i86o-6i edits JOHN HUNTER’S MSS. in 
‘John Hunter’s Essays and MSS.,’ which Owen 
edited, are certainly full of interest. Charac- 
terized as they are by a strange diversity of 
thought, they give the impression that the writer 
either did not live long enough to complete his 
ovvn account of himself, or else that, though 
possessing endless industry and immense powers 
of observation, he had neither time nor inclina- 
tion for concentration of thought. His essays on 
itatural history contain remarks on the classes of 
9-nimals, on the distinctions between animals and 
t'egetables, the origin of natural production and of 
species and varieties, and the properties of matter, 
^ndso forth. In treating of the origin of species, 
t^hile he fails to take the extreme Darwinian view, 
he nevertheless asks : ‘ Does not the natural grada- 
bon of animals from one to another lead to the 
Original species ? For example : Are we not led 
On to the wolf,’ he says, ‘ by the gradual affinities 
of the different varieties in the dog, and is it not 
Possible to trace out the gradation in the same 
"^ay in the horse, sheep, or cat ? ’ Beyond this 
hi unter does not advance. In his ‘Observations 
On Psychology ’ the illustrations that he gives are 
exceedingly quaint. He tells us, for instance, that 
^he mind is often in opposition to itself : the state 
of the mind if strong shall get the better of another 
state which is weak, or the stronger state shall 
bot allow the weaker to rise ; although the mind 
" SO circumstanced at the time as to have one 
