MEMOIR OF JOHN HUNTER. 75 



crease, but on the contrary considerably abated; and 

 as Mr Hunter became more accustomed to their ef- 

 fects, less attention was paid to them. It is not to 

 be supposed that Mr Hunter was permanently laid 

 aside by this indisposition. Far from it. He bore 

 up amidst its attacks with great firmness, pursued 

 his round of duty with wonderful regularity, and 

 was frequently the life, as he was the centre, of a 

 numerous circle of admiring friends. 



His disease, however, continued steadily to ad- 

 vance, and its reiterated attacks gradually shook his 

 constitution, and occasionally affected his memory. 

 The least degree of over-exertion, the excitement of 

 company, or the slightest perturbation of temper, at 

 last became sufficient to occasion an attack. As 

 these increased upon him, Mr Hunter found it ne- 

 cessary successively to withdraw himself from his 

 more laborious avocations, and to confine himself to 

 a narrower range of duties and engagements ; and 

 every occasion of excitement was studiously avoid- 

 ed, as hazarding an attack of the most perilous na- 

 ture. 



An incautious neglect, or rather defiance of this 

 precaution, proved the immediate occasion of his 

 death. From circumstances which it would be te- 

 dious to explain^ he had unfortunately differed with 

 some of his colleagues at St George's Hospital, with 

 whom he could not meet without the danger of a 

 collision. From motives of humanity, however, to 

 a young man, whom he conceived to be aggrieved 



