HUNTERIAN ORATION. 39 



which was refused. He went to the house 

 of the father, in company with the other 

 surgeon, and tried all his art of rhetoric 

 and persuasion, but in vain. When he be- 

 came convinced that his object was unat- 

 tainable, he was standing, said the relator 

 of this anecdote, with his back to the fire, 

 and he put his hands into his pockets. " I 

 saw," continued the narrator, " by his coun- 

 tenance, that a storm was brewing in his 

 mind." Mr. Hunter, however, gravely and 

 calmly addressed the master of the house in 

 the following manner : " Then, Sir, you will 

 not permit the examination to be made."— 

 *' It is impossible," was the absurd reply. 

 « Then, Sir," said Mr. Hunter, « I heartily 

 hope, that yourself, and all your family, nay^ 

 all your friends, may die of the same disease, 

 and that no one may be able to afford any 

 assistance;" and so saying, he departed. 

 Such a wish could never, I am convinced, 

 have originated in his benevolent mind ; as 

 indeed is manifested by the very terms of 

 it, which involve the innocent with the 

 offending. Temporary irritation alone in- 

 cited him to adopt this mode of expressing 

 his strong conviction of what it became 



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