^ LECTURE r. 



tention, from a very early period, being di- 

 rected to Comparative Anatomy, we find 

 him subsequently asserting, that among 

 other researches in this department, he 

 had in the same interval made prepar- 

 ations of the organ of hearing in fishes, of 

 which he claimed the discovery. Mr. Hun- 

 ter's biographer. Sir E. Home, mentions, 

 " that his desire to obtain a correct know- 

 ledge of the functions of the organs in the 

 human body, first led him to examine the 

 same kind of organs in various animals." 



From his brother's elegant and learned 

 lectures, Mr. Hunter must have derived 

 the best physiological information of the 

 time ; the facts and opinions of every 

 writer, collected, arranged, considered, and 

 improved by the industry and talents of 

 Baron Haller, together with whatever later 

 discoveries or suggestions had been made 

 in that department of science. When he 

 went abroad as an army surgeon in the 

 year 1760, he had an opportunity of ac- 

 quiring a knowledge of the animal pro- 

 ductions of other countries, and of their 



17 



