HUNTERIAN ORATION, 

 1819. 



It is the expressed intention oFthe founders 

 of this oration, that it should be rendered 

 contributory to the honour of surgery, and 

 of its intelligent professors ; which design 

 cannot, in my opinion, be better accom- 

 plished, than by showing what surgery 

 really is ; the nature and extent of the 

 knowledge requisite for its clear compre- 

 hension ; the intellect and talent necessary 

 for its successful practice. 



Had surgery and surgeons been merely 

 what their names imply, handy work and 

 handicrafts, I never would have appeared 

 before you, Gentlemen, to do them honour. 

 For honour is due alone to intellect, and 

 can be paid to nothing else. Why do we 



