18 
MEMOIR OF JOHN HUNTER. 
however, only Bervetl to conduct his inquiring mind 
into the boundless regions of Nature’s wonders, lo 
the examination of which he devoted himself with 
undeviating enthusiasm ; so that every thing that 
lived, from man himself, down to the blade on wliich 
he treads, and the insect which it nourislies, became 
in its turn the subject of his penetrating scrutiny. 
Human speedily led to comparative anatomy, and 
this latter merged in the study of all animated na- 
ture. Mr Hunter, how'ever, was not born to an in- 
dependent fortune ; and the entanglements and re- 
sponsibilities of his profession necessarily encroacli- 
ed upon liis scientific labours. Nevertheless, even 
his profession was made subservient to the aspirings 
of his genius ; and out of its honourable gains, he 
proceeded gradually to rear his own most lasting 
monument, in a Museum, which, though known 
to the public only in connection with a professional 
body (the London Iloyal College of Surgeons), has 
yet realized the splendid design of its founder, by 
forming, in no small measure, a concentration of the 
natural history of the world. 
Another circumstance, which has materially con- 
tributed to stamp Mr Hunter’s celebrity with that 
limited and professional character to which we have 
alluded, is, that his life has been written only by his 
piotessional brethren, — men who naturally consider- 
ed it their mam object to supply that species of in- 
formation which would be most highly valued by 
that learned body of which Mr Hunter formed so 
