MEMOIR OF JOHN HUNTER. 25 



lectures, to be rendered interesting, must he deli- 

 vered extempore a style of lecturing in which Dr 

 Hunter had attained the highest possible excellence; 

 but, unfortunately few men were less qualified than 

 John to be placed in competition with his brother, 

 in this exercise of talent. 



Making anatomical preparations were at this time 

 a new art, and very little understood. Every skil- 

 ful preparation, therefore, became an object of ad- 

 miration ; and as many of them were required for 

 the use of the lectures, and Dr Hunter had himself 

 an enthusiasm for the art, he left no means untried 

 to infuse into his brother a love for his favourite 

 pursuit. How well he succeeded, the collection 

 afterwards made by Mr Hunter will sufficiently 

 evince. 



We thus, at length, find Mr Hunter placed in a 

 situation which was in every respect adapted to his 

 talents and his tastes, and where he was surround- 

 ed with every advantage calculated to stimulate and 

 direct the application of his energies. 



The late Sir Everard Home remarks, that ana- 

 tomy seems to have been a pursuit for which Mr 

 Hunter's mind was peculiarly fitted ; and he applied 

 to it with a perseverance of which there is hardly 

 any example. He laboured for ten years in this 

 branch of science, during which period he not only 

 became acquainted with what was already known, 

 but made considerable additions to that knowledge. 

 Some oi his discoveries called forth the highest 



