32 
MEMOIR OF JOHN HUNTER. 
he witli its value, that, hefore touching it, he secured 
Mr Hunter’s attendance, and requested him to con- 
duct the examination. This Mr Hunter accordingly 
did, in the presence of several individuals, and, with 
his usual address, succeeded in unravelling a struc- 
ture, the anatomy of which had not before been un- 
derstood. He immediately made some preparations 
illustrative of the facts, returned home in the even- 
ing, and communicated what he had discovered to 
Dr Hunter, who at first (says he) “ treated it and 
me with good-humoured raillery ; but on going to 
Dr Mackenzie’s with me, he was soon convinced of 
the fact.” After this, he and ]3r Hunter together 
took opportunities of re-examining the point, which 
was thus made out to the complete satisfaction of 
all capable of judging. John’s feeling, in his own 
words, was, that he had a just claim to the disco- 
very of the structure, together with the further me- 
rit of showing the purposes of the structure so dis- 
covered. But, notwithstanding this, Dr Hunter in 
his lectures never took any notice of his brother’s 
share in the investigation, and some years afterwards 
published a very splendid and elaborate work, in 
which he accurately delineated and minutely de- 
scribed the anatomy and physiology of the parts, 
without once mentioning the author, or the mode, 
of the discovery. 
These two instances may suffice to shew the na- 
ture of that injury which was offered on the one 
side," and the cause of that offence which was felt 
