1843-44 JOHN HUNTER 213 



' 28M. — Characteristic letter from Sedgwick, 

 asking us to hurry up Scharf with his drawing 

 by scratching him with a mylodon's claw.' 



At the end of March Owen began his new 

 series of Hunterian Lectures. He describes the 

 scheme of these lectures in the following way : — 



' When I was first honoured by the Council 

 with this arduous and responsible office, it seemed 

 to me that the first obligation upon the Professor 

 was, to combine with the information to be im- 

 parted on the science of comparative anatomy, 

 an adequate demonstration of the nature and 

 extent of the Hunterian Physiological Collection, 

 and thus to offer a due tribute to the scientific 

 labours and discoveries of its founder. 



'The system adopted by Hunter for the ar- 

 rangement of his preparations of comparative 

 anatomy was therefore made that of the lectures 

 which were to be illustrated by them ; and this 

 plan was closely adhered to until the whole of the 

 physiological department of the collection had 

 been successively described, and its demonstration 

 completed, in the course of lectures which I 

 delivered last year. It is, I believe, generally 

 known that Hunter had arranged his beautifully 

 prepared specimens of animal and vegetable 

 structures according to the organs, commencing 

 with the simplest form, and proceeding through 

 successive gradations to the highest or most 

 complicated condition of each organ. 



