HUNTERIAN ORATION. 51 



As a contrast, however, to that occasional 

 want of temper which some may consider 

 as a fault in the character of Mr. Hunter, I 

 may mention that his habits of investiga- 

 tion, and his slowness in communicating 

 his own opinions, had given him an admir- 

 able degree of patience and perseverance in 

 accomplishing whatever he undertook, and 

 this was conspicuous even in the common 

 practice of his profession. In one of the 

 cases which he has published, he says, — 

 " After about an hour's conversation with 

 the patient, I made out a few simple facts." 

 If pressed for time, he was often known to 

 say, " I cannot tell at present what to re- 

 commend : I must think of it." For to 

 Mr. Hunter almost every case was a study, 

 and so indeed it must be to all those who 

 practise their profession as a science. I 

 ^will here relate one out of many instances 

 that I could adduce of the pains which he 

 took, from benevolent motives, to convince 

 persons of what seemed to him essential to 

 their welfare. A strong ruddy-faced farmer 

 had a disease, which induced Mr. Hunter to 

 enjoin a total abstinence from fermented 

 liquors. " Sir," said the farmer, "'I assure 



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