Highly then is to be prais'd the resourceful wisdom of our time, That spunged out the written science and thēories of life, And, laying foundation of its knowledge in physical law, Gave it prēeminence o'er all enquiry, erecting Superstructive of all, bringing ev'ry research to the object, Boldly a new scīence of MAN, from dreamy scholastic Imprisoning set free, and inveterate divination, 230 Into the light of truth, to the touch of history and fact. Since 'the proper study of mankind is man',--nor aforetime Was the proverb esteem'd as a truism less than it is now,-- 'Tis strange that the method lay out of sight unaccomplisht, And that we, so late to arrive, should first set a value On the delusive efforts of human babyhood; and so Witnessing impatiently the rear of their disappearance, Upgathering the relics and vestiges of primitive man, Should ratify[v]instinct for scīence, look to the darkness For light, find a knowledge where 'twas most groping or unknown: 240 While civilization's advances mutely regarding Talk we of old scapegoats, discuss bloodrites, immolations, Worship of ancestors; explain complexities involved Of tribal marriages, derivation of early religions, Priestly taboos, totems, archaic mysteries of trees, All the devils and dreams abhorr'd of barbarous ages. And 'tis a far escape from wires, wheels and penny papers And the worried congestion of our Victorian era, Whose many inventions of world-wide luxury have changed Life's very face:--but enough wē hear of progress, enough have 250 Our conscious scīence and comforts trumpeted; altho' Hardly can I, who so many years eagerly frequented Bartholomew's fountain, not speak of things to awaken Kind old HIPPOCRATES, howe'er hē; slumbereth, entomb'd 'Neath the shatter'd winejars and rūined factories of Cos, Or where hē wander'd in Thessalian Larissa: For when his doctrine, which Rome had wisely adopted, Sank lost with the treasures of[v]her deep-foundering empire, No[v]art or scīence grew so contemptible, order'd 259 So by mere folly, windy caprice, superstition and chance, As boastful MEDICINE, with humours fit for a madhouse, Save when some Sydenham, like Samson among the Philistines, Strode bond-bursting along with a smile of genial instinct. Nor when here and there some ray, in darkness arising, Hopefully seem'd to herald the coming dawn, (as when a Laennec Or Jenner invented his meed of worthy remembrance,) Did one mind foresee, one seer foretell the appearance Of that unexpected daylight that arose upon our time. Who dream'd that living air poison'd our SURGERY, coating All our sheeny weapons with germs of an invisible death, 270 Till he saw the sterile steel work with immunity, and save