MEMOIR OF JOHN HUNTER. 53 



were afterwards copied out fair by another hand, 

 yet, in every fresh course, upon any new opinion 

 requiring to be stated, scraps of paper were intro- 

 duced, and renewed embarrassments were encoun- 

 ^ered in explaining them. 



This unusual and extraordinary difficulty was ob- 

 served in Mr Hunter, as we have already hinted, at 

 an early period, and it continued unabated, till the 

 close of his career. It has given occasion to much 

 remark, and has been variously accounted for. Some- 

 thing no doubt must be charged to the effects of his 

 early education ; for, as a contemporary observes, " to 

 imagine that this undertaking of lecturing was car- 

 ried on with equal facility by John Hunter, as it 

 could have been had he been properly educated, 

 would-be romantic, more especially as nature had 

 been very sparing to him in the gift of elocution." 



We may further illustrate this peculiarity in Mr 

 Hunter's mental constitution, by noticing the ap- 

 pearance he made on the celebrated trial of Do- 

 nellan for the murder of Sir Theodosius Brough- 

 ton. A plot, it was alleged, having been laid to 

 make away with this young Baronet, a draught of 

 strong laurel-water was administered to him while 

 Tn perfect health, in consequence of which death en- 

 sued in a few hours, attended with all the symptoms 

 of poisoning from that preparation. The Oxford 

 Professor of Anatomy, with all the faculty in the 

 neighbourhood, had decided that the deceased had 

 been poisoned. Mr Hunter's high celebrity, aud 



