate to the undertaking, I should here endeavour to describe at full length the character of that illustrious man. In this attempt, I should first mark his various and extensive learning, his modesty in the use of it, and his philosophical distrust of human opinion in science, however sanctioned by time or the authority of great names. I should then exhibit him in the exercise of his profession, without envy or jealousy; too proud to court employment, yet undervaluing his services after they were performed; unwearied, even when a veteran in his art, in ascertaining the minutest circumstances of the sick, who placed themselves under his care, taking nothing in their situation for granted that might be learned by enquiry, and trusting nothing of importance that con |