THE HUNTERIAN ORATION. 
221 
views of Hunter on this subject were so much in advance of his 
age, that it required the lapse of half a century that his views 
might be appreciated ; and now many persons were found to say, 
that the facts accumulated by Hunter would be valued when his 
speculations were forgotten. It was precisely on these depreciated 
speculations, as they were called, or rather as he would term them 
— those sublime generalizations and laws of vital forces — that the 
highest claims of Hunter to the veneration of posterity will most 
abidingly rest. There was no difficulty in comprehending that 
Hunter had a clear perception of two great truths : — First, that 
vital forces are possessed by the fluids as well as the solids of the 
animal body ; and, second, that these forces are possessed by parts 
of the body non-vascular. The mere form assumed by matter is 
not an essential property, though we are accustomed to connect 
the idea of life rather with a solid than with a fluid. Thus, 
compound matter, water — -in its three states of vapour, solid, and 
fluid — possesses, notwithstanding its change of form, its essential 
properties unaffected ; and the same thing may be said of living 
substances, as the extended researches of modern physiologists 
leave no room to doubt. There is now no difficulty in compre- 
hending what Hunter affirms, that the living principle exists in 
the different parts of the living body, independently of brain or 
circulation. It would be impossible for any physiologist of the 
present day to give a more precise expression than Hunter has 
done, to the fact that organization is essentially independent of 
vascularity. The first and most obvious fact which strikes an 
observer in contemplating the phenomena of the living animal is, 
that every thing seems to be peculiar and different from what has 
been. observed in other bodies, inorganic or vegetable bodies; but 
it soon becomes apparent that the most important functions depend 
on the laws of chemistry and physics. The living body contains 
no new elementary substance ; and we constantly encounter in the 
animal economy processes which have their counterpart in the 
chemist’s laboratory. Speaking only of the body, we might say 
that physics and chemistry supply the forces of life. 
After enumerating some of the names most distinguished amongst 
modern promoters of science, the orator proceeded to notice the 
deaths of Mr. Liston and Mr. Morgan, as a loss sustained by the 
profession since the last anniversary. Of the character of the 
former he read a delineation by Professor Miller, of Edinburgh, 
Mr. Liston was distinguished by high resolve, indomitable energy, 
and inborn consciousness of power ; and was a zealous enthusiast 
in his profession. His eye was fine and sharp ; his wrist re- 
minded one of Nasmith’s steam-hammer, which drives a pile or 
touches a needle’s point with equal aptitude. Professor Miller had 
