68 MEMOIR OF JOHN HUNTER. 



have neither space nor inclination to enter into an 

 investigation of these charges ; hut historical honesty 

 required us to mention that they had heen advanced ; 

 we believe them to he untrue ; and having thus no- 

 ticed them, we willingly dismiss the subject. 



At the time when the unfortunate accident we 

 have just mentioned occurred, William Hunter was 

 caressed by fortune, and abounding in wealth ; John, 

 on the other hand, was poor. In these circum- 

 stances, William, who had been the liberal patron of 

 his brother early and late, may perhaps have thought 

 that he might be allowed to gratify himself in a trifle, 

 however unceremonious the mode he took of ob- 

 taining it. But this was by no means in accordance 

 with John's nature. He would not submit to what 

 he considered an insult as well as an injustice, and 

 he determined to resent it. The affair of the ana- 

 tomical discovery before alluded to (p. 31), in which 

 Dr Mackenzie had a part, had now slept for the 

 best part of twenty years. In an unhappy hour 

 John determined to revive it, and with that view to 

 send a full account of the circumstances to the Royal 

 Society. This was five years after William had 

 published his splendid work, in which only a gene- 

 ral acknowledgment was made to his brother. Mr 

 Hunter's communication was accordingly read ; but 

 at the next meeting Dr Hunter put in his claim to 

 the discovery in question, and John replied. The 

 Society manifested its sense of the affair, and Us 

 consideration for the brothers, by publishing none of 



