354 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO 1772^ 



The Calculation. — dn : dm:: s. -J- bfd : s. 4. cfd :: rad. t. <';^; rad. :: t. 

 (< j^ M 45°) :: t. 4- bfc : t. ±. cod m -J- Dco. If % >- 45°, < cod > dco; and 

 if ;^ < 45% < COD <. dco. 



If the intervals between the observations be so small, that the sines differ not 

 much from the arches, the arches bc, cd may be counted in time, and the 

 calculation may be abbreviated thus: dm : dn :: arc. bd : z (for do); dc + z : 

 2dc :: -i-BC : SR., or dm X dc + dn X bd : dm X DC :: i bc : sr. 



XXXI. On the Digestion of the Stomach after Death. By John Hunter,* 



F. R. S., and Surgeon to St. George's Hospital, p. 447. 

 " Reprinted in Mr. Hunter's Observations on the Animal Economy. 



■>• • Mr. John Hunter is a remarkable instance of the eminence which the human intellect is some- 

 times capable of attaining in particular pursuits of science, ^^■ithout the previous aid of a good general 

 education, and even after a large portion of the youthful period of life has been suffered to pass away 

 in vacancy and inattention. 



He was brother to the celebrated Dr. William Hunter, (an account of whom is inserted in the 8th 

 volume of these Abridgments) and was born at Long Calderwood in 1728. His father dying when he 

 was about 1 years old, he was left to the care of his mother, who, in consequence of his dislike to 

 school, sutFered him to remain at home in idleness j so that from the time of his father's death to the 

 age of 20, the cultivation of his mind appears to have been neglected, and he was without any 

 regular occupation or pursuit. 



At length, however, having heard much of his brother's celebrity and success in London, he expressed 

 a desire to study anatomy. This desire was readily seconded by Dr. W. Hunter, to whose house 

 Mr. J. H. accordingly came in 1748. It was now found that Mr. J. H. possessed talents, which 

 only wanted a proper stimulus and direction. He soon became competent to the office of assistant 

 dissector. While he was engaged in anatomical pursuits, he did not lose sight of surgery ; a know- 

 ledge of which he acquired by attending Chelsea, Bartholomew, and St. George's hospitals; to the 

 last of which he became house-surgeon's pupil in 1/54, and house-surgeon in 1756". The year before 

 his brother admitted him to a partnership in the anatomical lectures. His health becoming much 

 impaired by his close application to dissections, and the making of anatomical preparations, he was 

 advised to go abroad; and accordingly in 176O he went as surgeon on the staff with the army to 

 Belleisle, and afterwards to Portugal. It was in tliis situation that he acquired his knowledge of gun- 

 shot wounds. In 1763 he returned to London and resumed his labours in anatomy and surgery. In 

 1767 he was chosen f. n. s. and some years after the same honour was confirmed on him by the Royal 

 Society of Medicine and the Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris. In 1 769 he was elected one of the 

 surgeons to St. George's hospital. Some years after he was appointed surgeon extraordinary to his 

 Majesty, and inspector general of hospitals, and surgeon general to the army. 



Previously to the attainment of these honours, he had distinguished himself by various papers 

 inserted in the PhU. Trans., relating to anatomy and physiology; also by some publications of a larger 

 kind, such as his Natural History of the Teeth. It was not till a later period that he published his 

 Treatise on the Venereal Disease, and his Observations on the Animal Economy ; which last work 

 consists chiefly of papers which had before been printed in the Phil. Trans. His Treatise on the Blood, 

 Inflammation, and Gunshot Wounds, did not appear tiU after his decease; being edited by his relation 

 Mr. Home, and accompanied with a biographical account of the author ; from which account most of 

 the particulars abovementioned have been extracted. 



Mr. J. Hunter contributed largely to the advancement of physiology and comparative anatomy. 



