HUNTER HUNTING. 



treet ; and, having been consulted on tin- pregnancy 

 uf the late quern, in- "a- naiiu-il one of the |li}^i 

 cians extraordinary to IUT majesty, ami was r< 

 into great favour by the kintr. 



In the first volume of < ibservations ami Inquiries, 

 published by the Medical Society in 1757, appeared 

 r Hunter's History of :in Aiieiiri-iii of the Aorta; 

 and he was an important contributor to the subse- 

 quent publications of the society, of which he was 

 chosen president on the death of Dr Fotliergill. 

 /n 17o?, In- published u work, entitled Medical Com- 

 mentarieai (4to), to which was subsequently added a 

 Supplement, the object of which was to vindicate 

 his claim to some anatomical discoveries, in opposi- 

 tion to professor Monro, of Edinburgh, and others. 

 In 1764, he was appointed physician-extraordinary 

 to the queen. Doctor Hunter was elected a fellow 

 ot the royal society in 1767; and, in 1768, on the 

 establishment of the royal academy of arts, he was 

 appointed professor of anatomy. He was made a 

 foreign associate of the royal medical society at Paris 

 in 1780, and of the royal academy of sciences in 1782. 

 The roost elaborate and splendid of his publications, 

 the Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus (folio, 

 illustrated by thirty-four large plates), appeared in 

 1775. In 1777, he joined Mr Watson in presenting 

 to the royal society a Short Account of the late 

 Doctor Maty's Illness, and of the Appearances on 

 Dissection; and, in 1778, he published Reflections 

 on the Section of the Symphysis Pubis, designed to 

 show the impropriety and inutility of that surgical 

 operation, which had become fashionable among 

 accoucheurs on the continent, and especially in 

 France. Two Introductory Lectures to his Anato- 

 mical Course, which he had prepared for the press, 

 were published after his death 



Being a bachelor he early began to lay aside a 

 sum of money, such as he considered might be suf- 

 ficient for his own wants, and appropriated the 

 remainder of his income to some plan of public 

 utility. As far back as 1765 he projected founding 

 a great school of anatomy, and offered to ministers 

 to expend JE7000 towards it, if they would assist; 

 but his projects were treated with cold indifference, 

 ami in 1770 he purchased and completed a house and 

 theatre in Great Windmill street, in which he con- 

 stituted n splendid museum. To this object he now 

 devoted all his spare time and fortune, and its com- 

 pletion constituted the greatest pleasure of his life. 

 At first he only contemplated a collection of prepara- 

 tions in human and comparative anatomy, but in 

 1761 he was tempted to become the purchaser of 

 Dr Fothergill's collection of shells, corals, and other 

 objects of natural history, for which he gave 1200, 

 and when his friend Sir Robert Strange died, he 

 purchased the pictures of that artist as well as those 

 which belonged to Mr Foulis of Glasgow. But the 

 most expensive part of his collection is that of ancient 

 coins and medals, for the duplicates of which, after 

 his death, government paid his executors 40,000, 

 and added them to those in the British Museum. 

 Of a part of this collection his friend Dr Combe 

 published an elegant catalogue in 4to in 1783. 



Dr Hunter had been subject to attacks of irregular 

 gout as early as the year 1773, when he thought of 

 relinquishing practice, and his death happened on the 

 30th March, 1783. On Saturday the 15th he had 

 experienced a slight return of wandering gout, with 

 headach and nausea, and been confined to bed. 

 Km filling himself a little better, he got up to de- 

 Bfflr an introductory lecture to a course of surgery, 

 during which he was overcome suddenly with taint- 

 ness, and was carried ofT and put to bed. This was 

 on Thursday. On the Saturday morning he told his 

 friends that he had suffered a paralytic stroke during 



the night, but of which no traces remained, and said, 

 a few hour*. Injure his death, to his friend Dr Combe, 

 " If I li; .1 strength enough to hold a pen I should 

 write how easy and pleasant a thing it is to die." 

 In his last testament he bequeathed the whole of his 

 splendid museum, valued at l50,000,to the univer- 

 sity of Glasgow, with the sum of 8000 in cash, to 

 be expended in an appropriate building for its recep- 

 tion, and a further sum of 500 per annum, to bear 

 the charges of its preservation. To his nephew, J)r 

 Baillie, he bequeathed his family property of Long 

 Calderwood, but Dr Baillie very generously gave it 

 to John Hunter, who had unfortunately had a quarrel 

 with his brother Dr William some years before about 

 some anatomical trifle. The museum was left subject 

 to the liferent of Dr Baillie, who very handsomely 

 relinquished it in 1808, when it was transferred to 

 Glasgow, where it will long remain a glorious monu- 

 ment of the knowledge, enthusiasm, and public spirit 

 of its founder. 



HUNTING, in a general sense, includes the pur- 

 suit both of hairy and feathered game; but in a nar- 

 rower sense, is applied only to beasts of venery (of 

 the forest, as the hart, hind, hare, boar, wolf) and 

 of chase (of the field, as the buck, doe, fox, marten, 

 roe). In a rude state of society, it is one of the most 

 important employments of mankind; and, in its more 

 advanced state, becomes an agreeable amusement, 

 men pursuing for pleasure, in the latter case, what 

 they once followed from necessity. Hunting is prac- 

 tised in a great variety of. ways, according to tide 

 object of the persons engaged in it, the nature of the 

 country, and the description of the game. The 

 object may be to obtain a supply of food, to destroy 

 noxious animals, to get possession of useful ones, or 

 of some useful animal product (as furs, &c.), or 

 merely amusement. The pursuit may be conducted 

 by means of other animals, as by dogs, falcons (see 

 Falconry), &c.; or the prey may be caught by stra- 

 tagem (as by nets, traps, pitfalls), or destroyed by 

 fire-arms, or other weapons, &c. A full account of 

 the methods of hunting among the ancients may be 

 found in the treatises of Xenophon (Kuwyirma;) and 

 Arrian (under the same title), and in the poem of 

 Oppian Cynegetics, or On Hunting. The breeds 

 of hounds, their training and management, the 

 hunting of the hare, the stag, the wild boar, 

 lion, bear, &c.; the instruments, dress, &c., of 

 the hunters, are minutely described with evident 

 keenness and great precision. Xenophon com- 

 mences with Apollo and Diana, through whose aid 

 the Centaur Chiron, on account of his love of justice, 

 was rewarded with instructions in the science of the 

 chase. Chiron, in turn, taught many eminent pupils. 

 The treatise concludes with a general eulogy of 

 hunting, which, we are informed, not only affords 

 pleasure, but increases health, strengthens the sight 

 and hearing, and protracts the approach of old age. 

 It is also the best preparation for military service. 

 The author then goes on to prove that activity is 

 the duty of every good citizen, and that the interests 

 of his country, not less than the will of the gods, 

 demand from each man all the exertioii of which he 

 is capable. To the passion for hunting which am- 

 mated the feudal kings and nobles of Europe, the 

 huge tracts of land which were afforested bear fear- 

 ful testimony ; and the writers of the time give n 

 strong picture of the sufferings of the oppressed com- 

 monalty, under the tyrannical privileges of sport 

 which were claimed by their masters. (See Gam 

 Laws.) It is unnecessary here to go into a minute 

 description of the technical terms of hunting, or of 

 the manner in which it is carried on. In England, 

 the fox, the stag, and the hare are the principal 

 objects of the chase; on the continent 3f Europe, the 



