Thomas Pennant, The Hunters 263 



During his comparatively long life he had accumulated 

 a notable collection of anatomical and pathological speci- 

 mens, and in 1765 he proposed to build a museum to house 

 them, and to spend several thousands of pounds on the 

 building, in addition to which he was prepared to endow 

 a professorship. The offer which he had made to the 

 Government, however, fell through, and subsequently he 

 undertook, at his own expense, to carry out the project 

 without Government aid, and he built his well-known 

 institution in Great Windmill Street. By 1783 he reckoned 

 that his collections had cost him over 20,000. 



Unfortunately he and his brother John quarrelled, or 

 at least differed, the cause being that William claimed the 

 credit of more than one discovery which John seems to 

 have made. His collections, which by the time of his death 

 included minerals, shells, corals, coins, rare manuscripts 

 and books, together with his great obstetrical collection, 

 were ultimately left to the University of Glasgow. William 

 Hunter's claim to a place in these pages is that he was both 

 a great collector, a great investigator, and a great teacher. 



His younger brother, John Hunter (1728-1793), came to 

 London in 1748 to assist William, and soon showed a real 

 genius for anatomy. He became a " Master of Anatomy " 

 of the Surgeons' Corporation and a pupil at St. George's 

 Hospital, where for a time he was house surgeon. Also he 

 resided for some terms at Oxford, where, he says, " they 

 wanted to make an old woman of me, or that I should stuff 

 Latin and Greek at the University, but," he added signifi- 

 cantly, pressing his thumb on the table, " these schemes I 

 cracked like so many vermin as they came before me." 



John was more of an investigator than William, but a 

 far less able teacher. He traced the descent of the testis 

 in the foetus, as Aristotle is said to have done before him, 

 he investigated the placental nerves, studied the nature of 

 pus, investigated the absorbing power of veins, and in con- 

 junction with his brother endeavoured to determine the 

 course and function of the lymphatics. 



After abandoning his partnership with William he served 

 abroad with the British Army in Portugal and elsewhere, 

 and became a great authority on gun-shot wounds. On 



