When, at the instance of the governing body of the Sydenham Society, I undertook to edit the Works of the immortal Discoverer of the Circulation of the Blood, in English, I believed that the chief of these Works were already extant in our language, in such a shape as would make little more from an editor necessary than a careful revision of the text. I had unwarily adopted the idea, very gratuitously originated by Aubrey, that Harvey was what is called an indifferent scholar, and that the English versions of his writings were the proper originals, the Latin versions the translations. Having access to the handsome edition of Harvey’s Works in Latin, revised by Drs. Lawrence and Mark Akenside, and published by the College of Physicians in 1766, I had always referred to that when the course of my studies led me to consult Harvey. Of the English versions, or any other edition, I knew little or nothing. On proceeding to my new duty of English editor, however, I immediately saw that the masterwork of Harvey on the MOTIONS of the HEART and BLOOD, far from having the character of an originally English writing, must have been rendered into English by one but little conversant with the subject, that it was both extremely rebutting in point of style and full of egregious errors, and that nothing short of an entirely new translation could do justice to this admirable treatise, or secure for it, at the present day, the attention it deserved. Full of zeal, and making of my task a labour of love, I had soon completed a new translation of the Exercises on the Heart and Blood, with equal pleasure and profit to myself. The work on GENERATION came next under review. The English version of this I had heard it positively asserted was the original, was Harvey’s own; here therefore my business of editor would properly begin. But I had not gone through a couple of pages of the text, before difficulties like those already experienced met me again. That the statement above referred to was erroneous, speedily became apparent; and a little inquiry enabled me to discover that the English version of the Exercises on Generation was the work of a physician named Llewellen. Though not incorrect generally, there was, nevertheless, a great deal that I wished had been otherwise rendered; and then the scientific and professional language of two centuries back looked strangely when examined by the eye, and had an unusual sound when tried upon the ear. Only anxious to present to my brethren in the most appropriate and attractive form possible, the writings of him who had still met me in his Works and with his contemplative look in his Portrait as a kind of divinity in medicine, I even girded myself up for the long and laborious enterprise of translating anew into our mother tongue the work on Generation, and at length achieved my task, not without difficulty.