60 MEMOIR OF JOHN HUNTER. 



the colour of the Pigmentum nigrum of the eye in 

 different animals ; whilst others of a more professional 

 character at the same time appeared, both in the 

 work last noticed, and also in the Philosophical 

 Transactions. In 1787 the Royal Society conferred 

 upon him its Copleyan Medal, probably not more on 

 account of the intrinsic value of his communications 

 than on account of his amazing assiduity and success. 

 It must be evident, that the very multiplicity of 

 these productions, which it is necessaiy to enume- 

 rate, precludes the possibility of giving any thing 

 like a detailed account of them. To convey some 

 impression, however, though most inadequate, of 

 these labours of Mr Hunter, we shall select one 

 paper, and, in as few words as possible, give an ac- 

 count of it. We take up that on the Structure and 

 Economy of Whales. After some prefatory remarks 

 on the extreme rarity of opportunities for prosecut- 

 ing the investigation, as they inhabit distant seas, 

 and cannot be brought to us alive, he remarks, " I 

 have availed myself as much as possible of all the 

 accidental opportunities that have occurred ; and 

 anxious to get more extensive information, I engaged 

 a surgeon, at considerable expense, to make a voy- 

 age to Greenland, and furnished him with such neces- 

 saries as I thought might be requisite for examining 

 and preserving the most interesting parts, and with 

 instructions for making general observations ; but the 

 only return I received was a piece of a whale's skin, 

 with some small animals sticking to it." Mr Hun- 



