HUNTERIAN ORATION. 171 



Hunter did not make much headway in collecting 

 for his cabinet until the income from his surgical prac- 

 tice would warrant the outlay; and his professional 

 fees were not lucrative until he was about fifty years' 

 of age. As soon as his pecuniary circumstances would 

 warrant the expenditure, he sent orders to distant 

 parts of the earth for specimens in natural history. 

 Often the captain of a fishing smack would bring in 

 rare and valuable animals; and a liberal compensation 

 was sure to be obtained. Hunter contrived to secure 

 most of the caged animals that died in the Tower 

 and in traveling menageries. The flaying, dissecting, 

 mounting, and preserving of these animal structures 

 served to convert Mr. Hunter into an expert taxider- 

 mist; and the manipulation led to observations in 

 regard to the mechanism of organization, and con- 

 tributed to a deeper knowledge of the habits of 

 animals. 



Although Hunter never took a lesson in drawing, 

 he acquired the art of making sketches, an accom- 

 plishment which proved valuable in illustrating his 

 lectures and publications. The acquisition was all 

 the more valuable from the fact that it was never easy 

 for him to explain a subject under discussion unless 

 he could employ a diagram. 



While surgeon at St. George's Hospital, Hunter 

 wanted parts of a whale to elucidate some point in 

 physiology, anatomy, or surgery, and the following 

 letter shows how determined was his purpose and how 

 little came from his enterprise in trying to supply the 

 want : "As the opportunities for ascertaining the ana- 

 tomical structures of large marine animals are gen- 

 erally accidental, I have availed myself as much as 

 possible of all that have occurred ; and, anxious to get 



