VOL. XLII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TKAKSACTlONS. 687 



idea of fine mechanical composition. Wherever the motion of one bone on 

 another is requisite, there we find an excellent apparatus for rendering that 

 motion safe and free : we see, for instance, the extremity of one bone moulded 

 into an orbicular cavity, to receive the head of another, in order to afford it 

 extensive play. Both are covered with a smooth elastic crust, to prevent mu- 



years, after which he passed a winter at Edinburgh, and in 1741 he came to London ; and was re- 

 ceived first into the house of Dr. Smellie, a celebrated practitioner in midwifery, and afterwards into 

 the family of Dr. James Douglas, whom Mr. H. not only assisted in his dissections, but had also 

 committed to him the superintendance of his son's education. 



Mr. H.'s first course of anatomical demonstrations was in 1746, but he had before delivered lec- 

 tures on operations in surgery. Being afterwards elected man-midwife to the Middlesex and British 

 • Lying-in-Hospitals, he began to get into considerable midwifery practice. In 1750 he obtained the 

 degree of M. D. from the university of Glasgow. After this period he rose into great repute, bofh 

 by his lectures and his writings, and in 1768 he had the honour of being appointed physician extra- 

 ordinary to the queen, having been consulted on occasion of her Majesty's pregnancy 2 years before. 

 He had been elected F. R.S. in 1767. The same year he was appointed anatomical lecturer to the 

 Royal Academy of Arts. In 1781 he succeeded Dr. Fothergill as president of the Society of Physi- 

 cians in London, to whose publication, entitled Medical Observations and Inquiries, he contributed 

 some valuable papers. About this period, too, he was elected a member of the Medical Society of 

 Paris, and of the French Academy of Sciences. He died in the spring of 1783, in the 65th year of 

 his age, displaying uncommon serenity and strength of mind as his dissolution drew near. 



Dr. H. was autlior of some papers inserted in the Medical Observations and Inquiries before men- 

 tioned; of two other communications, besides the above inserted in the Phil. Trans, (vols. 58 aud6l) 

 and of a work entitled Medical Commentaries ; but his great work is the Anatomy of the Human 

 Gravid Uterus, illustrated by a series of plates, which combine the most accurate exposition of struc- 

 ture on the part of the anatomist, with the most exquisite workmanship on the part of the engravers. 

 A description of the gravid uterus was found among the doctor's papers after his death, and was pub- 

 lished some years since by his nephew and successor Dr. Baillie, to whom the medical world owes 

 great obligations for his very valuable works on Morbid Anatomy. 



Although the anatomical preparations constimte a principal part of the late Dr. Hunter's museum, 

 yet it further contains a collection of shells, and other subjects of natural history, (once the property 

 of Dr. Fotliergill) besides a cabinet of medals, and a library stored with some of the best and scarcest 

 editions of the ancient authors. A description of some of the coins has been published by Dr. Combe, 

 the intimate friend of Dr. H., and a gentleman in whom a large share of classical learning, and a 

 thorough knowledge of antiquities, are united with a great degree of medical skill. 



Dr. Simmons informs us, that by his will Dr. H. directed that his nephew Dr. Baillie (or in case 

 of his death Mr. Cruickshank) should have the use of his museum, under the direction of trustees, 

 for the term of 30 years ; after which period the whole collection is bequeathed to the university of 

 Glasgow. 



When Dr. H. first came to London his finances were so small that they were little more than suf- 

 ficient to defray his travelling expences ; but by great abilities and exertions as a lecturer and a prac- 

 titioner, joined to a system of strict regularity and economy, he at length amassed a very ample for- 

 tune. There was something in his manner peculiarly interesting and impressive, and his language was 

 highly correct and perspicuous. With these qualifications, added to a Uiorough knowledge of his 

 subject, it is not to be wondered that he could render the most difficult parts of anatomy clear and ta- 

 uiiliar to his pupils. As a demonstrator he was certainly without an equal. > ; . j i 



