SEARCH
0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Prev | Current Page 257 | Next

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894

"Medical Essays, 1842-1882"

For me it
is the Deity Himself in action.
I can therefore see a large significance in the somewhat bold language of
Burdach: "There is for me but one miracle, that of infinite existence,
and but one mystery, the manner in which the finite proceeds from the
infinite. So soon as we recognize this incomprehensible act as the
general and primordial miracle, of which our reason perceives the
necessity, but the manner of which our intelligence cannot grasp, so soon
as we contemplate the nature known to us by experience in this light,
there is for us no other impenetrable miracle or mystery."
Let us turn to a branch of knowledge which deals with certainties up to
the limit of the senses, and is involved in no speculations beyond them.
In certain points of view, HUMAN ANATOMY may be considered an almost
exhausted science. From time to time some small organ which had escaped
earlier observers has been pointed out,--such parts as the tensor tarsi,
the otic ganglion, or the Pacinian bodies; but some of our best
anatomical works are those which have been classic for many generations.
The plates of the bones in Vesalius, three centuries old, are still
masterpieces of accuracy, as of art. The magnificent work of Albinus on
the muscles, published in 1747, is still supreme in its department, as
the constant references of the most thorough recent treatise on the
subject, that of Theile, sufficiently show.


Pages:
245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269